Chinese New Year and street food

We have four days left until we reach our next break, Chinese New Year. This holiday is only for a few days, but everybody gets an entire week off from work. We're not complaining. It does feel strange, though, as we have just recently gotten back from Christmas break. We thought about trying to go somewhere for the break, but travel within China is not advised during this holiday since there are so many people traveling home to their villages. Plus, it gets a bit expensive to always travel outside the country. There are some things in the city that we've been meaning to do for some time, so maybe this will be a good time to do some of those things.

We decided that we need to start including interesting pictures of stuff we see around China. Otherwise we may lose some of our "fan" base. The hard thing is deciding what to take pictures of. The options of what could be classified as interesting are limitless here. We thought we'd go around and take pictures of all the different street foods. We've tried most by now, but there are still some that we just can't bring ourselves to try. I cannot and will not eat chicken feet. I will not eat them in a moat. I will not eat them with a goat. Well, you get the idea. The strange thing is that I feel myself slowly morphing into a full-blown vegetarian. It's really not that Emily's ways are finally rubbing off on me, but moreso that foods other than meat seem to be the safest and most predictable. For example, if we go to a Chinese restaurant here and I order a meat dish, there is about a 50% chance that it will be unpalatable. Plus, even if it does turn out okay to eat, it usually isn't really that good. As most of you probably could have guessed, Chinese food is quite different in China.



WARNING!!! If you have a weak stomach when it comes to dogs and/or goats, you may not want to see all of these pictures.

Sophia learned that it's fun to stick out your tongue when someone is taking a picture.

At the local park

The two-year olds have been studying professions at school. Do doctors still wear those things on their heads?

We haven't figured out whether orange trees are connected to the New Year somehow or if they are just in season.

Some kind of omlettesque wrap.

Spicy spuid on a stick
Roasted sweet potatos
What we have termed "pancakes" for a lack of a better word.

The finished product. This is one of our favorites.

The following can be found at many local restaurants. I think they are "you pick it, we cook it" kind of places.

Fish tanks loaded with lots of goodies.

Big snakes
Little snakes
Shrimp and ???

Some kind of eel

Toads

This is the meat market that the foreigners don't go to and you are about to see a couple of reasons why.




That IS a dog.

And all the goat heads a person could want.