Day 2 Bishkek

Up at 8.30 for breakfast and our “welcome meeting” at 9.30. Another start to the day when it feels like someone has touched your eyes with a stinging nettle. I’m really making this whole gig sound so attractive, aren’t I?

The meeting is fine. Our leader is James from Mancunia, but lives in Luang Prabang in Laos, obviously. He’s a very affable man with a glint in his eye, and a fine line in winding up and sarcasm. He looks a bit like Brandon Flowers, so the Billy Goat is a touch dreamy. His local guide is Olga. A fifth generation Russian born in Kyrgyzstan. She speaks good English and seems pretty friendly.

The paying guests number nine. 6 Brit’s and 3 Americans. Because someone had to pull out at the last minute we’re also joined by Katie, who works in sales for our tour provider, Wild Frontiers. She’s here to effectively work, observing all aspects of the trip. What a job! The down side, is that she had 3 day’s notice. She is younger than the rest of us by a long long way. I think Cate might have a “mother attack” on her, not least as she originates from the village where our daughter is having her wedding in November.

Fully briefed up, we headed en mass on to the mean streets of Bishkek. We walked for about half an hour before arriving at the Parliament building - known as the White House as it’s built from white marble. It was big, imposing but relatively dull. We learnt that since its inception in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has had five Presidents of varying quality, and two revolutions. The second one was particularly corrupt. He now lives in Moscow, and his even more corrupt son, who embezzled away huge amounts of money, lives in London. Good old free-market London, the world centre for laundering dirty money!

Next to the Parliament building was Ala-Too Square. Here there is the State History Museum. This actually, was rather good. A particularly interesting fact is, that unlike many of the old Soviet Republics, Kyrgyzstan had never existed before as a country. So it was a case of starting from scratch in 1991. Incidentally, Kyrgyzstan means “land of 40 tribes”. Hence their unique, X-box logo lookalike flag has a sun on it with 40 rays. The majority of the population are ethnic Kyrgyz people, who are of Mongol descent. The main other ethnic group is Russians.

At Ala-Too Square we saw the Changing of The Guard. Rather spectacular, with high level goose-stepping. Straight from the Ministry of Silly Walks!

The main feature in the square was a humongous statue of Kyrgyz folklore hero, Manas. A kind of cross between King Arthur and Genghis Khan.

The afternoon was spent going round Osh Bazaar. This was another huge place; where every kind of produce could be found. It was cramped, crowded and frankly awesome. The smells were a total assault on the senses. The spices were spectacular, but the meat section was positively acrid. Every kind of meat was there, including Horse and Yak. For me though, the bazaar was a great place to photograph the stall holders. Just fantastic, and of course, our first part of “real Kyrgyzstan.

In the evening we had another massive meal. I won’t bore you with the details. But most importantly, the restaurant was right next to their somewhat ramshackle National Stadium. So I was able to indulge myself in a little known phenomenon that is called “floodlight porn”. 

Not a bad opening day, but we’re still pinching ourselves, thinking “are we really here”. Tomorrow we’re off to “really real Kyrgyzstan”….  Out in the wilds where its traditionally nomadic people live.