No More Heroes

The group gathered under Lenin

Nothing to report. All is well in Kyrgystan. I landed on the August 13th to find it equally as hot as it is in England and also as dusty. My car I left back home has a blanket of dust which I see as a badge of honour to saving water! However, this is my holiday I am writing about and I have been excited about the Silk Road trip for a long time.

Eagle hunting

An eagle and me

After landing in intense heat, I had a brief respite in the hotel in Bishkek. The group introduced themselves and we set off for a guided whizz in the intense heat around the city. There are rather a lot of statues erected to the heroes of the country all built in the traditional Russian style. They all have solid marble plinths that must be at least 4 meters high. These statues represent the literary history, the heroism and sacrifice of war and the power of women who have held society together. We saw them all and there are a lot! So many, in fact, that I really can't imagine there being any room for another hero. On a later part of the trip, I saw a heroic truck high on a plinth. Perhaps I was wrong.

Vlad the Bad - AKA Lenin is a true hero in Kyrgystan. Apparently he made it safe for exiled citizens to return and reclaim their land. There are statues aplenty to him. There are one million inhabitants in Bishkek and it felt like every single one of them owns a car. The traffic around the city is slow moving and cars are parked in the usual Asian way which slows moving traffic even more. To be honest, Biskek is much like any average Asian city in its layout and jumbled housing construction. The highway roads are mostly unmade, making for a slow, bumpy ride. This is a country in the process of rapid development.

The leaning tower of Burana- I got to the top

In its history, Kyrgystan was a key part of the Silk Road and the locus of many battles. The Burana Tower was spared by Ghengis Khan as the occupants the city treated him as a favoured guest. The tower once lit the way for travellers sending their wares west.

The currency here is the som. I am a millionaire for the time being! All the big numbers take a little getting used to as does the Russian writing. Of course the alphabet is different to ours so deciphering names is a bit of a game. 

On street corners sit umbrella women who sell fermented grain and milk drinks for next to nothing. The drinks are lovely - a bit fizzy like kefir. Already I recognise the local beer and I have bought some local wine too. 

The small group of ten - all from the UK - but with one of them living in Singapore. Have gelled quite quickly. We have a planned itinerary and get around in a minibus with our tour guide, Vitaly. So far, I have spent a night in a yurt and swam in the Issyk-Kul Lake and now, Sunday, it is the last day of Kyrgystan. We happen to be staying in a most dire hotel. Dodgy shower, no towels to start with, patchy internet and generally quite shabby. Errr.

Tomorrow, Monday we are off to Kazakhstan and another currency challenge, new food to try and things to see.

Did I mention drinks?