The Best Markets on Earth

Flowers are deeply rooted in India's cultural and religious traditions, but nowhere else are they as important a trade as in Mysore, in Karnataka state. The region boasts fertile soil that produces more than 75% of all flowers sold in the country. For 120 years, the Devaraja flower market has immersed more than 20,000 daily visitors in a sea of vibrant colors and intoxicating scents.

Indonesia has long supplied special spices and flavors for recipes from around the world.

The city of Mandalay, Myanmar, is known as the 'city of jewels.' And for good reason!

Before the arrival of the Incas and later the Spanish, the indigenous people of Ecuador were making beautiful textile crafts.

Tea is both accessible to all and highly sophisticated. It is everywhere in Chinese culture, and people respect and revere it as they would an emperor. The enormous Maliandao tea market embodies the rich tradition, with 6,000 shops covering more than a kilometer. Tea merchants and vendors of supplies like teapots, utensils and boxes share this great commercial hub.

The gleaming black of ebony wood reflects all Tanzanian culture.

On the island of Java, in the city of Yogyakarta, enthusiasts flock to the Pasty bird market. To the Javanese, a person's pet birds reflect their social standing.

Western visitors to this market find themselves in a completely unfamiliar world overflowing with dried herbs, roots, flowers, and animals. There are buyers for hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, wholesale buyers, and individual customers. The market is fascinating both because of the products and its atmosphere. Some 30% of Chinese rely on these medicines, virtually unknown to Westerners.

Al Ain is the site of the oldest settlements in the UAE, and the camel souk is one of the region's last, home of the Camel Race Track in Al-Marmoum.

At nightfall, under canopies, merchants arrange their wares on the ground and lanterns create a riot of colors. The market’s crafts are all crafted from delicate sâa paper.

One of the world's largest gold markets, with over 300 vendors, this souk boasts the largest concentration of jewelers on the Arabian Peninsula.

Stockyard City is the world's largest livestock market.