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29 August 2002 – Thursday – Barbara Kane
The
Ride to Bishkek
After a restful night at the Aurora in Issyk-Kul, we started out at 9:00
am. for our 295 km drive to the Kyrgyzstan capital, Bishkek. Along
the road we saw many racks of drying fish, fresh apricots, apples and
many other fruits for sale. The ride was spectacular with the
mountains separating Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan on our right side.
We traveled through the Boom Canyon with 1200 meter high rock walls and
a winding river just waiting for someone to go rafting. Kuban
described the different historical figures on the money ballerinas,
poets, the individual who created their alphabet, Manas of the saga.
So different from our rather staid bills.
Our tour stopped at a local German school to deliver supplies that many
had brought along. It was our good fortune that the teachers were
at an in-service that day so we got to see many of the classrooms and
have picture taking sessions. The school is large, with 600
students and 40 teachers.
At 12:30, we stopped for a delightful picnic lunch prepared by Kuban and
Asel and consisting of roasted chicken, boiled potatoes, dried almonds,
raisins, cheese, yogurt, wonderful Central Asian bread, apples, apricots
and eggs. Wendy and I brought red wine to share and there was some
champagne, too, with the Hooper crowd. The stop was very pleasant,
and getting back on the bus was a difficult thing to do, but we had a
long way to go. We started out again at 1:40 pm.
At 2:40, we stopped in Burana, a settlement founded in the 10th
Century. There we saw and climbed the 11th Century minaret.
At the site there is a wonderful little museum with many artifacts,
coins, jewelry, from 2000 BCE through the 11th century. There is a
fascinating arrangement of several rock sculptures collected from
various regions of Krygyzstan. There was something very modern
about these ancient figures. We also stopped to visit the site of
Nevaket, a city from the 6th through the 12th centuries. Legend
has it that there is a golden goat-camel buried in the area. We
didn't have time to dig for it, but maybe next time? There was a
golden Buddha excavated there in 1939 that was removed to St. Petersburg
and has not been returned as yet.
AT 5:15 we found ourselves 30 km from Bishkek. We arrived at our
hotel to find it a wonderful new Turkish hotel (Pinara) and then had a
wonderful dinner at a TURKISH restaurant in the center of town.
After a long day, it was great to have some familiar Turkish delights.
The country was preparing to celebrate their 11th
anniversary as an independent state and we heard the rehearsal across
the street from our dinner table. Everyone appeared to be in a
very festive mood for the next day’s celebration.
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