Vegetable Market

need a pedicab?

Today was, how shall I say it? Uh, a rather sensory experience! Visiting an Indonesian vegetable market is one activity I wouldn't recommend to the faint of heart, and not even one I myself would try again except strictly for the purpose of photo ops. How do I even begin to describe it? As Ronnie once said of our experience in a Chinese market, all senses are in peak mode! That, friends, is an understatement. I simply do not have the words to describe the sights, sounds and especially the smells in this kind of place!

too bad i'm allergic to mangoes!

I had been told by a local that she does not go to the market because of the criminal element. With that bit of info, I knew shopping for veggies would not be something I would feel comfortable doing alone, especially given the fact that I would be there more for the photo ops than the produce. I had mentioned to my landlady a few days earlier that I would like to visit the market with her and low and behold, a few days later she invited me to go along to the market with her. I don't believe this is the same market I was warned about earlier, as it seemed to be more of a smaller neighborhood market. We twisted through a number of one-way streets in the normally chaotic traffic before we arrived there and then of course found parking difficult.

Indonesian packaged snacks

Outside the entrance to the market building on the left was hands down the worst garbage area I've seen or smelled - ever. On the other side of the entrance was a vendor hacking away on coconuts (I'm sure there is a term for this, but I don't know it), a mango vendor and a row of pedicabs whose drivers were trying to stave off  boredom by reading or napping. I assume they were waiting to give shoppers a lift home. There were other vendors scattered along the sidewalk as well, as there are on pretty much  every other street in the city we've been on.

friendly rice vendor

Once inside the market, there is a maze of stalls filled with all sorts of products - snack foods (none you would recognize), fruits and vegetables (many I recognize, many I don't), meats, fish, tofu, rice and many other food items. My host moved quickly from one stall to another as she had clearly done this many times before, making her purchases and leaving her bags behind to be picked up in the reverse order of her shopping. As I mentioned earlier, the sights and smells were really more than I have words to describe. Suffice it to say, it wasn't Krogers either! Flies were in abundance but no one seemed bothered by them. The people working the shops were generally friendly, although I still get a chill remembering the face of the butcher who was killing the chickens and the look he gave me. Like I said, this market was not for the faint of heart.

narrow aisles between stalls

So as not to appear rude, I bought a couple of cup towels and a ripe papaya. When I was getting out of the car back at the apartment, my landlady handed me some type of Indonesian sweet bread with sesame seeds that she had bought in the market. They smelled (and actually tasted) good and I appreciated her very kind gesture, though I couldn't help but wonder how long they had endured that environment before coming home with us.

can you say "skinny chicken?"

 chicken and rice for dinner?