Postcard from Bishkek

Tonight is Halloween. Halloween is not particularly marked here in Kyrgyzstan, although I see that several bars and nightclubs are holding special events on the theme. Some Muslim leaders have urged people not to commemorate the festival as it is not Islamic … and I see that a politician in Russia is urging that the […]

Abdykerim Sydykov is regarded as one of the founders of the Kyrgyz state – with a bust in the Alley of statesmen, with one of the streets in Central Bishkek, and a school named after him. Born on 26th October, 1889, into the aristocracy of the Solto tribe in, what is today, the Alemedin District. […]

The other day, I had a visitor – the mother of an old friend.  After we had spent some time in small talk, chatting about this and that, and just as she was about to take her leave she mentioned the reason for her visit. “Ian, do you remember those marinoveni eggs”, (pickled eggs),  ” […]

There are some artists whose names are instantly recognizable to almost everyone, (such as Rembrandt or Da Vinci, Picasso or Dali, Manet or Monet, van Gogh or van Dyke …), and their work is usually well known … but there are many more that are less well known, perhaps only for one or two of […]

What’s the Time? – It seems to be s simple enough question … but, in actual fact, it is fraught with difficulty … . It is actually a question of language – not metaphysics.  The question seems to imply an absolute value, (“What’s the time?”), but the answer is more to do with our understanding […]

During the week, one of the local news agencies published an interesting article about a survey they had conducted. They had decided to ask visitors to Kyrgyzstan to sum up their impressions in just three words and the article listed some of most “striking” responses. Some of them were supplemented by quotations in which the […]

No, although I missed several weeks, I haven’t completely lost track of time.  New Year, (that is 1st January, 2015), is still about 10 weeks away.  Today is the first day of Muharram, the first month of the year according to the Islamic calendar, and hence first day of 1436 AH. AH is a reference to […]

It’s one of the disappointing aspects of Kyrgyzstan that with so much history, very little actually remains intact.  There is plenty for archaeologists to explore but, unfortunately, little is evident above ground.  

The other day, when I was looking for potential themes for postcards, I came across the fact that today is the birthday of the man whose name is a “legend” and who is considered to have been the best footballer of all time: Pelé. Now, I am not a great football fan, (sorry, Soccer fan […]

The story of Manas, the “legendary” hero of the Kyrgyz, is told in an epic saga which it is claimed is the longest in the world.  Actually, here is some dispute about that with a number of potential claimants to the title …  but there is no argument that it is indeed a massive work- […]