Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek
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- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Date: May 26th - June 21st, 2026
This article I cover about Kyrgyzstan in general and Bishkek in particular. Kyrgyzstan is similar to Kazakstan in the form of traditions, landscape and food. Earlier history is known for their nomadic living and war like culture. And later it was under soviet rule so their current history and literature is heavily influenced by them. Unfortunately communistic and socialistic ideologies under psychopath like Lenin, who is still worshiped as great leader, have heavily influenced and the people are kept away from the atrocities brought by him and Stalin. The education and literature is littered with equality, influencing making believe poor and labor that they have equal rights to that of rich people.
People are nice and reserved but much more friendly than Kazak counter parts. They wear simple clothes mostly light colors dominate their attire unlike south east asian cultures. Food is also cheap, most of them rely on bread, meat and few vegetables/fruits. Their houses are built to withstand cold and hot weather in summer. The roof is mostly covered with iron sheets compared to tiles or stones in Europe, most of the houses are like soviet style and not much artistic externally. Interiors have some sort of design pattern to the walls and floor is made of wood with carpet covering it. Similar to Kazak Yurts are used as housing in old times.
Bishkek is the capital city of the country, and it does not give that vibe at all. It could get windy and dusty because of so wide open spaces. There are no tall buildings, the streets are better than India and lot of parks in the city. There are minibuses and regular green buses, similar to Kazak, that run the city. Yandex Go is also cheap to use within the city as most travellers use it for commute. I always prefer public transportation as usual to chat with locals.
People are in generally fit, i find kyrgyz women more appealing comparing to kazak counter parts. Older generation most of them have gold plated teeth but new generation do not have them. More young people are receptive to learning english. Just like kazak, people here prefer very light colours for their clothing or at max black for trousers. They wear simple and comfortable dressing sense.
Some of the places to see in Bishkek are Osh Bazar, State History Museum, Central Mosque, Victory Square, Bishkek Park, Opera and Ballet theater, State white house etc.
Osh Bazar is particularly nice as you can get lot of items that are reasonably priced. The prices of nuts and fruits for better price than in India and I planned to buy 5KG of them. First time I tried horse milk and enjoyed drinking it, heard tourists saying that it is kind of sour but I did not feel that way. Did some shopping to hiking and plan to buy more.
Central Mosque
Victory Square
White House
State History Museum
Opera and Theater:
I did two hikes from the city one is in Ala-Archa national park to Ratsek hut and another is Konorchek Canyon. At the end I did an easy hike/tour to Sarey Chelek. Check out the links below:
Most of the family and young folks happen to hang around victory square and Ala-Too Square. Young folks play volley ball in the parks and kids play with musical fountain waters in the evening. It is definitely nice to relax in this area.
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