Being on the waterfront there is always the smell of fish in varying stages of decay. However, it seemed like the further I walked the stronger the smell became. I most be getting close to the market.

It was a warm early summer day, temperature in the high 80’s and the humidity was high enough to sweat the balls off a pool table. My dad always said that I had a poor grade of skin because it leaks. Normally, I would avoid being out when it was like this, but I figured I only had one day left in Hong Kong and I wanted to take in as much as I could.

I rounded the corner and just about knocked over this elderly Chinese woman. One of the hazards of not paying attention to where I was going. I made my apologies after helping her pick up her things.

In front of me was a huge outdoor market, loaded with vendors. Fresh vegetables, fruit, spices, fish, dowel and meats. Nothing was under palstic or in a refrigerated display case. It was a bit of a culture shock for me, traveling outside my home country for the first time.

“Dave, check this out.” I turned and saw that he was watching one of the vendors clean and filet a rather large fish. Not sure what it was by the time I saw it, but the guy was very good with a knife.

“That is amazing, then he just wraps it in some newspaper, hands it to the customer and gets his money.”

The market covered several city blocks and was all contained under tarps. I really wanted to get further in, but the smell was more than I could take. It was a cross between bad fish and over cooked tripe. It was really not something you could see, but you could actually walk in and out of it like a really thick fog bank.

I tapped Dave on the shoulder and told him that I wanted an apple. He looked at me with wonder, “really?” I walked up to this vendor that was selling freash fruit. I indicated that I wanted an apple, she pointed at them and nodded her head. I had no idea how much I needed to pay. I did not speack Chinese, she did not speak English, so I selected my apple reached in my pocket and grabbed a handful of change and held it out. She picked around in what was in my hand, grabbed a couple of coins, waved at me and smiled.

John asked, “Are you going to wash that before you eat it?” I pulled my shirt tail out, wiped it off and took a big bite. “One of the best I have ever eaten.”

We walked around for another 20 minutes or so before I threw in the towel. The walking surface wasn’t so much cobblestone as it was cobbled together, very chunky and uneven. My ankles were killing me.

“Let’s go get a beer.”

Dave looked at me and said, “I thought you would never set me free.”