August 22nd, 2021

Posted bymoonbar5Posted inUncategorized
Images from left to right, top to bottom: 1) Erkendik Park, which leads toward the Ala-Too Square; 2) a small art market alongside of one of the parks around the State History Museum; 3) the interior of Chicken Star, a restaurant with a cool look and even better food; 4) the chicken that I ate at Chicken Star (9/10, needed to be spicier); 5) the statue of Vladimir Lenin behind the State History Museum; 6) yours truly channeling his inner populist for scale in front of the statue of Lenin; 7) the statue of Mikhail Frunze before the main Bishkek train station, surrounded by roses.

On my second day in Bishkek, the third member (Kathy) of our three-person program arrived, and Jacob and I showed her the area that we had already seen of the city. We ate lunch at a delicious spot called Chicken Star, which would fit right in in Portland’s food scene. My only complaint was that they listed the chicken that I ordered at a 3/5 spicy peppers rating, and it was very mild still. Next time, I’ll try it at the “Опасно” (dangerous) level and see if that fits my tastes better. After lunch, we walked through the parks around the government district and found the giant statue of Lenin behind the State History Museum. I had some fun (at the urging of some locals passing through as well) seeing how I looked doing the traditional Lenin pose in front of the statue. Finally, on the way back we found the statue of Mikhail Frunze, a man born in Bishkek in 1885 who became the commander of the eastern front of the Russian Civil War under Lenin and Trotsky and an important party member during the early days of the USSR. He died in 1926 after a botched surgery. After his death, Bishkek was renamed Frunze and retained that name until 1991. Roses grow here in Bishkek like they do in Portland, which has been incredibly pleasant to see and smell.

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