Technically, this post encompasses two days, but it was around 24 hours.
I flew from JFK to Moscow on Aeroflot, which was much more comfortable than expected. Then again, I did get the exit row all to myself. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie selection and food. All in all, Aeroflot gets my approval.
Moscow airport, on the other hand, could use some organization. It was very difficult to figure out where to go to get to international transit (eventually I found a guided tour of about 15 Chinese athletes, all of whom were at least 6 feet tall. Amalia used CHINESE. It was very effective.) To make matters worse, after getting through passport and security, the Bishkek flight was listed as being at gate 19. It wasn't at gate 19. At the time the flight was supposed to board, it was STILL listed as gate 19. It was gate 32.
But Moscow wasn't a total loss. Meet Cheburashka, the former Soviet claymation star who will be my co-traveller on this journey.
If I squeeze his hand, he speaks in Russian. I don't understand it, but whatever.
Three hours later, we arrived in Bishkek. The landscape during landing was amazing. The central Asian Steppe must be seen to be believed. It's so broad and smooth, that it looks almost as if a giant blanket has been thrown over the landscape.
And then there are the mountains and the poplars. In terms of nature, this place looks like Lhasa, but altitude wise it's rather low at only 2600 feet.
It's a small city, with less than 1,000,000 people. The nation only has about a 6 million population total. My friend, Feruza, picked me up at the airport. She is Kyrgyz, originally from Osh in the south, but she's spent a lot of time in Bishkek. She was concerned about Bishkek as a developing city, but as the capital of a nation that has only been independent for 21 years and had two major uprisings in the past 10, it's doing amazingly! The streets are clean and organized, there doesn't seem to be a lot of crime, it feels safe, there are very few beggars (we saw 4), and everyone we saw appeared well clothed and well fed.
Bishkek is very diverse, even within the Kyrgyz Muslim ethnicity. You would see a woman in a mini skirt and tank top, next to another woman in traditional dress with her headscarf tied behind her head, next to a woman who had adopted the Arabic style of Hijab. There are also many Russians here, most of whom do not speak Kyrgyz. For young people, there is a debate between whether it is better to know Kyrgyz or Russian.
We wandered around town, mostly so that I could buy a charger for the gopro camera (I knew I forgot something!) and I got to try one of the national drinks, Shoro, a sour, salty grain drink. Not my cup of tea, but very interesting, at least. What's interesting about Shoro is that, in an effort to popularize local culture, Kyrgyz businessman Tabylydy Egemberdiev started bottling and mass producing it. What this meant was that although the local art of making this drink was being lost in Soviet and post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, he managed to repopularize it. I saw at least 7 street-corner stands with women pouring brand-name Shoro from coolers. His efforts at re-popularizing Shoro have been an amazing success.
We made our way over to Supara, a Kyrgyz cultural complex and restaurant, which was also founded by Egemberdiev, with the same goals in mind. He has managed to make a high class, yet still affordable, restaurant complex, showcasing Kyrgyz traditional arts, architecture, food and culture, in a way that pushes Kyrgyz culture forward in the Kyrgyz mass media. Again, he is succeeded. While we were there, we saw a deputy of the Kyrgyz parliament with her family, several major Arab investors, some Turkish tourist, and plenty of families and parties of Kyrgyz people looking for a good dinner and a good time.
I also had the good fortune to meet a man dressed as the legendary King Manas. The epic of King Manas contests with the epic of King Gesar for the longest epic poem in the world. It holds a similar level of importance. The flag of Kyrgyzstan, for example, represents the opening of a yurt and the symbols of King Manas: the two things that Kyrgyz people feel best represents Kyrgyzstan. This actor also prided himself in looking like Genghis Khan.
And the food. Oh the food. First we had Boorsok, a puffy fried bread bite. We also had Nan, a baked bread, and both of these were dipped in kaimak, an extremely heavy cream yoghurt.
For our main course, we had Besh Barmak, or "five fingers", a dish consisting of five parts: Horse meat, horse sausage, horse intestine, horse meat broth, all over home made noodles. Horse meat is a food of the aristocracy and it is so much better than I could have expected. Definitely worth trying!
Of course, if horse meat intimidates you, they had a mutton version and several tamer, yet still traditional dishes, such as dried yak meat with pickled cabbage, fried mutton with potatoes a few kinds of soup and some lighter dishes. We, however, went for the richest of the rich. Be forwarned, this is extremely rich and even local people when unused to eating this on a daily basis will suffer an upset stomach. I was fine.
We then made our way back into the city center, which is presided over by an enormous statue of King Manas, labeled "Generous Manas".
By enormous I want to note that I wasn't kneeling to take this picture. We walked around the central square, saw the parliament building, and I learned more about the recent history of Kyrgyzstan, including the uprisings in 2005 and 2010 against corrupt presidents. The 2010 uprising resulted in the deaths of 200 protestors, when the president's brothers ordered the army to open fire. Their names are on plaques on the gates of the parliament building, and a large monument honors their sacrifice for Kyrgyz freedom.
By this time, the jetlag was hitting me hard, so we made our way back to the hotel. It turned out that there was a singing competition on TV. During this competition, local singers from a village came out, men versus women. They traded songs and jests and puzzles, such as "What is soft and sweet but has no sale value on the market" (Sleep), "What has no legs nor feet, yet can move extremely fast" (Gossip). It was a blast to watch.
Next up: The bazaar, historical museum and on the way to Issyk Kul!
I flew from JFK to Moscow on Aeroflot, which was much more comfortable than expected. Then again, I did get the exit row all to myself. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie selection and food. All in all, Aeroflot gets my approval.
Moscow airport, on the other hand, could use some organization. It was very difficult to figure out where to go to get to international transit (eventually I found a guided tour of about 15 Chinese athletes, all of whom were at least 6 feet tall. Amalia used CHINESE. It was very effective.) To make matters worse, after getting through passport and security, the Bishkek flight was listed as being at gate 19. It wasn't at gate 19. At the time the flight was supposed to board, it was STILL listed as gate 19. It was gate 32.
But Moscow wasn't a total loss. Meet Cheburashka, the former Soviet claymation star who will be my co-traveller on this journey.
Three hours later, we arrived in Bishkek. The landscape during landing was amazing. The central Asian Steppe must be seen to be believed. It's so broad and smooth, that it looks almost as if a giant blanket has been thrown over the landscape.
And then there are the mountains and the poplars. In terms of nature, this place looks like Lhasa, but altitude wise it's rather low at only 2600 feet.
It's a small city, with less than 1,000,000 people. The nation only has about a 6 million population total. My friend, Feruza, picked me up at the airport. She is Kyrgyz, originally from Osh in the south, but she's spent a lot of time in Bishkek. She was concerned about Bishkek as a developing city, but as the capital of a nation that has only been independent for 21 years and had two major uprisings in the past 10, it's doing amazingly! The streets are clean and organized, there doesn't seem to be a lot of crime, it feels safe, there are very few beggars (we saw 4), and everyone we saw appeared well clothed and well fed.
Bishkek is very diverse, even within the Kyrgyz Muslim ethnicity. You would see a woman in a mini skirt and tank top, next to another woman in traditional dress with her headscarf tied behind her head, next to a woman who had adopted the Arabic style of Hijab. There are also many Russians here, most of whom do not speak Kyrgyz. For young people, there is a debate between whether it is better to know Kyrgyz or Russian.
We wandered around town, mostly so that I could buy a charger for the gopro camera (I knew I forgot something!) and I got to try one of the national drinks, Shoro, a sour, salty grain drink. Not my cup of tea, but very interesting, at least. What's interesting about Shoro is that, in an effort to popularize local culture, Kyrgyz businessman Tabylydy Egemberdiev started bottling and mass producing it. What this meant was that although the local art of making this drink was being lost in Soviet and post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, he managed to repopularize it. I saw at least 7 street-corner stands with women pouring brand-name Shoro from coolers. His efforts at re-popularizing Shoro have been an amazing success.
We made our way over to Supara, a Kyrgyz cultural complex and restaurant, which was also founded by Egemberdiev, with the same goals in mind. He has managed to make a high class, yet still affordable, restaurant complex, showcasing Kyrgyz traditional arts, architecture, food and culture, in a way that pushes Kyrgyz culture forward in the Kyrgyz mass media. Again, he is succeeded. While we were there, we saw a deputy of the Kyrgyz parliament with her family, several major Arab investors, some Turkish tourist, and plenty of families and parties of Kyrgyz people looking for a good dinner and a good time.
I also had the good fortune to meet a man dressed as the legendary King Manas. The epic of King Manas contests with the epic of King Gesar for the longest epic poem in the world. It holds a similar level of importance. The flag of Kyrgyzstan, for example, represents the opening of a yurt and the symbols of King Manas: the two things that Kyrgyz people feel best represents Kyrgyzstan. This actor also prided himself in looking like Genghis Khan.
And the food. Oh the food. First we had Boorsok, a puffy fried bread bite. We also had Nan, a baked bread, and both of these were dipped in kaimak, an extremely heavy cream yoghurt.
For our main course, we had Besh Barmak, or "five fingers", a dish consisting of five parts: Horse meat, horse sausage, horse intestine, horse meat broth, all over home made noodles. Horse meat is a food of the aristocracy and it is so much better than I could have expected. Definitely worth trying!
We then made our way back into the city center, which is presided over by an enormous statue of King Manas, labeled "Generous Manas".
By enormous I want to note that I wasn't kneeling to take this picture. We walked around the central square, saw the parliament building, and I learned more about the recent history of Kyrgyzstan, including the uprisings in 2005 and 2010 against corrupt presidents. The 2010 uprising resulted in the deaths of 200 protestors, when the president's brothers ordered the army to open fire. Their names are on plaques on the gates of the parliament building, and a large monument honors their sacrifice for Kyrgyz freedom.
By this time, the jetlag was hitting me hard, so we made our way back to the hotel. It turned out that there was a singing competition on TV. During this competition, local singers from a village came out, men versus women. They traded songs and jests and puzzles, such as "What is soft and sweet but has no sale value on the market" (Sleep), "What has no legs nor feet, yet can move extremely fast" (Gossip). It was a blast to watch.
Next up: The bazaar, historical museum and on the way to Issyk Kul!
Amalia! What adventures in Yurt country! I just love it. One of our neighbors just built a yurt. So cool.
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