I wrote about the produce markets earlier this week and I thought I would share the fish market today. I have to be honest the only reason I ever went into the fish market is because the ladies I shop with actually purchase and eat fish which is not something that is done at my home but I love the adventure of these local markets.
The fish markets are in a large building not like the produce markets that are outside. I have to tell you though the produce markets are much cooler than the fish markets because you have at least a breeze that blows past you in your "black dress". By the time we leave the fish markets we are all glowing with that special glow you get when you are just too darn hot.
The fish market is broken up into stalls and each stall have somewhat of the same kind of fishes but each are a little different. Some stalls have live fish and others you find them fresh but sitting on beds of ice. You can find most kinds of fish and a lot that we really don't know what they are. My girlfriends often just "try" one to see if they will like it.
After picking your fish and finding out the price you ask them to prepare them for you. They cut, fillet, skin and even kill the fresh ones for you and then bag them up in plastic bags for you to take home. This week one of the ladies chose a live catfish, it was an adventure watching them scoop it out of the bucket, chop it in half and wait for it to die and then prepare him to come home with us. Yikes, really not my thing.
It was amazing watching the men skin 3 kilos of shrimp in less than 5 minutes. When we got out of our driver's van he said, "now ladies watch your hems, it is wet and slimy in there." He is right about the wet part, they drop fish on the tile floors, run water over everything, splatter "stuff" but the smell is not as bad as you would expect. I guess because it is all fresh fish.
The first time I went I felt out of place but the more you go the more "normal" it all seems.
Can't wait to scrapbook these pictures and another one of my adventures here in Saudi Arabia.
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