Larry Memmott's Blog

So, after 48 long hours of travel, we made it to Hawaii four days ago.  It’s a tremendous relief to have the packing done, the car sold, the last work from the office finished (well, almost, I did bring a little bit with me), and get someplace warm.  Still, we are already missing Bishkek and […]

[flv]http://memmott.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/christmas2011.flv[/flv] Aliciya had a blast, as you can see in this short clip. That made Christmas for all of us, of course. Merry Christmas to all!

We had a great week visiting Lake Issyk Kul. Issyk Kul is the centerpiece of the biosphere reserve of the same name, and one of the most famous sites in Kyrgyzstan. At more than 5,000 feet above sea level, 113 miles long, up to 37 miles wide, and more than 2,000 feet deep, it is […]

Alexandra, Christina and William arrived on July 1! The adventures have already started. On July 2, they came with us to the U.S. Embassy 4th of July celebration. It rained a bit, but we had chosen our spot well, and just slipped into the yurt which had been set up on the Embassy grounds. The […]

Alex, Chris and William brought a “Gingerbread House Kit” when they came for Christmas. They were not so excited about making it, though, and only got it out of the suitcase when it was time to pack for home. Anyway, Aliciya liked it, so she ended up making it.

We had a good New Year’s celebration, shooting off fireworks at home. On New Year’s Day we went downtown to wander around a bit. That was about it for the kids trip to Kyrgyzstan. We are looking forward to having them here again in the summer.

From the Burana Tower, we went up the mountains to Issyk-Ata, a Soviet-era “Sanitorium.” Traditionally, in this part of the world, whenever you had hot springs you turned them into a place for treating the ill. Issyk-Ata means “Father Heat” and it is a hot spring with a large complex of treatment facilities, a couple […]

We spent one day visiting the ruins of the ancient Silk Road City of Balasagun, including the thousand-year-old Burana Tower. Balasagun was the capital city of the region when Genghis Khan showed up in the 13th Century. He didn’t destroy the city (which was apparently quite out of character for him), but just renamed it. […]

William, Aliciya and I took a great trip up Alamedin Gorge to play in the snow and the hot water of the Teplye Kluchi Hot Springs. We started out playing in the snow. After we got good and cold, we decided to warm up swimming at the hot springs. There is an old Soviet-era swimming […]

This is one of our family traditions, everybody makes their own pizzas with whatever they want on them.