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2003-08-02 / 03 - Srinagar (Day 109-110)

The family's eldest son, Shawkat takes me to see the floating markets on the Srinagar canals early in the morning. Like the floating markets in Thailand, the local merchants bring their produce, mostly vegetable out in shakira's early in the morning and trade them from one boat to another before sunrise. We were taken out through the canals which have given this city a reputation of being a second Venice (the locals insist it is much prettier) and through wide expanses of lotus and floating gardens built upon mud banks in the lakes.

The merchants were all gathered in a mess in the center of a wide waterway with the boats just pressed against each other and conducing their business as the sun came up. Shawkat pointed out one man standing in a boat in the center who is the moderator of prices. He sets the prices for the various vegetables every morning and the group follows these prices throughout the trading. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, turnips were all piled high in the boats leading to a colorful though chaotic scene.

After the leisurely ride back, I could think of nothing more appropriate for this atmosphere then pulling out one of my favorite books and spending the next couple of days on the sun deck on the back of the boat reading.

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