1. Almaty has public transport that actually works.
2. Pedestrians have rights. And traffic lights – whereas in Bishkek I noticed that pedestrians share traffic lights with cars, meaning they start walking whenever lights are red for cars.
3. There is coffee house culture.
4. Medeo – Ice Skating in the mountains.
5. Strolling through the city and enjoying sightseeing for more than 90 minutes (where in Bishkek you are definitely done after 90 minutes).
And to stay fair, here are 5 reasons to leave:
1. A simple espresso might cost up to $8.
2. Smog.
3. Apartments are ridiculously expensive.
4. Most of the taxis do not have those practical and recognizable yellow signs on top.
5. Nazarbayev is the president of Kazakhstan.
I am Kazakh, and I am glad that the president of my country is N.A Nazarbayev. I am puzzled as to why you have it as a reason to leave Almaty? Under his rule we are basically feeding your country.(FDI, banking, tourism, energy, jobs etc)
5 Reasons to Go to Bishkek – and 5 Reasons to Leave Again!!
1. Ala Too Square
2. Cheap to learn Russian – American University and Kyrgyz-Slavonic University.
3. Restaurant Adriatico (Chuy and Togolok Moldo),
4. Golden Bull
5. Al-Archa National Park
5 Reasons to leave
1. Poverty
2. Dangerous
3. irrigation ditches and other holes in the ground, especially when walking at night – many streets are not lit at all.
4. Police
5. poor city, with little character.
By: Kazakh in UK on March 4, 2009
at 2:04 pm
oh wow, guys chill out!
ok, let’s be moer objective,
yeah. both of the countries have its’ negatives and positives of course.
Yeah Kyrgyzstan is not perfect, but neither Kazakhstan.
I wanna comment on Inostranka’s points, well, for now we definetely have public transports that are working! and hey, we also have coffee houses! Ice skating? well, go to the Norus or anywhere outside of Bish and you will find not only iceskating, but heliskiing, skiing, skydiving, etc! it is actually really dveeloped in KG.
lol, cause Nazarbaev is the president of KZ?that’s funny.
and about Kazakh in UK, well, i did not get what you meant by saying cheap to learn russian-and American University…any ties??cause AUCA American University not Russian and it’s the best University in all over CA.
also, you mentioned poverty and dangerous, oh c’mon, these things are almost everywhere!it is in KZ, it is in KG, it is in UZ, it is in TJ, like everywhere!maybe you think that Kazakh people are richer than Kyrgyz, but there are like over 16000000 ppl in KZ wherein in KG there are only about 6000000 ppl.
oh, also, by the way, now Bishkek is getting totally constructed so come check the roads now, they are waaay better than that time.
Police? so what? don’t you guys have police over there, too? i would actually say that both countries have kinda rude police.
poor city with little characters? characters? kinda not understandable! pls be sure to explain what you really mean. yeah. Bishkek is poorer than Astana, because KG doesn’t have the OIL which KZ has.
By: Kyrgyzka on July 7, 2009
at 10:06 am
Hey this was nothing meant serious – it was more of a feuilletonistic approach. i was being ironic – and of course I am very well aware of the political underpinnings of this issue.
i am sorry if i touched sensitive feelings, i did not mean to. i love all central asian countries the same way.
By: innostranka on July 7, 2009
at 5:35 pm