Saturday, September 01, 2007

Yaumati Wholesale Fruit Market (果欄)

The market in early morning is a bustling place. Trucks arriving and departing. Fruit being loaded and unloaded. People negotiating. Workers packing and unpacking, marking, shouting, grunting. A fascinating place. Of course, I am always fascinated by markets for food, whether it is fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, sea food. (Sea food is my favourite by far.)

Here you find fruit in huge quantities. Water melons, papayas, peaches, lychee, durian, sugar cane, apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi fruit, ...

You don’t buy by the piece or even by the pound - you have to buy by the box. You also don’t carry them yourself – they are delivered by trucks.

Part of the attraction is what they sell. But there is also something romantic in the way people get up early in the morning to make an honest living with hard work.

Some of their neighbours find them noisy, dirty and a nuisance. It is also said that there is a lot of gambling going on after work. Not having to endure them everyday, I find the place full of vibrant life and, of course, mouth-watering fruit.


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