Today
Today is FRIGID in Yangzhou. Right around 0 Celsius all day, with a strong wind and no sunshine. It didn't rain, but it was overcast and damp feeling all day. I know zero is not all that cold in the grand scheme of things, but when you're talking indoor temperatures as well as outdoor it's really bloody freezing. Impossible to get warm ever, since there's no way to get away from the chill.
Last night I slept in both pairs of long john bottoms and down booties (so the best purchase for winter in China ever) AND my toque, and still had to wrap my coat around my head to get warm enough to go to sleep. Once I'm in bed and have warmed up the space with my body heat it's not too bad - I don't wake myself up from the cold or anything - but my nose hasn't been any shade other than Rudolph in 2 days and my fingers and toes are a similar shade. Crazy! I don't know how people live like this all the time.
Not sure whether or not I'm going to Nanjing tomorrow. Despite the cold, Yangzhou is totally wonderful, and not just because of the company (which is very, very nice!). Today we went to an old classical garden, which would have been just so-so if this random oldish man who knew everything about everywhere in that (enormous) place hadn't started giving us the grand tour right at the beginning. We spent almost 4 hours walking around with him, and he knew the greatest stuff and the most insane hidden passageways. When he saw us back to the gate HE thanked US for letting him ramble on for so long! It would have cost us a fortune to hire a private guide from the tourist center at the gate, and I suspect they would not have been half as good.
At breakfast in the same little market area we've eaten most of our meals in, we had these huge bowls of fat noodles that even the others had never tried. I have no idea what they were called, but the sauce was dark and thick and they were REALLY good. The most entertaining bit though was the huge, bald 'chef' in the bright red apron and bulging biceps coming over only to my bowl right as it was delivered to the table, picking it up without saying a word, and proceeding to stir all the sauce into the noodles (when it arrives it's snow white, but it should be a sort of uniform soy sauce colour before eating) very, very daintily before seeing to any of the other orders waiting to be cooked. He also gave us a 1 quai discount when we went to pay, since I had only 7 in change for the 8 bill and our smallest collective other bill was a 100. I strongly suspect based on the number of other patrons rotating through the table's seats that he would have had no trouble making change if he'd wanted to. He was just being extra nice to us. :)
After the garden (boy my mind is retrieving things out of order tonight!), we walked through this fantastic old neighbourhood like the hutong in Beijing (but called something else here...a word that sounds like the Chinese for elephant, which is no use as a mnemonic for me since I don't remember the word for elephant either). I won't even try to describe the coolness of that street, but instead of let the pictures speak for themselves once I get back to Korea. There is NOTHING in the world like wandering back alleys in China.
For dinner we ate dumplings at this 80-year old dumpling joint at the edge of the elephant streets. The surly-but-nice woman who served us said that she ate at the restaurant when she was a child growing up in the neighbourhood and has been working there herself for the last 30 years. She is 60 now. From street level the place looks like every other little cement shoebox restaurant, but go down the stairs hidden in the corner and a maze of dimly lit rooms opens up. The vast middle level and 2 rooms in the lower levels are all seating, but beyond that is the enormous kitchen. The flour-dusted man folding row upon row of bread dough into double half-moon shapes was kind enough to show us around and talk about the history of the place. And who couldn't love the fat white cat guarding the vats of filling from atop a frayed cushion?
Which reminds me that yesterday morning in the neighbourhood where my room is a half-grown, VERY fluffy kitten and a half-grown VERY short-haired puppy were half playing and half fighting. They were exactly the same size. Totally adorable.
Which reminds me that this morning there was snow on the ground, and my laundry still hasn't dried.
Last night I slept in both pairs of long john bottoms and down booties (so the best purchase for winter in China ever) AND my toque, and still had to wrap my coat around my head to get warm enough to go to sleep. Once I'm in bed and have warmed up the space with my body heat it's not too bad - I don't wake myself up from the cold or anything - but my nose hasn't been any shade other than Rudolph in 2 days and my fingers and toes are a similar shade. Crazy! I don't know how people live like this all the time.
Not sure whether or not I'm going to Nanjing tomorrow. Despite the cold, Yangzhou is totally wonderful, and not just because of the company (which is very, very nice!). Today we went to an old classical garden, which would have been just so-so if this random oldish man who knew everything about everywhere in that (enormous) place hadn't started giving us the grand tour right at the beginning. We spent almost 4 hours walking around with him, and he knew the greatest stuff and the most insane hidden passageways. When he saw us back to the gate HE thanked US for letting him ramble on for so long! It would have cost us a fortune to hire a private guide from the tourist center at the gate, and I suspect they would not have been half as good.
At breakfast in the same little market area we've eaten most of our meals in, we had these huge bowls of fat noodles that even the others had never tried. I have no idea what they were called, but the sauce was dark and thick and they were REALLY good. The most entertaining bit though was the huge, bald 'chef' in the bright red apron and bulging biceps coming over only to my bowl right as it was delivered to the table, picking it up without saying a word, and proceeding to stir all the sauce into the noodles (when it arrives it's snow white, but it should be a sort of uniform soy sauce colour before eating) very, very daintily before seeing to any of the other orders waiting to be cooked. He also gave us a 1 quai discount when we went to pay, since I had only 7 in change for the 8 bill and our smallest collective other bill was a 100. I strongly suspect based on the number of other patrons rotating through the table's seats that he would have had no trouble making change if he'd wanted to. He was just being extra nice to us. :)
After the garden (boy my mind is retrieving things out of order tonight!), we walked through this fantastic old neighbourhood like the hutong in Beijing (but called something else here...a word that sounds like the Chinese for elephant, which is no use as a mnemonic for me since I don't remember the word for elephant either). I won't even try to describe the coolness of that street, but instead of let the pictures speak for themselves once I get back to Korea. There is NOTHING in the world like wandering back alleys in China.
For dinner we ate dumplings at this 80-year old dumpling joint at the edge of the elephant streets. The surly-but-nice woman who served us said that she ate at the restaurant when she was a child growing up in the neighbourhood and has been working there herself for the last 30 years. She is 60 now. From street level the place looks like every other little cement shoebox restaurant, but go down the stairs hidden in the corner and a maze of dimly lit rooms opens up. The vast middle level and 2 rooms in the lower levels are all seating, but beyond that is the enormous kitchen. The flour-dusted man folding row upon row of bread dough into double half-moon shapes was kind enough to show us around and talk about the history of the place. And who couldn't love the fat white cat guarding the vats of filling from atop a frayed cushion?
Which reminds me that yesterday morning in the neighbourhood where my room is a half-grown, VERY fluffy kitten and a half-grown VERY short-haired puppy were half playing and half fighting. They were exactly the same size. Totally adorable.
Which reminds me that this morning there was snow on the ground, and my laundry still hasn't dried.
posted by Roberta | 10:02 PM
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