Finding Soho
24 Oct 2005 — Just a quick update on the present: Nothing much really, just been doing a lot of spring-cleaning. Well, it is Spring, but more importantly, we’re expecting guests this Friday. Haha, so of course must buck up lor! See so neat and tidy, all ready for Admund and Siew Yin.
With the house and more particularly, the kitchen, nice and clean, we’re also more in the mood to cook. Here’s the lunch I made today.
Spelt pasta in coriander pesto with prawns and oysters in a coconut-mango chilli sauce + salad of baby spinach, rocket and mango.
And even as I speak, my pipi is in the kitchen preparing dinner:
+ “opening ceremony” for our new Kambrook rice cooker. Yup, we were kind of tired of eating the teflon coating off the old one. Have just donated it to St Vincent’s (local version of Salvos), erm, mebbe someone else might want it???
Bi’s dish: Stir-fried cabbage, tofu, chicken, mushrooms and edamame with ginger, garlic and Teriyaki sauce + fried eggs, served with steaming brown rice
Ok, and now back to China.
13 Sep 2005: So I’ve said bye-bye to HK, and am now in Beijing with another good friend Weiling. The first night after I arrived, we just took it easy. Ate around the neighbourhood and basically chit-chatted till bedtime — so much goss to catch up on! Her place is in this area called 后现代城，and as you can see, it’s a pretty modern looking private estate.
Not bad hey, they’ve actually done the grounds up pretty tastefully, lots of greenery and water features even. One might even be excused for thinking this is a first-world country… UNTIL you spot the dead giveaway: that big bright hideous 杀风景 red banner! Once again, for those who don’t understand Chinese, you may be excused for thinking that due to its OTT presentation, it has got to be a pretty darn important message right? NOT! All it says is “Cultivate good trash-sorting habits.” Yup! For THAT they spoilt the near-scenic surroundings. Sigh… one really wonders what goes through the minds of these Chinese folks…
Weiling’s apartment itself, on the other hand, is genuinely groovy. It’s decorated with all her own artworks and pictures that she’s taken and blown up. Erm, unfortunately she’s leaving in about 10 days, (yes, I did catch her by the skin of my teeth, she’s finally leaving China, who would have thought she’d lasted this long!?!) and has just taken them down from the walls for packing.
Well, you can kinda see them lying on the ground… ANYWAY my point is that I’ve just always found her really talented. She is!
And this is the way to the kitchen, to the right of which, is the bathroom.
And her bedroom. A really nice comfy space for a single girl, just the right size with room to move around in and entertain, but still manageable. (Then again, what manageable or not manageable? This is China, where household cleaning is done by Ah-Yees of course!?!)
For dinner tonight, we’re heading to the 三里屯 （San-Li-Tun) area for Japanese teriyaki.
An unassuming little restaurant tucked away in a little quiet street. Don’t all the customers look real chill?
We sat on benches at the counter, and watched the cook did his thing. Real nice, just very relaxed and casual. Great place for a bite and a couple of drinks.
For the rest of the night, we unwinded by what else but getting our feet massaged. Weiling recommended this upmarket place called Bodhi (yes, like our cat). Quite a bit pricier than the usual 40 RMB ones at Tommy’s place, about double, but as you can see, quite a bit fancier too.
Even the bathrooms are so ornate.
A point to note: the price does include a free-flow of snacks and drinks, stuff like sandwiches, fruit platter and all sorts of teas and juices. (So how come we eat oredi then come?!? Damn!) Here I am trying to drink this freshly squeezed cucumber juice. Told my massage 师父 about my nose-bleeding episode, and he highly recommended it for its supposedly fantastic cooling and detoxifying abilities. My verdict: PUTRID, FILTHY and DOWNRIGHT DISGUSTING! I too am puzzled how come I look so happy in the photo?!? Siao!
The massage itself was real POWER of course. In addition, the 师父 offered some extra services. Before your minds run awry, by that, I just mean some innocent sole-scraping. But let me warn you first, the following images are pretty graphic, so if you haven’t had dinner or just have a generally weak gut, I’d advised you to skip this next little portion.
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Don’t say I never warn you huh…
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Yup! My virginal sole-scrape, that’s 28 years’ worth of dead sole skin man! WHOA! NASTY!