The Market Environment..

I was at the market today. And what a nice experience it was. I mean, i hadnt been to the market in ages. but i couldnt sleep this morning so i decided to wake, up have breakfast with my parents, then follow my mom to the market.

as soon as i got in my mom went abt her business but i was struck by a basketful of 3 tiny kittens. there was an old chinese lady tending to it, giving them rice with liver and gizzards and some cat food and a container of water. well at least she's doing something abt them compared to the idiots who just leave them in the market with no feelings or sompassion whatsoever!

anyway just cos i was looking at the kittens, she started talking to me. in english no less! ranting on about how people dont know how to take care of their animals and how cats should be spayed or neutered. then she asks me if i wanna take one home and i told her i hv Gremlin.

after that i start walking around a bit, with some people calling out if i wanted vegetables or chicken wings or kurau, bawal, or selar kuning!

after i got bored, i went back to the kitten place, which was near the entrance of the market, and just stood there looking at them. then another lady comes along, looks like a young eurasian, and strikes up a conversation with me abt the kittens and smiled as she left. after that an indian man comes along and starts asking abt the kittens. at first i thought he worked in the chicken place (where they skin chickens and break their necks and dunk them in boiling water... i know, who needs to watch exorcist after this?), but turns out he breaks the coconuts at the stall in the second row.

anyways, i was standing there waiting for my mom and watching the guy at work breaking coconuts (cos i LOVE the "eggs" that are sometimes inside them) so everytime i saw a coconut with an egg, i tried to get up my nerve to ask him for it (didnt seem like he wanted it anyway). then my mom comes along and i tell her abt it (she was the one who used to give them to us as children and i loved them) and she went up to the man and asked for a couple. and the man obliged by choosing the next coconut which had an egg. he then gave it to my mom who went to her vegetable stall and asked for a plastic bag to put it in.

anyways, she gave me the bag to hold and told me to wait for her. and while waiting, since this coconut guy was still breaking coconuts and whenever he came across an egg, he gave it to me! i didnt even ask, all i did was stand there waiting for my mom. and by the time the day was over, he had given me 5! :-)

and the amount of strangers i smiled to and made small conversation with was amazing. i even spoke to a vegetable seller and the cili padi lady. another lady was telling my mom that she shouldnt be buying the selar kuning cos its not fresh. i mean, the environment is so nice and friendly. i hv no doubt whatsoever that if my purse was snatched there, there would be people running to my aid as opposed to a supermarket!

anyways happy valentines all :-)