#109: Arak or Ayran?
At around 5 am on our way to Osh we stopped at a rest area with food for morning fasting breakfast. My father is fasting, so I decided to keep him a company because my brothers were sleeping in the car and I was a bit hungry after driving for 4 hours. We sat on a söörü (or tapchan, wooden platform to dine on) and ordered shorpo (soup), ayran (yogurt), and tea. Another car pulled over for early breakfast and 5 people made themselves comfortable on mats on the next söörü. As they were ordering their food, I could not help overhearing them discuss what to order vodka or ayran. Eventually, a plump woman in her 50s decided for everyone, because the rest were younger than her, to order arak (vodka in Kyrgyz), instead of ayran. Damn, vodka at 5 am! I though to myself at that moment: "Vodka is killing Russians, it will kill Kyrgyz as well!"
On our trip to Osh and back, I drove most of the way there and all the way back. Since only my father had driver's license (I had mine stolen when I was robbed 3 years ago, which I will talk about in later posts), we decided to let him drive parts with traffic police posts (unlike in the West, Kyrgyz traffic police does not roam around, but just wait at posts). So, my father drove past Töö-Ashuu, then I drove from Suusamyr to Kochkorata. I was tense when my father drove, because he is not a great driver (neither am I). I drove about 300 km, at dawn my brother took over to drive all the way to Iyrisuu.
These are some pictures from the trip. Look at the sign. Boston (stress on the second syllable) is a very small village between Özgön and Jalalabad. 
Lenin's statue is still standing across from Osh Governnor's Office. 
Osh: Kyrgyz Drama Theatre, Sulayman Tak (Solomon's Throne), Osh Nuru Hotel (former Intourist) on Kurmanjan Datka Street.
5 comments:
LOL, ok, please produce the story of your robbery ASAP! That's much more interesting than all the politics! (just kidding) (well, it definitely would add some flavor to the blog) (you can also add all the dramatic details of it for a heightened effect)
Damn, this picture by the road - I thought it said Boston. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out that it was Vostok. And I'm still not sure!
Stan, I will definitely, as much as I remember, with much dramatic details.
It does say Boston on the road sign. Click on the picture.
I loved this story. I can totally related to that vodka/yogurt part. Maybe the old lady figured she had a long ride ahead of her and she might as well be drunk!?
ulaana, you might be right. i would have preferred kymyz.
elmurad, come to think of it now, i am not surprized at all. a few years ago my relatives who ran a liquor shop in bishkek said their sales went up during ramadan. anything can happen these days in kyrgyzstan. :)
I think the way it works is, if people know they are gonna fast, they figure they might as well be totally drunk. I don't mean that to be a harsh comment, but it seems like it might fit in the Kyrgyz context. I'm pretty sure the rules of Islam and bent here and there all over Central Asia, to fit the specific cultural and social needs of the people.
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