Durian: The Marmite of Fruit

Hello again gentle reader, welcome back. A few months ago while we were still in Latvia, Lena and I watched a video blog posted by a Russian couple who lived in Guangzhou about a fruit called a durian.

I had never even heard of the fruit which as you can see resembles a very large horse chestnut.
The one thing that came across in the video was how divisive it was. The Russian couple and their children seemed to agree that it had a pleasent taste but the smell of the fruit was terrible.

Suitably intrigued by what many people in Asia call "The King of Fruit" we told ourselves that when we got to China we would try it.

Durian has such a pungeant odour that many hotels have banned it.

After looking at it several times and not buying the fruit we finally tonight took the plunge with some durian flavoured wafer biscuits.

Durian Wafers

I'm glad we bought a small packet.

They really stank and I mean stank. Others have likened the smell to raw sewage. I thought it smelled like a babies nappy that had been filled with skunk fur and set on fire. Truly revolting smell. I actually bit one and the taste was not that bad.

Millions of people love durian. Many dont. There is no middle ground.
It truly is the Marmite of fruit.

#durian #kingoffruit #marmite

Mmm....nummy treats

Hello again Gentle reader....as promised here are some of the more unusual things we bought at Aeon supermarket in Baoli yesterday.

1. Fruit: We got a coconut and papaya and mini bananas.

We have bought coconut before but I had never even tried papaya before. When we bought it I wasnt even sure what it was.

Mini banana next to Oreo cookie.

Papaya

2. Sausage with Cheese on a stick.

Very common in China to buy stuff on a stick. We have not seen frog or snake on a stick yet.

3. Chicken Feet.

Comes in many different varieties. I bought the spicy, chilli sauce covered ones. These are a very common sight in China. I found them very tasty to eat but horrible to look at. They are basically like chicken wings but with less meat.

4. Fried Dough

A strange one this, our school serves them for breakfast. Its bread dough that has been deep fried. Very tasty.

#aeon #sausageonastick #chickenfeet #papaya #minibanana #frieddough

A day at Baoli, Foshan

Hello Gentle readers, today we went to Foshan, specifically the Poly shopping centre in Baoli district.
The busses at the weekend are free so we trooped down and climbed aboard the Citic Lake shuttle bus.
The bus driver politely told us that we had got on the right bus and off we travelled. It soon became clear to all 3 of us that this particular bus driver had learned to drive with Michael Schumacher.

Foshan city

Our driver wished to be in F1

He was driving incredibly quickly and was sweeving like a slalom skier around the massive trucks, cars and the countless motor scooters that seem to dominate roads in China.

When the bus stopped and most people jumped out so did we. It was then we discovered that we had got out a little early and were not at Poly but at Ikea. Yes folks the Swedish invasion has even reached Southern China.

After a 20 or so minute walk we reached Poly and quickly found a  cafe to get out of the sun. Two minutes after arriving the coffee shops power went off and we had to wait for our drinks in the dark. They had nice cushions though.

Robert enjoys the soft furnishing.

 After our coffee and juice we entered the wonderfully air conditioned and highly polished shopping mall.
It was very European in style but with lots of asian touches such as these in the photos below.

For lunch we looked at a few diffeeent places. There were the usual McDonalds and Starbucks mixed with more traditional places serving stuff  like this.....

Yummy!

I know...tempting as marinated pig bones or soup with birds in sounded we decided to try KFC where we all had chicken burgers and Lena had the non-alcoholic Mojito drink.

We decided to go to the supermarket for a few things and we found Aeon, the supermarket in question to be very good. It was a little more expensive than our local but the choice was better and they even had some products that we had found very hard to find.

We left about 6.20 and it had started to rain and the wind had started to quicken. A typhoon was fast approaching. I will post later about that and some of the more unusual items we bought on our shoping trip.

#baoli #china #aeon #KFC #IKEA #polymall

School Uniform

Hello Gentle readers.

As you know I have a new job at the Citic Lake Bilingual International School in Foshan, China.

My previous school, The International School of Riga, Latvia did not have a uniform so yesterday when Robert got his new shiny uniform he was excited to say the least.

This morning he modelled for us and here for you are the pictures.

Day Uniform

P.E.Kit

#cbis #isr #uniform

Today in History: 25th August

Its my birthday Gentle Readers so lets blow out the candles of history with the big blow of time.

79: Pliny the elder is killed trying to rescue people from Pompeii

1530: Ivan the Terrible of Russia is born.

1609: Galileo demonstrates his first telescope.

1930: Scottish acting legend Sean Connery is born.

1944: Paris is liberated by the Allies.

1968: A Scotsman in Guangzhou (Neil Thomson) is born in London.

#plinytheelder #ivantheterrible #galileo #seanconnery #paris #august25 #todayinhistory

Rice Crispy cake......not!

Hello Gentle readers.
Welcome to another Thomson family taste test. In fact 2 taste tests.

Yesterday we tried some sponge snack cakes again and I am afraid that these cakes left us pretty uninspired. We tried 5 varieties and the pretty much all tasted the same. One type had fruit in.

Today we tried 8 different varieties of chinese rice crispie cake.

The first one we tried which is the bottom left in the pictire was awful and it tasted like a weird fusion of peanut and sunflower seed flavoured asbestos.

Its like someone took some cardboard boxes and soaked them in peanut flavoured toilet water.

The second (bottom right) was better but still god awful. It was sweeter but I could still taste it minutes later.

The popcorn variety was next and tasted ok. It was really hard and reminded me a bit of peanut brittle. It had raisins inside it and it nearly broke my teeth.

The next 2 types were both sesame seed crispy cakes. They were basically just black or white sesame seeds held togetherby sugar. These were probably the best.

In Russia there is a treat made from sunflower seeds called Kazinaki, Lena was very excited to see a snack that looked similar. Unfortunately looks can be decieving. This had chilli in it.

The next was actually made of rice with sunflower seeds, honey and.....chilli. Good heavens China.....why so much chilli? 

The final cake had black sesame seeds and seemed to be covered in egg wash. Not the worst but definitely not good.

The best were the sesame seed snacks. The worst was the peanut loft insulation.

I will leave you with an image of what a rice crispie cake should look like.

#china #ricekrispiestreats #kazinaki

First trip to Guangzhou

Hello Gentle Readers. Yesterday Robert,Lena and I took our first trip into Guangzhou city.

We had an errand to do but unfortunately the place we were looking for had moved so instead we took a walk around one of the biggest parks in the city.

We took the free shuttle bus from near our apartment to the closest subway station and then took the train into the centre.

The train was remarkably easy to use. It helps that the signs and announcements were all in English.

Yuexiu Park is beautiful and is filled with exotic trees, shrubs and ponds full of giant colourful fish.

It is also where you can find the Statue of the 5 Rams, which is one of the most iconic of Guangzhou sights.

#guangzhou #yuexiupark #statueofthe5rams #guangzhoumetro

Today in History: 19th August

Good morning Gentle Readers. Its time to grab the Crispy won-ton of time with the chopsticks of history and dip it carefully into the dipping sauce of eternity.

1692: The Salem Witch Trials end with the execution of 4 men and 1 woman found guilty of witchcraft.

1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie returns from exile to Scotland and start of the "45 rebellion."

1883: Coco Chanel, fashion designer and founder of the Chanel corporation is born.

1921: Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is born.

#august19 #salem #bonnieprincecharlie  #cocochanel #generoddenberry #startrek #todayinhistory

Chopsticks

Hello again Gentle Readers.

I grew up in England; a country famous for many things.

Royalty, Cricket, the stiff upper lip, the weather and many many more that bore the socks off most non-English people.
One thing that English people pride themselves on is our dinner table etiquette and that means using a knife and fork.

Chopsticks were something I only saw in TV shows or movies and I never got to learn how to use them properly.

I didnt even use them until I moved to Latvia and even then I just skewered the sushi with them like I was spear fishing.

Now I live in China.....whoops!

Chopsticks are everywhere. Now at home we can use forks or spoons but today Gentle Reader, yes you guessed it, we went out to eat.

The establishment was a rather rustic looking place in the village near our apartment and using the handy photographs on the wall we ordered the noodles.
We settled down at our table while bemused locals studied us and openly discussed our presence. Our food came and yes.....they had no forks.
So I picked up 2 hefty looking chopsticks and started eating.....badly. I cannot pick things up with chopsticks, i just try to balance food carefully on them and shovel it into my mouth before it falls off.

The Chopstick Champion in action LOL

My inexperience in the art of chopstick dining was painfully obvious and I began to hear the customers and staff laughing at me. Embarrassed I persevered and I actually began to find it funny myself. This broke the ice and our fellow patrons and I were laughing together
One of the girls working there even asked if  she could have her photo taken with us.

The food was really good and very cheap. All three of us ate for less than €2 and we will definitely go back soon.....although I shall definitely practice my chopstick method.

The Restaurant

The Menu

#chopsticks #fittinginwiththelocals #china

New country. New goal achieved.

In all the excitement of settling into our new home and new country I had not even noticed that the number of page views had passed the 150 thousand mark.

Although most of these views occured while we were in Latvia I am sure that the move to China will continue to make the number of views rise and rise.

I am very grateful to all of you who choose to spend some time here with me and my family. Thank you wherever you are in the world.

#150000