カシミールの素晴らしいローカルマーケットを探索！ | ダル湖水上マーケットとシュリーナガル・サンデーマーケット

カシミールの素晴らしいローカルマーケットを探索！ | ダル湖水上マーケットとシュリーナガル・サンデーマーケット

It is 4:00 in the morning. I can hear the caller to prayer outside. I am in Kashmir in Shinagar. The reason why I’m up this early is because I am going to go to the vegetable market which starts at 5:00 in the morning. It’s like on the lake. It’s supposed to be really beautiful. I hope it’s worth it because I do not like getting up this early. My guest house host Ally was already awake because he gets up at this time every morning to pray. So you wake up at this time every day. Do you go back to sleep or this is your go back to sleep? Oh, okay. That’s good. Oh wow. What’s this line going up the mountain? That’s an army base. Oh, I thought it was like a beautiful mountain thing. No, it’s the army. Or maybe it’s the army being beautiful. Alli has a younger sister called Rabia. We spent a lot of time at the guest house chatting in the evenings. She’s really great and we became friends really quickly. She calls me British meme which from my understanding meme means girl in Kashmiri. But at first I thought she meant that I was like a a meme of a British person which to be honest sometimes I am. Anyway, she came along with me that day to the vegetable market. She didn’t feel comfortable showing her face on camera, but she was okay with her voice, so I’ve included our chats. I’ve never been on a shikara at this time. Really? Oh, she’s never been to the floating market. No, I’ve never been. Oh my god. Like you, many foreign girls have offered me, please come with us. Yeah. Yeah. I cannot make up this. I was the one who persuaded you. Finally cracked. I think it’s the thing like when you live somewhere you don’t do the touristy things. You know, there’s lots of things I haven’t done in Britain that lots of tourists would have done. It’s always there. Like so many people in Egypt have never been to the pyramids. They’re like they’re there, you know. It’s always there. But the thing is, you won’t be leaving like Yeah. Yeah. Now, I think you can go to the vegetable market later on at around maybe 700 a.m. But by that time, the sun is already up. And for me, part of the magic of this experience was definitely arriving like in the cover of darkness and setting out onto the lake. It felt so magical and atmospheric. You start the journey hearing nothing but the call to prayer coming from all the mosques and then you start to hear the dawn chorus of birds and crickets and then finally murmurings of the vegetable sellers all arriving to sell their wares. From what I understand, this market has been going on for centuries. So you really feel like you could be, you know, stepping back in time. Plus, just seeing the sunrise over the lake is so cool. Got pumpkins. [Music] All coming from different directions. [Music] Trying to get the attention of the bean man. I want to get some beans. How do I get their attention if I want to buy some Rabia definitely has the same dry sense of humor as her brother. She told me the way to say excuse me is to say yapure. So I tried but no one listened to me. Yet yap yap yap yap. Maybe I’ll have to buy a pumpkin. As I experienced, the vegetable sellers mostly just ignore you as a tourist there. There are a few boats that are aimed at tourists selling like flowers and pashmas. The flower man was pretty pushy and I didn’t want to buy anything. Um, but I did feel bad for him because there weren’t many tourists on the lake that day. I did get some Kashmir tea which was very delicious. Enough. Uh, yes please. Shukria. Almond, walnut, cashew nut, please. Oh, this watermelon seeds, coconut, mint and so this is rose petal. Shakria. This is S style. Oh, on the paddle as well. Yes, paddle is so st Oh, it looks healthy. Oh, it smells very good. I’m eating a rose petal. So, it’s saffron, honey, cashews, h rose petals, water. Yeah. And water. The secret ingredient is water. It’s very nice. I always find saffron because I I don’t taste it that often. So when I taste it, I’m like, “What is that?” And I’m like, “Oh, it’s saffron.” You know, such such a specific. Nothing else could be saffron. Where did you go with any? No. He did not introduce me to any saffron. Oh, okay. Maybe I should go there. After our tea, we headed back to dry land. The lake looked absolutely beautiful at this time of day. Like the reflections on the water and the sky was kind of hazy and all the birds were chirping and like frolicking. Like we’re in a very very slow chase. We just saw an eagle, but I didn’t film it. But some things you don’t need to film. Oh, no. On your head. Oh, birth mark. Oh my god. Oh, this was such a lovely moment. I’m so happy I caught that on camera. Me and Ravia realized that we have the same birthark on our hands. Or not the same, but like similar. And I’ve never met anyone with a birth mark on their hand. So that felt magical. Also, our birthdays are only one day apart. I think we must have some kind of cosmic connection. There are too many coincidences. I think she’s my Kashmiri sister. We’re back on well back on dry land. Alli came to pick us up and we went and bought some bread for breakfast and listened to this banger. I won’t include the sound for copyright reasons, but it was a vibe. If anyone’s got any other song recommendations, please let me know. I always love hearing new music. I actually wasn’t very well for the next few days. I think I had food poisoning or something. So, I didn’t really do much, but then once I was better, Ally offered to take me to a market. So, the rest of this video is going to be our visit to that market. Is Ally ready? Yes. If you’re enjoying this video so far, please can you consider pressing the hype button? It really helps my channel grow. I got a selfie stick. Cringe. Cringe. Yeah, I am cringe. But the older you get, the more you realize that cringe is just a word. And yeah, cringe is just a word. Deep down, we’re all cringe. So when it’s on, it’s off. No, I’m not going to let you. When it’s on, I’ll be more polite. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Yes. Free advertising. Why is it called John’s homeay even though you were called Alli? My father’s name is John. Why is his name John? His parents have given him this name. Ah all his siblings have British names. He is the only one who has weird names like Barnaby and Okay. He’s the only one. One uncle is Charlie. Other one is Tom. Yeah. It’s interesting though cuz I thought normally in like Islam you would be called Ali or you called Muhammad. Not John. We are going to a market. Alli tells me it’s like the greatest market that ever Sunday market that ever marketed. Flea market. So Oh, it’s a flea market. Oh, like secondhand stuff. Second stuff. Yeah. Oh, I thought it was just like general market. Also, cuz my train is already clapped out. Like they gave me this huge blister. Or maybe I don’t want some used trainers. Yes. Find you some Adidas from Nikes. Fourthhand fourth foot is called them. So all the bikes used to go across there. Yeah. Yeah. You’re not a fan of like railings in Kashmir. Like your house, none of the balconies have any railings. We don’t have it now because money. Oh, okay. I thought that was a design choice. You know, like clean lines, you know. Infinity pool. Two steps you have. Yeah. Yeah. They’re dogs. I really like these signs. Like hand painted signs. Looks like something out of like a Wes Anderson film. Colors. Oh, I’ve never seen this done before. Color. Color. Wow. Legend. It’s a beautiful color. I love this color. Oh, very good. It’s like the rally. Yeah. Everyone likes pink. Where you from? Britain. UK. Britain. Yeah. Yeah. How long? Two weeks. Two weeks. Yeah. It’s very beautiful. I I love Kashmir. Oh, yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Have a nice holiday. What does that mean? Stick sticks. People stick money bills on there. Really? Why? For the poor people. Oh, that’s nice though. We don’t want poor people to get rich. A because of the LDS and bills. Oh yeah, you can’t trust anything that this man says. So Alli’s family for generations lived on house boats. Well, you actually you were on the house boat till you were 18. So you were also a boat person. It’s really cool. So judging by the picture you showed me from the past, this would have been full of like all the way along would have been house. Yes, there will be huts. Oh, this people that own the boats will have the huts as well. Oh, okay. So, you’d also We wouldn’t own the land, I imagine, but you would just like occupy it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think you’ll ever move back? It’s expensive. Maybe when you’re really rich. I could buy a boat. Yeah. Just for fun, you know. Yeah. Yeah. For the summertime. Yeah. Yeah. Imagine they’re very cold in the winter. They’re just wood. They got heating. Oh, they have heating like a fireplace. A fireplace as well. And nowadays you can get your cones, you know. What’s this? What’s he making? Chai. Ooh. You want a chai? Chai. Yeah. My treat. Okay. My treat. Last big spend as me. So nice. This is really cool because I went to a market like this Sajjny market in Delhi but then I accidentally deleted all the footage. I went with my friend M. But uh yeah, now we have the Sunday market. Yes, sugarcane. [Music] Oo. Oh, look at that. That’s gorgeous. So pretty. It makes such nice gifts. So creative. [Music] Do you want a rumage? I do not need any more clothes. Oh, that’s cool. [Music] You can use that in I always I always like the super colorful stuff. Like crazy colorful. It’s very nice. It’s polyester. It’s like pure silk. This is fabric. Ah. To make into something. to make it. Oh, you’re from uh UK. Brit Britain. It’s really beautiful. It’s really cool how people like make stuff. Yeah. Like people will buy the fabric and then make a suit with the fabric. I think that’s really nice. So you get something that’s like made just for you and it’s not so wasteful like in the west. 100 rupees for a suit. I thought he was you. I was like, what do you think? Going to write down your poems. Yeah. Do you want some chai? Yeah. Oh, that’s a nice You like green? I like green. What is it? It looks like a taco. Looks good. Alli’s sister very kindly gave me a lovely suit and so I want to get a nice book or something to say thank you cuz she likes reading. I like this book. So hopefully your sister will like Are we going to get try? Yeah. I just opened the book and there’s a A spider squashed into it. Freebie squash. Squash. Is this date? No. Oh, no. Nice to meet you. Getting a cake as well. I’m not sure. I’ve let Alli decide. Is this is this the one you poke before buying? I gave you that side. Thanks. What is it? Chocolate. I don’t know what this is. It’s fine. It’s not very sweet. So, what do you have? I guess cuz the the chai is very sweet. So, you did put in the chai. We are revived from the chai. I was asking Ally because I eat with my left hand and I noticed everyone here eats with their right hand. But apparently it’s okay because I’m foreign. So people just think that I do weird stuff anyway. I get a free ticket to be weird. Fancy a pineapple juice? He’s going to make a cocktail of the tea that you had. Yeah. How you like it? Pineapple juice. There was some people following her just because she paid 50 rupees to one lady and then now they are following her 50. Let’s see what the lady do. Will she pay? Offer offering her pineapple juice. Okay, there goes the pineapple juice. I was still feeling quite peckish and I was really keen to try this taco thing. I know it’s not a taco. So we stopped and got some. So it’s pee. Is this something spicy? And this something [Music] I totally make it less spicy. A But I I can handle spice. Maybe not. M. This is like radish, pea, and chili. Oh, it’s really good. I’m coming up to a big bit of chili. [Music] What do you call this? Masala to chas. [Music] as always happens with me at these markets. I’m suddenly hot and tired and I don’t want to buy anything on. I know it looks like we were just eating constantly. We were walking a lot. It’s a really big market. I just cut it a lot because u it’s not so interesting after a while. Oh, look. I can film myself in the mirror. [Music] We’re going on the Silk Road. Oh, Silk Road. Yeah, you’ve really built it up, so it better be good. Silk Road. He’s wearing market trousers and they’re falling down. I always keep my head in my pocket. I had I used to make my own clothes. It got stuck in the train door like the just like and I had to just stand by the door for like 20 minutes until the next stop. We are back. It was good. We got things. I got a book. I got a little box. Got a shirt. Where’s the closest place I can get a cold drink? Is there a shop down here? We have cold drinks. There’s one tiny bottle, little mjita bottle that they’ve been trying to get me to drink for like two weeks. I think it’s poisoned. If you don’t hear from me again, I was poisoned at John’s homeay. Thanks so much for watching this video. If you like this video, please like it and please press the hype button, the magical button. I would really, really appreciate it. I kind of edited the chronology a little bit of my stay in Shinagar because I wanted to put the markets together and I wasn’t really sure how else to show that. So, the next video you’re going to see was filmed before I went to that Sunday market and me and Ally go on a day out to some mosques and also some beautiful Mughle gardens. It’s a really fun day out. I think you’re going to like it. Thank you so much for your support of my channel. It’s really amazing. And please leave a comment on where you think I should visit next cuz I don’t know where I’m going. Thanks very much for watching as always and take care and see you next time. Bye.

In August 2025 I visited Srinagar, Kashmir for a few weeks, here is a vlog of my experience shopping with local and exploring some amazing Kashmiri markets!

I started by visiting the floating vegetable market on Dal Lake, it was a magical experience. I went with Rabiya, my host Ali’s sister. We set out very early in the morning in the dark at 4am, all you can hear at this time is the call to prayer echoing across the water from all the mosques of Srinagar, then you start to hear the birds and crickets waking up and then finally the murmerings of Kashmiri vegetable sellers! While this is a bit of a touristy experience (there are a few some boats selling tourist aimed things like Kashmiri chai, pashminas and flowers) in large part this is a functioning everyday market for the vegetable sellers of Srinagar. It’s centuries old and a very cool thing to see if you get the chance to visit Kashmir!

The next Kashmiri market I went to was the local Sunday market in Srinagar. This market is huge and a bit overwhelming, a mix of so many different things. You can find clothes shoes (new and used), books, scarves, beautifully hand-painted Kashmiri wooden crafts, lotus stems, anything you could wish for! I went with my host Ali who is a local Kashmiri, we spend some time browsing all the items at the market and got plenty of local snacks including Masala tchot (what I would call a Kashmiri taco!), samosas and of course lots of chai!

We walked around the market for a few hours and then returned to the guesthouse walking along the riverside and silk road, a very pretty riverside area of Srinagar where you can see houseboats.

Have you been to Srinagar? What was your experience like? Do you have any recommendations for things I should do in Kashmir? Let me know!

In my next video I visit some beautiful Mosques in Srinagar and some absolutely stunning Mughal Gardens so please tune in for that!

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