we went to qiandao (literally, thousand islands) lake last weekend. it’s a man-made lake near hangzhou, that resulted from the construction of a hydroelectric station: when the water rose, +1000 “islands” were born, hence the name.
the landscape is impressive, if sad.
while the ferry hops between the different islands (curiously themed and mildly touristically explored), one has the feeling of floating between mountain tops, cirurgically cut with level lines.
(more photos, on flickr.)
one day we were strolling around the crowded carrefour and couldn’t help to notice the huge pile of these little dried berries… they spread a strong scent across the corridor, quite irresistible… so I packed a handful and brought them home, willing to experiment with them. “hua jiao” they are called, literally “flower pepper” – promising.
on the first occasion, i poured quite a few on our steaks. the result was… hum… interesting. despite the name, they’re not spicy at all. the steaks were ok, but, as we discovered (amidst a laugh attack) the berries are actually very, very tongue numbing! that was totally unexpected! we spent the rest of the meal dodging them on our plates… they looked so innocent!
as i’ve later discovered, they’re used in sichuan hotpot to improve the other tastes and the spiciness of the meal itself.
more on gastronomic discoveries to come.
sunday. we enter the elevator with some kids and their parents. the kids (2 boys of around 7) are giggling and mutter “waiguo ren” (foreigners).
they’re talking about us, so i gently correct him and say “putaoya ren” which means portuguese. (and also that we can understand him :P).
he laughs, a bit shy, and conspires with his friend and parents which urge him to speak to us, and then he says “how do you do?”, in english. i say “fine, thank you, and you?”, “just so-so”, he replies and then they leave the elevator.
“just so-so” is the translation of “mama huhu”, the typical answer for a “nihao ma?” (how are you?). the chinese will not usually say they are good, or very good, or any other extreme feelings, and rather settle for a moderate answer.
they are just so-so. it’s a funny detail.
this is the view from our living room, at 8 am in the morning.
it’s hard to forget there is a problem when you have this kind of daily reminder.
from the message in the bag above, you would say that its contents came from:
a) a chinese pharmacy
b) a fake dvd’s store
c) a visa agency
d) a veterinarian clinic
e) a carnivore plant shop
e) ______________________ (add your own suggestion)