Postcard from Bishkek

The weather forecast for today is good … sunny with temperatures into the thirties.  Mind you, that’s not altogether surprising.  After all, it is July, summertime, and when I first came here I was promised something like three hundred days of sunshine a year.   We never seem to make it, however, and although I […]

As part of my daily routine of scouring the internet for news and comment related to Kyrgyzstan, tourism, the Hospitality Industry, and Trivia, I recently came across an article containing an interview given by a professor about his college’s programme of internships.

Apparently, there’s been some controversy in the British press about the possibility of Gordon Brown taking over as Chairman of the IMF, (International Monetary Fund), with David Cameron saying that he is not convinced that it’s a good idea.  He feels that although Gordon Brown has plenty of experience as Chancellor of the Exchequer, (the […]

One of the most difficult questions we get asked by clients is about tipping.  Should they give a tip? And, if so, how much? Now, back in Britain, when I was growing up we never had a system of service charges imposed on the bill.   In a restaurant, the price on the menu was what […]

  This was written a few years ago and is based on an answer to an enquiry we received by email from someone who was planning to bring their own vehicle to Kyrgyzstan. As such it is written in the first person.  It is not meant to be definitive advice or exhaustive.  Make sure you […]

Some years ago I was having lunch with a guide who had just returned from taking a group around Kyrgyzstan, and he was giving me a report on how it went.  During the conversation the conversation was punctuated by gaps as he got out his notebook and started writing something in it. Intrigued, I asked […]

Every now and again I get asked if I will deliver a talk to a group of students.  As a former teacher, who “loves the sound of his own voice”, how can I refuse?

I know that I have a penchant for clichés … pet phrases which populate many of my conversations. One that always seems to raise eyebrows when people hear it for the first time is: “Don’t close doors!”

I try not to get involved when it appointing personnel – except for senior posts within the company.  This might seem a strange policy at first glance – after all, with about 70 staff overall, the companies are not a huge and it wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) be too much to ask the Director to take […]

“Houston, we have a problem …”, that is how the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 reported the incident, in 1970, when an explosion on board ruptured an oxygen tank … and led to the abandonment of the mission which was to have included the third lunar landing. “We have a problem …” is a phrase that […]