CHINA 2010 9th-13th AUGUST
Since our busy weekend we have done very little.
MONDAY we went on a trouser hunt as I told Keith his pale blue pair had seen better days. Having previously bought several pairs of ‘Apple’ make trousers our first stop was at their shop in the old part of Xiamen but with only one pair in his size we looked elsewhere and finally found a suitable pair in the ‘Playboy’ store. I have told him there is no need to act like one when wearing them! As with all the trousers we have bought in China they needed shortening but that wasn’t a problem and after measuring the length, 31 spot on, we sat down to have a cup of hot water whilst a lady disappeared upstairs. The two remaining members of staff did their best to try and get Keith to buy a casual shirt to go with the trousers and again the only one that we liked was not available in his size.
We have been eating at home since Sunday as I am now getting the hang of this cooking lark. I bought a large packet of fresh red chillies and so we have been eating a lot of spicy food. It doesn’t matter what we have you can only taste the chillies! I have even cooked half a duck in the combi oven and made a fairly decent soup out of the duck remains. In the supermarket I took my time choosing the bird as it is only a very small oven and in the end I still had to cut the gizzard off and the feet. I chose one that didn’t have a head and already dead!
TUESDAY being Keith’s long day and so much noise still coming from 2110 I went out for most of the morning walking round the outskirts of the old part trying to find the little book shop we had visited where Keith bought a small English/Chinese dictionary. It must be one of the places that still had the steel shutters down as I couldn’t find it. Went I left our apartment a young man working in 2110 was right outside our door cutting down long lengths of white painted steel so no wonder it was noisy and the smell of burning metal wasn’t very pleasant either. With all the dust I am finding it difficult to keep our lovely highly polished wooden floor clean. That apartment door is open most of the time and looks like a bomb site. I have seen part of a newly erected wall knocked down, but perhaps progress is taking place as now they are laying large marble floor tiles so we still have thumping all day long. I have commented to Keith that work starts as soon as he is either up or ready to leave for the office and then stops as soon as he comes home for lunch beginning again around 2pm until after 7pm when it is dark and they have to stop then as there is no electricity in there at the moment. As Keith returned to work I took a 22 bus to the University to visit an International Book Shop in the area where I hoped I would find some children’s books in English. I was successful and even found a map only getting home discovered it was printed in 2005, but at least we can read the bus numbers!
We went out to eat for a change tonight and chose to return to the fish restaurant not too far away. We went out to eat at a little fish restaurant we like, but as on our previous visit noisy children spoilt our meal. I have begun to feel we are eating in ‘a barn’ as the diners’ voices echo loudly around the room. Once the children have had sufficient food they run around the ground floor whilst their parents take little notice of what they are up to. At least tonight the lady cashier said something to them and they returned to their table where one of the mother’s glared in our direction. Getting up from their seats again the two girls and a boy went to stand on the stairs but weren’t there long before the cashier spoke to them again and they returned to their seats to play with mobile phones. I think it is about time we tried other restaurants, there is certainly plenty to choose from.
WEDNESDAY afternoon we went to Qianpu, the Conference Centre district, as this is where kites are manufactured. We had an address but walking in very hot sunshine and no shade most of the time we failed to find it. Most of the places have no numbers and we wonder how the postman manages to deliver mail. New apartment blocks have been built or are in construction that I felt perhaps the firm had relocated but Keith was adamant that all the web sites he had looked at gave the same address. It was an uneventful afternoon and just when I said to Keith we hadn’t even found a little ‘gem’ today we came across a huge poster with a picture of a cooked duck in a large pot with the wording in English ‘Millenium Heritage Duck in Need’. Then walking past a row of shops we spotted 4 bouquets of small teddy bears as an alternative to flowers. What would you want with so many teddies on sticks? After almost 2 hours we gave up and went for a drink in the coffee bar where today two very large bouquets of roses were standing on the floor either side of the bar.
THURSDAY Keith finished early in the afternoon as management wanted to prepare the room ready for tomorrow’s final presentation afternoon. As I hadn’t been out suggested we had a walk and headed towards Yundang Lake and the ‘hides’. We arrived just in time to catch a glimpse of a large kingfisher before a family frightened it away with their loud voices. Another photographer with a very impressive camera was, like me, trying to get a good picture. At this point we decided to cross under the overhead roads and walk back along the waterfront of Haiwan Park. It was lovely with hardly anyone in sight. The sun was really hot today even when we went out to eat early evening it was so warm. The weather forecast has given 37 again for the next few days at least. We walked in a different direction tonight and hadn’t gone far when we came across a small place that was almost full. Sitting down we were handed a menu with a few coloured pictures along the bottom of the page but it was mostly lines of Chinese characters. Pointing to the fish dish, and a bowl of seafood, we would have those two and nuirow (beef) I understood our waitress, who was doing her best trying to help us in English, was saying satay and I said that would be good. Whilst waiting for our food to be delivered we watched a young chef behind a glass screen prepare bowls of noodles which he pulled out of a large pan using a small wicker basket attached to a pole and with a flick of the wrist tipped them into the bowl. A sprinkling of black pepper, followed by a fine chopped green vegetable, then three small spoonfuls of a brown mixture out of a very thick black bowl sitting on the gas burner. From small bowls in front of the pans a large prawn, and a little more liquid were added with the final touch being either a large fish or pork ball that were bobbing about in the boiling water of the two other pans each on a burner. By the number of bowls he produced it seems every customer, apart from us, had ordered this dish. We were sitting by the automatic door which was forever opening and closing as people came and went causing warm air to enter the building which was already quite warm. Our food arrived, a large plaice in a sweet and sour sauce, beautiful beef slices with a green vegetable and lots of sautéed onion and no peppers to give Keith indigestion. Finally a large bowl, similar to many we have seen on the street stalls, arrived and with the lid removed revealed a bubbling carrot type soup containing many kinds of seafood, including the sea cucumber, and small pieces of bean curd. It was absolutely gorgeous and by the time we had finished we felt quite full. The only downside to ‘Fu Lou’ was the beer came in small cans and there was no air conditioning. Before returning home we took another stroll round the block but due to the heat it wasn’t very far and we were glad to get back to our air conditioning.
We have been eating at home since Sunday as I am now getting the hang of this cooking lark. I bought a large packet of fresh red chillies and so we have been eating a lot of spicy food. It doesn’t matter what we have you can only taste the chillies! I have even cooked half a duck in the combi oven and made a fairly decent soup out of the duck remains. In the supermarket I took my time choosing the bird as it is only a very small oven and in the end I still had to cut the gizzard off and the feet. I chose one that didn’t have a head and already dead!
TUESDAY being Keith’s long day and so much noise still coming from 2110 I went out for most of the morning walking round the outskirts of the old part trying to find the little book shop we had visited where Keith bought a small English/Chinese dictionary. It must be one of the places that still had the steel shutters down as I couldn’t find it. Went I left our apartment a young man working in 2110 was right outside our door cutting down long lengths of white painted steel so no wonder it was noisy and the smell of burning metal wasn’t very pleasant either. With all the dust I am finding it difficult to keep our lovely highly polished wooden floor clean. That apartment door is open most of the time and looks like a bomb site. I have seen part of a newly erected wall knocked down, but perhaps progress is taking place as now they are laying large marble floor tiles so we still have thumping all day long. I have commented to Keith that work starts as soon as he is either up or ready to leave for the office and then stops as soon as he comes home for lunch beginning again around 2pm until after 7pm when it is dark and they have to stop then as there is no electricity in there at the moment. As Keith returned to work I took a 22 bus to the University to visit an International Book Shop in the area where I hoped I would find some children’s books in English. I was successful and even found a map only getting home discovered it was printed in 2005, but at least we can read the bus numbers!
We went out to eat for a change tonight and chose to return to the fish restaurant not too far away. We went out to eat at a little fish restaurant we like, but as on our previous visit noisy children spoilt our meal. I have begun to feel we are eating in ‘a barn’ as the diners’ voices echo loudly around the room. Once the children have had sufficient food they run around the ground floor whilst their parents take little notice of what they are up to. At least tonight the lady cashier said something to them and they returned to their table where one of the mother’s glared in our direction. Getting up from their seats again the two girls and a boy went to stand on the stairs but weren’t there long before the cashier spoke to them again and they returned to their seats to play with mobile phones. I think it is about time we tried other restaurants, there is certainly plenty to choose from.
WEDNESDAY afternoon we went to Qianpu, the Conference Centre district, as this is where kites are manufactured. We had an address but walking in very hot sunshine and no shade most of the time we failed to find it. Most of the places have no numbers and we wonder how the postman manages to deliver mail. New apartment blocks have been built or are in construction that I felt perhaps the firm had relocated but Keith was adamant that all the web sites he had looked at gave the same address. It was an uneventful afternoon and just when I said to Keith we hadn’t even found a little ‘gem’ today we came across a huge poster with a picture of a cooked duck in a large pot with the wording in English ‘Millenium Heritage Duck in Need’. Then walking past a row of shops we spotted 4 bouquets of small teddy bears as an alternative to flowers. What would you want with so many teddies on sticks? After almost 2 hours we gave up and went for a drink in the coffee bar where today two very large bouquets of roses were standing on the floor either side of the bar.
THURSDAY Keith finished early in the afternoon as management wanted to prepare the room ready for tomorrow’s final presentation afternoon. As I hadn’t been out suggested we had a walk and headed towards Yundang Lake and the ‘hides’. We arrived just in time to catch a glimpse of a large kingfisher before a family frightened it away with their loud voices. Another photographer with a very impressive camera was, like me, trying to get a good picture. At this point we decided to cross under the overhead roads and walk back along the waterfront of Haiwan Park. It was lovely with hardly anyone in sight. The sun was really hot today even when we went out to eat early evening it was so warm. The weather forecast has given 37 again for the next few days at least. We walked in a different direction tonight and hadn’t gone far when we came across a small place that was almost full. Sitting down we were handed a menu with a few coloured pictures along the bottom of the page but it was mostly lines of Chinese characters. Pointing to the fish dish, and a bowl of seafood, we would have those two and nuirow (beef) I understood our waitress, who was doing her best trying to help us in English, was saying satay and I said that would be good. Whilst waiting for our food to be delivered we watched a young chef behind a glass screen prepare bowls of noodles which he pulled out of a large pan using a small wicker basket attached to a pole and with a flick of the wrist tipped them into the bowl. A sprinkling of black pepper, followed by a fine chopped green vegetable, then three small spoonfuls of a brown mixture out of a very thick black bowl sitting on the gas burner. From small bowls in front of the pans a large prawn, and a little more liquid were added with the final touch being either a large fish or pork ball that were bobbing about in the boiling water of the two other pans each on a burner. By the number of bowls he produced it seems every customer, apart from us, had ordered this dish. We were sitting by the automatic door which was forever opening and closing as people came and went causing warm air to enter the building which was already quite warm. Our food arrived, a large plaice in a sweet and sour sauce, beautiful beef slices with a green vegetable and lots of sautéed onion and no peppers to give Keith indigestion. Finally a large bowl, similar to many we have seen on the street stalls, arrived and with the lid removed revealed a bubbling carrot type soup containing many kinds of seafood, including the sea cucumber, and small pieces of bean curd. It was absolutely gorgeous and by the time we had finished we felt quite full. The only downside to ‘Fu Lou’ was the beer came in small cans and there was no air conditioning. Before returning home we took another stroll round the block but due to the heat it wasn’t very far and we were glad to get back to our air conditioning.
posted by Pam at
15:28
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