A Whole New World

We try to get out of the hospital almost every day except for the days that Sierra gets her stem cell treatments. About once a week we take a driver. That can get expensive though so the other days we usually just go on a walk. The first week and a half that we were here, going to the RT Mart was fascinating. It soon became about as exciting as a trip to Wal-Mart. We also walked down another street that has the Papa Johns and the People's Square.

Yesterday, we decided to take a different route. Instead of going south towards RT Mart or south east toward Papa Johns, we went north. Our walk started out about like all the others. Then we came upon a side street that had some shops. Being eager to explore, we turned down that street. It was a rather narrow street that was full of life.

It was bustling with people, coming and going. The sides of the streets were lined with people selling just about anything you could imagine. There was lots of produce. There were watermelons, pineapples, honey dew melons, apples, oranges, corn, green beans, snap peas, peanuts, etc. The produce looked fresh (not the wilted stuff you buy at Wal-Mart....I plan on going back and buying some once we use up the stuff we already have.)

Some other sights we beheld were people sitting around tables playing games, a baby riding in a basket tied to an elderly lady's back, a scrawny dog looking for scraps, and lots and lots of scooters and bicycles. There were also cars going down the street tooting their horns to clear the way. At one point, there was a traffic jam. There were two cars going opposite directions with hardly any room to pass. They sat there as if they were playing chicken for the longest time. A man dressed in a suit was on a scooter behind one of the cars. He was NOT happy. I'm not sure exactly what he was upset about but he went on and on making his displeasure clear to all. Finally the cars decided to squeeze by each other. There was about 2 inches between their mirrors and I am not exagerating.

In addition to all the produce, there were bakeries and electronic stores. There were a few stores where women were making shoes. We were the only caucasions on the street. This was by no means one of the touristy markets where we had been before. It was enthralling. Many people smiled at us. I was pleased that no one seemed to mind having their picture taken. I think they felt like a celebrity. One man was fascinated with us and our picture taking that he was holding his hands up like he had a camera and showing me what to take pictures of. He was thrilled when I would take the picture he wanted and then show it to him.

Of course the people, like everywhere else, had to get a good look at Sierra and exclaim about this "Waa Waa" (baby). One lady tried to lift her clear out of her stroller. Luckily Sierra was strapped in. One man with produce pointed at his bananas and said, "banana." I'm guessing that was about the only English word that he knew so he was putting it to good use trying to sell us a banana. We didn't buy the banana but we did buy two big pieces of pineapple on sticks. They were about 1/4 of a small pineapple. They were deliciously sweet and cost about $.25 each.

As we continued down the street we saw a covered market area off to our right. We ventured in. These vendors sold FRESH fish and meats. So fresh that most of it was not dead yet. There were cages filled with ducks and chickens and tubs of water with fish, turtles, and eels. At the booths with ducks and chickens there were men in the process of killing and plucking the birds. Then they would set them up on the table to sell. Or if that wasn't fresh enough, you could just buy the live bird and take it home to butcher yourself. One man I saw walked out of the market carying a plastic bag with two live ducks poking their heads out of it and enjoying their last ride. If you didn't want the whole chicken, there was a pile of chicken legs on the table that you could purchase. Yum! Yum! (Oh since I am on the subject of chicken legs, the little convenience stores have an isle of snacks. You know how you can buy a pickle in a bag at a gas station in the US? Well here you can buy a pickled chicken leg in a bag!)

In the covered meat market, there was a man who had 4 dogs! Unlike the scrawny starving mongrels we've seen roaming the streets, these dogs were well fed. He had two German Shepherds and two Collies. You could tell that he really loved his dogs because they were well taken care of, well fed, and seemed happy. That was an unusual sight.

We exited the meat market and continued down our street. It wound around and ended up on one of the main streets. It was almost like a hidden little world in there. You had to know where it was (or like us stumble upon it) to get there. It was very fascinating and we felt like we got a much better picture of what China is really like rather than just the touristy stuff. We are eager to do more exploring and find some other streets like this.