The Gama Lama Marketplace

Melinda the "Movie Star" American posing for a picture

July 22, 2010

Our last stop was the Gama Lama (I'm sure my spelling is wrong) market place. It was a very contrasting sight for me. They dropped us off at a very modern mall – just like you would see in the States and then right next to it was the old market place packed with vendors selling, food, toiletries, clothing, fish, spices, fresh vegetables and fruit – you name it they were selling it. I love old market places. They remind me so much of the markets that I explored in Israel so long ago. I wanted to explore every inch of them and my little group of 4 was pretty cooperative in following me as I wove in and out of the deep dark alleys. Many of the stores were dark unless they had their own generator. It was hard to see what they had as everything was so crammed into small spaces. At one time we got in the middle of a food market where they were selling fish that were just all lying on trays out in the open. The ceiling was covered with a huge tarp so the fish smells were trapped and had no where to go. I almost threw up as it smelled soooo bad with all those fish together. Very interesting, but we got out fast.

 Our little crew of 4 were quite a foreign site for all the locals and they would smile and point as I'm sure many of them had not seen Americans before. There were also stalls with platters overflowing with dried miniature fish. At first I had no idea what it was, but upon closer examination I saw they were small silver fish.

 I really wanted to buy something that was strictly Indonesian and not made in China. We came across a vender selling volcanic mortar and pestles that one would use to grind grain or crush spices. They were as big as a dinner plate and had small etching around the edges. They were crude, but ethnic so I bought one for myself. It was so heavy and it felt like I was carrying around a ton of bricks all night. We also found some other treasures in the marketplace, I got some Batik fabric, a Sarong, and 4 Batik dresses for the girls and I. They had tags that said, Made in Indonesia so I accomplished my goal of finding Indonesian items to take home. It just took some searching and digging. Paying and finding out prices was always a challenge due to the language barrier. We were all waving a lot of fingers and smiling. I paid $5 each for my dresses which I thought was a great deal.

The sun was setting and we were all tired from our day of adventure and as we walked we were stopped time and time again for Indonesians to take our picture. We were such an anomaly there that they all wanted our pictures. More sweaty, smoking men hugging me for a picture. I was beginning to feel sorry for those movie stars. This would not be a way to live. I would want to hide also, but we were good sports and smiled for each of the pictures. I enjoyed the children best who would stop and stare as we walked by.  In America we have so much and are exposed to so many different cultures that it is hard to imagine people who live so humble and so unaffected by the outside world.