When people used to ask me, for example, how I ended up here in Kyrgyzstan, if I was feeling particularly mischievous I might reply, “Because I failed the eleven plus”.  Failing the selection exam at the age of 11 meant that I went to a Secondary Modern School rather than a Grammar School.  Although it was a good school, it limited my options when it came to choosing subjects that I could study for University entrance – hence I ended up training to be a teacher and studying Theology and the Psychology of Education rather than my  “first love”, Mathematics.  I went into teaching and drifted from Religious Studies to Mathematics and Statistics, eventually ended up teaching Computing.  It was because of my background in computerized administration systems that I got invited out here to help open an office. If I had passed that exam then my career would have been totally different and I wouldn’t have met Tony and received that invitation.  I wouldn’t be here now.

Another example: A few years ago, one of our staff returned from a year in the states where she had been attending a course in an American University.  She told us about an internet site which allowed her to exchange messages with her new found friends in the states and maybe once a day she could check it for messages from them.   After a short while I noticed that several other members of the staff were also logging onto the site, so I decided that I had better go and check it out.

Before you could see anything, you had to register … so I registered.  To be, honest, at the time I wasn’t that impressed.  Having had a quick look round I logged out again and more or less forgot about it.  From time to time, however, I would get messages telling me that I had been tagged in a photo, or someone wanted to be my “friend”  … but most of them went ignored.  Despite my history as a teacher of computing and IT, the whole world of social media was passing me by.

Then, out of the blue I got a message in my email telling me that yet someone else wanted to be my friend … That particular message caught me unawares and brought me up short.  “I know that name” I thought to myself … it was my nephew and he was an avid Facebook user … he had found me and “added” me to his list of friends.  So, I logged on again and began to realize that there were more things in Facebook than were dreamt of in my philosophy … to misquote the bard.

Not only does Facebook help me to find and keep in touch with relatives, old friends and former colleagues, iot also acts as a platform for communicating with people in the here and now; it’s a good source of information and I can get updates about all sorts of topics of interest, from Marmite and the Archers to James Taylor and Eldar Djangirov.

I am not as accepting as some people on Facebook – I tend to accept invites only from people I know but some people build up huge numbers of “friends”, all of whom can receive a single message be it what you had for supper, an advert for a party or some other event, where the next flashmob is going to congregate or, in place of a flashmob, read protest meeting;  Indeed, social media like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have taken a certain amount of “credit” for the role they have played in events like the Arab Spring; they are both very popular here, and their use is rapidly growing.  For many of the local there are Russian language equivalents, like Moi-Mir (My world) or Odnoklasniki (Schoolfrinds), but Facebook and Twitter offer global coverage … or, at least they will so long as the internet censors don’t get to them.

To those who are registered users of Twitter, the newspaper headline that informed us that “130 million tweets everyday are not worth reading”, will not have come as much of  a surprise.  What might be surprising is that it took a group of researchers from a variety of US universities, including the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT), to discover this. I have to admit that as I skim through the screens full of tweets, I sometimes wonder if it is worth the time and effort.  But then, but occasionally, (just occasionally), one turns up which is full of significance and send me off on a search for more details and I think to myself, “I’m glad I saw that!”

This week, for example, there was the news that the offices of the largest mobile phone operator here in Kyrgyzstan, Megacom, (which was part of the empire of Maxim Bakiev and was duly nationalized after the revolution in 2010), had been raided by the anti corruption branch of the Security Services and the Director detained.  As it happens, I actually know the guy because we both sit on a committee together, so it came as a bit of a shock.  Of course, I don’t know the details of the investigation but it seems out of character that he should have been involved in corrupt practices.  Anyway he’s been detained for two months whilst the investigations continue, as I understand it, in the same remand prison which saw the riot a couple of weeks ago which led to over a thousand prisoners throughout the country sewing up their mouths in a hunger strike.  (That protest, by the way, now seems to be over.)

Despite this apparent setback, and the prolonged history of litigation and murky details of past ownership, there still seems to be potential buyers for the company and Prime Minister Babanov met with some of them during the week.

Corruption, or rather the fight against it, has been in the news quite a lot this week.  According to one MP, the President spent the whole of the week on the issue.  He has indeed commented on how corruption is “a way of public administration” in the country and complained that Financial Police, prosecutors’ office and the courts were not yielding results. Pointing to officials earning salaries in the region of USD200 a month who bought villas “for millions of dollars”, he told the law enforcement bodies to get their acts together and show results by the end of March, or else lose their jobs.

The Minister of Finance made a claim that the Prosecutor’s office ask for USD1000 to open a case, and apparently said that he had been asked for five thousand.  That brought a rejoinder from officials asking him for details: I suppo9se that could be interpreted as a case of: “put up or shut up”.  Another tweet took me to a blog entry where a student said that he was trying to create a campaign against corruption in universities and other institutes of Higher Education.  He said that wanted to publicize cases but was faced with the prosecutors’ office saying that he shouldn’t, the students should come into the office and write a complaint, (a  zayavleniye or application), and they would immediately start an investigation.

The Minister has now announced a new system of public procurement which, it hoped, should put an end to one form corruption, the practice of providing a “kickback”  He did say that the draft budget contained “unpopular, but effective measures” aimed to bolster economic development.  I am not sure if he had in mind when he said that the current draft going through the parliament that would require increases in the tariffs for electricity, gas and heating, but remembering the effect of the increases in energy tariffs at the start of 2010, I suppose we will have to see how unpopular they will prove to be, and keep our fingers crossed.

The other big story of the week, in terms of the number of news stories it has generated, seems to have been the continuing dispute over the fate of Casinos in the country.  It is claimed that, despite the ban on Casinos imposed by a change in the law last year, there are several that are still operating, “underground”.  Meanwhile, former employees in the “gambling industry” have continued their daily protests demanding that something be done to provide them with work.   One tweet bemoaned the “daily” nature of the protests.

Prime Minister Babanov has made some comments about the possibility of opening a special zone on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul, where Casinos will be allowed, but they could banned for Kyrgyz citizens, in the same way as it is possible for foreigners to buy alcohol in Pakistan in certain establishments although locals can’t.  The Association that represented Casinos has also come up with suggestions, including allowing those who were granted licenses in the past to continue operating until those licenses expire, and charging a hefty entrance fee to help keep out the local population.

Meanwhile there are claims that some of the deputies have received substantial incentives to lobby for a change in the law to allow Casinos to continue operating – well, I for one, would call USD5 million pretty substantial.  On the other hand, the Speaker of the parliament has said that the law must stand and be enforced.  If not, then “why did we pass the law in the first place?”

Another tweet that caught my attention during the week was about the plans to build a new Central Mosque here in Bishkek on the site of one of the city’s cinemas.  It’s going to be pretty huge and will be financed with help from Turkey.

It is interesting to see that some aspect of religion is flourishing.  There have been many recent reports, not all of them publicized here asked one MP, in the local media, of the problems facing different religious groups, be they Jehovah’s Witnesses, Korean Baptists, even Muslim itinerant preachers.  Perhaps the strangest report on this during the week came from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty of a Tengrist, (a spiritual movement which predates Islam here in Kyrgyzstan, connected with the ancient shamanistic beliefs and traditions of the nomadic Kyrgyz), facing trial on charges, (which he denies), of inciting Religious and ethnic hatred after making derogatory remarks about “many Muslim mullahs” in a radio interview.

The mosque is not the only major building project.  Another tweet informed that the Americans have allocated USD145million towards building a new embassy here in Bishkek and they held a ground breaking ceremony during the week.  That will be their third embassy in Kyrgyzstan.  The first was a small two storey building right next door to the headquarters of the Committee for National Security, (KGB), which was replaced by a purpose built embassy on the outskirts of town.  That, however is too small for the 130-odd staff that currently work there – hence the need for a new building which looks as if it will be quite big.  It’s due to be completed in 20147, just as the withdrawal from Afghanistan is supposed to be completed and the lease on the Manas Transit Center expires.

President Atambaev reminded the Ambassador of that in a meeting during, (as if it is likely that she had forgotten).  Even so, there are still protests from people who want Kyrgyzstan to renounce the agreement ahead of time.

One of the most interesting reports I saw during the week was an assessment of Iran’s likely reaction to further Western pressure over its nuclear programme.  Quoting Iranian spokesmen, it suggested that there were plenty of American military bases within easy reach of existi9ng Iranian missle technology – including Manas airport.  It made me think that President Atambaev had this in mind when he voiced his concern last year about the possibility of Kyrgyzstan becoming a target for those opposed to America and the war in Afghanistan.  Maybe he had a point.

What really surprised me about that report was the aerial photographs of those potential targets, (including Manas), which showed aircraft parked in neat lines on the tarmac.  I had thought that from the early days of military aviation it had been recognized that this made them easy targets.

I suppose that I also have to refer to the flood of tweets on Friday that informed us that the director of the World Bank office in Bishkek had thrown a glass, (or, according to some accounts, a set of headphones), and then stormed out of a meeting, (muttering and, according to accounts at least, swearing), with the Deputy Prime Minister.   I have seen a video report of the event and although it happened, it seems to me that the tweets were a little overdramatic.  It certainly doesn’t seem to have signaled any change of policy or attitude especially as he had just commented in his speech about how the Kyrgyz Republic is very much willing to improve work and relations between its “development partners” and the government; that the 100-day action program is very important for a new government and that, “the World Bank may be very slow and bureaucratic, but this should not be seen as unwillingness to help”.

Amongst the other issues to have cropped up throughout the week have been concerns over the potential for yet more ethnic unrest following some disturbances in the Batken region, in the extreme South West of the country which seem to have led to the resignation (or was it dismissal), of the governor.  Although most of this seems to have been reported in the international media, it hasn’t gone unnoticed in the local media.

There has also been a fair amount of attention on the events of April 2010 – with denials about the presence of foreign snipers during the revolution; more on the investigation into the confiscation of property held in Bank safe deposit boxes, actions taken by the interim government, the condition of Azimjan Askarov in jail, and so on.  One interesting thing to note, however, is that Interpol have issued a formal “red notice” against Janysh Bakiev, the former President’s brother … I wonder what made them change their mind in this respect?

The mining industry – a vital component of the country’s economy – seems to be back in the news as well, with hopes expressed that work will start this year on exploiting three more gold deposits; despite the fact that the moratorium on issuing licenses seems to have delayed some exploration work and talk of additional taxes being laid to prevent gold mines from making “excessive profits”; a critical report about water pollution near the Kumtor Gold mine and the news that the Agency for Geology and Mineral Resources are going to be give help by the Finns in digitalizing the vast amount of information about the country’s subsoil resources currently held in the archives.

It looks as if there could be some political fallout from the cargo of cheap “radioactive coal” supplied to the Bishkek Heating plant from Kazakhstan which the government ordered should be returned but Kazakhstan refused to accept.  Apparently, some of it has distributes to schools and orphanages so that they can heat their premises and, as you can imagine, not everyone is happy about this.  Despite that, they could probably use the coal.  Just as across Europe at the moment, many schools are closed due to the cold weather.  Some needy families have also received free fuel to help them cope with the extreme weather conditions – but I’m not sure if it is more of that “radioactive coal”.  As well as provoking an energy crisis in the country, the snow has caused numerous avalanches (21 in one night) which have blocked many roads.

The politician who confidently announced that “zima ne budet”, (“There’ll be no winter”), seems to have got it wrong. That didn’t stop him holding another press conference where he claimed the Vladimir Putin was a “biorobot”.  This was picked up by a Russian comic who posted a satirical commentary on Youtube which quickly went viral.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, (referred to locally as MinCultTourism – which can be taken to mean the Ministry of bodybuilding), has surpassed itself this week.  After the apparently, (hopefully), abortive attempt to introduce licensing of tourism activities, they have apparently now established a Concerts Commission and issued instructions about the staging of theatrical entertainment and concerts events in Kyrgyzstan.  Anyone wanting to stage a concert will have to present it to the commission who will issue a certificate granting permission to stage it withion the course of a year,  It seems that they have taken this measure in the face of “a lot of” complaints about the artistic levels of concert programmes and the performance skills of the artists.

One of the deputies has proposed a draft law that Kyrgyz officials should wear national costume at official dinners with foreign delegations, saying that there is a need to strengthen Kyrgyz culture and language. Although the sentiment seems reasonable, (lots of statesmen do this as a matter of course, but I don’t think I can see David Cameron or William Hague enjoying the prospect of dressing up as Morris Dancers and I can just imagine Margaret Thatcher’s or Winston Churchill’s reaction to such a suggestion), personally, I am not sure that it is a question that requires legislation.

I’m not sure that officials wearing national costume will support the development of the language but the issue seems to be a hot one here.  I saw a suggestion during the week that the status of Russian as an “official language” should be removed.  A few weeks ago a Deputy Minister was harangued for answering questions in the parliament in Russian, and there has been a suggestion that officials should conduct discussions and negotiations with foreign counterparts in Kyrgyz.  The Japanese Ambassador – a very good friend of Kyrgyzstan – must have caused a few upsets when he remarked that if all international agreements had to be written in Kyrgyz then it would cause problems and delays in administering assistance and implementing projects.

As an aside, the question of the importance of the Kyrgyz language has cropped up in conversation several times during the week and I have to admit that I am somewhat embarrassed that after sixteen and a half years, I still haven’t learned it.

Which brings me, perhaps, to my favourite tweet of the week was about the problems of translation from English into Kyrgyz: “this is why Kyrgyz translation is frustrating. the word “leaching” translates to “суюктуктун жардамы менен кандайдыр кошундудан ошол суюктукта эрүүчү нерсени ажыратуу.” that’s ONE WORD  (that came from a dictionary and I don’t know Kyrgyz, so don’t feel it necessary to correct me)”.  (For those that can’t see the Cyrillic characters, it reads: “this is why Kyrgyz translation is frustrating. the word “leaching” translates to “suyutuktun dzardamy menen kanaidyr koshundudan oshol suyuktykta nerseni azhyratuu” that’s ONE WORD  (that came from a dictionary and I don’t know Kyrgyz, so don’t feel it necessary to correct me)”)  The sharp eyed amongst you will have realized that this is not a single tweet, which is limited to 140 characters … it’s actually 281 characters and was split across three separate tweets.

By the way … the reason for today’s emphasis on social media is that it was back on February 4th, 2004, that Mark Zuckerberk founded Facebook … It’s just eight years old but already it is difficult to remember how we used to cope in a world without it.

For the record, today is also World Cancer Day, and although I had thought of writing a postcard based on that theme, there seemed too many potential references to social media to pass up.  Ironically, it was announced on Thursday that the Ministry of Health have declared 2012 as the “Year of Healthy Heart” to draw attention to the high rate of mortality in the country from heart disease – about 50 people die from cardiovascular diseases every day.  My first reaction was “Typical.  Trust the Kyrgyz to wait until February to declare a theme for the year”, but that may be unfair because they obviously started planning some time ago and Thursday was simply the day they held the press conference to announce the many activities that are planned to take place during the rest of the year in order to raise awareness and provide training for doctors and health workers.

Postcard from Bishkek: the weekly postcard that I send out as an email also gets posted on the website ianbek.kg each week – and there are other postcards which don’t get sent out.  This week, for example, there were postcards about : A SWOT analysis of tourism in Kyrgyzstan that I was asked to produce for a report; Tom, one of the kittens with a particularly mischievous character; the Fine Arts in Kyrgyzstan to commemorate Inspire Your Heart With Art Day; Embassies and Foreign Relations to mark the anniversary of the opening of the American Embassy, (the first in Bishkek – although there seems to be a bit of a controversy about that), twenty years ago; I wonder if Bill Gates would come to Bishkek? Inspired by a news item about how he turned up to give a speech at a South London school Prizegiving; and another rant from my soapbox about the reliability of tourism statistics.

We’ve also posted a couple of new panoramas in the Latest section of www.see.kg.

It is now possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg and Kyrgyz Diary), and on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

If you decide that you don’t want to receive these weekly postcards in your email anymore, please drop me a line to ian@ianbek.kg and I will take you off the distribution list.  Alternatively, if you know someone who might be interested in being added to the mailing list, then get them to drop me a line and I’ll be happy to do so.

When is a joke not a joke?

April Fools’ Day, (or All Fools’ Day), is not a holiday but as in many other countries around the world is celebrated on April 1st by people playing hoaxes or practical jokes on one another.   Most of them are small scale, private jokes, played on immediate family, friends or work colleagues, but not all of them.  There have been several famous, or infamous, examples of elaborate hoaxes played on the public which were staged by supposedly serious media outlets.  I’ll mention just two early ones that I particularly remember.

Back in 1957, the flagship current affairs programme on the BBC was called Panorama and it was presented by Richard Dimbleby, a portly character whose rich deep voice was usually tuned to tacking important topics of the day or delivering the commentary on some momentous or royal event.  His presence carried a particular gravitas, so when he presented an April Fool’s report which included a film clip showing agricultural workers climbing ladders to “harvest” the limp spaghetti from off the branches of the “spaghetti trees”.  Dimbleby’s commentary which accompanied the film told about the “spaghetti harvest” in Switzerland and the eradication of a dreaded pest, the “spaghetti weevil”.  It was taken as a serious item by many viewers, so much so, that the BBC received calls asking how to cultivate their own Spaghetti trees.  (For the record, spaghetti doesn’t grow on trees but is a form of pasta made from flour and water sometimes mixed with other ingredients such as eggs and vegetable oils and extracts.  The report was filmed far from Switzerland, just outside London, in St. Albans.)

Twenty years later, in 1977, the British newspaper, The Guardian, printed a seven page special supplement about a tiny Island nation called San Serrife, in the Indian Ocean, supposedly commemorating the tenth anniversary of its independence.  It contained an elaborate description of the country, (location and description of the landscape, government, population, transport, culture and sport), interviews and even advertisements from major companies.  The supplement was littered with puns and in-jokes, many of which played to the “intelligentsia” which goes to make up much of the newspapers readership.  Even so, supplement was taken seriously with a surprising number of people later admitting how they went scurrying to their atlases to see if they could find the islands that made up the tiny state.

Although I said that I remember these two, at the time of the Panorama programme, I would have been just four years old, so I suspect that my memory dates back to watching a later discussion on the ethics of journalists presenting such joke items.  How could we take them seriously and believe what they told us when they played such practical jokes on us?

A good question.

There is some doubt about whether the Mercury Theater’s notorious production of a play directed by Orson Welles based on The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, in October 1938, was a deliberate hoax intended to create an impression of alien invasion, or if it was legitimate drama.  There is no doubt, however, that it was taken seriously by many of the listeners who heard it, (just as many seriously accepted the veracity of the April Fool’s hoaxes staged by Panorama and The Guardian).

We have a temptation to accept anything we see in the media as fact, and to treat it as “gospel”, rather than question it.

A news report often contains comment, and we should remember this.  Even where it purports to be simply a factual account of events, it is will simply recount events as seen and experienced by the reporter at a given time and place.  Another reporter, in a different place and at another time, might well see things differently.

For example, the first reports of the Markale mortar bombardment in 1994, (during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War), claimed that the mortar shell that landed in the market place killing 68 people and wounding 144 others, was fired from Bosnian government positions.  Later analysis, however, suggested that it wasn’t possible to determine where it had come from, and later the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia concluded that the offending shell had, in fact, been fired by Serb forces.

Recent reports that the Pentagon has acquired software allowing it to create “phoney accounts” on social media sites and post tweets and status updates that appear to come from eye witnesses to events half way across the world in order to help shape opinion and even manipulate reaction and shape future events, has made our reliance on the media for accurate and reliable information even more tenuous.  We shouldn’t surrender ourselves, our powers of logic and reasoning, our judgment, to the person making the first report on something that we happen to come across.

A healthy dose of skepticism is called for when scanning the media, whether it is: a story about spaghetti trees, strange places we have never heard of, alien invasions, luxury ocean going yachts being built in Kyrgyzstan’s Shipyards (more about that, perhaps, another time), outrages in far away places, results of supposedly scientific research (such as Blue Monday – the unhappiest day of the year), the best location for Santa to start his annual journey bearing gifts to the children of the world, hotel reviews on social media, tweets posted online purporting to report events in trouble hotspots, statistics and survey results  … in short, we should question everything we see in the press, the media, or on line … even on a personal  blog like this

… and especially on April 1st.

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For the record:

It is not certain where, when or how “April Fools’ Day” originated.  Amongst the various theories are:

• it referred to someone who planted their crops too early …  In many pre-Christian cultures May Day, (May 1st), was celebrated as the first day of summer, and the start of the spring planting season.  The term “April Fool” may well have been used to refer to someone who their crops before this date.
• it referred to someone who refused to accept the new calendar and insisted on using the old one – for example:
  • someone who refused to accept the Gregorian Calendar and continued using the Julian calendar, or
  • someone who refused to accept the decision of King Charles IX of France who changed the first day of the year from April 1st to January 1st,
• it was related to the story of the biblical flood and  Noah’s Ark – in the account in the book of Genesis, Noah sent a raven and two doves from the Ark to find evidence that the waters had receded.  The first, the raven never returned and the first dove, released a week later, returned exhausted as the waters had not yet receded.  Tradition has it that it was released on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April.
• there is a possible reference to April Fools’ Day in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in the Nun’s Priest’s tale, which tells a tale of two fools, (Chanticleer and the fox), which took place on March 32nd.

My favourite April Fools’ hoax is the annual washing of the lions ceremony which takes place in the Tower of London every year.

In some countries, (such as: the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa), the jokes are only allowed until noon and someone who plays a trick after then is considered the “April Fool”, but elsewhere, (such as in Ireland, France, and America), the jokes can be played any time of the day.

In Kyrgyzstan:

There is no long tradition of playing jokes on April Fools’ Day, but as with so many other aspect of the modern “global village”, an idea based in one culture is often adopted by another – and it is common to find people, (especially amongst the younger generation) playing “April Fool” jokes on one another.

Some discotheques and restaurants organize special evenings to mark the date.

Subscribers are able to send short messages, no more than 140 characters long, which are relayed via the Twitter servers in the US to other users who “follow” the subscriber wherever they may be around the world.  The character limit is sometimes a hurdle to be overcome and so people develop codes and abbreviations to use in their messages.  Some overcome this limit by splitting what they want to say into five or six short sentences which are transmitted in quick succession.

At first, many people thought the content as “mundane musings on ordinary events” but it moved on a long way from its benign origins.  It’s become a real example of “Pandora’s box”.  Today, with more than 200 million users sharing something like 140 million tweets a day, it seems to have become a real force which people around the world are using for a variety of purposes: to keep friends and relatives informed about what one is doing, to garner support for a cause, to market goods or services, to pass comment on events, whilst all the maintaining a personal connection.

If the press reports are to be believed, political activists in various countries have apparently used it, and other examples of social media, to organize protests and even revolutions.

Amongst the people that I “follow” are a number of travel writers, and they have started an experiment, #ttot – Travel Talk on Twitter.  Each week they decide on a theme and then pose a series of questions on that theme inviting others to submit answers and hold an on-line conversation in real time.  Actually, in many ways it is more like “brainstorming” as the comments flood in, without comment but providing food for thought.

Today, for example, the theme was “non-tourist travel”.  How, I wondered to myself when it was announced, are we supposed to understand that topic?  I thought that we were probably in for the old semantic debate about the difference between a “tourist” and a “traveler”.  I was afraid that we would get a lot of comments which derided the concept of “tourist” whilst expounding the virtues of being a “traveler”.

I was right.  There were certainly questions and answers which “looked down” on the tourist, for example: Q.: What defines Non-tourist travel?, A.: Definitely not hopping on a tourist bus or taking a guided tour! or Q.: Describe your most shameless (or embarrassing) touristy moment, A.: stayed in a package hotel for complete 7 days in Egypt! (First & last time!)

Many of the comments espoused the virtues of mingling with the locals, being treated like one of them, being treated as one of them.  Being asked for directions, for example, and being able to answer.

Now, I know that I run a tour company, so I must be biased, but there are several aspects of this discussion that I found worrying or disturbing.  It wasn’t just the arrogance of some of the comments, (but by no means all of them, indeed there was a lot of valuable food for thought contained in many of the over 500 offerings, even in those that I found made me feel uncomfortable).

One of the first things that I noticed, (maybe because, as I said, I was expecting it if not actually looking for it), was the belittling of the “tourist experience”.

I agree that many people, if not most, would benefit and gain much more from their trip if they had the opportunity to “get off the beaten track” and “mingle with the locals” but there are “horses for courses”.  Not everyone wants to be, has the inclination to be, or the possibility to be a “traveler” and not everyone wants to be taken for a “local”.

It seemed to me that many people overlooked, forgot or simply ignored the fact that we are all tourists, even those people who prefer to be called “travelers”, when they travel away from home.  The standard legal definition of a tourist, for example, has nothing to do with being on an organized tour, either in their home country or abroad.  Rather, it is someone who spends time, (at least one night), away from home.

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For anyone who is interested, TTOT takes place every Tuesday at 9:30am and 9:30pm GMT.

“Snail mail” was the only option open to us, (apart from the telephone, but we only got a telephone late on), and it took a couple of days for letters to arrive – longer if they were from abroad.  We thought long and hard about what to write … unless it was a postcard, (a real “postcard” that it), in which case it was a short message of the “Wish you were here!” type.

How things have changed … all thanks to the internet.

I remember getting my first email account … I didn’t use it much, there weren’t that many people with email accounts in those days, but as a computing teacher, (later that became an IT teacher and now it is referred top as “teacher of CIT” – communications and Information Technology), I was more or less expected to have one.

I can’t say I was that impressed … I am not sure that I like reading off the screen – I much prefer to have a piece of paper in my hand and to carry it with me as I walk around the room taking in the details as I scan the words … however, when I came out here, I soon became a real fan of the technology.  The post took ages to arrive, if the letter didn’t get lost en-route, a telephone call was expensive and the quality not always very good and half of the conversation would go something like: “what did you say? … crackle … can you say the again? … crackle …

Email was a real boon, especially when it came to trying to do business.  Instead of having to rely on letter, phone and fax, we could communicate so much more easily … not only with relatives and friends but clients, (foreign firms abroad and individual clients), service providers and even (occasionally) with the authorities.

There were, (and still are), problems.  For example, people have got used to the speed in which messages are delivered and have come to expect instant responses.  More to the point, many are not as careful with their emails as they used to be with letters … and their messages often read as if it is half of a telephone conversation.   As in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what you want to say, how you want to say it … and who is going to read what you say.

Then, along came a meteoric rise in the number of websites, blogs, vlogs and forums … and the phenomenon known as “social media” … services like skype, ICQ, messenger,  Facebook, Myspace, you tube, tripadvisor and twitter … and as a result, nowadays, almost anyone can be a “publisher” and reach millions of people with their news and views … even me!

As with the advent of email, at first I was not that impressed with the idea of blogs, vlogs and the other forms of social media.

I have had people suggest that I use one of the ICQ messaging services … and although, over the years, I have signed up to two or three, I found that I was using each one for contacting just one person … and so, one by one, I let them go and deleted the software, (which was taking up valuable space on my hard drive), from my computer.

So, when a friend emailed me from New Zealand and suggested that I get Skype, I wasn’t that keen.  I thought it was going to be just another messaging system.  However, I gave in and downloaded it.   In fact, I have been quite impressed with it, apart from a few things …

Apart from the fact that Skype is really good for talking, chatting or messaging people in far away places like New Zealand, Britain … or even the other side of Bishkek, I find it really annoying when people skype me when they are sitting in the next room.  In reply I often get up out of my chair and walk into the next room and, as a result, we hold a “real” conversation which I think is more useful and more effective as a means of communication

I have come to hate the “pinging” sound which the computer emits every time someone sends me a message – especially the “ping … ping … ping” as someone hits the enter button after every phrase, rather than waiting until the finish the sentence.  That’s a minor problem, however, because I usually have the sound on my computer turned down, (or off).

However, just as with email there is a pressure to expect or give an instant response and type something without really thinking it through.  When people, (and I include myself in this), say something under pressure, they can make make mistakes or something that can easily be misinterpreted.  We forget that that every message has at least two forms … the message that was sent, and the message that is received.  They may be word for the same – but the  In a conversation, you can pick up non-verbal signals from the other person that you to interpret the meaning of what is being said … even in a telephone conversation you can pick up signals from the speakers tone of voice.  All of this additional information is missing when you have just the text … the words on the piece of paper or on the computer screen … in from of your eyes.  As in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what you want to say, how you want to say it … and who is going to read what you say.

Still, having said that, I still find Skype very useful and convenient.

Facebook and other social media platforms were another thing, altogether …

Some years ago I got a message from an old school friend who was a member of one of these websites and so, on his recommendation, I went to have a look at it.  Of course, you had to sign up … and so I created a basic profile … and had a look round.  The site looked interesting and I was pleased to see some old friends were members but it was basically a “paysite” and there were problems at the time in sending money to the site operators in the UK, so I basically forgot about it.  I still get regular messages from them, however, giving me an update of the number of people who have signed up and also offering new services.

Later, a colleague from Uzbekistan suggested that I join a “business connections” social network … and once again, I went and had a look.  Again, it seemed interesting … with lots of subscribers … and, once again, you had to sign up … so I created a basic profile … had a look round.  It looked interesting, but there were few people that I knew and most of the members seemed to be far, far away and working in different fields … finance, engineering and especially in IT, so I more or less forgot about it.  I still, occasionally, get a message from the site saying that so-and-so wants to connect with me, but because I used the site so rarely I, somehow, managed to end up with two accounts.  That got really confusing … each time I did manage to log on I noticed that there were different sets of “friends”.  Eventually I managed to get them to close one account and transfer all the friends in it to the other one … but that wasn’t easy.

So, when one of our staff returned after a year studying in the states, and started raving over Facebook … I wasn’t that keen.  I thought it was going to be like the other services that I had signed up for … but, like everyone else in the office, I went and had a look.  Once again, to have a good look round and get an idea of what the site had to offer, you had to sign up … so I created a basic profile … and had a look round.  It looked interesting, but I came to the conclusion that I was right … basically, it was just like the others … and so I would have forgotten about it … except for the fact that I got the occasional message saying that so-and-so wanted to to be my “friend”.  Most of these messages were from people I did not know, (they had “found” me through the “friend finder” service), and so I tended to just ignore these messages just as I did with messages from the other networking services.  The one day, came a “bolt from the blue”.  A message from someone whom I knew quite well – a family member.

Well, since then, I have taken a closer interest and nearly everyday log in to see what my “friends” have been getting up to.

To be honest, I am a bit surprised about some of the things that I see posted on some pages … especially, for example, those associated with schools where I used to teach.  Although I quite enjoyed the Facebook page 50 WAYS TO MAKE A TEACHER WANT TO HIT YOU!, I am glad I am not a teacher having to cope with some of the comments I have seen posted on this or that person’s page.

One “friend” posted a question on her page about Kyrgyzstan … I replied, but I was conscious that it was a “public” comment … anyone and everyone could read it.  It seems to me that, (from some of the comments I see on this page or that), many users forget this. The site offers a number of options ranging from sending “public” messages that can be read by all and sundry, being able to restrict messages so that they can be read only by “friends”, being able to send private messages to individuals and holding a private “chat”.  It seems to me important to choose the right option for the message you want to send.  As in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what you want to say, how you want to say it … and who is going to read what you say.

Twitter is an interesting phenomenon … At the moment I maintain a couple of twitter accounts.  I confess, however, that I am still not certain about the usefulness of sending lots of little messages, limited to a maximum of 140 characters although I do find that limit a interesting challenge.  That’s shorter than most messaging services allow and forces me to think carefully about what I want to say and how best to say it.

I suppose that the main advantage of Twitter is that it is a good way of making short announcements available to a large number of people … but as I always end up with screen after screen of such messages – from “following” less than a dozen people, I can’t help wondering how those who “follow” hundreds of other “tweeters” cope.

There is one thing about the site that I find annoying: the messages which are posted that seem inane and banal.  Some authors seem to get a kick out of being silly or trying to shock their audience.

Nowadays, thanks to the internet and social media, almost anyone can be a “publisher” and reach millions of people with their news and views … even me!   There has been a lot of articles in the media about the use of social media and at one time, as an IT teacher, I would have looked at them with a professional interest.   Since then, however, until recently, I would have passed them by without a second glance.  These days, as a user, I tend to take a greater interest.

Amongst the many issues raised in these articles, especially the question of privacy.  It seems to me however, that one of the main issues is that “responsibility” … taking responsibility for what you put into the public arena … what you say, how you say it, and who you say it to.

In the days of “snail mail”, we thought long and hard about what to write … our letters were physical and went only to the addressee … Of course we are now living in a different world … the pace of life is faster and people want, expect, instant responses, instant gratification … but it seems to me that some things haven’t changed.  Just as in the days of “snail mail”, it is important to think long and hard about what we want to say, how we are going to say it … and who is going to read what we say.

I, for one, always try to bear that in mind.

It’s not the first time I have received such a request … and I do understand the reasons why people want to do it.  It’s quite clear that there are advantages to swapping links … it helps to raise search engine scores, or rankings, and thus should help to increase traffic to both our sites.  Surely that’s something I should welcome.   Well, yes, …. but … I do find that some of the suggested link-swaps very strange.  For example, also this week, we received a suggested link swap for a site that aims to find accommodation … in London.  OK, so I am a British citizen, but that seems a fairly weak justification for providing a link to their site … and I am not sure how a link on their site is going to help, or even interest, surfers looking for accommodation in a European capital.

OK, OK, I know that is not the main reason for implementing links … webmasters that propose such a link exchange don’t really expect these links to attract many clicks … the idea is to take advantage of the way search engines organize their rankings, to manipulate the advantages that the rules provide, or to put it in a more negative light: to try and “fool” the search engines.

Now, I am not opposed per se to swapping links. It seems to me, however, that the links should be at least related to the topic of the site.  For example, we used to have on our main site, (www.celestial.com.kg), to a chain of restaurants in London called Shish.  The link no longer works, and at least one of the chain has closed, but it some time since I have been to London, so I am not sure if the rest of the chain is still working.  However, at that time, we were happy to agree to the link swap because the restaurants specialized in Asian cuisine, especially “Silk Road” Cuisines that you find here in Central Asia.  There seemed to be a relationship, a synergy, between the two.

I am not sure that I see such a connection between a site offering accommodation in one of Europe’s capital cities, and ours.

However, the request I received via Skype presented me with a number of different problems.

First of all, assuming we agreed to the suggestion, where to place the link … at the moment we don’t have a page for links, although we used to have and are planning “partners” page.  That’s a technical question and easy to to answer.

More to the point, however, why would we, (or he for that matter), want to link to, (advertise), a competitor on their website?  It is one thing to link to, (advertise),  a partner based in the UK, France or New Zealand, that runs tours to Kyrgyzstan and use us to organize the delivery of services here in Kyrgyzstan … and another to link, (advertise), a local company offering similar or the same services that we offer – especially in the difficult times that we are experiencing in Kyrgyz Tourism at the present time.

Now, I am on record as saying that I am afraid of competition, in fact I welcome it … because it gives the client a choice and it helps to keep us “on our toes”.   I remember, how the hall fell silent back in 2001, when I said this at at a conference.  A couple of people who were there have even referred to it as being an important moment in helping them to define their own thinking on the subject.  I am not claiming that they all agreed with me … just that I gave them something to think about.

I had been asked to make a speech about the roles of different sectors of society in delivering tourism services.  It was a very powered conference, but I was one of the last speakers on the programme … and to my surprise, there were still quite a few people present.  During the main “headline speeches”, before the coffee break, by notable “bigwigs”, the hall had been packed … there were lots of press.  Usually, after the coffee break, however, the “bigwigs” depart and the press and most of the delegates follow.  This time, it wasn’t so noticeable and the hall was still about half full when I came to the podium in order to make my modest contribution.

There were a few comments about the role of the state, and of the wider community, and then I turned my attention to the private sector.  I pointed out that we all competitors in some respects … there is a limited market, or pool of potential clients and we all wanted, needed even, to attract our fair share in order to survive in business.  On the other hand we were also colleagues … and it would be difficult in some ways to survive if the others didn’t exist.  In many respects we shared a common aim – and we needed each other.

More to the point, Competition, like profit, is not a bad thing in itself.  For one thing, it “keeps us on our toes”.  Competition acts as a spur which motivates businesses to respond to changes in the market and improve their range and standards of facilities and service.   Like many species, a failure to adapt to changes in the environment can lead to death and extinction.

It also offers the clients a choice … “one size doesn’t fit all” … nobody welcomes “Hobson’s Choice” … or as Henry Ford is supposed to have said: “You can have any colour you want, so long as it’s black.”  Clients want to have the option to review a set of offers and then decide for themselves which one to go with.  Imagine going shopping for a piece of furniture, or a household appliance, or in item of clothing … or almost anything, in fact.  The difference between buying a item of clothing or a household appliance and a tour, is that with the first there is usually a chance to “try it on” to “see how it fits” but buying a tour package is very much like “buying a pig in a poke”.

It’s our job to put out our stand in the market place and persuade potential clients that we are the best choice … and that’s what we try to do.  Sometimes we succeed but sometimes, unfortunately, we don’t.    Some people make their choice based on one set of criteria … whilst others choose a different set of criteria. On more than one occasion we have been told by a potential client that they have chosen to go with another company because they offer a similar itinerary for a cheaper price.  Well, thank you for telling us … you would be surprised how many enquirers don’t … they just seem to fall off the face of the earth and we never know, (although we might be able to guess), the reason why?  Another client told us that they chose us because we answered their questions and didn’t make them feel as if they were being treated as “fodder”.  Those are just two examples … sometimes the decision is based on social, economic or policy grounds … one client actually said that her group almost chose another company because they were afraid that a British owned and operated company might not “have the connections” and be able to “deliver” … but they were impressed with the down to earth, practical comments, which suggested that perhaps we could … We did, by the way and some of the group are still in contact with us.

Well, one answer to the dilemma posed by the Skype message is that although there be an overlap between the services offered by the two companies … there are also differences – and sometimes they are quite strong or striking differences.  For example, there are some things that we don’t do, for example we undertake mountaineering expeditions, so we are more than happy to refer people who require about such activities to other local companies that do specialize in these activities.  It helps to bring visitors to Kyrgyzstan who then go home and act as “goodwill ambassadors” and spread the news about the potential of this little known country in Central Asia.

In this particular case, we have known the company quite well for some years and have collaborated with them on a number of projects … sometimes it is a case that we subcontract them to provide some services where they are better equipped or specialized, and we provide others where we are better placed to do so … and sometimes it’s the other way around.    We know them and trust them … they know us and trust us.

It’s not the only local company with whom we cooperate, but the only one that has, so far, asked for an exchange of links.

So, for the record, if you are interested, go and have a look at  http://trekking.kg/ … although we also offer trekking routes, we tend to specialize on motor tours and they have a wider variety of itineraries …

Another site of his that you might want to look at is http://www.traveltajikistan.net/ … although we have tours that cross into Tajikistan … through the Pamirs or along some of the more remote and difficult Silk Road mountain tracks, basically we are based and operate mainly in Kyrgyzstan.  This is the first in a series of sites dedicated to Central Asian Destinations …

There are some people who complain “at the drop of a hat”, who think nothing of making a scene at even the smallest mistake or mishap, whilst others never complain and accept everything that happens with a shrug and “shy away” from complaining, reluctant to create a scene.  Most people, fortunately, fall somewhere in between.

The client, the consumer, has a right to complain if something falls below an acceptable standard … If they pay money for an item or a service, then they are entitled to expect certain standards to be upheld in return.  Apart from being their legal right as consumers, it is only fair and reasonable.  What’s more, even though no-one really likes to have a complaint made, a businessman should welcome complaints.  They be willing, (if not eager), to listen to the complaint and to apologize, investigate the problem, (to see how and why it arose, if only in order to learn from the event and to try and prevent it happening again), and to try and make amends.

Yesterday, I happened to be in the hotel and the staff showed me the comments book.  They were somewhat upset, surprised and even shocked by one of the latest comments … even the one person who had been singled out by the guest for particular praise.  The problem was that they had stayed with us for several days, been very polite and cheerful, never giving any hint that there was a problem, and then when it came time to check-out, asked for the comment book and wrote down a list of complaints … things that had “gone wrong” or been less than satisfactory as far as they were concerned.

“Why didn’t they say something?” was the question I heard over and over again.

I had some sympathy with this, especially as the guest had pointedly said that his comments would be posted “on the internet”.  Under other circumstances, I might have taken this as a “threat” in order to try and force concessions out of a management reluctant to concede that something was unsatisfactory and to do something about it, but in this case we weren’t given the opportunity to do either and so I presume they were simply informing us of their intention to do so.

If they want to post a review on the internet, that’s their privilege.  They will be able to say what has happened, why they were disappointed and what they thought was unsatisfactory.

In the days before the internet they might have told their friends and relatives, colleagues and acquaintances … many, (if not most … if not all), may not be particularly interested in that they were unlikely to visit Bishkek.  In these days of “social media”, however, guests can now write a review which could be seen by tens, hundreds or thousands of internet surfers.   Those surfers presumably read the reviews in order to decide where they want to stay if they are going to be visiting Bishkek.

Such reviews are actually a good resource for consumers, especially those who have not been to and do not know either Bishkek or Kyrgyzstan in general.  I know, because I use them myself.  However, they need to be treated like all reviews, however, with care and caution.  The surfer needs to remember that they represent one person’s account and opinion, events and experiences are presented as seen through their eyes.  If there are several reviews that all reflect the same sort of experience, (either positive or negative), then this is probably indicative of something.  Where there is just one, however, it could be that it is simply represents a “one-off” unfortunate occurrence.  It’s also possible that the reviewer has forgotten to mention something, or wasn’t aware of something that was materially important.

Then again, they didn’t say where they would post their review, which means we may won’t even have the opportunity to exercise a “right of reply” … unless, that is, we happen to come across the review by chance.  That doesn’t seem fair and reasonable to me.

Notice, I haven’t commented, so far, on their actual complaints … It may well be that in some cases I agree with them: that something did go wrong … that we should have done better … something for which we would like to apologize … and which we would like to try to put right … and for which we would like to try to make amends … and thank them for bringing the matter to our attention … so that we can investigate … and try to prevent a repetition of whatever it was.  For example, if they really were kept waiting an hour for a meal to be served, then I do agree that this is unacceptable.  I find it unacceptable when I go to restaurants and have to wait an inordinately long time for my meal to be served.  It shouldn’t happen.  I would like to try and find out why it did … however, we weren’t given the opportunity to apologize and to try and make amends.  That doesn’t seem fair and reasonable to me.

In other cases I would have welcomed some more information.  As it happens, I know which room they were staying in and so I can investigate the problem with the room that they describe and take remedial action to correct it.    However, once again, we weren’t given the opportunity to apologize and to try and put things right at the time.  That doesn’t seem fair and reasonable to me.

It is also possible that in cases I don’t agree with them: everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and to come to their own judgment – even if they are wrong.  I would have welcomed the opportunity to explain why I think something happened … or why it was “as it was”, but I wasn’t given that opportunity.  That doesn’t seem fair and reasonable to me.

Of course, I would had preferred to see a positive review rather than a negative one … but they are entitled to give an account of their experiences and say what happened and to give an opinion … and, unless they tell lies or give a very biased account, then there is nothing we can do except “grin and bear it” and try to ensure that we do better, that we improve our facilities and service and that nothing like this happens again in the future.  It would have been so much better, however, if we had known and been able to do something at the time.

The correct time to complain should be, in theory at least, when a service or product is below the expected standard.

Trying to take a positive slant on the experience and use it in order to improve our service, the lesson seems to be, I suppose, that one way to avoid this sort of thing from happening in the future is to be proactive and to ask, (and keep asking), clients: “Is everything OK?”, “Is everything satisfactory?”.

After all, as the old slogan has it: “If you are satisfied with us, then please tells others … if there are problems, please tell us!”

Don’t get me wrong, they can be very useful, especially for someone like me, living so far away from home, with business partners and clients scattered all around the world.  I have registered and signed up for a couple of services but, to be honest, most of the time I find them frustrating and annoying, rather than a boon.

I can be in the middle of something and the computer beeps at me … someone has logged in …. and, OK, it may well be someone I want to, or need to talk to, but most of the time it is not and all that is has been achieved is that my concentration has been broken.  So, I quickly learned to turn off this alert.

Now I get a bleeped at only when someone wants to “buzz” me, they want to talk with me or send me a file.  That’s better … but all the same, I find I get beeped three or four times as they keep typing two or three words and then hitting ‘Enter’ … worse, they may not have typed anything – just sent me a little “smiley” face, either smiling (that’s why they are called “smileys”); rolling around in fits of laughter; winking; waiving; holding a glass of beer, (presumably saying: “its “beer o’clock” … are you free for a bevy?”) or turning green, (often meaning, “why haven’t you answered me? – I have been bleeping you for ages …” … Sorry, I’m in a meeting – I’m busy!).

Internet chat is part of our modern world … it demands instant gratification.  The problem with this is that an instant response is often badly worded, or ill considered, … or both.

I prefer to get a message, think about it, compose a reply and then review it, before I actually send it.

In that respect, I prefer email.

As well as giving me the luxury of being able to take my time to think through a question, email doesn’t require that my correspondent is logged on at the same time as I am … which can be quite useful when they are in a different time zone on the other side of the world.

Over the weekend, I got a surprise in the email … a message arrived from one of our business partners about some clients crossing Torugart.  In itself, that is not very odd, except I was surprised that he was writing to me.  Normally he would correspond with one of our tour managers and I would only get involved if there was a fundamental problem.  The fact that he was writing direct to me implied that we had a fundamental problem.

The problem, it seemed to me, was that we didn’t have any of his clients crossing Torugart at the moment … or, at least, not as far as I am aware.  Then the message, just one line, seemed to be rather cryptic … no details, no question, just a wry comment, a sort of “verbal smiley”.

Confused, I got up to go and search out the person who usually deals with his account, and suddenly, I don’t know why, I glanced at the screen and noticed something odd.

“That can’t be,” I thought to myself.  The message was date stamped January 8th, 2008.

I wrote quick enquiry and got an almost instant response … yes, it was a genuine message sent on January 8th, 2008.  So where had it been all this time … more than two years and five months.

I’ve heard of letters and postcards, birthday cards and cheques getting lost in the post … isn’t that a time worn excuse for tardiness … but emails lost in the internet?

Now, we rely heavily on email for communication with our clients … and sometimes emails do go missing which can be very frustrating.

Maybe there is something to be said for internet chat after all.