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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Waffles


Our trip to Hong Kong was a success, one we intend to celebrate with waffles.  Ha ha ha!  Look at us laugh at this waffle!

Ann

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Another Reason that Pandas are Great.

Ann and Mike (it's hard to pick good pronouns when we're both writing) didn't make it to the panda sanctuary until a little before two in the afternoon.  We had learned from the guidebook that pandas get fed at 10am and don't do much after but sleep - but we operate in reverse!  We sleep until ten, then eat and begin to do things.  The bus ride was long (and would have been logistically quite challenging had google maps not come to the rescue with a fully functional bus-routes search for Chengdu) and we figured it would be like the zoo:  maybe some pandas, probably asleep.  But not only were the pandas awake, they were romping about!  Okay, "panda romping" consists mostly of laying on the ground eating, or sitting around scratching (or staring dejectedly over the railing?  I don't know what that was about.) but even this leaves us totally entranced.  You see the videos:  pandas are amazing.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding ("Welcome to Chengdu, the home town of pandas.  The Charm of China, the Cradle of Pandas." (But it's not creepy!  It's great!)) is split up into various panda enclosures by panda age (with an additional area for Red Pandas, which are only distantly related to Giant Pandas).  The first place we visited was the adolescent panda enclosure, and they were mostly laying around eating.  Second was adult pandas.  It was impressive how close we could get to them - there's just a low wall below which the pandas are hanging out, snacking, pooping, etc.  And they're totally indifferent to the gawking tourists (even the one woman who repeatedly shrieked and clapped at them.  I winced.  Pandas didn't even notice). 

After the adults we trooped up a long series of stone steps to the Panda Nursery.  There were five baby pandas, eight to twelve weeks old, and impossibly cute (No pictures allowed!  Of the cutest thing in the whole sanctuary!)  They were already pretty big (20-30lbs?), fuzzy black and white, laying about yawning, stretching, lazily snoozing up against each other.  Except for the one whose turn it was to be 'pooped' by the zoo keeper, who diligently rubbed its stomach with a washcloth while holding it over a garbage bin.  Cute!

Ann's favorites, though, were the one year olds.  We visited their spot last, and the four that we saw were tumbling around, wrestling with each other, climbing all over their wood structures, and getting bathed and fed bamboo shoots by a keeper.   They were completely uncoordinated, frequently falling off their platform, and even sliding down the little gully at the edge of their enclosure to the foot of the wall we all watched from.  Clumsy pandas!

Overall, it was a great day.

Ann and Mike

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Chengdu, Sichuan

Mike and I arrived in Chengdu ready for some delicious spicy Sichuan
food and pandas, and Chengdu has delivered! Ann was infuriated by Hot
Pot chili oil splashing on her new dress ("I was! Stupid hot pot. It
wasn't even that tasty"), I was enchanted by the crispy/tender combo
of my favorite vegetable, Bitter Melon, and we both have been shocked
by the vast number of fancy pastry shops here - orders of magnitude
more than there are in Shanghai. I mean, sometimes you just want some
tasty vegetable baozi for breakfast, and those are hard to come by
now, but I can hardly walk down the street without tripping over sweet
buns (tasty), cream-topped coffee dusted custard things (delicious!)
and baguettes to rival those made daily at Safeway (a side note: no
pastry purchase is safe from the threat of odd, unanticipated savory
items lurking inside. Does this have fish in it? Why is the
character for fish in its label on the display case? I'm not buying
this fucking fish bun!).

We were dismayed yesterday when we spotted a number of Hai Bao here.
They've broken through the Shanghai quarantine. Or perhaps there has
been a Hai Bao forced migration. But the Hai Bao do seem to have
maintained their upbeat demeanor. One question answered! They put
them to work selling pastries.

Chengdu: home to Panda everything! This includes: signs, posters,
toilet seat stickers, taxi logos, taxi hood decorations, trash can
decorations, a clothing line ("Hi Panda", at http://www.hipanda.org),
and cigarettes. I didn't know pandas smoked, but their cigarettes
come in gold boxes! Pretty swank! More to come.

Ann and Mike

Monday, October 4, 2010

Suzhou: This time with Gardens!

Yes, yes. We did actually make it to a few gardens.

Yi Yuan
The first was very quiet and one of the most relaxing. There were a
few other people there, mostly playing cards or actually sleeping,
like the guy in the second photo. Mike and I found a nice table and
sat down and read for about an hour. It was really nice to be in the
city but have this peaceful setting to relax in. This garden also had
the great feature of being very close to our hotel. Always a nice
bonus.

Beisi Ta
A giant pagoda that was apparently a favorite of Marco Polo. At one
time it was 11 stories, but now it just has 9. Although we
contemplated climbing to the top, Mike and I were scared off by the
crowds and quickly scurried to the the silk museum, like hungry grubs
in search of a mulberry leaf.

Silk Museum
The best part about the whole museum was the live silkworms! You
could hear them munching away noisily at the mulberry leaves. There
is a very odd, creepy mannequin holding the silkworm basket. She
tricks you into thinking that they aren't alive. Then when you lean
in really close you can see that they are moving and hear them eating!
It is pretty amazing. There were also several incredible looms and
some women using one. The museum sells the silk pieces that they
make, but they were a bit out of our price range.

Ou Yuan (The Couples' Garden)
The second garden was larger and very beautiful. Unfortunately we
picked the first day of October, the beginning of a mega-holiday for
China, and were inundated with noisy tour groups and guides noisily
lecturing through their megaphones! We snuck off to the far corner of
the garden, relatively quiet after the rest, to sit and relax.

Ann

Suzhou: delicious West China food!

Mike and I went to Suzhou last week. It is a smaller city (than
Shanghai, still larger then Seattle) famous for its gardens. I was
excited the night that we arrive to find a Uyghur restaurant because
they have great food. Especially delicious kebabs. Since that is my
current China favorite, Mike was immediately dragged in for dinner.

Okay, so that menu might look a bit less appealing, but it was
actually quite delicious. I was thrilled when I accidentally ordered
my favorite bread and lamb dish. It is strongly seasoned and served
with fresh cilantro on top. One of my personal favorites. Besides,
what is not to like about a place that actually serves a darker beer
with (slightly) more favor?

The other two pictures are ones that I took from the window of the
restaurant. Suzhou has lots of Van-trucks. They are everywhere and
despite being labeled "van" decidedly a truck. The third picture is
the view across the street from the restaurant. I think this is
another place to eat, but a bit confused by the title.

Anyway, more Suzhou posts to follow! This time with actual gardens.

Ann

Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Search for Hai Bao

Mike and I spent many of our early Shanghai days trying to hide from
Hai Bao. However, he really is everywhere and after awhile we gave in
to the power of the Hai Bao. We too were seduced by his charms. We
learned his simple ways and language. Our relationship with Hai Bao
was short lived. We left his city with mixed emotions forced to
wonder what will happen to the million Hai Baos after Expo is over?
Will they form their own blue city? Will they mingle among us as
bright beacons of hope? We can only imagine...