We wander Ambon this morning, down to the water and the huge outdoor market. Fruit and vegetable stalls are the primary outlets and then down side alleys are the dry goods. Bumper to bumper traffic staccato beeping, unpleasant odours, vibrant colours, ”Hello Mister”, talking, laughing and finally, every once in a while, a ”Hello Mrs”.
Folks love getting their photo taken. Murray gets more requests for photos today and everyone has fun and laughs and says thank you after seeing their photo on the camera. A couple do ask for money but Murray nicely says “No Money”. Today we also had our photo taken with various folks.
We wander down some lanes that are primarily residential. They are quiet and have a nice community feel to them. A place where the kids can run free and everyone knows everyone.
When it gets close to lunch, we start searching for somewhere ”safe” to eat. There are not many restaurants available to our western stomachs, except hotel ones. We almost go into the McDonald’s but decide not to. After much searching and humming and hawing we finally lunch at a bakery eating chocolate donuts, fried bananas and, for Murray, a cakey thing with filling. Very nutritional! We will eat at our hotel tonight for supper and have a proper meal.
On the way back to our hotel it starts to rain. Big drops right away, so we know it is going to pour. We duck under an awning in time and then watch many scooters drivers pull over across the road and also duck under a shop awning. The rain lasts for about 10 minutes and then eases off. When the scooter drivers start to leave, we know we can head out too!
We are now resting in our hotel room after a four hour walk. We can start to think about the diving that is to come over the next 10 days as we cruise through the Banda Sea and the Forgotten Island chain. Our internet will be spotty for that time so we may not be able to post very often.