The grand bazaar consists of several big buildings, and has quite an Islamic feel to it.
This is what stood out to us in the first building -- an French chain Carrefour sign, welcoming us in three different languages...It just tells us how globalized we are nowadays, doesn't it?
We saw tons of little stalls selling nuts, especially Ba Dan Mu (八旦目) -- a local nut similar to almond. (bottom picture, left two rolls) We walked around and sampled a bunch. We were previously warned not to do so, as some of the vendors would charge you unreasonable price for the tasting. We sampled (after it was offered to us) anyway, and there was no trouble.
Another popular item was -- dried fruits! The merchants all had a sense of humor. We found "raisins", "raisins' grandpa" (better? bigger than regular raisins?) and "raisins' great great grandpa", together with " the King of the kings". There were also "Obama" named raisins -- not even sure what that meant...
We bought some dried apricots from this stand. There was no sugar added, yet very sweet and quite fresh.
The variety of the stands/stalls were huge! We saw animal skins, which I hope were just synthetic!
Hand painted tiny drums:
Local instruments:
Colorful costumes! I had to buy something from this stand. Apparently there were all hand made and imported from Nepal. Yeah, "local" souvenirs...
We wandered around across the street. Here are some street shots: a butcher working in front of his restaurant. He was moving so swiftly that it took me a dozen shots to capture a clear image. I'd eat there for the freshness.
Oh yeah and a real-estate listing we saw in an alley. I understood absolutely nothing other than the fact that it was a listing.
Close to the bazaar, we found a street full of delicious food and the locals. Nothing excites me more than finding local gems! Cantaloupe is a must-try, as this region is famous for it. 3 RMB (~$.5) would get you a huge slice. Juicy and sweet!
A street artist attracted much attention, especially from the kids. He was very much absorbed.
Tons of stalls around selling all kinds of bread.
The shop keepers were usually boys. The below liked reading and didn't really seemed to care about business much.
We tried a bun with braised lamb inside. Very tasty.
We also noticed that there was plenty surveillance going on -- armed policemen everywhere. I tried to take a photo but that was NOT allowed.
So the next photo shot was at the market. More bread in the clay oven. Wasn't it wicked to have a bread baked in the bread shaped oven?
Dinner again consisted of veggies and lamb!
On the way back, we got some great grapes for 2 RMB (~$.3). Xinjiang region is famous for grapes. Don't they just look tasty?
We were exhausted after a whole day of activities (mind you, we were still on Day 2 here) and immediately went to bed after dinner!
A lot of activities in one day!
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