From Hell on Earth to the Moon of Dreams

 

As soon as it became light after 6 in the evenings there was no need to take the metro home straight after work. Instead I met Ana on Khreshchatik (between the ice cream stall and the breakdancers) and we walked up the hill from Besarrabskii market - past the statue of Lenin - to sit on the benches in Taras Shevchenko park. We sipped apple juice bought from a kiosk, and relaxed as the sun went down. Every day a chess tournament would take place under the pagodas in the corner of the park. Dozens of old men in dark grey felt caps observed the boards in front of them, oblivious to the rain, concentration etched onto their faces.

We spent one Saturday with Lyuda in Lisova, a district at the very easternmost edge of the city. It is home to Kyiv's largest market - a sprawling, haphazard settlement with separate sections for clothes, food and second-hand books and CDs.

The market is a picture of chaos: shoppers rub shoulders in the narrow aisles between stalls; colourful signs are written in crooked Russian or Ukrainian; tomatoes, eggs, beer and cucumbers are sold from the backs of lorries. The thick smell of fish hangs in the air in the meat section, from trout caught in the Dnieper that morning which flap around in just a few inches of water. The market's only dull parts are the sellers themselves, who sit in low chairs at the back of each stall and greet each question with an indifferent grunt or a lazy nod.

*You can find the whole of Jonathan Campion’s Ukraine diary, along with his photographs, at www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Vinovat-Sudarynya. From there it is possible to contact him, comment on individual diaries, and subscribe.

---