Crazy Market

No travel trip to Wuhan would be complete without a visit to the foreign dubbed "Crazy Market" which takes up at least mile of riverside alongside the Han River.  It is at least a mile deep too; a real labyrinth for those of us from places where we are used to roads forming a grid of some sort which an educated person, who knows how to read a map, can navigate. Instead Crazy Market lives up to its name when the confusion of the "streets" is compounded when roads are alleys and alleys are gutters and it is very likely you can get lost in a single building. It is a true urban jungle.  I have been there twice and feel no more comfortable that if I were to return I could find the places that I have previously shopped. It is one of those places that actually makes you nervous and exhilarated all at the same time as you are CONSTANTLY processing three issues: How do I not get run over? What in the heck are THEY selling? And What is that smell?

So, what do I know? Well, officially, this area is the largest wholesale distribution center in all of central China. Barges come in with every single thing under the sun and items are pulled off the boats (mostly in this tarp-like bags) and sent off in a thousand different directions. Everywhere there are men and women pulling and pushing carts from the river into the winding tangle of streets. Add in a mix of pedicabs, buses on the true "main" roads that frame the market, taxis, cars, and delivery vans...oh my! the delivery vans and you have one huge network of confusion.

If you look it up online, little will be found. It is a place that does not need modern methods of internet. Obviously by the hoards of people that swarm the place, all with intention in their step and money in their pocket, this place is The Place to find absolutely everything. From clothes to office supplies to decorations to toys to furniture to tools to china and restaurant wares to store and stores of just....stuff, Crazy Market has a block for you. Most blocks are multiple story buildings filled with stall after stall (divided by partitions) of vendors.

Good gracious, that man on top of that mound of wares on top of that scooter. It is overwhelming.

Intermixed with all the goods are residential dwellings and back alleyways that will make you heart twitch. You think you have seen meager lifestyles, come to this place and tell me about it. I could not bring myself to photograph any of the living quarters directly. It was hard enough to see little children running about the place knowing good and well that I will absolutely never bring mine to this place, even for just a quick two hour trip.

So, Josh decided to give this Mama a day off and maintained his Cummins meeting schedule from home, sending me off to experience all this with my newest friend, Holly. Holly and her husband just moved here (from Indiana!) and she has already been an awesome gift to our adventure. We have several things in common-- foremost is our love of food. She is a trained pastry chef and we set out on this day with a short mission: survive, see as much as we can, and definitely find the restaurant section.

My pengyo

This is all much easier said than done. Walking blocks and blocks through buildings and alleys of men's clothes, women's clothes, frames, and who knows all what we were often lost. The poor map that we had been given was basic at best. Add to this that we were being stared at by every single Chinese man like we were peacocks (or peaclocks) walking down the aisle at a wedding, it was unnerving. We finally made it to our Promised Land. 

It is really stupid how happy we were when we spied steamers in the distance.

Restaurant section had china (from China! ha) right off the ship. And be right off, I mean, still wrapped in thick hemp lying all over the floors of various stalls. Most vendor's spaces were far too cramped for us both to move around inside. But did we have fun, ogling over plates and ladles, dreaming of ways that we could turn jazz up any Indiana farmer's market with just the mere presence of us whipping up any of the street food dishes we have seen created in front of us in the back alleys of Wuhan with these cooking supplies.

Pick a pattern.

 I adored gorgeous cutting boards and stock pots big enough to cook a kid in.

This is for you, Aunt Chris. The Last Chinese Chef made me love on these a long time!

Yes.

I did make a couple of purchases. I have wanted to bring home some Chinese china, so I found these four serving dishes for all my future cooking adventures. They are all large enough to present the full contents of a wok creation except the one on the left; that is more edamame sized. 

Total price: 70 RMB or $12 USD for all four.

We did get lost for a spell in the luggage building. It was substantially cleaner and more organized than the other areas. Send me your requests for real Prada, Coach and Burberry wallets. :)

Eating at the Crazy Market is well, crazy. You are going to have uncertainty without a doubt as to the

sanitary quality of the food we would be getting. But, I have been living this China life for a couple of months now and I have a theory that if it is cooked at high enough heat, I should be able to take it. So our lunch consisted of stir fried noodles from this young man.

He was cooking nonstop outside the entrance of the tiniest little shop. He was a master with cracking the eggs into the ladle. Shredded cabbage and other veggies were added along with a spoonful of spice, a squirt of sauce, a little dash of MSG, and finishing it all by throwing in the noodles of my choice. It was really great. I also had some pretty standard steamed pork baozi. Standing on a street corner in the midst of the madness we ate, watching people come up and grab oranges from this fruit truck.

Yeah, oranges are green here.

Pictures don't do many places in China justice because they miss the element of smell. Whether it is the proximity to the river or the general collection of trash everywhere, I wish that it could be a part of the visual experience for everyone who never gets the chance to go there. So when looking at images, look at all parts of them, the things that are not in such clear focus, the streets, the backgrounds because they are so key to the whole experience.

 Because I guess we felt we had been TOO safe and survived our day TOO easily, we decided to really tempt the fates and grab a ride in an electric-powered, tarp covered rickshaw driven the biggest badass granny you have ever seen. With the help of about three locals under the age of 30, we were able to make her understand that we wanted to ride just a handful of blocks back towards Maidengelo's (McDonald's) where we would be picked up by our driver. She laid on the horn and showed no fear --nor any real concern for our clear and present danger-- as she tore through the alleys towards our destination. There was one point, pretty much at the instant I took the image below, when she had opted to go from the far left lane to turn right across two lanes of traffic, where you can see us inches away from getting sideswiped when I nearly peed my pants. But that would only been in part because I was terrified; not entertaining any back alley squatting is just one of the rites of passage of Crazy Market that I will continue to try and avoid.

 Upon our safe delivery to said intersection, I tipped the old woman much to her dismay. I firmly believe giving her the extra 5 RMB for allowing me to experience that ride of a lifetime was worth it. All in all, the whole day was worth it. It is an adventure that can never be duplicated in the good ole United States of America.

The spice section was full of nuts and seeds. Gorgeous.

Beautiful. No clue what they are.

Video from the market adds an element to the experience, so here is something I found on YouTube, click here. I have taken a couple videos of my own, but I like the solidarity that others who have been here share in this experience.