Postcard from Bishkek

Technically, a tourist is someone who spends at least one night away from home. That’s the lower limit.  There is an upper limit as well, but that tends to depends on who’s definition is being used.  One definition talks of someone travelling for up to a year, but more generally it seems to be up […]

A short time ago I saw an article about the attractions of Central Asia and the traveling along the Great Silk Road.  One of the options it highlighted was Soviet Tourism. I have long felt that here in Kyrgyzstan we don’t make enough of Soviet Heritage when pointing out the attractions of the country  In […]

I suppose that, like most people, the first time I came across the acronym MICE, I thought of rodents – little furry creatures that either make us cringe as they scurry around … or fawn over as cuddly, adorable and humourous characters, (such as Mickey or Jerry). Working in Tourism, it was only a brief […]

A short while ago we did a short presentation of the hotel for a group of students following a Hotel Management course at one of Bishkek’s universities. As I understood the request, the idea may simply to get them out of the classroom and into a real hotel … it wasn’t clear how many of […]

One of the problems of being an Englishman here in Kyrgyzstan is that I am often about English, like questionhs “How do you say in English, xxx?“, where “xxx” can be a simple word, or a complicated phrase … and I sometimes have to think hard to some up with an answer; especially if I […]

Today is the first day of Winter … in just a month’s time it will be New Year – the biggest holiday of the year. The place basically closes down for several days  - virtually all the shops close for New Year’s Day, January 1st, even the Narodniy supermarkets which are normally open all day […]

Andrei has developed an interesting habit – I call it “I-want-to-go-to-itis“. The other day, for example, he was introduced to somebody, a visitor from Norway, and when he came home asked me, “where did she say she was from?”  ”Norway,” I replied … and he turned on the computer and Googled “Norway” … then switched […]

Today, the Silk Road Lodge – our hotel in Bishkek – becomes a teenager! It was 13 years ago today that we opened the doors and accepted our first guests. Since then, Kyrgyzstan – and Bishkek in particular – has changed considerably.

One of the oldest forms of tourism is the Pilgrimage: a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance, typically a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to one’s beliefs and faith. Its a growing aspect of tourism with the numbers of people involved continuing to rise.  For example, just 39 of the most […]

Although we often get requests asking us send send examples of whatever tour itineraries we have to offer, most people don’t really want an “off the peg” option but want something tailored to fit their particular interests, timetable and so forth. A few years ago we received a request that said a small group of […]