Snake island
Bon, pour ne pas vous emmerder, je passe l'île des oiseaux pleine de grippe aviaire de pigeons et de poules et celle des autruches, pleine... d'autruches, c'est bien, on voit que vous suivez! Pour arriver a celle des serpents, ou y'avait même un show avec des serpents! C'est pas trés varié et un peu court, mais c'etait rigolo! (Jusqu'à ce que j eme fasse attaquer par un cobra enorme!) (euh pour la petite histoire, j'ai un bon zoom...) (Je sais, certaines retouches d'images auraient pu mettre en valeur mes sujets...)
I won't tell you about all the islands, but that one was quite funny! I hoped I could touch some snakes, but security is too strict... I was only attaqued by a crazy snake-wearing dancing girl and a few cobras... Nothing worth talking about...
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Y'a tellement des drapeaux partout qu'on se croierait presque aux etats unis! (en un peu plus rouge, et avec moins d'etoiles aussi...)
petit bateau!!!
Oh! on a perdu notre gros bateau!!! pas grave, je prefere les petits avec un gens qui rame a l'arrière, c'est plus sympa! Trés dur de résister a l'envie de plonger, l'eau est a une temperature trés convenable et il fait beau...
Little boat for a little trip around one island and to come back to the big boat. Actually a very good moment!
L'ile aux cadenas / Lockers island
Je sais pas si je l'avais deja dit, mais chaque ile sur laquelle on a débarqué l'autre jour avait un thème (cadenas, oiseaux, serpents...) Je vous présente donccelle avec le thème de l'ouvre bouteill, en commencant par un totem consacré au dieu des buveurs de bières! (Euh en réalité, on remarquera que c'est une clé et qu'elle fait donc partie de l'ile des cadenas...)
The first island of the boat trip was the beer drinker's god one! Have you seen the size of this bottle opener?
Actually that island was dedicated to locks (weird, hey?) and there were a loooot of them! Even some very big ones where you (chinese people actually) could put some money, and it brought them luck... The more money you put, the luckier you get...
Ensuite, une photo d'un beau gosse qu'on a croisé sur le bord du chemin... Je me disais que ca vous ferait plaisir de voir quelqu'un d'aussi beau... C'est pas tous les jours que ca vous arrive... (Moi ca m'arrive tous les jours alors ca mefait plus d'effet, mais je comprends votre enthousiasme)
Here is a picture of me, to show I was really there and that it isnot just a commercial for a tour operator.
Nice breakfast (hèn hào shangfàn)
I already showed you some chinese food, but this time, I'm gonna be more specific! This is only about breakfast. (Actually this is the first really chinese breakfast I've had since I'm here) It's a weird meal... The drink : choice between a sweet orange liquide (orange juice?) and hot soy milk.The food : Two parts:Salty (here on the picture) It's good! Sweet (sorry, no picture) it's like cakes, a little too sweet maybe, but really good too! (usually the cakes are dipped in a sort of soup but I saw it too late) I ate everything, and I think I'll do it again, it's better than the usual cookies I eat every morning...
Un des petits dejeuners les plus copieux des 2 derniers mois! C'etait à l'hotel où j'ai dormi avant d'aller faire le tour du lac aux milles iles. En partie salé (le petit déjeuner, pas le lac), mais trés bon en fait... Je devrais faire ca plus souvent, non pas que j'aime pas les biscuits, mais ca devient un peu lassant de manger ca tous les matins... plus qu'a trouver où faire de tels gueuletons le matin sans arriver en retard au boulot... (et pour pas cher aussi, mais bon, ca ne devrait pas poser de problèmes ici)
Lawnmower update
Apparement, le parc d'Hangzhou est plus riche que la résidence ou j'avais joué au tennis... Ils ont de quoi investir dans vachement plus de tondeuses! Aprés reflexion en groupe de travail, on a emit l'hypothèse plausible, qu'en fait, ce n'etaient pas des tondeuses, mais des arracheurs de mauvaises herbes... Effectivement, la pelouse ressemble presque a un gazon anglais...
After further inquieries, it seems that the lawnmowers were actually some weed removers... It makes more sense to me now... (They're pretty rich here, they have so many of them!)
Thousand island lake
Last week end, while some where going to Austin to get a maximum of sound in their ears, I was fleeing the constant noise of Shanghai to go to Hangzhou. I went there with a trip organised by my chinese school, which made it easy. We were a group of 10 pupils and 2 guides in a minibus.
First day, we went to "west lake" just next to the city of Hangzhou, and that was nice, but not as good as expected... Nice views, nice place, nice people (the one I was traveling with) but not what I expected, as everybody seemed to say it was the most beautiful place of China...
After a very long walk around that lake (we didn't make it all the way, perhaps a third of it in both ways) We took the bus again to another part of Hangzhou, 200 km further... Uh... Wasn't Hangzhou supposed to be a city? Whatever... We go to the city next to thousand Island lake, eat again (yes, when it is organised I don't miss any meal!) and went to bed after a quick walk in the city.
First time in a while that I can go to bed at 10pm without being annoyed by the cars and horns... This is damn good! I have slept soooooooo well! Woken up at 6 to be on a boat at 8am, we go to the restaurant of the hotel to eat a very chinese breakfast (I'll come back on it in another post), desperately look for coffee or fresh orange juice... Even the KFC next door is not yet opened... Damn it!
Once on the boat, we went around the lake for several hours, and visited some islands that each had a special theme. (I'll come back on this too) Very nice views, very calm, no cars anywhere, trees everywhere! God I needed that! Here is a view to keep you satisfied until I speak a little more about everything:
Pour les francophones, je suis désolé pour la langue unique, mais j'avoue mon manque d'entrain pour tout reécrire parce qu'il est tard... Les details et anecdotes seront tous au moins traduits en Francais, promi! Je ferais même peut être des trucs qu'en Francais pour vous faire plaisir...
Shanghai city planning exhibition center
This saturday, I went to the museum where all the planned modifications of Shanghai for the next years are shown. That is pretty amazing! I really liked the reduced model and the 360°movie of 2010 Shanghai... (for the universal exhibition) That must be done by everyone coming to Shanghai during more thant a week! (there are better things more important to do for the others) And the best thing is that it only takes an hour and a half to visit it, so you can do it without booking a day for it.
Samedi, je suis allé visiter le musée de plannification urbaine de Shanghai, c'est pas mal du tout! Il y est montré les modifications prévues pour les années a venir, pour avant l'exposition universelle si je ne m'abuse... Ben il leur reste encore un peu de boulot quand meme, surtout au niveau nettoyage (quoique sur leur modèle réduit ils ont pas prévu de nettoyer apparement...)
Is the dirt part of the planning?
A cookie to win for the first one to find my building on the model (a part si c'est Pierre, sinon, c'est trop facile, toi t'auras qu'un demi cookie) Clue: esta close du centro, it is blanc et it is pas encore destructed a cette epoque. (if avec ca you don't win, c'est que vous le faites on purpose!)
blog evolution
Several people complained about the language used in my blog (mostly from one or two guys). So this is a message just to ask you which solution the readers want. (I don't really want to do all in both languages french and english, that's why you won't find that possibility here, but you can stille put that solution in "other")
- All in english is good -> it should stay like that
- I can't speak english properly -> go back to french only!
- Hybrid solution -> go back to french, but with a summary in english
- You don't care
- other (precision required)
Thanks for reading my blog anyway...
Plusieurs personnes se sont plaintes de la langue utilisée pour narrer mes aventures fabuleuses sur ce blog (t'inquiète, je te balancerai pas Pierre). Je vous convie donc, vous, fidèles lecteurs, à donner votre avis sur cela par ce message. (Je ne suis pas super fan de la solution de tout traduire, c'est pour ca que je l'ai pas mis en solution, mais vous pouvez toujours le mettre dans "autre"....)
- En anglais c'est bien -> on change rien
- Je suis une merde en anglais -> je dois mettre un terme a votre supplice
- Solution hybride -> je raconte en francais avec un résumé a la fin en anglais (solution qui fera pas plaisir aux non francophones qui seraient ainsi defavorisés)
- Rien a battre, de toutes manières c'est chiant ce que j'ecris
- Autre (précisez)
Merci de lire mon blog anyway...
Varias personnas se han quejado de la lengua usada en mi blog. Es por eso que os pido decirme lo que pensais de eso. No voy a hacerlo en español (no puedo, es demassiado dificil para mi) pero podais decir me si preferais el ingles o el frances para cuentar os mis aventuras. (No quiero escribir todo en varias lenguas, es por eso que no es una propuesta, podais proposarlo en la seccion "otra propuesta" si quereis tambien)
- ingles es bueno -> no cambiamos nada
- No estoy bastante bueno en ingles para escribir -> cambiamos para un blog todo en frances
- Hybrida solucion -> Escribo en frances con un sumario en ingles
- No me interesa
- Otra solucion (precisarla)
Muchas gracias para leer mi blog anyway.
(The german, chinese and italian version will come another time maybe, sorry)
chinese lawn mower
Coming back from playing tennis, I found a guy taking some grass off the floor with his hands... That seems a weird way to cut the grass to me, but I guess it is cheaper to do it that way...
Actually, I think it must be the last model of chinese lawn mower... The good point about it is that it doesn't make any noise! (And try to find a lawn mower that answers to you when you say hello to it...)
Tennis
Monday, 5:00 pm: I remember Ling (the chief executive of "onepoint china") had told me we could play tennis together one day, and as the wether forecasting for tuesday is not too hot, we decide to play on tuesday morning at... 8:00am!
Tuesday, 7:43 am: Huuuu? Wow! I'm gonna be late! No time to eat, drink, wash, I just dress up, take change, my computer and there I am on my bike half asleep to go to the tennis court... (It's just in front of work)I hadn't played in a while...
I didn't remember tennis was so hard to play... Balls going everywhere except on the court... Last time I played, I was like Agassi... Now I play like a goat...
I'm better at faking playing for the pictures or drinking water...
Chinese cooking
Today's objectives :
- Wake up early
- Go to pick up my jacket
- do a washing machine
- clean my appartment
- play ping pong with Damien
- buy a cutting board and a glass
- learn how to cook chinese.
I woke up at 11am... oups... let's erase the two first things on the list... my jacket will wait until next week...
Oups... no more washing powder... I went down, bought some and here it was! One thing done!
Already too late to clean.... let's go playing ping pong with Damien!!! (I won 1 set!!!)
I bought a cutting board in the supermarket next to the "ping pong stadium" (I don't remember the real name). Cleaned my appartment, and ironed my new shirts. (to get them ready for the pictures I'm gonna put here next week). And finally, here comes the interesting part : Cooking chinese!!! (cooking is already exceptionnal for me here)
Iris came to my place, after buying some veges and a fish (that was alive a minute earlier). We also bought some cooking stuff like salt, pepper and chinese aromates...
First : Cleaning the fish! Ok that is like in France... Brutal!
Then clean the veges and cut them! Ok til then, I'm still good! I can do that, not many differences with normal cooking, is there? Maybe on the number of garliks... 3 for 2 people eating... Tasty!
Now begins the "cooking chines" part! Put a lot of "ola"
in the pan. Some what? Ola! Oups, sorry, I'm still not used to the accent... Ok, I put some oil in the pan. Greacy!
Weird way to cook fish isn't that? The fish is too big and falls in parts... not a problem! we put it appart once it is fried. (with all it's pieces) I lern that it is better when it stil has the head... Crispy!
Here come the veges! (why didn't we cook thembefore the fish? Knowing we would use the same oil...) I don't tell the names of the veges cause I don't know them... sorry... Add at least half a pound of salt to give taste... Salty!
A wonderful come back of the fis... Whaaaat? Is that the fish? Yes, look, there is some bones here and there! Evolutive!
We put some nice things in it (vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and a very chinese white stuff) It changes color! woaw! "The taste must go inside the fish so that we cover the strong taste of the fish! Otherwise it is not good, this one is too big!" Ok... that's why chinese fish and chinese chicken sometimes taste the same? Ok, I taste! (cool shaving isn't it? it is necessary to get the "adventurous looking guy" diploma that allowed me to try the chinese cooking) Yummy!
Now, we just have to wait for the rice to come... Ready!
I'm making fun of it, but it was nice! (maybe a littl... lot too salty) It was very nice too see how to use this big pan and those things people call veges that they sell on the ground of my street... Thanks Iris, We'll do that again!
jiu yue san hao (3rd of september)
Today I woke up quite early for a week end... (10:20am) So I planned my daylike this : first finish my report for my first semester before doing anything else, and go to the silk market to take home my shirts and my jacket during the afternoon. A third thing to do was to go and watch the Shanghai Symphonic orchestra perform some Shostakovitch.
I worked hard and at 15:00pm, it's done, the first version is sent to my mum for a first check up. I hope it won't be the first of a huge number of versions... I hate doing reports...
A little while to get ready, and there I am taking the metro for Central Henan Lu, which was in my memories not that far from the silk market (half an hour walking). As soon as I was out, a girl talks to me with a strong chinese accent. I look around, nobody... then I look down... There she was! I had met Bao, a chinese flower seller that was on her resting day and was waiting for a friend of hers... We talked for about 15 minutes, it looks like she's interested in improving her english (it won't be very hard) and as I am interested in improving my chinese (won't be very hard either), maybe I'll see her again. I know that someone will tell me she only wanted to hook a laowai, but I don't care, it's a good way to learn chinese, and she was quite nice... I don't lose a thing in trying to meet some chinese people, as long as I stay in reasonable limits...
Then I have walked a long time (enough to realise how bad my memory was), and then took a cab to jiaojiabang lu, where the silk market is. aaaargh... it was hooooot!!! I'm sure, just from central Henan Lu to there, I have lost at least 1 liter of sweat... and an hour (at least because it was 5pm)
Anyway, I'm there, I go up to the first shop, looking everywhere to find an ATM... There is none... I try my shirts, and then ask then for an ATM... they indicate one, not far...but it didn't take mastercards... only visas... aaaaaaaargh
I had only enough for the shirts, so I bought them, went to try the jacket and told them I would come back another day to buy it.
All the time I was in that building, I really felt like someone was missing... It was so much funnier with Lara... So I created an imaginery friend to replace here, but I can't draw her correctly on my computer...
I went out, to walk a little further, and finaly found an ATM that liked my card...I took somemoney and headed back to the... oups... I got lost... A taxi later, I was bak to the market, but it was closing... Too late for me... I headed out of the shop, without my jacket (but with the shirts) and took a taxi back home.
I just had time to put my shirts in my appartment, change the shirt I was wearing, and I was on my bike riding to the concert hall of Shanghai (it is not far) to meet Jacopo, Elisa, Marco and another girl I didn't know, italian too.
The orchestra played some Shostakovitch, a famous symphony, the one that does tadadadam tidididi dudum tigididi tadadam... You know? It was really nice.
Then, we went to the Malone's bar, to eat and have a drink. (Yes, I didn't take time to eat during the day...) I had a burger, a huge one like I had in Barnabee's or in Rudz, back in Houston... I missed that! Then, I went back hom... oups, got lost again... Who was playing with the arrangement of the towers today? No way to find the towers I knew... I visited the north of Nanjing lu by night, and went back home. And here I am, writing this!
I got lost twice today and I couldn't do things properly in the silk market... I'm lost in Shanghai... I need my guide back!!!
I won't tell you about all the islands, but that one was quite funny! I hoped I could touch some snakes, but security is too strict... I was only attaqued by a crazy snake-wearing dancing girl and a few cobras... Nothing worth talking about... 
