Last Saturday here in Bishkek the weather was abysmal, and I stayed indoors most of the day. In contrast, Sunday was perfect: warm, sunny, with clear blue skies... the perfect day for a walk. So I took one. And, as you might suspect, I took a lot of photographs. Some are similare to those I took on my very first excursion into Downtown Bishkek way back in January, although now shown in the light of spring rather than under a blanket of snow. Others are of entirely new sights. Either way, enjoy!
Square honoring the Martyrs of the (Communist) Revolution
Ditto.
Up close and personal...
...and likewise.
Mmmmm, green.
I really like this house a lot.
Legendary Kyrgyz hero, Manas, [wikipedia entry]
who once carried his horse over a rough mountain pass.
A closer look.
The White House.
No, seriously, that's what the Kyrgyz President calls his office.
Erkendik Park, a nice pedestrian park/boulevard downtown
Some kind of drama theater.
It had interesting detail work...
...and awesome columns...
...and one supercool light fixture.
The bizarre and rather unkempt circus facility
looks an awful lot like a flying saucer.
Cork, Cork, are you there?
The Russian Orthodox cathedral on Jibek-Jolu Street
is really beautiful. And you know how I love onion domes.
At some point they started building a rear addition to the church,
but it seems that construction has halted.
This was nice, if you go in for that sort of thing. Unfortunately, you can only find it by climbing in through the rubble of the ill-fated "construction" at the rear of the church.
I liked this picture too, even though it's not really my cup of tea.
9 comments:
The house you 'really like' in Bishkek seems to be a N FL/S GA pyramid style house, complete with metal roof.
I considered finding an English copy of The Epic of Manas until I realized it is 20 times longer than Homer's Odyssey and Iliad combined. Sheesh. I don't know that I have a decade free to read it.
The sign of an oral culture subjected to centuries of long hard winters!
I've always hated the painted tree thing. If they must paint them, can't they paint them a color that matches the tree?
Mom - I know! That's why I like it :-)
Eddie - Can you imagine translating something of that length, much less reading it? I can't imagine doing either!
Pollyanna - No kidding!
Joanna - I know - wht do they do that?
good heavens why do they paint the trees. everyone says its because of bugs. for some reason i am not buying it. in chuvashia they had a theater that was frikin identical to the one you show.
Jane why do you hate christians so bad? we aren't all awful. :o)
Gorgeous pics as always, Jane. Love the composition on that last one. It's amazing how much Bishkek looks like Vladimir in some places.
Adeline - I don't hate the vast majority of you. In fact I can think of only one Christian whom I hate (Mr. Adkins, if anyone's counting - and I only hate him if he happens to pop into my mind for some reason) although I don't believe in any of it (or any other religion for that matter).
I like the painted trees. They had a lot of them in China. I had a big blog about it as I thought that it was for religious purposes only to find out that it was just an insecticide. Hope that you are having fun.
Chris
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