Ahh Bishkek. This post-soviet town, nestled in front of part of the extraordinary Tian Shan mountain range, is a acntral hub of Central Asia at large, and especially in the traveler’s scene. Often regarded as a nice place to pick up some visas, those who decide to stick around for a bit (or…are forced to wait around) will find a pleasant, calm city, with incredibly friendly people, and a national pride that Bishkek is a leader among Asian cities. This is where the intelligencia thrive, the expats settle down, and you can still get that wild bazaar vibe you’re still hoping for when traveling to this part of the world.
I’ve already gone over some of the details as to my spending all last week in this town on my post about the “Bishkek visa trail”. That’s essentially what kept me around, and though I got to spend the weekend in Karakol (with Bob…), I came back to Bishkek last night, and today was off to the Uzbekistan embassy to see about my visa. It went fairly smoothly. She grabbed my application, said it’d be ready today, and I just had to go pay the bank (it’s all about the $$$). Once I did that (ten minutes), I came back…and she handed me my passport with visa inside. One little issue- my much-needed 2 entries was only single entry. I decided to take that moment and straight up say…I need two entries. “You need two entries?”. "Yes, on my application it says two entries". She stared me down like a lioness in front of a gazelle. This gazelle did not move. It worked. She took my passport…went back to the lion’s den, and came back with hand written “2 (two)” and the consulars signature. We’ll see if that flies at the border (won’t be the first time I’ve dealt with hand written stuff at borders). We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
So I obviously didn’t sit around my hostel while this whole visa thing unfolded. I had a chance to go around town and see some pretty cool things.
When I talk about Bishkek being “post-soviet”, two things come to mind. First and foremost, I simply mean architecture. Lots of big, grey, block buildings take the center fold of bishkek residential communities, as well as the city square itself. Although the square is still very much beautiful! Plenty of statues and fountains. There is also a sizable statue of Lenin near the history museum. The second thing, is the mindset. When talking with people, there is a noticeable split between pro-russia or pro-byrgyz independence. It’s not my place to state which is better on Facebook, but it’s a topic of discussion nowadays. The Kyrgyz people fought hard for independence, but the infancy has had it’s growing pains. Many people look back at what having a big brother was like, and miss it. There’s money, a military to protect you, and stronger programs. Independence however, is just that…a chance to have your own identity as a nation, and be respected and regarded as such. The topic came up fairly often, and I thought it was pretty interesting!
Bishkek is full of parks, coffee shops, some shopping centers, and a few Begemont’s (fast food burger place). It has yet to reach the modernity of it’s sister across the border, Almaty, but the culture and vibe here is very relaxing. The best part, of course, is the view of the massive mountains, and the fresh, clean air.
I had the chance to settle in with the expat crowd a little bit, as there was one living in the hostel I was staying at. A very interesting guy, he came to Bishkek for a short term period, and ended up staying. Two years later, he is teaching at the American University of Central Asia, the premier university of the entire region. Anyway, Wednesday nights are trivia night amongst the expat crowd, and I tagged along. It was fun to chat with people from all over the world who have found a place here in Bishkek. It reminds me a bit of some of the international goals I had set when I charted a course into medicine. It’s a good reminder that it’s regular work, and not particularly easy to be settled in a new place. But they were a fun crowd, and of course, my team, “The Hobbits”, crushed the competition. It was a fun night.
Another highlight was my day spent at English Zone, and Enlighs-only hang out spot for learners of English. Rewind to the day before. I was relaxing in Ala-Too square when a young guy came up and started speaking English to me. We exchanged pleasantries, then he admitted that he wanted to sit and talk to practice his english. No problem! We sat for about an hour and (upon his request) corrected any mistakes he was making. He invited me to the English Zone the next day. It was a blast. From the moment you walk in, there is nothing but english allowed (foreign words are fine-able!). The head lady, Santana, invited me in, and asked if it’d be ok if I stayed a while, since having a native speaker didn’t happen too often. I ended up staying almost all day. We sat in groups talking about culture, american university, each others hobbies, etc. They wanted to know all of their mistakes, about how many idioms I knew (hundreds??), etc. I had a really great time, and even scored some free food.
Other than that, I spent my days walking around town, checking out the bazaar, taking care of SIM card business, familiarizing myself with marshrukta routes, and just trying to relax. It’s easy to want to rush from place to place, but when fate makes you take a breather, you should do it. It’s good to treat this as a bit of an actual vacation.
Tonight I head to Osh, the “southern capital” of Kyrgyzstan, where there is some substantial history to be explored there. It will be rather fast pace for the next little while, but I’m ready for that. It’s neat to see a people so excited about freedom, democracy, education, and making a name for themselves across the world. I’ve had a nice time getting to know a little piece of this great city, and in many ways will miss it! Of course, I fly out of this town, so it’s not all she wrote quite yet. For now, it’s time for that 18 hour drive to Osh… see ya on the flip side!
-BK