It is a dreary, drizzling Saturday morning but I need to go food shopping. Not only do I need to buy groceries, I have to go and get cash before I can get groceries. So let's go! We need shawls and umbrellas and a shopping bag or two.
This is our route. We start off on the blue route and go to the HSBC building where we will get cash from the ATM. Unfortunately, this being Saturday, the closest entrances to the building are closed and we have to go through the IFC mall entrance and then backtrack to the ATM. On the way, we pantomime putting a card into an ATM and say 'ATM' hoping that the security guards will understand. They do. Whew!
On the way back, we decide to photograph some maps and signs that help people navigate in the area.
The bottom has a map with information about the various locations.
The top has directions to some of the buildings with arrows. There are bus stops and signs to various streets for cars.
Backtracking along the blue route, we diverge at the corner of the apartment complex to go around it to where we buy things.
We go through the apartment complex as it is a short cut rather than going all the way around it. We enter here.
There is a big sign with the name of the apartment complex on it. The entrance is rather grand!
As we walk through the grounds, we see trees in bloom.
This cherry blossom is particularly pretty.
We exit through another car entrance and turn left and left again at the intersection to buy milk and yogurt at the Jia Deli
With those in our bag, we backtrack again to the fruit stall, where we buy bananas. We have oranges and longans at home so bananas are all we need today.
Since we always buy from the same vendor, we greet her with 'Ni hao' and she cuts 6 bananas off a hand for us. Leaving the fruit stall, we are faced with the little strip mall where we do most of our shopping.
We walk back past Paris Baguette Cafe. We don't need bread today, but if we did, this is where we would buy it.
They have pastries and cakes and sandwiches also. But our next destination is the wet or fresh market. It is called a wet market because the floors are frequently wet.
They sell fruits, vegetables, staples, fish, eggs, wine and cooked food here.
The vegetable stall we frequent is to the left of the one seen here. In the back, we can see the shelves of staples at one of the other vendors. We buy cashews, moong dal, flour, cereal, some herbs, cans of beans, cheese and other basics at that stall. To the right is the stall where we can buy rice and various oils. Many vendors have dried beans and nuts. There are about 3-4 vegetable stalls and 2-3 fruit stalls inside the market.
Our vegetable vendor always gives us a little extra. Today we get fresh coriander. Sometimes we get ginger or garlic or hot peppers. She asks us what we want and we pick based on what we need. She greets us with 'Ni hao' and gives us a basket. We put what we want in the basket and she weighs out each item and prices it.
Once we buy our groceries, we walk back through the apartment complex to get home.
We put the bags on the table while we divest ourselves of shoes, umbrella and other sundry things
And here is the haul before we put it all away.
The greens on the top are new to me. I thought I'd experiment with them to see how they taste.
Time for lunch!
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