Monday, April 19, 2010

Anjuna Flea Market

If you happen to be in Goa on a Wednesday and are looking to buy an incredible amount of cheap goods, or looking for some hippies to smoke up with, well have I got the place for YOU! Anjuna flea market! It's famous and rightly so. Lots of sit down snack joints (lots of joints for snacks...) Basically it's full of Russian and eastern european tourists and other white folk buying goods from kashmiris (shock) and tibetans (shock) and everyone else who wants to make a buck (or a few rupees) selling essentially useless crap.

We rented a cab to take us up and back, but part of the negotiation included stopping into some "coupon shops." This is a term that at first I didn't mind, but it grew ever more irritating as the trip wore on because more of our time got eaten up seeing shops selling things we didn't want to buy. But hey, we get a discount for stopping in, and the driver makes his Rs. 20 or whatever. Eventually we learned how to say, "We'll just pay you 60 more if you DON'T take us to the coupon shops." That worked a little, but the cab drivers are sort of indentured servants. If the shop owners find out that they've been driving people around and don't stop in to THEIR stores the cab driver has a harder time saving face. This is my guess. I can think of no other reason why they would be reluctant to take more money and NOT stop... Shorter time, more money...

Anyway, we got to the market. I got the driver's cell number and we set off.

Hey! Look at those shirts! Cool bags. Is that a shop selling old jimmy hendrix vinyls? No, just T-shirts. Is it just me or is Che Guevara REALLY popular here? Do they actually realize he was part of the Cuban revolution? Maybe he's just some counter-cultural icon. Hey! Look over there! They're selling trumpets!

I go to look at the trumpets, and they guy selling them tells me to pick any one and play it. I do so. It's broken. He says "1000 Rupees." I say sadly "it's broken."
He says "no problem, you pay thousand." I don't think he understands what I'm saying. I set it down and walk away looking dejected. He wonders what the problem is and chases me. "Sir, how much you give me?" I tell him again, "it doesn't work." I try to tell him "right now, it's not a trumpet." No success. "No problem sir, you give me 800." I finally walk off. He realizes that I'm actually NOT interested. I still don't think he understands that it's because the trumpet was broken. one of the tubes was pinched and it needed about $100 repair to play it. Add to that, I have no REAL desire to relearn the trumpet if it means carrying one from goa through kerala through chennai through wherever the hell else I'll go just to get it repaired before I can play it.

Hey! Look at that? What are they selling? Rocks? Yes, I think they are selling rocks. Wait, no, those are unpolished gemstones. Ah, no, they are selling jewelery and that is part of their demo. Wow, an BIG jewelery tent. Lots of Tibetans (shock). Funny thing about the Tibetans, they don't give much of a discount. I think Russell Peters (Canadian-Indian comedian) Says it best. (Concerning Chinese-Indian business relations) "You know why Chinese and Indians can't get along? It's because Chinese want to take every penny from you, and Indians don't want to spend a dime."

While I am terribly reticent to call tibetans "chinese" I think their business mentality is still similar. I think at one point (I didn't witness this directly) Yvonne asked for a discount on some bracelet and the seller acted insulted that she suggest a discount. The dealer hurriedly took back his bracelet and said, "you go now." WOW! No counter offer, nothing. Anyway, that episode over. I wandered further into the market and saw all kinds of scantily clad old hippies. I didn't expect to see women in their 50's and 60's wearing midriffs and tube tops with low rise jeans and thongs sticking out. The sight was rather unsettling to be honest. There was a restaurant WAY in the back (about a mile from the entrance) with a LIVE BAND. I hadn't seen a live in house band in India. These guys are pretty good.

Ok, time for a cold beer. What do you have? "KF sir." Oh my GOD! I'm swearing off KF. It is officially no longer considered beer! I'll have a coke. You things are bad when...

Ok, cold coke. I feel a little better. Time to go. I went away with some nice shirts, and a few too many eyefulls of women wearing things that maybe they should have thought twice about. And WAY too many eyefulls of men not wearing enough...
If you're in Goa on a Wednesday, go give it a shot.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds pretty funny. Almost disappointed there weren't any pictures of old hippies.

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