What is a 'market'? To us, it is a place where plain folks go to buy their day to day items. That includes fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, plastic jugs, kids clothes, shoes, you name it, they sell it in a market. Most of you probably shop at a Mall or some may go to a good old fashioned 'department store'. Those are city things, most people in the world do not shop in stores and malls, they go to the market. The quality and range of markets is really endless.
May I give you some of my thoughts and experiences on the myriad of markets that we have seen, smelled, slipped in and in some cases, really wanted to get out of, fast?
A STREET MARKET means just that, the people set their stalls up every single day in certain streets that the city designates for that purpose. That street may be a street that also has conventional stores on it. Those are stores like we are used to at home, with doors, and windows etc. that are closed and locked at night. In a street market the goods, the shelves and tables are taken away every day. These types of markets generally sell dry goods and a lot of low-grade trash for the local kids and teenagers. We just like to take them in and see what the locals use and how much goods cost.
A LOCAL MARKET is often located by the ocean or on a river. It has likely been held in the same location for years, often hundreds of years. There is a market in Africa, Zanzibar I believe, where the local market is the old slave market. Ghastly as it may be, but true. There you will find of course fish, some still alive, even small fish swimming in large soft drink bottles. How they get them in, and out is beyond my comprehension. In many cities/towns there is a designated building or area where the market is located, sometimes every day, sometimes specific days. It is a teeming mass of humanity and fruits and vegetables. Everybody seems to have pretty much the same selection for sale, some looks like higher quality than others. I suppose each have their set of customers whose purse fits the quality.
Speaking of fish, most people in the world do not waste any parts of a fish. I do not want to think about what they may do with the entrails, but everything else is for sale. Various parts are sold either attached or separately. I suppose some people have great recipes for fin soups etc., the heads are also very popular. Fish markets are usually a morning thing, then it gets hosed down.
In Viet Nam I saw for the first time a local addiction to the eating of live snails. It is almost a passion it would seem. These little tiny snails, less than a centimetre across are sold by the million, sacks of them. People buy a scoopful of them, a few shards of shredded bamboo or something to be used as picks is included in the bag and people sit, stand or walk along picking the miniscule morsel of god-awful looking slime and popping into their mouth. Women will sit cross legged or on tiny stools sitting and gossiping as they devour a few hundred of those little creatures. The pieces of meat are smaller than some pieces that get stuck in my teeth after a steak dinner! Ugh!!!!
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKETS are about the most colourful, with pleasant sweet-smelling aromas abounding. I think these are the favourites. We seem to be on the hunt for some species of fruit or vegetable that we have never seen before. The vendors are usually country people, of all ages. Some of them have wonderful character in their faces. I just wish I had the guts to poke a camera and capture them on film. There is a wide range of reaction from people who see us streaming through their market. Some smile and say hello, some look away, some have the thousand yard stare. The kids are the same all over the world. If you see a kid, look around a bit and you can spot the parent, usually with a big grin on their face as these 'strangers from a foreign land' interact with their treasured one.
MEAT MARKETS: The girls usually bypass these ones. There is no refrigeration and you can usually smell it before you see it. Lamb, pig, beef, chicken, they all have their own distinct smell. Often it gets you in the pit of your stomach, and the smell can be 'recalled on demand' even years later. The worst meat market I have ever been in was one in India, Crawford Market. I can still smell it. Birds sit on the rafters above the chopping blocks. [Guess what birds do when sitting folks].
Rats are not uncommon at any market, often seen scurrying under the stalls, even when hundreds of shoppers are in the area. We were a bit disappointed the other day after we sailed when we were told of a rat stall, where live rats were being sold, or, you could get one already barbecued. This is true, I am not making it up. Travel broadens ones mind.
TOURIST MARKETS: As you would expect, set up just for tourists, and in many cases just for the ship. There is always that draw that comes over many people even after a day strolling markets, museums, temples and palaces when, coming back to the ship we need one more look at a 'market' set up quayside before stepping aboard, having a good shower and sailing away.
FLOWER MARKETS: You can almost measure the prosperity of a country by the flowers available for sale. Obviously, the richer the country the more money people have to spend on non-essentials. I do remember in Russia when on a river cruise we pulled into an unexpected small village for an hour or so. Suddenly small bouquets of colourful flowers/weeds were in the hands of locals trying to make a few pennies. Madeira has a very colourful flower market. Of course wealthy Europe tops it all with the flower markets in their cities and towns.
SPICE MARKETS: Not too many of those around, some in the Caribbean and in Africa. One never forgets their smells and sights.
A market is really any person selling something to another. A 'market' can be a boat, a bicycle, a stall, a pedal-car, or the trunk [boot] of a car. It can be one person on foot or hundreds inside a dedicated area used for generations selling the same things to different people.
At this time, we are a little, Viet Nammed out and also marketed out. Give us a couple of days to rest up and our wallets to rebound, for coming up is about the biggest market in the world, SINGAPORE!
Excellent photos!
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