Doorways of China

Yong Ding

On the way to Yong Ding, I spotted these beautiful old buildings.

  

Photos were taken from a bus moving rapidly over a pothole-y road.

We were there to see the Hakka people’s tu-lou, or literally, mud mansion. But that just sounds bad. Only when I got there, did I realise that the buildings I had admired on the way are all tu-lou.

This is the famous Zheng Cheng Lou, an AAAA (4A) National Heritage Site.

   

  

I’m not doing the place any justice with my photos. It’s amazing. People still live there. The descendants of the brothers who built it 95 years ago.

More photos of other tu-lou. Names slipped my mind. Sorry, folks.

   

My Granddad. He’s waaay cool.

   

Teochew

This mansion in Teochew was built by a guy, Chen Ci-Hong, who made his fortune in Thailand. He and his family never lived in it. They built it just because.

   

   

   

There’s beautiful artwork all over the mansion.

   

Many doorways and windows are adorned with glass mosaic designs and the glass pieces have floral motifs impressed upon them.

There are tiled floors with mosaic-like designs that are divine. I do love mosaic.

View from the courtyard. I wish someone would give the place a lick of paint. It’s a beautiful mansion and a pity that it has half fallen into disrepair.

The China Yun-Xiao Youth Teochew Opera Troupe. My Granddad is a co-founder/mentor/something-like-that.

Rehearsing. Boy, can this girl sing.

Xiamen

Jimei School in Xiamen built by Tan Kah-Kee, guy who made his fortune in Singapore producing canned pineapples. This is the dorms. There are no lifts and the toilets are only on the ground level. Too bad if you have the runs.

This is the pool. Yes, the swimming pool. But only for the boys. The girls have a separate, smaller one. And yes, that is seaweed in the pool. Water in the pool comes from the sea.

The beach by the school. What a great place.

Comics Part 2

Thursday evening. Food fair. Surveying Japanese food products. Spots red bean pancakes.

Me: Hey, look! Doraemon’s favourite food!

Boyfriend: HAHAHahahhahahahahAHHAHahHAHHAhahahahahahahahahhaHAHahah…

Me: What?!

Boyfriend: Doraemon is a fictitious character!

Me: So? Fictitious characters can have favourite foods too! Like… like… er.. like… Never mind… Not that it matters to you.

Marvel 101… and Homer?

Friday evening. Mindless tv. Fantastic 4 movie trailer comes on.

Me: Jessica Alba is so not Sue.

Brother: Nothing in that movie is as the comic.

Me: Not worth watching?

Brother: NO.

Me: Like the X-Men movies.

Brother: Yup.

A few minutes pass…

Boyfriend: So you want to come over this weekend to watch the Fantastic Four movie?

Me: No thanks. Jessica Alba is so not Sue.

Boyfriend: Huh??

Me: Sue Richards is a … Never mind, not like you have a clue what I’m talking about.

*Boyfriend does not read comics. A rather sore point in our relationship, if you ask me. But then again, neither do I read from his bookshelf, as you will see later in the conversation.*

Some ribbing ensues about how comics give Boyfriend a headache. I then decide that he needs to be educated on the graphic and literary art known as “comics”. I embark on Marvel 101. With Fantastic Four and (for some reason) Onslaught’s climatic battle in mind, I begin the education thus.

Me (in all seriousness): It is important to know the difference between a mutant and a superhuman.

Boyfriend: HAHAHAHAhahahahaHAHAHAHahahahahHAHAHAhahahah… Ah HahahahahahahahHAHAHhahahaHAHA…

Me: :/

Boyfriend: hahahahHAHAHAhahahahaHAHA…

When he finally tires of laughing, he requests that I continue (hmm… now I wonder if he did that so he’d have more things to laugh about) and I oblige. So I go on about the merits of Marvel vs the demerits of DC, X-Men, the discrepancies between the X-Men movies and the comics (the one thing that always gets me ranting. That and George Bush.), the first 5 X-Men, Phoenix, Onslaught, X Zavier, Peter Parker, Ben “The Thing” Grimm (I would so date him) …

Suddenly, I perceive that Boyfriend is dozing off. (He still denies this, of course.)

Me: Hey! I don’t fall asleep when you’re talking about Homer!

Boyfriend: *denial denial denial*

Brother (who was listening in): Hehe… But Homer is funny what!

Me and Boyfriend: ???

Me: Er… We’re not talking about Simpson…

Brother: Huh? Who then?

Me: You don’t know Homer?

Brother: Homer who?

Me: Greek guy who wrote long boring stories?

Brother: Huh? What did he write?

Me: Duh…

In Which I Had My Hair Coloured

My hair is long and it is a huge bubbly mess. The stylist is ooo-ing and ahh-ing about how nice the colour turned out. Even my mom says it’s nice. She usually does not like coloured hair.

The stylist combs out the bubbly mess and the colour emerges. My hair is a reddish bubblegum pink translucent glowy thing. I look like some Japanese animation character. Or My Little Pony.

Observations

Why do flight crew make announcements at break-neck speed? Do they get charged per-second for time on the intercom?

Why do stewardesses ask “Any tea or coffee?” Are they asking me if I have any?

Pee steams when you’re peeing in a cold place.

Flushing and locking are mutually exclusive. When toilets flush, they don’t lock. When they lock, they don’t flush. Some toilets neither flush nor lock.

Mops are made of strips of old t-shirts.

Brooms are made of twigs. Complete with leaves and flowers and all. Don’t they shed as one sweeps?

Pig trotter is a desirable flavour for candy.

Candy, anyone?