Around the World in 30 Minutes

I took on another intriguing challenge last week. We have several great food markets in Atlanta, which carry a huge selection of ethnic foods as well as baked goods, dairy, produce, fish, and meats. I discovered the Buford Highway Farmers Market a while ago. This is definitely the place for ethnic goods, where each aisle or section is labeled by nationality - Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Russian, and on and on! Heaven.

Unfortunately, it's way on the other side of town from me. In fact, it is just barely OTP (outside the perimeter, AKA on the wrong side of I-285). I had pretty much written it off as a special occasion trip, something to do if some other errand took me in that direction with my car. But for some reason, I took a second look at it. I realized it was barely half a mile from the Doraville MARTA Station (end of the gold line) and that some relatively minor streets would take you right there.

On Thursday, the Beau and I set out after work. The train ride itself took about 20 minutes, and from there it was barely a 5 minute ride to the side entrance of the market via N. Peachtree Road and Langmire Way. Traffic was light although we were well into the evening rush hour, and drivers seemed nonplussed. The four-lane street gave them plenty of room to pass us. The only frustrating part was the Gwinnett County Transit buses which use that route and seemed reluctant to pass. I felt kind of bad for them idling along behind us, but it's not my call.

Arriving at the market, we discovered two large, well occupied bicycle racks. How unexpected! Not only is there substantial bike traffic in this spot, but the local businesses are aware of the fact. Judging by turnover of parked bicycles while we were shopping, it seemed like some of them belonged to staff and some to customers. Sweet. Anyway, it was a really easy trip and I got all sorts of awesome stuff - asian noodles, masa tortilla flour, organic apples, and German chocolate! It all fit onto my bike. I'll be a regular customer there from now on.