9/21: Bishkek's Osh Bazaar & Changing of the Guard Ceremony At Last!

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Walking through the many underpasses to get across major intersections was a little claustrophobic because of the low ceilings, but still interesting seeing how many people spend so much of their lives underground and how much you could buy underground!

We took a marshrutka from ear our hotel to Bishkek's Osh Bazaar, the main shopping market located east of the center. I haven't talked about safety yet in any of these posts because we had had no concerns in that regard so far this trip unlike our trip to several spots in South America last fall. However, the one and only place where we had heard about hassles from the police was at the Osh Bazaar in Bishkek. There's also an Osh Bazaar in the city of Osh but I'll save that for another post!

One of our guidebooks talked about the possible problem of police harassment of foreigners at the bazaar which left me a little unnerved. The common ploy, I read, was for a pair of officers to stop foreigners and ask them for their passports - which they can legally do - and say they are looking for drugs. They then try to isolate the victim and ask to see and count his or her money and sneak a bill or two without the foreigners noticing. 

I also read that they would have no right to see our money or search our bags so, if this were to happen, we should stand our ground and refuse to go off alone in a room with them, make note of their badge numbers before showing them our passports AND create a fuss by trying to ask for help from locals who apparently are no fans of crooked police officers. In the best of worlds, dealing with police would be all well and good if we had any Kyrgyz language skills but, without those, very, very scary.

This vendor was incredibly kind when I asked if I could just buy three or four dates. He told me to take them and didn't charge me a penny or should I say a som?! I normally love dates but these were pretty dried out so I didn't go back to buy more. 

The vendors in the bazaar were so very friendly as were the people throughout Kyrgyzstan who went out of their way to make us feel welcome in their country. This fellow had the biggest smile and had just asked us where we were from. Sporting a mouthful of entirely gold teeth, Steven knew I would dearly love to have a picture of that man's open smiling mouth so went along to being hugged but the man smiled with his eyes instead!

One of the funniest interactions I've had with anyone after telling them I'm from Canada was with this vendor who promptly said "Escobar?" I thought he'd said "Eskimo" not realizing for a moment he meant the Colombian drug leader Pablo Escobar! The three of us had a good laugh when I told him no, I came from Ottawa, not Escobar!

He then used the Google Translate app to tell us he was selling loose tobacco as we didn't know what it was.

Then it was Steven's turn to use the app to find out what the woman was selling as it sort of looked like giant marshmallows. She said they were cheese balls but I hadn't been able to smell them as I still had a foul cold from the horse trek.

Only a small section of the market was set aside for flowers but were there beautiful flowers there or what!

The Osh Market was an absolute feast for the senses with fabulous visions like these.

Cookies anyone?

I'd seen these fruits before but couldn't remember their name.

This was the first market I can remember where pumpkins were sold.

I almost hate to reveal I last bought a huge jar of bay leaves probably a decade ago from Sam’s Club and I would likely still have enough for another few years as I don’t use them that often. Steven thought I had lost my marbles when I bought a small bag for 20 som or about thirty cents. I wonder how much the scent of the bay leaves will permeate my duffel bag from now until we get home!

Ivy: Whenever I see carrots in a market, I think of you as I so often remember your having a pot of carrots cooking when I pop over for our weekly walks. These were among the stubbiest carrots I've seen.

In each of the markets we'd been to in Kyrgyzstan, we'd had to be careful and get out of the way of men pushing large carts down often narrow alleys. Luckily, they normally made their presence known by ringing bells or shouting before they advanced.

I watched as a woman checked out a slab of meat with a huge fork, turning it over to inspect it on both sides, before deciding to buy it. 

If we'd been hungry, we could have eaten our way through the market with all the samples offered to us! This woman wanted us to taste her salami in the hope we'd buy some.

For the last ten minutes or so we could hear the fearsome sounds of meat cleavers whacking against something hard and went off to investigate. 

I watched in amazement as this man and others nearby kept using their cleavers on slabs of meat against the tree-stump-sized wood. I realized quickly enough I couldn't get too close as bits of meat constantly flew up in the air!

We have been in far too many meat markets over the years to possibly keep track of, but this one was overwhelming even for us avowed meat lovers. I could only think what a nightmare it would be for vegetarians!

Seeing the gorgeous and varied bread designs was a highlight at the market. The almost works of art sold for between a dime and just fifty cents a loaf.

In the stalls that spilled out onto the sidewalks around the bazaar buildings, we saw thousands of pairs of socks, most of which sold for $1.50 for four or five pairs. How could there be such a need for that many socks, I wonder? We could never understand why every market we’ve been to has socks by the truckloads for sale compared to other items. We still haven’t seen one pair of gloves or mitts for sale in any of the markets, for example. 

We both had a fabulous time at the market and certainly never saw any sign of police officers doing anything less than their assigned duties, thank goodness, despite the concerns raised in the travel guide about their sometimes hassling tourists at the bazaar. 

As we took a marshrutka back toward the White House, Bishkek’s seat of government, we were reminded of how young people had been obviously trained to always offer to give up their seats for old folks like us. It was somewhat uncomfortable as I didn’t feel the need to sit or worthy of taking their seat when I was perfectly OK standing but I also didn't want to insult their kindness by saying no.

We had hoped to see the Changing of the Guards in front of the massive flagpole by the State History Museum but we had just missed the ceremony for the third time and had to wait two more hours until the next one!

We joked we hated that there were too many tourists around! 

We thought we’d visit the museum next as I’d read so much about it. We walked around the huge building admiring the lovely flowers out front, seeing Lenin’s statue facing the rear of the museum before finally seeing a small sign indicating it was closed for renovations, darn it.

In my first post about Bishkek, I wrote about the city's constantly moving statues. This was Lenin's third location. I wonder how long he might stay there now?!

Gloria: You would have so loved seeing the stunning calla lilies and other flowers in the square by the museum! It would have been intriguing seeing the impressive mural on the ceiling of the third floor that depicted a wedding party attended by representatives of every Soviet nationality all gathered in complete accord by the man making the speech, Comrade Lenin himself. I would also have liked to have seen another mural that showed reactionary religious types and Cossacks confronting revolutionary officers and old black and white photos of pre-Soviet Kyrgyz life. 

Manas astride his horse:

I had waited a good ten minutes or so for there to be enough wind to unfurl the enormous national flag! It was red to represent the blood of those who died to protect the new nation. In the center was the top of a yurt, a symbol of the country. The sun surrounding the yurt represented the soldiers that Manas had with him when he went to war.

Directly across Chui Prospect was Ala-Too Square I've written about in previous posts.

I liked the image of the reflection of the flag in the museum’s windows. 

Since there was nothing else we wanted to see, we headed back to Dubovy or Oak Park which was just a couple of minutes’ walk away. For the next couple of hours, while Steven played his favorite game on his iPad, I took turns reading a book on my kindle and got caught up on the day’s news via the CNN app on my phone as I am a confirmed news junkie!

'Our' bench!

It was easy to be distracted by the middle school aged boys careening up and down the park’s path in these bicycle carts they had rented. I kept waiting for the boys to topple the carts as they went around corners as that seemed their fervent wish!

We kept an eye on the time not wanting to miss another Changing of the Guard ceremony as it would be our final opportunity to see it take place. As we walked back close to three toward the square, we saw another collection of balbas, Kyrgyz stone markers from the 6th to the 10th centuries normally associated with graves.

Like changing of the guard ceremonies in every other country we’ve been lucky enough to see them, it was interesting to watch the goose-stepping soldiers. 

I hated to think of the guards out in the sweltering 40 degree summer heat in the guardhouse for two hours at a stretch but overheard a guide telling her British tourists that there was a fan beside each of their heads to cool them off and also provide heat during the cold winter months.

The guide also mentioned these guards had attended a military prep school but weren’t in the army. 

She also commented the museum was supposed to have re-opened this past March and that updates had to be done because there were no alarms protecting all the state’s artifacts. The marble exterior was brand new, she added. 

At the very end, we watched as one officer inspected the others, making sure the men’s belts and hats were properly in place.

It hadn't been an over the top exciting day but wandering around Osh Market had been a feast for the senses as well as safe. Making time to just sit in the park while waiting for the Changing of the Guard ceremony and not being on the go on such a long trip had also been important. 

Next post: Flying on to Osh and climbing Suleiman II Mountain.

Posted on October 7th, 2018, from Samarkand, Uzbekistan.