It was Sunday morning, after our island hopping adventure a few weeks back. I woke in the morning, groaning at the fact it was morning and I tried to go back to sleep. That didn’t work what with the children snuggling in, and FB prying my eyelids apart telling me I needed to go downstairs NOW to make breakfast.
As I groggily felt my way around the kitchen SB came down and asked ‘what are we doing today? Where are we going?’ I just stared at him, trying to focus my sleepy eyes and suggest a quiet day at home. That didn’t fly so we agreed to check out some new markets I had seen advertised, a little way up the road.
Checking the internet for information on this market, I could not find anything specific about when they were on. It did look like they were every weekend though, and they were on the weekend before, or so I thought. So off we went on our next ‘Markets Adventure’.
SB was not used to driving with me yet. He was a bit nervous and when I accidentally took a wrong turn he had a conniption. I pointed out that all roads lead to one another and we would be just fine, and we were.
Up the road there were a number of street vendors selling corn. I encouraged SB to buy some, as he really wanted to try it. So as we were stopped at some traffic lights he did just that. It was the sweetest most delightful corn we had tasted in the longest time.
We finally made it to the university grounds where the markets were meant to be and the guard looked at us a bit funny as we drove through. As we pulled into our destination, we found an empty car park…
Taho…Yum Yum
SB was not happy. I just sighed, this was normal. It was typical. Over here, there seems to be a lack of emphasis on time. You find websites and advertising for events often do not have up to date information on the ‘when’ and ‘where’. Recently there was an expo on that had the dates, the location but not the opening times on it. Like there is some sort of secret understanding that us expats just aren’t privy to.
We headed back towards home. There is a church nearby that always has a sign for markets up. We drove past this church frequently so figured it was a sure thing. We parked and walked down. The carpark was full but that was because it was Sunday and Church was in full swing.
Dirty Icecream
A few vendors dotted the carpark and we brought the children some dirty icecream,and I brought ta-ho for SB and I to share. Then we walked up to the markets which were very small but very fresh. We were surprised at what we found and brought fresh vegetables and some food to sit at the table with and try out.
On our way out SB and BB brought squid and white bait for BB to try. He wanted to try eating the ‘shiny fish’.
That afternoon at dinner time SB showed BB how to cook up the white bait. SB made batter as BB played with the fish. As he was enjoying the slimy little corpses slide between his little fingers, BB asked how you ‘take the guts out’ of the fish. SB explained that with these little fish you don’t do that, you eat all of them. BB didn’t mind. I could feel myself turn green at the thought of it.
The fish were cooked and BB was very excited. He did express concern that the shiny silver coating on the fish had been replaced with the batter but he enjoyed pulling the batter off the fish to see how the shiny skin fared underneath.
BB was busy eating his fish and saying he was enjoying them. Then after a while he stopped and looked up. ‘I don’t like the ones whose guts are on the outside, they need to be in the middle’. ‘The middle of what?’ I ask. ‘The body, the ones whose guts are on the side aren’t good cos the guts touch my tongue and I don’t like that’.
I made a quick departure upstairs to avoid throwing up at the thought of it.