Friday, September 21, 2007

Street Food
















There is more food sold on the China Streets than anywhere I have ever been. You can buy anything you want and you might be surprised what is available on the streets. There is an abundance of vendors, especially with food. It doesn't take much to set-up shop. Sometimes as little as a cloth to put on the ground to place your product on. Better than that, some use a basket or two and a stick with strings to carry up to two different items. Even better yet is a bike with a flat board mounted on the back to hold your fruit or live items like chickens for the evening meal. Some bikes are outfitted with propane tanks and cooking pans. Sometimes they just get a 50 gallon barrel and use it as a cooker. These seem to be used primarily to cook large batches of sweet potatoes. Our friends tell us they are delicious and We are going to try them soon. Previously, before I left the states, I said, I would never buy any food from the street vendors, but I have relented and purchased quite a few things. Bev has bought a number of fruits and some vegetables, some of which we later eat. Generally, our purchases have been items that have a skin of some sort of peeling to get to the fruit or item to eat. These are some pics of some of the varieties that you can find everywhere. BTW Most of the fruit is excellent. Tree ripened! Bananas from the street vendors are less than 1 yuan each or about $.12. If you don't know the expected price for something they will charge you more. And almost always things cost less away from Shekou, Seaworld, where we live.

I have not seen anyone with there own chopsticks. Most of the street food does not require them but if it does the standard wood chopsticks in a paper sleeve are more common than straws and just as cheap to handout. We have been given them to use in restaurants that have the metal chopsticks as they are easier to use than the thin metal ones.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Afternoon Cool Off





Bev and I decided to go for a swim Sunday afternoon to cool down and get away from the high humidity and smog this weekend. It had been all of the above. This Hotel, the Nan Hai is suppose to be a 5 star hotel. It is very nice, maybe not a 5 start though. It is about 3 blocks from our school and farther than our apartment but still a very easy walk. We had the pool to ourselves for the first hour and then were joined by this young man and his father. Later some school staff and their families came in for a swim. Very beautiful place. Note the gray air. Yuk.I added the flower pic since I hadn't posted any flowers yet!

International Brunch














Secondary Students pose for a quick picture.

Each year students and parents participate in an International Brunch on Saturday September 15th. Many students dress in native costume and parents bring a traditional dish to share. Dishes are placed on tables according to nationality. After a brief announcement everyone digs in with forks and chopsticks. Here are just a few pictures of this years event.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Tall Shenzhen Buildings





Shekou and Shenzhen may have been two separate cities but today are totally linked together. The same bus system will take you from one end of Shekou to the other end of Shenzhen. We traveled by public bus for about and hour and a half from our home to downtown Shenzhen. It is big city the entire way. Here are some pics of the area Lou Who and some pics of the Cities large skyscrapers. There are about 14 million people in the greater metropolitian area. Believe me there are many people everywhere you look. Most of these shots where taken through the bus window so the quality suffers but you get the idea. I had to show you the window washers. The are near the bottom of a very tall building. What looks like a line between them is a water hose they passed back and forth. Note the single rope per person! Check out other Shenzhen skyscrapers at this link.

Seaworld Sunday Morning








Just some pics Sunday morning right outside our apartment that I took as I went to Starbucks this morning.Kind of a overcast day.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Bicycle Bicycle











They are everywhere and used to transport anything and everything. I already showed you the bomb boys. (I saw one with with oxygen and acetylne on the back of a bike a couple of days ago.) I realized that I had taken a few pics of bikes of varying types and thought I would share them with you. In my daily three block walk to work I usually come close to being hit by one at least once. They go down the sidewalk, they also travel the roads and it appears that they do not have to obey any laws of any kind. They routinely run red lights many times without even a glance to the side. The covered parking is next to a silk factory close to our apartment. I have seen at least 4 our 5 of these covered areas but not one car parking lot! Each one has its own guard watching the bikes. Bikes must outnumber cars at least 20 to 1.Note the nice new seat on the first picture.