After Christmas last year, I spent a couple of days in the small town of Jiaoxie (角斜), close to Nantong (南通), three hours west of Shanghai.
Nantong is an important river port located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River whose prosperity was catalyzed by a local industrialist, Zhang Jian (张謇), who founded Nantong’s first cotton mills in 1899. Nantong has remained an important center for the textile industry.
The main street in Jiaoxie is a hive of activity with small shops and restaurants spilling welcomingly out onto the pavements. Run by Mr. Wu and his extended family, one such establishment is Wang Wang Breakfast (旺旺早点), where tasty buns, wonton noodles and flatbread are the order of the day all year round.
Everything is made by hand and, while the tools might be basic, the skills and techniques required have been honed over years of experience. Watching Mr. Wu form each lump of dough into a precisely formed bun is almost hypnotic!
Nian gao (年糕), a type of rice cake, is made by mixing rice with glutinous rice and then steaming to cook.
年糕，一种大米做的糕点，是用大米和糯米混合蒸成。
It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during Chinese New Year, because “nian gao” is a homonym for “higher year” (年年高升).
在新年吃年糕寓意吉祥，因为”年糕“与”年年高升“谐音。
A wooden grid is used to form the rice powder into squares before placing on a damp cloth to steam. Sometimes they’re filled with sweet red bean paste.
In the popular Chinese fantasy novel Journey to the West, the Monkey King is stationed as the Protector of the Peaches and ends up stealing one in order to prolong his own life leading to much mischief!
After nearly four weeks of trip for business and holiday for leisure, the great break finally cools down. This week I’ve been thinking a lot of the year 2013 and belated new year resolution. And today I realised I had a perfect list of things to do for 2013 but I failed on almost all.
So nothing is more important than making it short and just kicking off doing it.
2014 Resolution
Move to another city
Dining out <= 3/7 (aggressive but still possible, dining out before today or during holiday are not taken into count)
Run >= 60KM/month and try half-marathon at least once
Take care of my plants
Enroll and complete at least 4 courses on Coursera
Complete a personal photo project
Keep tracking on all of the above goals on a regular basis
In my 2013 resolution, I listed all the places I planned to go for holiday. I did go on trips in Guangzhou, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Japan and UK. However, we must not become hostages to tourism and eye catching holidays. In October, I spend the entire golden week holiday at my cozy apartment. This is the first time since college I was staying home instead of going out for “explore”. Travel is fun and so does travel in books.
Stay curious on what to explore and where I live is going to be my life-long resolution.
すみません – Su mi ma sen – 不好意思、麻烦
ごめんなさい – Go men na sai – 对不起
道に迷っています – Mi chi ni ma yo tte i ma su – 我迷路了
…はどこですか – …Wa do ko de su ka – …在哪里
ちょっと待って – Cho tto ma tte – 稍等一下
分かりません – Wa ka ri ma sen – 我不懂
いくらですか – I ku ra de su ka – 多少钱？
お願いします – O ne ga i shi ma su – 拜托了
大丈夫 – Da i jō bu – 不要紧、没关系
危ない – A bu na i – 危险、当心
もう一度 – Mō i chi do – 再一次
病気です – Byō ki de su – 我病了 どこ – Do ko – 哪里
助けて！ – Ta su ke te！ – 救命！ はい – Ha i – 是、好
さようなら – Sa ō na ra – 再见 いいえ – I i e – 不是
ありがとう – A ri ga tō – 谢谢 そうです – Sō de su – 是的
