One Last Look: Kyrgyzstan Day 3

Sunday, July 13th

On the third day we woke up earlier than before, understanding that we would need to move quickly through our itinerary if I wished to still make it to the dormitory before its curfew of 11pm. To begin the day, we walked opposite of Ala Too Square as to get to the "Osh Bazaar" on the eastern side of the capital. During this hour or so of walking, we encountered many Soviet monuments and designs unchanged since the fall of the Soviet Union.

"Мы шли в бои за коммунизм"
"We went to war for Communism"

Finally, we reached the Osh Bazaar. The location was, in a word, chaotic.

The bazaar is  by no means a tourist attraction, as it is focused on food and everyday goods. Souvenirs or anything even specific to Kyrgyzstan were extremely difficult to find, even as we could find animals such as chickens, cats, dogs, and rabbits.
The bazaar itself is also a sort of maze, as only a small part of it is open aired, with the rest situated under a series of metal roofs haphazardly crafted over stalls.

The only picture I have from within the bazaar. Crossing from one metal roofing to another

Still, I managed to find some souvenirs and Zhanat took advantage of the prices to buy some useful material for her own place.

After the Osh bazaar we walked South-East with hopes of seeing the Hippodrome, a stadium which hosts horse races and traditional Kyrgyz games on holidays and other special occasions. This proved the most difficult part of the trip as many Kyrgyz didn't seem to even know how to get to the Hippodrome. Also, with visible street names being incredibly rare and the Hippodrome being just off the area covered by our map, we often found ourselves double backing and reassessing our direction.

This is just for an idea. Our route wasn't near direct.

However, after an exhausting trip throughout what is probably a rarely traveled part of Bishkek, we reached the Hippodrome.

Honestly, it's not so much a stadium or a "Hippodrome" as it is a flat field with stands at one side. Still, it was interesting to see.

After seeing the Hippodrome, we were not willing at all to take the walk back from the Hippodrome to the hostel and then further to see Ala Too Square. Luckily, right next to the Hippodrome there was a city bus stop that could take us exactly where we would need to go. 

This brings me to another topic: Bishkek City Buses.
I thought that Almaty buses were rushed and crowded. Heavens, they are first class compared to the norm in Bishkek. While considerably cheaper (A bus in Bishkek costs 10 Som (about 30 Tenge, about 20 US cents)), these buses are rather mini buses in which even I couldn't stand up straight. Moreover, there is no concept of "too many people" for the buses here. If there is a person willing to pay to ride the bus, that person will be put on the bus, no matter how many people are already in it. As a result I found myself crammed on one knee next to the driver still unable to lift my head entirely with the sloped roof.

Enduring this for some 10 or 15 minutes, we finally made it to Ala-Too Square. Amazingly, we made such good time that we arrived at 10:55, 5 minutes before the changing of the guard in the square. This change was certainly a spectacle strongly reminiscent of Moscow's own changing of the guard.

After watching the entirety of the changing of the guard, we continued to the National Museum at the back of Ala-Too Square. Paying literally 5 times more than a domestic student (Domestic students pay 30 som, whereas foreign students pay 150 som), we toured the museum for as long as it had material. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum, so I have nothing to show for this part.
The Museum is really only comprised of two floors of historical material and a floor of some modern art. The second floor is devoted entirely to the Communist movement and Soviet history in Kyrgyzstan. Including some incredible statues and depictions, this would be more interesting however if these were not depicting Russian history but rather had more to do with Kyrgyzstan. Still, the other glass exhibits did focus on Kyrgyzstan's place in the Soviet Union. I didn't see much discussing post-Independence Kyrgyzstan, but then again the exhibits were all in Russian and Kyrgyz and thus I had difficulty understanding most of it without Zhanat's help.

The State History Museum, behind Manas and the flag of Kyrgyzstan

The third floor was covered virtually all history other than Soviet history. This was an interesting floor as it included pre-civilization culture and included many artifacts from the huns and great Khanates. Most interesting, however, was the mural on the roof. It was a beautiful mural, depicting all the countries holding hands in the name of peace. Seeing countries ranging from Venezuela to Malaysia, I quickly set on finding the United States. However, I couldn't find it. It wasn't long after until I realized the mural depicted all these countries holding hands in the name of peace AGAINST the United States, which was represented by a cowboy in an American flag shirt wearing a skull mask while riding a missile. I really wish I had a picture to show it, but for now you can just imagine my own reaction seeing that at the conclusion of the museum.

After the museum we had seen everything we planned for in Bishkek, and earlier than expected we set out for Almaty. The bus ride was the same as before, with the exception of having an American joining us in the bus.

Us at the end of our trip. Not long after, he caught a train to Astana

Beyond this, to make coincidence further, he's half Puerto Rican! Whereas this was just part of a small excursion for us though, he is set in an extremely long-term trip crossing Asia and Europe without planes, relying on "couchsurfing" for stay. His stories are already extremely interesting, and I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more from his own adventure.

Making excellent time, we arrived in Almaty at around 9. While we had trouble with the buses, once it started raining we simply hailed a taxi to take us to our perspective homes. 

Arriving before even those that were still in Almaty returned to the dorm, I concluded my trip by gladly collapsing on my bunk bed.