As the old year draws to a close, I got a bit of a surprise today when I saw the following entry in my daily “google alert” for Kyrgyzstan:
Asian Countries Solar Eclipse 4 January 2011 Timing : Solar …
By admin
In Asia, 4 Jan 2011 Solar Eclipse will be visible in few Asian Countries like Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China (In Some Regions), India (In some Regions), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mongolia (In Some …
Buzznews Live – http://buzznewslive.com/
Of course, I had to go and have a look at the post.
It’s clear from the maps that I would have gotten a better view of the event from the UK, but it was also clear that here in Kyrgyzstan, weather permitting, we ought to get a reasonably good view.
More…
I am back from Naryn. Yes, it was a flying visit – it often is. It’s a five hour journey each way, and we usually start work as soon as we arrive and continue until late into the evening. Tatiana, (my accountant from Bishkek) and Asya, (the accountant from Naryn), work on the monthly accounts whilst I walk round the property making an inspection and discuss other matters, (routine or otherwise), with the manager, Marat.
This month, as well as the usual monthly reports, because it is December, there was also the matter of preparing the annual summaries. Normally that is a major task and it takes the two accountants in Bishkek, (both of them called Tatiana), a couple of months to complete. That’s partly because the Bishkek operation is so much larger and partly because it has to be interspersed with other routine work.
In Naryn it is much easier, partly because it is a smaller operation, but also because at this time of year things are very quiet. Very few people travel to, or through, Naryn in the “dead of winter”. This is not all that surprising when you remember that Naryn is known as the coldest town in Kyrgyzstan – where the temperature has been known to fall to -40 degrees Celsius. More…
I’m off to Naryn for my regular monthly visit to the guesthouse.
The main road from Bishkek to Naryn offers a wide variety of landscapes, and although I know the route well, travelling it about 150 times, (at least once a month over the last twelve and a half years), I never tire of the range of different scenes that unfold before your eyes along it. More…
So, Christmas has arrived. Many people agree with the song, (written by Eddie Pola and George Wyle and made famous by Andy Williams), “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”.
Although a popular song in its own right, it pales into insignificance when compared to “White Christmas”, (“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”), by Irving Berlin from the film “Holiday Inn”, released in 1942, which is probably the song which is most often associated with Christmas in the West. It’s been recorded over 500 times in many different languages but the original version sung by Bing Crosby is the one that most people recognize and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the best selling single of all time with “estimated” sales of over 50 million copies. More…
In the post about Izhkak Razzakov, I mentioned that after his death in 1979, his body was buried in the Kuntsevskom Cemetery in Moscow, but that in 2000 his remains were returned to his native Kyrgyzstan and interred in the Ala Archa cemetery in Bishkek.
Somebody wrote me an email saying that they were confused – as the guide books say that Ala Archa was a National Park. That’s true, but it is also the name of the country’s premier cemetery – the equivalent of the National Cemetery. More…
Who could possibly confuse Kyrgyzstan with the Ivory Coast? Why did news reports about the election results in this small West African country strike a chord with me this week? Could it simply be related to the fact that we have also had a recent election drama or that both countries seem to be divided into North and South – just like the United States had been during their civil war in the nineteenth century? More…
I was coming home from a meeting in the Hyatt tonight and it was bitterly cold, (-6 degrees Celsius, but with a wind chill factor that made it feel like -10), and slippery underfoot, so I decided that even though it wasn’t far, I would take a precaution and get a taxi.
As we drove along the main street, Prospect Chui, I noticed a huge billboard – it was in Kyrgyz, so I couldn’t understand everything that was written on it, but I did understand two phrases: 100 Jill, (100 Years), and Ishkak Razzakov.
Now the postal address of the guesthouse in Naryn is Razzakova 42, and there is a street in central Bishkek also called Razzakov, so I knew who Ishkak Razzkov was – what I hadn’t realized was that it was his 100th anniversary. I haven’t seen any comment about it in the local media, so this came as a surprise to me. More…
Yesterday I had from Aizada. She’s the Director of one of the city’s Music Schools – The Children’s Musical School Number 7.
I am not sure why the schools here are given numbers rather than names, but that’s the system here. They name virtually everything else in honour of some notable character or other. The National Museum of Fine Arts, for example, is named in honour of the famous Kyrgyz artists Gapar Aitiev; The Sports Palace is named after Kojumkol, a giant of a man famous for his fantastic feats of strength; The Philharmonia Concert Hall is named for Satylganov Toktogul, a notable akyn and manaschi … and so on. There are some exceptions, but on the whole, schools, hospitals and many other buildings are unimaginatively identified by just a number. More…
There are no Lords, Ladies, Knights, Barons or Earls in Kyrgyzstan, and the Order of Lenin is no longer issued, but the country does have a system for honouring its citizens (and foreigners) and recognizing their contributions to society and the development of various aspects of the social, economic, intellectual and cultural life of the country or their humanitarian, charitable or other services to the community. More…
I have been asked some questions about the “Baseball Kids”, so I thought I had better spend a little time explaining the situation.
I have known them for about four years now … Although they live on the outskirts of town, some of them used to hang around the city center, (around Beta Stores, the Russia Cinema and the Philharmonia), where a large number of young people gather. These are all within one block of the office, so we saw them quite frequently in the neighbourhood. More…
