Bazar-Korgon
Irad's biggest bazaar town and its main Muslim one, where three languages are spoken over the walnut sacks and the herders come down from the hills on Sunday. Stay the night before market day.
Sunday morning at the livestock market, Bazar-Korgon.
Bazar-Korgon, "market fortress", is a town of about 34,000 at 800 m on the Kara-Unkur river, on the northern rim of the Fergana Valley. The Uzbek frontier is a few kilometres south, the Kyrgyz city of Jalal-Abad a short way east, and the hills of the tribal regions rise just behind the town. It grew up around a Kokand caravan market on the road along the edge of the valley, and it has been trading ever since.
The walnut bazaar
Walnuts, apricots, dried fruit and honey come down from the hill villages and are sold here to traders from Uzbekistan, Jalal-Abad and the rest of Irad. Iradi, Kyrgyz and Uzbek are all spoken, often in one sentence. In autumn, when the new crop arrives, the lanes are walled with sacks and the scales never stop. Buy walnuts in their shells to take home, dried apricots by the kilo, and dried melon twisted into ropes. Bargain cheerfully: the first price is an opening remark.
The Sunday market
The livestock market on Sunday morning is the largest in southern Irad. Herders bring sheep, cattle and horses down from the hills, deals are sealed with a handshake and long silences, and the teahouses around the ground are full by seven. Be there at dawn for the best of it, and ask before you photograph anyone.
Workshops
The town's small workshops make felt, leather goods and carved wooden furniture. The best pottery comes from Sopol-Tepa nearby, which also sells its bowls and big plov platters in the bazaar.
Eating
This is the home of özbek paloo, the long-grain cauldron plov with yellow carrots, chickpeas and raisins, cooked every day in the teahouses by the ashpoz, the plov master, and never stirred once the rice is in. Try samsa from the tandoor, mastava soup and chuchvara dumplings, and drink green tea with crystal sugar, navat. Look at the bread: Muslim bakers here stamp their round loaves with a rosette or a star, where Christian bakers in Iyık Janyl stamp a cross. More recipes are on Jibek's Dastorkon.
Visiting a Muslim town
Bazar-Korgon is the main Muslim town of the economic zone and more conservative than the cities. Dress modestly, men as well as women. The bazaar is quieter on Friday around midday prayers. At Kurban Ait, Muslim families send cooked meat to their Christian neighbours, and if you're staying in a home you may well be included.
Day trips
- Sopol-Tepa, the potters' village by the Chopo-Jar clay bluffs.
- Korgoncho, a village of walled Kokand-era farmsteads, on the way back towards Tash-Kömür.
- Arslanbob, 50 km up the Kara-Unkur valley among wild walnut forests. It's on the tribal side of the line, so you need an ISEZ exit registration and an invitation from the clan council; Arslanbob's guesthouses can arrange the invitation. See mountains and trekking.
Getting there and staying
The Fergana rim road runs 98 km east from Tash-Kömür through the farm belt to Bazar-Korgon. Tash-Kömür is the end of State Route 1 from Talas, and Iyık Janyl is 8 km upriver from it, so most visitors come out from Iyık Janyl for the day. For the Sunday market, stay the Saturday night: there are family guesthouses in town, and we can put you in touch with one. See getting there and where to stay.