Kyrgyzstan day one

Bishkek

It appears that the romantic notion of travelling beyond the beaten track becomes ever more challenging. Long gone are the days of leaving British and European travellers behind as you arrive thousands of miles away from home. Adventurer heroes of mine such as Paul Theroux or Rory Stewart wouldn’t much care for this. That’s not to say this is without its perks. A remarkably swift exit from customs led to a sales bombardment by enthusiastic venders of sim cards. $15 later I found myself with unlimited data for the duration of my stay and sending a reassuring message home to my wife.

Bishkek has a beautiful backdrop to its East, towering snow-capped mountains, that look both alluring and arduous in equal measure. I make it my number one priority for the weekend ahead. Bishkek itself has the feel of a city with the capacity, the wealth and the foresight to build beautiful buildings and preserve its pleasant green parks. Yet it is strewn with rubble and half-finished infrastructure projects, as if a developer got half way through a new stretch of road and then got distracted by a new contract, leaving a gaping scar in the central road network.

It is relentlessly hot, the asphalt radiating three or four extra degrees straight up at my body for good measure. Open building sites unfortunately throw up additional dust and dirt, which appears to have encouraged a plethora of car wash businesses in response. No such shower for the tourist, as I beeline for a restaurant to take an early lunch. The Asian restaurant’s menu is in Kyrgyz (the official language alongside Russian), which I soon discover has little resemblance to Russian. Fortunately the waitress speaks Russian and the food is worth the wait.

The Museum of Fine Art is a welcome escape from the hot sun. It presents a pleasant combination of traditional woven fabrics with different colours and patterns, alongside paintings of both Soviet and more classic European styles. The Nomadic lifestyle, with its iconic yurts and wild horses, is a common theme and only reaffirms my desire to explore there in the coming days.

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Thanks for reading this post by The young European as a part of a new series on my time in Kyrgyzstan. If you liked it, please do recommend it by giving it some applause (see 👏 on left hand side) and share it with friends & family on social media!