Flea Market Queens

USA

Len woke me up
Len———“Ate, may flea market ngayon sa Chabot, magbibihis lang ako, punta tayo”.
Omb——– “Ow?”
Len——- “Tuwing third week of the month. tanghali na tayo”.
Omb——- “Yehey”.

Ubos na ang parking, it’s already 9 am.

Bong said how come we’re so fond of chickens, pigs and ducks.
Eh kasi nga nung araw, our father (ka Cardo, who art in heaven) had poultry, piggery and duck farm.

$60 is too much.

Some vendors over price rare pieces. Some, just sell for whatever amount just to get rid of it. That’s the kind of vendor that I am looking for.

This flea market is more like Divisoria. Vendors sell brand new items, but cheap stuff.
I bought one piece Dove soap for $1. Another Filipina bought 15 pieces.

She had a cart. Her friend asked why she bought so many. She said “tig-isa ang mga kapatid ko”. They are sending balikabayan boxes to their relatives in the Philippines.

This stall  sells vintage and slightly used golf clubs.

Serious golfers don’t use other players’ clubs. They bring their own.
However, there are vintage clubs that are highly collectible. Yung merong mga signatures of known golfers.

Eto yung pinagkakaguluhan, curious kami bakit ang daming bumibili. There were several Filipino buyers. Pinapakyaw yung mga scarves.

I bought a cup and saucer from this American.  It’s rare to find made in American fine china.  There’s a tiny chip kaya he agreed to sell at a discounted price.

I almost bought this doll. Parang naawa ako sa kanya.

The big guy on the left was telling the other guy that he realized he was a hoarder. He kept accumulating stuff which he couldn’t store anymore. He said the things he bought provided him with some sense of belonging. But he said we must know when to stop accumulating things. I wasn’t sure if he was there shopping for more stuff or selling his accumulated hordes.

The ones selling plants and flowers are Vietnamese.
Aileen was looking for 15 table centerpieces for their BANC dinner dance this coming Saturday.

These cabbage roses were so pretty but she wanted Autumn color.

Big stall selling orchids for $5 a pot.

Anthurium for $7.

This is Hiep Lay. He is Vietnamese and has been living here in the Bay Area for 31 years. He worked as mechanic then retired two years ago and has been selling orchids ever since. Did you know that he lived in Bataan for a while while waiting for their refugee status? Small world no? I think he still has relatives in Bataan. He said the processing was very slow and long, in many cases, took years.

Aileen bought this 15 pots for BANC dinner’s table arrangements from Hiep.

I couldn’t look around anymore due to extreme heat and glare.

There were Filipino vendors selling walis tambo.

There’s a rich Chinese vendor selling baby clothes. Her brand new beaming black Mercedes Benz GLK450 was parked beside her small stall.

Buying $1 jewelry could be fun, however, remember what I’ve told you before (Swallow your Jewelry, posted on October 22, 2011 ). Get small round ones so that if you are asked by a thief to swallow them, you won’t need water.

$1 for everything down here

This Filipino asked the seller if the lamp shade is one dollar. Baka hihingi pa ng discount.
The woman was a little irked, she told him “You are not reading the sign”.

Hayan kasi hindi nagbabasa. Ang linaw ng karatula, a dollar for those down there, the lamp is up there kababayan.