China: As Cultural As It Can Get

Hei guys, I'm back from a really horrible weekend. I've had high fever for more than 5 days, so bad that my family doctor advised me to go to the hospital and check my blood for dengue (Yeah, it was that dramatic). But don't worry cause' I'm still alive and kicking! Blood test came back negative. Loved that hospital, it even had Starbucks =)

Well, back to China! This post will concentrate on China's culture, from my point of view at least...

This guy here writes calligraphy for a living. I saw one of these paintings on my teacher's wall actually and she told me that she got it from China for less that Rm 5 ($1++), so it was one of the things I was looking out for.

I don't think that this "thing" could really be called calligraphy, its more like art. All you have to do is write down your name on a piece of paper and he will transform it into creative characters of art!

Perfect scene for an old movie. People passing by and the occasional bicycles go by with a small tinkle of the bell really gives you that feeling of being transported back in time. This place is called "Tianjin" if I'm not mistaken, I'm just recalling things from memory so don't use this info to write a history paper =)

Old man, painting on the floor- spotted at the Summer Palace and attracted my attention. Unique thing is that he is not using paint! His "brush" really is sponge and his "paint" is actually water. The temperature was so cold (-15 degree) that the water freezes and stays in the from that he painted it. AND its easy to wash off =)

Yeah! My favourite part.....FOOD =) This probably is one of my favorite meals which is the "Chinese Steamboat". In this meal you actually have to wait for the meat to cook (we put it in that big boiler or "steamboat"), so I had the opportunity to snap some pictures.

The meat is sliced when it is frozen, so you get REALLY thin strips of meat. Then you boil it and dunk it in this really perfectly concocted peanuty sauce. What you put into your mouth after that is a small piece of heaven. The thin meat absorbs so much of the sauce and everything just melts into your taste buds.



Hahahah....this picture here is just to show how much food we had during the trip. The tour really fed us well. I came back 5 kg heavier =(

There was so much food, the waiters practically stack plates over each other because the table is too full.



Here is another one of my favorite shots. A simple picture with a story to tell. Notice the difference between the building on the left and right. The building on the left looks more "ancient China" while the building on the right looks more western.

Hope that you enjoyed this post =) Once again sorry for the late update!