Markets of Colombo

We went in the morning to Colombo fish market which was actually quite close to the main port. As soon as I stepped out of the car I could smell the pungent fish aroma coming strong into my nostrils. Richard mumbled "Oh my God, this is worse than Crawford market". maybe so but fish had to be bought.

The fish vendor

In we went and walked around to see what was on display. Most of the fish for sale was tuna, tuna and more tuna. There was also other deep sea fish that I would not know what species they were but some of them were really big. Then there was the usual shrimp, lobster, squid and crab assortments and some reef fish as well. We settled on some fish, shrimp and squid. The shrimp was so fresh that the seller bit one off in front of us to prove it. The smell might have been a bit on the strong side but the goods were definitely fresh.

The man and his fish

After buying what we came for we got some chicken and eggs from shops adjacent to the fish stalls. Then we went in search for some more vegetables, spices and pork. The vegetables were a bit scarce as the country was still recovering from New Years celebrations but what was available was fresh and nice. Pork we could not find, the only butchers we came across were all muslim and they don't understandably sell it. Richard was in his own element as many vendors were Tamils and he could haggle in his mother tongue. 

Richard at the banana shop

The herb vendor

As usual when entering the port we had to grease hands as the rule says nobody is allowed to bring inside anything, one should use a shipchandler (and pay triple prices). Oh well, 400 rupees (4 USD) did the trick and we had our groceries onboard... 

Port entrance - STOP, please open the what???

Port Blair - Market Day

This morning it was time to do some provisioning for the boat and I set out with Richard to the Port Blair Market.

Holy Cow

Like any market in Asia it takes some getting used to (and an insensitive nose) if you are from Europe or the US where everything is vacuum packed or frozen and laid out in wide aisles with tiles and air conditioning and so on...

The market here was separated in meat, fish and vegetable sections. First we went to get some chicken, they were held alive in coops and after choosing the chicken we wanted we watched them having their necks cut-off. After that they were thrown inside a cement box with a lid. I assume they got to run out their energy inside there. We did not linger and went for vegetables and a more pleasant odour.

Buy fish?

After veggies we went to buy fruit and then we took a round at the fish market. I saw a huge red snapper, barracuda among all fish (BIG fish) on display. Then it was time to get some daal, the choice was huge but according to Vivek in Mumbai it can be double up. I saw also shops selling spices of all sorts, they do not call India the Land of Spices for nothing.

Spice trader

When we went back to the vegetable stall to pick up and pay for our stuff we passed a tarpaulin laid out on the ground in the sun with fish on it to dry I saw something peculiar. I was standing near the vegetable stall and I watched a big cow amble around the narrow lane and eventually she walked on the tarp with fish and stopped right there, next thing I saw was that the cow started urinating. It was flowing out of the cow by the liter. The fish was showered with piss everywhere. Once finished the cow strolled on. After a few minutes the fish Owner appeared and he just piled up the fish, wiped the piss off the tarp and re-arranged his fish to dry. I believe that eventually he would sell the fish to some unsuspecting customers, I wonder if they would notice a strange taste in their curry. While we went off I signaled to the guy, made two horns out of my fingers and then showed urinating and he asked "did u piss here?". Errrrr...I kept on walking.

Richard in dhal shop

Oh well, once we got all our stuff packed in Johnson's car we went for a fellow that was squeezing fresh sugar cane juice for 10Rs a glass. Vivek claimed that he tasted fermentation but I did not. I told him that if it would be fermented it would be much more expensive. Richard went via the paan shop and we headed for the ship again.

As a footnote I can't but help notice that cows in India enjoy total freedom. Similar circumstances, I believe, do not exist anywhere else in the world, the cows roam around the streets like stray dogs and eat what they like and sleep where they like. Talk about animal rights, ha-ha.