Bishkek

We’ve spent the last few days in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. It’s a small city with not a great deal going on. We were done with the sights in a few hours (one museum (in Russian) one monument and mutiple statues of Lenin, which have been moved to less prominent positions sinc independence, but still dominate the must-see list). So then there was nothing much left to do but set about developing a taste for Russian caviar and Georgian wine (which turned out to be far superior to Moldovan).

The restaurats and vodka cocktails were excellent and except for a huge storm on Sunday night, the weather was perfect for sitting in the sun and enjoying both. And for the first time on the trip I could choose my outfit safe in the knwledge that the sizeable local population of Russian girls would be sporting far skimpier outfits than I could ever rustle up from my backpack.

The floor-madam in our hotel did all our landry and we feel refreshed and ready to goagain. We’re now en route to Karakol, close to Lake Issyk-Kol, where we’re hoping to get in some beach time. The name translates as ‘warm lake’, so let’s hope it’s accurate this time! After that it’s probably about time to start heading West...

Gemma