Vagabond Tales: I've fallen in love

with Omani Markets. We have discovered the most useful souq in Doha: fresh catch of the day fish market, a garden market with everything from pots, spades, flowers, and shrubs, and the best of all - fresh vegetables and fruit - all at more than reasonable prices.

I am so excited! This is so much better than shopping at the local supermarkets where you sometimes have to pick over spoiled goods to find something that is edible, then stand in long lines behind others with bags and bags of vegetables and fruit that need to be weighed, and then pay exhorbitant sums at the cashier. I have not bought a Romaine lettuce in a long while, the price is too high. I can't afford the pumpkins and various other squash types. Most are flown in from Europe and at 20-30 riyals per kg, those heavy morsels add up quickly. We have eaten a steady supply of apples and bananas, but berries and grapes are on the no-no list.

Yesterday I was like the proverbial kid in a candy store - see picture of all the vegetables I was able to buy for the princely sum of about QR30 - that's $10!. And then over to the garden market for a beautiful blue pot, and a poinsettia that the vendor repotted for me on site for the sum total of QR65 and then kindly placed it in the car as well. I went armed with a cooler box and ice to the fish market, appropriately dressed in crop pants and closed shoes to wade through the gunk and slush on the floor and checked out the enthusiastic sellers of Persian Gulf fish varieties - you can buy blue crabs for QR7 each (that's just about two dollars) and they will do all the cleaning and gutting for you - thank goodness!! (worth the price and a large tip for that little duty).