Ni Hao Shanghai

Jet lag and last nights introduction to Shanghai night life had taken its toll and left me craving grease. Dim Sum, which can only be described as the East's version of Spanish Tapas, was the answer. Jasmine Tea, Turnip Cakes, Xiaolongbao (Shanghai's famous soup dumplings), Hot and Sour Soup, Roasted Duck, Pork Belly; it was all delicious.

Yuyuan Garden was my first experience of Chinese architecture sat on water.  It was very picturesque.

Inside the rockeries was a tea house, where we sat and went through the chinese ritual of drinking tea.

The Lychee tea was my favourite; known to be good for the stomach.  Apt considering the delicate state of my stomach following last nights drinks.  I also liked the concept of the teas that bloomed in the cup, although the taste wasn't my cup of tea.

The Chinese culture is heavily into ornaments, objects and animals that symbolise certain meanings.  Sat with us on the table whilst we drank our tea was the Bull Frog with a coin in its mouth; symbolising wealth.

There was also an abundant amount of Koi swimming in the ponds.  The Chinese believe that Koi symbolise good fortune and prosperity.

As I wandered around Shanghai, I realised that the Chinese were quite quirky.  They were perfectly happy to leave their laundry, (hopefully clean, although you can never be sure) hanging openly in public spaces.  I even got a picture of one lady hanging out her fish...

There was also the parading of disabled people, which I found quite shocking.  One man was carting around another without limbs to soulful music in an attempt to get cash from those passing by.

The hardest thing to get used to was this incessant need for the Chinese to spit.  Hearing the sound of them clearing their throat from deep down and then horking it out, always got the gag reflexes going.  An eye opening and interesting first day in Shanghai.

The Teacher

Tap, tap, tap... that was the sound of heels on a tile floor. And then came the happy shriek of my friend, 'The Teacher', as she ran towards me and grabbed me in a bone crushing hug.  I've known 'The Teacher' for as long as I haven't and it was surreal yet unbelievably familiar to see her again.

My trip from the airport to her flat was my first hair-raising experience in China.  I spent the entire taxi ride hiding behind my hands, reluctantly witnessing the driver narrowly escape crashing into other nearby cars on the road.

My first taste of authentic Chinese food was a more pleasant experience.  We went to a little restaurant in her apartment complex and had some beef and noodles.  It was full of flavour and lots of chilli; nothing like the gloopy concoctions that we get in the UK.

Over Dirty Martini's, 'Teacher' educated me on the must know's of the Mandarin language; how to count to a 100 and how to understand/give directions.  The first so that I could understand the cost of things and most importantly to be able to barter.  The latter so that I could direct a taxi driver.  So for my future memory here's what I learnt:

Numbers
(First part is the pinyin that translates Chinese characters into English characters and the Italics are my pronunciation based on what I could hear the sounds to be)

1 = yi (Pronounced ee)                     6 = liu (Pronounced leo)
2 = er (Pronounced ar)                     7 = qi (Pronounced chi)
3 = san (Pronounced san)                8 = ba (Pronounced baa)
4 = si (Pronounced se)                     9 = jiu (Pronounced jio)
5 = wu (Pronounced ooh)                 10 = shi (Pronounced sh)

100 = yi bai (Pronounced ee bai)

quai = quid (Pronounced quai)
you zhuan = turn right (Pronounced yo dwai)
zuo zhuan = turn left (Pronounced zo dwan)

Circus Acrobatics

Birmingham's Library Opening festivities ended on Sunday with the Circus Acrobatics, who were dressed in red, white and blue.

Up first was my French Amie showing off her skill with the hula hoops.  I have never seen her look so youthful; all lit up inside as she hula hooped.

The Circus Acrobatics was an interesting show, which had no problem drawing in the crowds.  They had us moving from one side to the other to watch...

...a lady collecting books with an umbrella as she hung from a rope...

...to see a lady trying to read a book as she flew in mid-air, upside down...

...to some jumpers jumping over things...

...and people...

...some of the gymnasts were reading books in the most uncomfortable of positions...

It has definitely been a fun weekend and a great way to open Europe's largest library.

RED In The Library

RED is the sculptural flash mob that we managed to catch in the gardens on top of the library.

In bright red they weren't hard to miss, but each communicated a story with their body language as they mingled in the crowd.

My favourites were this lady and little boy...

I have no idea what they were talking about, but I love the expression on the lady's face as she gobbled a cherry tomato...

And the story of this man...

And this woman...

...meeting as if by chance on top of the library...

...the start of a budding romance...

Bollywood Opening

Europe's largest library opened in Birmingham this week.  Saturday was opening weekend and the streets were full of entertainers and crowds circling them.

Birmingham has a large Asian population and it was no surprise that there was Bollywood Dancing in the open space in front of the library.

The first was an Asian group of girls.  Reminded me of my Diwali Show dancing days when I was young.  Although I had a nice clean stage floor and not the cold pavement that they were so bravely dancing bare-footed on.

I haven't danced to the sound of Bollywood since I nearly slipped and fell on the stage due to my ill-fitting outfit.  But despite my last experience I could still feel that leg twitch to the sound of the drums.

They seemed to be the only Asian group as the others were caucasian.  That flick of the hip seems to be an Asian thing that we were innately born with, as they weren't quite managing the hip wiggle.

Except for one lady who impressively knew all the words to the song.  I wonder if she actually knew what it meant.  But nevertheless, her singing along showed she was enjoying herself.

Meet the Finlayson's

This weekend was spent visiting the Finlayson's.  They are friends that I don't get to see very often, but when I do see them, it is like no time has passed at all.

They live a stone's throw away from Windsor, a town where the Queen has her castle; one that she still resides in a couple of times a year.

As it was my first time visiting them, we decided to be tourists for the day and to visit the grounds of the castle.  In the end it was just me and Mr F wandering around taking our pictures.  Mrs F ended up staying at home as she was feeling unwell.

Originally prophesied by her younger sister to be a virus that would have her bed-ridden for days, was luckily just a bad egg, having no impact on her appetite for Mr F's pancakes the next morning.  Or the sugar coma that was sure to hit after she loaded them up with layers of Nutella, Jam and Maple Syrup.

Food has always been a topic for us so it's good to see that some things never change.  Thanks for having me visit and it was good to catch up.  Look forward to seeing you both again soon.

In The Night Sky

Last week my Spanish Amiga pointed out that there was going to be a meteor shower (Perseid) over the weekend, starting from Friday.  With it being the UK, this was not a simple feat; every night over the weekend we looked up and saw clouds covering the night sky like a fluffy duvet, ruining any chance of even seeing a star.

Picture courtesy of Scott MacNeill of 2013 Perseid meteors at Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown, Rhode Island, USA.

Then on Monday night on my way home from a friends house I noticed that the sky was clear and on the radio they mentioned that tonight was the peak of the meteor shower.  Saw I called my Spanish Amiga and we, with our French Amie went on a tour of Birmingham to find a spot away from the lights to be able to watch the night sky.  In the end we settled for a park near our company social club and parked ourselves to watch what would happen.

Unfortunately I was only able to capture a series of dots in the night sky.  A little disappointing, especially as every time I was playing with the camera the girls would squeal with delight at the sight of a meteor shooting across the sky.

Picture courtesy of Tim Erskine of Perseid Fireball taken in Tahoe

In the end my Spanish Amiga told me to forget my camera and to come lie down with them.  It took a while to start seeing them, but as soon as you did it was one after the other.  We saw one that was really big so it must have been a fireball.