Malang
The main aim of the day was to buy me a T-shirt, so with that in mind we headed off to the market, as soon as we had had some breakfast. The market was absolutely vast, + within the building a regular rabbit warren, with tiny gangways in a narrow criss-cross pattern across the whole floor space. The goods seemed to be arranged very roughly in one area according to classification, so that there would be stall after stall of kids’ dresses, then fish, then basketware. Eventually, when the feelings of claustrophobia became too acute, we rushed out to catch some air, + found ourselves on a side street, + in the heart of the fruit-selling district. Remarkably busy, of course, hectic even, + smelly too, but offering a massive profusion of fruit, + all locally produced. Apples, oranges, bananas, pineapples of course, the latter often peeled + carved into intricate spiral shapes by ladies with sharp knives. Also grapes, mango, papaya. And some weirder–looking stuff – star fruit, called belikmbing here; salak, a sort of brown fruit which almost has a snake skin; + most common of all, nangka, or jackfruit, a vast spiny fruit that looks almost like a cactus, + it gives out a pungent + to my nose nauseating stink.
We ducked back into the market, + tried the first floor. This was better, much more open, much more air, and also the place where most of the T-shirts are. Stall after stall of the things actually, + even so I couldn’t find something to suit me… tho’ admittedly I can be rather hard to please. So returned disappointed.
On the way back we stopped at a delightfully old-fashioned teahouse, + were served ice cream by one of a ream of old men, all dressed in white with a black muslim hat – I don’t know its name. In the afternoon, Val sat on the veranda outside the hostel + read “Silas Marner”, while I sat inside, making frantic, + unsuccessful attempts to catch up with this thing. Later, we went to collect our black + white film, which we’d put in the day before. We were full of the highest expectation – a b+w film we’d shot in Guatemala had been one of the best we’d shot, + we were hoping that this one, taken in New Guinea, would be even half as good. We were in for a bitter disappointment tho’ – the film was an almost total waste of time, money + material. Just one or 2 pictures were so-so – the rest were too far away, or of dull + uninteresting composition.
Headed out to the night market once again, + this time, as well as buying meals, I found the elusive T-shirt. Not exactly what I wanted, as there was too much white, so it’s too likely to get grubby. However, my need is urgent, and it does look quite smart… at the moment. I was also tempted to buy a cassette, + following Oscar Wilde’s dictum, fell. Val warned me not to, but I bought “The Best of Alan Parsons”. To my annoyance, I think she’s right – I don’t think it’s very good. One good thing came from the evening, or maybe 2. First we had some reprints done at a different fast-developing place, + the festival pictures are much improved. Secondly, we tried martebak, a sort of omelette, in fried dough, made with magnificent dexterity by a guy at a stall. Tasty, too.
A pretty normal sort of day, with the usual mix of eating, shopping, and a little sight-seeing. Not that Malang seems to be exactly full of things for the tourist, but that is what travelling is all about. We’re not on holiday, after all, when you can reasonably expect every moment to be dedicated to leisure and pleasure.
