Day 22:
After poor weather stranded myself and 90 million other people at Xiamen airport, we were finally on our way over to Chengdu, a sleepy little farming village of 480 million up in central China.
You wouldn’t believe it, but yesterday was the first day I’ve seen blue sky in an urban area since I’ve been here. As Chengdu sits in a valley surrounded by mountains and gets 330+ overcast days a year, it was a gleeful moment. Then it rained, so that sucked.
Speaking of sucking, we had this group foot massage the other night. And after getting my butt and back tenderly reorganized, I thought I’d try something new. My Taiwanese colleague, who had his first foot massage ever done by another man, which was kind of awkward for him, especially after his Foot Technician mentioned that he even smelled Taiwanese, took me to the next level in the Chinese World of Medicinal. Heated jars.
You’re probably thinking, “What do Taiwanese people smell like?” I don’t know. But these heated jar things were craaaazy. The guy lights this stick, flames the inside of a circular jar, then twists it onto your back. Strategically placed along the spine, they suck the muscles and skin up into the jar like a heated glass soft tissue sucking machine. Removed after about 10 minutes, those areas where the muscles are more tense, will produce a darker mark. It’s been three days and I still have 10, 4-inch diameter, dark purple circles all over my back. I look like a Twister mat. Oddly enough, I feel incredible.* If you get the chance, I highly recommend you and your buddies gather up a few jars and give it a whirl.
Now, I have to tell you about last night’s dinner. Hot Pot. Have you ever had Hot Pot? I had it once before in Hong Kong and I remember it being very delicious. But this one last night? It. Sucked. First tray to come out was Ox stomach. Then there were some kind of little eggs. From a dragon or something, I dunno. And because we’re in Sichuan Provence (rhymes with Poonan), it was all spicy as hell. I love spicy. But I like flavour too. This had no flavour. It was like a big pot of spicy cooking oil with spicy oil sprinkled with spicy whole black pepper corns soaked in spicy oil.
Also, it sucked. So to give you something to add flavour, they give each of you a side bowl of grease. Then you can add vinegar, salt, and get this, MSG. Yeah. I know, huh? I thought it was sea salt. *I have morning sickness too.
Stay tuned for my Panda adventures. . .
After poor weather stranded myself and 90 million other people at Xiamen airport, we were finally on our way over to Chengdu, a sleepy little farming village of 480 million up in central China.
You wouldn’t believe it, but yesterday was the first day I’ve seen blue sky in an urban area since I’ve been here. As Chengdu sits in a valley surrounded by mountains and gets 330+ overcast days a year, it was a gleeful moment. Then it rained, so that sucked.
Speaking of sucking, we had this group foot massage the other night. And after getting my butt and back tenderly reorganized, I thought I’d try something new. My Taiwanese colleague, who had his first foot massage ever done by another man, which was kind of awkward for him, especially after his Foot Technician mentioned that he even smelled Taiwanese, took me to the next level in the Chinese World of Medicinal. Heated jars.
You’re probably thinking, “What do Taiwanese people smell like?” I don’t know. But these heated jar things were craaaazy. The guy lights this stick, flames the inside of a circular jar, then twists it onto your back. Strategically placed along the spine, they suck the muscles and skin up into the jar like a heated glass soft tissue sucking machine. Removed after about 10 minutes, those areas where the muscles are more tense, will produce a darker mark. It’s been three days and I still have 10, 4-inch diameter, dark purple circles all over my back. I look like a Twister mat. Oddly enough, I feel incredible.* If you get the chance, I highly recommend you and your buddies gather up a few jars and give it a whirl.
Now, I have to tell you about last night’s dinner. Hot Pot. Have you ever had Hot Pot? I had it once before in Hong Kong and I remember it being very delicious. But this one last night? It. Sucked. First tray to come out was Ox stomach. Then there were some kind of little eggs. From a dragon or something, I dunno. And because we’re in Sichuan Provence (rhymes with Poonan), it was all spicy as hell. I love spicy. But I like flavour too. This had no flavour. It was like a big pot of spicy cooking oil with spicy oil sprinkled with spicy whole black pepper corns soaked in spicy oil.
Also, it sucked. So to give you something to add flavour, they give each of you a side bowl of grease. Then you can add vinegar, salt, and get this, MSG. Yeah. I know, huh? I thought it was sea salt. *I have morning sickness too.
Stay tuned for my Panda adventures. . .
