The Bird, Fish, and Insect Market
I had heard about this super Chinese place that sounded like an "only in China" kind of experience that I really wanted to go to with Bernard. It's literally called Bird, Fish, and Insect Market. Now, in China, there are lots of themed markets, but they are usually very -- for lack of a better word -- typical. Fabric market, electronics market, music market, beauty market, clothes market, etc.
I was really intrigued by this bird, fish, and insect market. Was it like a pet shop? Who knows?!
We gather our things and head out on the metro far on line 10 to Laoximen and hop off. We walk along the super Chinese street, keeping an eye out for small animals. All of a sudden, we hear chirping -- the chirping of crickets. We follow the sound into this cramped and packed alleyway. Here we are!
The first station we see has gorgeous "fish bowl" bowls with lotus flowers in them and some have turtles of various sizes. We stop to admire the turtles crawling all over each other. Bernard totally wanted a pet turtle, but neither of us know how to take care of it or if the turtles were meant to be taken home and loved as a pet or a meal... turtle soup? I hear it's delicious. Seriously.
As we're looking at the turtles, my ears are ringing with cricket chirps. I turn around and see a large pole with little wicker baskets each housing a giant cricket. You know it Mulan when she has a cricket in a cage under her dress for luck? Yeah, that's real stuff man. We saw hundreds of crickets for sale. Sizes ranged from the size of a thumb nail to the size of a large man's hand. I'm serious! I took pictures because I couldn't believe it. These big crickets were like looking at me too. They could sense my fearful admiration. I could see their pores!!
Crickets, turtles, bugs in tiny boxes, jade pendants, plants, fish, alllllll kinds of small animals and plant life at this market. It was really cool.
They even had a chinchilla station! I found this amusing. We didn't go in because it was a very weird market and I think it was closed, but I did take a picture to prove it.
Around the corner was a row of cages with birds in them. This is where one could purchase a bird to walk in the bird park, I guess.
There were so many different "houses" for all the pets too! Cricket cages ranged in price from so cheap I could just throw that money on the floor to you expect me to pay THAT for a cage for a damn cricket?!
So birds were caged along the walls, and in the middle of this alley was a row of tables with various bugs on them. I proceeded with caution. I'm not really a big fan of bugs, but I don't mind most of them. The crickets were cool and we also saw many containers of snails and mollusks which was REALLY cool because I thought they were just shells at first. I leaned in, and one poked its feet out. Then they started squirming all over each other and I was over it. Gross. Stop moving...
And THEN.... and then...
Then I glanced at the next table and instantly regretted ever coming to the bird, fish, and INSECT market. I had to have known that there would be insects that haunted my nightmares. We saw giant maggots that reminded me of fear factor, and .... my only bigger fear than the Exorcist girl --- that's a lie. Nothing scares the bajeezus out of me like that bitch -- but seriously I was out of my skin when I saw, for the first time with my own eyes, scorpions. Omg, writing the word makes me pee a little.
I took a picture but I can barely even look at it. for those of you who are like NO THANK YOU, I have generously placed the picture at the END of this blog post and not beneath this sentence. You're welcome. Look at the picture at your own bravery.
So Bernard looked at these uglies for a while, but I moved the hell on to the next station. I walked down a vary narrow path with plant life everywhere and fish food, and smells that only fisherman who haven't bathed for years should smell. Fisherman? Yes! I found a stall that sold fishing items!! I saw nets and lours and even fishing poles! I instantly walked over and picked out a few for Dad. The man at the stand looked at me and didn't even take my money at first because he was probably like "What are YOU doing buying that?!" because sometimes China is racist and sexist... But then he smiled and took my money and gave me my lours. I was very happy to find that.
OMG! One thing I saw that I tried to take a picture of (but a man yelled at me because you are actually not supposed to take pictures here... I did for some things and some shopkeepers didn't mind) was a box of baby chicks next to a box of baby ducks. It reminded me of Joey and Chandler! I really wanted a picture, but just take my word for it. I wouldn't lie about the scorpions, would I?!
As I'm admiring the plant life, I turn and see a stall with a couple of dogs. This I couldn't handle. They were really beat up looking and not moving very much at all. The market was hot and dank and definitely not a place for larger furry creatures, in my opinion. And you all know how I feel about dogs! I would cut somebody if I saw him or her kick a dog. Straight up! So after seeing the puppies and not being able to take all of them home, Bernard and I decided that we came, we saw, we conquered and we left the creepy but whimsical and amusing bird, fish, and insect market. China is a very interesting place. Sometimes you just have to SEE these places to believe they are real. I love it!
Until next time,
Sarah the adventurous Wun
And now the scorpions:
Enjoy the nightmares. RIGHT?! Omg.