Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Sunday Like No Other

I think this has topped off everything chaotic I've ever seen in my life!!! It was insane! All I can tell you is that you'd never find this at home!! As Ammon would say " And we have Costco, haha! This is way more fun!" The even crazier thing is that this is a normal weekly job for these people. Load up the sheep by the dozens into the back of the little truck then unload them and tie them to ropes. Most of them were in the process of being sheered. Knowing China there isn't an easy way of doing anything! Instead of the usual tool for sheering they take two knives and use them like scissors. Lines and lines upon rows of rows of sheep. I mean, honestly, how do any of the people sell their sheep when there are a hundred other guys selling them too. Anyways, you get the point of how many animals there were, I'm sure. If you look at the scene as one big picture it all looks the same but when you look closely everyone has there own little problems. Stubborn sheep, skitsy, whiny, horny donkeys, men whacking donkeys with their canes, dragging sheep through puddles, chasing the escape artists etc. etc. Always so much more character in these kinds of places!! Donkey wagons everywhere, decorative horses covered with bells, ribbons and lots of colour to test and prepare them for city chaos, unloading and chucking sheep like bags of rice, old men carrying animals in their arms, and donkeys hee hawing in every direction!! It's great amusement!! Then there were the meat stalls........ whole bodies (minus the heads and hooves) and slabs of meat hanging every where! Lonely, drifting heads and hooves on the sidewalks that look like garbage scraps but turn out to be for sale, at a reasonable price might I add. Still I don't understand how you can pick out a good head! Is it like, " Aaaw, this ones cute!" or " Oh this ones nice and ripe!" Haha, eeew! Wagons full of goat heads and people picking them out by the horn and putting them into bags. It's not a pretty sight! They do it with such ease as if going to safeway and buying a loaf of bread. The gross thing about it is that you guys probably don't picture the blood, spinal cord and brain hanging out the back of its head. I'd hate to get change from the guy selling the heads because he's got blood every where on his hands and the money........This is real life, man. Then a few stands over you've got sales of sheep head soup and people gnawing at the jaw bone.....pleasant!
Not much to say about the Sunday market except that it's overly big! Croweded like the nights after firworks in Vancouver!! Except at home they don't run you over with bikes, donkey carts, buses, motorcycles and green taxi's!! It's still China in the sense that it is busy and active but has the architecture, feel and more of the Middle Eastern culture! Oh and did I mention that the women here think it's fashionable to have a unibrow and if they don't have one they'll draw it on!! The people here are really nice and friendly and the kids smile and laugh alot. Having a great time so I don't understand why you guys aren't here yet. You're definately missing out!! Tata for now.....
Savannah

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