Thai Curry Paste and Wings

Andrew and I ventured out of the house for a second time in a week. I had it in my mind to get to the Chinese market to buy some Thai curry paste and coconut milk because I am nuts about Thai green curry chicken with rice vermicelli. I had heard about this Chinese market for years from people who live here. I scouted it out a few months ago. The market is typical of many here. It's the place to buy things cheaper than in the shops. It's all out of doors and you can buy everything from cheap gold jewelry to underwear and bananas. I found the Chinese grocer deep inside the market, way at the back. Having lived in Toronto and shopped in Chinatown and Kensington market this Chinese grocery did not impress me so much by the goods that it carried, but that these goods were available here! I located the green curry paste and vowed to return.

Andrew insisted we take the metro. It's deep underground here, like some of the stations in the London underground. One station has two levels of escalators, each about 4 stories high. You can eat an entire ice-cream bar before you hit the bottom. Andrew went silent in the metro. He was taking it all in. Once we were out he walked most of the way still not saying a word until he spotted some birds in a cage on the sidewalk outside a small market stall of cheap bar soaps and dish detergents. He pointed out the colours of the birds as we both hunched down to get a closer look. I would not have seen the birds had Andrew not stopped to look. The only creatures that close to the ground are toddlers and cats.

Being a visible minority in this country is very very difficult. And being a visible minority working in the alley-ways and recesses of the Ukrainain rynok (market) must be even worse. Ukraine has a reputation of being intolerant to visible minorities. Amnesty, The Jamestown Foundation and the EU commission on Tolerance have all written reports denouncing attacks on blacks and Asians by gangs here in the last few years. Even Borat, or Sasha Cohen is not tolerated by the Ukrainian censors who banned his latest film from cinemas. The censors worry about the homosexual content. So, as I am meandering through this vast market with my sweet son I become aware of the the glances and rolling eyes the Ukrainian market stall operators impress upon their Chinese competitors as they walk past each other going about their usual daily business.

We ended our trip home by stopping off at Maiden Nezaleznasty. Say, it slowly and you'll get it. It's another "town square" here in Kiev though not at all square. There is an underground shopping mall and above ground statues, fountains and concrete. Great places for kids to hang out, drink beer, skate board and be cool. This is where the Great Orange Revolution took place in 2004-2005 when Ukrainians finally stood up against the corrupt leaders and stood out in the blistering cold for months until a more sanitized set of corrupt leaders were given the chance to become the new government. This is the place where Bryan Adams played, twice. Elton John played here too and did not throw a hissy fit. Sir Paul also played in the pouring rain. That was a great show. The best frikin Beatles cover band in the world, with Paul on bass. Oh, yeah, and these shows were free! You have to pay to see Deep Purple, but Paul McCartney does it for free.

I hope you are enjoying my attempt at a vacation diary as much as I am enjoying writing it. Andrew can't wait till I write about his trip to the fish shop.

And that's the news from here.