BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN: A MEAL AND A WALKING TOUR OF THE CITY

After our drive into the mountains, we came back to Bishkek, the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan and once a rest stop on the Silk Road. 

Like travellers of old, our caravan also visited a caravansary in Bishkek for refueling. 

They made us very comfortable . . . 

. . . and then started bringing out dish after dish of delicious-looking food. By the way, see the tissue box at the bottom of the picture below? Those are napkins. They are just about the same weight and strength as what we think of as cheap tissues. They weren't super effective.

We had eaten a meal similar to this in Almaty, where we had filled up on the many dishes initially placed on the table, not realizing that they were but appetizers.

BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN: A MUSLIM CEMETERY

We made a rather unconventional stop as we returned from a drive in the mountains--a cemetery.  I really enjoy visiting cemeteries. They say a lot about a country's culture, and each one is unique. We've seen some pretty interesting cemeteries over the years. (See here, here, here, and here for a few.)

This one was in the middle of nowhere:

. . . and in the distance we could see another cemetery, even more in the middle of nowhere:

Engraved on one of the crosspieces of the dome in the photo above are the dates 1947-2014.

My dad died when I was young, and I grew up visiting the cemetery, wandering (rather happily, actually) among the graves and wondering who the people were and what they were like when they were alive. Some of the same emotions I had as a child flood my heart every time I visit a cemetery, including this one outside Bishkek. If anything, this cemetery triggered those feelings on a grander than usual scale because of the style of the memorials.

KYRGYZSTAN: ALA-TOO MOUNTAIN DRIVE (TIAN SHAN MOUNTAIN RANGE)

Like several of the countries on this trip, if you had asked me what I knew about Kyrgyzstan six months ago, I would have said, "Kyrgyz . . . what?" (Or in writing, "Keerguz . . . huh?" One great accomplishment of this trip was learning to spell K-y-r-g-y-z-s-t-a-n.)

Here it is, nestled between China on the east, Kazakhstan on the north, Tajikistan on the south, and Uzbekistan on the west:

Map from here

Yeah, the one of those countries I could have placed before this trip is China.

Interesting facts about Kyrgyzstan:

• With 77,202 square miles, it is about the same size as Nebraska but has three times the population (6 million), which isn't saying much since Nebraska is mostly corn fields. Kyrgyzstan has a population density comparable to Minnesota.

• There are 20 million cattle, sheep, and goats in the country.

• Russian forces took over the area that is now Kyrgyzstan in 1876. 

• In 1991, Kyrgyzstan declared independence from the Soviet Union and adopted its current name.

• The capital is Bishkek, which is the largest city by far in Kyrgyzstan and is 139 years old. (Covered in a future post.)

• Most of the people are Muslim, and while they are generally not very observant, there are still 2,000 mosques in the country.

• The economy has tripled in the last three years, but the average salary is about $200/month and the average pension is about $100/month.

• We saw cars with steering wheels on the left, like American cars, and cars with steering wheels on the right, like British cars. They drive on the right like we do in the United States.

(Note: Some of these facts were given to us by our guide Valentina, whose mother is a doctor and father is a retired military officer.)

BORDER CROSSING NIGHTMARE:

At 4:10 AM the Kazakh border control entered the train and went from cabin to cabin checking our passports and (horror of horrors), sitting on the end of our beds to take our pictures. We were in pajamas and had been asleep (more or less--it was our first night on the clackety, careening train). The stop at the Kazakhstan exit point took about 1.5 hours, and then we had the Kyrgyzstan entrance. They also boarded the train and, not to be outdone by their neighbors in Kazakhstan, came through every cabin twice. The first person checked our passports, comparing them first to our face and then to a list, and then asked to see our suitcases. I think they wanted to make sure we were actually long-term travelers. A second person came through about 30 minutes later, stamped our passports, and took our pictures.

When all the border guys finally got off the train, the night was over and it was time for breakfast in the dining car. We arrived in Bishkek, the capital, almost two hours behind schedule thanks to the double delay at the border. It was pretty darn annoying.

The train station felt like a walk back in time to the mid-20th century. It was quite lovely--so much nicer and more elegant than today's transportation hubs, and so much more welcoming than the border guards.

As time was short, we hopped on our waiting buses and began a 1.5-hour drive into the Ala-Too Mountains, part of the northern Tian Shan range. I was very tired from our truncated sleep and even less tolerant of winding roads than usual. I finally just went to sleep to avoid feeling so green.