Day 208: Local Market — People’s Park — Lobsy’s Last Night
Today was a great day — my favorite so far in China. Instead of a sightseeing death march, we had a non-crowded, casual time exploring a local food market and the Peoples Park, a Central Park-type spot in the city where Chengdu’ers gather to do tai chi, play mah jongg, take kids on kiddie rides, etc.
The local market was first. It was a covered outdoor market with individual sellers, organized by category.
WeChat and AliPay mobile payment via QR code is everywhere, even in food stalls and street vendors like these. No one uses cash or cards.
The produce was bright and fresh and abundant. Lots of spices, chilis, different kinds of garlic.
The spring onions were insanely long, the eggplants too (and skinny). We saw these things, which are called bitter melons.
Less appetizing for we westerners were the seafood and meat sections. The butcher had heaps of head-on, feet-on chicken and duck carcasses, and the pig section had rows of hooves, ears and snouts.
Then there was the seafood section. Eek. There were the usual tanks of fish and crabs. But then there were mesh bags filled with live toads the size of softballs and open-topped bins writhing and splashing with snakes and eels. As one of the vendors spoke to a shopper, she appeared to be disemboweling a giant pink frog/toad thing that was very much still alive and kicking. I think the image will haunt me the rest of my life.
Next we drove over to People’s Park, which is 100 years old and a popular gathering place.
We hadn’t walked 50 feet before the kids spotted a little kiddie amusement park and asked to ride a few rides. They tried two mini roller coasters and some ride where they went around in a circle while spraying a water hose at pretend sea creatures.
Next we watched group after group of tai chi grannies doing their morning exercises. One group was doing “tai chi ball,” where they dance with little rackets and balls, trying not to drop the balls. A few let James and Willa give it a try.
In China you are forced to retire at a certain age (I can’t remember what it is — 55? 60?), and most young married couples/parents work — so, often the retired grandparents are the full-time caretakers of the grandkids (you can have two kids in China now). Picture grandpas wearing baby slings, etc. Very charming.
We saw a lot of grandparents and small kids. If the grandparents were doing their tai chi routines, kids were camped out nearby on a picnic blanket watching, set up with toys to distract them.
Interestingly, the park had digital screens with readouts of the decibel level — like those signs that show your speed as you drive by, the signs help keep noise levels down. The grannies want it quiet for their tai chi.
And it WAS quiet. And empty-ish. Locals only, according to Carol. Such a welcome relief from the hell-hot crushing crowds this past week.
Also fun: the park has a “Matchmakers’” section that’s common in Chinese city parks. Here, mothers and grandmothers hang one-page wanted ads on behalf of their marriage-age sons and daughters, in search of spouses. Touts things like looks, height, weight, the job they have, which university they went to, etc — and has the mom or grandma’s phone number.
Often the would-be spouse has no idea this is happening and/or totally disapproves of the practice, but the moms and grandmoms persist.
Aat one point a non-English speaking local about our age wanted to find out more about us and strike up a conversation (we were the only Westerners in the whole park). He and Teddy pulled out their phones and used translation apps to ask and field questions. Ah, technology.
By 11:30 or so we got comfortable at an outdoor teahouse, ordered some teas and Carol pulled out a game of Mah Jongg, a game that looks SO complicated when you see it on TV/in movies.
I can’t say we’d be able to play on our own at this point, but we now understand what the tiles’ markings mean, how to set it up, how the turns go and what the objective is. That’s about 50% of it. There are a million rules and exceptions and it’s all strategy and math and risk-taking. Loved learning about it.
At one point while we were sitting there chatting, our citrus-loving Willa popped a lemon wedge from the tea in her mouth, and Carol could NOT get over the fact that someone would eat a real lemon. She was flabbergasted/shocked/appalled/repulsed/stunned. All the feelings we had at the market about the toads and pig snouts, she had about Willa eating a lemon. She even gagged and pointed to her arm to show goosebumps at such a hair-raising snack.
We had a good laugh about that.
On our way out of the park we had to let the kids try the bumper cars in the kiddie park — something they’ve begged to do for a while. We were the only four on the ride and had fun gently knocking them around.
This afternoon would be Lobsy’s last in China before she flew from Chengdu to San Francisco, then SF to DC. We decided to walk around near our hotel and grab lunch. Found a place called Element Fresh and enjoyed some fresh juices and a mix of foods. James had a PB & J!
We used our remaining time to swim in the pool, pack up, do our Splits Challenge* practice and eventually by 6 pm we ordered some room service and ate up in our nice room with a view. The kids had room to play Twister and some other games the hotel had supplied, while the grownups chatted and recapped. Wanted to make the most of this fabulous hotel.
At one point the kids surprised us by running in laughing, each wearing the other’s clothes. They, and we, thought this was funny.
We got the kids to bed by 8:30 pm. Good night Chengdu!
*Realized i haven’t explained what this is. We noticed that Willa would talk in black and white terms about things she could and couldn’t do, and about skilled people as being really “talented.” She wasn’t getting the whole concept of regular practice, or that working hard at something consistently helps you get good at it (you’re not just born able to play the guitar or do ballet). So we found a “30 Days to Learn the Splits” video on YouTube while in Hong Kong, and decided to try it. It’s about a 15 minute routine of yoga poses and stretches a day, and we’re now on Day 10. Hoping there’s a lesson in here about daily progress and growth (and no injured 40-year-olds).
