Kochkor-Ata

The town itself maintains a high level of contrasting polarity. The center of the town, by the bazaar and municipal buildings, highlights a late Soviet-era style of structural design and color. Large concrete structures painted in bright colors outline central avenues and plazas. Soviet propaganda is still framed high on old billboards and posters. "Oil is the strength of the people," reads one of the central banners. However, much of Kochkor-Ata is rural. East of the central plaza past the Soviet-era concrete housing complexes, lie the mainstay of the Kochkor-Ata population. Small shacks and houses lined closely to each other, stepped along the foothills of the local mountain range, house many of the local inhabitants. Animal husbandry and small-trade provide many of these villagers with a means of income.

The town boasts a relatively new clothing bazaar, predominantly built by funds from Kyrgyz ex-president, Askar Akayev, alongside an older established bazaar.