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The extraordinormal birth of Random Food

The extraordinormal birth of Random Food

It started like an innocent Lunch. I was in Chongqing for just a couple of days and my co workers were so kind and nice to me. Not that they are not anymore. But the first week at work they have taken special care of me. Apart from explaining the work related stuff, they’ve also taken me out for a lunch or dinner to show me around our workplace.

This was one such a visit. Went out of Parksons building heading towards West Nanping road. 3 Girls and me. Walking down the road. Towards my future bank. A sudden turn right. Just before we reached the bank. Into a narrow alleyway.

“What do you want to have”, Joenee asks me? The only thing I see in front of me is a guy behind mobile canteen. Having just two simple tables next to his mobile canteen with less than 10 seats. All full and more are waiting. Out of huge cooking pot column of steam is rising. Although the cook is dressed just in a long sleeve t-shirt with apron over it, the temperature is no higher than 5 degrees.

With extreme dexterity and professionalism he is filling one bowl after another with noodles. Every time he reaches for fresh load of noodles. Exactly the same movement. Every time he pours scoop of soup over the noodles. Exactly the same movement.

lao(3) ban(3) – 老板 is having quite a rush. All seats are full and more people are waiting around to place their order. Girls utter few words in Chinese to the boss and I am so immersed into making pictures i utter just “The same.” “La?!”…”Yes”. In that time I had no idea what is the degree of spiciness for different levels of la.

4 red&black bowls are prepared. Filled only with noodles. Steaming while waiting for remaining ingredients to be added. Typical scent of traditional spices hits the air. I can not wait to try my first street food in China.

Served traditionally with chopsticks and toilet paper :-))

…so the RANDOM FOOD was born.
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New Years Eve in Chongqing

NYE 2012/2013 in Chongqing 

From crowds and masses at the Jie fang bei (解放碑) district through tranquil teahouse in Pipa Park to cold champaign and wild WELCOME in front of Parkson’s plaza we experienced it all in Chongqing during the birth of year 2013.

First we decided to have something to eat in the city and since Zenia was on a hunt for minor souvenirs we strolled around Jiefangbei (解放碑) area already in the afternoon. At 2 PM we successfully arrived to the heart of Chongqing. The day was bright and Sun is showing us its face for 3 consecutive days…which here in Chongqing is not common phenomenon. Exiting Subway station Jiao Chang Kou (较场口) we are heading straight to the People’s Liberation Monument or Anti-Japanese war monument in the middle of Jiefangbei. Streets are swarming with people, colors and smells. Tomorrow 1.1.2013 there will be a state holiday in China and people have time to go downtown for shopping in post-Christmas sales.

Jie Fang Bei Shopping

While searching through the stores for simple Christmas gifts and waiting for Thomas to join us, we discovered a few luxurious shops on the area. Mont Blanc, Omega, Luis Vuitton and few others. As Crazy as we are, we decided to kill our time in those shops pretending we want to buy a thing or two. I was dressed as a terrorist as girls always address me when I am wearing my keffiyeh. 2 beautiful girls behind me and we are stepping into Omega. Mingling around a bit, till the attendant asks us what would we like to have. Without hesitation the girls replied they want something with diamonds 🙂 We checked out 2 pairs of watches. They seem a little too ordinary. They have diamonds but simply does not look too expensive…in fact they are not. Only 78 000 RMB.
We are asking for something more shiny with diamonds. Zhenia and Mandy end up with watches worth a little less than 800 000 RMB on their wrists. The game is tight, seriously, looking like we are going to buy those wrist watches. An escape strategy is necessary. “Those we saw in MB an hour ago were more fitted better than these, what do you think darling..? Yes, you are right honey, they were much more fit and better color.” Girls caught up with me and we played it all through to the end. Eventually “Or you know what my darlings, we can always drop by in Hong-Kong on our way back.” “Or maybe we could visit New York to look for something really special!”. Temperature is rising high and our sarcasm is getting more and more obvious. I am taking both ladies for their hips and leading them out of the store wiping off sweat out of my forehead.

Pipa Mountain Park

Finally Thomas arrived and we can head to Pipa Mountain Park. Something grilled for food and one metro station away at Qi Xing Gang (七星岗) we are encountering completely different surroundings. Low buildings, people sitting calmly on the street, eating traditional home cooked meal, feeding their pets, attending their chores…contrast with busy and posh Jie Fang Bei is immense. All of this sights are bathing in late afternoon sun light giving it even more romantic touch. Moving up to the top of a hill straight to Pipa Mountain Park makes us all a little less stressed and a little more happy. Watching sunset from top of the mountain with friends, breathing fresh air and regenerating before upcoming NYE. Hmmm, life smells good.

After a late afternoon tea and pleasant conversation in the local teahouse, where we also successfully exploited their Wi-fi connection to update our smart phones, we head in to the city to take MRT and get back to Nanping (南平).

Carrefour supplies and Loft BAR

Plan was to buy somewhere Champaign and before the midnight pop it up in front of the Skyscraper I work in. It’s not hard to find here in Chongqing a western supermarket. What is actually hard is to get the goods you are used to buy in there. We strolled one Wall-mart in the proximity of Parkson’s but without success, so we decided to hit Carrefour instead. It’s closer to the 26 LOFT bar we intended to hang out before midnight comes and has more variety of goods anyway. Entering Carrefour around 20:30. First stop – toilets. I got used to the “quality” of lavatories here in china, but still my expectation were higher when entering one in a shopping mall. No soap, cold water, very dirty closet (Turkish style of course). In the store we are heading straight to Alcohol shelves and finding there only 3 different types of bubble wine. Martini style for 130 RMB, Champaigne fro 380 RMB and some bubbly wine for 260 RMB. We trust the brand and picking Martini.

In 26 Loft bar full house is already waiting for us. People are playing darts, pool, air-hockey, table-soccer and even console games located in the first floor. We are forced to order a drink for at least 50 RMB each. I am choosing my favorite White Russian, Thomas has straight whiskey and Mandy tries Scorpion. Before the drinks are prepared we have some time and play football match. The winner is my humble self and Mandy screams whenever her goalkeeper fails in his job.

Chinese knows how to enjoy their time. Although they do not celebrate that often and dont drink that much, when they are out and having fun, it has style. Groups of 6 and more young people are having their own table and waiter, drinking a lot. Thing I really like in here is they play games. All the time and everywhere. Drinking games are very popular. Before we finished our drinks, there were 3 games already on. Dancing gamngnam style in a group. Singing competition and also a contest in drinking beer. The one who finishes the beer first is a winner and in this one I am laughing out loud cause this contest takes seconds in Czech, while here the winner made it in matter of minutes.

Parkson’s Plaza 2013


23:20 – Its time to head home and pick up our supplies of Beers, champaign and wish Lanterns.

23:40 – We are heading back to Nanping through my neighborhood and in at the hairdressers is sitting a customer. Middle aged woman is getting her hair done. NOW?! Seriously. 20 minutes befor ethe end of 2012. In the middle of a night. I could not resist and had to take a picture of such scene.

23: 50 – Big Clock in front of Parkson’s Plaza in Nanping are showing 10 minutes to 12. Chongqing is turning to the new year and we are still handeling our Lanterns. I can not help myself to think about the “Chinese goods” you can get all around the world. Its cheap, its everywhere and does not work. It was real fight to get my lantern in to the air.

23:58 – While Thomas Lantern was burning down, me and Mandy are successfully sending our Lanterns towards their destiny. Wishes written on them might come handy to those they will fall onto. I am getting pretty drunk. But the bottle of champaign is still waiting for us.

00:00 – Maybe we were a little late but we popped our champaign ehh Martini and enjoyed the moment. Actually all the passersby were enjoying it with us, cause we were shouting our wishes in different languages.

00:30 – Bottle is empty, our throats are sore …time to head for music fun in the melting pot of Jie Fang Bei. Catching a cab and heading to the center. Opening one more beer and singing songs…

THE END

Well it all continues….Clubs, drinks, dances, music…you know the drill…went to bed just before the sunrise.

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Merry Chinese Christmas

Merry Christmas from China

Its been a three weeks since i came here to Chongqing, right…or maybe four. Eventually I find out the way to publish something on a blogspot. Maybe you know, maybe you don’t. Here in China, The Country of the middle, there are some sites pretty much BLOCKED. One of that kind are blogs. From WordPress to Blogger, people connected to the “common” Internet are not allowed to view any such content. The same goes for Youtube, Facebook Google or even Picasa. So after a week when I finally obtained lovely connection of 4 Mb/512 Kb for the price of 100 RMB per month I had to solve yet another issue.

We can talk about that later, or better…If you want to know more information concerning restrictions of the Internet content here, send me a message to my mail at hotmail and i will let you know the details. And give you the secret insight into my connection management so you will know how is it possible that I write the blog in here;-)

The reason I am writing is not only to let you know that I AM ALIVE here in the FAR EAST, but also to give you an easier access to pictures and stories from my Chinese life. If you ever wondered:

  • How does a westerner(Czech) feel in China?
  • What do you have to eat in China?
  • What do you have to know in order to even get the food here?
  • How Chinese perceive a westerner in their environment?
  • Do they understand English?
  • What do they know about Czech Republic?
  • What are the traditional stereotypes about the western world?
  • What stereotypes about China are totally off?

or simply

  • How is the weather in Chongqing?

Just check out Holistr.net from time to time. Stories, pictures and interesting pieces of knowledge will be spilled over the sites to amuse and inform those interested.

And NO, I am not going to talk about the regime, politics and girls. If you are interest in one of those topics, send me a private message to my mailbox.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year from China!

Holistr