Breaking the Fall

I’m leaving tomorrow morning for my fall break. If it’s possible I’ll update you from the road, but otherwise know that I’ll be off doing other things. I’m flying to Chengdu for the weekend where I’ll meet up with a couple of friends Sunday afternoon, then flying further West on Monday to Kashgar, Xinjiang, which is closer to Pakistan than anything in China and full of Muslim heritage, silk road history and the like. I’m traveling by myself, but I’ll meet up with some classmates for a day or so who are in Xinjiang all week. For now, I’ll leave you all with a few anecdotes from the week.

We had midterms this week, which meant a lighter schedule, so I had a lot of leisurely trips around town and to various shopping spots. I went to nearby Qiantang market with Xueqin and Shushan, where I haggled a really good price on a pair of shoes (she originally quoted 150, but I let her know I knew what the price SHOULD be by saying I really didn’t want to spend more than 30, and she quickly changed her tune and gave me 45). As we left, some high school or college age kids walked past and one of the guys, clearly trying to show off, said something along the lines of “These foreigners are so ugly”. Acting almost entirely on reflex, I shouted after him “These foreigners understand what you’re saying”, spun around and looked at him with my best “What now, bitch?” look as he stared dumbly and his friends muttered embarrassed apologies. It was a proud moment.

Dinner that day was quite excellent; we went to a really traditional Hangzhou-style restaurant and ordered all of the dishes that people here keep telling us we should try. One, called “Dongpo Pork” was basically stewed pork fat in a sweet, rich sauce. Another, called “Sweet and Sour Fish” came in a very sticky, sweet gingery sauce. I now finally understand what Chinese people are talking about when they say that Hangzhou food is very sweet, with lighter flavoring. Until recently, the 8 regional cuisines all seemed to run together; though there is a Sichuan restaurant nearby and their food is clearly spicier and has a few dishes the others don’t, you can buy Kung Pow Chicken (a Sichuan dish) almost anywhere. What I put together was that while the Sichuan dish has more hot peppers than peanuts and chicken, the dish you order in the school restaurant has no peppers and is sort of sweet and soy saucy. Not sure I could eat such rich and sweet foods all the time, but they were goood. I also don’t really know how the other regional cuisines are distinguished.

Oh and Tim, I’ve been won over by milk tea, but I prefer the coffee ones to the tea ones, and I still don’t like the bubbles. Fair compromise?