Umai Hotel

Turkic Hospitality

by traveloturc

The typical Central Asian hospitality, that can in no way be compared with the way guests are greeted in the western world: Never you will come across a yurt without being invited for a cup of the national drink Kymyz (horse milk) and a when you first get acquainted, and at the second meeting you're very often already considered as a family member!
Horse-back riding is one of the most important parts of Kyrgyz culture, and a Kyrgyz saying even tells us: "If you would have only one day to live, you have to pass this day on a saddle.

Hike in Tyoplye Klyuchi (Alamedin Canyon)

by Eish

South of Bishkek and about 30km away is the Alamedin Canyon, which offers some lovely hiking, and is apparently quieter than Ala Archa, although I must admit that neither were very busy when we were there. The hiking is beautiful, and the fields of flowers were the perfect place for a picnic. The canyon also offers some hot springs, in a pool (hence the name Tyoplye Kluchi or Teplye Klyuche which means "hot springs"). The ambience is very Soviet, and although you could see that the carpets were once plush and beautiful, they are now very grubby, damp and coming up at the edges. The spring water contains radon, and the guidebooks advise no more than 10 minutes in the water.

Although the pool is in a concrete structure, and the place is run down, the people swimming in the pool are happy, and the experience is great fun.

The Victory (Pobedy) Monument

by budapest8

The Victory (Pobedy) Monument constitutes yet another site in Bishkek that must
not be overlooked. The 1985 monument consists of three curved spires of granite
outlining a yurt. The yurt, the moveable home of the Kyrgyz nomad, has forty frame posts
which converge, like spikes on a wheel, at the top, leaving an opening or tunduk for
the sun to shine in. The coming together of the frameposts at the tunduk symbolizes
family unity. Any pole missing symbolizes a loss in the family. Using this potent
symbol of Kyrgyz culture, the Soviet artist recalls the losses of the Union to Nazi Germany.
The eternal flame on which the "yurt" stands, the actual hearth of the yurt, accentuates
the distress of a Kyrgyz woman depicted waiting for a loved one to return from the war.

Dordoi market.

by batyr76

A little bit outside of Bishkek there is a hughe outdoor market called Dordoi, where you can buy anything from sheep and horses to a spanking new cassette-player (yepp!). They also had copies of North Peak clothes, if you wanna look smart but dont feel like paying for it. If they dont have it you dont want it! Beware of pickpockets, and its easy to get lost here, we had to use a GPS to find our way out without losing our dignity...

Bishkek - Under Construction

by Santini738

Bishkek is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.

Founded in 1878 as the Russian fortress of Pishpek (Пишпек), between 1926 and 1991 it was known as Frunze (Фрунзе), after the Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze. The name is thought to derive from a Kyrgyz word for a churn used to make fermented mare's milk (kumis), the Kyrgyz national drink.

Bishkek is situated at about 800 m altitude just off the northern fringe of the Ala-Too range, an extension of the Tien Shan mountain range, which rises up to 4,800 m and provides a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan. The Chui river drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway by a spur.

Bishkek is a city of wide boulevards and marble-faced public buildings combined with numerous Soviet-style apartment blocks surrounding interior courtyards and, especially outside the city center, thousands of smaller privately built houses. It is laid out on a grid pattern, with most streets flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels that water the innumerable trees which provide shade in the hot summers.

"Bishkek Map"