Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

We were supposed to take a boat cruise on the lake to get a better view of the surrounding mountains but it was cold and cloudy so we decided to skip it and head straight to lunch at Hawaii. Hawaii is a roadside restaurant that recreates the magical Hawaiian experience in the middle of the Kyrgyz Republic. There were plastic palm trees and beaches and everything! Most of the tables were built in large extensions over the pond. There were a few tables on individual platforms to allow private dining. It was fun watching people take water taxis back and forth.

The drive was quite pretty with views of the fertile plains and the mountains of Kazakhstan helping to pass the hours away.

We finished the tour of Bishkek that was cut short a few days ago. After touring yet more Soviet monuments, we got a chance to do a little shopping at Tsum. This monolithic gray building was a huge department store that was a sate run Soviet enterprise to provide shopping centres in every major city. I am not sure how it works now but it seems to be a series of individual stands that are privately stocked and owned. We bought a few Christmas tree decorations (a few cute Kyrgyz hats) and got rid of every last som that we had.

We were treated to a small private concert of traditional Kyrgyz music by 4 members of the University Music Department. It was spectacular! I could not believe the sound that they were able to create with a small mouth harp. There was a huge rush to purchase a copy of their CD at the end.