This kinda stuff (These photos were all taken in and around Shillong, a city in Meghalaya, India):
A well-dressed man relaxes between his sport bike and stack of tires.
Kids giggle at the silly-looking foreigner .
Pedestrians meander, people loiter, poor people look for trash they can collect.
Someone has locked up his valuables real good.
Cute ladies get shy around the camera.
And then show off their cool henna for me.
Guys carry unbelievably bulky and heavy loads up and down slippery steep alleyways for a pittance; don’t get in their way or they will run you over.
Some of them seem to start as soon as they get a bit of hair on their chests.
A massive, flourishing market, selling some of the best-looking produce you’ve ever seen. You name it, they’ve got it.
This gentleman had just about sold his lot for the day, and seemed happy to have his picture taken.
Hungry market-goers crowd around a noodle stand. For about 50c, you can get a huge bowl of greasy grub. Indians think it’s chow-mein, but I think my Chinese friends would disagree.
A whole bunch of women and children sit around after work, picking bugs out of each other’s hair and having a good time posing for the white guy.
A laborer makes his way home after a hard day’s work.
Mom and daughter head home after a trip to the market.
Two sadus flag me down for a donation.
A baby sleeps while its mother shops till she drops.
The paan kingpin peddles her stash of leaves to the betel nut addicts.
Two ladies chill out, chewing the mild stimulant, betel nut, which pretty much everyone in India is addicted to. Better than everyone smoking I guess.
The shroom monger has about 50 types of mushrooms, all totally unrecognizable. He looks like he may be keeping the magic varieties to himself.
A woman’s arm picks through a massive pile of veggies, in search of the perfect okra.
The photographer experiences love at first sight.
“I can haz meet plz? K thx.”
The latest fashion trend in northeast India – headstraps.
This quirky combo are selling chunks of a type of wood that is used to scrub floors. From what I gathered, the wood is an all-in-one cleaning solution and brush. Just add water and a little elbow grease.
I had a nice little conversation with this guy, selling lychee-esque fruits. He told me what everyone around him was also selling, and his relation to them. Apparently everyone in this market is his cousin.
Habaneros ain’t got nothin’ on these peppers.
The bread guy.
Sacks of rice make great cushions.
Cute old lady buys momos; 4 for 20 cents! And wrapped in a to-go banana leaf!
Beans, beans the beautiful fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot!
Sketchy knife salesman and his buddy. Note the wooden-handled Meghalayan-style pocket knives. Simple, but super sharp and very effective. I picked one up for 50 cents as my new kitchen knife.
Avoid the crowds, sit on top of the bus.
Eat a samosa, drink tea, smoke a cigarette, while using your chicken chopping block as a table. I’m not sure if this guy’s operation would pass health inspections back home.
Yo brotha!
A schoolboy poses with his umbrella.
The chicken man wrangles a couple fist-fulls of bird to take to the cigarette chopping block guy.
A group of ladies vie for accessories.
And last but not least, Jesus loves you in Meghalaya.
