First President's Park and Green Bazaar

A beautiful spring Sunday morning...Nic and I got up early and after coffee were on our way to President's Park.

On the way with the mountains crystal clear. 

This is First (and only) President of Republic of Kazakhstan Park. It is on a main road, a road we've driven hundreds of times, but we've spent very little time at the park. Today Nic had a long run in his legs, so we enjoyed the place while it was still quiet in the city. 

While Nic ran,  I took a nice walk around the huge park. It also happened to be Russian Orthodox Easter today, so park staff cleaning up wished me "spraznicom"...a sort of congratulations, for the holiday. At the upper end of the park I found this observatory. 

View from the observatory looking south. 

 View looking north with the iconic (and futuristic!) radio tower and Almaty's downtown. 

Some of you might be thinking, enough with the Green Bazaar! But as I look at the calendar my heart starts to pound...6 weeks until we go home...that's only 5 more trips to the market! I will miss many things about Kazakhstan, but the Green Bazaar will be at the very top of that list. 

I went a little further around the balcony this week, and again, no one seemed to mind. Looking down on the bored Korean Salads ladies. 

This was what I wanted to photograph...the meat section. Starts with beef, then moves to mutton and lamb, and at the very end is horse. Turn the corner for pork and poultry. 

Waiting patiently for a customer.

This is an aisle Nic and I mostly avoid...partly due to the potent smell, and partly due to our ignorance of the products. It's technically a dairy aisle, like the aisle behind it with fresh butter, milk, cheeses and sour cream. But this aisle's dairy has been processed into other products...most of them we have no idea what they are. We do know that the little white balls are dried and salted cheese curds pressed together to everlasting gobstopper consistency. Other things we've poked at or smelled, but were left without even a guess of what it was. 

Dried fruit and nut guys...these guys greet us as we enter, always with a, "Hello madame, please!" and a smile, arm out, palm open above their goods in an effort to entice. We have out own guy downstairs, but it's a warm welcome nonetheless. 

Chai ladies patrol the aisles with their rolly carts full of thermoses of hot tea, waiting to be flagged down by a vendor. You can hear their calls throughout the building..."Chai...Chai...Chai!"

Smoked sheep head is a delicacy here, so I've heard....mostly served at celebratory dinners where the server not only doles portions, but advice as well. Ears for the person who needs to listen better, eyes for the one who should observe more carefully, brain for...well, you get it. 

Among our "guys" and "ladies" we have our favorites, of course. Our greens lady is mine. She wears a smile, asks us how we are and is generous with her greens. Lately she's been slipping in a bunch of mint into the bag after we've paid. She laughed and brushed down her hair before her portrait.