FAQ

1. What do you do?
(see this post)

2. Have I seen you on TV?
Yes! My husband and I were featured on an episode of House Hunters International in 2011. Read about it here or watch the episode here.

3. I found your blog looking for Harvey Wager’s (the real estate agent from the HHI episode) contact info, but can’t find it anywhere. Do you have it?
Harvey Wager is a real person, but he’s not a real estate agent.

4. Do you know of any real real estate agents?
Yes, Svetlana is a real estate agent we used to find the house we’re currently living in after we moved out of the apartment featured in the HHI episode. She only speaks Russian, and she can be contacted at any of the following three phone numbers: 0777-10-06-11, 0559-09-00-11, or 0312-89-25-34. She’s excellent, and if you’re in Bishkek and looking for a new place, I highly recommend her.

5. How can I find a house/apartment/place to stay in Bishkek?
Actually, I don’t have much advice for finding a place to live, especially if you’re not in Bishkek yet. I stayed in an awful guesthouse my first night, found my first (also awful) apartment through AUCA (where I was already enrolled in classes), found the second (slightly better) and third (from HHI) through word of mouth, and my current place through Svetlana, the real estate agent mentioned above.
I would say if you have a specific purpose for coming here, such as already having a job that you’re specifically moving out here to perform, or going through any type of organization to arrange your move out here, please ask them for advice first. Like I said, this is an area I don’t actually have much useful advice on, and I can’t explain how frustrating it is to receive so many emails where the sender admits there is an established organization responsible for their move, but they’ve decided to forego these available resources and transfer their housing questions to me instead. (Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine?)

(Follow-up question: Do you know someone looking for a roommate? No, I probably don’t.)

6. How can I find a job in Bishkek?
Another area I don’t have any advice on. I created my job, and it was a long and difficult process. I know some people who moved here and immediately found jobs they loved, who immediately found jobs they hated, who found jobs after several months or more than a year, or who are still unemployed and desperately seeking out positions. There’s no real formula, but I’m sure you can easily find a job teaching English somewhere.

7. What’s the internet like in Bishkek?
Bishkek providers have a wide range of speed and data plans. You can buy super-limited, slow internet for pennies an hour, you can get super-fast, unlimited internet for thousands of dollars a month, or anything in between. Personally, I get decent speeds (Skype calls without video, sometimes streaming video) and unlimited data for about 1500 som per month.

8. What’s the food like in Bishkek?
Kyrgyzstan’s national cuisine is heavy on meat and potatoes and emphasizes ease and heartiness over flavor (in my opinion, but I do love some dishes). If national cuisine isn’t your thing, Bishkek has a lot of options, offering Turkish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, American, Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Lebanese, Italian and Indian restaurants (I’m probably forgetting something). I’ve found that I can find most of the necessary ingredients to make whatever I feel like cooking, though it can sometimes take a bit of determined hunting to know which stores stock which items. With that being said, some things that are common to you back home are still unusual fare here and will cost more, like the $4 I recently spent on one can of imported coconut milk or the $10 mangoes I’ve heard are sometimes sold in Issyk Kul. And yes, the amount of fresh produce plummets in winter (and the price of what’s left drastically increases).

9. Is it safe in Kyrgyzstan?
Yes, I think it is, with a small caveat. I’ve known a decent amount of friends who have been beaten up, some requiring lengthy hospital stays. It sucks, and I would never say that it was my friends’ fault that they were beaten up, but I do think it’s important to always be aware of your environment and use common sense. Most of the incidents I hear of happen in the middle of the night, when a person is either drunk, alone, or both. My rule is to avoid walking by myself at night and to use licensed taxi companies to go through unfamiliar or sketchy areas at night. In general though, it’s not such a bad place.

10. I’m coming to Kyrgyzstan to travel! What’s a juicy, secret travel tip you can give me that isn’t in any guidebooks?
Eh… I don’t actually travel that much around the country. My opinion is that if you’re coming to Kyrgyzstan in the first place, you’re already tapped into a super secret travel destination. Kyrgyzstan is already so off-the-beaten-track that even if you do visit places that are (gasp!) in the guidebook, it’s still likely to be lacking other tourists (unless you’re going to Issyk Kul in June-August, in which case it will be packed with Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Russians). If you’re that concerned with going even more off-the-beaten-track, then you’ll end up in a village in the middle of nowhere that has no activities for you. At least if you go somewhere with a CBT, they can arrange a yurt-stay or horse riding for you. Middle of nowhere? Not so much.

11. Isn’t this a food blog?
It used to be. All of the recipes are still in the archives.

12. I read your blog once and then I decided to move to Bishkek and I don’t really like it! Why did you do this to me?
True story. I think I’ve redeemed myself with them though.

13. I like your photos! Can I use them for something?
Thanks! The answer is probably yes, but please ask first. If the use is non-commercial then I’m sure I’ll be okay with it.

14. I have another question about living in/working in/moving to/traveling in Kyrgyzstan.
You can email me at kirstin{at}ivorypomegranate{dot}com or check out some articles I wrote for Expat Arrivals.

15. Can we hang out?
I’m sure you’re a wonderful, interesting, fun person to be around, but in general I’m a bit hesitant to hang out with people I don’t know who want to meet up with me in Bishkek. Not because I think you might be a serial killer, but mostly because I have a very low success rate of actually meeting people. There have been about a dozen times that I’ve agreed to meet up with someone, made solid plans of where and when to meet, and have then been stood-up. So, after so many burns, can you blame me for not wanting to put in the effort? Plus, I’m kind of shy on top of all that.

16. You’re not being helpful enough/I don’t like your response/You’re taking too long to respond to my email/etc.
Gosh, the internet. I mostly enjoy getting emails from readers, but remember that I’m just some random girl and I’m under no obligation to answer your email, especially if you demand large amounts of information or I just don’t have the time or motivation to respond. Reading this blog and sending me emails are entirely voluntary, so if you’re somehow unhappy with the interaction, I offer you a half-hearted apology and say, “Welcome to the internet, feel free to browse elsewhere, have a nice day!” If you’re not getting a response and you really think you should, it’s also possible that you spelled my email address wrong. It’s Kirstin, not Kristin, not Kristen, not Kirsten.