Postcard from Bishkek

Although Celestial Mountains is basically a tour company, we knew that there was a problem in infrastructure of the country, especially in regard to the provision of accommodation.

Kyrgyzstan has long been a tourist destination.  In the days of the Soviet Unions, Resorts and Sanatoria, (especially around Lake Issyk Kul), accommodated large numbers of holidaymakers.  There were also a number of hotels in Bishkek, and also in some of the major cities such as Osh, Djalal Abad and Naryn.  The trouble at that time was that time (1997) many of them were still very much “Soviet style” institutions and Western visitors wanted greater levels of comfort and service than was generally available.  Electricity was unreliable, hot water was not always available, the food tended to be “fatty”, and so on.  Drawing on our combined experience as travelers we drew up lists of what we would look for in accommodation if we were visiting Kyrgyzstan and what was available.  We decided that the best way to meet the discrepancy between the two lists was to provide out accommodation where possible – and book the best available accommodation where we couldn’t provide our own.

As part of our strategy, we planned a number of hotels and guesthouses throughout the Kyrgyz Republic, offering comfortable accommodation equipped to Western style and standards.  The original plan was to establish tour itineraries travelling between them, and exploring the areas around them – events have developed somewhat differently and hence these plans have yet to be fully implemented.

The Guesthouse in Naryn was the first of these. Naryn was chosen as the site for the first investment because it has an important place on the road to the Torugart Pass – the only border crossing to China then available for passenger traffic. A block of four apartments was purchased and converted into a small guesthouse with 12 guest rooms, clean and modern western style toilets and showers.  In summer a number of yurts are also provided.  Although it was originally intended to offer accommodation for tourists travelling to, or from, Torugart a growing number of travellers are spending more time in the Naryn region – visiting places like Ece Naryn, Salkyntor, Tash Rabat, At Bashi, Son Kul, and Kochkor, and guests have also included a large number of businessmen and visiting dignitaries.

Drawing upon our experiences in Naryn we then planned and built a new hotel in the centre of Bishkek – The Silk Road Lodge – which opened in August 2000. Because it was to be located on a prime city center site we were told that it had to be bigger than we originally planned and so we decided that we had to “move up-market”.  As it happens the Silk Road Lodge has quickly established itself as a small, friendly, hotel – popular with tourists, businessmen, consultants and visiting dignitaries alike.

The say that imitation is one of the highest forms of compliment – and it is a compliment that we have been paid on many occasions.  One of the unintended results of our investment here in Kyrgyzstan is that several guesthouses and hotels have adopted many of innovations which we introduced have been adopted by other guesthouses and hotels throughout the country, and several of our staff  been involved in the planning and opening of other hotels.