I loved the hanging tarps. The imagery makes me think of what I imagine it to look like in a Middle Eastern marketplace like Iraq from the movie Aladdin.

This is my neighborhood for about the next 10 months (well about a 15minute walk). I am learning living in China is a constant game of a scavenger hunt. Good thing I like the game! It’s a real treat when you stumble on a secret place the locals visit and do life.

The local butcher

This hidden away market sold fresh local veggies, fruit, meat, nuts and more. My husband and I call this type of find a “real China” experience.

[For those who enjoy humor] While in the market around the fresh seafood I had turned my head for one split-second walking in the other direction and heard a sales person call my way. I turned my head to the sight of a clawing, many legged, ALIVE….crab. I jumped a foot high in the sky and the Chinese man laughed. I’m not scared of crabs but I wasn’t expecting it to be alive or for him to put it so close to me. Expect the un-expected, the seafood is usually sold alive in the authentic Chinese marketplaces. I’m glad I helped that man with his happiness. He’s welcome.

While traveling by foot to a mysterious market called Metro we ventured into China. We found clean water for our apartment, which I will hopefully share on another blog post. Finding water is even interesting. Denny ate half born chickens in the yoke for a snack on this trip.

China is big on recycling. They have many areas in China where men sort through the materials by hand out on the street and not some place tucked away and forgotten.

We stumbled upon a night market where we saw more fresh chickens being slaughtered for fresh dinners. I walked by the cages with the chickens siting on top of them. While it appears by the naked eye that the chickens are well trained they are actually clawed-cuffed to the cages (close enough to pet your dinner).

Denny and I were waiting for the bus and there was a Chinese lady with chuar in her bag. Denny was asking her what kind of meat she had and the woman through either kindness of miscommunication gave us both a chuar stick. It was a sweet gesture. The Chinese are very generous people; thank you kind woman.

Life is never boring in China you just have to walk a few steps outside your apartment and there’s adventure to be held doing the simplest activity like walking to a market.