You can grab fresh juice on every corner in Istanbul. But here's the thing – they display the most beautiful fruits in the window (gotta attract customers, right?), while the juice gets made from the more ordinary-looking ones. Turks really know how to set up an eye-catching display.

The prices seem pretty random though. Sometimes you'll see a 25-30% difference (!) between two juice stands right next to each other.

This is how they lure hungry tourists to dinner at local cafes (:‌

Since I'm already talking about food: here's what the most authentic beshbarmak looks like (essentially kazy and just horsemeat with pasta and broth). This is a portion for two people (actually a bit much). Delicious, but definitely not an everyday thing.

Kazakhs in general (like people in the East overall) really love to eat. So local cafeterias and restaurants don't suffer from a lack of customers. For good restaurants in the evening, you often need to book in advance, otherwise you won't get in. In some places, the whole queue situation is handled smoothly. They just hand you a number at the entrance and you wait until they call you.

You'll often find open kitchens in Alma-Ata restaurants (either behind glass or completely open). If you're lucky, you'll get to watch how they prepare your order (:

The food, by the way, is tasty and often cheap. A bill for three people (a couple of salads, three main dishes, lemonade) comes out to around 1000 rubles.

But you need to be careful about choosing the right place. You can end up at a terrible spot with an expensive bill and tasteless food. Plus you won't even feel full. Overall, there's a rule that the more emphasis on local cuisine with Eastern interior design, the worse the cooking tends to be.

На Зеленом базаре таки адекватные цены на казы. Ура! От 700 рублей за килограмм. Больше чем в 2 раза дешевле магазинной (!)

Сам рынок тоже очень колоритный. Настоящий восточный. Правда фрукты / овощи в основном привозные. Из Узбекистана (надо бы туда тоже как-нибудь доехать :) ).

Забавно что на рынке 2 этажа. На верхний (наземный) водят толпы иностранцев. Цены заметно выше, продавцы торгуются неохотно. А вот на нижнем (подземном), куда инстранцы не доходят, и цены демократичнее. И торгуются лучше (:

I thought I'd come to Kazakhstan and stock up on kazy, just gorge myself here. But after the first trip to the store (and then the second one), it became clear that kazy prices are absolutely insane.

For the package in the photo they want almost 500 rubles. The price per kilogram is over 1500. Moscow prices are way better.

Although maybe I'm not looking in the right places. I'll try to look around some more...