Flower, Bird, Fish, and Insect Market

Today Emily and I took a taxi to Xizang Nan Lu (a road) and met Renee at the Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect market. This was another bustling place to be on a late Saturday morning. This semi-open air market was noisy and fragrant all at once. The sounds of crickets and giant chirping bugs greeted us when we entered the market that was filled with tightly packed rows of vendors--selling just as promised and more. Would you like some chipmunks, bigger Chinese black chipmunks, flying squirrels, colorful birds, singing birds, turtles, frogs, big chirping bugs, Chinese kittens, puppies, chinchillas, hamsters, gerbils, bugs to feed your new friend, or some plants? This is just a sampler of what you could find there. Oh, and fish...yes, you can get fish. The market, despite it's crowdedness, was remarkably non-smelly. Yay!

Next we went to the cloth market where there are 3 floors of fabric heaven. I never knew how many different kinds of linens, silks, cashmeres and blends of these fibers there were. A tactile and visual paradise. The best shop was the one where I touched some angora mohair and fell into insta-love. I wanted a good price so, I haggled. She was going to loose her business with my price and I KNEW that she couldn't do anything with that last remnant of fabric. We were in gridlock for a while, but we finally came to an agreement. After that, I had to get out of there. My students/friends were instructed to not let me touch anything and lead me the shortest possible route to the exit.

Then to the Pika Pika place for some photo booth goodness--straight from Japan! You could "decorate" your pictures as much as you wanted before they were printed. We added sparkles, some butterflies, flowers, cake, bubbles, our names, tiaras, watermelon, fish, octopus, and the list goes on. This was the fun part and they became sooooo pretty. I can't wait until they come to the US. Why aren't they already there???

Lastly we went to the Barbie shop. 5 floors of pink, happy upbeat lounge music, and Barbie galore. I tried on some Barbie pink lipstick and posed with the life size Barbies. The lipstick made me feel so pretty as I posed with the fake barbies. Then I looked in the mirror--eeek! who really looks good in bubblegum pink?! I guess sometimes it's how you feel that really matters.