Go walkabout in Newmarket

I've taken you to Newmarket a number of times. You haven't been there for a while though and I'll just bet that you've forgotten most of what you saw. Shoot, I hadn't been to the place for about six months and we 'needed' just a couple of things from the Russian deli that we like. 

Let me show you last Saturday's Newmarket hike. 

 Waiting for the train at Sturges Road. As usual in the winter, another mini-storm is flying by bringing rain and a bow. 

 Here we are in Newmarket. 

 No leaves on the trees, just blossoms.

 Here is the busy Chinese market area on the ground floor of a multi-storied carpark. 

 What a price!  They are all over 2 kilos I'm sure. We're tried both frozen and fresh durian now and fresh is better. However, frozen is pretty good and it is literally half the price or less.  (Still expensive when you consider that you throw away most of the weight you've paid for. The husk is heavy, the fruit is a small part of the total.) 

Yet, durians fly off the market shelves...

 I love mangosteens but they're spendy too. Still, you can get a few without breaking the bank. 

 Dragon fruit looks so exotic but tastes so...  I'm always disappointed when I buy one.  If these fruits were really dragons, they 

certainly wouldn't be gold-loving Smaug* or even the somewhat dopey-looking Falcor^.  They don't taste that exciting. They're about as interesting as Puff" is, after he "sadly slipped into his cave."  

* from The Hobbit

^ from The Neverending Story

" from the song, Puff, the Magic Dragon

Continuing along, a the Chinese fish market.

 (abalone) 

From Chinese, we go to Russian/European/Kiwi

 I've come here to buy two things. I'll end up with a few more of course.

 The aisles are rather tight here. I have to move carefully. Although I don't have my backpack on today. I won't have to worry that I'll knock anything over as I turn. I brought the trolley instead. 

 Here is something different. The Russian version of Monopoly. I wonder when this was produced? I'm guessing fairly recently. You wouldn't expect to find such example of free-enterprise in a Communist country. 

The boys love Monopoly and use their New Zealand version of course. I also found a game at a garage sale just across the street from our house, that was produced in the 1950's and bought it for them, so now they have a collection.  

This would have been an interesting additon, but the price on it is $99.99. Nope.  

 This is what I came for. I'm fascinated by this. It tastes shrimpy. 

Do I believe that by eating a container of it a few times a year, that we're starving whales and penguins or contributing to global warming?  No, I don't. 
After reading up on this, I found that most countries that harvest krill have signed on to an agreement, written by Green Peace. 

 And nothing goes better with krill on crackers than a nice tall glass of low-sugar Kvas, the soft drink made from, and that tastes like, rye bread.  

This is the result of one of those, "Oh, oh, we haven't had any halva lately. Let's get some," moments.  

This Halva is very, very finely ground, sweetened sunflower seeds, mostly. It's good, but it does strange things to my throat sometimes when I eat it so I like to have a drink on hand to wash it down.

Time to walk on...
I think I'll save the rest of the walkabout for next time.... Be watching.            -djf