Word: bishkek
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Very rarely on the road from an international airport to a capital city do you have to wait for an irate shepherd and his flock to pass. But then Bishkek is no ordinary capital. It's the Big Smoke of Kyrgyzstan - a country that makes up in character what it lacks in vowels. If the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia were in a beauty contest, Kyrgyzstan would win. This becomes obvious as you rumble down 30 km of tarmac into Bishkek. The snow-capped Tien Shan Mountains rear up like a tsunami. But unlike Nepal or other lauded...
...former Soviet city, the capital of Bishkek is surprisingly lush and green. A stroll around town reveals numerous tree-filled parks surrounding large public buildings ranging from the monstrously Soviet to the stately. These include a functioning, if not always full, opera house. Another surprise is the abundance of Soviet relics still on display. Near the deserted State Historical Museum?inside, a gory ceiling mural depicts class warfare?Vladimir Lenin zealously points the way forward...
There is a single crank for winding all four windows in the aging taxi I hail at Manas International Airport outside Bishkek. "Russian car" is the only explanation?and the only English?offered by the driver. Welcome to Kyrgyzstan, a country still recuperating from its 70-year stint as part of the U.S.S.R., when it was a top-secret site of weapons tests and uranium mines. Despite emerging as the Central Asian destination most welcoming to independent visitors, Kyrgyzstan remains seldom visited...
ROAD TRIP When the workweek is over, Bishkek's better-heeled hit the road for the twisty four-hour drive to Issyk-Kul, a 170 km-long lake in the mountains of northeastern Kyrgyzstan. In Soviet times, despite being the site of secret torpedo tests, Issyk-Kul was a famed R. and R. spot for party cadres in search of pampering at the area's plush hotels and sanitoriums...
...require special permission to traverse the Torugart Pass. This year, the Irkeshtam Pass was opened, which is cheaper and requires less paperwork. Both the budget-oriented Edelweiss Travel, tel: (996-312) 280 788, and the more upmarket Celestial Mountains, tel: (996-312) 212 562, will haul you from Bishkek to the bazaar in four-wheel-drive vehicles. Unless, of course, you'd rather spend a few weeks on a camel...