Street Vendor: China

Photo taken by Thirdeyemom, a survivor of severe postpartum depression. She used travel, writing, and photography, in addition to professional help, to fight her way out of the darkness. See more of her inspiring story here.

About this photo: I took this picture at a street vendor in Beijing, China.  I was wandering down a hidden, narrow street and found a very unusual marketplace.  There were not many tourists and it felt like a secretive place that I had somehow magically found.   Everything I saw was extremely unusual but the most surprising of all was the stall that sold live scorpions and sea horses on a stick.  As I approached the stall, my mouth dropped wide open in shock, surprise and then disgust.  But then I remembered to use my “third eye” and try to find the cultural reasons for eating such foods that I found abhorrent.  Apparently there are medicinal reasons for eating such delicacies yet I still couldn’t dare to try them.