Central Asia II: Bishkek--Monuments and Markets

“Today we’ll walk 10,000 to 12,000 steps,” Farhod told us, on October 9, 2021, and we did.  It felt wonderful, after our many sedentary hours on airplanes in the last few days.   We treated ourselves to ice cream cones to provide fuel for the trek.

Soviet culture embraces heroic monuments.  Kyrgygstan and Uzbekistan cities are full of large, stone monuments, and even small towns have heroic monuments to the fighters of the Great War (WWII).  As I listen to Russia's President Putin roil his citizens to fight for the "deNatzification" of Ukraine, I know exactly the dog whistle he is employing.  There is deep, lingering hatred in Russia and its satellites of the Nazis who invaded Russia in WWII, and great pride in the Soviet Union warriors (including warriors from Central Asia) who vanquished the Nazis.  Post-Soviet Central Asia states have retained their taste for heroic monuments.  The monument above commemorates one of the many uprisings of Kyrgyzstan citizens against their rulers.  There have been 30 prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan since its independence in 1991.  Our guide in Kyrgygstan saw that as a sign of democracy and patriotism.  Our guide from Uzbekistan questioned whether having so many prime ministers was really a sign of instability!

We passed by the former presidential palace, which had been stormed by protesters several years ago, who were appalled at the regime’s corruption.  The president fled.

We walked through Bishkek's imposing war memorial.  As with so many ceremonial Kyrgygstan objects, the memorial is built in the shape of a yurt.  The top of the yurt has a round opening with a criss-cross hatching.  That symbol represents the human view of the infinite and reappears on the Kyrgyzstan flag and other items.

We were not alone in visiting the perpetually burning torch inside the war memorial.  These people may have been tourists, but brides and their grooms often visit city monuments, in marriage dress, on their wedding days.

Soviet monuments often feature heroic women.  Kyrgyzstan is a Muslim country, but after many years of Soviet rule, it has a very secular version of Islam.  This lady is dressed modestly, but in many Muslim countries, there would not be a statue of a modern woman in a public place.

 

This post-Soviet monument includes a statue of a female general from  Kyrgystan in the 1700s.  There was contradictory information between our guide and museum written material as to whether she opposed the Russian tsar or caved in to him!  “Kyrgis women are very strong,” our guide said.  

The female general is wearing an elecheck, or white headdress rolled from between 15 and 20 yards of material.

This Kyrgi bill includes a drawing of a woman wearing an elechek.

We walked through Oak Park, filled with stone statues portraying the Kyrgis epic poem,  Manas.  I was surprised that the gardens were filled with the same flowers as in SLC—marigolds, roses, lamb’s ear.  I realized that Bishkek and SLC have a similar climate.  Bishkek is also a high altitude city ringed by mountains, which reminds us of SLC.

We passed statues of Lenin and of Marx and Engels, moved away from the center of the city.   Kyrgis prize their independence, but they also accept Big Brother Russia.  When we asked Farhod what foreign languages are taught in the schools, Farhod said, “Chinese and English.  We don’t count Russian as a foreign language, because we all know it.”  Kyrgyzstan still uses the Russian, Cyrillic alphabet, although Uzbekistan now uses the Western alphabet.

Kyrgystan has 6 million people, and 1 million of them are working in Russia, sending back remittances.  The value of the remittances equals the value of the entire government budget.  “When Russia gets upset at something we do, such as allow the Americans to have a base to supply Afghanistan,” Farhod said, “Russia just has to suggest that it will make it more difficult for Kurgis citizens to work in Russia, and we have to back down.” 

When we finally saw the huge statue of Manas himself, in front of government buildings, Farhod pointed out that Manas had slayed the dragon, “which represents China.”  China now provides the cheap consumer products the country needs, as well as loans and grants to build roads and bridges, but the Kyrgis are very wary of their hereditary enemy, China.  

This is a post-Soviet building on Bishkek's main square.  It combines Soviet massiveness with the dome and arches of traditional Central Asian architecture.

These soldiers, with the gold-embroidered scarlet carpet leading to their guardhouse, look very Soviet.

Over and over, we saw the symbol of the cross-hatched open hole on top of the yurt.  Here it is on Kyrgyzstan's flag.  Our guide told us that the rays represent the forty tribes that joined together into one small country of 6 million people.  The circle of the sun represents peace.  The three lines across the sun represent the poles unifying a round yurt, which is the traditional dwelling place of the Kyrgis people, who descended from the Mongols. 

Here it is on a roadside poster.

And here it is on a stone monument.

After lunch, we visited the sprawling bazaar.  The old Silk Road, followed for centuries by traders between China and Europe, runs through Bishkek.  China has constructed modern highways along that old Silk Road, and trucks carry full loads of cheap clothes and household goods from China for Kyrgyzstan's bazaars.  Middlemen buy the goods from the Chinese container trucks and sell them at the bazaar.

There are lots of small businesspeople at the bazaar, including this entrepreneur, who sold melons out of the trunk of his car.

I am my father's daughter.  Dad loved to take photographs, and particularly of people at foreign bazaars.  These four photos are my homage to Grant Calder.

We searched through the bazaar for a hat shop, so Mike could buy one of these traditional Kyrgi hats.

There was an infinite assortment of beans, lentils, and nuts.

I tried most Kyrgi delicacies, but I couldn't bring myself to taste these yogurt balls, which are a portable treat.

Surprisingly, Central Asia has many Korean residents, who were brought here after the Russian war of 1905.  They are a prominent fixture of the bazaars, selling kim chee (above) and carrot salad.

“Do you mind the smell of raw meat?” Fahrod asked.  Since we said “no,” he led us through the huge meat section of the bazaar, with a sheep’s head and all sorts of entrails for sale, as well as a special section for horse meat.  Some horses are raised for riding in Kyrgystan, and other, fat ones are raised for meat.