Postcard from Bishkek

There seems to be a universal fascination with celebrating anniversaries … and no less so here than in the West.  All the same, I was somewhat surprised the other day to see a reference to today as the “Birthday of Blue Jeans“. What started out as heavy duty work clothes have also served as a […]

Back in 2007, the Kyrgyz Post Office issued a stamp showing a man looking awfully looking like Santa Claus: a jolly looking, “portly”, round faced old man with red cheeks, sporting a long white beard, and a flowing red coat … apart, perhaps, from the fact that he was wearing a white Kalpak – the […]

Toktogul Satylganov uulu, (25th October, 1864-17th February, 1933), was a Kyrgyz poet – regarded as a democrat, a thinker, an outstanding komuzist (a performer of komuz music and improviser). He was born into a poor family in the village of Kysha in the Ketmen Tubin valley,  near to where the Toktogul reservoir now lies. Although […]

On a hilltop in the Kent countryside, an arrow found it’s target and was to change the course of history. It was 14th October, 1966, and legend has it that the English King, Harold, was struck in the eye by an arrow shot by one of the archers in Duke William of Normandy’s army that […]

The second Sunday in October is another of the professional holidays that are a feature of the calendar here in Kyrgyzstan … it’s National Crafts Day. One of the aspects of traditional Kyrgyz crafts was the manufacture of jewelry both in precious metals and stones (for example, corals and turquoise) .  Unlike most of the traditional crafts […]

Last week we organized a concert by the musical group Jetigen for a group of tourists who were interested to see and hear a variety of musical instruments. Because it is the beginning of the academic year, Aizada, (the Director of the Music School in which the group is based), brought a group of older […]

Embroidery, saima, was a very popular and widespread craft – practiced by women of all ages – from the very young to the very old – and was more individualistic than some of the other traditional crafts, because it didn’t require a collective effort. Perhaps the best known examples of saima are Tush Kiyiz, (pronounced “toosh […]

We all like the sunshine, which cheers us up and makes the world seem a better place. When I first came to Kyrgyzstan, I was promised something like three hundred days of sunshine a year.  We never seem, however, to make it and that was probably an exaggeration.  Indeed, I once read that there are […]

International Women’s Day was back in March, but in certain circles – today is Ladies’ Day.  It’s all to do with a four day race meeting that takes place back in Good Old Blighty that has become a traditional event in the cultural calendar: Royal Ascot.

In the remote north-western corner of Kyrgyzstan is the valley of the Talas River.  There are, basically, only three roads into the valley, one over the mountains from the main Bishkek-Osh highway, another over the mountains from the even more remote Chatkal valley (which is open only for a few months each year) to the […]