Strange Things | The Bazaar

The Bazaar

erratic_prophet | 17 May, 2005 21:10

Another Russia story..

I mentioned the bazaar before but hadn't gone into detail. This story is about the one time I went, with my cousins, on a trip to the bazaar..

Cousin M-- who spoke no English-- needed to buy some fruit and we-- Den and I-- begged to come along. We spent a lot of time stuck indoors-- we weren't allowed to go anywhere unescorted for fear of kidnappers and the like (that's another story)-- and were bored out of our minds. A trip to the bazaar sounded like heaven.

The trip was a long one, so we decided to hitch a ride at least part of the way there. We quickly found a ride and hurtled, at breakneck speed, and against traffic, vaguely in the direction of the bazaar. When he dropped us off, we gave him some rubles for his trouble and set off. We had a ways to go yet.

I didn't mind the long walk. I'd grown used to walking miles upon miles each day and the scenery was so lovely that it had become a joy for me. Anything was better than being cooped inside all day.

We chatted as we walked. Well, M and I chatted through Den, as he was our translator. Sometimes I spoke to her in French and she to me in Russian and we confused the hell out of Den, but understood each other.

After a while, I began to notice an unpleasant smell. I assumed that there was a dumpster nearby and tried to ignore it. My sense of smell is, unfortunately, very acute-- because of the big ol' honker I've got-- and I tend to smell things that most don't notice. But as we walked, it got stronger and stronger. Soon, I couldn't ignore it at all and mentioned it to the other two. They smelled nothing unusual.

It eventually got to the point where I was gagging-- I also gag easily. The smell was god awful. Like I crawled into a NYC dumpster or something. I didn't understand how they couldn't smell what I was unable to ignore. Den looked at me like I was crazy. M looked concerned. She asked if I was alright and he made a snotty little comment about how I was a drama queen.

After a little bit, Den finally smelled The Smell, too. He turned to me and said, "Man, what the hell is that? Is that what you've been smelling?" When I told him that that's exactly what I'd been smelling all along, he apologized. M still had no idea what we were talking about.

The further we went, the stronger The Smell became. I began to worry. Den began questioning. Was it a dead animal? A dumpster? What stinks that badly? Finally, I saw a look of dawning comprehension on M's face. She began to speak excitedly and I couldn't follow, but I saw the look of horror on Den's face and began to nag at him to translate. This is what he told me.

The Smell? Was from the sausage factory down a ways. How far away? Several miles. Yes, it smelled that badly and that strongly and was that far away. Why? Well... Apparently the meat they sometimes used? Wasn't so fresh. Yes, people bought the sausage anyway.

I thanked god that I stopped eating most meat and hoped The Smell would abate a bit by the time we got to the bazaar. Luckily, the smells of the fruits and vegetables and spices overwhelmed that of the sausage factory and I could shop gag free. We bought our fruit and headed back to the house.

Later that afternoon, we were taken to visit a friend of a friend of a friend. Guess what they served for lunch? That's right. Sausages. Guess how horrified we were? Got it again! Very. But it turned out that all that studious avoidance of the sausage was for naught. Well, in Den's case anyway. The guy made it himself from freshly butchered lamb.

[Reply]

OMG...i was expecting dead bodies!!
Eewwww...how gross. Even though it is so disgusting, that's what makes these stories so wonderful!

Michelle — 18 May 2005, 02:56

[Reply]

LoL you know it's bad when I'm reading about horrible smelling sausage on your trip to Russia and I still want to know more. I'm sick... and addicted :)

fear of kidnappers? Will have to tune in for that one.

Edana — 18 May 2005, 04:46