Postcard from Bishkek

I came across an interesting article recently which proclaimed that “the best way to explore a city is on foot.”   I thought to myself, “how true”, although I was a bit surprised by some of the editor’s selections for ten of the best cities for walking in, (Florence, Dubrovnik, Paris, New York, Vancouver, Munich, Edinburgh, Boston, Melbourne and Sydney).  As the article said, “There are cities where cars reign supreme, others where a bicycle or public transportation will suffice, and a select few that remain a paradise for two feet. By design or purely by accident, each of these 10 cities beckons you to wander its boulevards, paths, and parks.”  It seems to me that in at least some of those cities, the car does indeed “reign supreme” even though they might well have ample boulevards, paths and parks.

When I first moved to London, back in 1978, it had been different.  After I had moved into my flat, I took a fortnight’s holiday and did the “tourist bit”.  I bought a “go anywhere” ticket for the London Underground and walked around the city taking in the sights: Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London, The National and Tate galleries, the British Museum and the London Dungeon, The Monument and the Bank of England, St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey Hyde Park and St. James’ Park, Oxford Street and Harrods … and so on.  I sat in the public galleries at the Old Bailey and the House of Commons.  All in all I tried to get a feel for the city and its history and geography.

Although it’s true that I also took rides on the Sightseeing open deck, Double decker, buses, most of the time, I was on foot.  As well as getting acquainted with many of the sites of the capital, it helped me to get my bearings and a feel for the scale of the city.

Those two weeks proved to be quite useful.  Over my seventeen years in London, I had taken many a visitor on different routes around London, showing them the sights – and drew upon my experiences to choose which places might be interesting and how, most easily and conveniently, to get from place to place.

I haven’t been back to Britain for five years – but the last time I did go, I took one of our employees, Slava, with me to the World Travel Market Exhibition, (WTM), in London in 2005.  (It was following the Tulip Revolution).  It was a “flying visit”, so we didn’t really have much time to see much more than the Excel exhibition center in East London where the exhibition was being held.  Although I did have a little time on my first and last day to go into the city center for shopping, we seemed to spend most of our “free time” on the tube line from Southgate (where we were staying with friends) and Customs House in East London, which is just over the road from the exhibition hall.

I was intrigued with the Docklands Light Railway.  Although it opened in 1987, and I left the UK in 1995, I had never travelled on it.  I did know about it as it had featured in our IT lessons when we considered the issue of Driverless trains and, in particular, the issues that this raised about computer control.  I enjoyed watching Slava’s face when I “casually” pointed out that the train had no driver.  More to the point, the railway travels above ground once it leaves the station at Bank, and I was fascinated to see all the changes to the cityscape that had occurred since 1995.  How, I wanted to get out and walk along the city streets to observe all the changes and soak up the atmosphere.

These days it is possible to take one of a wide variety of “London Walks” – thematic tours, (for example, Jack the Ripper, Dickens’ London and Old Westminster), guided by experts and/or famous personalities.  There’s no booking, you just “turn up and go”.  They operate whatever the weather according to the published timetable and most last about two hours – although they also have “Explorer Days” tours in their programme,

I have often wondered about trying to do the same here in Bishkek – and even talked about putting together a similar proposal with several people.  It hasn’t happened, although we are working on it.  One reason being that there probably aren’t enough tourists, and most of them have little time in Bishkek in their itinerary – which probably includes a city tour anyway.  As a result, a programme of tours on the model of London Walks might not be viable – but a series of thematic tours might.

Another is that, although Bishkek is smaller than London, it is not as compact and in order to explore some of the themes some form of transport would be needed – so they couldn’t be exactly walking tours.  Also, we would probably need at least two variations – one in English and Russian, (for locals), and possibly extended tours which were longer and took in some of the more outlying sites (for example a tour of the Bishkek Parks).

Because most of our tours involve a “city tour” we do have a number of variations of City Tour itineraries – depending upon the interests of the group.  There are some sights which are a “must”: the White House – the seat of government – and the main square with the Historical Museum and Friendship House; walking through Oak Park looking at the Open Air Museum of Sculpture, seeing the Kyrgyz and Russian Dram Theaters and the Theater of Opera and Ballet; visiting Tsum, (the Central Department Store), and Osh Bazaar; maybe visiting the Russian Orthodox Cathedral and/or the Central Mosque  … depending on the wishes of the client and the time available in their itinerary, they can often include a visit out to more distant spots such as the Ala Archa National Park.

We even have a “Walking Tour” of Bishkek, which is available as a leaflet for independent tourists, that starts and ends at the Silk Road Lodge, our hotel in Bishkek.  I’ll post that on a separate post for anyone who is interested.  Some of the guide books, such as the Odyssey Guide to Kyrgyzstan by Rowan Stewart, also have specimen tours.

The idea of the London Walks tours, however, is a little different.  A concentrated two hours on a given theme, guided by an expert.

Although Bishkek is not as large as London, doesn’t have such a long history, has fewer “sights” and some of these themes would involve the need for transport, there are is still potential which I think are worth exploring.  These are some of the themes we are currently working on:

• Street walks – Walk along one of Bishkek’s main streets, (such as Chui Prospect) and see what what is there, look at the different styles of architecture; learn about the history of the street, and its place in history.  (I will post an example of what one might see walking along Prospect Chui – the main street in Bishkek.)
• Monuments of Bishkek – concentrating on the statues, mosaics, fountains, memorial plaques, and so on.  We already have leaflets in preparation for two such itineraries on this theme.  (Actually, I have delivered this tour myself for several visitors … looking at several examples of the most striking monuments in Central Bishkek – but to be honest, I am no expert and don’t really know enough about the various artists and sculptures.)
• Memorial Plaques of Bishkek … London may have something like 900 official “blue plaques” commemorating people and events – but Bishkek also has some 135 official memorial plaques.  It is true that most would mean little to foreign tourists, but I think that many local people would find this tour of interest.
• Small museums of Bishkek.  Most tourists to Bishkek visit the city’s main museums: The Historical Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, (and perhaps the Frunze Museum), but there are a host of other small and commemorative museums ranging from the Zoological Museum to the Chuikov and Toktogul Museums.  Most are quite small – perhaps just one or two rooms – but what better way to explore the Artistic or Literary heritage of the city than to visit a two or three specialist museums.
• Performance Bishkek taking in the obvious Theaters, (Russian, Kyrgyz, Opera and Ballet,) but also the puppet Theater, the Concert Halls, cinemas and even the Metro Pub which has a long and varied History as a concert hall and Theater.
• Colonial Bishkek exploring what remains of Pre-revolution (the 1917 Revolution that is) Pishpek, (as Bishkek was then called.
• Soviet Bishkek, highlighting some of the places associated with the rise and rule of the Soviet Union.
• Bishkek as the “seat of power” various government buildings and monuments,
• Marble Bishkek.  The 1970s and 1980s saw a number of major construction projects throughout the republic – especially in the capital, Frunze – now Bishkek, and a trend to redevelop city centers with modern office buildings, department stores, and cinemas – making use of materials such as marble, concrete and glass.  The Communist Party First Secretary, Turdakan Usunbaev, was known for being able to extract funding from the central authorities in Moscow for constructing such grand projects as the new “White House”, the Lenin Museum (now the Historical Museum), the Museum of Fine Arts, the Russian and Kyrgyz drama theatres, the Circus, the Wedding Palace and the Central library.   The ambitious projects included the monumental marble edifices of the White House, the Historical Museum, the National Library, the Philharmonia concert hall, the facade of the Ala Too Square and the Municipal Banya, (Sauna).
• Markets of Bishkek – a wander through a market can offer much more than simply bargains, such as a feel for everyday life of the city’s inhabitants, and Bishkek has a range of markets to explore – from the main Osh Bazaar, to smaller, specialized bazzars and the massive Dordoi Market – Central Asia’s largest bazaar.
• Religious Bishkek, visiting places of worship such as the Russian Orthodox cathedral, (and possibly the Catholic and Protestant churches), the Central Mosque, and the Synagogue.
• Bishkek Parks, Bishkek is renowned for being a “green” city, with more trees per head of population than any other city in Central Asia.  It owes this distinction to the Russian Army Engineers who drew up the plans for the city when it became the regional headquarters towards the end of the nineteenth century, and to individuals who planted trees to provide shade from the heat of the summer sun.  Locals and visitors alike can be found ambling through the parks and the avenues in the central part of town – taking it easy and soaking up the atmosphere.  In the centre itself, many of the open areas merge one into the other and it is not always clear where one park ends and the next begins.  Some of the parks may appear a little dishevelled – but that doesn’t mean that they are not cared for.
• A walk around the Ala Archa Cemetery.  Cemeteries can be interesting places.  Some of the most fascinating Sunday afternoons that I have spent in London Paris have involved visits to cemeteries visiting the graves of Oscar Wilde and the Ballet dancer Nijinsky in Paris, and Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery.  The Ala Arch Cemetery is the the final resting place for many leading and important personalities from Kyrgyzstan’s modern history, and an excellent to explore History through Characters.
• Similarly, a walk through the Botanical Gardens, where there are thousands of specimens of different types of plants.
• Revolution Walk – it might seem poor taste in view of the number who died in the events of April 2010, but we have had two revolutions which toppled a government in the span of five years.  A short walk through the city center telling the story of these two events could be an enlightening experience as well as a way to commemorate those who fell and lost their lives.

Tags: Bishkek, Places, Reminiscences, Tourism