Recently, after finishing my shopping at the central market we were on the return drive when I glanced to my left and saw a pushcart full of Rambutan and Mangosteen.  I quickly asked Shibu to pull over so I could make sure it wasn’t my imagination.  I have to acknowledge that this was one of the many market-going moments when I wished I’d remembered to tuck the camera into my bag!

The cart had a pile of each fruit…the rambutan (looking like a Martian lychee covered with rubbery “hairs”) ranging from dark red to brownish maroon, and the mangosteen, a beautiful purple brown bordering on eggplant with little stems attached to a woody cap like a circle of flower petals.

There were more mangosteens strung up like Christmas garlands by their stems.  Continue reading →