The journey home was uneventful - the same as the journey out, but in reverse, and with a mercifully shorter stopover in Moscow. As before, I rea…

And so my last full day in Bishkek finally arrived. I was curious to see an Orthodox church, and so we took a marshrutka to St Vladimir's Russian Ort…

Today we made an expedtion to Osh bazaar - this is in Bishkek, by the way, and not in the town of Osh in south-west Kyrgyzstan! It was the largest, b…

Today's main event did not occur until evening - a visit to the Bishkek Opera House to see the Ukrainian National Ballet. The Opera House dates fro…

All quiet in Bishkek today, but walking past the White House we saw water-cannon at strategic places ready to quell unrest at the first sign of troub…

The day after we returned from Issyk-Kul was for me a day of rest and recuperation. Although I was quite recovered from my ... ahem ... indisposition…

We headed first for Karakol, where we made an unscheduled stop so that Irina could buy some more film. From the shopping area there were glimpses o…

On the final leg of the journey back to Bishkek we passed a very entertaining bus-shelter in the form of a kalpak, the traditional headwear of a Kyrg…

When I awoke I had had a good night's sleep, and so, I hoped, had Irina's father, as he had a lot of driving in store! Indeed, I felt almost euphoric…

Both to the east and west of Karakol several valleys run southwards, leading into the Terskey Alatau range, and we proposed to visit one of the most …

By now it was nearly mid-day, so we had to start making a serious effort to get home to Bishkek. However, it was also almost lunch-time, and so, ab…

I think it was about 10 in the evening when the trouble really started, and I got little sleep that night; unfortunately, I fear that the same was tr…

About forty minutes after leaving Cholpon-Ata we stopped for a picnic. What the name of the place was I have no idea; it may not even have had a name…

Our first planned stop was Cholpon-Ata, about 40 miles beyond Balychky, which is famous for the petroglyphs that are found on some boulders in a fi…

We had an early start today, because Irina, her father and I were travelling to spend a couple of days at a dacha on the shore of Issyk-Kul, so-cal…

An hour or so later the road started to veer south-east at the easternmost extremity of the lake, which is less than 10 miles from the Chinese bo…

Our destination was the dacha at Novo Pokrovka, a little to the west of the south-east corner of Issyk-Kul, about 20 miles from Pristan Przhevalsk, a…

This, like the previous day, was a quiet domestic day in preparation for the morrow, upon which we were to embark on our road trip around Issyk Kul. …

It is not easy to find large-scale maps of Kyrgyzstan, or plans of Bishkek. The best place to go is the State Cartographical and Geodesical Ser…

As I was saying, it started to rain. However, the iron-grey clouds, low enough to clothe the hilltops, gave a different kind of beauty to the count…

On the face of it, Burana Tower does not look an exceptional attraction. Dating from the tenth century, and possibly the oldest minaret in Central As…

An early start, for today's plan was to visit the Burana Tower, and then move on to the Issyk-Ata sanatorium. Unfortunately Irina was unable to com…

On my walk down to the house before breakfast I took the opportunity of taking a photo of colourful marshrutki in the rush-hour. These minibuse…

Today began exceptionally early, as we were to visit the company for which Irina's brother Andrey worked, and a company car was due to collect us at …

This museum is dedicated to Mikhail Frunze, a military hero in the first two decades of the twentieth century - he died during stomach surgery in 192…

This was definitely one of my favourite places in Bishkek. Undoubtedly part of its attraction was due to the unexpectedness of finding so much gree…

My first intimation of a new day was when, at about six in the morning, a car drove slowly down the road outside the apartment sounding its hor…

This is a very well-situated cafe on Chuy Prospekt which happens to be run by the Honorary British Consul, Michael Atsopathis. There are tables on …

The journey to Heathrow was fine, especially as I had discovered a new way of getting there that consisted simply of catching one bus and then …

I have to admit that until 2003 I had never heard of Kyrgyzstan. My acquaintance with that beautiful but neglected country came about by purest hap…