Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Random pics from along Sovietskaya

Today I walked to the Central Post Office and back - 30 minutes one way along Sovietskaya, the main north-south road through Bishkek. It was burning hot, but a gorgeous day. Of course, I took some photos... and here they are:

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See what's on top of that blue(ish) building? No? Scroll down.
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Dolphins!

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A very dry fish fountain
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Many waterless fountain fish, gasping for air

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It's not an open sewer... but it's not exactly clean water either.
Starting last month, the previously bone-dry ditches along every road in the city began to flow with water of dubious quality.

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Yay :-)

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This building has always intrigued me, although I'd never photographed it before. It's not really in a decent place for getting full shots of it. It's currently a sports center, but I wonder what it was originally...

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A closer look

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The sign says "Boxing Hall"

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This little thing on the roof is fabulous

Meanwhile, this is NOT fabulous:
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I took one look at this sign (they're all over town) and every fibre of my body screamed "SCAM!" He claims to be a millionaire representing the International Academy of Financial Success, and he's here to teach the Kyrgyz how to become millionaires. You know, for a fee.

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I wouldn't trust this man as far as I could throw him, and we all know that ain't far! Plus, he apparently got arrested trying to sneak into Russia from Ukraine with forged papers.

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And the logo here just screams "pyramid scam" to me.
Also, what's with центр разбития человека? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean "center of the broken man"?

6 comments:

drmastermind said...

development = развития

it is a V not a B :)

annie said...

hahaha, you're right, it is a V. That makes MUCH more sense.

Also, my uncle sold Kirby vaccuums for years...

Gwen said...

Oh my god. That's one of the most repulsive-looking men I've ever seen.

Anonymous said...

My dad sold Kirby vacuums for one day. And I grew up with his salesman sample as the family vacuum.

And, yeah, I am with Gwen: scary!

annie said...

he is thoroughly repulsive....

(and we actually had a "Keeler" vaccuum for years, which my uncle sold for a while after he broke with Kirby. although i think the motto was "nothing runs like a keeler" which isn't exactly encouraging...)

Bektour Iskender said...

Hey, Jane! This red building on Sovietskaya was a fire station initially. That's why it has this fabulous thing on top of it: there was a bell inside it that rang when any fire was indicated in surrounding area.

The ditches are first of all for taking aside the water from melting glaciers near Bishkek.