Postcard from Bishkek

Kyrgyzstan lies in a seismically active zone … that is, it experiences a number of earthquakes. The frequency and severity of the earthquakes can vary considerably … as can the consequences. Some are relatively mild and pass almost unnoticed, whereas others can be strong and create serious damage. When they occur in built up, more […]

Djalal-Abad is the administrative, economic and cultural center of Djalal-Abad oblast (province). It lies in the south of the Kugart valley, in the foothills of the Babash Ata mountains to the North. The climate is noted for dry, hot summers, warm and sunny autumns with rare rain bursts and winters are warm with high humidity. […]

A recent report in the Daily Telegraph caught my eye … apparently the residents of a small rural town in southern England were surprised to discover that their housing estate, built back in the 1960’s, is shaped like a swastika. Nobody seems to have noticed the resemblance before – until, that is, it was spotted in […]

Prospect Manas, runs from Jibek Jolu in the North, up to the Railway line in the South.  Further up towards the mountains, the road becomes Prospect Mira  … (Peace Avenue). It used to be known as Belinskaya and is still referred to by this name be many older residents. It was renamed Prospect Manas in […]

Talas is a town in a valley of the same name … and the administrative center of the oblast, which also shares the name. It is cut off from the rest of Kyrgyzstan by the mountain ranges and the “easiest” route is via Kazakhstan – involving the need for a transit visa. It is, however, […]

Some time ago I was looking for something on the internet and. you know how it is when you are surfing, I found myself on a webpage about something totally different.  In this case it was a geographical site … and I had landed up on a page about “places named after people” … and […]

In recent weeks, the region known as the Ferghana Valley has been much in the news. For the record: The fertile Feghana Valley is about 300 kilmeters long and 170 kilometers wide and is divided between three neighbouring Central Asian states, (Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan and Kyrgyzstan), and comprises the flood plain of the Syr Darya River, […]

A few years ago I was asked by a friend where he could take his wife ind in-laws for a weekend away. As it happens, he knows Kyrgyzstan quite well, (his wife is Kyrgyz), and he had already been to many places around Bishkek. He wanted to avoid the obvious places like Ala Archa, which […]

Back in 1972, on 24th November, the Osh oblast was created. Osh is in the Southern part of Kyrgyzstan, bordering China, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as well as the Kyrgyz oblasts of Batken, Djalal Abad and Naryn. Possibly because we are based in Bishkek, in the North of the country, most of the requests we receive […]

At the Eastern end of Lake Issyk Kul, at San Tash, there is what is thought to be a haunting “monument” to the fallen of a war fought long ago between the armies of Tamerlane and the Chinese Empire. Legend has it that Tamerlane ordered his soldiers to each pick up a stone from the […]