Local Flavor of Bishkek

Just a few miscellaneous tid bits from Bishkek:

Elections are coming up in Kyrgyzstan next month. Naturally, the candidates are trying to gather up votes by promoting themselves through posters plasted all over the city. Well, nothing says more about the presidential candidate’s achievements and accomplishments than a poster with… their last name.

Of course, if that fails to convince the constituents to give them their vote, then these charming posters will surely influence their decision at the voting booth:

Walking around Bishkek triggers a lot of nostalgic memories. Particularly the “gazirovka” vending machines that appear to be making a comeback here from their Soviet Union days. Unfortunately, I think that the reusable cups that are used are from that time period as well.

But Kyrgyzstan has a few unique drinks of their own to offer, as well. A popular local drink manufacturer here is called Shoro — they produce some of the authentic national drinks. My favorite one is Chapan Shoro — which is essentially milk with gas. But Maksym Shoro is interesting as well — it tastes like liquid bread … also with gas.

A few days ago, I was looking for a new place to eat and stumbled upon an interesting cafe in my guidebook — Fatboy’s. The guidebook referred to it as a top foreigners’/expats’ hangoutwith over 90% ofguests being from elsewhere. I figured it’d be interesting to pay a visit and see what it’s like. It’s always nice to catch up with somebody from the States, if an opportunity arises. Ironically, when I actually got to the place, it had 0 foreigners in there — but was rather filled with Bishkek girls… apparently waiting for foreigners. Interesting :)

And, in case anybody’s curious, this is one of my microfinance’s organizations branches — where all the magic actually happens.