Dirty, loud, and bustling, the markets are the backbone of the local economy. In the bigger cities you can find... some variety, in smaller towns and trading centres, everyone sells the same thing. You will go through town after town that sells nothing but tomatoes and potatoes, or cabbage and carrots, or sweets, crisps, and coke. In the bigger markets you can find endless amounts of clothes, most of which were donated by you and your neighbours to places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army years ago. Men will try and convince you that you need green courdory pants, 9 sizes too large, or sell you snowshoes in a place where it hasn't snowed since... maybe ever. More quizzical are them men who will try and to convince you to trade your trousers for whatever it is they're selling. If there's one thing they don't seem to need here it's more clothes, but everyone wants you to trade from some reason. Everyone does the same thing as their neighbours in the markets. There will be an alley with nothing but people selling fried chips, and cabbage, tied into plastic bags, and allowed to do the last of their cooking in oily cancer. A whole wing for everyone selling the same patterns of tetenge, or everyone selling cheap tools and broken electronics. There will be dozens of booths selling tapes, but only 5 different albums available between them. There is also, always, a whole section of dried fish, similar to sardines, stacked, and sun-dried. This part of the market supports an entire population of flies, and is generally one of the quietest parts to go, most likely because the merchants know they have actually zero chance of convincing you to buy their product. The markets seem intimidating at first, but are mostly harmless, good places to pick up produce on the cheap, and grab a bite that has only a fair chance of making you ill for the night.
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