Outing with CIWC

Today has been really interesting. The CIWC organised a trip to the local wholesale wet market called 青石桥. And I went. I have to learn at some point to buy salmon for Gary, so here's my chance. 

My oh my, what an experience..... The market is big and has 2 storeys. On the 1st floor is where you find your seafood and meat (the meat is located in another wing of the main market) and there are lots of stuff that were squirming around on trays and buckets, etc.. I saw the meat market from afar, and I swore to myself that I will NEVER go anywhere near it. Different parts of the animals are hanging on rusty skewers and hooks.... a glance is enough to give me nightmares and the seafood area is enough to make me nauseous. 

I usually don't mind going to the wet market back in Singapore, after all, I made those trips with my mom frequent enough. But the wet market here has an awful stench. I cannot put a finger to it but it definitely wasn't nice for me. I saw lots of turtles, I think they are widely consumed here. Lots of crustaceans like crabs, lobsters - different sizes and also prawns. Fish of course can be found here, though not all are fresh - some are frozen. And I don't know what are those stuff that were in the buckets and trays, squirming around.

The 2nd storey is where I feel much more at ease. It's the fresh vegetables market and canned food section. There're lots of fresh vegetables and it's a place I will visit again for its variety. And I also found canned mushrooms! They are hard to come by here but who actually eats canned mushrooms when they have so many varieties of fresh mushroom. I must be crazy, you think. But I guess somehow, the canned mushroom brought comfort to me coz it's something familiar and a common thing that I eat back home in Singapore.

The canned food section is also not too bad, we can find a lot of western stuff, huge cans of tomato sauces, mayonnaise, ketchup, canned fruits, fruit sauces, etc.

I will take some pictures next time when I go with Gary coz I was so overwhelmed with the smell on the 1st floor and the exploration on the 2nd floor that I didn't take out the camera.

After that, we were brought to another place where we can find food stuff that are sold to hotels and restaurants. So I guess it should be cheaper or provided more variety. 

We were brought into a low-rise condo area where their storage rooms were. There were lots of stuff and we went into a room full of chocolate! Once you cross over the entrance-way, the aroma of chocolates just wafts to your nose. It was like heaven. 

I had to restrain myself from buying tons of it. Good thing for me was, the chocolate there were in blocks or button drops. I don't need them coz I still have those that Auntie Jess supplied. And the only dark chocolate chips they had was way too expensive...600RMB for 5 kg. It must be some good quality chocolate. So I just got my brown sugar and left.

Lunch was at a much-heard Indian restaurant called Tandoor.

I had been craving for Indian food since I watched a show on Discovery Travel & Living introducing various Indian spices and the food they cook with the spices. And my craving was satiated for the time being. The food here was really good and I have to remind myself to bring Gary there!