Showing posts with label Food/Drinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food/Drinks. Show all posts
Monday, May 04, 2009
Monday, May 12, 2008
BREST
Grâce à ce long Week-end, on est rentré hier soir d'une mini escapade à Brest...
L'occasion de voir une ville inconnue, de visiter le charmant musée de la Marine, l'Océanopolis et de chercher le Brest imbibé et romantique des chansons de Miossec.
Je rêvais sans cesse à ma promenade dans Recouvrance, suite à la chanson du même nom. Bon, on y était un samedi après-midi et ça donnait pas envie du tout de boire un coup. Je l'imaginais regorgeant de bars sombres et en fait y avait que des Kebabs. Pas excitant.
Ceci dit, j'aurais dû faire des recherches avant, j'ai trouvé ça aujoud'hui dans un article des Inrocks:
"La nuit va tomber, l'heure de revenir à Brest et de trouver un autre café, un autre calva. Puis un autre et un autre, histoire de raconter les quartiers fétiches, comme Recouvrance. Miossec avoue n'y être jamais allé à jeun. "Boire, ce n'est pas encore mon fardeau. J'espère sincèrement que l'alcoolisme n'est pas mon destin." Recouvrance, c'est le terminus des "pistes", ces nuits de bar en bar, de cafard en calva, qui finissent toutes là, dans ces bars glauques où on se tient à carreau. "Ça commence à vivre vers 5 h du matin. A Recouvrance, je ne fais pas le mariolle. Même archibourré, je ferme ma grande gueule.""
Bon, en effet, on est plus près de la vérité.
Par contre, on a plus ressenti les textes de la chanson "Brest":
"La rade, le port, ce qu'il en reste
Le vent dans l'avenue Jean Jaurès
...
Le Recouvrance que l'on délaisse
La rue de Siam, ses nuits d'ivresse "
Bah justement, on a dormi dans la nuit de Siam et on y passé une excellente soirée notamment grâce au bar Rhumerie "La flibuste" où nous avons pu dégusté une délicieuse sélection de Rhums arrangés, à savoir:
-Cardamone
-Pain d'épices
-Caramel au Beurre salé
-Bois bandé
-Algues
Bon, je recommande pas vraiment celui aux algues, sinon c'était que du bonheur.
Le lendemain on a vu l'Océanopolis et franchement, c'est pas mal mais c'est pas vraiment fantastique non plus. L'extérieur du lieu est pas attirant, c'est bien gris tout ça.
Le musée de la Marine vaut le coup, lui, et le château est très joli.
On a ensuite passé les quelques heures qui nous séparaient du train du retour sur la plage du port de plaisance, qui sentait fort les algues et nous a permis de nous reposer un peu au soleil, et de réecouter Miossec en regardant la mer...
L'occasion de voir une ville inconnue, de visiter le charmant musée de la Marine, l'Océanopolis et de chercher le Brest imbibé et romantique des chansons de Miossec.
Je rêvais sans cesse à ma promenade dans Recouvrance, suite à la chanson du même nom. Bon, on y était un samedi après-midi et ça donnait pas envie du tout de boire un coup. Je l'imaginais regorgeant de bars sombres et en fait y avait que des Kebabs. Pas excitant.
Ceci dit, j'aurais dû faire des recherches avant, j'ai trouvé ça aujoud'hui dans un article des Inrocks:
"La nuit va tomber, l'heure de revenir à Brest et de trouver un autre café, un autre calva. Puis un autre et un autre, histoire de raconter les quartiers fétiches, comme Recouvrance. Miossec avoue n'y être jamais allé à jeun. "Boire, ce n'est pas encore mon fardeau. J'espère sincèrement que l'alcoolisme n'est pas mon destin." Recouvrance, c'est le terminus des "pistes", ces nuits de bar en bar, de cafard en calva, qui finissent toutes là, dans ces bars glauques où on se tient à carreau. "Ça commence à vivre vers 5 h du matin. A Recouvrance, je ne fais pas le mariolle. Même archibourré, je ferme ma grande gueule.""
Bon, en effet, on est plus près de la vérité.
Par contre, on a plus ressenti les textes de la chanson "Brest":
"La rade, le port, ce qu'il en reste
Le vent dans l'avenue Jean Jaurès
...
Le Recouvrance que l'on délaisse
La rue de Siam, ses nuits d'ivresse "
Bah justement, on a dormi dans la nuit de Siam et on y passé une excellente soirée notamment grâce au bar Rhumerie "La flibuste" où nous avons pu dégusté une délicieuse sélection de Rhums arrangés, à savoir:
-Cardamone
-Pain d'épices
-Caramel au Beurre salé
-Bois bandé
-Algues
Bon, je recommande pas vraiment celui aux algues, sinon c'était que du bonheur.
Le lendemain on a vu l'Océanopolis et franchement, c'est pas mal mais c'est pas vraiment fantastique non plus. L'extérieur du lieu est pas attirant, c'est bien gris tout ça.
Le musée de la Marine vaut le coup, lui, et le château est très joli.
On a ensuite passé les quelques heures qui nous séparaient du train du retour sur la plage du port de plaisance, qui sentait fort les algues et nous a permis de nous reposer un peu au soleil, et de réecouter Miossec en regardant la mer...
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Pâté chinois & Montréal by night
Dernier message sur Montréal, après j'attaque l'Odyssée américaine (enfin étatsunienne).
Un soir, le jour avant notre départ-Jee me propose de faire une balade nocturne à Montréal:
-Lumières de la ville, sur le fleuve Saint-Laurent
-Promenade sur le Mont Royal.
On marche dans la neige, entre forêt et néons. L'air est frais et je me souviens de la Russie...
C'est troublant de penser qu'on s'est tous rencontré à Irkoutsk mais que pour les canadiens, le dépaysement était partout sauf dans le climat.
On a descendu une petite bière au sommet du Mont Royal, en admirant les lumières de la ville grâce à une superbe vue panoramique.
Je vais peut-être mettre une petite vidéo dans les jours qui arrivent.
Le lendemain, juste avant notre départ, Tony a fait les courses et se lance tout de suite dans la cuisine à peine rentré du boulot: il n'a pas encore eu le temps de me faire gouter au 'pâté chinois' et il ne peut pas me laisser partir dans cet état-là.
Après 30 minutes d'activité, il me servait donc un délicieux plat québécois qui ressemble en réalité beaucoup à notre hachis Parmentier...sauf qu'on rajoute à la savante combinaison du "blé d'Inde".
Mmm...pensez-vous, qu'est-ce donc que le "blé d'Inde"?
Et bah je vous laisse chercher et j'attends vos réponses!
Attention: les québecois n'ont pas le droit de participer...
Un soir, le jour avant notre départ-Jee me propose de faire une balade nocturne à Montréal:
-Lumières de la ville, sur le fleuve Saint-Laurent
-Promenade sur le Mont Royal.
On marche dans la neige, entre forêt et néons. L'air est frais et je me souviens de la Russie...
C'est troublant de penser qu'on s'est tous rencontré à Irkoutsk mais que pour les canadiens, le dépaysement était partout sauf dans le climat.
On a descendu une petite bière au sommet du Mont Royal, en admirant les lumières de la ville grâce à une superbe vue panoramique.
Je vais peut-être mettre une petite vidéo dans les jours qui arrivent.
Le lendemain, juste avant notre départ, Tony a fait les courses et se lance tout de suite dans la cuisine à peine rentré du boulot: il n'a pas encore eu le temps de me faire gouter au 'pâté chinois' et il ne peut pas me laisser partir dans cet état-là.
Après 30 minutes d'activité, il me servait donc un délicieux plat québécois qui ressemble en réalité beaucoup à notre hachis Parmentier...sauf qu'on rajoute à la savante combinaison du "blé d'Inde".
Mmm...pensez-vous, qu'est-ce donc que le "blé d'Inde"?
Et bah je vous laisse chercher et j'attends vos réponses!
Attention: les québecois n'ont pas le droit de participer...
Friday, May 02, 2008
De retour...
Bonjour à tous,
Vous vous en doutiez-même si j'ai rien écrit de nouveau sur le blog depuis un mois, je suis bien rentré en France. Sinon mon avion aurait sûrement fait la une des journaux le temps d'une journée. Ceci-dit, j'aurais pu fuir avec une actrice américaine et refaire ma vie sous un autre nom. D'ailleurs faudrait que je vous en reparle du problème du "nom" et de la vraie influence que cela peut avoir sur notre vie professionnelle.
Enfin, c'est pas au programme du jour. J'écris pour reprendre l'aventure ou je l'avais laissé.
Alors, reprenons, j'étais encore au Québec.
Déjà, je vous remets quelques photos prises en ville:
Et ici, nous sommes à une des portes du quartier chinois:
J'ai adoré le quartier chinois même s'il est tout petit, c'était vraiment curieux. On croise dans les rues des vieillards chinois et vietnamiens qui semble vraiment être restés en Chine dans leur esprit. Ils ont l'air hagard, sont restés habillés comme là-bas... Une atmosphère très spéciale se dégage de ce lieux.
Je suis d'ailleurs tomber par hasard sur le Centre Culturel de la Communauté Chinoise et je suis allé leur proposer de projeter mon film. Sur le moment on m'a dit oui puis on m'a même proposé une date mais depuis je n'ai pas de nouvelles.
Montréal est vraiment une ville qui a du charme, je me verrais bien y retourner pour y passer quelques années.
Bon, et puis le moment arrive ou je vais bien devoir vous parler d'une des grandes spécialités culinaires du Québec-j'ai gardé le secret trop longtemps mais il est maintenant temps de vous le faire découvrir-je parle bien sûr de "LA POUTINE".
C'est donc Jee et Erik qui m'ont fait découvrir ce plat exotique en m'emmenant dans le resto supposé le meilleur pour ce met délicat : "La Banquise".
Une présentation en images:
Vous vous en doutiez-même si j'ai rien écrit de nouveau sur le blog depuis un mois, je suis bien rentré en France. Sinon mon avion aurait sûrement fait la une des journaux le temps d'une journée. Ceci-dit, j'aurais pu fuir avec une actrice américaine et refaire ma vie sous un autre nom. D'ailleurs faudrait que je vous en reparle du problème du "nom" et de la vraie influence que cela peut avoir sur notre vie professionnelle.
Enfin, c'est pas au programme du jour. J'écris pour reprendre l'aventure ou je l'avais laissé.
Alors, reprenons, j'étais encore au Québec.
Déjà, je vous remets quelques photos prises en ville:
Et ici, nous sommes à une des portes du quartier chinois:
J'ai adoré le quartier chinois même s'il est tout petit, c'était vraiment curieux. On croise dans les rues des vieillards chinois et vietnamiens qui semble vraiment être restés en Chine dans leur esprit. Ils ont l'air hagard, sont restés habillés comme là-bas... Une atmosphère très spéciale se dégage de ce lieux.
Je suis d'ailleurs tomber par hasard sur le Centre Culturel de la Communauté Chinoise et je suis allé leur proposer de projeter mon film. Sur le moment on m'a dit oui puis on m'a même proposé une date mais depuis je n'ai pas de nouvelles.
Montréal est vraiment une ville qui a du charme, je me verrais bien y retourner pour y passer quelques années.
Bon, et puis le moment arrive ou je vais bien devoir vous parler d'une des grandes spécialités culinaires du Québec-j'ai gardé le secret trop longtemps mais il est maintenant temps de vous le faire découvrir-je parle bien sûr de "LA POUTINE".
C'est donc Jee et Erik qui m'ont fait découvrir ce plat exotique en m'emmenant dans le resto supposé le meilleur pour ce met délicat : "La Banquise".
Une présentation en images:
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Découverte de Montréal
Le lendemain matin, Tony avait eu la gentillesse d'avoir pris un jour de congé pour me montrer un peu la ville.
On a commencé à se promener un peu dans son quartier, c'est vrai que ça ressemble vraiment peu à chez nous...
Les trottoirs font trois fois les nôtres et les routes sont très larges. Son quartier est très cosmopolite et on trouve vraiment de tout, magasins de toutes sortes, restos péruviens, vietnamiens, québecois, etc.
Il m'a ensuite montré un très joli marché bien achalandé puis il m'a offert la possibilité de goûter à un “Tire sur la neige“...En fait, c'est du sirop d'érable liquide mais bien épais qu'on “tire“ sur de la neige et qui fait donc durcir le sirop sur une petite baguette de bois. On obtient donc une suçette à l'érable. C'est bon mais c'est copieux et bien fort en sucre...
Moi, je suis plutôt un adepte du salé mais c'est quand même bien intéressant.
Puis on a croisé des travailleurs qui nous ont jalousé et ont demandé à Tony où c'était “Le tire sur la neige“. Apparemment, c'est plutôt populaire!
Ensuite, Tony m'a emmené boire le meilleur café de Montréal. C'était dans un coin charmant, un quartier italien où tout était vraiment en italien. Le café était vraiment sympa et populaire, avec des vieux italiens attablés et une délicieuse odeur de café.
On a bu un ¨Latte¨ qui nous a bien réchauffé et on discuté du bon vieux temps.... C'est le genre d'endroit intemporel où on resterait bien des heures à papoter.
Le personnel, vera famiglia italiana, parlait italien, français et anglais sans broncher et c'était une bien belle image d'adaptation réussie.
Après on a pris un bus et j'ai découvert encore un truc bien amusant: les bus québecois disposent d'une cordelette qui pend tout autour de l'intérieur du bus et il faut tirer dessus pour signaler qu'on veut descendre au prochain arrêt (y'a aussi des boutons électriques bien sûr).
On s'est promené un peu en ville et j'ai pu admirer le bâtiment qui était le plus grand et le plus haut de l'empire Britannique à un moment donné.
Bien sûr, à l'échelle d'aujourd'hui, c'est pas si impressionnant que ça mais c'est historique.
Puis y a bien fallu manger alors on a choisi l'option du moins cher, le Peel Pub que Tony et Jee ont fréquenté assidûment il y a quelques années. Je ne pouvais donc pas manquer ce haut lieu historique. Je conseillerai pas pour ceux qui veulent garder la ligne...
Après avoir mangé, il faut boire et on est donc allé au Brutopia, un bistrot qui brasse sa propre bière et qui en a donc pas mal à proposer...
Le reste de l'après-midi a été promenade (j'ai aussi acheté les 2 cds de la québecoise Jorane qui me manquait) et Montréal est vraiment une très jolie ville avec beaucoup de charme.
Ils ont aussi une montagne (qui pour moi ressemble plus à une colline)qui s'appelle le Mont Royal et qui a donc donné son nom à la ville.
Le soir, y'avait un match important de Hockey à la télé qui a donné l'occasion de faire un beau dîner chez Tony avec la ¨Fondue chinoise¨ québecoise qui n'a rien de chinois et qui ressemble un peu à la fondue bourguignonne sauf qu'au lieu de l'huile, c'est un bon bouillon.
Voilà!
On a commencé à se promener un peu dans son quartier, c'est vrai que ça ressemble vraiment peu à chez nous...
Les trottoirs font trois fois les nôtres et les routes sont très larges. Son quartier est très cosmopolite et on trouve vraiment de tout, magasins de toutes sortes, restos péruviens, vietnamiens, québecois, etc.
Il m'a ensuite montré un très joli marché bien achalandé puis il m'a offert la possibilité de goûter à un “Tire sur la neige“...En fait, c'est du sirop d'érable liquide mais bien épais qu'on “tire“ sur de la neige et qui fait donc durcir le sirop sur une petite baguette de bois. On obtient donc une suçette à l'érable. C'est bon mais c'est copieux et bien fort en sucre...
Moi, je suis plutôt un adepte du salé mais c'est quand même bien intéressant.
Puis on a croisé des travailleurs qui nous ont jalousé et ont demandé à Tony où c'était “Le tire sur la neige“. Apparemment, c'est plutôt populaire!
Ensuite, Tony m'a emmené boire le meilleur café de Montréal. C'était dans un coin charmant, un quartier italien où tout était vraiment en italien. Le café était vraiment sympa et populaire, avec des vieux italiens attablés et une délicieuse odeur de café.
On a bu un ¨Latte¨ qui nous a bien réchauffé et on discuté du bon vieux temps.... C'est le genre d'endroit intemporel où on resterait bien des heures à papoter.
Le personnel, vera famiglia italiana, parlait italien, français et anglais sans broncher et c'était une bien belle image d'adaptation réussie.
Après on a pris un bus et j'ai découvert encore un truc bien amusant: les bus québecois disposent d'une cordelette qui pend tout autour de l'intérieur du bus et il faut tirer dessus pour signaler qu'on veut descendre au prochain arrêt (y'a aussi des boutons électriques bien sûr).
On s'est promené un peu en ville et j'ai pu admirer le bâtiment qui était le plus grand et le plus haut de l'empire Britannique à un moment donné.
Bien sûr, à l'échelle d'aujourd'hui, c'est pas si impressionnant que ça mais c'est historique.
Puis y a bien fallu manger alors on a choisi l'option du moins cher, le Peel Pub que Tony et Jee ont fréquenté assidûment il y a quelques années. Je ne pouvais donc pas manquer ce haut lieu historique. Je conseillerai pas pour ceux qui veulent garder la ligne...
Après avoir mangé, il faut boire et on est donc allé au Brutopia, un bistrot qui brasse sa propre bière et qui en a donc pas mal à proposer...
Le reste de l'après-midi a été promenade (j'ai aussi acheté les 2 cds de la québecoise Jorane qui me manquait) et Montréal est vraiment une très jolie ville avec beaucoup de charme.
Ils ont aussi une montagne (qui pour moi ressemble plus à une colline)qui s'appelle le Mont Royal et qui a donc donné son nom à la ville.Le soir, y'avait un match important de Hockey à la télé qui a donné l'occasion de faire un beau dîner chez Tony avec la ¨Fondue chinoise¨ québecoise qui n'a rien de chinois et qui ressemble un peu à la fondue bourguignonne sauf qu'au lieu de l'huile, c'est un bon bouillon.
Voilà!
Philadelphia Airport
The flight to the states went pretty well and despite all the bad things I had read about US Airways, Paris-Montreal via Philadelphia went fine.
I even changed my return ticket Durham-Philadelphia to be sure I'd have enough time to transit and they did that kindly and without requesting any extra fee.
My arrival to Philadelphia Airport was of course pretty strong with excitement: I would finally set foot in America.
I could finally check for myself and experience what everybody talks about.
I can't say I was very impressed with the service I found at the airport, people were actually quite rude, from the customs to the clerks working in all the food stores.
But of course I won't judge anything from there: that's airport service, not really a good mirror view of the general habits.
One particular example was my desire for a cup of coffee.
Starting to feel the time difference and being tired with the trip, I suddenly decided I should go and grab a coffee before my connecting flight to Montreal.
I took the cheapest one, it cost me about 2$ and something so I basically handed the lady 3 coins that I had personally identified as 3$.
If I remember well, there was absolutely no value written onto them.
The girl blurped in the most unpleasant way: “What is this?“as if I had just thrown a smelling dead fish on the counter.
“I said 2$30,“ she spits.
I get all confused by her lack of understanding.
“Is that not 3$? Sorry, I'm not used to US money.“
“Those are quarters she groans.“
Oops, I get it. I take a 5$ note and hand it to her.
“Mi'o'sug'r?“ another clerk asks.
“.... Sorry?
Oh...err....No, nothing thanks.“
“Black coffee then?“
“Yes, please.“
Then I leave with a full pint of piping hot coffee.
Just to close that wonderful Coffee Event, I'll just add that all I heard about american coffee was still below the truth.
My so-called “coffee“ was soon to end in the sink of the airport's restrooms.
For food, I did jump in the arena and face the lions with no fear and ordered a Chick'Fil'A combo Value sized!
Basically, that's a burger with a chicken filet, some greasy fries and a huge drink.
That was good to get to drink DrPepper again 'cos I kind of missed it after Scotland but the rest wasn't an unforgettable memory to say the least.
It's pretty exciting anyway to see how many fast food brands they have and I probably won't have time to try all of them. And if it's not the time, my stomach will probably give up before anyway. :)
...
I am now writing from Montreal where I arrived on time and without encountering any problems with the customs: my cheese and wine reached its destination safely :).
I even changed my return ticket Durham-Philadelphia to be sure I'd have enough time to transit and they did that kindly and without requesting any extra fee.
My arrival to Philadelphia Airport was of course pretty strong with excitement: I would finally set foot in America.
I could finally check for myself and experience what everybody talks about.
I can't say I was very impressed with the service I found at the airport, people were actually quite rude, from the customs to the clerks working in all the food stores.
But of course I won't judge anything from there: that's airport service, not really a good mirror view of the general habits.
One particular example was my desire for a cup of coffee.
Starting to feel the time difference and being tired with the trip, I suddenly decided I should go and grab a coffee before my connecting flight to Montreal.
I took the cheapest one, it cost me about 2$ and something so I basically handed the lady 3 coins that I had personally identified as 3$.
If I remember well, there was absolutely no value written onto them.
The girl blurped in the most unpleasant way: “What is this?“as if I had just thrown a smelling dead fish on the counter.
“I said 2$30,“ she spits.
I get all confused by her lack of understanding.
“Is that not 3$? Sorry, I'm not used to US money.“
“Those are quarters she groans.“
Oops, I get it. I take a 5$ note and hand it to her.
“Mi'o'sug'r?“ another clerk asks.
“.... Sorry?
Oh...err....No, nothing thanks.“
“Black coffee then?“
“Yes, please.“
Then I leave with a full pint of piping hot coffee.
Just to close that wonderful Coffee Event, I'll just add that all I heard about american coffee was still below the truth.
My so-called “coffee“ was soon to end in the sink of the airport's restrooms.
For food, I did jump in the arena and face the lions with no fear and ordered a Chick'Fil'A combo Value sized!
Basically, that's a burger with a chicken filet, some greasy fries and a huge drink.
That was good to get to drink DrPepper again 'cos I kind of missed it after Scotland but the rest wasn't an unforgettable memory to say the least.
It's pretty exciting anyway to see how many fast food brands they have and I probably won't have time to try all of them. And if it's not the time, my stomach will probably give up before anyway. :)
...
I am now writing from Montreal where I arrived on time and without encountering any problems with the customs: my cheese and wine reached its destination safely :).
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Arrived in Hangzhou!
Yep, we're in Hangzhou, all right!
Well, we can't say we've seen a lot of the city since we actually arrived around 6pm, it was already nearly dark and then it took us more than two hours to find a hotel with rooms available.
Yes, we didn't book ahead and sincerely regret it now. We are again in a Motel 168, which is actually a pretty good chain of affordable hotels, but the one of Hangzhou is really far from the city center... So we're already thinking of moving to another hotel tomorrow.
Ok, at least we have internet in the room so I just post this little message and will try to update some pictures.
Tonight, we had a nice dinner in a nearby restaurant:
-Water chestnuts with green chilis and bacon
-Chili beef
-Vegetable Spring Rolls
and some herbs we have no idea about their names.
We also had 2 local ''beers'' which were very rightfully called ''LIGHT'' beers...
They're the first beers i ever drank that have actually even less than 2 degrees of alcohol!
It really felt like bubbly water but was kind refresing, it's called XIHU, (west lake), in case you're interested.
OK, now I have to keep searching for another hotel so I'll leave you for now!
Stay tuned!
ORELena
Well, we can't say we've seen a lot of the city since we actually arrived around 6pm, it was already nearly dark and then it took us more than two hours to find a hotel with rooms available.
Yes, we didn't book ahead and sincerely regret it now. We are again in a Motel 168, which is actually a pretty good chain of affordable hotels, but the one of Hangzhou is really far from the city center... So we're already thinking of moving to another hotel tomorrow.
Ok, at least we have internet in the room so I just post this little message and will try to update some pictures.
Tonight, we had a nice dinner in a nearby restaurant:
-Water chestnuts with green chilis and bacon
-Chili beef
-Vegetable Spring Rolls
and some herbs we have no idea about their names.
We also had 2 local ''beers'' which were very rightfully called ''LIGHT'' beers...
They're the first beers i ever drank that have actually even less than 2 degrees of alcohol!
It really felt like bubbly water but was kind refresing, it's called XIHU, (west lake), in case you're interested.
OK, now I have to keep searching for another hotel so I'll leave you for now!
Stay tuned!
ORELena
Thursday, March 08, 2007
More about Kunming
Aurelien has already started talking about Kunming. I want to add that it's really a very nice city. We spent there only three days, I would have loved to stay there longer...
One of these days we spent at Xi Shan (West Mountain), visited temples there and Dragon Gate (with its grottoes, pavilions). To get down we took a cable car, which was fun.
On Monday we had our visas for Vietnam and we started forJinghong, Xishuangbanna Region taking a sleeper bus.
We were in Jinghong in the morning, had our breakfast and found a hotel - 30 yuan one night (3 euros). It was very hot there, I had to buy sandals (which cost me 3 euros). I was enjoying fresh juices there, for a siberian girl it was a paradise! Banana, mango shakes, pineapple,dragon fruit, passion fruit juices. !!
One day we rent bicycles and went to Ganlanba, 28km away from Jinghong. After 3 hours of cycling around we finally found the road. Except for cars, buses, big trucks passing by, we were really enjoying the ride along the Mekong River, making stops to take pictures, eat and try fresh pineapple. For the first time in my life I saw how pineapples grow!
We were quite tired when we arrived to Ganlanba. Knowing that we can sleep and eat in a Dai Minority Park, we went there. It's a nice place but is not worth paying 50 yuan. After a short visit, we found a place to sleep – a traditional Dai house (which was not easy, as you don't see many people around, and those whom you see are not willing to talk so much).
One of these days we spent at Xi Shan (West Mountain), visited temples there and Dragon Gate (with its grottoes, pavilions). To get down we took a cable car, which was fun.
On Monday we had our visas for Vietnam and we started forJinghong, Xishuangbanna Region taking a sleeper bus.
We were in Jinghong in the morning, had our breakfast and found a hotel - 30 yuan one night (3 euros). It was very hot there, I had to buy sandals (which cost me 3 euros). I was enjoying fresh juices there, for a siberian girl it was a paradise! Banana, mango shakes, pineapple,dragon fruit, passion fruit juices. !!
One day we rent bicycles and went to Ganlanba, 28km away from Jinghong. After 3 hours of cycling around we finally found the road. Except for cars, buses, big trucks passing by, we were really enjoying the ride along the Mekong River, making stops to take pictures, eat and try fresh pineapple. For the first time in my life I saw how pineapples grow!
We were quite tired when we arrived to Ganlanba. Knowing that we can sleep and eat in a Dai Minority Park, we went there. It's a nice place but is not worth paying 50 yuan. After a short visit, we found a place to sleep – a traditional Dai house (which was not easy, as you don't see many people around, and those whom you see are not willing to talk so much).
We left the place as early as we could. We got back to Jinghong, had a good shower and went to discover local specialities, which were pineapple stuffed with rice, banana leaves, etc.
The other day we were leaving for Mengzi (16hours bus ride, terrible roads, bad sleep), hoping to take a bus there to Hekou, chinese city on the border with Vietnam. We were in Mengzi at 6 in the morning. The bus driver found a «taxi» for us in no time, and soon we were sharing it with 2 chinese, thinking that we were almost in Hekou.
(Unfortunately, I don't have a better picture of our taxi. But it gives an idea of what it was.)
When the taxi stopped, the chinese suggested to have breakfast ( a big bowl of noodle soup), after what he showed us where the bus station was. That's when we realised that we were still far from Hekou. "No buses to Hekou, you have to wait", - said a woman in the ticket-office. But for how long, she couldn't tell. We had no choice but having a seat and getting ready to wait for hours. In 15 minutes the chinese guy came to pick us up, he had found a car which would take us to Hekou (100yuan for two persons). Of course, we were happy that he helped us and that we would be in Hekou in about 2 hours (I saw that we were 160km away from Hekou). We were in Hekou 4 hours later, feeling no part of our body, having a head-ache and exhausted!!!
(Unfortunately, I don't have a better picture of our taxi. But it gives an idea of what it was.)When the taxi stopped, the chinese suggested to have breakfast ( a big bowl of noodle soup), after what he showed us where the bus station was. That's when we realised that we were still far from Hekou. "No buses to Hekou, you have to wait", - said a woman in the ticket-office. But for how long, she couldn't tell. We had no choice but having a seat and getting ready to wait for hours. In 15 minutes the chinese guy came to pick us up, he had found a car which would take us to Hekou (100yuan for two persons). Of course, we were happy that he helped us and that we would be in Hekou in about 2 hours (I saw that we were 160km away from Hekou). We were in Hekou 4 hours later, feeling no part of our body, having a head-ache and exhausted!!!
It was so hot there! We decided to cross the border first, as it closes at 4p.m. Chinese boys-customs were happy to see foreigners (they must have been really quite bored there). They checked every single visa in my passport, and didn't recognise Georgia's visa. I said it was visa for Georgia, but they couldn't understand the name of the country. It was funny but we were too tired to have fun with them.
An hour later, we were finally crossing the chinese-vietnamese border on foot. It feels so strange to find yourself in another country with a completely different architecture, language, money and one hour back in time just in 2-3 minutes. You just have to cross the bridge, it sounds so simple.
It was the end of our Chinese adventures. And Vietnamese adventures were waiting for us... The first was .......Vietnamese New Year....... Chuc Mung Nam Moi!!!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Kunming-Pictures 1
Hello!
Ok, so we haven't really had time to order all our pictures yet, but at least we can start showing some here now!
So, when we left for holidays, our first step was Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province.
We flew there at night and slept in a lousy hotel...But we had a great surprise in the morning, only a walk away from the hotel there was a little lake completely crowded with hundreds of Siberian seagulls flying all around it and kids and elders feeding them.
It was really impressive and i took about hundred pictures of the birds, without great success i must admit. : (
My dad would have loved that!
Now, this is a little island on that lake when so many people gather to play music, sing, dance, or just relax. A really sweet place.
That is what we saw on some food stalls while walking at night. We didn't try it though. Can you see what it is?
Ok, that's all for today... There is more to come soon!
See you!
ORELena
Ok, so we haven't really had time to order all our pictures yet, but at least we can start showing some here now!
So, when we left for holidays, our first step was Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province.
We flew there at night and slept in a lousy hotel...But we had a great surprise in the morning, only a walk away from the hotel there was a little lake completely crowded with hundreds of Siberian seagulls flying all around it and kids and elders feeding them.
It was really impressive and i took about hundred pictures of the birds, without great success i must admit. : (
My dad would have loved that!
Now, this is a little island on that lake when so many people gather to play music, sing, dance, or just relax. A really sweet place.
That is what we saw on some food stalls while walking at night. We didn't try it though. Can you see what it is?
Ok, that's all for today... There is more to come soon!
See you!
ORELena
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Bon Anniversaire!
Well, I said I would talk a bit about my birthday so here is a small text i had written in french and i am now too tired to translate it:
Vendredi, la veille de mon anniversaire, mes élèves ont été vraiment super.
Ils avaient un grand test de 2 heures l'après-midi alors c'était pas trop facile pour eux mais ils ont quand même été adorables.
Le matin, 5 minutes avant la fin du cours, à 11h25, un des meilleurs étudiants dit qu'il veut aller aux toilettes.
Je lui demande d'attendre 5 minutes mais il dit que c'est pressé. Je me moque un peu de lui et le laisse finalement sortir à cause de son insistance.
Dès qu'il est sorti, je fais un sermon à la classee en disant qu'ils sont vraiment comme des bébés qui ne peuvent pas se retenir 5 minutes...Puis l'étudiant revient...avec un énorme bouquet de fleurs et un énorme gâteau!!
Je me retrouve tout confus de m'être moqué comme ça.
Puis il y'a une carte signée par tous les élèves: "Pour le professeur, nous vous aimons". : )
Nous décidons donc de manger le gâteau avant le grand test, à 13h. Des élèves m'invitent à manger à la cantine de la fac.Enfin, deux anciennes élèves qui avaient quitté la classe sont venues spécialement pour me souhaiter un bon anniversaire.
J'ai acheté du jus d'orange et on a tous mangé le gâteau.
Ils avaient même demandé au patissier d'écrire "Joyeux Anniversaire" en Français dessus (imaginez le chinois en train de copier le papier tendu par mes élèves...)!
Une étudiante, future maman, m'a même offert une petite bouteille de Ice Wine, un vin canadien dont l'ami Tony nous avait parlé,
un vin assez réputé je crois. J'étais vraiment touché.
Voilà des petites photos souvenirs:
Vendredi, la veille de mon anniversaire, mes élèves ont été vraiment super.
Ils avaient un grand test de 2 heures l'après-midi alors c'était pas trop facile pour eux mais ils ont quand même été adorables.
Le matin, 5 minutes avant la fin du cours, à 11h25, un des meilleurs étudiants dit qu'il veut aller aux toilettes.
Je lui demande d'attendre 5 minutes mais il dit que c'est pressé. Je me moque un peu de lui et le laisse finalement sortir à cause de son insistance.
Dès qu'il est sorti, je fais un sermon à la classee en disant qu'ils sont vraiment comme des bébés qui ne peuvent pas se retenir 5 minutes...Puis l'étudiant revient...avec un énorme bouquet de fleurs et un énorme gâteau!!
Je me retrouve tout confus de m'être moqué comme ça.
Puis il y'a une carte signée par tous les élèves: "Pour le professeur, nous vous aimons". : )
Nous décidons donc de manger le gâteau avant le grand test, à 13h. Des élèves m'invitent à manger à la cantine de la fac.Enfin, deux anciennes élèves qui avaient quitté la classe sont venues spécialement pour me souhaiter un bon anniversaire.
J'ai acheté du jus d'orange et on a tous mangé le gâteau.
Ils avaient même demandé au patissier d'écrire "Joyeux Anniversaire" en Français dessus (imaginez le chinois en train de copier le papier tendu par mes élèves...)!
Une étudiante, future maman, m'a même offert une petite bouteille de Ice Wine, un vin canadien dont l'ami Tony nous avait parlé,
un vin assez réputé je crois. J'étais vraiment touché.
Voilà des petites photos souvenirs:
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Ice creams...
Yes, I know, it's not exactly "a propos", seeing the cold we have at the moment, but I finally got the chance to scan my Icecream wrappings that I had kept since last summer. So you'll finally have the chance to see the great veriety of ice creams we have here.
...From top to bottom:
-Delicious Brown Beans Icecream , really tasty!
-Funny Green peas Ice cream, interesting and really unusual in anyway, texture and taste. You must try that one!
-hum hum...Yes, you read well:
Fried Bread Ice cream, with bread, carrot and milk taste. A winning combination! ; )
-Then last but not least, the best one:
Corn Ice cream, it's a delicious creamy ice cream looking and tasting like corn.
Our favorite!!
Hope you'll look for them if you ever come to China!
ORELena
...From top to bottom:
-Delicious Brown Beans Icecream , really tasty!
-Funny Green peas Ice cream, interesting and really unusual in anyway, texture and taste. You must try that one!
-hum hum...Yes, you read well:
Fried Bread Ice cream, with bread, carrot and milk taste. A winning combination! ; )
-Then last but not least, the best one:
Corn Ice cream, it's a delicious creamy ice cream looking and tasting like corn.
Our favorite!!
Hope you'll look for them if you ever come to China!
ORELena
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Felice 2007!
2007...
Here it is, let's see what we'll make of it.
We awoke on the first day of this year in a Beijing hostel room, with sun beaming through the curtains, the chinese flag flying right under it.
We came here to meet Lena's parents who came down to China to make some shopping and meet us for the celebration...and we had the nice surprise to find snow falling over Beijing.
Quite a strange feeling, far from the siberian snow we were used to.
So, here we are, 1st january 2007. Lucky number. Surprisingly no Hang over. Probably the first time in the last...what, 10 years? ; )
So I did grow old, didn't I?
On that day, we went to have an amazing lunch in the Tibetan Restaurant Makye Ame, I highly recommend that place with great style and a very helpful staff. I followed the waitress's recommendations and we really had a gorgeous meal.
Then it was time to head back to Wuhan and back to work.
-
Once home, we understood that we still didn't get internet back, until, well...yesterday!
So that kind of delayed all the greetings and the blog updates... I hope we'll be able to be more regular now.
--
Between Christmas and New Year, I made myself a great present too: I bought myself a really cool Ultra-wide angle lens. That is the Sigma 10-20mm, f4-5.6.
I'll try to add some of the shots I took with it so you get an idea of what it can do.
Of course, once again, it's not the camera nor the lens that makes good pictures, so I still have a lot to learn! : )
---
So, just before leaving you until the next entry, I want to wish all of you a very very very happy Year 2007, hoping that health, love and success will be by your side at all times...
Love,
ORELena
Beijing Main Train Station
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Sugar Candy!
On Monday, we had the chance of having a little bit of sun showing up, so we went and had a walk in our neigbourhood village.
There we saw that old man doing lollipop out of sugar candy, 2 minutes are enough for him to make a very beautifully shaped lollipop out of melting sugar. The patterns are done just like that, without any mould or anything. That's really impressive.
And good too, as Lena said! : )
This profession is now slowly disapearing though... We were lucky to see that.
There we saw that old man doing lollipop out of sugar candy, 2 minutes are enough for him to make a very beautifully shaped lollipop out of melting sugar. The patterns are done just like that, without any mould or anything. That's really impressive.
And good too, as Lena said! : )
This profession is now slowly disapearing though... We were lucky to see that.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Basically just staying home...
Well, the weather being so cold, grey and rainy... I can't really say we're doing much but staying home, most of the time in bed (the only warm area of the flat) watching movies...
So of course, that makes us not having many interesting things to write on the blog.
One good thing: Lena is finally much better and she already started working again.
Last friday we went to have a dinner in a Restaurant with some friends and I ordered some kind of hot pot with beef.
But my chinese being what it is, when the waitress brought the dish, we were all puzzled about the meat.
It was NOT beef. Fish maybe? or Turtle?
After about 10 minutes of trying and guessing, we called the waitress to have confirmation.
That was bullfrogs... : )
So basically, i wasn't so far when I pronounced Beef...Beef-bull, whatever, they just added frogs to it.
It was good anyway.
Have a nice day all of you!!
ORElena
PS: the next posts will probably be about some readings or movies we recommend, waiting for stuff to talk about...
So of course, that makes us not having many interesting things to write on the blog.
One good thing: Lena is finally much better and she already started working again.
Last friday we went to have a dinner in a Restaurant with some friends and I ordered some kind of hot pot with beef.
But my chinese being what it is, when the waitress brought the dish, we were all puzzled about the meat.
It was NOT beef. Fish maybe? or Turtle?
After about 10 minutes of trying and guessing, we called the waitress to have confirmation.
That was bullfrogs... : )
So basically, i wasn't so far when I pronounced Beef...Beef-bull, whatever, they just added frogs to it.
It was good anyway.
Have a nice day all of you!!
ORElena
PS: the next posts will probably be about some readings or movies we recommend, waiting for stuff to talk about...
Monday, October 16, 2006
Our Village
The place where we live we all call "a village".
It's far from the center - 2hours by bus to the Business center, 40minutes to the closest big supermarket. There are cows and hens walking around; people are quite poor; shops do not have as a wide selection; restaurants are cheap...
But this is a developing village. When we arrived we had only 1 nice restaurant-with free magazines to read, plants and pictures on the walls. Some weeks ago they opened a new one, even nicer! We've tried it - we had a pigeon I guess (we found the claws in the dish, it made fore for a cringy surprise...) and the restaurant offered us fruits for desert, because we were the first foreigners there. : )
If some of you comes over here, we'll take you mostly to these 2 retaurants. All other places require self-control and blindness, matters in which we became masters. You pretend not to see how they (don't?) wash dishes, how they cook, how the kitchen and cooks look. Yes, otherwise you may just starve in China. If you buy food in the street, it's with same unwashed hands that the woman cashes in the dirty money and takes care of kneading the dough or making dumplings.
Some days ago, we came across a european restaurant. Yes, they eat with forks there. Actually, they eat with spoons but cut food with a fork.
Shopping is quite possible here as well. Mostly students work there and they like to work on the design. I have to admit that they do have a lot of creativity and ideas for this.
We have 2 bakers and several minimarkets around.
Hairdresser's are the "elite" of the village. They are the most fashionable guys around the village and they listen to cool music. They have a lot of clients, by the way. I decided, if I go there I'll take my own towel. I saw theirs drying outside in the dirt........
You can have a lot of fun in the village. There are pool tables all along the streets. Students love billiard! When I said I had never played billiard before, I understood from their faces that I was retarded. But then they coped with themselves and said they would teach me!
In the campus we wake up with music that they put at 6 in the morning . Sundays are not exceptions... This gives you energy for the whole day!
KTVs (karaoke) are incredibly popular here. We've never tried it but we should. It's just I thought I didn't have good voice but after all the sounds I heard from karaoke bars I decided that I have all chances to become a local star!!!
We have bars, which have a wide selection of soft or alcoholic drinks and teas are on the menu but you can get just a beer and in the best case a very expensive tea. There is even one bar in the village with books and magazines, which you can read for free!
There are discos on Fridays and Saturdays in the campus . They turn on the light (this does not happen often!) and put music, everybody is welcome to dance. Chinese like to dance in crowds. If a song stops, the crowd runs away from the stage, if a new song starts, a crowd runs back to the stage. They even put russian music here.
There are many internet bars around, students download and watch films there, sometimes quite sexual. They don't care, nobody bothers them and nobody tries to join.
The DVD renting place is an interesting experience. It's actually a cinema. You can choose a room - private, common or a big one if you come with your friends. In a common room there are computers with DVD players and headphones. In a private room you have a TV+DVDplayer and a couch, and you can lock the door... You can also just rent a DVD - 0,2 cents.
Oh, and I forgot about fireworks! Every time somebody opens a restaurant or a shop, he launches fireworks: in the daytime, in the evening, but what is more important - it happens every day! Yes, we live in a partying village!
Orelena.
It's far from the center - 2hours by bus to the Business center, 40minutes to the closest big supermarket. There are cows and hens walking around; people are quite poor; shops do not have as a wide selection; restaurants are cheap...
But this is a developing village. When we arrived we had only 1 nice restaurant-with free magazines to read, plants and pictures on the walls. Some weeks ago they opened a new one, even nicer! We've tried it - we had a pigeon I guess (we found the claws in the dish, it made fore for a cringy surprise...) and the restaurant offered us fruits for desert, because we were the first foreigners there. : )
If some of you comes over here, we'll take you mostly to these 2 retaurants. All other places require self-control and blindness, matters in which we became masters. You pretend not to see how they (don't?) wash dishes, how they cook, how the kitchen and cooks look. Yes, otherwise you may just starve in China. If you buy food in the street, it's with same unwashed hands that the woman cashes in the dirty money and takes care of kneading the dough or making dumplings.
Some days ago, we came across a european restaurant. Yes, they eat with forks there. Actually, they eat with spoons but cut food with a fork.
Shopping is quite possible here as well. Mostly students work there and they like to work on the design. I have to admit that they do have a lot of creativity and ideas for this.
We have 2 bakers and several minimarkets around.
Hairdresser's are the "elite" of the village. They are the most fashionable guys around the village and they listen to cool music. They have a lot of clients, by the way. I decided, if I go there I'll take my own towel. I saw theirs drying outside in the dirt........
You can have a lot of fun in the village. There are pool tables all along the streets. Students love billiard! When I said I had never played billiard before, I understood from their faces that I was retarded. But then they coped with themselves and said they would teach me!
In the campus we wake up with music that they put at 6 in the morning . Sundays are not exceptions... This gives you energy for the whole day!
KTVs (karaoke) are incredibly popular here. We've never tried it but we should. It's just I thought I didn't have good voice but after all the sounds I heard from karaoke bars I decided that I have all chances to become a local star!!!
We have bars, which have a wide selection of soft or alcoholic drinks and teas are on the menu but you can get just a beer and in the best case a very expensive tea. There is even one bar in the village with books and magazines, which you can read for free!
There are discos on Fridays and Saturdays in the campus . They turn on the light (this does not happen often!) and put music, everybody is welcome to dance. Chinese like to dance in crowds. If a song stops, the crowd runs away from the stage, if a new song starts, a crowd runs back to the stage. They even put russian music here.
There are many internet bars around, students download and watch films there, sometimes quite sexual. They don't care, nobody bothers them and nobody tries to join.
The DVD renting place is an interesting experience. It's actually a cinema. You can choose a room - private, common or a big one if you come with your friends. In a common room there are computers with DVD players and headphones. In a private room you have a TV+DVDplayer and a couch, and you can lock the door... You can also just rent a DVD - 0,2 cents.
Oh, and I forgot about fireworks! Every time somebody opens a restaurant or a shop, he launches fireworks: in the daytime, in the evening, but what is more important - it happens every day! Yes, we live in a partying village!
Orelena.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Beijing Street Food
Ok, we're finally back on track...
We are very sorry for the lack of update, we really have had a hard time writing everyday with the internet keeping cutting off with no notice, but at least we'll try to post a photograph everyday!
We just came back from a week of holidays in Beijing...
It was the mid-autumn festival, in China like in Vietnam... Julian Pitt the vietnamese knows what I'm talking about.
It's the celebration of the moon!
The day of the year where the moon forms the most perfect circle. This year was the 6th of October.
People eat mooncakes and gather with the family. So we gathered the very small family, that wasn't very hard to gather, and we left for Beijing to have some nice holidays...
We will probably not have much to say in the coming days so we'll talk about the Beijing Days instead.
As a start, I am happy to share with you one of the things that startled me the most in the 'Grab and Eat' category.
I let you get a close look and try to guess what's in there...
That's all for today, see you all soon!
PS: Bad news for all the mantis lovers, our dear Lucy apparently fell sick (or starved?) and she departed this world. Believe it or not, both Lena and I got real sad about it... Who would have thought?
We are very sorry for the lack of update, we really have had a hard time writing everyday with the internet keeping cutting off with no notice, but at least we'll try to post a photograph everyday!
We just came back from a week of holidays in Beijing...
It was the mid-autumn festival, in China like in Vietnam... Julian Pitt the vietnamese knows what I'm talking about.
It's the celebration of the moon!
The day of the year where the moon forms the most perfect circle. This year was the 6th of October.
People eat mooncakes and gather with the family. So we gathered the very small family, that wasn't very hard to gather, and we left for Beijing to have some nice holidays...
We will probably not have much to say in the coming days so we'll talk about the Beijing Days instead.
As a start, I am happy to share with you one of the things that startled me the most in the 'Grab and Eat' category.
I let you get a close look and try to guess what's in there...
That's all for today, see you all soon!
PS: Bad news for all the mantis lovers, our dear Lucy apparently fell sick (or starved?) and she departed this world. Believe it or not, both Lena and I got real sad about it... Who would have thought?
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Drinking China 2
Well, here we are, a week later and still no internet at home...
I am now taking a few minutes at work to try to post some message on the blog, and it's time to talk about...
Soft drinks!
As said previously, you really have a huge panel to chose from.
Cold coffes, Cold teas (nothing to do with the chemical and over sugary Nesteas and Ice Teas we've got back home), jelly things, funny fruit juices (tried yesterday Strawberry-Tomato) and so many more things I wouldn't dare give a name.
Although many are chemically charged, many are also really delicious.I always said that I had never found a soft drink that I really loved (The now deceased Liptonic had come close) but here I am really delighted.
Some cold fruit flavoured milks are really perfect and healthy.
Then, there's also fresh Coconut juice, peanut milk and many more weird natural energetic drinks that will keep your palate excited for months.
Amongst the drinks worth mentioning because they look funny, taste funny (when not simply awful), you'll find very colourful drinks in which swim small balls and pieces of fruit.
Well, you think they're pieces of fruit before you've tried them...Because they seem actually completely chemical. See the two pictures.
****
What else can I say?
The military training for the freshmen is over in our University but still going on in many city University, and that's always quite impressive to see so many people in uniform...
Lucy is still haunting our window, looking after her "Ootheque", which, according to a page I found on the net, will blossom and give birth to about 60 baby praying mantis...
That is an extremely delightful thought when you think of how much insectophobiac I am and how big the holes are between the window and the bedroom. Anyway, I am not planning to kick her out of our balcony because:
A-I've always said that 'inside the house belongs to me, but the outside-including the balcony-belongs to mother nature and all of her creatures.
B-I started to really adopt Lucy, I even happen to think i would miss her if she left...
C-I am far too scared to kick her out.
Ok, what more? i want to thank everyone for the comments and mails, I am very sorry I don't answer very fast but that doesn't mean I forget you. Actually, that blog is for you too.
See you soon, Orel
I am now taking a few minutes at work to try to post some message on the blog, and it's time to talk about...
Soft drinks!
As said previously, you really have a huge panel to chose from.
Cold coffes, Cold teas (nothing to do with the chemical and over sugary Nesteas and Ice Teas we've got back home), jelly things, funny fruit juices (tried yesterday Strawberry-Tomato) and so many more things I wouldn't dare give a name.
Although many are chemically charged, many are also really delicious.I always said that I had never found a soft drink that I really loved (The now deceased Liptonic had come close) but here I am really delighted.
Some cold fruit flavoured milks are really perfect and healthy.
Then, there's also fresh Coconut juice, peanut milk and many more weird natural energetic drinks that will keep your palate excited for months.
Amongst the drinks worth mentioning because they look funny, taste funny (when not simply awful), you'll find very colourful drinks in which swim small balls and pieces of fruit.
Well, you think they're pieces of fruit before you've tried them...Because they seem actually completely chemical. See the two pictures.
****
What else can I say?
The military training for the freshmen is over in our University but still going on in many city University, and that's always quite impressive to see so many people in uniform...
Lucy is still haunting our window, looking after her "Ootheque", which, according to a page I found on the net, will blossom and give birth to about 60 baby praying mantis...
That is an extremely delightful thought when you think of how much insectophobiac I am and how big the holes are between the window and the bedroom. Anyway, I am not planning to kick her out of our balcony because:
A-I've always said that 'inside the house belongs to me, but the outside-including the balcony-belongs to mother nature and all of her creatures.
B-I started to really adopt Lucy, I even happen to think i would miss her if she left...
C-I am far too scared to kick her out.
Ok, what more? i want to thank everyone for the comments and mails, I am very sorry I don't answer very fast but that doesn't mean I forget you. Actually, that blog is for you too.
See you soon, Orel
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Drinking China
Well, we meant to write yesterday but were too tired to...
I came home at ten and I was so knackered that I just ate and went to bed.
And today, i've got my afternoon free and i was thinking of writing for the blog but the internet's been cut off and it should be so for another week...
So if you get this message, that means I managed to send it from the office.Today I am going to give you a little taste of China...
Giving you a small sample of the funny things we've found in supermarkets here.We'll start with the drinks!
China is like no other place I've been too on that level. I already tried a lot of funny asian drinks before coming here, herbal jelly drinks, exotic fruit drinks and all, but there is such a wider variety here that you could not try everything even if managed to survive the experience after a month.Our first mistake was to be fooled by the meaning of the words they use.
When a chinese says (or writes) Beer or Wine, that doesn't actually mean it IS beer or wine.
For example, they've got Lychee beers which are no beers, and so do they with orange and pineapple beers. All of these are fuzzy drinks but I seriously doubt they've got any element that could classify them in the beer category.
Then, although the ones i quoted so far are not frankly good nor bad, we have to give a special prize for the BLUE DIAMOND beer, that's got a lemon pictured on it but actually tastes slightly of lychee and is quite a pleasant drink.
On the photograph, only the can on the left is actually a real beer.
We were also surprised by the fact that we saw people drinking alone big beers, even bigger than the usual russian ones...
Units are all messed up here, they use ml but you can't find two bottles with the same quantity: 642, 500, 450, 466m...Their small cans of coke or else are of 345 or 350ml.
But the good thing to say is that their beer are very light in alcohol, from 3 to 4 most of the time, but they don't taste as bland and watery as all these fashionable summer or trendy beers like Brahma or Baltika Colours...
I can't say they're fantastic beers but then again I only tried the casual ones.
You should know that a half liter beer costs about 0,20 cents. Yes. China is a good place to live. : )
About wine: They call wine both the thing WE call wine and the rice alcool and liquors they make.
That means drinking a bottle of wine can mean you're going to taste some chinese wine or roll under the table with some of their 50 degrees wine alcohols...Next post: The soft drinks...
Yes, i even taste those.
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