When Pigs Fly... OR Die!

Today on the way home from the Shanghai Hongqiao Flower Market the bus I was on passed a farm truck with the back end full of dead pigs.  I kid you not, they were DEAD, they were laying in the back of an open big truck, at least 20 of them!   I did not have my phone out and we were moving pretty fast so I couldn't get a picture but I did a quadruple take and YES they were pigs and YES they were dead!!!  As of today I've 100% given up pork!
Other than that site on the way home the flower market was an entertaining day!  The trip was with the expat women and so you shopped at your own pace and the ladies that I stuck with decided to include YUMMY sandwiches in our day from Hongmei Lu Pedestrian Street.

Here are some pictures:
Last time I checked the Packer colors were GREEN and GOLD, not red and black.  Grrr get it right China!

The puppy was chasing a butterfly.  Just like my Brewman would do, it was cute!

 This middle section of the market burned down a couple months ago due to a fire.  Pretty sad.

This one's for you Mikey, it's a necklace/jewelry holder but of course in Red, White and Blue!

This picture is VERY deceiving, it is a very very small box that contains a CRICKET that is for sale.  Yes apparently it's cricket season and they're for sale now.   Can't you just go outside and catch one?  It was disgusting!

I thought about buying this basket for potaToes, however I guess you're suppose to put potaPoes in this basket and I don't know what or where or how I'd find potaPoes.

Yes, you can even buy live turtles!  

Here's the plant section with potters outside.

 And more plants!  It was a jungle in there.

I decided to bring home this cute tea pot with some greenery in it.  (Thanks Mom for the b-day card that's in the background, it actually made it to China!!!)

And some succulents, however I have no clue how to care for them so they'll be dead by August is my guess.  (I bought 2 plants when we first got here and they were both dead when we returned from Australia, 3 months is a long time in plant life for me!)

It was a great fun day out in Shanghai.  Time for a Birthday Beer now!!! 

Additional Sydney Pictures

Here are some additional Sydney pictures that weren't in the last post.

 Dude, where's my car?

Get Brewed With The Lord!

The last part of our Australian adventure ended in Sydney.  I'm going to keep the post relatively short and add as many pictures as I can so you can see the sites of Sydney.  It is an amazing town and we'd definitely venture back there again if we can.

We stayed at The Lord Nelson Brewery which is claimed to be the oldest continually licensed hotel in Sydney.  The t-shirt slogans are "Get Brewed With The Lord" and we certainly enjoyed The Lord's beer!!!

We went on a bike tour our first full day in Sydney to get a lay of the land.  On the tour we were able to bike across the Sydney Harbour Bridge twice which was really unique.
 First trip over the bridge!

We saw the Opera House (didn't go inside) but all around the outside.  It was windy!  We had to walk our bikes through the Botanical Gardens which were really nice.

We saw Captain Cook's ship.   James Cook was a British explorer who made 3 voyages and founded Australia.

 View of the city from Darling Harbour where Captain Cook's ship is docked.

We enjoyed some freshly shucked Oysters at the Sydney Oyster Bar.  (Oyster Shots as well.)

 Here is our view of the sun going down on the bridge and opera house while we enjoyed our oysters.

We also managed to eat Kangaroo sliders that day however we didn't get a picture of them.  They tasted like venison/bison (a gamey type meat), so not too bad.

On Saturday (our last day) we took a day trip to Bondi Beach where we walked along the water, watched surfers, and then did a 6K trek to a southern beach town Coogee.

The beach patrols station listed the air temperature being 20C (68F) and the water temperature being 21C(70F).  We dipped our toes in the sand as we hadn't brought our suits and it actually felt pretty nice!

Eventually we took the bus back to Sydney and stopped at the famous Harry's Cafe de Wheels food cart for a famous Tiger meat pie topped with mushy peas, mash and gravy.

Now it's back to reality.