Bishkek's small and friendly ...

[duncanwil]

Dear All,

I lived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for almost a year, ending at the end of August 2002. I remember a lot and have contacts of locals and expats still there if you need info.

Duncan Williamson

[Graeme]

Duncan:
I wasn't sure where Krygyzstan was, so I looked on the web and the best information I could find was in the CIA world book: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/kg.html.
I hadn't realised it was so close to China, or that it was almost as big as South Dacota (odd how the Americans always relate size back to their own states). Population of about 5 million souls. I even found out that it has the worlds largest natural growth walnut forest. It sounds pretty amazing. Do you have any good stories about your time there?

Graeme

[duncanwil]

Not many good stories, Graeme, just run of the mill.

Depending on where you are the scenery can be spectacular or downright dull. The Himalayan chain may be visible from your kitchen window and a grey block of flats visible from your living room window.

Bishkek is small with some very nice parts, such as the parks (they don't go in for parkland here (lots of grass with few trees) but public areas with loads of trees: very effective against the stifling summer heat.

Just after I left Bishkek I started hearing stories about attacks on foreigners in one part of town: on the route that I used for my shopping! Yikes! Generally, though, I never had any problems and walked around early in the morning, midday and up until midnight and beyond.

The locals are friendly. Transport is cheap. Retaurants are cheap and can be startlingly good: there is a thriving cafe community. There are expat hangouts but I tend to avoid them as they are often crowded with hail fellow well met types who feel the need to tell you their latest "You won't believe what Johhny Local did today ..." and then by the end of the evening (every evening) they want to talk about aeroplanes, airports and how much excess baggage they can get away with.

There you are. Not much but I realise that I need to tell everyone that since it's getting of for 18 months since I left, my claim to expertise in this area is waning now!!

If you're in the area and can get a visa, pop in by all means. Lake Issyk Kul is worth a trip although I never got there!

[Benjamin1985]

Hello, I'll be moving to Bishkek for 10 months from March (2008) to teach English. Any information about the practicalities of life in Kyrgyzstan would be gratefully received, especially anything to do with banking (I'll be getting a dollar salary, can I open a Kyrgyz account?) and life in general. I only have very basic Russian but am cramming in preparation- should I be worrying about Kyrgyz as well?

Many thanks!

[coledavis]

Hi. Does anybody know any decent schools of English in Bishkek? I'm a CELTA qualified teacher with experience. (I can't get into the London School as they have a policy of not employing over 40s, and I'm past that; although I'm not past it!) Any advice would be much appreciated. Cole