The main building has high ceilings, big entrance and big openings. It was airy and relatively cool inside even though it was sunny and 32 degrees Celsius outside. My Tanzanian friend told me that the building was built by the Germans in colonial times. That would make it more than 100 years old.
I was quite happy to find mountains of small dried fish, just like those in Hong Kong and many other East Asian countries.
I became positively nostalgic when I saw so much rice being sold out of their sacks, scenes that I was so familiar with in my childhood, so many decades ago. But such scenes have disappeared from Hong Kong.
My mother brought up three kids while making much needed extra income sewing all kinds of children’s clothing. Initially she used a foot powered mechanical machine. Later, my father fitted it with an electrical motor. I was not prepared to find many foot-powered sewing machines just like those that my mother used.
I guess this is partly why some people say Tanzania is what China looked like 30 years ago.
Much of the herbal medicine are also quite familiar, even though I could not name them.
There are “cuttlebones” (the internal shell of the cuttle fish). They are supposed to be good for stomach ulcers.
The man selling colourful towels looked striking. I was reminded that it was a sunny 32 degree Celsius.
In this kind of weather, water is a life-saver. But they are also heavy. It is hard work selling water on the street.
I love this place. I just wish I could spend more time there.
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