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Strolling the busy city blocks that comprise the markets, I encountered crabs galore, of course, stacked and trussed up, sometimes with pretty pink ribbons around them, and turtles. Sea snakes are there too, amazing big pink wormy things, beetles, eels, all kinds of shellfish, and some hideously ugly monsters too - sea slugs maybe, or sea cucumbers of some kind. The Chinese will proudly tell you that they eat anything that moves, and much of it was here for sale, and all still alive By and large people here were perfectly happy to be photographed by me. One young chap was very proud of his big crab. Another insisted I accept a free gift of some of his tropical fruits. There was one who panicked a bit when he realised it wasn't just the product I wanted in the image. I got the impression he wasn't supposed to be there.
The whole area is serviced by a frenetic little polystyrene box supply trade. Boxes come pouring in on trucks, people's backs, and bicycles.
So life in China's not so good if you're something that moves and not a human. I later encountered an odd little scene outside a restaurant. A fish in the outdoor fish tank decided to make a run for it, rather than stick around in the crowded conditions, waiting to become dinner. Definitely a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire though. I saw him thrashing around on the sunny footpath, and notified the grateful restaurant chap. With my help he got the slippery escapee back into his watery prison.N
