I didn’t really understand how this worked until I saw it. There are some shops you have to get to by boat, but mostly the boats come to you. They float their boat over to the side and see if anyone wants to buy anything. You tell them what you want and they put it in a wire basket attached to a long pole to get it to you. You take your item, put cash in the basket and that’s that. If you stand back and observe for awhile, you’ll see that there is definitely a method to the madness with boats constantly coming and going. I loved watching women that looked like they were well into their 90s squatting on their boat, selling their stuff and rowing over to stop and chat with friends along the way.
marschmadness 
These photos are surreal. So amazing.
What did you buy in that photo? Insects I hope