Bishkek

June 2–3, 2013

The first thing the traveler sees in Kirghizia is American military aircraft at the airport (just like in Afghanistan).

Then he sees (but refuses to accept) that Kirghizia has changed its name to Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan

Then he sees some of the city’s less-than-spectacular marketing efforts.

I <3 the capital

Then some creative marketing ideas from the people.

“Frightful” carpets

Then some of the city’s Soviet heritage.

Then a dash of public service advertising.

And a dash more.

A monument to fighters for some important cause, in which the sculptures aren’t actually touching the thing they’re supposed to be pushing away in a feat of Herculean effort.

The underground walkway is closed for repairs.

So let’s go this way.

A traffic light with a countdown timer.

A traffic light with a crazy frame.

Low horizontal poles are used instead of curbs in parking areas.

There are irrigation ditches along all the major downtown streets (like in Juba, Almaty, or Teheran).

That’s where all the trash ends up as well.

A street name plaque.

A street trash can—this is the most common model here.

Dumpsters.

Here the traveler pauses for a second and notices that the city is incredibly green.

Astonishingly green.

So green that when it’s pouring, you can hide under the nearest tree and not worry about getting wet.

The greenness redeems the otherwise drab city.

The greenness redeems the monotonous broad streets.

The lampposts in the park are styled after bellflowers.

To make sure there are enough flowers to go around, there are also planters on the poles and fences.

And flowerpot pyramids—just to cover all the bases.

A Chinese manhole cover.

A beauty salon.

Our Time Beauty Salon

A beauty of a building.

A trolleybus.

Incredibly pedantic rules for addressing mail at the post office. Please be so kind as to leave 15 millimeters of spacing around the recipient’s address and return address.

A Coca-Cola ad. Everyone’s holding a big full glass, but the bottle on the table is unopened.

“Unit loading” (i.e. cell phone balance top-ups).

A payphone.

Do not post flyers!

A post box.

A license plate.

Flyers.

A currency exchange.

A carpet.

Custom carpets making with landscapes and portraits [sic]

Lunch hour at the central department store (it’s exactly like every store or market in China—all the salesgirls eat right at their counters).

There are old-school soda machines on every corner (like in Dushanbe or Tashkent).

Soda water. With flavor syrup 5 s. Plain 3 s

And finally, leaving the best for last, the traveler notices the city’s most incredible feature: sticky fly traps on the streets. There are yellow sticky sheets hanging from the trees in every park. Kyrgyzstan really has a thing against insects.