Blogs from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Asia - page 6

Day 30, July 25, 2009, Saturday, Ishembi The land of inshallah has really caught up with me. I am starting to lose my ambition to accomplish any meaningful tasks. I managed to sleep most of the day away again yesterday. My nose is in a mild cascade and I definitely have a sinus problem. I will try to find a couple of solutions at an Apoteka, pharmacy, today. I ran out of the Fluctinase spray, and have just taken the last of the Tylenol sinus caps I brought with me in case the dust and pollution proved too much. So far, I have had good luck finding local replacements for my medications, only the Singulair proved difficult, and I substituted Theophan and it does seem to be keeping my chest clear. Last night Marat shared my ... read more

Day 28, July 23, 2009, Beishembi It's election day in Kyrgyzstan. There is little question about the outcome. The current office holder has a lock on re-election. But the news today and tonight give the appearance of a contest. There have been a large number of man-on-the-street interviews and video of people going to the polls to cast a ballot. I woke up quite late for me this morning it was 9:30 when Timka came to the room and called me to breakfast. I managed to struggle through the well fried egg and a little more, but only one cup of coffee. Yesterday's adventure went pretty well. Gulnara gave me a ride to Ala-Too Square, where I took some daytime photographs of the new flowers. The fountains were not working. I got new photographs of the ... read more

Day 27, July 22, 2009, Wednesday, Sharshembi I awoke this morning at 6:25 and immediately headed for the shower to beat the crowd that might be interested later. I feel really good this morning. Nothing got done yesterday. I did not hear from my friends at all. I am waiting to hear about Ulan and his wife's baby so that I can purchase something nice as a baby gift. The baby is about a week late, but it is her first and that is probably not a problem. I also had hoped yesterday to hear from Nurbek, a friend of Emil's, whom I like very much, but no phone call. I am assuming that he is just very busy. I also have not heard from Faruh or Sapar since returning from Osh. I hope I have ... read more

Day 17, July 11, 2009, Saturday, Ishembi: The old “I didn't sleep a wink last night” refrain is running through my brain this morning. For some reason I was able only to get about 2 hours sleep at a time and feel really tired this morning as I begin the day. I finally decided to become active around 7 am, but have been fooling with trying to solve some of the technical issues with the Nokia N95 that Emil sent here with me. I have to tell you that I would rather have one of the other phones I own at the moment. The Nokia N95 is an older model of the Nokia line and it has incredible features. Bluetooth transfer from my computer of documents and files, usb transfer of music and photographs, use of ... read more

Day 15, July 9, 2009, Thursday, Beishembi: And it did turn out to be a fairly nice day yesterday after all. Timka and I walked to the nearby park and sat and watched the activity there around 1 p.m. There was not a lot going on at that time, there were couples of young people scattered in various places. A group of three young boys on bicycles riding through on the paths and off the paths. Intimate little tet-a-tet between couples of women. And the sweepers. The park has about 8 paths that lead back out to the streets around it. The major streets near it are Sovietsky and Atambiev which are truly major arteries that run North and South, and East and West repectively through the city. Sovietsky is always bustling with traffic and there ... read more