An Appetite for Adventure

From [09.03.30] Houhai, Acrobats and Shash

Since I’m taking the whole week off next week, I didn’t want to miss any class this week while my mother and Paula are here. Therefore, I told them they would have to find their own way around the city in the mornings until I get out of class. To aid this, I created an elaborate itinerary. Unfortunately, the weather — or more accurately, the weathermen — had different plans for me, as Monday predicted rain (it never actually rained). I scrapped my suggestion to go to the Summer Palace — basically a big outdoor park — and told them to do a little shopping around Nanluo Guxiang, my favorite street in their area.

They survived, thank goodness.

After we met up, we wandered to grab lunch at a Tianjin baozi shop. Baozi is a snack especially found in the Northeast of China, and consists of a fluffy steamed bread shell wrapped around a meat or vegetable filling. We plowed through three plates of the yummy morsels before heading to the Three Stone Kite Shop. The store was set up by the family’s grandfather long ago, and all the kites are still handmade by family members. The frames are entirely bamboo and the silk on each kite is hand-painted.

Since we had time to kill, we wandered a bit around Houhai lake. In the last ten years or so, Houhai has become a popular nightlife and eating destination, with many cafes and bars holding court lakeside. At night, the area sparkles with colored lights; it’s very romantic.

After picking up our tickets for the acrobatics show that evening, we stopped over at Emily’s place to say hi, since my mother hadn’t seen Emily since college. Back at the show, we were treated to an excellent modern performance of ancient Chinese acrobatics tricks and feats. I’ve seen the show before, and it’s still a crowd-pleaser. Post-show, we polished off some Uzbekistani cuisine at Shash, a wildly decorative restaurant featuring live music and singing. The food balances somewhere between Xinjiang Muslim and Russian, and was quite tasty.

[09.03.30] Houhai, Acrobats and Shash