Here fishy, fishy, fishy.

A hotel lobby is an empty, eerie place at 4:00am. But we all made it up in time and hopped in the taxi to the fish market. You have to get there by a certain time if you want to make sure you get in the first group to watch the auction. So here we are, a group of yellow vested tourists from all around the world getting ready to watch hacked up tuna be sold to the highest bidder.

We were lead into a warehouse with dozens of frozen fish carcasses. These were fish that were caught and shipped in overnight. They already had heads and tails cut off.

Slices of the tuna were laid out for the bidders to look at and see which one was of the quality that they wanted.

One person would pour warm water over the tail end of the fish to thaw it a bit, then someone else would come in to saw it open. The bidders then looked inside to see what the fat looked like.

Other people would hack in to where the tail was cut off. Sometimes they'd just keep swinging at it. Others would take part of it and rub it between their fingers for a while.

Once the auction started, it was a chorus of three auctioneers all yelling and chanting. It's a different speed and type than American auctioneers. These guys had a sing song rhythm to it, bouncing up and down, while watching the bidders and their intricate finger signals. The auctions don't last long and they're over before you know it. We were then lead out of the warehouse to leave the market.

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads.

On the way out, there were stacks and stacks of styrofoam cartons that smaller fish were shipped in.

On our way out of the auction, we passed by the actual market house. We didn't know we weren't supposed to go in, so we went in to look at what all of the restaurant owners were coming in to buy for the day.

More fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads.

I've now seen seafood that I didn't even know existed. But, as we were wandering through the market house, it was made very plain to us that we were in the way. We would be unceremoniously pushed and asked to move. These people had businesses to run and we weren't helping. Finally, security came and escorted us out, saying we weren't supposed to be able to come in until 9:00am. Oops.

Even as we were making our way from the market to the street, we were almost run over numerous times by carts, cars, trucks, and wheel barrels. Again, we were just tourists mucking up their well ordered routine of selling the daily catch. I didn't dare stop to take any other pictures in fear that I would be run over, stuffed into a shipping box, and sent to some restaurant for dinner!

We walked a bit on the street until we found a cab. Every alley you looked down had a plethora of shops, food stalls, and scooters. At times, it really felt like you were in a small village market rather than a large, metropolitan city.

Now, breakfast has been eaten, showers have been taken, and bags have been packed. We're off to see the Imperial Palace for a couple of hours, then we go to the airport. I wish I had more time here.