Kyrgyzstan

IdleRich

IdleRich
I really wanna go to Georgia (especially Tbilisi) - I have a good friend from there and I reckon we could meet up with his family. I love the alphabet... also Armenian alphabet is great.
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
can we go in one of these?

Kaapstad-Sidecar-zwaaiende-passagiers.jpg


but to be honest, i don't know much about the country. idlerich what have you found out through this girl you met from there?
 

luka

Well-known member
Well it's Central Asia. It's mountainous. It's further than any other country from the sea. It's got a long history. Nomadic. Pastoral. Traversed by the old Silk Road. Borders China to the east. Outstandingly beautiful. Majority Muslim.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Well it's Central Asia. It's mountainous. It's further than any other country from the sea. It's got a long history. Nomadic. Pastoral. Traversed by the old Silk Road. Borders China to the east. Outstandingly beautiful. Majority Muslim.
I think it's got a lot of Russian influence. She was an artist who moved away so probably not typical Kyrgiz to be honest.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Been there twice (for work), though only to Bishkek. Staggeringly beautiful in the midst of the Tien Shan mountains, and I was lucky enough to stay at a 4/5 star hotel so the view was unbelievable. Some of the best food I've ever had, though admittedly the very best was at an Uzbek restaurant - in particular, kebabs and grilled meats way better than anything I've had, but also fantastic salads. Generally great if you're not a political dissident or of Uzbek origin, or indeed of other minorities, or LGBTI.
Majority Muslim yep, but according to the people I knew there, the practice of Islamic values has changed radically over the past few years, with a more conservative strain becoming dominant only fairly recently.
People are by and large friendly, vibe in the capital is (much) more European than in countries to the south, mostly for obvious historical reasons. Lots of architectural detritus from Soviet times. Many, many tree-lined avenues too - I'm not sure if that's typical for ex-Soviet republics or not.

I regret not visiting Tajikistan on one of those visits, but the political climate was a little bit hair raising at the time (though not as hair raising as what happened in one of their prisons over the past week)
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
Been there twice (for work), though only to Bishkek. Staggeringly beautiful in the midst of the Tien Shan mountains, and I was lucky enough to stay at a 4/5 star hotel so the view was unbelievable. Some of the best food I've ever had, though admittedly the very best was at an Uzbek restaurant - in particular, kebabs and grilled meats way better than anything I've had, but also fantastic salads. Generally great if you're not a political dissident or of Uzbek origin, or indeed of other minorities, or LGBTI.
Majority Muslim yep, but according to the people I knew there, the practice of Islamic values has changed radically over the past few years, with a more conservative strain becoming dominant only fairly recently.
People are by and large friendly, vibe in the capital is (much) more European than in countries to the south, mostly for obvious historical reasons. Lots of architectural detritus from Soviet times. Many, many tree-lined avenues too - I'm not sure if that's typical for ex-Soviet republics or not.

I regret not visiting Tajikistan on one of those visits, but the political climate was a little bit hair raising at the time (though not as hair raising as what happened in one of their prisons over the past week)
What happened? I missed it.
Uzbek food is great yeah. Been to a few places in Russia. Basically dumplings of various sorts are big throughout the ex-Soviet states and Asia too I guess. In Russia you have pelmeni which are kinda little ones like gyoza. Uzbeks and others have manti which are much bigger. Georgia have khinkale - which are like manti but steamed instead of boiled or is it vice versa? Also there are the pyrogi from Poland too. I bet Kyrgyzstan has manti or something very similar right?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Although I had horse meat in an Uzbek restaurant once which had a fairly unpleasant texture. Also we got some wine and it cost like twenty quid and it was a bottle you see in every newsagent in the UK for about two pounds.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Oh yeah, horsemeat was a bit rank. I had some at a banquet place where they'd taken us, and I was about 20 minutes in the squat toilet afterwards. Thank god my vodka indulgence had been light, else disaster would have ensued.

Dumplings definitely appear, and I think they're called manti as well, but I mostly went for the grilled meat cos it was just *so* good. Beetroot and apple salad too. Beef, lemon and courgette salad was unbelievable as I remember.

We were going to be travelling to Georgia in two weeks' time, but we've put that off til next year. Very keen to go though...

On the Tajik prison, prisoners purported to be IS started a riot, and over 30 people ended up dead.
 
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Slothrop

Tight but Polite
We went there for a couple of weeks last year.

There's obviously a lot of Russian cultural influence, all vodka and UFC, particularly in the towns. I think a lot of the businesses are still Russian owned. Outside of Bishkek it's still very much the sort of place where you do your shopping in the bazaar rather than the supermarket, and even in Bishkek, the older "department store" is basically a big old Soviet-era building with a bunch of independent booths selling different things.

Up in the hills you still have more of the "nomad" culture, which feels somewhat distinct and which I think is technically transhumance rather than true nomadism - you shift your herds up to the hills at the start of summer and stick your yurts up in the usual place and then stay there until you move back down again in autumn. The high jailoos are among the most beautiful places I've ever visited - lush green pastures full of yurts and free-roaming herds of horses surrounded by big rugged ridges and snowy peaks.

The food we had was fairly rustic but nice, particularly the noodles and the kebabs.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Which jailoos did you go to , Slothrop - were they towards Osh or towards the east? Looking at the pics online, it all looks spectacular; might have to take a trip back there sometime.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Which jailoos did you go to , Slothrop - were they towards Osh or towards the east? Looking at the pics online, it all looks spectacular; might have to take a trip back there sometime.
We were hiking around Karakol, in the East, so Jeti Oguz, Karakol Valley and Altyn Arashyn. We also stopped at the World Nomad Games on the way back, which is obviously a massive tourist spectacle but fairly mad with it. Parts of that were held in Kyrchyn Gorge which is also a bit of a scenic wowser.

Other areas seem to have a bit of a different character, but also look pretty amazing. I'd love to visit Lake Song Kol at some point...
 

luka

Well-known member
How difficult is it just on a practical level? And do you have to eat mutton? I'm a life long vegetarian
 

luka

Well-known member
I wrote a poem about Central Asia for a customer the other day and she said it amazing it really captured it and that she is an anthropologist based in Japan but always out on the Chinese borders here to the west she gave me her card and said to get in touch I've sort of got a bee in my bonnet about that bit of the world atm
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I've sort of got a bee in my bonnet about that bit of the world atm
I have a kind of fascination with that east meets west/Europe meets Asia bit - Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and I guess Turkey too. Not that I have really done anything to act on it yet. I just love the vistas and feel and the music you get in Paradjanov films and anything else that reminds me of them.

 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I do know that there are a lot of names we probably tend to think of as generically Russian but which actually can tell you about someone's origin. Armenian names usually end in -ian like Gagosian or Kardashian, Georgian names tend to end in -ili, if someone's name ends in -ko then their ancestors are more likely to be from Ukraine eg Shevchenko, Rothko etc not sure about Azerbaijan though or Kyrgyz for that matter. I think there is a Tartar style or styles though.
 
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