At the Pulau Tikus wet market

Dragonfruit

  Our village, Pulau Tikus, may be small, but our market is famous.  People come from all over Penang to shop there, humble though it appears to be.  It's called a "wet market" because it has, well. . . .  wet stuff, like produce, fish and chicken--lots and lots of dead chickens!  Malaysian food life revolves around chicken. 


     I went to the market this morning with a visiting Japanese lady friend.  There was the usual stuff to see and photograph:  tropical fruits (dragonfruit, jack fruit, etc.),  veggies, flowers and fish.  I was greatly impressed when Minori knew the names of most of the fish she laid eyes on.  The only one I recognized was these little sharks.  It broke my heart to see them lying there dead, but least they still had their fins on! 


      So, anyway, we took lots of pictures and mingled with the locals, asking dumb questions that they politely answered.  Well, I asked silly questions while Minori went around identifying fish -- in English, which is not her first language!. 

Paper dresses--honest!

Paper shoes.  They look real, right?

For scootin' around upstairs

     And then we discovered the really cool thing -- the paper goods that Chinese people burn so their deceased relatives can use them in the afterworld.  I'd read about them, of course, but I'd never really seen them and then, there they were!  There were paper dresses -- one size fits all ghosts, evidently -- and shoes, some with high heels.  Paper high heels!  Sounds dangerous, but ghosts step lightly, I suppose.  

The spirits can keep themselves busy in heaven

Paper dentures & toothpaste

    There were paper cigars & cigarettes, iPads and iPhones.  And a couple of paper motorbikes.  But the topper, the cutest thing of all, was the set of false teeth--uppers and lowers, plus toothpaste to keep them sanitary.  Even in the afterworld, it's good to have fresh breath!