In Bishkek's Osh Bazaar you can buy a phone, some clothes, shoes or even gamble at a set of crude roulette wheels. But really it is a food market. There is a huge selection of fruit and veg - most recognisable, some not - plus a wonderful array of dried fruit and nuts. Breads, too, golden and plain, perhaps covered with seeds or nuts, or sticky with a generous covering of honey! And rice, by the sack and maybe 20 types, colours ranging from pure whites to pale pinks and chestnut browns. Flour is also sold by the sack. Wheat flour and rye, semolina and tapioca, cornflour and so many more. Walking across Bishkek, it is clear that Kyrgyzstan is not as wealthy as its neighbour. Less cars, less high rises, more dilapidated blocks of flats.
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