Larry Memmott's Blog

Millennial Walnut Tree Arslanbob is a wonderful little village north of Jalalabad. Surrounded by ancient walnut forests, and with a particularly hospitable population, it is a great place to just relax. Arslanbob lies some 30 miles off the main Bishkek-Jalalabad road. The road is good, and it’s a pleasant drive through the countryside. Attached you […]

[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!

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 […]

This is a relatively short trip into Kazakhstan from Bishkek, but would make a challenging day-trip.  It is probably better thought-of as a stopping point on the way to Turkestan or Tashkent.  The mausoleums are about five hours from Bishkek (including border formalities to get into Kazakhstan – your wasted time may vary). According to […]

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. […]

We had a great Christmas Day. For the first time this year, it really showed overnight, with huge, beautiful flakes floating to the ground. Not a lot of snow fell, but the grass was completely covered.

Tatyana gave the girls new boots for Christmas. But, of course, the girls had to choose their own. We went to Dordoy Bazaar to look for boots. They got really cut ones.

We drove up to Ala Archa to take a walk in the snow.  It was beautiful, as it always is.

Over the past few days we’ve been getting seriously into the Christmas spirit! The Embassy’s local employees organized a major party at a local cafe for the adults of the embassy, with plenty to eat and drink, and lots of dancing and partying. It was a blast! And then we hosted, at our house, Breakfast […]

Lake Issyk Kul is the tenth largest lake in the world (by volume) and the second largest mountain lake (after Lake Titicaca, which I have also visited). It is also the second largest saline lake in the world, after the Caspian Sea (so, bigger than the Great Salt Lake). It’s not heavily salty, just enough […]