Going to the market

Weather: mild
Temp: 0-10
Exchange rate: RMB1 = R1,50
Days left in kitty prison: 13
Dreaming of a white Christmas: Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes at the Liangma Flower Market.

One of the best things about living in China is the fresh produce markets. There is great market about 10 minutes by bike from our complex. It would be 5 minutes, but you have to cross the Sanyuang bridge and that sometimes takes a while since the bridge leads to two major highways, so there are lots of on and off ramps. But I digress. The market has three distinct sections: fruit, veg and wet. I'm great with the fruit and veg. There still some stuff I have no idea what to do with, but mostly it's the stuff you get back home, sans butternut, which I miss. The fruit is on the one side and the veg is on the other side and in between there's the wet stuff - that means it's still breathing or was breathing a short while ago. The smell is a little off putting, but it smell of raw meat, which isn't the best smell in the world. I found the massive big ears quite unusual, but the sheep's head put me off completely. There is no part of the animal which is not eaten, which I guess is a good thing. The still breathing part would be the seafood. There are water tanks filled with live fish and the crabs, although tided up like a little parcel with string, are also still alive. We have, by the way, also stopped eating seafood at home. The goal is to stop eating seafood altogether. So I like two parts of the market very much, but the wet bit(s) you can keep.