Travels In Goa Part 3 - Down The Market

This is Johal's Mini Market, a five minute walk from our front door and a veritable treasure trove of products from the subcontinent. The shelves are stuffed with everything from exotic fruit and veg, temple incense, powdered henna, Asian beauty products, dried pulses, sacks of rice & gram flour, catering sized oil drums & all manner of weird and wonderful spices. With the radio blasting out Punjabi pop from Raaj FM if you ignore the icy blast of air from outside its almost like being back in India.

Lets pop back to real India. This was Margao, Goa's bustling second city. Littered with crumbling colonial buildings, there's some great little cafes to eat & drink in and the maze-like covered market is amazing.

Here's our favourite breakfast - Pav Bhaji - a fiery chick pea and potato curry with fluffy bread rolls, served straight from the oven. It costs around 20p and the waiter will often refill your plate for free. We make our own at home using this recipe. Weird? Once you've had curry for breakfast you'll never look at a bowl of soggy bran flakes in the same way.

Being a fellow veggie and spicy food fan, Panty Buns might enjoy this.

Catching the bus is an experience in itself, women at the front, men at the back, Bollywood filmi music blasting from the speakers so loudly that the windows vibrate and the punters are packed in so tightly you wonder if you'll ever get off alive. Could 10p buy as much fun anywhere else in the world?

 The Damodar (an incarnation of Shiva) Temple is slap bang in the middle of the market place.

No such thing as traffic wardens in Goa, just park and go.

Here's the entrance to the market.

 Stall after stall of trashy, plastic-y, shiny tat...

Great for stocking up on hair grips, hairpieces and clips.

Stopping off at the chai shop for a restorative 8p masala chai. Those eggs are used to make Goan speciality, a ross omelette, made with finely sliced chilli and onion & served in a spicy masala sauce. Recipe HERE.

I love how the chai shop is decorated - hot pink walls, framed Hindu gods and austere Colonial era shop furniture. Wouldn't those green storage tins on top of the cabinet make fantastic outdoor lanterns with big, fat church candles inside? Yet more inspiration for our dream dilapidated Portuguese mansion.

Bindis, bangles and kajal galore.

Garlic and spices.....

 Dried chillies by the kilo,

 Bombay duck (dried and salted lizard fish)...

Beauty products galore...

This shop specialises in cashew nuts and fireworks, a strange combination...

Its rare a day passes in Goa without a firework display.

Pink really is the navy blue of India. After a month, the UK seems so pitifully drab.

These marigold & jasmine garlands are everywhere, temples, cars, homes, shrines and restaurants. 

Back to reality, but how much clearer are the photos? I'm loving my new camera.

1970s Dollyrockers maxi (Second To None, 2010), Hippy-tastic embroidered denim & fake fur waistcoat (Banardos, 2011), British Tortoise appreciation society tote bag (Jumble sale)

The larder is fully stocked and the veg drawers are bursting with fresh vegetables. Jon's planning a right South Indian veggie feast for tea. In the meantime I'd best get cracking with sorting out my vintage stock for replenishing our pitch at Blighty Bazaar and in readiness for Saturday's Valentine's Vintage Fair - our first of 2014.

See you soon!