Bishkek

Our base was Bishkek, the Capital of Kyrgyzstan. Traffic is worse than Kazakhstan, difficult to believe, but the shortage of roads always leads to traffic and there are no funds to inprove the situation. Architecture is Russian.

We went to the formal center of Bishkek where the architecture is Russian 70’s and 80’s. The apartment building shown is from the 1970s looking sad, maintenance being difficult in the economy – which is poor.

One of the things we were to see was the changing of the guard at the Government center. My theory is that he smaller and poorer the country, the higher is their formal military hats.

The guards came up a ramp and did a goose step march, why does that seem shocking to me?

These guys are way taller than normal Kyrgyz men and I think they are selected for that and their male beauty – well why not. Jobs are scarce and this is probably good duty. In an house they will be relieved.

World War II memorial in front of the Parliament Building, sculpture here is realistic and heroic. Sometimes it gets meaningless and dull, maybe for me mostly so.

The Craft Museum featured some modern felt work, and fiber art. That was the most interesting stuff we saw. Below are two pieces above is a felt piece that manages to portray a group of women. The lower on is a wall hanging with various weights of wool and cotton.