Hue’s Dong Ba Market

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Ginger

Vietnam, one of our guides told us, is communist on a large scale, but on a small scale–capitalist at its heart. The people of Vietnam have embraced capitalism. You can see it in action at the Dong Ba Market.

Individual vendors have their own stalls where each sells his or her own specialty. You want food? Fresh? Dried? Dine-in? To-go? No problem . . .

But don’t think the market is limited to food. Here you can find everything from gilded buddhas to plastic bottles.

Me? I’ve been hankering after a pair of those practical plastic-and-straw flipflops you see everyone wearing around here.

Bargaining is de rigueur. I negotiate a price half of what the seller is asking. This is normal.

The shoes I try on are a bit small. The next larger size is a better fit. But now the vendor wants more because the sandals are bigger!

No way! My honor is at stake here. I hold out the amount we already agreed on. She hesitates and then . . . takes it. My market experience is complete.

Finally, here by special request, is (oh, I sincerely hope) a puzzle for you!

https://im-a-puzzle.com/#/play?ref=user/look_i_m_a_puzzle_14114&fromLink=myPuzzle

Hoi An – the Red Bridge Cooking School

Posted on December 7, 2019 by Ginger

I don’t know how I let myself get talked into signing up for Vietnamese cooking lessons, but I did. And I’m glad of it. The cooking school is run out of this charming restaurant in the old town of Hoi An.

Here, we met our guide for the evening, who (as it turns out) would also be our instructor once we arrived at the cooking school. The school was the highlight of a journey that included a guided tour of the market and a delightful boat ride up the Thu Bon River.

The market building in the old city of Hoi An is a two-block-long structure filled with small shops containing merchandise of every description, overflowing into narrow aisles and piled high above our heads. We learned how to tell good vegetable peelers and carrot-rose makers from bad ones, and how long a container of freshly grated coconut is good for (answer below).

The answer is: two days. On the first day, the liquid around the grated coconut is clear. The coconut is good. On the second day, the liquid turns milky, and the coconut is still good. On the third day, the liquid becomes yellowish. Don’t buy that one!

After the market tour — no, we did not buy a vegetable peeler, a carrot-rose maker, or any shredded coconut — we hustled to the waterfront.

The cooking school, it turned out, was not at the old-town restaurant but rather at a place significantly up river. Wonderful! A ride on our very own boat to our very own cooking lesson, followed by dinner.

The boat dropped us off at a private dock. The building and grounds of the Red Bridge Cooking School were lovely. (And yes, there was indeed a red bridge!) After a welcoming drink on the terrace and a tour of the extensive herb garden, it was off to school!

Dan and I each had our own burner, and we worked separately, but side by side. Our instructor was very encouraging and helpful. We made rice pancakes. Using them, we made vegetarian spring rolls. Later, we used the rice pancake dough, cooked thin, and cut it to make rice noodles, which became the basis of another delicious course. There was also a chicken dish somewhere in there. And something involving shrimp and squid. Then, it was off to the terrace-restaurant for a final course of fish — a surprise dish that we were too full to do more than taste a bit of.

It was all delicious!

Vienna – the unexpected market

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Ginger

From the Belvedere, we headed over to Linke Wienzeile, where our guidebook said we might find a couple of remarkable Art Nouveau houses.

Wienzeile itself looked like an interesting street on our map. It was shown as two (Linke, or Left, Wienzeile and Rechte, or Right, Wienzeile) roads that run closely parallel to each other, divided firmly block after long block by what might have been–what? A railroad track? A park?

Curiosity is said to have killed the cat. I don’t know about that, but it can certainly exhaust the tourist. We had to go see what it was.

And that is how after another mile an a half of walking, we emerged onto Rechte Wienzeile exactly at Roni’s Wine, Cheese, and Delicatessen shop. Just what we needed!

After a pause for sampling wine and cheese, we headed down the middle area between Linke and Rechte Wienzeile and found… block after block after block of the most beautiful outdoor market!

I just love markets. I love the visual beauty of the merchandise. Herewith, some pictures that need no explanation.

Three markets in Prague

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Ginger

Crazy as Dan and I are for markets, it should come as no surprise that we stumbled upon not one but three of them while we were in Prague. One–the Havelske Trziste–is a permanent fixture of the Old Town. The other two, lacking names, seemed just to spring up, dare I say, to welcome us?

The Havelske Trziste (Havel’s Market) is a permanent market of fruits and vegetables, flowers, knick-knacks, and souvenirs. It’s small and charmingly situated in the middle of a pretty street. It seems to cater to tourists as much as to locals. While we were charmed–as we usually are, by markets–it wasn’t one of those ones that would knock you off your feet.

On our way to the palace compound, we stumbled upon a kind of French market in the Na Kampe Square just across the Charles Bridge in Lesser Town. There is no regular market in this square, although on July 14th they hold a French market here, across from the French embassy–as you might expect. This one, in early September, must have resulted from an excess of Francophile enthusiasm. We could have bought everything from olive oils to olives to grilled-vegetable wraps to lavender sachets and woven goods. There was even free music.

The next day, earmarked for exploration in a section of the old city known for its art-deco buildings and ornamentation…

…we came across a market that offered, among the fruits and vegetables and tourist goods…

…some interesting crafts. Here we watched a woman making hand-blown glass beads;

a stall selling sausages of venison and wild boar;

a stall selling home-made honey mead;

a craft brewery offering its wares next to a stall with hand-sewn cloth dolls and other items;

a woman weaving light-as-air shawls and afghans on an old-fashioned loom.

And–of all things–a team of people determined to make the Guinness Book of World Records with the World’s Largest Salad.

All of their work seems to be paying off: They’ve brought out the scale.

76.4kg!

And it’s beautiful!

Casablanca — the fish market

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Ginger

Casablanca’s great central food market lies off the lovely Muhammed V Street. And at its very center is a fish market, with dozens of stalls selling this morning’s catch, fresh from the sea.

They were still setting up the morning we arrived. A recently cut swordfish head stood by the entry. Other fish also awaited their artful placement in the vendors’ displays.

And I do mean “artful placement.” The stalls that had finished setting up were beautiful.

Dan looked at me wistfully and said, “This fish market alone is almost enough to make me want to live in Casablanca.”

Cambodia – Phnom Penh’s Central Market

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Ginger

The market’s Khmer name, Phsar Thmei, literally means “New Market.” But we call it “Central Market” in English. I don’t know, but I imagine I know, why: Unlike any other market we’ve visited, this one has a clear and unmistakeable center.

Built in 1935 in an art-deco style, the market comprises four wings around a central domed area. Around the market and its wings, ancillary vendors have set up additional stalls, as such vendors will.

The high-value merchandise is located under the central dome, attractively displayed in brightly lit cases.

We exited through the “food court,” an area of fast-food merchants, all busy preparing for the lunchtime rush.

Yes, that’s a durian that the man is cutting up, the fruit that is famous for a flavor that people who like it adore and for an odor that everyone else can’t stand. It turns out that *fresh* durians like this one don’t smell. I regret not having tasted it.

My favorite part of the market was the part we saw last. Flowers!

Cambodia – Phnom Penh’s Russian Market

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Ginger

Dan and I are market junkies. We don’t buy very much. Well, maybe a few silk scarves and wooden cow bells, that sort of thing, only a small smattering of the goods available. Mostly we’re there to absorb the patterns and rhythms of the place. The visual candy. And to experience each market’s unique character.

And so…allow me to present the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, so named in the 1980s when the Russians were the only tourists in town, and this is where they went to find cheap local goods to ship home. And it’s still probably the best place for that kind of thing today, as well as every other kind of merchandise under the sun. And as rich in visual candy as they come.

Here is a somewhat random walk through the market, in one side, through the food court in the middle, and out the other side.

Inle Lake – the puzzle

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Ginger

This is really cool…

Mandalay – the market

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Ginger

It’s hard to pass by a good market, and Mandalay has the best one so far. It has a main market building, where floor space is at a premium, and merchants stack their wares up high. And ancillary market buildings with narrow aisles. And neighboring market streets. And places that are wide enough that an ad-hoc sort of flea market might spring up.

The main building

You can buy pretty much anything here, from traditional herbal remedies to cowbells to clothing, even a hardware store for Dan. The patterns of the intensively arrayed merchandise were dizzying. I liked to photograph them.