We were full of expectation as we headed down town Bishkek for the Spring Festival celebrations with a stop over at the Sierra Cafe where the Belgian waffles were very good. Couldn't help but smile at the contradictions of eating Belgian waffles in a Kyrgyzstan cafe owned by New Zealanders.
On the main city square where everything including a stage was set up for ..... well we're not quire sure what. Over a two hour period there was some testing of microphones, there were people everywhere dressed in their finest, many of them in wonderful traditional costumes.
We saw many dear old folk in couples, some being led by younger members of their family, and they were probably the best dressed of all. We had a wonderful time crowd watching and photographing and I was grateful for the telephoto lens for some more great portraits.
The entire sides of the buildings surrounding the square were covered in a huge sign proclaiming the Spring Festival.
There were sellers of balloons and good old fairy floss and I thought of the Last Night of the Proms in the park in Glascow Helen. But I thought customs might pull me up if I tried to bring some home to you.
At the end of two hours of nothing on the stage, and my camera shutter finger getting RSI, we left to go to friends that Chris and Catriona had stayed with when they first came to Bishkek in 1999. It was a lovely reunion for Catriona and these people were just a delightful couple whom you immediately felt like you'd known for years. They provided us a great lunch.
The Osh Bazaar then beckoned and if I thought Karakol Bazaar was big, this was the daddy of them all. - utterly overwhelming, but I did buy a scarf - one of those times when you see something and know it's meant for you.
Our last meal in Kyrgy took us back to the Chelebat Restaurant, where we'd gone the first night here two weeks ago. We wanted to try the same dishes that had been so good then, plosh and kebabs.
Off to Urumqi tomorrow morning.
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