Shopping in Bishkek

the city is not what i expected (middle east with a russian taste) but a fairly modern city, with a russian plan and a fairly european atmosphere. Everything works smoothly with no particular noises and smells, where we could happily buy new clothes while BA was safely keeping ours in London... so basically we shared few drinks with the people at the hostel to get an idea of where to go, had a nice breakfast at the expat cafe and wondered around... not much to add on the city beside it is really green with the classic concrete square and marble buildings once home to the soviet and now government houses... nice start would say

Actually we felt pretty "shocked" to get into such a well-organized European-style city. Basically we could not believe it as we were mentally prepared for a kind of adventurous survival trip straight from the beginning!
Better like this, as also our equipment was not yet prepared for the big adventures ;-)

The people are a big mix between Europeans, Russians, Arabs, Chinese and all the Local ethnical groups. European tourists don't immediately stand out as most of the people are white skin. The girls wear shorter skirts and deeper V-necks than you can think of and the guys have mobile phones which are at least 5 generations better than mine!! I was prepared to cover myself up to the nose and hide my belongings - no need for that. It is really incredible what a wrong picture we have in Europe of this region. Obviously there are things which are different to our world - it starts with the fastest internet connection being 256kb and ends with still arranging marriages (maybe not in Bishkek..).