Kara and Nate Buchanan explore Moscow on their first full day, visiting a large local market (stated as "Maillops Kaya Market" in the transcript) to browse Soviet antiques, handmade goods, and snacks, then try local Russian street food at a nearby restaurant while describing challenges with the Cyrillic alphabet and language barrier. The video includes travel-planning details (their Trans-Siberian trip begins in four days; first train leg is 72 hours) and on-the-ground observations about metro stations, market atmosphere, and food prices (some items described as less than $2).
Questions this video answers
72 hours
Less than $2
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It is our first full day in Moscow. I still can't believe that we are in Russia, biggest country in the world.
Today is Sunday, and we've heard that one of the best things that you can do on the weekends here in Moscow is go check out some of the markets. We've gotten a recommendation from a local to go to a market that starts with an I that I cannot pronounce. Carol, make it show up down here.
We've heard that this market has a ton of cool Soviet antiques and other interesting stuff. So we're heading that way now.
We've now been walking in circles for about an hour. This should have been a 15 minute walk to the metro station. But we kept getting distracted by these big, beautiful buildings. So we made a few circles. We finally found it.
This metro is beautiful. Am I well lit?
As I was saying, I'm not sure what the deal is, but for some reason there have been like 50 people walking through the subway and they. There's about four of these dogs and everybody rubs the nose. So I assume I'm getting some kind of good luck or something right now. But I have to do a little more research, though. But I got lots of it. Whatever it is.
Is Maillops Kaya Market.
So it's the same place that we are now?
No, but I think it's like the Russian name for it. I can try to type that in and see. Like, I feel like that's Russian for market, you know, it just says three minute walk. I think it's the same.
Perfect. So I was under the impression that we were coming to like a local Russian market. But instead it feels like we've showed up at the Russian version of Disneyland based on these buildings behind me. They're beautiful. Just reminds me of Disney World.
We found the market. It does look super local. It's just hiding under all these castles.
Sam.
So we're seeing a ton of those Russian dolls. They make ones that are like this big, with the smallest one being tiny, smaller than my fingernail. And I really want to get one. But once we buy it and carry it around forever, I don't know what we would do with it. I guess it's just sits in your house for the rest of your life. Still tipted, though. There's tons of like fuzzy hats and fuzzy coats, super Russian stuff. And a really good mix of like really old antique stuff and really new handmade stuff. So it's been a really good market. It is still going. I don't even think we've scratched the surface so I'm really glad we left the city to come to this market. It's really cool. It's crazy. I feel like I'm in Candyland. I just accidentally kind of left the market, and we're in this candy Land, like, cool place. Everything is colorful, and the buildings are all pointy at the top. I don't know where we are, but it's pretty.
It's fruit and honey, so it's kind of like a tea. And the dragons made it.
Our Trans Siberian train trip starts in four days, and the first leg of it is 72 hours. Like, we're gonna be on the same cart of the same train for 72 hours. So we bought some entertainment at the market.
A deck of cards with the.
Soviet guy, and now we're going to find some dinner.
The same girl who recommended the market, which ended up being really awesome, recommended a restaurant that serves really local Russian food. So hopefully she's two for two. Are we going that way?
Yeah, I think we're going back to the metro.
Our third pretty metro.
It doesn't give me the.
The symbols. Okay, so we're looking for an upside down H, E, O with the. With a stem Y, P, E, little K, backward N. Oh, wow.
I found the.
You have it?
No, just a backwards A. Kate, is it the upside down H6 in the very middle of the big bowl?
It doesn't end with the backwards N, but everything else looks similar.
It does, too.
No, the one on my phone is upside down H, E6, Y, P, E, K, backwards N. So we have no clue how to pronounce this Alphabet. So my plan to order is to take a picture with my phone, translate it, and point.
So I think that went well. I took the picture, and I was trying to point to the ones that I wanted, and she was saying, no, no, no. And then she got me an English menu, but I didn't want the English menu because the prices were higher. But I pointed to them anyways. And then I pointed up at the board because I wanted those prices. And she said, cash. And so I paid her. And then I got the real prices, the Russian prices. I got change back. I'm feeling pretty good about that.
So I was under the impression we were ordering dumplings. This doesn't look like a dumpling, but it does look delicious and very unhealthy. Also, we didn't get any silverware. Nobody else is eating these, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I assume it with my hands.
That's really good. Tastes Like a Russian empanada. Very, very greasy.
Oh, my gosh. The cheese one is so good. Nate did not make a big enough deal about how good this is, and it has chives in it. So the girl who messaged us explained this place as super Soviet. Nobody in here is speaking English.
I love it. And it was less than $2.
These are so yummy. We had to get a third one. This one is potato. This one is way fluff.
Hot, hot, hot. I don't know why I wipe my hands off, and they're just gonna get greasy again.
That reminds me of a french fry. They're just so light. I feel like I could eat a hundred of these. Really dangerous.
I need you to rank them for me. Potato, cheese, and beef.
And cheese is number one. I said the meat was number two. It also had a lot of good flavor. The potato is good, but it's not, like, something I would, like, rain now.
Oh, this is really funny. I just watched the guy go up and order one, and then he pulled forks and a knife out of a little secret thing behind the counter. So, yes, we definitely should not have been eating these with our hands. I'm sure everybody's been watching. It's like, look at those heathens. I didn't see somewhere. I just thought that was the way they did it here. Seriously. They just took a really greasy empanada and stuffed with mashed potatoes.
I don't know.
I think potato might be my favorite. So I'm gonna go potato, beef, cheese. But the thing is, like, they're ranked, but they're all way up here. They were. This was delicious.
Those things were so good. We never would have been brave enough to go in there and order if it wasn't for that girl telling us exactly where to go and what to order. Because the language here is crazy hard.
People ask us all the time. Like, isn't traveling a lot to all these different countries that speak different languages, like, really tough? Like, how is the language barrier when you travel to all these places?
It's never really a thing.
Usually, like, the people we interact with, like, that are in the service industry speak a little bit of English or, like, I don't know, you can just memorize the words that, like, the first three letters are like, sch. And then you just remember that. That, I don't know, that's how, like, I link them together in my brain. But here, the letters aren't even the same.
It's a totally different Alphabet. And your phone switches from the, like, Russian words to English. So if we're looking at a map, looking for a certain. Like that restaurant. I knew the English version of that restaurant, and we had to look up a photo on the Internet of what it looked like to know if we were at the right place.
Well, the English version started with an S, and then the restaurant started with a C. And I think that's the really confusing thing, is that there are some English letters in the Russian Alphabet, but then there's also, like, symbols that we have no earthly idea what they mean. Yeah.
It's never been this hard, and it's fine. We're in Russia. I don't expect people to speak English. I don't expect every sign and menu to be in English. We've just never had to really worry about it.
It's been more of a challenge than we expected. And I think the thing that's made this different than, like, Asia, because Asia, like, the symbols aren't the same, and there's no way to sound those out. But there was, like, always English translations underneath signs and stuff. And here there has been none of that.
Was it kind of fun? Like, we're going to be fine.
First day in Russia, and I like, I of kind. Kind of like the challenge.
Yeah.
How do I look? I need it for the train trip. We're going to be in the same compartment in the car or in the train.
