Author Archives: moonbar5

With my first stint in Bishkek coming to an end, I thought it would be interesting to show a sort of “day in the life” for me during these three months. Keep in mind that this day will look very full, and that’s because it is – I would usually choose to skip one orContinue reading “Daily Life”

Wow! It’s been a while. Let’s pretend that the break wasn’t because I lacked motivation to post anything and move on, shall we? With that out of the way, it’s important to provide some backstory on this event, as it wouldn’t have even happened had I not decided to come to Kyrgyzstan. That seems obvious,Continue reading “November 20th, 2021”

Today, I went to my first Kyrgyz bazaar with both American students and a (semi) local guide, Liam. Liam is a post-graduate student who has been living in Bishkek for over a year in order to become fluent in Kyrgyz, and offered to show us around Osh Bazaar, which he frequents. Osh is divided intoContinue reading “October 3rd, 2021”

On our final day by lake Issyk-Kul, we first stopped in at Rukh-Ordo Cultural Center, which was dedicated to famous Kyrgyz author and ambassador Chinghiz Aitmatov. I unfortunately have not read any of Aitmatov’s works, which meant that the various abstract statues in the cultural center dedicated to his stories were not quite as meaningfulContinue reading “September 24th, 2021”

On the 23rd, we made the journey up into an obscure valley a little further around the lake in order to see one of Kyrgyzstan’s national traditions: falconry. Although to be honest, falconry isn’t the correct term, since the Kyrgyz don’t hunt with falcons. They hunt with Golden Eagles. They are one of the onlyContinue reading “September 23rd, 2021”

On our second full day, we visited the Barskoon River Valley, about two hours away from our village. Issyk-Kul, being an alpine lake, is naturally surrounded by mountains, most of which reaching a height of 10,000 feet or more. The Barskoon River Valley was located already around 6,000 feet up and was stunningly beautiful –Continue reading “September 22nd, 2021”

After four weeks of classes in Bishkek, I finished my current course level. Between four-week sessions, we have a week’s break, and for this week, we were taken on a five-day excursion to lake Issyk-Kul. It’s about a five hour drive from the city, and on the way, we stopped at perhaps the most post-SovietContinue reading “September 20/21st, 2021”

Today, our little group took a trip to Burana, about an hour and a half outside of Bishkek. There are located the ruins of an old Silk Road city which was called Balasagun, the most of which have been more or less lost to time. However, the watchtower minaret is still mostly intact. Standing atContinue reading “September 18th, 2021”

Somehow, I managed to find the best Texas barbecue of my life in Bishkek. We happened by the place by accident – it’s located on the side of a crappy strip mall – and decided to give it a try. What the hell, we thought. Well, it turned out to be absolutely excellent. The meatContinue reading “September 9th + 11th, 2021”

For the first excursion of the semester, we took a hike in Ala-Archa National Park, about 40 minutes south of Bishkek. And by a hike, I do mean a real hike – about half the time, it was more climbing vertically than walking horizontally. It’s probably just as well that our two guides, Murat andContinue reading “September 4th, 2021”