I expected to spend most of my time this week writing about the election campaign which has now been underway for a week.
I am not sure, however, what I can actually write. There are a number of posters and banners lining the streets for this party or that. The loudspeaker vans have been going up and down the streets. I have seen some cars adorned with flags for one party or another like football supporters often decorate their cars when there is a cup final. Adverts for parties are interspersed throughout television programmes – but oddly enough it struck me that it a different party each night … one night it was all Ar Namys, and another the SDPK and another a different party. Maybe it was just coincidence that as I was channel hopping I just happened to catch the same party all the time. Different political leaders have been interviewed in the media and, of course, there has been plenty of comment and analysis. More…
Prices are a very important element of any package, and can be the source of much misunderstanding. More…
There comes a time every year, (it’s usually around February of March), when I surprise everyone by announcing that “I’ve already forgotten about this year – I am thinking about next year already”.
To be honest, it’s partly said for effect, (and it is usually successful in that respect), but there is also more than just a grain of truth behind it. More…
During the week I had an interesting meeting with representatives of a market research company. They are conducting a “salaries survey” and wanted to know if we would participate. More…
During our search for Kyrgyzstan related travel sites on the internet, for our portal www.links.kg, we came across an interesting little cameo. It’s from a blog called My Thailand Diary, by someone called Lillian. It is subtitled “This is my journal of living in Thailand”.
That’s right, Thailand. More…
There’s a fascination with statistics here. I know that in the West we also have a fascination with numbers, but it seems to be taken to extreme here. I suppose it is a consequence of the culture of “the plan” which was so prevalent in Soviet times. Everything was done to make sure that you demonstrate that you had exceeded the plan … whilst carefully avoiding any indicator which suggested the contrary. I have written in the past about how different ministries can produce different statistics that claim to measure the same thing – but are at variance with one another. Somebody seems to want to prove that things are getting better, whilst someone else wants to show that there are still problems. The problems is that the statistics always raise more questions than they answer – if a picture is a worth a thousand words and there’s a story behind every one, then there’s always a complete saga behind each statistic.
Well, there has been plenty of statistics this week. More…
I wrote last week that we had received a new strategy for the development of tourism in the Kyrgyz Republic until 2015.
I know that it is important to plan ahead and it is refreshing to see people thinking on a scale greater than “today … and perhaps tomorrow” and there seems to be something about five year plans here. I suppose it is a hangover from the Soviet period when Five Year Plans were de rigeur. More…
There are three letters of the alphabet that seem to dominate the thinking of everyone in tourism here in the autumn: W, T and M.
What is WTM? – it’s an acronym for “World Travel Market”, a tourism trade fair and exhibition which is staged annually in London. The organizers claim that it is “the premier global event for the travel industry … a vibrant must attend four-day business-to-business event presenting a diverse range of destinations and industry sectors to UK and International travel professionals”, providing “a unique opportunity for the whole global travel trade to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business under one roof.” More…
There are a few reasons to take this road:
- It provides a cross-country route between the Northeast (Issyk Kul) and Southwest (Osh) corners of the country, avoiding the need to travel via Bishkek.
- The landscapes and villages are different from other, well visited, places and they look remote and untouched.
- You can visit the Saimaluu-Tash petroglyphs (stone inscriptions). Saimaluu-Tash means “Embroidered Stones”. There are estimated to be around 10 000 rock carvings and drawings which were revealed to the outside world at the beginning of 20th century when Russians decided to build a road from the town of Djalal-Abad to their outpost in Naryn.
More…
“Who drinks Kumys will live a century”
“Kumys is man’s blood, air is his mind”
To some people it is just fermented mare’s milk, but to the Kyrgyz it is a symbol of their nationhood – a gift from god from which they derive energy and inner strength.
Today, variations are also made from camel’s milk and cow’s milk – but to the Kyrgyz, true Kumys is always made from mare’s milk. More…
