Chinese Markets

Part of the fun of visiting other countries is to check out their markets, their food and homes and to try to come to a better understanding of how they live.  The markets in China run that gamut from high end malls with shops which include very fancy bakeries to little street side stands and markets called wet markets where they not only sell produce but also meats, fish and other edibles.
The fancy bakeries sold those buns pictured above which were called pork floss.  They are a kind of bread covered in finely shredded pork.  We didn't sample any but they definitely looked interesting.

                            This lady is making the pork floss.

This escalator takes patrons upstairs in the huge Carrfour store.  Jen buys some of her paper goods and toiletries there.  We bought some produce but Jen usually purchases it elsewhere.  It is like a huge department store which seams to carry almost anything you can think of.  We like to go there because it is so interesting and also because that is where we have bought the cooking pans that we love so much.  Once again, we purchased a ceramic pan.  I love those pans.

We got a big kick out of this display of toilet seat covers.  Stores sell them as the weather turns colder. We thought they were hysterical until Jen and Taylor explained that even in the more expensive homes, they don't use insulation so it gets cold in the winter.  Some of the people who live in the small cement homes on the narrow streets don't  have any heat at all so sitting on a seat with a cover makes the experience more tolerable.  We won't complain and I won't laugh at their ingenuity.

 Jen weighs the produce before taking it to the check out.

I know that Jen texts the driver but he seemed to know right where we would be and was usually there waiting for us.  We only had a very short wait a couple of times.  That was impressive to us.

We spent about an hour walking through the narrow streets in Puxi near Jen and Taylor 's second Chinese apartment.  I called it THE MAZE.  It seemed to go on forever and we were so happy that Jen seemed to know which way to turn to eventually make our way out to a main thoroughfare.

This place was gutted in preparation for new tenants.  Most people on these small streets live behind their shops.  This space will probably include living space and a shop on the street.

       We were surprised to see this used appliance store on a corner in the maze.

Many of these narrow streets still somehow handle people riding scooters and bicycles.

Here is one of the fancy bakeries in the mall where they sell the pork floss.

This is a display in Carrfour of various types of raisins.  I wouldn't have wanted everyone pawing through the raisins as they sorted through for the best.  That just wasn't appealing to me.