Like any respectable metropolis, Moscow has its own foreign communities. Many of these have set up their own schools in Moscow, publish their own newspapers, magazines and books and open stores selling their own crafts and local produce.

whereas 10 years ago it was quite difficult to find national specialty goods and foodstuffs in Moscow, today quite a few stores in the city are offering things like Chinese lanterns, Armenian backgammon, Peruvian ponchos and Japanese fans.

A trip around these stores offers a mini trip around the globe.

TYAN KE LUN
21 Novy Arbat Ul.
Metro: Arbatskaya
Tel: 202-6561
Open: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

You don't have to go to China or to spend a fortune in a fancy Chinese restaurant to get acquainted with Chinese cuisine. The supermarket Tyan Ke Lun, a small island of Chinese foods, is located at the very heart of the city, on Novy Arbat Ul.

Chinese cuisine couldn't exist without soy – this shop sells soy bamboo (41 rubles) and soy vinegar for Chinese patties (30 rubles). A variety of seafood products are also available, including dried seaweed (24 to 72 rubles), sea kale (11 rubles) and dried mollusks (720 rubles). Various edible roots and mushrooms are popular, including Daishen root (38 rubles) and the black tree mushroom (9 rubles).

To add flavor to a soup or a meat dish we recommend you to try dried blossoms ‘Lemon-Yellow Lileinik' (19 rubles). Just soak the powder for 30 minutes in water and then bake with meat or add to a soup.

Be sure to try the ‘Lee' drink (5 rubles). It's prepared according to a tradtional Chinese recipe, by fermenting apricot stones, and is said to be very healthy — especially effective in healing coughs, fevers and nervous system disorders.

Children will enjoy the rich choice of dried fruit, berries and seeds — dried plums (49 rubles), dried haws (29 rubles) and dried watermelon seeds (39 to 54 rubles).

In addition to traditional Chinese foods, the supermarket boasts clothes, consumer goods and crafts, such as Chinese lanterns (980 rubles) decorated with fancy ornaments and hieroglyphs. Chinese fans (127-312 rubles) are the perfect accessory for summer in the city. Among the other items are Beijing theater masks (195-339 rubles), palm exercisers which are said to help you relax (110-299 rubles) and caskets for jewelry (111-234 rubles).

SHOW-FAIR OF CHINESE CONSUMER GOODS

This is the place you need to go to get a real taste of Chinese crafts and lore. The exhibition-fair resembles an eastern bazaar — goods heaped over each other, tight crowds, Chinese speech here and there, scurrying vendors and whimpering children.

It is impossible to list all the goods offered there, but check out the chandelier pendants (75-250 rubles) complete with sound effects, playing Chinese national tunes; numerous trinkets made of natural nephrite and river pearls, lucky coins (40-45 rubles), Chinese umbrellas (80-100 rubles), massagers (17-80 rubles) and pillows (100 rubles).

Nephrite is said to be a very healthy mineral, especially effective for curing insomnia and nervous system disorders. Among the nephrite items are fancy teapots (3,500 rubles) and charming statuettes of the ever-smiling Chinese god, Hotei, carrying a huge bag full of his good deeds (1,600 rubles). Chinese legends say that if you make a wish and stroke a Hotei statuette 300 times on the belly, it will be granted.

VVTs Chinese Pavilion
Metro: VDNKH
Tel: 181-9504
Open: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

WHITE CLOuDS

4 Pokrovka Ul.

Metro: Kitai-Gorod

Tel: 921-6125

Open: Mon. to Sat. 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

This is quite an unusual store. People don't come here for sausages

or a new hair dryer, White Clouds is a store of philosophy, spirituality and magic. A hospitable atmosphere, low prices and a rich choice put the White Clouds shop among the best of its kind in Moscow.

African cultures have thousands of idols, talismans, amulets and other trinkets said to protect you from the evil eye and to boost your luck. A Senegal wooden elephant (498 rubles) for example, would make a great present for your relatives or friends. Turtles made of the same material are notably more expensive at 3,198 rubles. Zambian masks of female warriors (5,900 rubles) come with a historical background; the work of famous Nigerian craftsman Vincent Uviuneze (and made of two valuable kinds of wood) they feature Benea, the legendary fighter against Portuguese invaders. Stories talk of how she wore 11 colonisers' heads, tied to her body for decoration.

Zambian wooden trinkets make particularly excellent souvenirs — the range includes an ashtray (2,398 rubles), a statuette of a pagan priest (1,798 rubles) and a decorative spoon (898 rubles). Angolan ivory statuettes (17,998 rubles) are nice, but may seem a little too reminiscent of antique miniatures.

With patience and time, there are lots of exciting finds, including a wooden chest from Nepal (2,998 rubles), gypsum statuettes of Tutankhamun from Egypt (150 rubles), tiny bottles filled with sand from Egyptian deserts (170 rubles), shaman tambourines of North American Indians (1,200 rubles) and small Peruvian water-color paintings (160 rubles).

PERUVIAN SOUVENIRS
VVTs Culture Pavilion 66
Metro: VDNKh
Tel: 926-2116

Open: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends

There's only one place to go in Moscow if you wake up with a hankering for a Peruvian knife carrying images of hunters and idols (850-4,500 rubles). Drawing on the same style are bottles of varying size (850 rubles, regardless of volume) and traditional Inca wine-set suitable for up to six people (2,500 rubles). Among the other goods are ashtrays (350 rubles) and smoking pipes (140-350 rubles). In the textile section there are slippers (550 rubles), sweaters (700 rubles), ponchos (850-2,400 rubles), carpets (3,200 rubles) and sleeveless shirts (450 rubles); one common feature of these items is that they are made of Lama wool, which is very warm and soft. The carpets are inventively woven and feature some edifying, entertaining scenes from Peruvian everyday life.

ARMENIA
17 Tverskaya Ul.
Metro: Pushkinskaya
Tel: 229-5732
Open: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

It is common knowledge that Armenian food is very spicy. Armenian sausage ‘Sudzhuk,' for example, is heavily stuffed with spices and fragrant additives — from garlic to cinnamon. In ranking Armenian foodstuffs, top of the list comes lavash (finely rolled bread prepared without yeast, 8-20 rubles), followed by matsun, kefir of cow, sheep and buffalo milk. Other popular Armenian foods and drinks available in Moscow include Dzhermuk mineral water (10-24 rubles), Ararat cognac, sheep's cheese (261 rubles), Armenian cheese with potherbs (110 rubles), and famous ‘oriental' candies.

Among the souvenirs are an Armenian alphabet set made of fine woods. The Armenian alphabet, one of the oldest in the world, is a subject of great national pride.

Other interesting items include backgammon sets made of walnut, veneered and decorated with inlays (560-13,500 rubles), chess sets made of walnut (13,500 rubles) and the Armenian coat of arms. The store also boasts a rich choice of Armenian-language periodicals and audiocassettes with Armenian national music.

VVTS CULTURE PAVILION
VVTs Culture Pavilion 66
Metro: VDNKh
Tel: 181-9711
Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends

The VVTs Culture Pavilion is probably unique in combining souvenirs from all over the globe from Russian Gzhel porcelain to Peruvian trinkets.

YANTAR (AMBER) SALON
VVTs Culture Pavilion 66
Metro: VDNKh
Tel: 181-9711
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends

However hard we tried, we were unable to find a place in Moscow offering world-famous amber items from the Baltic States. We did, however, find a store selling amber items from Russia's western city of Kaliningrad. The most impressive features of this store include an amber-chip mosaic featuring an autumn rural landscape (650 rubles), strings of amber beads (6,500-8,400 rubles), earrings (1,560 rubles), caskets (4,600-7,600) and chessboards (19,500 rubles) with pieces (6,300 rubles). The store also offers insects encapsulated in amber for 850 to 1,200 rubles apiece.

LATVIAN CERAMIC
VVTs Culture Pavilion 66
Metro: VDNKh
Tel: 181-9711
Open: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends

The section of Latvian ceramics inside the Culture Pavilion looks very much like a modern kitchen store. The most popular items available include mono-colored tea cups with saucers (70 rubles), teapots (200 rubles), non-stick saucepans for preparing meat, fish and vegetable dishes (350 rubles) and modest, but originally decorated vases (390 rubles).