Shopping and Open Markets

I am still working on the food issues. Everything here is sold quite differently than in the states. I try to whittle my way through it and shop at the 'local' stores instead of so much at the 'expat' stores, but some days I just cannot handle it. I have taken these pictures over a bit of time, but you will get the idea.


I have finally found out how to buy chickens without heads and feet, though the places I buy them still sell the heads and feet - thankfully in a different tray. But I still get to see the day my chicken was slaughtered. It was fresh - it was slaughtered the day before I bought it. Getting used to that is weird in itself. I don't need to know it was alive yesterday morning clucking away:




They sell crocodile parts here - just like they sell everything else. We saw ox tongue 2 days ago, pig stomach (the entire stomach) a few days before that, and of course the chicken heads in one package and feet in another. Oh, let's not forget that black chicken we see every time we shop as well. Here are a few pictures of the crocodile parts:








Or you can just use the tongs and pull it right out of the tub - like everything else is sold too. It is always reassuring to see kids picking through it with their hands and old ladies using their fingers to peel away the pieces of something she doesn't want that we saw cooking. I have no idea what it was, but it looked to be something like cabbage or kimchi - no matter, it stunk to high heaven. Here is one of the open buckets I am talking about. Only one - which is surrounded by dozens:




It must have been crocodile something.


I still cannot bring myself to try the Cock-A Leekie soup, though we have decided it is Chicken Leek soup:




Remember a bit back I told you about eating something fishy that looked like crab claws with sugar on them? Well, you know how American's eat peanuts before a meal when we go to parties? Here is what is served here:





I took one bite - and nearly gagged. I politely finished crunching my fishies and drank enough coke to float a ship to try to get the taste out of my mouth. This must have been what Quan was talking about, "good crunchy fishies, not soft fishies". They are not nearly as pleasant as our peanuts and I am much more careful about what I dip my hands into to munch.


The outside markets are even more interesting (?) than the inside markets. I always wonder how people are not ill all the time. This day was no different than any other day - except I had the nerve to take pictures.

Here we can buy 'cup or hand' corn, bag corn, or tea eggs. Again; open market in the middle of the day (heat) and outside:





'Egypt' in Singapore has a kebab:




But I am not sure what it is, maybe you can tell me?




And finally, the reality check of shopping in an outdoor market:




You might notice Burger King behind - no American place is truly American. It is not American beef, and sometimes simply chicken patties.


Somedays are easier than others. Right now, being homesick is messing with me. I am just wishing for good old home style markets with no mixes of fishy, durian, crocodile, and raw meat smells. Our little market here is good for that though, but very limited on what we can buy. It has one thing going for it - there are not one bazillion people vying for the same thing you are. It is a relatively quiet market even though I might not get what I wanted, I also don't have the tummy turning smells of the local markets. I do still have to venture into them quite often.


Anyway, that is all today folks. Still trying to shake it off...