Just yesterday, I mentioned that I haven’t come across any Vietnamese restaurants in Liuzhou. Then this morning I see an ad in the local rag for what appears to be a “Vietnam Crab Leg” restaurant. The ad declares that they will have the official opening tomorrow. Whether this means that the crabs (and/or any other […]
Earlier in the week, I had a pleasant evening meal with some friends at a Thai restaurant here in Liuzhou. There are, as far as I know, only two in Liuzhou. One is 锦泰阁 in Sunshine 100 City Plaza next to the Radisson Hotel (see here). This week we went to the other one. It is […]
Friday food is a weekly article about one of the more unusual food items to be found in Liuzhou that week. This week, cake. I well remember the first time I saw one of these. I mistakenly thought it was some kind of flat bread from Xinjiang or somewhere similar. It certainly visually resembles something […]
Liuzhou’s Forestry Police have been raiding farmers’ markets of late, seizing wild game animals from unlicensed traders. The haul has included animals such as raccoons, masked civets and coypus (nutria) as well as pheasants and other game birds. Masked civets are believed to have been the source of the 2003 SARS epidemic and have been […]
China hasn’t always produced ultra-boring residential architecture. Not that much of the old style is left. The anti-Japanese war as they call World War II, cultural revolutions and the insane (and apparently endless) “development” has done away with the past all over China, including Liuzhou. The city was all but destroyed in 1945, and it […]
The two pandas which arrived at Liuzhou zoo last month have now been deemed to have “settled in” and are ready to meet their public. They went on display today. Entry to the disgusting dump of a zoo costs ¥20, including entry to the panda enclosure or, as they put it, “the 600-square-meter giant panda […]
Friday food is a weekly article about one of the more unusual food items to be found in Liuzhou that week. This week a true obscurity – Chicken Skin Fruit. “Chicken Skin Fruit” (鸡皮果), also known as 山黄皮 (literally “Mountain Yellow Skin”), is the fruit of a large shrub (Clausena anisum-olens (Blanco) Merrill) native to round here. […]
Don’t try telling me it’s a coincidence. Just as they are preparing to bury the wicked witch, a tornado hits Liuzhou. It is well remembered that the evil one once claimed her favourite pop ‘song’ to be ‘Telstar‘ – by – The Tornados! And where was that recorded? Above a shop on London’s Holloway Road. […]
Friday food is a weekly article about one of the more unusual food items to be found in Liuzhou that week. This week we are makin’ bacon. About once a year, I get an email from someone who has recently arrived in China telling me that they have found a shop which sells “real bacon” […]
Those who know me well know that I am always up for a bit of classy literature and the occasional poem or two. And I am well able to discern ‘found poetry’ when I find it. I was having a bit of a discussion with a dear and knowledgeable friend when I went off on […]