Step by step high embedded peach cake

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New photos on: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/

…..I escaped the greatest human migration in the world, when, it is calculated, a total of over 3.6 BILLION* trips are made during the annual rush to be home for & return from Chun Jie, the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year. A short stay in Khon Kaen to visit my old mate Wazza & his family, followed by a week & a half in Australia, where I arrived in time for yet another Adelaide heatwave, near 40C maximum most days with a couple up to 45C. However that is still more comfortable than 30C & 90%!h(MISSING)umidity, as I can vouch after several summers in Jiangsu.....

(* that's including the use of multiple means to travel, eg: train followed by a bus trip etc)
http://www.ibtimes.com/track-chinese-new-year-mass-migration-baidu-heat-map-1550120

…..so many people asked why the YYW, (Yangzhou Yingwen Weekly), presses had stopped rolling. Partly due to the CEO, editor, reporter & typesetter, (that's me), having committed to a Languages degree, which has taken a toll on my free time. However I will attempt to put out a YYM monthly. I need to avoid repeating myself & also be aware that a lot of things that left me & my readers slack-jawed with astonishment during my first year are just part of my everyday life now. I even noticed in Australia I was doing the same in reverse. Forcing myself not to stare at the incredible level of obesity, looking sadly at the amount of food you sometimes get for what to me are now astronomical prices. (I here exclude the breakfast cafe at Brighton & the colossal serving of fish & chips at Semaphore !) I even started taking photos of bizarre things in supermarkets, like a whole section of shelving dedicated to hair removal products.....

…..thank you to all the people I managed to catch up with, for great conversation, music & of course, the food. Of course, you folks do such an incredible job of preparing your own food at home where, here in China, it's cheaper, tastier & much less trouble to eat out! It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, the air in Australia, the blue seas, beautiful, uncrowded beaches & clean uncluttered streets are the envy of everyone in China who has seen the photos. Things are getting done in Adelaide, albeit at a less frenetic pace than in China, which is probably not a bad thing.....

…..however it was puzzling, sitting on a suburban train in Adelaide railway station, on the southern suburbs line that took over a year & a half to electrify, thinking how clunky & slow the electric trains are in Australia after the 300kph bullet trains in China. It sounded like a diesel. On disembarking at Oaklands park I discover it WAS a diesel. There are no electric trains on the line yet! Still, I like the “Cheesegrater” building on North Terrace, a new medical research centre, & expect the new hospital will be finished one day. Ah, Adelaide.....

…..cultural divide! My good friend Shen Yue laughed in my face at a picture of Adelaide Railway station, not able to believe that the station in a provincial capital could be so small. No surprise I guess, I judge cities in China now by how many Adelaide Airport terminals could fit inside their train stations, (no, it's not hyperbole). Similar reactions came from the absence of people on Adelaide streets & beaches.....

..a special mention for Thailand, which I visited on the way to Australia. There has been violence at the intersections in Bangkok closed off as part of the “Shutdown Bangkok, Restart Thailand” campaign but, having almost by accident ended up in a blocked intersection, I found it had been transformed into one of the biggest street markets I have ever seen, packed with tourists, shoppers, street food vendors & impromptu shops. The stages with speakers giving speeches broadcast throughout the market seemed peripheral to the main aim of selling stuff....

…..in Khon Kaen, the north eastern provincial capital, at Wazza & Pla's little deli on Soi Wattaram, it was a rare opportunity for me to chill out. I did reach the limit of my ability to do this at the nearby Turtle park, more a medium suburban garden than a park, with a few dusty, ramshackle enclosures for the main exhibits. No entrance fee so, with bated breath I walked from one low-walled enclosure to another, wondering whether the turtles would be in, or out, of their shells or, with a shudder of anticipation, half in-half out. It could be described most generously as a meditative experience. However Wazza & Pla treated me to fine hospitality, some tasty & interesting food, (still debating, out of deference to my sister's ranidophobia, (look it up), whether to show the pictures of the dish of some green vegetable with baby frogs).....

..what a great trip to Ubolratanaphittayakhom dam, (& what an evocative name!). We climbed innumerable steps to the Buddhist temple followed by a really memorable meal on a floating bamboo restaurant, sitting on mats at low tables almost at water level. After a few mouthfuls of huge prawns & other local produce, Pla & two of her friends, Noi & Tha, were inhaling deeply & waving their hands in front of their mouths. When Thai people do that you know it's hot. ...& it was. Thank you Tha for kindly taking me around the various temples in Khon Kaen, thanks to Noi for driving us out to the dam, what was it called again?....

…..on arriving back in Shanghai there are reminders that you have left a whole continent with less than this city's population. On the subway from Pudong Airport after a few stations the train is full in a way only Chinese, or maybe Indian, public transport can be. Having got on at the airport I have a seat. By now the young guy sitting next to me, playing a game on his mobile phone is rubbing his leg up and down against mine at exciting junctures in the game. A few, sharp, sideways knocks from my knee are without effect so I just give up.....

…..then at Shanghai station. After putting my bags on the scanner I go through to stand on the tiny, low platform about the size of a dining chair seat while the security guard scans me with her magic wand. I feel someone pushing behind. A middle aged woman, in a hurry to get her bags, has managed to get her feet onto the platform & is pressing herself impatiently against me. The security guard is unperturbed. Personal space, a distant memory of a peculiar Australian cultural trait. Ah, China!.........

…..When I buy a pack of oatmeal for weekend breakfasts I assume it's a plastic bag, unnecessarily thick as they are in China, not expecting to find it's really an aluminium bag with small, individually wrapped portions in, yes, sealed aluminium bags. I bought Twining's tea before because it tastes OK & they just pack it in a simple cardboard box. At least, they did. Now it's in the same outer cardboard box but with 4 aluminium wrapped packs inside. Ah, China!.....

…..I may have mentioned, many, many times, 2 of the most difficult things to cope with here are the notorious air quality, which varies from passable to appalling, & the internet, which varies from functional at a basic level to totally dysfunctional at all levels from the incessant, pathetic, random interference. Like the million, (in China's case actually 2 million), monkeys at keyboards who, after a million years might have accidentally typed the complete works of Shakespeare. After a particularly trying day battling with it, trying to download large audio & text files for my degree courses, I go to bed in less than the best of moods. Bloody China!....

…..maybe just the thought of having to cope with 2 languages, Chinese & Spanish, during the next phase of my languages degree has started to play with the my brain. While it's quite normal for people to ride the wrong way down the bike lane, however narrow or busy, it's still annoying when they want to turn off & just veer across in front of you without warning & most definitely never waiting for traffic going in the right direction to pass first. I'm always ready for it but still like to let them know that maybe they should take on a little responsibility for themselves rather than let ME do it for them. When the inevitable happens I am ready with the brakes but make sure I stop so the guy can't easily get past. When he looks at me as though I'm an imbecile it's too much. I don't really want to swear at him in Chinese, (actually I do …), I don't want to be the coarse foreigner using the one English swear word that's widely recognised … almost unconciously the words, “Jy dom duis” pop out, probably misremembered from Afrikaans I heard when I lived in Botswana over 35 years ago. Verdomme China!....

....perhaps the most disturbing reply to a question in class. I am combining 2 recent grammar points, indirect questions, (can you …?, could you...?, do you mind...?), & 2 part verbs, (like turn on, throw out, put down, etc). At the back of one grade 8 class one of my smarter students, says, “Could you pick up the soap for me ...”, pause to smirk at a nearby classmate, “...in jail?” OK, let's move on, shall we?.....

…..I finally get to visit Fei Fei, (Miss Piggy) & her husband Ling Yu in Taizhou, which is only an hour to the east by bus. I still haven't seen their son, Ling Xi En. They are all healthy & happy. We manage to drive in their new Buick to the other side of this sprawling, potholed, dusty construction site of a city. She gets me to go on a couple of rides in a rather dodgy looking amusement park as Ling Yu is too scared. He might have a point. As the boy was born on or near Thanksgiving Day his name is Xi (from Xiwang, to hope or wish), & En, (from Gan En, Thanksgiving). Well, it makes sense in Chinese.....

.....unlike the gifts I am showered with on my return. I thought taking a really nice blanket I bought for the baby over 2 months ago, plus a box of wafer snacks & a pink scarf for Fei Fei would be fair enough but, after feeding me & taking me around for the day suddenly at home time boxes of … stuff … are thrust at me. Attempts to translate the contents have been only partially successful. The biggest box is jujube, known here as zao, which sounds the same as the word for “early”, & turns up at weddings by way of wishing for an early baby. The translation is: Red jujube lotus seed broth. My translator renders the other one as: Step by step high embedded peach cake. I probably won't use them & I don't want to break the seal as then I won't be able to re-gift them! Such a nice thought though. Aaaah, China!

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Photos

Cool Play Equipment, Park, Taizhou
Wish they'd had these when I was a kid

Lindas, Chris Birthday, Adelaide
The only way to cope with a 45C Day

Medical Research Centre, Adelaide
Cool, I like it

Noi, Wazza, Tha, Khon Kaen
Doing his bit for international harmony

FeiFei, Ling Xi En and Ling Yu, Taizhou
Miss Piggy with her family

Esplanade, Somerton, Adelaide
Crowded beach, Adelaide style

Onkaparinga Mouth, Southport, Adelaide
"It's amazing, beautiful", they say in China, "but where are the people?"