Cameron Highlands Tea Plantation, Malaysia

Friday, April 16, 2010

PhotoHunt - Covered

One of my absolute favorite places to visit in Istanbul is the colourful Spice Bazaar. It’s an essential shopping haven if you’re in the city and you’re at all interested in food.

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There are about 100 small stalls in a covered bazaar selling everything from exotic spices, candies, dried fruits, fruit tea, among a hundred other Turkish delights. True to its name, my nose immediately detected the aroma of various spices the moment I entered the market. It was also impossible to walk past one of these stalls without sampling different types of local delicacies.


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Row upon row of different types of fruit tea, exotic spices, pepper in the background with locals jostling for the lowest prices. It was nice to look at the display of pretty coloured spices even if you were not buying anything.


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Dried figs and dates are displayed on the front row while the rest of the rows are all lokums (Turkish delights) in a riot of flavours and fillings. Some varieties are covered with coconuts, some nuts, mint, rose and most commonly, with powdered sugar. My favourite version are the nut flavours. With a wide range of flavours like hazelnut, pistachio, walnut and almond, my hands-down winner would be definitely pistachio. They are sinfully delicious with a tinge of nuts dancing around my taste buds.

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Turkish Helva, or Halva, is a sweet confection that is similar to lokum, but made with sugar syrup and sesame oil. The helva is usually cut into wedges or thin slices according to customer requirements. It is believed that the locals served helva on special occasions such as Ramadan and other holy days but more commonly to mark births and deaths.

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Further down, we came across some stalls selling a wide array of candle holders covered with decorative designs. They are colourful and eye-catching and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

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Apart from that, a great variety of herbal tea are widely sold here. Apple, rose and linden flower being the most popular flavours. It has been a long tradition of drinking tea here I would say. The best type of tea for me was the apple tea. It was bitter yet refreshing and I liked it very much and drank a lot of it while trotting around Istanbul.

I came home with small bags of tea, a box of lokum and a luggage full of wonderful fragrance. :) This is the ultimate one-stop shopping destination for souvenirs as well as a wonderful place to meet interesting people. I'd recommend travel there to anyone. The Turkish culture is nowhere more alive and colourful than here.



First Commenter - Dora

35 comments:

  1. WOw! What a huge selection of dried goods! Good shopping trip, huh? ;)

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  2. The bazaar sure look interesting and colourful.

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  3. Did you buy plenty of stuff there?

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  4. Wow...a lot of herbs and spices? :D Their souvenirs look so special.

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  5. Whoa... you have some very colorful shots this week. That bazaar would be my heaven for sure. I love cooking curries. :P

    http://crizcats.blogspot.com/

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  6. That's definitely ALOT of spices. The candle holders are beautiful.

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  7. I loved it when I visited the Great Bazaar!!

    covered!

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  8. This is so cool. I was just thinking this morning about how I really want to visit Istanbul and these photos really make me want to go!

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  9. What a clever idea. I love how clear and sharp your photos are. I would love to shop in a place like this.

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  10. I love the candle holders LR, I'd surely buy some wow! So pretty! :)

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  11. LOL same here, even if I don't wanna buy stuff, I'll just go there to see all the colourful spices, so many! :)

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  12. Glad to see u enjoyed shopping here.. so many cool things to buy.. :)

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  13. All of that looks delicious and delightful.

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  14. You really had a good time in Istanbul. I also like pistachio but just hard to shell sometimes. And oh, the candle holders! Beautiful and colorful, I would love to have one of those for my candle collections.

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  15. Now that looks like foodie heaven! Great take on the theme

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  16. Wow! That's an interesting marketplace.

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  17. morning LR! wow it's indeed a shopping haven!

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  18. my Turkish friend once brought me some halva..i love it!

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  19. beautiful photos! love your entries.

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  20. I think I can spend hours here just looking at the varieties of items.

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  21. Wonderful sequence of shots.The Great Baazar is colourful and exciting!

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  22. Wow lots of cool and interesting choices...Happy hunting...

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  23. Wonderful selection of photos, so colorful, and very informative too!! Have a happy weekend.

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  24. It's interesting to see everything out in the open like this. It's beautiful, actually. Most of or food is covered in packaging.

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  25. aloha,

    what a great interpretation of the theme today, very creative and colorful, i love these types of markets, they are perfect for photo opportunities.

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  26. Wow! I bet that place smells amazing! It looks so colorful, too. Those candle holders sure are pretty.

    Here's my covered.

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  27. So colorful and interesting. I would love to visit there some time. You definitely have this theme COVERED.

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  28. How beautiful. And colorful. I love ancient markets like this. It sounds like a fun day exploring. Thank you also for the information about the different and unique Turkish items you saw in the market.

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  29. OOoo.. Istanbul.. Wanna go there someday. The things in the market are so colourful. And I'm a fan of flavoured tea as well! I'll go crazy if I were there.

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  30. I heard so much about this Spice Bazaar. It would be interesting to visit this place. I have so much to buy!

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  31. Oh, btw are the prices of the spices more expensive than in Malaysia?

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  32. ECL,

    if you do the conversion rate, obviously everything is more expensive than in M'sia. yes, you will see plenty of ground and unground spices out in the open environment. i love curries but it has not crossed my mind of buying them as the spices are already starting to lose their potency being exposed to the air.

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  33. i think i will be so damn broke after going through that covered shopping center

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