Bishkek – grey weather, grey architecture, colourful entertainment

28.03.2022

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah – I, or better said a very nice young lady in the iStore, have solved my problem with the image transfer! So now blog expansion with camera pictures!

 

I arrived at the hotel tired as a dog, napped a bit and then had to start walking right away and explore Bishkek. With a population of 1 million, it is the capital at an altitude of 800 m and quite flat and spacious. For a long time it belonged to the great Soviet empire and you can see that in the architecture. Huge concrete buildings.

 

 

The heart of Bishkek is Ala Too Square. Not only does a huge Kirghiz flag flutter here (or hang limply down during slack), there is also a statue of the national hero Manas and people are having fun all around.

 

 

 

 

 

All around this square there are lots of parks and other buildings, and it was Sunday so there were quite a few people out and about.

 

One of these parks, Panfilova, is full of colourful merry-go-rounds and rides. Other people were having fun there. I thought about it: in the 70s I was a child and for my birthday we often went to Hamburger Dom. And I wondered what condition the rides were in back then. They looked old to me and on the one hand robust, but on the other hand not so confidence-inspiring. Has it changed that much since I was a child – or is this really a completely different quality again?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was told that the kyrgyz population is very young, 70% under 30 (I haven’t checked) – this matches my first impressions. It is common to have 3-5 children. I think the people look very nice – but I didn’t really talk to anyone at first. Just looked.

 

In any case, I am curious to see what else I will experience here. Meanwhile, the next day is almost over – but I’ll tell you about it in the next blog post. I just will say by now: it wasn’t grey!