Postcard from Bishkek

During February 2014 the range of topics covered in the postcards included the following topics:

Day by Day

• Unlucky for some.  - The regular weekly postcard looking at events here in Kyrgyzstan during the previous week – 01/02/14
• Have an adventure - adventure can be defined in many different ways and Kyrgyzstan offers great potential for Adventure Tourism – 02/02/14
• Places named after people - Kyrgyzstan seems to have a habit of renaming places in honour of famous sons and daughters – 03/02/14
• Cholponbek Bazarbaev - for many years the face of Kyrgyz ballet – 04/02/14
• Corruption – Not exclusively a Kyrgyz problem - following a report about the breathtaking widespread corruption in Europe, it became clear that is not an exclusively Kyrgyz problem – 05/02/14
• Talas - The homeland of Manas, the legendary hero of the Kyrgyz – 06/02/14
• Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko – Explorer - the short life of one of the Russian explorer who helped to open up Central Asia to the outside world – 07/02/14
•  Let the games begin  - The regular weekly postcard looking at events here in Kyrgyzstan during the previous week – 08/02/14
• Travel times and distance …  – Maps can be deceiving – 09/02/14
• Town and Gown - On the anniversary of the St. Scholastica’s Day riots in Oxford in 1355 – which cost almost a hundred lives – a look at Higher Education in Kyrgyzstan – 10/02/14
• A Saint visits Kyrgyzstan - A surprise visit from an icon of Russian history; St. Sergius of Radonezh - 11/02/14
• Sambo - The Winter Olympics aren’t the only international sporting event going on in the world, we’ve just hosted an international Sambo competition  - 12/04/02
• Sadyrbaev Dooronbek - Thursday was the 75th anniversary of this filmmaker turned politician’s birth – 13/04/02
• Thirteen days in February - Why the Russians once arrived late for the Olympic Games – 14/02/04
• Chicken Little – the day the sky fell in  - The regular weekly postcard looking at events here in Kyrgyzstan during the previous week – 15/02/14
• Always a good idea … ? - Why are all the best travel slogans already taken … Kyrgyzstan, always a good idea! – 16/02/14
• Now is the winter of our discontent  – “What a lot of weather we are having” … putting Bishkek’s temperature into a little context – 17/02/14
• Yusuf Abdrakhmanovich Abdrahmanov  – The story of the father of Modern Kyrgyzstan – 18/02/14
• In answer to a question: - A correspondent wrote asking me about the dilmma facing Kyrgyzstan … to support the development of the China-Kurgyzstan-Uzbekistan (East-West) railway or the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan (North-South) route – 19/02/14
• Djumabek Asankulov  – The man who was the M of Kyrgyzstan … and some interesting stories about the declaration of Independence – 20/02/14
• The day of the Guide - Friday was the International Day of the Guide … - 21/02/14
• Mapping - - The regular weekly postcard looking at events here in Kyrgyzstan during the previous week – 22/02/14
• Off the beaten track … Kol Suu - Kyrgyzstan is well endowed with “remote and beautiful” spots … and Kol Suu is definitely one of them! - 23/02/14
• A messy business - A run-in with the authorities over litter – 24/02/14
• The Beautiful Onion - Recently a new species of onion was Discovered in Southern Kyrgyzstan – 25/02/14
• A second foray into Issyk Kul - Pyotr Semenov’s second visit to Issyk Kul in 1856 – 26/02/14
• Zelenka – Green Fingers - Here, having “green fingers” may mean something other than describing who is good with plants  - 27/02/14
• Yevgeny Dmtrievich Polianov - The story of the translator of the Manas Epic saga into Russian – 28/02/14