October 27: A trip to Tokmok
(Note: portions in italics and quotes are descriptions of activities from the tour brochure)
I got up bright and early and turned on the TV to see what was going on in Kyrgyzstan. After flipping through a couple of Russian soap operas, I encountered a live broadcast (it was still Sunday night in the US) of the World Series, with Russian announcers. What was even more interesting was that I called Brenda, who was also watching the game, and the broadcast in Bishkek was about 10 seconds ahead of the broadcast in the US. Maybe Fox sends the signal to the moon and back before it feeds it to Americans....
My second surprise of the morning was to look out the window and see about 3 inches of snow--actually, it wasn't a surprise--Jama had told us that snow was forecast. We had been warned in the tour brochures about excessive heat on the tour, but it didn't say anything about snow or temperatures of 33 degrees (F).
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| The Golden Dragon, glistening in the snow |
After breakfast, we headed east of Bishkek, to the town of Tokmok.
"This morning travel outside of Bishkek to Tokmak village. Pay a visit to
American University, the only university in Central Asia with U.S.
accredited degrees. Located across from Bishkek’s House of Parliament,
the University calls itself “a small but powerful engine of intellectual
freedom and critical thinking…”
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| On the road to Tokmok |
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| The weather was so nice yesterday.... |
All of the cities and towns in the former Soviet Union have some sort of gate or monument at the entrance to the town. Tokmok was the location of a former Air Force base, so we had a jet added to the town monument.
Our first stop in Tokmok was the
International University of Central Asia. The head of the university was an American who gave us a tour of the main building.
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| International University of Central Asia (IUCA) |
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| Classroom at IUCA |
Our next stop was
Burana Tower, just outside of Tokmok. The tower is a minaret dating from the 11th century and is one of the oldest Islamic structures in Central Asia. The tower is all that remains (except for some ruins) of the ancient city of Balasagyn that existed from the 9th to the 15th centuries.
"Next visit the Burana Tower, one of the only existing watchtowers on the
Silk Road. Visit the small museum here and the collection of ancient
bal-bals, carved stone figures used as monuments."
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| Burana Tower |
Next to the tower was a collection of gravestones ("bal-bals") used by nomadic Turkish people.
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| Wandering through the gravestones |
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| A "bal-bal" |
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| A cemetery near Burana Tower |
Next, we headed back to Tokmok for lunch with a local family. It wasn't quite as intimate as you might guess, since we had 24 people, and the meal was in a separate building that the family had built to host tourist meals.
"Lunch today is at the private home of a local family in Tokmak village.
Enjoy the opportunity to meet the host and hostess and sample
traditional Kyrgyz dishes."
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| The main house |
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| Members of the family |
Before lunch, we were treated to a demonstration of felt embroidery done by (I think) the owner's mother.
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| The building/room where we ate |
The food was excellent--one of the best meals on the trip.
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| The dining room |
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| The homeowner and part of his family |
After lunch, we headed outside of Tokmok for a demonstration of Kyrgyz horse games.
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| A local trying to thaw out his tractor with a blowtorch |
"Attend a demonstration of Kyrgyz horse games, such as
Ulak Tartysh, a sort of polo played with a goat carcass, and Kurosh,
which is wrestling on horseback."
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| Let the games begin! |
The first game involved a rider trying to pick up a bag of coins off the ground from a galloping horse.
Next was "horse wrestling", where two men on horseback try and knock each other off their horses.
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| A cold, but appreciative audience |
The next game was "goat polo". In this game, teams of players try and pick up a dead goat carcass (weighing about 50 pounds) and throw it in the other team's goal. Now, this is something out of Borat!
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| The goat is in the lower right corner |
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| Picking up the goat |
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| Hot action near the goal |
After the horse games, we headed back to Bishkek.
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| A house in the country outside Bishkek |
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| A small town intersection near Bishkek |
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| Coming back into Bishkek |
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| Central Bishkek |
"This evening at dinner, enjoy a glass of wine as you experience a
concert of traditional Kyrgyz music and a Manas performance. The Kyrgyz
mythical hero, Manas, fought against the Uighur people in the 9th
century. His story, the Epic of Manas, is a Kyrgyz epic poem with
nearly a half million verses. Never written down until the 19th
century, the poem has been passed down by word of mouth for centuries. A
performance of selections from the beloved poem is often given at
Kyrgyz festivals, accompanied on the komuz, a traditional three-stringed
instrument."
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| Entrance to the restaurant |
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| Kyrgyz musicians |
October 28: Museums and a Walk Around Bishkek
This morning we headed to central Bishkek to visit the State History Museum, Art Museum, and some other government buildings. The temperature had not gone above freezing since it snowed, so there was still lots of snow on the ground.
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| Fender-bender on the streets of Bishkek |
Central Bishkek has lots of Soviet-style government buildings and big squares.
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| Kyrgyzstan Parliament Building |
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| State Historical Museum |
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| Presidential office building (White House) |
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| Guards in front of State Historical Museum |
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| Ala-Too Square |
As a public service for the Bishkek Chamber of Commerce, here are a couple of shots of what the city looks like when the weather is a little more favorable. I had no idea the mountains were back there.
After a very cold walk around the buildings, we went to the State Historical Museum. Unlike other former Soviet republics like Ukraine, the Central Asian nations aren't trying to erase the Soviet era. The Kyrgyzstan historical museum, like several museums that we went to, had lots of Soviet artifacts.
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| Inside the State Historical Museum |
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| Inside the State Historical Museum |
My favorite part of the museum was the murals that covered the ceiling--Soviet propaganda, straight out of the Cold War.
Speaking of cold, we left the museum, and took a cold walk through Oak Park to the art museum and theater.
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| A crisp day in Oak Park |
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| Opera and Ballet Theater in the background |
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| Museum of Fine Arts |
After our walk through central Bishkek, we drove to the edge of the city for lunch.
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| On the streets of Bishkek. Gray enough for you? |
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| The edge of Bishkek |
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| Arriving at the restaurant for lunch |
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| In the restaurant |
"Later this afternoon, enjoy some independent time or visit Ala Archa
National Park, centered on the steep forested gorge of the Ala Archa
River and the mountains that surround it. An alpine park, Ala Archa
includes over 20 glaciers and 50 peaks, which range from 12,000 to
15,000 feet. Soviet alpinists used to train at a camp here."
Since I was certain that the mountains
would be fogged in, I decided to walk around the city. Below are a few shots from around town. My first stop was the Vefa Mall, in the center of town. Inside, the mall looked pretty much like an American mall, including hordes of teenagers occupying all of the benches and texting on their phones.
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| Exterior of the mall |
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| Inside the mall |
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| Just like home! |
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| Supermarket in the basement of the mall |
After visiting the mall, I walked around the neighborhood, which featured several high-rise Soviet-era apartment buildings. I'm sure they were very attractive in 1965, but the years have not been kind.
Across from the apartments was a BP station--Bishkek Petroleum
After my walk, I returned to the hotel and went with the group for dinner at Vostok Zapad restaurant. And needless to say, the people who went on the bus trip to the mountains said that it cleared up and the views were wonderful. They can thank me for that.
About 90% of the lunches and dinners were similar. To start with there was a beet salad (which I hate), and a salad of eggplants and red peppers. In some cases this was followed by a soup, generally a watery broth with gristly meat and vegetables. The main course was either some sort of boiled beef and vegetables, or meat-filled dumplings. In some cases we had french fries, but for some reason they were always cold. The food was not nearly as bad as what I had in Russia in 1993, but I wouldn't call it the highlight of the trip. Perhaps this is why you don't see many Kyrgyz or Uzbek restaurants in other parts of the world.
Bottled water was free, but we had to pay for Coke, beer, vodka, and wine. Fortunately beer (about $2 a bottle) and vodka (about $1 a shot) were cheap.
After dinner, we retired to our hotel to prepare for our 4:00 AM drive to the airport for our flight to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Next:
Days 6-7: Tashkent and Tajikistan
