Archive: September, 2010
There comes a time every year, (it’s usually around February of March), when I surprise everyone by announcing that “I’ve already forgotten about this year – I am thinking about next year already”. To be honest, it’s partly said for effect, (and it is usually successful in that respect), but there is also more than [...]
During the week I had an interesting meeting with representatives of a market research company. They are conducting a “salaries survey” and wanted to know if we would participate.
During our search for Kyrgyzstan related travel sites on the internet, for our portal www.links.kg, we came across an interesting little cameo. It’s from a blog called My Thailand Diary, by someone called Lillian. It is subtitled “This is my journal of living in Thailand”. That’s right, Thailand.
There’s a fascination with statistics here. I know that in the West we also have a fascination with numbers, but it seems to be taken to extreme here. I suppose it is a consequence of the culture of “the plan” which was so prevalent in Soviet times. Everything was done to make sure that you [...]
I wrote last week that we had received a new strategy for the development of tourism in the Kyrgyz Republic until 2015. I know that it is important to plan ahead and it is refreshing to see people thinking on a scale greater than “today … and perhaps tomorrow” and there seems to be something about [...]
There are three letters of the alphabet that seem to dominate the thinking of everyone in tourism here in the autumn: W, T and M. What is WTM? – it’s an acronym for “World Travel Market”, a tourism trade fair and exhibition which is staged annually in London. The organizers claim that it is “the [...]
There are a few reasons to take this road: It provides a cross-country route between the Northeast (Issyk Kul) and Southwest (Osh) corners of the country, avoiding the need to travel via Bishkek. The landscapes and villages are different from other, well visited, places and they look remote and untouched. You can visit the Saimaluu-Tash [...]
“Who drinks Kumys will live a century” “Kumys is man’s blood, air is his mind” To some people it is just fermented mare’s milk, but to the Kyrgyz it is a symbol of their nationhood – a gift from god from which they derive energy and inner strength. Today, variations are also made from camel’s [...]
The “Camel Cheese Crew” from “What took you so long?” are here! I wrote a few weeks ago about the project – they are making a series of films about pastoral lifestyles around the world through the theme of Camels and in particular cheese made from camel milk. On their travels they are passing through [...]
The word “Orozo” is Kyrgyz for “fast” – refraining from eating. Orozo Ait is also known as the feast of “Eid al Fitr”. It is a celebration to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the month in which Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the prophet Mohammed – [...]
