Postcard from Bishkek

  Skiing and snowboarding have been getting a lot of attention here in recent years … or, perhaps, I ought to say “extra attention” because there has always been a fair bit of skiing in the country. The Swiss journalist Ella Maillart, for example, tells how she skied down a mountain on her trip through […]

On 29th November, 1972, Atari announced the release of a new video game, Pong, which, (although it was not the first such video game), was to become the first commercially successful venture of this type … and laid the foundation of what is now a multi-million (billion) entertainment industry, (not forgetting the myriad of other […]

The Kenyan politician, Senator Beatrice Elachi, says: “It is not easy being in politics …”, and the statistics suggest that it is even harder making your mark in politics if you’re a woman. With a few notable exceptions … there are far fewer women who “break the glass ceiling” and make it to the top […]

Today is the fourth Thursday in November, which means that it’s Thanksgiving – an American holiday which commemorates the first successful harvest which the European settlers managed to gather after they had crossed the Atlantic. They had survived a difficult year and managed to survive … seemingly against all odds. Although they were living on […]

Today happens to be a big day for the Orthodox Christians here in Kyrgyzstan. According to the Orthodox calendar, November 26th is the saint’s day for St. John Chrysostom, and special services will be conducted especially in the Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection here in Bishkek.

One of the first movies I remember seeing, (although it wasn’t actually the first), was a John Wayne western called She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Although I don’t think of it as a classic film, it has managed to retain a place in my affection after all these years – possibly because of that “earliest” […]

When I first came here, back in the mid 1990s, very little was known back in the West about Kyrgyzstan and Bishkek. I often tell the story about a phone call that I received from my mother, a few weeks before my eventual departure.  She asked me,  ”Where did you say you are going?”  ”Bishkek, […]

Every now and again, in my surfing of the internet, I come across a “gem” … a photograph … or a phrase, … a quotation … or a clip, a cartoon …  or … something that catches my eye.  I make a note or bookmark the page, but to be honest, I am not very […]

There are some dates in the calendar that have special significance – defined by the events that happened on that day … in one year or another … defining moments in history.

The enclave of Shahimardan, (the name means King of Men),  is 90 square kilometers of Uzbek territory and is located in a gorge in the Alai Mountains, 55 kilometres south of the Uzbek city of Ferghana at an altitude of 1500m. above sea level. The Alai mountains, with its precipitous cliffs and mountain streams descending from the towering […]