Almaty Green Market

One of our first truly Kazak adventures was to the Green Market. A 30 minute walk took us right into the heart of a big bargain shop/flea market/vegetable garden/meat market. For a better description than I could ever provide, I borrow from the book "Apples are from Kazakhstan" by Christopher Robbins:

"Spurned by the grand and the upwardly mobile as too chilly in winter and somewhat flyblown in summer, the Green Market trends mostly to attract the city's bargain-conscious residents. It struck me as everything a Central Asian market should be. Stall upon stall of dried fruit create a riot of color set off against billowing linen sheets strung over them to protect the produce from the sun. There are scores of vegetable stands, butchers and wet fish stalls, while in narrow alleys alongside, hundreds of small, open-fronted shops sell shoes, saws, bags of nails, electrical equipment and just about everything else. There are noodle stands and dark corner restaurants and a multitude of horse butchers. The fresh fruit is displayed like jewelry, each piece polished and carefully placed, while spring onions are stylishly trussed in their own stems, and green beans tied neatly in bundles."

The author fails to mention the elegantly displayed boiled goat's head, which is a local delicacy, or the rush of chatter as each vendor hollers out, "debuska! debuska!" - "Lady! Lady!" as they try to get the wives to buy their goods. It's all such a rush of sound, sight and smell and could be overwhelming if it wasn't such a fantastic moment to take in.