Shopping Extravaganza

I guess I was asking for it - I went to the most touristy part of Nanjing today, which is around Confucius temple, more south of the center. But man, it is really pretty there. Nanjing really is a river town, and not so much because of the Yangzi (which I haven't even seen so far, it borders the city in the very north), but more because of the little streams and canals lining the city. It seems, Qinhuai river, which lies on the western outlines of the ancient city wall, was always more the center of commerce and (according to a book my Chinese teacher gave me as a farewell gift) also prostitution - one couldn't live without the other ;) Reproductions of those "pleasure boats" are now for hire and can take you on a day tour of Qinhuai river. The dock at the Confucius temple didn't seem very busy though, most people were just strolling. And even though the streets were crowded, the souvenir stores were rather empty and of course I was a prime target. I have such a weak spot for Chinese kitsch, like scrolls with Chinese characters. I can't wait till I have my own apartment and can stuff it up to the ceiling full of kitsch! :) I'm still very shy about haggling, and it wasn't made better by the fact that when I inquired about such a scroll, I was told 480yuan. The Chinese who asked just 5 minutes later was told 360yuan. Now, that's deflation! Maybe I should have waited around longer. I think I'll keep the real haggling until my Chinese is a bit more fluent and I know how to properly act offended :)

My other foreigner sighting today consisted of another German (they are really populating the city!) who seemed to be taking his girlfriend and prospective mother-in-law out for a coffee to Häagen Dazs. It was kind of funny how his girlfriend was speaking German with him and Chinese with her mother, but the man and the mother couldn't communicate at all. Ehm , well, how I happened to be there... funny story. I was totally prepared to just sneer at it, as I always do with Western chains like McDonald's and KFC (the latter even seeming more popular than the former), but then a little red sign with four white letters caught my eye and my feet just magically wandered into the place. There was nothing I could do to resist an Illy coffee! It was really pretty good. And once I was there, of course I had to try their ice cream, didn't I? Apart from being horrendously overpriced (well, I guess it would have cost the same in the West), it just didn't win me over. After a summer of homemade ice cream, that shouldn't have come as a surprise (how about it, Elsa - macadamia nut ice cream? :)) Needless to say I spent more money on the coffee and ice cream than I had spent for lunch, even though today I went to a restaurant off-campus. I'm getting kind of tired of the canteen and I can't get used to their crazy times - I have to have lunch before noon and dinner before 6pm, otherwise they're sold out.

For the first time I'm really not sure what I ate for lunch. I'm guessing potato. Yes, I know, you'd think I'd recognize a potato. Well, at first I thought radish, but it didn't taste like radish at all. There were thin slices (about the cross section of a big potato) in a hint of batter, deep fried for only a few seconds, so they were basically still white, and then the whole thing was downed in a very sweet sauce - I'm guessing mostly honey and dried flowers. It was really quite amazing, the sauce had a distinct flowery taste. And it was very fresh, so the deep-fried batter was not soaked through but still crispy under the sauce. My other dish was very tender pork with lots of fresh mushrooms. I was sad I couldn't finish them all. So, after today's lunch and coffee extravaganza, dinner is from the supermarket - Suntory Beer (running for title of "worst beer ever" - buah) and sticky rice (wrapped in banana or lotus leaves). Yep, that supermarket has pretty much everything. Maybe I should get one of their turtles and raise it as a pet :) Speaking of which - I saw a store today selling live dogs... just kidding. It was actually a pet store... or was it? ;)