Visit to Durdoy

Sunday was another busy day. One of my coworkers, Idai, took me to Durdoy Bazaar, and it was so much fun! I’d never seen anything like it, not even Osh Bazaar from the day before. This market was more like a mall, but instead of being a building w/ many shops in it, it was shipping containers piled into walls and rows and covered with a roof. Each ground-floor container is its own little shop. See the pic below.

Inside the market, all kinds of cool, nice, cheap-looking, tacky, classy, fun, pretty, interesting things were sold in these containers. Some containers had A-line skirts of the same basic design in lots of different fabrics hung all up the walls of the container. Some had bras and men’s underwear laid out on tables just outside the container. Some had a little counter across the front of the container, with women standing behind it to hand you skin care products from the rows of shelves behind them, stacked with Russian skin cream, as well as L’Oreal, Garnier, and other Western brands with the labels in Russian. One of the tricky things about Durdoy is that it’s pretty crowded walking along the aisles between containers, and people push past without saying excuse me. They will literally put their hand on your shoulder sometimes and push past you. Also, people come by pushing low metal carts with tall handles. They walk fast, shouting in Russian, and if you don’t jump out of the way, they will run into you. I’m not kidding. I saw an older woman walking and get dinged in the leg by a passing cart, pushed by a young boy who was yelling. I guess if you don’t heed the warning, the cart pushers think you deserve what you get. When I heard yelling, you can believe that I was leaping out of the way like track star. Outside the container building were food stands like at Osh Bazaar. See below.

Even though I’m planning to wait and buy my gifts right before I come home, I did make a small purchase for Heidi. (Not telling; it’s a surprise!) And I also bought myself some new glasses frames. I had been wanting new glasses for a while, but they’re so expensive in the States. My friend Idai has the cutest glasses, and she said I could get a pair at Durdoy. I did, and they were about $9. Idai said please do not be offended, but my current glasses look like I study very much, and these new glasses look like a woman who is not to be messed with, like a woman who likes to go to discos. Well, I must say that I’m more into studying than discos, but I like the new glasses and hope to get lenses made while I’m here. See me posing terribly sexy in the new glasses below.

After the market, Idai, her uncle (who drove us and carried her packages), and I drove out a ways to eat at a restaurant with good shashleek (like shishkabobs). It was a beautiful place, with a courtyard and outdoor booths. I had sheep shashleek and beer with a straw! (Idai said they put a straw in our beers because we are ladies.) Idai’s uncle took a picture of us, and I took pics of the restaurant. See below.