Memories of Chengdu

      I think the electric cooker has gotten the better of me at this stage. I tried to boil some Tangyuan (汤圆) but the 电磁炉 has an E7 problem. Damn…..So close to eating some sesame seed balls.  Ah well, I guess that will have to wait until I can get the problem sorted out.

Mmmmmmm Tangyuan...a tasty treat 

(Once I get the electric cooker thingy sorted  )

 Anyway , back to the pictures….

  A few weeks ago , I took the high speed train from Yiwu up to Shanghai , grabbed a quick snack to eat

Chicken Baozi 

I have not seen much of this snack in Yiwu but this 小吃 really hits the spot on a cold day.

and then headed out to the airport and boarded a plane to Chengdu. The airplane food was a bit on the spicy side. This was a good thing as I was flying out to the spicy capital of the old Shu country (Chengdu).

On arrival I decided to have a quick look around so I wandered through the shops before heading to such places as Jinli, KuanZhaiXiangzi and RenMinGongYuan.

In English this is known as Dog sh1t candy.

I think I will give that once a miss.

      Anyway, I strolled on down  to Kuan Zhai Xiangzi (宽窄巷子) and saw guys cleaning out people’s ear using tuning forks or guys (in the generic sense of the word) painting self portraits.

Cleaning out the ears is par for the course on KuanZhaiXiangZi

 KuanZhai Xiangzi consists of two streets kuan(the wide street) and Zhai(the narrow street). People tend to flock to these streets and one can eat all the local delicacies that have been there for many generations. (Actually, on my first visit , I was able to observe everything so I will share the photos from the first visit here.) While I was there , I did notice a guy smoking from a traditional pipe (something which I have not noticed to much in China. I guess some traditions are naturally dying out. )

Watching the day go by.

(Note the guy beside him is trying to drum up business (The cleaning ears business))

One can also see other things such as people drawing portraits (sometimes using a driving license as a guidance)

Staring the sketching process

The finished article

or people making  silhouettes out of paper from passers by.  

One needs a steady hand for this art

Within these streets , it is nice to see those old traditions. One can also observe two holes in the wall. It was said that many years ago (when people used horses as a form of transports, these holes were used as a kind of parking spot. The horse owner could use the rope on the horse to tie up the horse while he / she browsed around the place.)

Now , all I need is a horse with a rope and I can test these holes out.

Apart from KuanZhaiXiangZi , one can view many parks such as Renmingong yuan (Peoples park) and HuanHuaGongYuan. These are cool places to go as one can observe local people going through the motions (Line dancing , singing , Dancing with swords).

Moving in unison with swords 

While visiting one of the parks [BaiHuaTan (百花潭)] , I was able to observe a collection of 盆景 (Bonzai). I never knew there was such a variation of Penjing/Bonzai trees. Nice, though.

I never knew there was such a variety of Penjing盆景 / Bonzai trees

Where art and nature collide

I am not sure if the following picture occurred in the same park but I have a sneeking suspicion that I took it in another park off a road called qintai road (琴台路). [This road is a must if you want to walk down an old school road in Chengdu.]

A tranquil site

The original "good fortune" chairs

I visited a place called 锦里 Jinli. If one pays a visit there, one should have a look at the stage where people act (I am not sure if you can see any plays there anymore.) Again , food plays a huge part in creating the atmosphere of the area. One can actually watch a person creating a butterfly (or indeed anything) being created from a sugar like substance. Then , you can eat that art afterwards (a cruel but tasty conclusion to the art of making the butterfly!)

Tasty butterflies

One can even practice their grinding skills in this place. To be honest , I was a bit ring rusty when it came to putting my shoulder to the wheel..

Give me strength so I can start the grinding process!

To be honest ,I like walking around random streets observing the local art (Not just in Chengdu but throughout China) and when one does this , one can see some interesting drawings in random places.

Less and less people cycle here these days.

It is my favourite mode of transport.

Soaking in the atmosphere

At the end of the day it is always nice to sit down in front a local restaurant and eat a meal so that’s what I did.The atmosphere in these places is always jovial (well, up until the virus thing took control.) Hopefully , things will return to normal as soon as possible.

Some lamb , soup , meat fluff , pigs blood , and pickled veg. (泡菜)

But which is nicer …home cooked food or restaurant food?

The following home cooked food did taste nice (I ate this at the time when all the restaurants were closed anyway. Due to the virus , the only shops open were vegetable shops (which sold meat) as well as convenience stores.)

rice , cabbage , peanuts , egg , and onion + beef strips + green pepper mixed

Due to the virus , I could not really go outside so I learned a couple of  things….well , I write a couple of things, here is one of them.

If you take out the inside of an orange and make some small holes in the outside of the still round peel , the peel can serve as a nice lamp!

Top down view 

The actual orange itself was eaten 

Nothing gets wasted :-)

Night time view

Anyway , back to my tangyuan balls, I finally cooked them after the electric stove started and stopped umpteen times. They are more like tangyuan gloop at this stage , though.

hmmmm,  not really balls anymore

I will try again when the E7 problem has been fixed….Now , where is the food ordering app…….

Quarantine in Yiwu (义乌) 【Zhejiang province 浙江省】

       I have plenty of time to write these days! A virus appeared on the scene about a month and a half ago and people were not sure how serious it was.When I started my travels for the Spring holiday festival , it did not appear too serious so everyone just went about their business as per usual. But gradually word filtered out about of the seriousness of the situation and people started to buy masks to protect themselves from this ugly fiend!
       Anyway , I spent a week in Chengdu followed by another one in Leishan and then back to Chengdu before heading back to the east coast. On my return to Yiwu , I took a plane to Shanghai , then a metro and finally another high speed train back to Yiwu.
      Many years ago , I worked in a Fab plant in Intel and I had to wear masks but I was allowed out of the clean room every 4 hours to breathe.Not so much luck in this situation!  Unfortunately , I had to wear masks all the way from Chengdu to Yiwu so this is was a 'trying' occasion!
       So, I am now back in my dorm room at the school that I work at. Government rules stipulate that  have to quarantine for 14 days before I can head out to the big bad world again ,which (SOMETIMES) is a blessing as the weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse over here. So , I have to spray down the place with alcohol to keep the pesky virus at bay.

   All surfaces need to washed down with this Italian beauty or else the virus might rear its head


        I also have to take note of my temperature twice a day (using an underarm thermometer.) It took me AGES to be able to see the mercury in the thermometer but FINALLY I can read it. I never knew that using an underarm thermometer reading might underestimate ones temperature by up to 1 degree! Some things you do learn through experience!

This is an old school underarm thermometer. Please use with your glasses (ideally). Otherwise , the mercury might be a tad difficult to spot.

Aha , I see the light (or in this case the mercury line)

         When I got back to my dorm (which is inside the school grounds )  , the security guard put a couple of signs indicating that I am quarantined on the door. He also put a nice good fortune sign there (which is generously sponsored by a local bank. (Note to self:  Banks truly do know their customers.))

The red picture (福) means good fortune or luck.

Here's hoping.

So what did I have to eat in this place?
 Well, initially I had some leftover biscuits with peanut butter (i.e: Not a big tradition here in China) but I needed to figure out how to order stuff from outside the building.

The ALWAYS reliable 早餐饼干 (breakfast biscuits).

Even in an emergency , they are a treat with peanut butter.

One of the Chinese teachers mentioned eleme (饿了么) (a Chinese food app that I could order from) so I have tried a few of the delicacies to be found nearby.

Here is one of the dishes that I bought that in NO WAY describes the fact that I am missing Irish food. *cough*

红烧土豆片 and 酸辣白菜..... Otherwise known as  spud slices (braised in soy sauce) and sour and spicy cabaist...I mean cabbage

           It can be quite interesting just browsing through the app. just to see the various things that can be bought online. I wonder how many people order the ducks head?

Ducks head , anyone? ......anyone?

Pig's blood and tofu 

(To be honest , that does look a bit tasty.)

           but the good thing about the app is the fact that it tells you where the motorcyclist is located in real time!

The map with the guy on the bike is quite handy!

           Anyway , the fun in using the app in the current climate lies in the fact that I have to tell the motorcyclist (when he has reached the school) to hand over the food to the guard and then tell him  to tell the guard to deliver the food to my dorm room. The motorcyclists always end up in a state of confusion about what to do next!
I need to brush up on the Chinese language!
           So the guard brings it to my door and leaves it on the chair which is conveniently placed outside the door (such that no bugs can crawl into the grub). It feels a bit like a cuisine covert operation!

I like to call it..... "The magical food chair"

Anyway , that's where I am at the moment. I have to stay indoors for 14 days so the boredom might set in. To combat this  , I have cleared the length of the apartment of clutter and I can walk (pedestrian free) from one end of the apartment to the other to my hearts content. Failing this excitement , I might post a few more posts of the beauty of China in the coming weeks.
Now, how do I turn on an electric stove.....hmmmm

There is an on button somewhere. but it doesn't work.....d'argh!

Wait.... what's this plug for?

d'oh!