To market, to market, to buy a..a..a..

,Markets, shopping, producing, selling are a big part of the Chinese culture here in Guangzhou.

The markets are specialized.  You have the spice market where you can buy anything from tiger paws, rhino horns, live scorpions (for your soup), dried sea horses, lizards on sticks, snake skins, live snakes, and a gazillion other spices.  There are rows and rows of sellers who all appear to be selling the same thing.  I have no idea how one chooses which spice place is best or how they all make a profit being next to each other selling the same items, but it's how it works.  They all seem to think Jim and I need saffron as they rush out of their stalls to try  and get us to buy it.  I am not sure why, but it tickles me every time.


Then there is the "pet market" where you can buy fish, kittens, puppies, turtles, mice, whatever critter you need.  Once again each stall is selling the same goods for the same prices.  It's very interesting.

The pet markets open up into the main market where you can buy clothes, shoes, purses, anything to do with clothing.  Again, many …many, many, many vendors selling similar goods at similar prices.  This is a huge market with tens of thousands of people shopping.  It's amazing just to sit and watch.

Yesterday, we ventured to the electronics market.  It was in the other direction and we took a cab to get there.  Like the other markets it was very specialized being that there was nothing but electronics.  So many dealers lining blocks, and block of the city streets.  One block was all camera equipment.   The others were a mix of cell phones, ipods, game systems.  Some appeared real and others were really bad knock offs.

There were mobile salesmen who were all selling the same things..literally.  They each had a back massager, an elecrtic thing that pulsates your muscles, a garden hose, and our favorite... a taser.    Yikes.  It was amusing to have one approach about every five minutes or so.  My favorite was when the man tried to sell Jim by pointing out a man who had just bought one and said, "You brother over there just bought one.."  We looked over and saw a middle eastern man holding his purchase.  Too funny.

We decided to skip the cab ride back and just walk back to the island.  It was about a 3.5 mile walk.  I think each day we have walked at least 5 miles a day Jim with our backpack which weighs around 30 lbs. and me with Samuel on my back who is 30 lbs.  It's one of my favorite things about China is that you can walk so many places, though with the crazy driving I still clutch Jim's arm as we cross the roads.

There were people selling goods around the river walk.  Jim was bargaining with a lady and he drew quite a crowd.  The dealers will type the price they want you to pay in a calculator and then you counter it.  Jim would show the crowd his counter for their approval or disapproval of a fair price.

It was a really fun day learning about some of the Chinese ways.  Samuel loves being out and about.  He loves being outside and having so much to see.  We can see him really opening up and gaining strength each day physically and emotionally.