Scenes from the Andijan bazaar

 There is an amazing bazaar down the street from the hotel.  It's a wonderful place to walk around, get lost, smell and hear and have all our senses activated.  Much more than a farmer's market in the US - this bazaar is open all the time, full of people doing their shopping and hanging out.  Here are some pics and a video, with some comments.  I'm not great at formatting, so we'll just go with what we got here.

I took this video as I was walking along.  Look at all the bread.  OMG, so much bread.  My students told me it would all be sold by the end of the day.  Bread is revered here in Uzbekistan.  It is served at every meal, crumbs are picked up and eaten (a student told me that practice hearkened back to times of severe poverty/famine, when nothing was wased).  At the end of the video are boxes full of little white balls.  These are called curd.  Salty cheese (like parmesan) with extra salt.  I did actually try one.  They are an acquired taste. 


This is a general scene.  I doubt that anyone needs a permit or anything like we do in the US.  They just get out there and sell their stuff.  

This guy is cooking sausages.  My students told me they are encased in cow intestines.   I'm sure they are delicious.

Here they are selling samsas, which are like empanadas.  It seems to me that every culture has some kind of dough stuffed with yumminess.  The prices are interesting - 1500-2500 Uz. soms, which is about 20 cents.


This guy is selling different kinds of grain, rice, beans, lentils, peas, etc.  from these huge bags.  They are all grown in the Andijan region according to my students.

More huge sacks of grains.



The flower market!!

So many eggs, just out loose like that.  My students said they just buy the entire tray and they won't break on the way home.  I should note that most of my students live in multigenerational homes, so there are many mouths to feed.


Spices are all just out there for purchase.  The shopkeeper will mix them for you if you wish.  The bags in front are different types of flour.  Front corner is from Kazakstan.  Next to it on the right is flour from Andijan.




Uzbkistan is not a coffee culture - they drink gallons of tea.  My students have told me that tea drinking started during the Silk Road, brought in from China.  Here are bins of tea you can buy by the kilo.


At the bazaar here people sell everything.  Even shoes out of their car.


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