Day 12 : "Mrs Wong's" noodles
Bo came to get us around 10 AM to bring us to the tailor's. We had to wait for "the aunt who yells" to bring us to the right shop because there were a couple right next to each other : they all looked like little hole in the wall places with not much interest.
The aunt came with her son and we walked into the shop to find a table full of different silks - most of them ugly - a tailor and a couple shop assistants. On the walls, there were different pieces of clothing in different styles. We presented Rebecca's silk to the tailor - only to learn that it was silk and cotton but good quality anyway. We both chose silk for shirts and pointed to clothing hanging in the store to design what we wanted. Rebecca chose the dress she wanted from a yellowing catalogue.
Then it was measuring time - they were impressed by Jerome's size which required a lot of fabric and by Rebecca's thin waist and wide hips...Then we had a photo session with the entire shop before heading to the bank.
The bank...Jerome couldn't get money out of the machine with his card so he decided to cash in a traveller's cheque. But it seemed like the teller didn't have much experience with traveller's cheques and the entire staff was in a mini-panic. They looked over the cheques, Jerome's passport and their collection of color scans of "specimen" cheques. After checking and rechecking for about 10 minutes, they finally gave Jerome his money. So we voted the teller "satisfactory" on the terribly degrading approval machine that was at each window.
We were invited for lunch at Bo's parents. Bo's mother had spent all morning preparing about a dozen dishes. Bo had to stop her from giving us a hundred raviolis on top of everything on the table. We once again had the tasty(?) cicadas. His parents were so hospitable and presented us with a lovely calligraphy before we left. We invited them to visit us in France or Belgium.
Jerome was still looking for a block of red ink so we went to the Heze artist quarter. After going into a couple shops, we learned that the calligraphers prefer the liquid ink so Jerome bought a couple tubes from a nice woman wearing a great dress. She wanted to take our picture and then Rebecca was inspired to buy a calligraphy. And then the artist gave us one as a gift, signing it in front of us and said she was happy to meet us and wanted to be friends.
Back at the hotel, there was a strange man staring at Jerome. Through Bo, we learned that he too wanted to be our friend - well, Jerome's friend actually. He kept touching Jerome's sweaty back and invited us to visit his town which has a special kite festival every year. We had a photo session with the hotel staff and then uncle brought us to the bus station in his police car.
Uncle was so excited to be out in public with foreigners that he bought us tickets to the wrong city. As he shoved money into Bo's hand, we were trying to get into the bus and away from the crowd that was gathering around us. The bus ride was bumpy as we drove through small villages, one of which seemed to be the Chinese capital for door and window frames. They were lined up along the road for miles and miles.
We arrived in Kaifeng just as the night market was setting up. Rebecca had to contain her excitement while we waited to find out about trains to Xian but we didn't get any information. And then we headed to the night market - a jungle of people, carts, bottles, used skewers and lots of different smells. But where was Mrs Wong?
We first stopped at a cart selling veggie skewers - we chose 6 of them, they were cooked in a pot, put into a pan, pressed with a sponge to sop up the water, mixed with spicy sauce and shoved in a pita. It was good.
And then we found two noodle making carts - we stood for a couple minutes watching the tossing, twisting, throwing, mixing and shouting. We were convinced that this was Mrs Wong even though Bo told us it was Mrs. Li's cart. We recognized her smile and energy from TV.
We ordered a bowl of noodles which we watched being prepared in front of us. We also got a bottle of beer. Total price was 5 Yuan. Bo, who doesn't like noodles, got a bowl after all and said they were good. As we were leaving, Bo asked if she had been on TV. She said that yes, she was on German TV (ARTE). Bo then told her that we had come to Kaifeng because of it. She seemed to smile...
We then explored the rest of the night market which continued down a street with old wooden balconies. We bought a couple gifts and then Rebecca bought a dress which she couldn't try on. But the seller said she could exchange it the following day if need be and gave Bo his cell phone number.
We also bought some really addictive fruits that we call the weird fruits having no idea what they are or how to translate the Chinese name.
It was a very long, full, exciting day with lots of great encounters.
Click here to see 'Driving lesson - part 3'
Click here to watch 'Mrs Lee's noodle making - part 1'
The aunt came with her son and we walked into the shop to find a table full of different silks - most of them ugly - a tailor and a couple shop assistants. On the walls, there were different pieces of clothing in different styles. We presented Rebecca's silk to the tailor - only to learn that it was silk and cotton but good quality anyway. We both chose silk for shirts and pointed to clothing hanging in the store to design what we wanted. Rebecca chose the dress she wanted from a yellowing catalogue.
Then it was measuring time - they were impressed by Jerome's size which required a lot of fabric and by Rebecca's thin waist and wide hips...Then we had a photo session with the entire shop before heading to the bank.
The bank...Jerome couldn't get money out of the machine with his card so he decided to cash in a traveller's cheque. But it seemed like the teller didn't have much experience with traveller's cheques and the entire staff was in a mini-panic. They looked over the cheques, Jerome's passport and their collection of color scans of "specimen" cheques. After checking and rechecking for about 10 minutes, they finally gave Jerome his money. So we voted the teller "satisfactory" on the terribly degrading approval machine that was at each window.
We were invited for lunch at Bo's parents. Bo's mother had spent all morning preparing about a dozen dishes. Bo had to stop her from giving us a hundred raviolis on top of everything on the table. We once again had the tasty(?) cicadas. His parents were so hospitable and presented us with a lovely calligraphy before we left. We invited them to visit us in France or Belgium.
Jerome was still looking for a block of red ink so we went to the Heze artist quarter. After going into a couple shops, we learned that the calligraphers prefer the liquid ink so Jerome bought a couple tubes from a nice woman wearing a great dress. She wanted to take our picture and then Rebecca was inspired to buy a calligraphy. And then the artist gave us one as a gift, signing it in front of us and said she was happy to meet us and wanted to be friends.
Back at the hotel, there was a strange man staring at Jerome. Through Bo, we learned that he too wanted to be our friend - well, Jerome's friend actually. He kept touching Jerome's sweaty back and invited us to visit his town which has a special kite festival every year. We had a photo session with the hotel staff and then uncle brought us to the bus station in his police car.
Uncle was so excited to be out in public with foreigners that he bought us tickets to the wrong city. As he shoved money into Bo's hand, we were trying to get into the bus and away from the crowd that was gathering around us. The bus ride was bumpy as we drove through small villages, one of which seemed to be the Chinese capital for door and window frames. They were lined up along the road for miles and miles.
We arrived in Kaifeng just as the night market was setting up. Rebecca had to contain her excitement while we waited to find out about trains to Xian but we didn't get any information. And then we headed to the night market - a jungle of people, carts, bottles, used skewers and lots of different smells. But where was Mrs Wong?
We first stopped at a cart selling veggie skewers - we chose 6 of them, they were cooked in a pot, put into a pan, pressed with a sponge to sop up the water, mixed with spicy sauce and shoved in a pita. It was good.
And then we found two noodle making carts - we stood for a couple minutes watching the tossing, twisting, throwing, mixing and shouting. We were convinced that this was Mrs Wong even though Bo told us it was Mrs. Li's cart. We recognized her smile and energy from TV.
We ordered a bowl of noodles which we watched being prepared in front of us. We also got a bottle of beer. Total price was 5 Yuan. Bo, who doesn't like noodles, got a bowl after all and said they were good. As we were leaving, Bo asked if she had been on TV. She said that yes, she was on German TV (ARTE). Bo then told her that we had come to Kaifeng because of it. She seemed to smile...
We then explored the rest of the night market which continued down a street with old wooden balconies. We bought a couple gifts and then Rebecca bought a dress which she couldn't try on. But the seller said she could exchange it the following day if need be and gave Bo his cell phone number.
We also bought some really addictive fruits that we call the weird fruits having no idea what they are or how to translate the Chinese name.
It was a very long, full, exciting day with lots of great encounters.
Click here to see 'Driving lesson - part 3'
Click here to watch 'Mrs Lee's noodle making - part 1'
posted by Gros Joe at
4:10 PM
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