Being here in China for 3 weeks now, I can say that my Chinese-ness is slowly coming back to me...
I've mastered crossing the street irrespective of traffic light (stick with a crowd and be prepared to sprint); I manage to stay balanced without holding on while looking non-chalant on jam-packed metro trains; and I take the "opportunistic" approach when lines are involved (hey, when in Rome, right?).
But once in a while, I still flinch at fairly "everyday" occurrences: trying not to pee my pants when my seatbelt-less taxi fly over 5 lanes trying to exit a roundabout the wrong way; skip-hopping on the street to avoid the random loogie hawked in my feet's direction; and being offered delicacies such as worms, turtles and snakes...
One such delicacy that apparently is all the rage now is:
Duck neck.
Yep, this is a big bag stuffed with spicy, cured duck neck from a famous chain in Wuhan. You'll find specialty stores everywhere in Wuhan, selling every part of a duck you can (or can't) imagine- duck feet, wing tips, and of course, heads.
And no, I'm not being particularly adventurous here, this is just souvenir for my dad, who happens to love this stuff.
I have to admit, I'm kinda curious.... care to try one with me?
And in case you're wondering, Wuhan is a city right smack dab in the middle of China. It's known as one of the "four furnaces" of China- my first day there it was 85 F when I was going to work at 8 in the morning. Yikes. It's about a 3-4-hour high-speed train ride from Guangzhou where we are, I have to visit a couple times a month since it's where my other office is.
Speaking of high-speed train, I'm glad that I got a chance to experience the world's fastest second-fastest train going to Wuhan last week. Well, let's say it WAS the fastest until about 2 weeks ago (thanks to its new Shanghai-Beijing high-speed cousin).
The top speed actually is reported to be around 350 km/hr, I noticed during our trip it only got close once at around 340 km/hr, other times we were cruising at a leisurely 329 km/hr (for my American friends back home, that's about 204 miles/hr).
And at that speed, it's really impressive how comfortable the ride is. So comfortable our little girl fell right asleep... Isn't she soooo cute? This reminds me of this picture, taken during our babymoon, with her still inside my belly.... Awww...
The technology and comfort of the train sharply contrast the endless span of rural farmland we pass by...
And we got a "reserved for first class" snack box and the ubiquitous wet towel. Disappointing though, no duck neck.
Powered by a first-class snack, Eva's off to terrorizing her parents and fellow passengers again. Fun!
For more photos of our short Wuhan trip, visit our flickr album here. Enjoy!