The highlight of my time in Osh was by far sitting around drinking tea and eating delicious food in the city's many chaihanes. David took these pictures at one chaihane with particularly good shashlik that he spent the rest of his time in Kyrgyzstan searching for (but never found). Quite near the Uzbek border, Osh has a different feel than other parts of Kyrgyzstan I've been to. Reading this excerpt from Ryszard Kapuscinski's Imperium describing his stay in Uzbekistan, images from my trip immediately came to mind:
"Blinding sun fell on the square. Dogs wandered about. Tour groups were coming
out of the fortress, first the American women, then the children. Between the
fortress-turned museum and the mosque-turned-billiards hall sat Uzbeks drinking
tea. They sat in silence, facing the mosque, in accordance with the ways of the
fathers. There was a kind of dignity in the silent presence of these people, and
despite their worn gray smocks, they looked distinguished. I had the urge to
walk up to them and shake their hands. I wanted to express my respect in some
way, but didn't know how. in these men, in their bearing, in their wise calm,
was something that aroused my spontaneous and genuine admiration. They have sat
for generations in this chaykhana, which is old, perhaps older than the
fortress and the mosque. Many things are different now - many, but not all. One
can say that the world is changing, but it is not changing completely; in any
case it is not changing to the degree that an Uzbek cannot sit in a chaykhana
and drink tea even during working hours."
out of the fortress, first the American women, then the children. Between the
fortress-turned museum and the mosque-turned-billiards hall sat Uzbeks drinking
tea. They sat in silence, facing the mosque, in accordance with the ways of the
fathers. There was a kind of dignity in the silent presence of these people, and
despite their worn gray smocks, they looked distinguished. I had the urge to
walk up to them and shake their hands. I wanted to express my respect in some
way, but didn't know how. in these men, in their bearing, in their wise calm,
was something that aroused my spontaneous and genuine admiration. They have sat
for generations in this chaykhana, which is old, perhaps older than the
fortress and the mosque. Many things are different now - many, but not all. One
can say that the world is changing, but it is not changing completely; in any
case it is not changing to the degree that an Uzbek cannot sit in a chaykhana
and drink tea even during working hours."
