Day 196 Stone Town Fish Market

After a late morning taxi back to Stone Town, we lunched, walked around town, and then headed to the Stone Town Fish Market after dusk. What was the best part about going to the fish market? Not the fish (although I am now a huge huge fan of barracuda)… No, not Mr. Nutella either, but it was having an expert with us to point out the shady sellers and what was worth trying. Asha had been to the fish market before we met up in Kendwa and had the lowdown on who was who at the fish market. Ok, not exactly. But she knew of at least one dude to avoid and what price on average was good for skewers and sugarcane juice. That was more than we knew and we ran with it.

We had grilled barracuda, lobster skewers, sugar cane juice, and I tried the mango nutella pancake. Our pancakes came with a little Swahili lesson as well. I’ve been thoroughly confused trying to say hello to people throughout this country. When do I say ‘Jambo,’ when do I say ‘Mambo,’ and why do people keep saying ‘Poa’ back to me, but only some of the time? For the past two weeks I’ve simply been taking turns saying ‘Mambo’ and ‘Jambo’ and smiling at their response- whatever their response may be. Mr. Nutella set me straight.

Jambo = hello. You say ‘Jambo’ they say ‘Jambo’ and that is all.

Mambo = how are you. You say ‘Mambo’ they say ‘Poa’ which means ‘fine’

It was all pretty delicious and pretty touristy, but sometimes a little bit touristy is not a bad thing. It was certainly better than sitting down for overpriced fish or grilled (when I ordered fried) calamari.

Day 120: One Fish, Two Fish

I wish my New Year’s Day was spent wandering through the fish market in Ras al-Khaimah, but alas, I’m cheating on the blog for the first time because… My real New Year’s Day was spent suffering from the latest round of food poisoning. One last parting gift from India? Undercooked chicken in the desert? Something slipped into my drink when I wasn’t looking at the party? We were all skeptical. Andrew was tempted to take me to the hospital, but I refused. I did, however, accept his charcoal tablets and electrolyte mix. They worked. We picked up the charcoal tablets in India after Andrew was sick, they are officially my new favorite travel staple. I was better by the time everyone else in the house woke up from their afternoon New Years Day naps.

So, this cheating post is from another evening in Ras al-Khaimah. I thought it would be much more enjoyable than watching a video of one of us sick or sleeping again! James, one of Kate’s friends in RAK (short for Ras al-Khaimah) entertained us, and probably those working in the market with a little bit of a tour. Before I moved to Korea, I would get a little squirmish about walking through a fish market. Slippery tentacles especially tended to creep me out. Now, I quite enjoy them. They are much more fun than a sterile American grocery store, and if you’re going to eat meat (or in this case, fish) you should be comfortable with the process. And if you’re not comfortable, as sometimes is the case with myself, you eat more vegetables. It’s a win win!