When we live in western countries, it's easy to forget where the food that we eat comes from. But in Asia it's hard to block the images from street markets when we sit at the table. Luckily for carnivores like me, steaks and the like still appear in smallish chunks. But smaller animals are still alive when you choose them and they're prepared upon demand.

The images that follow the watermelons are rather graphic, so scroll down at your own risk.
 

Watermelons vendor in Hongkou

Quails stall

The fishmonger's tools

I know I've declared that I would never post a photo of the abominable Pearl Tower, Shanghai's most famous and painful eye sore. But turns out that I was celebrating the return of the sun to our Shanghai lives after 2 weeks of rain on the terrace of one of Shanghai's dining institutions (M on the Bund) and had my camera with me and was in a brilliant mood, and I did point my camera at the flag on the terrace, and the eye sore happened to be in the background. When I saw it on my computer screen, I liked the color contrast, the unusually blue sky, and the tiny bit of Pudong visible at the bottom of the image... So despite the Pearl Tower, I decided it was worth keeping.

This long-winded introduction is just to explain my contradiction and to admit that, for once, the eye sore didn't make me shudder.
 

The view from M on the Bund

I've been following the story of these kittens whose mom has disappeared. They are in the park just down the street. I can't bring one home, but I've been bringing them milk to the park and cuddling with them. Aren't they the cutest kittens?

You can read more about their story in my 365 Project here, here and here.