Lanshan - Old Market

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Lanshan County - the old market - photo's and Freddie the spider whom I let go when the rains dried up.

Yesterday I followed some of my students to the old market in the town, a bazaar, the heart of it stood like a multi story car park, and although not confirmed I am pretty sure that is what it was, although I can't imagine Lanshan having such a thing. Concrete columns stood guard over a patchwork quilt of goods. The girls were shopping for shoe's and this was the place to get a bargain. We were on the top floor, with all the clothing and household wares. I looked for trainers and whilst they all looked nicely made, on closer inspection, when pulling back the insole you found a mish mosh of string holding them together.

Whilst the girls rifled through another stall of shoes I peered down some nearby concrete steps only to see a mass of different colors, spices and herbs, chickens and ducks, hanging dried meats, the ground floor seemed to go on forever and from here it looked like the most interesting place on earth.

When the students finished the purchase they started to head in the other direction, I asked if we could go downstairs and they answered that it was too dirty down there and smelt, as we descended I realised what they meant when my nostrils were hit with an array of acrid foul smells, amonia being the strongest, like urine of a sick man is the only way to describe it, I also saw the dirty puddles covering the streets below, that caramel colour, and looked at the students feet 2 out of 3 in flip flops then looked at my own flip flopped feet and decided to just take photos from the midway point on the stairs. We climbed back up and followed a walkway at the outer edge of the structure when I looked down at the street market below I saw a small cage with around 5 or 6 multi coloured cats. I asked the girls how much the cats would sell for, they asked if I wanted to buy one and ignoring the voice inside telling me it won't make a difference I said yes. So we went back down. Up close they were skinny and dirty, scared and some half concious. The girls took me to the back where there were 5 more cages, 3 large cages held dogs and 1 small cage held the younger cats including a kitten around 9 weeks old. I have nothing against the Chinese eating cats and dogs or any other animals they so wish, but to keep them like this, and poking them harshky with iron rods was outside my realm of understanding. I would have liked to have saved them all, but even I am not that naive to believe it was at all practical so I bought the youngest, the kitten, who I named Singsing, who nows sleeps in a little ball on a plump cushion on my sofa, clean (well as clean as possible for now) with her belly full of food and her rabid thirst quenched.

As hard as that market was to look upon it was also fascinating. My student who bought new shoes, took us to another part of the market, a nicer part to have them sewn to reinforce them. Whilst we waited we took a look around. Fruits, vegetables, cooked meats, live fish, live fresh water shrimp even, pigeons, doves and even snakes. So many amazing things to look at, whilst stood by the snake cage, I looked around me until I heard screaming, everyone seemed to be backing away from me, when my student pointed beside me I turned around to find a snake had found a whole in the cage and was escaping, I grabbed the end looking for the entrance to the cage, without a clue I looked around for the owner, no one seemed to have anything to do with them, everyone around me panicking (it was only a small snake), then a women came running over, the owner, and started poking it with a stick. So I picked the snake up and when she opened the cage I calmly put him back in. The Chinese who were only moments ago laughng at me for being the stupid foreigner who saved a kitten now looked at me in some kind of awe, which I have to admit was rather pleasing, after this all I got were smiles, and the Chinese wanted to say hello to my kitten, rather a turn around.

So yesterday was a good day, and now I have company in the form of a shy litlle Singsing, who gives me satisfaction everytime she drinks or eats, which is often, I think she will go from scrawny to fat in no time.

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