The Saga of Bishkek

And now I will tell the tale of Bishkek...

Actually, there isn't a whole lot to tell. I guess I didn't think too much about this trip because if Congress hadn't passed the continuing resolution, I wouldn't have gone at all. We went for the Joint Humanitarian Operations Course at the Manas Air Force Base, which was led by the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). OFDA is technically under the umbrella of USAID, and it's the office that coordinates all U.S. assistance for disasters overseas. But before I get into the training, I suppose I should start from the beginning of the trip.

The flight was on a very similar plane to the one I took to Khujand with the Ambassador. Meaning it was an incredibly loud prop plane with flimsy fold down seats. It was cloudy and the windows were dingy, so I didn't get to take in the views very much. Even thought I know that we have a U.S. Air Force presence in Kyrgyzstan, it was still disorienting when we got off the plane and saw 5 or 6 big Air Force planes on the tarmac. America seems so far away that any time I see something from home here in Central Asia, I'm a bit shocked. Yes, I know this is coming from someone who works at the U.S. embassy and walks past an American flag every morning, but this is somehow different.

On arrival in Bishkek, we got through customs and were immediately flanked by a number of taxi drivers offering their services. One person in our group had to get a visa on arrival, so we bantered with the taxi drivers for awhile. When they discovered we were diplomats, one said, "Oh, you're very important. You each should have your own taxi!" He thought he was very clever until I turned to him and said "Yes, and they should each be free!"

We made it to our hotel, (in shared cabs, being mindful of the cost to the U.S. taxpayer), and checked in before heading out in search of dinner. One of my colleagues had been to Bishkek before, during the revolution last Spring, and took us to Edgar's, a basement restaurant in the park across the street. Edgar's is now probably my favorite restaurant in Central Asia.

The restaurant is mostly underground and is fairly dark with an odd decor that includes fishing nets and model sailing ships. The marine motif in a country that is at least 2,000 miles from the nearest ocean added to the charm. There was also a live piano player and a violinist, playing Russian tunes in the corner. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that food is paramount for me and here Edgar didn't fail to disappoint. One of my friends from work and I couldn't decide what to order, so we split a number of dishes including pepperoni pizza, (AMERICAN PEPPERONI!), pickled herring with potatoes and onions, red caviar sandwiches, and some mouth watering pork ribs. It was heaven. To top it off, they had Baltica 6,(a dark beer). They only have odd numbered Balticas in Tajikistan.

Our training didn't start until Tuesday, on Monday morning I went running with a buddy from work and we toured the town a bit.

Bishkek isn't really all that different from Dushanbe in appearance. There is more park land and the government buildings are a bit more grand, but there is still that underlying layer of poverty and underdeveloped-ness.

That said, Bishkek has a distinctly more metropolitan air than Dushanbe. People were just more purposeful and seemed to have places to go. There were also some very flashy cars...

Bishkek boasts a tremendous number of statues and memorials.

This one with a ring of floating people around it seemed kind of creepy to me.

We were also to see lingering signs of the revolution, such as this burned-out building near the main square. (In the upper right corner)

After our run we enjoyed a fabulous breakfast at the hotel, including smoked fish and fresh honey comb, and then spent the morning working on my e-mails for work.

A bunch of us set out for lunch a while later. It took us a while to find the place and on the way we saw the parliament -

- and a rather impressive, (compared to Dushanbe), amusement park.

It's often hard to agree on a place to eat, and I really wanted to try some local food, which was not so enticing to my colleagues. One of the reasons that I never really traveled with anyone besides Stephanie is that few people are as adventurous as I am when it comes to eating. That said, my colleagues humored me and we found a place serving local cuisine. As with the other places I've been, Kyrgyz national food tends to be similar to the other 'stans. We had Kyrgyz lagman, which was somewhere in between Tajik and Uzbek lagman, and Kyrgyz plov, which was interesting because it was less greasy and had whole-grain rice instead of white. I liked the fresh taste of it, but one friend who is a plov connoisseur did not approve.

Of course, each country has something unique. In Kyrgyzstan, the dish is Beshbarmak, a dish of horse and noodles. Traditionally, the dish is served with a sheep's head, but alas, I did not get one. The meal itself was delicious, although I wasn't able to identify a couple of items on the plate and didn't try too hard.

On the way back to the hotel, we saw a few interesting sights. Near the main square, there were young men with rabbits and fancy pigeons on pedestals.

I think people could pose for pictures with them. Then we walked through an interesting art show, with some very creative pieces of work.

But the highlight, for me, was the crazy squirrel I saw in the park. We were looking at some interesting statues, like the crying rhino head,

-when I saw something that looked like a live Pokemon scamper up the tree. Despite his speed, I got some good pictures.

When we got back to the hotel, there was a sports team getting off a bus. We had a bit of an uncomfortable moment on the elevator when we asked where they were from and they said "Iran". I know there are specific protocols for interacting with Iranian diplomats, but I don't know if there are supposed to be any limitations with civilians, so we just politely acknowledged one another and went on our way. However, it later turned out that one of the players bought one of the women in our group a massage at the spa (the front desk told her it was a Woman's Day gift, and she didn't find out otherwise until afterwards). That was pretty funny. Nothing came of it, although he did offer her a free ticket to the upcoming game. Unfortunately, it was scheduled for Thursday and we were heading back to Dushanbe that morning.

After putting in some more work, we all went to a nearby Chinese restaurant. It looked like the kind of place where you get a stowaway in your gut, (wouldn't be the first for me, I'm sure), but it turned out to be very very good. That seems to be a universal thing with Chinese food. No matter how horrible the restaurant looks, the food is usually ok.

On Tuesday, we got a very early start and made our way to the Manas air base for the training. Seeing this one base really brings some reality to the my picture of how massive our military operations are. It was like a small town all to itself. At the training we learned about the inner workings of America's response to disasters in foreign countries. There was a lot I didn't know and it was interesting. Disaster relief requires an enormous coordination of effort and that's just from our end. It gets even more complicated when you factor in all of the other nation's efforts and those of international organizations like the UN and Red Cross.

Now, while the training was interesting and useful, we were even more impressed with the dining facilities and commissary. For lunch we could choose from a huge variety of choices that I haven't seen since leaving the U.S... good cheeseburgers, chicken tender, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, onion rings, chocolate cheesecake, Combos, Pop Tarts, soft serve ice cream...you get the picture. It was mind-boggling. What was funny was that some of the military personnel were actually apologizing for the quality of the food. When we gushed about how good it was, we had to convince them that we weren't being sarcastic. I guess I can see how it would get old after awhile, but after being in Dushanbe for 18 months, it was anything but disappointing.

After lunch, we checked out the commissary and I picked up some American treats to bring back to Stephanie...Cheetos, Cheez-its, tuna fish, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Sour Patch Kids, and Salt & Vinegar Pringles, to name a few. It's not that we've been actively missing these things, but when you see them suddenly, it's all you can do not to sweep the whole shelf into your basket.

After the first day of training we went to Edgar's again. This time I had the pepperoni pizza, the pork ribs, and some pork and veal shashlik all by myself. Again, it was wonderful.

On Wednesday, we had our second day of training, and another huge lunch, and made another trip to the commissary. As I said, the training was very enlightening. It's also given me a different perspective on the tragedy in Japan with the earthquake and tsunami. I already have a good idea of what's going on behind the scenes in terms of ramping up the relief effort and it's interesting to hear some of the groups and offices I encountered mentioned in the news.

On our last evening in Bishkek, we went for a little walk before dinner to take in the sights some more.

Bishkek is an hour ahead of Dushanbe, so it stayed lighter much later than it does in Dushanbe. One of my colleagues particularly enjoyed a statue that looked like it was barfing - the real barf, not snow.

For dinner, I would have been happy to go back to Edgar's for a third round, but we decided to try a place nearby called Vogue. It was definitely fancier, and the food was still good, although I was a bit disappointed when the buffalo wings came out with no buffalo sauce and just five tiny wings on the plate. I guess fancy-looking restaurants are the same anywhere you go.

We had to leave very early the next morning to catch our flight. This time we were flying Kyrgyz air and the plane was the same except they had real seats and I could see out of the window. Even though I was in the aisle seat, I was able to snap a couple of good pictures.

We returned to Dushanbe to find some gorgeous weather. Only a week ago, it was snowing and now it's in the upper 60's. Spring arriveth.

I spent the last couple of days of the work week avoiding a crazy landlady who isn't happy that we aren't renewing her lease and has been demanding to speak to me about it even though we've already had a meeting. I sense the possibility of some interesting stories in the near future.

On Friday, my team went out to lunch at my favorite plov restaurant (it's served with pieces of fat and a quail egg), to send off one of my employees who has taken a job in Iraq. And just like that, it's the weekend.

Stephanie and I have a number of plans ahead of us, but that will be a story for next time.