Can the Stans handle the Merck girls (minus 1)?

October 3: Tashkent to Bishkek

Lunchtime flight from Tashkent to Bishkek in the country of Kyrgyzstan (two places that I had never heard of before), a small country in Central Asia, which shares borders with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China.

Kyrgyzstan is famous for its towering mountains, lakes and a living nomadic culture. Apparently, many people still live seasonally in yurts (round felt tents) in the mountains during summer (their version of the beach house up the coast)

It’s sometimes called the “Switzerland of Central Asia” because more than 90% of its land is covered by mountains, and we saw some of these as we flew in, as well as the green plains besides the mountains (such a contrast to the desert feel of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan).

It’s also a contrast in terms of the temperature. Tashkent was around 24-25 deg C during the day. Bishkek is around 15 deg C, and quite cold in the mornings (4-5 deg)

Kyrgyzstan has a population of around 7 million and Bishkek is the capital. Kyrgyz is the official language and Russian is widely spoken.

Bishkek began as a caravan stop on the Silk Road and a fortress called Pishpek in the 19th century. It was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1862 and there are still many remnants of the Russian time, including my can of coke!
(And Russia maintains a military airbase in the country).

After Kyrgyzstan gained independence in 1991, the city was renamed Bishkek, which means something like “a churn stick used to make fermented mare’s milk (kumis)” — a nod to nomadic life.

It feels like a modern city, with wide boulevards and lots of green walkways.

Dinner tonight was a nice change from the salad, soup, stew, dessert formula we experienced in the other two Stans. We had fish and steamed broccoli and tiramisu.

We have a “what’s app” group for this tour and there is currently a very active discussion as to how to turn the air conditioning down …it is set at 28 deg in some rooms. The formal advice from reception is to turn off the AC and open the window! The power switches are hidden behind a wood panel, which is now sitting on the floor……

So I have a cooler room now but need to use my AirPods to block out the traffic noise from the street..

BTW, the hotel is actually very lovely apart from AC issue!