Day 5 in China; Part II: So you want to go to the farm...

Now that the meal is done, it's time to make the trip to where food comes from. We start off at the local market. The idea is we should follow the route the food travels to get to the market. That means we are going to take the local travel routes that the locals take.

The look is very 'market' and the smell and feel. Just like hometown any place. We observe the veggie row, the fish row and some guys playing cards. An interesting side line here. My wife wanted me to get an authentic Mah Jongg set to bring home. To my surprise, those were not to be found. Yes they had the trinket ones, but not the authentic ones. Why? The government outlawed the game in the 70's because it was thought to be a waste of time and gambling. It is allowed now, but it is still under ground for the most part.

We ride the bus to travel to 'the farm'. I did not get a bus picture. I'm really disappointed because it was pretty cool. The system was easy to follow, but you needed to understand the code. For us it was get on the 54 bus and go to the end. Easy enough.

We get to the river crossing and buy a token (0.50 yewan or about 8 cents).

We get in line to load onto the boat.

When one group gets off, they open the gates.

And we get on. People, bikes and mopeds. You don't think about it, but crossing the water on a scooter on the highway bridges is not an option. This is how they do it.

This is where we want to go (across the river).

And this is what it looks like when we try to cross the river. Tough going. The river is just consumed with traffic. It's as bad on the river is it is on the road.