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Always Pack a Runcible Spoon a round the world adventure possibly involving a pussycat, an owl and a pea-green boat |
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Categories
About this Runcible Blog (1)
About Us (2) Absurd photo du jour (5) Adding a comment (2) Asia is easy to love (9) China (48) Food - the weird, the wonderful, the just plain tasty (18) Hong Kong (7) India (43) Indonesia (7) Japan (12) Singapore (3) Taiwan (3) Thailand (19) Things that perturb me (3) Travel thoughts and whimsy (10)
Recent Entries
* For emma
* Litany of sins * Back in the northern capital * Streetscapes of Chengdu * Leisure-wear series continues: No. 2, 'The ManJama' * Pyjama fashion hits the streets of Shanghai * Spring is fickle * And the other thing is ... * Not-Lilliput* * Yes, Virginia, fabulous soupy dumplings come from here * Squishy stuff (on skewers and off) * Fed and watered * Spicy means spicy (and long means forty hours) * Where poets once walked * Those edible greens have to dry SOMEWHERE * Chairman Mao avoids a perm (the sequel) * When I stole Chairman Mao's hair (the hideous story) * Cubicle dreaming officially fulfilled * World's most surreal Sheraton hotel * Cuisine of fire, tea gardens of delight
Archives
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April 30, 2005For emmaEm, Sorry to have been so slack in not responding to your comment sooner: I have been turning the question you asked over in my mind. Yes, I do think it makes a difference to how I see things on...Read this update April 28, 2005Litany of sinsEntrancing as the cartoon was, I felt kind of sad about some of its messages. Some were indisputably good, but others made me want to say, 'No way! Don't change that! That's China!' The cartoon was playing on a flatscreen...Read this update Back in the northern capitalAnd so it is. We find ourselves back in Beijing, land of giant things. Big blocks, big buildings, big roads, big dust. We’ve spent the past ten days with Andrew’s sister, Isabelle, and Jasper and Dom, two other friends from...Read this update Streetscapes of ChengduChengdu is the place we were staying in prior to THAT forty hour train trip. In spring, there is a whole world spelled out in the streetside vendors' produce alone. I have to describe them to you, these springtime streetscapes,...Read this update April 23, 2005Leisure-wear series continues: No. 2, 'The ManJama'Don't say I don't take care of you: spotted more pyjama action yesterday, and snapped it so that we could share. I like to call this one the ManJama - casual man-styling with a hint of old-school masculinity in the...Read this update April 21, 2005Pyjama fashion hits the streets of ShanghaiIt's cool, it's hip, it's Asia: I LOVE this region! What mysterious forces drive this phenomenon, I can't say. All I can tell you is that we've seen it time and time again in Asia. From Vietnam to Thailand to...Read this update Spring is fickleThe snow came down whilst we were at Jiuzhaigou, making the trip out of there along the mountain pass very cold indeed. One's steaming breath, the chill of a wet, red nose, and the ache of legs clad in...Read this update April 20, 2005And the other thing is ...I mentioned that the bus-ride to Jiuzhaigou was hellish. I've also done everything possible to put off writing about it. I delayed when we were there. I delayed when we returned to Chengdu. I delayed when we caught a 40...Read this update April 19, 2005Not-Lilliput*About a week ago now, Andrew and I travelled to Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu, and back again by bus. The ride there was hideous. It was, in fact, the worst busride in recent memory on this RTW trip. It was perhaps...Read this update April 18, 2005Yes, Virginia, fabulous soupy dumplings come from hereThe shophouse in Jiuzhaigou town is small. Spare. Walls which were once in the ballpark of white bear the scungy marks of accumulated cooking stains and grime. The tables are small and greasy, and the 'chairs' are blue plastic stools...Read this update Posted by Tiffany on April 18, 2005 05:17 PM
Category: China, Food - the weird, the wonderful, the just plain tasty Squishy stuff (on skewers and off)As I let Shanghai swoosh around me, and prepare to settle back into the rhythm of this place (much the way one might settle into a plush piece of 1920s furniture mouldering in the back of a pub), let me...Read this update Posted by Tiffany on April 18, 2005 04:18 PM
Category: China, Food - the weird, the wonderful, the just plain tasty Fed and wateredForty hours is a long damn time, but the best part of it has to be stepping into a hot shower when it's all done. No more train rollicking, no more instant noodles, no more people camped out on my...Read this update April 16, 2005Spicy means spicy (and long means forty hours)I am rushing - somehow one full day left in Chengdu has withered away to nothing, and we have exactly four minutes to leave this internet joint, jump in a taxi and head to the station. 'The station' being the...Read this update April 15, 2005Where poets once walkedBoth these images were taken because I liked the textures, and because you cannot visit the exquisite grounds of a poet's thatched cottage (sited next to 'Flower Washing Brook') and not become obsessed with texture, colour and form. (But...Read this update Those edible greens have to dry SOMEWHEREIn truth, this is one of the less strange places I have seen the green veg strewn here in China, but it did catch my eye as we walked past!...Read this update April 14, 2005Chairman Mao avoids a perm (the sequel)As I said, something, ANYTHING, had to be done. The great Sichuanese hair debacle of '05 was upon me. We walked far, far away from our guesthouse to a trendier part of town. We happened upon a paved pedestrian mall....Read this update When I stole Chairman Mao's hair (the hideous story)We were back in Chengdu, and back to our old tricks: cards, tasty eatin' and lazing in the teahouse garden. It seemed like eleven months of travel had finally broken our will to move on to new places every other...Read this update April 09, 2005Cubicle dreaming officially fulfilledAt one of the fabulous places I worked in the lead-up to this trip, there was a poster on the wall of the room that housed the printers and photocopiers. The poster depicted a turquoise lake surrounded by majestic trees...Read this update April 08, 2005World's most surreal Sheraton hotelI can't properly post at the moment, so you'll have to forgive me that. The reason is that we are up a mountain....Read this update April 05, 2005Cuisine of fire, tea gardens of delightSichuan province is renowned for several things. Its mountainous regions are the last remaining home of wild pandas, its cuisine is spicy like fire, and its teahouses are the envy of China. These factors entwined have conspired to make Chengdu...Read this update Posted by Tiffany on April 5, 2005 08:11 PM
Category: China, Food - the weird, the wonderful, the just plain tasty Brown paper packages tied up with string/ These are a few of my favourite thingsSpring has sprung here in China, most indeedy. There are buds and blossoms galore amidst the more familiar sights of cinderblock grey apartment buildings and smog-choked roads. Everything springlike has bloomed in either fairyfloss pink or Granny Smith green. Even...Read this update Posted by Tiffany on April 5, 2005 07:28 PM
Category: Mah jong's wily attractions (part five)The skill and poise we do not yet possess: But be aware that this is Stealth Mah Jong. Only two days before snapping this pic, we saw a hardcore Mah Jong Bust by the police on the streets of Chengdu....Read this update Mah jong's wily attractions (part four)One still-drunk Japanese man, many cigarettes, and a lesson in etiquette Inspired by our earlier Yangshuo lesson, we decide to take things a step further. This time, we’re going to seek instruction from a local. Enquiring at our guesthouse (the...Read this update April 04, 2005Mah jong's wily attractions (part three)The twittering of the birds We have our first lesson while we're in Yangshuo. We are hanging out with Bill and some friends of his from his small tour group. They've all had lessons provided to them by a local...Read this update Mah jong's wily attractions (part two)In which Andrew reveals his dark past That's it. The gloves are off. Andrew has confessed to me a matter of great importance to this on-going mah jong quest. The problem is this: he now reveals that he comes from...Read this update April 03, 2005Mah jong's wily attractions (part one)I was so excited when Andrew told me that his Chinese grandma had taught him to play mah jong when he was little. Ah hah! I immediately envisaged Grandma Kok teaching me as well. There would be intricate battles waged...Read this update April 02, 2005Pandas black, white and red: The unbearable cuteness of being[The second half of that title is such an AWFUL pun, but I have decided to leave it standing as when it popped into my head it was merely a very bad play on Kundera. Now it's a bad play...Read this update Chinoiserie-retroThis has all been percolating in my head for some time now. It began when we went with our friend Bill to see the Shanghai Acrobatics Troupe perform in that city several weeks ago. Andrew and I had been to...Read this update |
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