Introducing Bishkek

pop 900, 000 / elev 800m

Bishkek feels green – but not just because of the trees. Green because it’s young, wet-behind-the-ears, racing to grow up and unsure of want it wants to become.

A cosmopolitan capital? It needs a heap more money for that. A dignified Silk Road legacy? Bishkek needs a tad more history. Little exists that predates WWII although Lenin is still here in his concrete overcoat (albeit recently demoted to a smaller square) and a larger-than-life Frunze still sits on a bronze horse facing the train station (though his name has been removed).

What’s more, Bishkek seems small and bony like a teenager. There’s not that much to it. It’s yet to fill out. You can race around the museums and be back hanging at the bar, debating politics with the large contingent of American expats before your bar stool has cooled. Yes, nothing gets the heart racing like a few vodka shots and a well-timed reference to the US military base at a civilian airport.

But it’s not only high-octane alcohol that fuels debate and there is more than mountains that separate the capital from the more conservative south. Yearly street demonstrations (2004, 2005 and 2006), the spasmodic dosing of demonstrators with tear gas and a coup (2005) paints a troubling picture of this upstart capital but the reality is far more congenial. The only serious trouble you’re likely to encounter is the Kyrgyz proclivity for Chinese food and karaoke. Dangerous stuff.