From Xiamen, we made our way to DEHUA, the "Ceramics Capital Of China"...on our way there, we stopped at a SUPERMARKET to stock up on snack foods. As far as restaurants go in Dehua, there are not a lot of "vegetarian options", even at the hotel we usually stay at, the CHINA PEARL. We loaded up on dried fruits and cookies to supplement the snack bars and instant mac & cheese and noodles we brought with us from the states...
The China Pearl is a noisy hotel - it is the best hotel in Dehua, and as such, it draws the party crowd on the weekends. This is not good because the walls at the hotel are super thin and you can pretty much hear everything your neighbors are saying or doing. Also, the hotel is located on the busiest intersection in town, so you are never far away from the incessant beeping of horns and inexplicable loud speaker announcements coming from various street level markets. The rooms were nice enough though, and we tried our best to endure the couple of days we were there...
This intersection is particularly interesting to watch because THERE ARE NO TRAFFIC LIGHTS OR STOP SIGNS...vehicles and pedestrians pass through the intersection at will. The one thing about traffic in China is that EVERYONE assumes that they have the RIGHT OF WAY...which makes driving in China a very scary proposition...
CHINA 0475 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.
The China Pearl is a cornucopia of poorly executed english, A.K.A. "ENGRISH":..
We spent our first night at the hotel watching the Chinese version of UGLY BETTY...not ABC's Ugly Betty dubbed in Chinese, but an honest to goodness Chinese knock-off of the show, complete with Chinese actors taking the place of all the characters from the original show...only, in the Chinese version, it seemed like everyone worked at a high-end culinary magazine, rather than at a high-end fashion rag...
Early in the morning, after a restless night of sleep, we headed down to the LOOBY to wait for a minivan to come whisk us away to a day full of appointments...
Dehua is perhaps one of the least westernized cities we visit in China...so, the street scenes we see passing us are much more interesting than in the more cosmopolitan areas we were used to seeing. Particularly interesting were all the open air butcher stands that could be found on random street corners, a health inspector's nightmare...
In between vendor visits, we stopped at a local mom & pop shop, to see where some of the factories source their RIBBON:
Back at the hotel, after a long day of visiting various vendors, Missy worked on some last-minute product design before we hit the hay...
FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Adult Swim Block Party...because it was better than I anticipated!
RAOUL - Adult Swim Block Party!
WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Hearing about my friend Babs passing away...
RAOUL - Haha...the moment I stepped back into office.
FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - The shout out to Tofu Baby on my receipt from Peach Mac, after I got my laptop repaired.
RAOUL - Any number of moments from the Adult Swim Block Party.
WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - "I will rock your face"
RAOUL - "If you have to say what you are, you probably aren't"
FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Willie's burrito tasted really good.
RAOUL - #12 vegetarian meal at La Parilla.
THING YOU MISSED THE MOST WHILE AWAY IN CHINA?
MISSY - My pets!
RAOUL - Our house!
PERSONAL RESOLUTION FOR THIS WEEK?
MISSY - To finish planting the new bed up front.
RAOUL - To finish reading Handmade Market.
THREE THINGS ON YOUR SHOPPING LIST FOR THIS WEEK?
MISSY - Apples, honey, Wacom tablet.
RAOUL - Printer/scanner, apples, new records.
PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Laura Marling, Joanna Newsom, Laura Veirs, She & Him, Bjork.
RAOUL - She & Him, Laura Veirs, Nico, Beirut, Best Coast, Cansei De Ser Sexy, Joanna Newsom.
No comments:
Post a Comment