October 3rd, 2021

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Today, I went to my first Kyrgyz bazaar with both American students and a (semi) local guide, Liam. Liam is a post-graduate student who has been living in Bishkek for over a year in order to become fluent in Kyrgyz, and offered to show us around Osh Bazaar, which he frequents. Osh is divided into three main sections: the Street Bazaar, the Food Market, and the official Bazaar area. The street bazaar (top two photos) is a truly random collection of clothing and junk along the many sidewalks surrounding the main Osh Bazaar area. Sellers stand or sit near their wares and are quick to talk to passers-by. I had a lot of fun chatting with the vendors and checking out what they had to sell. I definitely plan on going back to this area with some sort of bag to hold bigger items, because there was some cool stuff there that I just had no way of carrying with me.

The second area was one we only saw briefly, as none of us were in the market for raw food. It is quite expansive, though, and all covered so it’s safe to assume it’s in use all year round. One very interesting thing we found there (right-hand picture, middle row), though, were many vendors selling what looked like different types of rocks. They looked like rocks mostly because they actually are, in fact, rocks. People buy them to eat in a medicinal context (I think they are pretty soft and clay-ey), and apparently in enough quantity that it’s worth it to have a whole subsection of the Food Market dedicated to it.

The official Osh bazaar is a winding maze of covered stalls split into many subsections, ranging from school supplies and children’s clothes to home décor, furniture, and antiques. The left-hand picture on the bottom row was taken in the home furnishing section just before leading into the textiles/traditional clothing area. It was amazing to wander through the corridors and just look at what was being sold, but the real highlight for me was the military surplus/antiques section. As it turns out, it’s a great place to buy a warm coat and boots, but it’s also a fantastic place for a military history buff like me. The right-hand picture on the bottom row is of the stall of a guy who has a truly vast collection of uniforms and other surplus items for sale — and he likes making people dress up in them for pictures. This, of course, was more than fine with me.

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Here you can see yours truly wearing a very heavy, very warm officer’s overcoat and an equally ridiculously warm Ushanka fur hat. In the background of the first photo stand Kathy and Liam, clearly enjoying the scene. The vendor, whose name I unfortunately never got, was quite chatty and obviously loves both the job of being a vendor in the market and the collection of antique military items. It is clear that he keeps his wares in great condition, as evidenced by the fact that he allowed us to check out and try on a pristine 1940s-era Soviet rank-and-file soldier’s winter outfit and also told us that film companies often purchase from him. I certainly plan on heading back to his stall to see what else I can dig up around there — and who knows, I may end up with an excellent Halloween costume at the end of it all.

Your bonus photo for today is an excellent cat that I met on the street the other day, who was either very human friendly, thought we were gonna feed her, or more than likely both.