This morning we went ashore and walked around the market district of Tual.

We were constantly harassed by locals wanting to provide services to us, such as translate and advise or take us for a ride on their motor scooters, but we declined and walked around until a heavy shower of rain chased us back to the boat for lunch.

It was an interesting experience, with the same population pressures that we saw in Europe, but without the wealth. It seems that life is a struggle here, and services are non existent or sub-standard. Typical is the once majestic gates to the Pelabuhan Tual (the port) that are now crumbling and peeling its bright paint, surrounded by derelict buildings, and connected by low dangling high voltage power cables to the electric substation inside the port district.

The wet market was exactly that, with buckets of water being lifted from the harbour to pour over the tables of fish and squid that were being offered from the stalls built on stilts over the shore line.