As the unofficial US-Kyrgyzstan Tourism Director / Diplomacy Chief, I wanted to share this account (via Argus) of how much more attractive Krygyzstan is becoming as a tourist destination. Of course, with progress comes the loss of tradition, but
Even Kyrgyzstan is a lot more modern than it was just a few years ago, especially Bishkek. There are more cars in Bishkek now, and fewer of them are old Ladas and Moskvitchs (although there are still a good number of them on the roads.) Lots of people have cell phones, and there are more upscale stores and shopping centers, including a nice one near the Tsum that opened just a few months ago. Things are even changing out in the provinces. A lot of the villages in both Chui and Talas Oblasts had signs showing the name of the village in both Cyrillic and Roman letters. The village where I used to live had a department store that had been boarded up for years which is now being turned into a restaurant. The town of Talas had a couple of new stores and cafes and others with new windows or storefronts. A new storefront was being put up in another store while I was there.