The ThunderBlogs

The Summer Night Market in Richmond was a celebration of love and cheap foreign goods. Five dollars were enough to buy a pair of Korean socks, a “don’t eat eraser”, and a curry fish ball with dried pig skin and radish. Despite the low prices, there were more people holding hands than there were people holding shopping bags.

The couples drifted among blue tents without any sense of urgency. Their eyes grazed the heaps of merchandise that lay on the tables in a search for useful trinkets. Along the way, they distractedly bumped into other market visitors, rarely apologizing or glancing back.

Tents that sold cellphone accessories, stationary and leggins monopolized every alley in the market, but the vendors who sold different products generally received more attention.

A head in an orb that was on display at a costume shop had a magnetic pull for shoppers. People shoved each other to get a closer look at the head and anxiously reached out to stroke the glass surface. Their enthusiasm dampened slightly when they learned that the head was not for sale.

This announcement came from the tent’s vendor – a black man in a striped fedora, tropical shirt, giant sunglasses and gold chain. The vendor was twirling in his tent and singing to the radio.

In the next tent, Zhixin Situ sat idly behind a line of cupping equipment that emitted a sinister, yellow glow. The overhead sign, Human Pain and Insomnia, failed to draw in customers and Situ’s three portable massage chairs stood empty throughout Friday night.

“It’s very disappointing,” said a senior man who was sitting on a pedestal by Victoria’s Psychic Shop. “So far it just looks like junk.”

The man drove from Coquitlam with his wife and was visiting the market for the first time.

A young woman who was searching for cellphone accessories disagreed.

“Everything here is so cheap!” she said excitedly. She spent $10 on her purchases at the market and said that the same products would cost her $50 elsewhere.

The biggest crowds clustered around the food tents. Colourful menus and the aroma of deep fried meat bombarded the newcomers: yam fries, marinated duck gizzards and an image of Osama bin Laden on a donkey selling barbecued lamb skewers.

The couples held hands even as they sampled the different foods. The celebration of love and cheap goods continued in unison.