A trip to the supermarket is an exhausting and draining experience. Not only is the supermarket enormous, but in addition to the regular grocery items you need to walk through a superstore selling widescreen TVs, whitegoods, mobile phones, cameras, books and magazines, kitchen ware, crockery, bedding, clothes, shoes, furniture, luggage and so on. Once in the grocery section, it is difficult sometimes to work out what is where, as frequently the supermarket staff reorganise the entire layout, so just as you have got used to going to a specific spot for say, sugar, they up and move them to somewhere completely different. So visiting the supermarket can also be a bit of a treasure hunt.
This is in the meat room, which has a definite aroma...
Yes, this is a pile of skinned chickens.
Yes, their heads and feet are still attached.
No, there are no tongs to pick them up, inspect and look for a juicy one before putting them into a bag.
Yes, it is a good idea to always have hand sanitiser in your bag.
Yes, it is a very good idea to wash your fruit and veg very well - why? well because people who have handled these chickens could very well have then handled your apples!
This is part of the live fish market in the supermarket.
You can buy frogs, eels, fish, mussels, turtles, prawns and other stuff alive, by the jin, or half kilo. I have seen fish still flapping around when they are scanned at the register.
You can also buy fillets and frozen items like prawns or squid.
It is often a bit like a trip to the aquarium and the kids like to look at the huge tanks of fish, and the crabs, frogs and turtles.
This is the check out area... it looks much like any supermarket anywhere else, but the queues are more aggressive and impatient than in other countries, and there is not yet a self serve line.
Often when you buy your groceries you are given a little coupon which you can redeem by showing your receipt and handing over the coupon, and sometimes paying a nominal amount, for a number of little giveaways, but frequently the queues to get these items are just as insane as those inside the store, and on days that I've already dragged one or both kids around the supermarket I would rather just get home. At the bottom of the escalator, near this stand, there are often people asking for your coupons and receipts. If the line is too long I don't claim my free / reduced item, but I also can't hand over my receipt as we need them to claim as a living expense, much to the chagrin of the people asking.
This week, there was no queue and I'd already shook my head to say I wasn't giving away my coupon and receipt, and for the price of 1RMB (15c) I got this gorgeous new non-stick pan with thermospot!! And the best news is that I was in the market for this as my old non-stick pan is decidedly non-non-stick. And at first they gave me a yellow one, but I exchanged it for this lovely red one!!
