May 14, 2011
Since we were all so ready to leave China and so happy to get into Kyrgyzstan, it might have been easy for the country to disappoint once the bloom was off the rose. Not so! It has lived up to all our hopes and expectations and the only question we have all been left with is: “Why so little time here?” Tuesday again held out the promise of a good day and again it came through.
We headed up into the mountains to a national park Ala-Atche for a morning of quiet solitude and reflection after two grueling days on the road. It was literally and figuratively a breath of fresh air. The polluted poisoned air of China seems a long time in the past as we’ve been treated to actually seeing the sun and the blue sky behind it. Cumulous clouds seemingly as tall as the mountains they silhouette blossomed white and billowy as they blew in and then hid behind the mountains only to appear again just as magnificent as before.
It was only an hour out of Bishkek by bus, but seemed a lot further as it was so very isolated that urban life seemed a distant blur. We walked in the mountains along a rushing and tumbling river, milky white from snow melt but otherwise clean enough from which to drink. A bridge across afforded a moment’s adventure as several of the 2” branches which formed the walkway were missing and a five foot gap of emptiness gave a new perspective of the roaring water below. I don’t want to sound too dramatic, the drop was only about 10 feet. Hell, I’ve fallen out of trees higher than that. [ed. NOT funny!!] But with water roaring below as it cascaded over the rocks dropping dramatically it did give one a thrill. Holding on to the hand rail and walking the edges to the middle gave a perspective of the river that was worth it.
I climbed up river alongside the river bed until it got really narrow and rose steeply and decided I didn’t need to go any further especially since I was alone. No need to get hurt out in this wilderness. We wandered back down the road to lunch at a hotel on the grounds of the park and had another very filling meal for the stomach and the head. These people do know how to feed tourists.
After lunch a three piece folk ensemble entertained us with local music. They are part of a larger troupe but for our purposes they were perfect. They played and sang a medley of songs using a variety of instruments. The woman of the three was exceptional. First of all she came out bedecked totally in traditional dress and looked absolutely gorgeous. She simply walked through the door and everybody broke into applause. She could have played: “Oh Susanna” on the spoons and been warmly received. A lot of times these things can be very hokey and we’ve rolled our eyeballs often in the past, but this seemed so genuine. Again expectations were met and exceeded. Thankfully they brought several CD’s of their music and they were grabbed up like freebies at a trade show. The music was beautiful, they were great musicians, the costumes authentic and we all left feeling we had seen something genuine.
Our ride back to Bishkek was uneventful. They had planned a “City tour” for us. Luckily we had another option. Bishkek is nothing to write home about as a tourist destination. A city of about one million, it is a new city, being built in the late 1800’s. Therefore, it has no historical monuments of great importance. No tall buildings with architectural creativeness, and nothing to really recommend it as a destination like some of the great cities of the world.
We were able to hook up with a couple of Kyrgiz university students who are members of Servas, the organization we belong to which helps bring people from all around the world together. Regina, our guide, said that we wouldn’t be missing anything if we didn’t do the city tour. Saci later told us that the best part of the tour was the statue of Lenin which was in the main square, appropriately named in the “Soviet times,” as, Ta-da – Lenin Square. This tall statue of the founder of the empire stood with his right arm extended in the direction of Moscow, showing Kyrgiz the direction they should follow for enlightenment and progress. But since independence they renamed the square to independence square and moved the statue to the back where his right arm is pointed directly to the American University of Bishkek. Saci said he laughed so much because it was as if he was now saying: “I was wrong, this is the way.”
But we went back to the hotel and waited for our day hosts to arrive. They were university students and came when their day was over. We only had a couple of hours together but it was a delightful interlude. Asiya and Tina were perfect as a beacon of hope to Kyrgyzstan’s future. They were bright, energetic, thoughtful and just really sweet kids. Asiya is 19 and studying history, while Tina (don’t know if this is her real name or just an adaptation for the gringos) is 22 and studying the same.
They both grew up in Naryn and so were familiar with our two day trek over the mountains. They moved to Bishkek for family reasons, and both the young girls lost their father to illness in the last few years making it doubly hard for the families to provide. Asiya is one of five girls with no sons in the family, while Tina is one of four children. Tina doesn’t speak English as well as Asiya, but with clarification and getting general hints as to the general drift of the conversation we did just fine on the communication level. Asiya is very short while Tina is taller and more slender. Their look represents the difference in Kyrgiz society as Tina has a more European look while Asiya is definitely Central Asian. Both girls are very pretty and each shows the diversity of the culture at its best. We really enjoyed our time together. It was just great getting a chance to ask questions about life in Kyrgyzstan and its people rather than reading Lonely Planet or making our sometimes uneducated guesses based on what our limited contact and time here provides.
But sadly our time in this charming country came to an all too quick end. There wasn’t anybody who sai d they wouldn’t come back and all genuinely agreed that they would talk up this place with whomever would listen. We’re back on the tourist trail somewhat. We had other groups at our hotel for the first time since Xi’an which seems ages ago. The word is, in fact, getting out that the “Stan countries” are pretty cool places. Tomorrow we fly to Tashkent and on to Urgench the same day for the beginning of our final portion- Uzbekistan. If Kyrgyzstan is just a preview of the good things to come, we all say: “Bring it on.”
