Well, the month of October has made fools of us again, vanishing in a haze of sunny days and cold nights, pomegranates and failed attempts to locate misplaced gloves and hats. But as my colleagues/compatriots/friends/saviors and better bloggers Mike and Michelle have pointed out, November has snuck up upon us, and, like Prufrockian fog, pounced on us. See here for their (well, Michelle's) take on November in Bishkek.
But, let's not dwell in the Octobers of the soul, let's take a walk in a crumbling amusement park!!! Panfilova Park!
Special thanks to all of you who reminded me that I was slacking in my duties here, and special thanks to Anna Reed and her co-worker.
Our friend the bear lives here, in Panfilova Park right around the main entrance area. He is available, with his fellow taxidermied friends, for photo ops.
Yes, that is a little boy riding the bear and yes, that does say Bishkek in Cyrillic.
An additional yes, this is all taking place literally in the shadow of this statue of Ivan Panfilov, a Soviet WWII hero who is credited with playing a major role in the successful defense of Moscow.
Observe! Maybe they should let these punchy Kangaroos have a chance?
Marvel! Another ride with people holding on for dear life...
Conspiracy? The park is laid out as a pentagram, or the five pointed star of the Soviets surrounded with a circle. Whatevs. At the center is a fountain. It's a nice fountain and the mist from the fountain was a great place to cool off at during the summer heat. The summer days would reach about 105 or so, but the nights would dip into the 60's. November has mostly been low 40's in the day, low 20's at night.
This, in actuality, might be the most terrifying atrraction in all of Bishkek. I have seen kids on those upper rungs and no there is no safety equipment that keeps them from falling. If they fell and bounced clear out, they would be landing on solid concrete. Also, not sure what that guy is doing with that chair. He is probably the fellow in charge of collecting money for the attraction. All of the rides in the park cost 40 or 45 som (about $1) and you pay this to the operator of the ride. They will run the ride even if there is just 1 person on it. And stop it when you child screams to get off. I know these both from experience.
Here's a nice little train for the young ones
We live about a 30 second walk from the park, so if you were worried that we were bored out of our gourds in Bishkek, this park has been a major chunk of our entertainment. It's more or less closed now, although you can still walk through and usually parts are open or at least still blasting techno music. You can listen to your techno, eat your deep fried lamb pastry and take an animal ride
These pictures were taken in October, when things were starting to wind down at the park. Hence this empty carousel
And behold these other wonders...
A caterpillar roller coaster
Pink Camo Tanks!
And of course the ubiquitous Bounce Houses, known locally as batoot. These are all over the city, but the biggest ones are here in Panfilova. Again, please see a better post about batoot from Mike and Michelle here. Here's of a few shots of one of the Panfilova batoot.
It took them a while and few hundred som to convince the operator to look the other way on the no adults policy.
And now we leave our fair park through the main gate. Goodbye sweet sweet Panfilova Park.
An additional note - I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but Bishkek looks, in an arboreal sense, like the Northeast of the USA. It is the same latitude as say Newburyport, Massachusetts (Anna!) so it makes sense in that way. Also, my theory as to why Birch, Maple, Oak, Cottonwood and Horse Chestnut dominate here as they do there, is that all of these trees come from Northern Europe. Bishkek, like Newburyport was colonized by Northern Europeans and they brought their trees with them to keep their trees from feeling abandoned. Trees can be so sensitive.
I'm not entirely convinced that this the reason, but it sounds reasonable...well parts of it.
But, let's not dwell in the Octobers of the soul, let's take a walk in a crumbling amusement park!!! Panfilova Park!
Special thanks to all of you who reminded me that I was slacking in my duties here, and special thanks to Anna Reed and her co-worker.
Our friend the bear lives here, in Panfilova Park right around the main entrance area. He is available, with his fellow taxidermied friends, for photo ops.
Yes, that is a little boy riding the bear and yes, that does say Bishkek in Cyrillic.
An additional yes, this is all taking place literally in the shadow of this statue of Ivan Panfilov, a Soviet WWII hero who is credited with playing a major role in the successful defense of Moscow.
Well, let's enter into the amusement park that celebrates this hero, and see what there is to see...I realized, reading this over to check for errors, that I've shown what Bishkek looks like, but not what it sounds or smells like. Panfilova Park is particularly polluted with noise and smell. So, imagine in your ears thumping techno dance music and, in your innocent nose conjure the wafting scent of roasted mutton fat. And if you don't know what that might smell like, imagine what deep fried lamb might smell like.
Behold! Terrifying Swings with little or nothing holding these daredevils in
See! Machines that measure how hard you can punch. This guy's was particularly, uh, distinct. In the background is the "White House" where the Kyrgyz Parliament meets.
Observe! Maybe they should let these punchy Kangaroos have a chance?
Marvel! Another ride with people holding on for dear life...
Conspiracy? The park is laid out as a pentagram, or the five pointed star of the Soviets surrounded with a circle. Whatevs. At the center is a fountain. It's a nice fountain and the mist from the fountain was a great place to cool off at during the summer heat. The summer days would reach about 105 or so, but the nights would dip into the 60's. November has mostly been low 40's in the day, low 20's at night.
This, in actuality, might be the most terrifying atrraction in all of Bishkek. I have seen kids on those upper rungs and no there is no safety equipment that keeps them from falling. If they fell and bounced clear out, they would be landing on solid concrete. Also, not sure what that guy is doing with that chair. He is probably the fellow in charge of collecting money for the attraction. All of the rides in the park cost 40 or 45 som (about $1) and you pay this to the operator of the ride. They will run the ride even if there is just 1 person on it. And stop it when you child screams to get off. I know these both from experience.
Here's a nice little train for the young ones
We live about a 30 second walk from the park, so if you were worried that we were bored out of our gourds in Bishkek, this park has been a major chunk of our entertainment. It's more or less closed now, although you can still walk through and usually parts are open or at least still blasting techno music. You can listen to your techno, eat your deep fried lamb pastry and take an animal ride
These pictures were taken in October, when things were starting to wind down at the park. Hence this empty carousel
And behold these other wonders...
A caterpillar roller coaster
Pink Camo Tanks!
And of course the ubiquitous Bounce Houses, known locally as batoot. These are all over the city, but the biggest ones are here in Panfilova. Again, please see a better post about batoot from Mike and Michelle here. Here's of a few shots of one of the Panfilova batoot.
My son spent a lot of time on these bounce houses this summer, bouncing and playing with the local kids. As a rule, Russian and Kyrgyz kids play on the same batoot, so that is good to see a lack of ethnic tension in that sense. Also, my son only sprained his ankle once and got pink eye just once, so I can say he won the batoot season.
And here's a bonus pic of a classy bride and groom taking a bounce in batoot...
And now we leave our fair park through the main gate. Goodbye sweet sweet Panfilova Park.
An additional note - I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but Bishkek looks, in an arboreal sense, like the Northeast of the USA. It is the same latitude as say Newburyport, Massachusetts (Anna!) so it makes sense in that way. Also, my theory as to why Birch, Maple, Oak, Cottonwood and Horse Chestnut dominate here as they do there, is that all of these trees come from Northern Europe. Bishkek, like Newburyport was colonized by Northern Europeans and they brought their trees with them to keep their trees from feeling abandoned. Trees can be so sensitive.
I'm not entirely convinced that this the reason, but it sounds reasonable...well parts of it.
Panfilov is still going! When we walked by today, a couple of the rides were running, with 3-6 people on them, shivering. I guess ice on the tracks makes for a more exciting ride.
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