The Kumkuat Korner

I recently took a one day trip to visit a Shenzhen. It was the last stop on the Orange Line Two of the Shenzhen Metro station. Getting to the temple was quite the walk up and down a few hills. I wanted to visit a temple that had been around for a long time before they remodeled it due to the severe damage it took during a typhoon in the 19th century. This temple is a homage to the Goddess and Patroness of the Sea: Mazu (also goes by Matsu). She was said to have been born a human girl around 900AD under the name Lin Moniang (which translates to s ilent girl  due to the fact she was born silent and remained silent until the age of 4) and had extraordinary powers of predicting the weather. Legend has it that she mastered Cofucious at the age of 8 and Buddha sutras by age 11, and by 13 years old, she mastered Taoism. People marveled at her great swimming skills, often saving people from drowning at sea even in the worst weather conditions. Her power manifested and she could proj...

It's relatively easy to say that supermarket in China are just like the ones in the U.S. Heck, I've been to supermarkets in Mexico AND France and its pretty much the same thing there too. While there are a few differences here and there, the basics are still there. Imported produce and also pricier. You go in, find what you need, buy it, leave. Of course 95% of the things that they carry are China brands. They do have things from other countries like Pocky from Japan, and American candies like M&M's, and even Ferrero Rocher and it's expensive. I doubt anyone buys it. The vegetables here are cheap. Most are locally grown and are sold straight from the harvester to the Supermarket. One of the differences about supermarkets here is that no food ever gets thrown out. It may have mold or lost some leaves, or old, but it will get sold...at a lower price too. People actually look out for these old "clearance" produce especially the older generatio...

I went to eat at a hotpot restaurant here in Taizhou. Since I had never been to a hot pot I wasn't sure what I should expect. It was traditionally decorated on the inside and the restaurant overlooked the old part of town. The restaurant itself was relatively new but still bustling with business. Our hostess showed us to our table, a large table that could accommodate 6 but there were only four. My friends told me to seat in the chair of honor, a chair much taller and different colored than the other ones. Once of the strangest things I found kind of cool, was that we were not given a single menu. The way we ordered was we scanned the table and then we used our phones to order the food. Each item was individually priced. For example, hot pot is soup base of your choice plus added vegetables and mushroom of your choice as well as whatever meat of your choice. And of course whatever drink you wanted to drink. I was very impressed with flow of things. I l...

There is a place a block away from where I work and it’s literally made of traditional homes from the era of Eastern Han Dynasty. For those of us who aren’t history buffs…. That means it’s more than 2000 years old!!!!! This community of traditional homes are sooooooo old and part of the Taizhou City Culture, that the buildings and the people who live here are protected and can never be evicted nor torn down. Ever.  This is the Ten-Li Long Street. Apple, Caroline, Greta, and I, took a walk down this part of town the other day. I was just blown away with the state of the homes. Not only were they well preserved but there are no windows nor doors on the first floor.  The way they open and close their homes is by using the wooden board of the wall of their home and moving it to the side to go in or out. This is can also work as a window. On the second story each home there are were tiny glass windows that once used to be made of a thick paper or fabric (whic...