Turning left just after "The Hermitage" resort, coasted down the backstreets. Tuk-tuks sped past me, either direction, it was unusually busy for this part of town. The narrow street, 7 and half tonne trucks cramped the one side, parked. People came towards me, plastic bags bursting, I recognized watermelons, pineapples and papayas, as they past.
Clothes stands guarded the entrance, it was market day, bright T-shirts, skirts, swim wear and blouses, reflected the hot morning sun. I locked up Tago, for what he was worth. The energy of the people buzzed, I made my way in.
The humid air drafted the smells, limes, bananas, garlic and ginger, wafted along by the morning breeze. White canopies protected the produce from the polished concrete floors, shadowed from above, helped by an intricate crisis-cross of strings which stretch out colourful canopies of blue, white, red and orange, these created a spectrum of shadows and colours below.
I past a ginger seller drenched in red light, happy, he held up the biggest piece of ginger he had.
"40 rupees" I took to mean per 100grams and nodded in agreement.
He sat barefoot on the cement floor, white shirt and sarong. He had a metal scale out in front of him, counter balanced, by a metal bar which curved over and back towards the ground. He placed the ginger on one plate and a small weight in the other. I paid my 40 rupees.
Dilapidated, dirty buildings over looked the market, their white, pink and orange painted walls now faded away any past glory. Women dressed in long skirts and modest button up blouses, naturally coloured, struggled with their loads. Men wrapped in sarongs, with button up shirts, mostly white or pink, chatted and looked on.
The smell alerted me, strong and pungent, to the fish section I was headed for. Tuna, snapper, prawns and white bait lay scattered about, barefoot fisherman. Small fish are kept in baskets, dried by the sun, packed in newspaper when you buy some.
A stand in the middle carried an array of weapons, reminded me of 'a news story where the police seize a large amount of weapons and lay them out for the camera's'. Machetes, long ones, short stabby ones, curved blades, straight blades, I felt like a pineapple and moved along to pick up some fruit.
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