Market Day!

Friday markets in Shaxi are famous in the area. Most people traveling to this little village will try their very best to be there for a Friday. From all over locals area coming into town by foot, in cars, on motorcycles or on donkeys. It is a pretty great scene to observe. The market starts at 9.30am, but the streets don't get really busy until around 11am.
I never the less went there around 9.30 and walked down the three streets for 3 hours looking at every little stall. Everything was being sold from spices to toilet paper.
Shaxi is part of the Bai autonomoums region and you see a lot of women in their beautiful Bai-dresses.
I got breakfast at a steamed bun booth (Baozi) and had lunch later on outside a restaurant on the main street. My bowl of noodles with pickled vegetables was amazing and this little 10 year old girl sat with me and talked to me patiently while I tried to impress her with my Chinese.

Today I really sweet couple drove me back to Kunming in their VW Polo. This was complete coincidence, because they were staying at the same hotel and left a couple days before me. We just had a quick chat before they left for Lijiang and after only a 5 minute conversation the couple offered to drive back to Shaxi, pick me up, and then go back to Kunming with me. Obviously I tried to tell them that I didn't want to bother them, but they insisted so I said yes. (Not even thinking about the fact that you should NEVER get into a car with strangers...ooops)
Little did I know...... that they were the sweetest couple ever! They drove to Dali and showed me this really great hotel founded by two journalists from Chicago. It is called the Linden Center and one of the most tasteful hotels I have seen in the region (http://www.linden-centre.com). They then treated me to an amazing lunch and then drove me to where I live (even though they actually live 30 min outside the city), and treated me to dinner. I am not sure what this has to do with markets in Shaxi, but I just wanted to let you all know how wonderful people can be.
I think if anything I am completely overwhelmed by how amazingly nice people are to me without even knowing me. This has happened all through this past week of vacation.
So maybe...... maybe..... people aren't that terrible after all.

Here the pictures from Shaxi!

This is actually Tofu with a lot of mold on top. People were going crazy over it. 

I asked the guy what you could do with it, but I could not understand a single word he

said, mainly because I can't understand local dialects that well....YET!

That's my favorite: Baozi! 

These baskets are a must. The woman tried to sell me one, but I ensured her that

my Osprey backpack was still holding up strong.

Some of you may wonder why I don't take pictures of faces and people. I wish I could, because the people here are truly beautiful and their expressions are amazing. However, I have gotten quite fed up with people taking pictures of me in the street so I imagine that they must feel the same way about me.