[Excerpt taken from an e-mail written to 3 of my girlfriends from work on Friday, 5 June 2009]
Dear girls,
Sorry it's taken me so long to say this but better late than never... thanks for catching up over dinner at Mocha Jo's back in early May. Had a really fun time over good food and even better company!
Since that time, I spent about 5 days back in Malaysia catching up with relatives and my husband's old school mates. Malaysia is always one big gastronomic tour because the variety of food available is simply astounding! Also, coffee shops don't close till about 3am every morning and they re-open at about 5am so there is always food at practically any hour you crave for anything.
After Malaysia, we flew to China and our first stop was Hainan island down south. We only had 3 days in Hainan but it is basically marketed as the Hawaii of Asia. Most of the tourists there are local Chinese from the north who head down south for some tropical sun, surf and sand. There is now a large and emerging tourist market catering for Korean, Japanese and Russian tourists on Hainan island. We drank a lot of coconut juice and ate the two specialities of Hainan island - wengchang chicken (chicken fed on a diet of wild rice and peanuts served with rice cooked in the chicken's juices) and dongshan mutton (black wooled sheep from the mountain regions of hainan that were fed with orchids and camellias so their meat is very sweet and the dish is cooked in coconut milk - quite delicious and i don't usually eat lamb/mutton because i think sheep are too cute to eat... i know, my husband still laughs at that one!). The local beers in China are also good and cheap - some are even cheaper than water!
We then caught a train which is broken into two and then loaded onto a ferry! Nothing is impossible for the Chinese! This is how we crossed the South China Sea from Hainan island to the Chinese mainland! It was amazing to experience and watch. We met some nice businessmen on our sleeper train who were very kind to shout us yum cha when we arrived at a city called Guangzhou on the mainland. Incidentally, Guangzhou is the city where yum cha was birthed way before the Hong Kong people embraced and claimed yum cha as their own. The highlight of my time in Guangzhou was a visit to the tea market - I learnt so much about tea and will enter a blog entry about tea when I get the chance!
After Guangzhou, we flew up north to Beijing, the capital city. Unfortunately, the Chinese government has blogspot blocked in Beijing (I am not sure about the rest of the country) and even sites like youtube have been blocked for almost a year now! This is the sort of thing you get when controlled by a central communist government. All emails are monitored too by the way.
We're staying with a friend and enjoying the comforts of her apartment in Beijing at the moment. We've gotten to know Beijing really well having had so much time here and I know almost all the subway stations now (and there are heaps and heaps and heaps of them!)! We're actually already a week behind in our itinerary primarily because we have been trying to get all the 7 visas we need for Central Asia and Mongolia. It has not been easy and dealing with soviet style bureaucracy has been a very steep learning curve for us. At least we have also learnt a lot about culture and the mind sets of these former soviet and communist states. At Kazakhstan's embassy, we had to wait 3 days outside the embassy to finally reach the counter to get our visa applications processed! Once I got to the counter, the steely Russian ice queen at the counter would not process my application because one document had my Chinese name spelt as AL LI instead of of AI LI (ie. just one letter wrong). The worst thing is, this document was produced by the Kazakh Department of Foreign Affairs and she had just printed it out from their system - it wasn't even my mistake but theirs! So this gives you an idea of what we had to deal with. And this is just one embassy.... the others also had their own set of hiccups. The only smooth one was the Uzbekistan one which issued us visas in 1 hour - a real miracle! But, we have now learnt that a skirmish has broken out in Uzbekistan and its border with Kyrgyzstan is now closed! Hopefully, by next month the border will re-open as that is when we plan to head over.
But, we have also been assured that everything is in God's control and timing and travelling makes you trust God so much more. So many other things have fallen into place because we have had to stay longer in Beijing. We also waited outside the Kazakh embassy for 3 days and met another couple - a guy from Spain and a girl from Argentina who were just in front of us in the queue. We became friends through the whole experience, so much so that they have invited us to their wedding in May next year in Spain! We probably won't be able to make it but we definitely know that everything happens for a reason especially when we wake up each morning and pray for God to guide our day and order our plans for the day ahead. It is really reassuring to know we're not in this alone!
Our experience of China itself has been wonderful. Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, the Olympic Park, Bei Hai Park (it has beautiful lotus flowers and ducks in the lake and beautiful weeping willows by its banks... very pretty!) etc. have all exceeded our expectations in grandiosity. You begin to realise just how amazing and rich the Chinese civilisation and its history truly is. Beijing is ultra modern now due to the Olympics last year. Wangfujing is a big shopping district in the heart of the city and it looks like Little America in China with Louis Vuitton/Gucci/Prada/Starbucks, Haagen Das/Baskin Robbins here, there and everywhere. They still replay snippets from the Olympics on the little screens on almost every subway line. Obviously, they are still very proud of the whole event. It is charming that the Chinese have not built the new Beijing on top of the old like many other cities in the world. They have managed to preserve many of the hutong courtyards and alleyways around the city.
I must start packing for my early flight to Ulanbaatar (capital of Mongolia) tomorrow now. I am excited about the next leg of our journey and have been asked by a magazine editor i met in Malaysia to submit an article of my experience in Mongolia as she may be interested in buying it. It will be nice to do some some 'work' again that is of a fun nature!
Love,
Steph
Saturday, June 20, 2009
My Mongolian Diary
These are my final few hours in Mongolia and in 4 hours, I will be back on a plane heading back to a swelteringly hot Beijing. We have spent 2 weeks in Mongolia. We spent the first week on the tourist route and so I will share my diary on tshi week in brief.
The second week was more of a personal and spiritual soujourn and so too private to blog but perhaps i may get an opportunity to share in person with any of you over a coffee someday in the not too distant future.
Kenneth and I have thoroughly enjoyed Mongolia - the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.
Here's a rundown of our first week in Mongolia...
We have been staying at Khongor Guesthouse on Peace Avenue in the heart of UB as our base. We spent the first week joining a tour with Khongor Tours as it was the most convenient thing to do and the Khongor manager, Toroo has been very friendly, helpful and obliging. Initially, we only had 7 days to see Mongolia and Toroo and his wife recommended a tour in a westerly direction to Central Mongolia considering our timeframe and the fact we wanted to see the more lush and green landscapes as opposed to the Gobi desert which most Europeans travellers tend to opt for.
Our tour experience to Central Mongolia was wonderful despite very bumpy 2-4 hour drives across pot holed land (they weren't even proper roads!) from one destination to the next. Roughest rides I have ever had in my life but the novelty made it a fun adventure. We were very well looked after by our English speaking guide Iwho also doubled as our cook!), Hogee and our experienced driver, Jooweh. Whilst UB itself is probably the ugliest city I have ever been to with its soviet style buildings and high crime rate, Mongolia has the most vast and varied landscapes I have ever laid eyes on. Mix empty deserts, snowcapped mountains, dramatic gorges, yellow grass steppe lands and sparkling lakes and you have the Mongolian countryside!
The highlights of our time to Central Mongolia were:
- Staying with Hogee's family who happen to run a ger camp on the outskirts of Kharkhorin (the old capital), having our first taste of suutei tsai (salty milk tea) and homemade bayslag (one of a variety of cheeses which Mongolian families make). We learn how to play Mongolian games with Hogee, Hogee's niece and a friend using sheep's ankle bones. Hogee also doubled as our cook on the tour and she was fantastic. We had some Mongolian food but she would mix it up with plenty of vegies which is not part of the usual Mongolian diet. In fact, she told me that whilst most Mongolian young people can tolerate some vegies now, most older generations (including her parents) absolutely hate vegetables! The typical Mongolian diet is made up of boiled meats like mutton, beef or horse and supplemented by dairy snacks which are homemade like cheeses, butter cream and yogurt. Mongolians love eating fat. This is partly due to the fact that winters are very long and it gets down to -45 degs. Fat helps to keep them warm. For the most part, the nomadic life is very healthy - hardly anyone ever gets sick or has even seen a hospital. Whereas people in UB get sick - different diet, stress and pollution factors.
- Staying in a ger with a nomadic family at the Great White Lake. The kids are on summer holidays and I really admire the way nomadic families raise their children in many ways. They run barefoot everywhere and look so dirty but they help with everything from collecting water from the lake to catching fish for dinner and cooking to starting fires for the tourists' gers with animal dung or woodfire they have chopped to milking the yaks/cows and herding the animals whilst on horses. I learnt about separating the baby animals from their mothers each evening so that the mothers can be milked at 6am the next morning. Got to try homemade yogurt here - delicious! We also horse rode till our butts were so sore, got to experience a surreal landscape dotted with pine trees on lava filled land and hike up to a volcanoe crater. The Great White Lake itself was beautiful and actually looks white from a distance for most of the day! We had to bathe in the lake because there was no running water. It was too cold on the first day so we skipped the bath but on the 2nd day, it was a perfect 26 deg for a dip! The only down side is that there was heaps of dung everywhere and consequently it was flies galore everywhere which was rather annoying. This is also where I learn that a yak is totally different to a cow!
- Camping by a magnificent gorge. We set up camp amidst the pine trees. The river in between the gorge was so pristine and there were so many fish in there! Kenneth caught one trout and Jooweh caught another. We cooked the fishes for dinner.
- Tsenker hot springs. We stayed at a ger camp by some hot springs. The water from the springs are channeled to a rock pool and mixed in with cold water as the water from the springs themselves would be very hot. It was such an indulgence to bathe in the hot springs after having not showered for a while (due to camping). It was also so nice to use a proper toilet after days of using pit toilets (exactly like the opening scene of Slumdog Millionaire.... I had to pray each time that I would not fall into the mush below me). The area around the hot springs were also so beautiful and if you love horses, there were plenty around. The young foals would clumsily follow behind the elegant mares - a very cute sight!
- Staying with another nomadic family out in semi-desert terrain, camel riding with the 2 older sons and playing with them in sandunes - they taught us how to sand surf and wrestle in the sand! They also gave us Mongolian names b/c our real names were too difficult for them! I am Deigee and Kenneth is Mogee in Mongolia, by the way! This is where i learnt how to milk a cow and i also got to watch the father comb cashmere from the goats. The 3 boys were fantastic with fetching water daily from the well, sweeping and keeping their gers clean, milking the goats and sheep and the middle son really gave us a good show with his super fast horse riding (he happens to be a Naadam horse jockey as he is a pint sized 11 year old). This is also where we experienced a ger filled with meat hanging all around it (they eat the meat as a snack) and the family simply passed around a bucket of boiled sheep's head for dinner! There were also plastic buckets from which I tried the home made yogurt (more sour here than with the other family due to the warmer climate), milk and butter cream. In the evening, we played cards and sheeps' ankle bone games with the boys and also did some drawing and colouring with them.
The second week was more of a personal and spiritual soujourn and so too private to blog but perhaps i may get an opportunity to share in person with any of you over a coffee someday in the not too distant future.
Kenneth and I have thoroughly enjoyed Mongolia - the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.
Here's a rundown of our first week in Mongolia...
We have been staying at Khongor Guesthouse on Peace Avenue in the heart of UB as our base. We spent the first week joining a tour with Khongor Tours as it was the most convenient thing to do and the Khongor manager, Toroo has been very friendly, helpful and obliging. Initially, we only had 7 days to see Mongolia and Toroo and his wife recommended a tour in a westerly direction to Central Mongolia considering our timeframe and the fact we wanted to see the more lush and green landscapes as opposed to the Gobi desert which most Europeans travellers tend to opt for.
Our tour experience to Central Mongolia was wonderful despite very bumpy 2-4 hour drives across pot holed land (they weren't even proper roads!) from one destination to the next. Roughest rides I have ever had in my life but the novelty made it a fun adventure. We were very well looked after by our English speaking guide Iwho also doubled as our cook!), Hogee and our experienced driver, Jooweh. Whilst UB itself is probably the ugliest city I have ever been to with its soviet style buildings and high crime rate, Mongolia has the most vast and varied landscapes I have ever laid eyes on. Mix empty deserts, snowcapped mountains, dramatic gorges, yellow grass steppe lands and sparkling lakes and you have the Mongolian countryside!
The highlights of our time to Central Mongolia were:
- Staying with Hogee's family who happen to run a ger camp on the outskirts of Kharkhorin (the old capital), having our first taste of suutei tsai (salty milk tea) and homemade bayslag (one of a variety of cheeses which Mongolian families make). We learn how to play Mongolian games with Hogee, Hogee's niece and a friend using sheep's ankle bones. Hogee also doubled as our cook on the tour and she was fantastic. We had some Mongolian food but she would mix it up with plenty of vegies which is not part of the usual Mongolian diet. In fact, she told me that whilst most Mongolian young people can tolerate some vegies now, most older generations (including her parents) absolutely hate vegetables! The typical Mongolian diet is made up of boiled meats like mutton, beef or horse and supplemented by dairy snacks which are homemade like cheeses, butter cream and yogurt. Mongolians love eating fat. This is partly due to the fact that winters are very long and it gets down to -45 degs. Fat helps to keep them warm. For the most part, the nomadic life is very healthy - hardly anyone ever gets sick or has even seen a hospital. Whereas people in UB get sick - different diet, stress and pollution factors.
- Staying in a ger with a nomadic family at the Great White Lake. The kids are on summer holidays and I really admire the way nomadic families raise their children in many ways. They run barefoot everywhere and look so dirty but they help with everything from collecting water from the lake to catching fish for dinner and cooking to starting fires for the tourists' gers with animal dung or woodfire they have chopped to milking the yaks/cows and herding the animals whilst on horses. I learnt about separating the baby animals from their mothers each evening so that the mothers can be milked at 6am the next morning. Got to try homemade yogurt here - delicious! We also horse rode till our butts were so sore, got to experience a surreal landscape dotted with pine trees on lava filled land and hike up to a volcanoe crater. The Great White Lake itself was beautiful and actually looks white from a distance for most of the day! We had to bathe in the lake because there was no running water. It was too cold on the first day so we skipped the bath but on the 2nd day, it was a perfect 26 deg for a dip! The only down side is that there was heaps of dung everywhere and consequently it was flies galore everywhere which was rather annoying. This is also where I learn that a yak is totally different to a cow!
- Camping by a magnificent gorge. We set up camp amidst the pine trees. The river in between the gorge was so pristine and there were so many fish in there! Kenneth caught one trout and Jooweh caught another. We cooked the fishes for dinner.
- Tsenker hot springs. We stayed at a ger camp by some hot springs. The water from the springs are channeled to a rock pool and mixed in with cold water as the water from the springs themselves would be very hot. It was such an indulgence to bathe in the hot springs after having not showered for a while (due to camping). It was also so nice to use a proper toilet after days of using pit toilets (exactly like the opening scene of Slumdog Millionaire.... I had to pray each time that I would not fall into the mush below me). The area around the hot springs were also so beautiful and if you love horses, there were plenty around. The young foals would clumsily follow behind the elegant mares - a very cute sight!
- Staying with another nomadic family out in semi-desert terrain, camel riding with the 2 older sons and playing with them in sandunes - they taught us how to sand surf and wrestle in the sand! They also gave us Mongolian names b/c our real names were too difficult for them! I am Deigee and Kenneth is Mogee in Mongolia, by the way! This is where i learnt how to milk a cow and i also got to watch the father comb cashmere from the goats. The 3 boys were fantastic with fetching water daily from the well, sweeping and keeping their gers clean, milking the goats and sheep and the middle son really gave us a good show with his super fast horse riding (he happens to be a Naadam horse jockey as he is a pint sized 11 year old). This is also where we experienced a ger filled with meat hanging all around it (they eat the meat as a snack) and the family simply passed around a bucket of boiled sheep's head for dinner! There were also plastic buckets from which I tried the home made yogurt (more sour here than with the other family due to the warmer climate), milk and butter cream. In the evening, we played cards and sheeps' ankle bone games with the boys and also did some drawing and colouring with them.
Qingwen, your hair is in my mouth!
">Living in this city of 21 million leaves one with no concept of personal space especially when riding the subway. No matter what time of day it is and on which day of the week it is, the subway is always packed.
This is a picture of the subway at peak hour (about 6:00 pm on a weekday). On this particular trip, I could smell everything from the shampoo of the lady in front of me to the b.o. of the man next to me. I found it rather amusing initially and had Kenneth take a few snaps of me with my cheeks pressed against the sliding doors. But at subsequent stations, people kept piling on and on and on … we were even more squished than sardines in a can. The amazing thing is that not one person thought to themselves “There's no way I am going to fit in this carriage” and just let the train pass. The next train will only be a 5 minute wait, afterall. Where there is a will, there is a way, I guess!
I ended up practically carrying my handbag on my head and I felt like screaming “Qingwen (excuse me), your hair's in my mouth!” Not so amusing anymore. Serves me right for finding it all amusing initially when others battle this daily.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Qingwen, your hair's in my mouth!
Written on 28 May 2009 in Beijing, China
Living in this city of 21 million leaves one with no concept of personal space especially when riding the subway. No matter what time of day it is and on which day of the week it is, the subway is always packed.
This is a picture of the subway at peak hour (about 6:00 pm on a weekday). On this particular trip, I could smell everything from the shampoo of the lady in front of me to the b.o. of the man next to me. I found it rather amusing initially and had Kenneth take a few snaps of me with my cheeks pressed against the sliding doors. But at subsequent stations, people kept piling on and on and on … we were even more squished than sardines in a can. The amazing thing is that not one person thought to themselves “There's no way I am going to fit in this carriage” and just let the train pass. The next train will only be a 5 minute wait, afterall. Where there is a will, there is a way, I guess!
I ended up practically carrying my handbag on my head and I felt like screaming “Qingwen (excuse me), your hair's in my mouth!” Not so amusing anymore. Serves me right for finding it all amusing initially when others battle this daily.
Ripped off!!!
Written on 26 May 2009 in Beijing, China
This is a picture of the handbag I got ripped off on at the Silk Street Pearl Market. I needed a new bag as the old bag I brought on my travels is now giving way. The market is a great place for bargain hunters but beware … you may think you're smart but the vendors who do this day in and day out are even smarter! They even speak multiple languages – I even heard smatterings of accented Russian and Malay from vendors in this place!
You will soon realise that the market sells pearls only on one level. The remaining 5 levels or so sell everything imaginable – souvenirs, homewares, manchester, clothes, shoes, handbags, jewellery, toys, paintings, electronics, food...
This is also the place Westerners go to buy fake branded goods. There is even a big bold sign at the front of the relevant Chinese authority's guarantee of quality for the fakes. How amusing - that's China!
I ended up paying 150 yuan ($AUD 30) for this fake Dolce & Gabana bag (not that I am into the brand, I just liked the bag itself and am now wondering if there's a way to pull off the brand tag without ruining the bag ... I suffer from self-diagnosed 'Brand Embarassment Complex') bargained down from the vendor's starting price of 780 yuan! I realise now that the market value of the bag would have been 100 yuan and due to the economic crisis I could have gotten it down to perhaps 70 yuan (hmmm... perhaps I need to add superior bargaining skills in there somewhere as an added ingredient) because if I hadn't bought it, chances are it would not have been sold for a long long time!
Kenneth wanted to walk away when we offered 100 yuan and the vendor wouldn't accept. I vaguely recall hearing him say “C'mon, let's go!!” but I found myself in a hypnotised state after the vendor performed several swift sale tactics like burning the bag with a lighter and leaving it unscathed. My emotional attachment to the bag grew in that dark stall and I was overpowered. My initial resolve to spend only $AUD15 to AUD$20 waned when she started at 780 yuan. I started to think that what I was prepared to pay was totally unrealistic. After making the much to quick purchase, Kenneth spotted the exact same bag 2 stalls away and my heart sank when the starting price was placed at 150 yuan at this stall!
I was fuming on the subway when it hit me how much I'd been ripped off. Losing $AUD10 wasn't the issue. It's that horrible feeling of having been 'cheated', ripped off and outwitted! I was ranting and raving on the subway processing all that had happened to me. I knew people were looking at me but I didn't care. I'm the sort of person that needs to let it ALL out! I totally cheesed myself off when I realised I'd disappointed Kenneth by not trusting his judgment, ignoring and not listening to him. I also hadn't learnt my lesson from the time I purchased some punjabi outfits in India … it cheesed me off even more remembering that old incident … but that's another story …
Hopefully, the lesson has been well and truly learnt this time around!
This is a picture of the handbag I got ripped off on at the Silk Street Pearl Market. I needed a new bag as the old bag I brought on my travels is now giving way. The market is a great place for bargain hunters but beware … you may think you're smart but the vendors who do this day in and day out are even smarter! They even speak multiple languages – I even heard smatterings of accented Russian and Malay from vendors in this place!
You will soon realise that the market sells pearls only on one level. The remaining 5 levels or so sell everything imaginable – souvenirs, homewares, manchester, clothes, shoes, handbags, jewellery, toys, paintings, electronics, food...
This is also the place Westerners go to buy fake branded goods. There is even a big bold sign at the front of the relevant Chinese authority's guarantee of quality for the fakes. How amusing - that's China!
I ended up paying 150 yuan ($AUD 30) for this fake Dolce & Gabana bag (not that I am into the brand, I just liked the bag itself and am now wondering if there's a way to pull off the brand tag without ruining the bag ... I suffer from self-diagnosed 'Brand Embarassment Complex') bargained down from the vendor's starting price of 780 yuan! I realise now that the market value of the bag would have been 100 yuan and due to the economic crisis I could have gotten it down to perhaps 70 yuan (hmmm... perhaps I need to add superior bargaining skills in there somewhere as an added ingredient) because if I hadn't bought it, chances are it would not have been sold for a long long time!
Kenneth wanted to walk away when we offered 100 yuan and the vendor wouldn't accept. I vaguely recall hearing him say “C'mon, let's go!!” but I found myself in a hypnotised state after the vendor performed several swift sale tactics like burning the bag with a lighter and leaving it unscathed. My emotional attachment to the bag grew in that dark stall and I was overpowered. My initial resolve to spend only $AUD15 to AUD$20 waned when she started at 780 yuan. I started to think that what I was prepared to pay was totally unrealistic. After making the much to quick purchase, Kenneth spotted the exact same bag 2 stalls away and my heart sank when the starting price was placed at 150 yuan at this stall!
I was fuming on the subway when it hit me how much I'd been ripped off. Losing $AUD10 wasn't the issue. It's that horrible feeling of having been 'cheated', ripped off and outwitted! I was ranting and raving on the subway processing all that had happened to me. I knew people were looking at me but I didn't care. I'm the sort of person that needs to let it ALL out! I totally cheesed myself off when I realised I'd disappointed Kenneth by not trusting his judgment, ignoring and not listening to him. I also hadn't learnt my lesson from the time I purchased some punjabi outfits in India … it cheesed me off even more remembering that old incident … but that's another story …
Hopefully, the lesson has been well and truly learnt this time around!
Pearl's are a gal's 2nd best friend?
Written on 26 May 2009 in Beijing, China
We stunbled upon the Silk Street Pearl Market today. Most pearls in China are the freshwater variety, as the Chinese have perfected the art of cultivating pearls in mussels. Typically easier to produce that saltwater oyster pearls, freshwater pearls are often smaller and naturally less lustrous. But their abundance also means cheaper prices. The pearls come in a huge variety of shapes and colours. The freshwater variety is usually white with a slightly rosy undertone, but one can find a rainbow of hues. Greater lustre, or iridescence, typically increases the value.
Most vendors happily humour shoppers with a series of demonstrations of a pearl's authenticity – scraping it on glass to leave a mark, or nicking it with a blade to show unform colour. If making a purchase, you'd have to use your best judgment when trying to determine quality and value. A good tip is to realise that the world's best quality pearls are probably not for sale in a crowded market.
We didn't splash out as we're saving shopping for the last leg of our trip in Hong Kong. Backpacking is not conducive to shopping! However, we got a good buy purchasing 2 turquoise coloured pearl necklaces bargained down to 20 yuan for both! One is part of our 'thank you' gift to Melissa with whom we've been staying with in Beijing and the other was just Kenneth's little random gift to me because he could see how much my eyes twinkled when I held them up against my neck!
We stunbled upon the Silk Street Pearl Market today. Most pearls in China are the freshwater variety, as the Chinese have perfected the art of cultivating pearls in mussels. Typically easier to produce that saltwater oyster pearls, freshwater pearls are often smaller and naturally less lustrous. But their abundance also means cheaper prices. The pearls come in a huge variety of shapes and colours. The freshwater variety is usually white with a slightly rosy undertone, but one can find a rainbow of hues. Greater lustre, or iridescence, typically increases the value.
Most vendors happily humour shoppers with a series of demonstrations of a pearl's authenticity – scraping it on glass to leave a mark, or nicking it with a blade to show unform colour. If making a purchase, you'd have to use your best judgment when trying to determine quality and value. A good tip is to realise that the world's best quality pearls are probably not for sale in a crowded market.
We didn't splash out as we're saving shopping for the last leg of our trip in Hong Kong. Backpacking is not conducive to shopping! However, we got a good buy purchasing 2 turquoise coloured pearl necklaces bargained down to 20 yuan for both! One is part of our 'thank you' gift to Melissa with whom we've been staying with in Beijing and the other was just Kenneth's little random gift to me because he could see how much my eyes twinkled when I held them up against my neck!
T2 - La originale
[We are now in Ulanbaatar, capital of Mongolia which is known as the 'Land of the Blue Sky' from which the largest empire the world has ever known hailed from under the great Chinggis Khaan. We are uploading blog posts typed in Word during our first leg in China. We are using China as our base country and will be making multiple entries in and out of China over the next few months. Unfortunately, blogspot is one of many blocked sites in China at present (Welcome to lesson 1 in culture shock - communism!) and we therefore have to get out of the country before we can blog at this site each time! We are still pondering as to whether we should move our blog to another site but until then, thanks for your patience and apologies for the delayed news!]
Written on 15 May 2009 in Guangzhou, China - birthplace of 'yum cha'!
Being a coffee connoisseur in China is an expensive habit. A mere cafe latte at Starbucks costs 25 yuan (which is AUD$5). This is retail robbery when you can get a delicious bowl of noodles plus a drink for 10 yuan next door. However, this doesn't prevent those that uphold the Chinese culture of 'saving face' and embracing all things Western to project an image of wealth and abundance. A local Chinese friend of ours says it is not uncommon for young people to have up to 3 Starbucks coffees a day, setting them back 75 yuan or more each day on coffee alone!
I have taken the courageous step of resolving to have my latte indulgences only ONCE a month while travelling. This is a massive feat for me but I have found some comfort in instant 3-in-1 Nescafe coffee sachets (something I would never drink when its relatively affordable to be a coffee snob in Melbourne).
Another means of coping has been to appreciate tea more. China is a fantastic place to learn about and savour tea. One of the highlights of our trip to Guangzhou was a visit to the tea market with myriads of teas on display for tastings and for sale. This is the tea mecca of the world! We spent some time at Iong Na's tea shop which is a family business. The family tried very hard to communicate with us and thankfully, due to their multilingual abilities Mandarin, Cantonese and Minnan Hua (Hokkien to Malaysians) we managed to string together some semblance of a conversation by interchanging between the 3 languages depending on which words we knew in which language! While sitting down to some tea tastings, we talked about tea, the business, our lives and the intricacies of language!
Here's a summary about tea varieties for you tea lovers and budding tea connoisseurs out there:
Green tea – Green tea is the tea in Asia. Tea leaves are not oxidised, but rather steamed and dried. Leaves maintain more of their natural colour and bear a delicate refreshing flavour. Hangzhou's Longjing (Dragon Well) Tea is a national favourite.
Oolong tea – Among the finest and most difficult teas to produce, oolong falls somewhere between the green and black varieties in that it is only partially oxidised. Tea connoisseurs savour oolong's often flowery or fruity flavour without milk, sugar or other blends.
Black tea – Abundant in the Western world, black tea us called red tea in Chinese. Leaves are completely oxidised before drying, giving black tea its dark colour, full flavour and extra caffeine.
Pu'er tea – The blackest of all teas, pu'er deserves its own category. Leaves undergo double oxidation followed by a period of maturation, resulting in a strong earthy flavour that can be an acquired taste. Often sold as solid cakes or bricks, it is renowned for medicinal effects on the digestive system.
White tea – The rarest ad least-processed variety, white tea is identifiable by silvery hairs that cover the tea buds. Buds (and occasionally leaves) are dried naturally and are not oxidised, yielding a subtle flavour. It is a speciality of Fujian province (where our ancestors hail from!).
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