Chinglish

Some translations have really made us laugh (not this one!) but last night's selection were the best to-date. We went to The First Noodle Bar Under The Sun and used their picture menu with English translations. Deep fried hairy belly (with a pretty accurate macro photo) and Western House smell of urine sub-fried lobster sauce were the two that really stood out. 

Intriguing but not appealing.

We chose a fresh spinach dish, fried rice & our daring dish was honey glazed sweet potato wedges. Think thin, soft-crusted toffee apple. Really good actually... A great combo for bonfire night - a blend of toffee apple & baked potato.

Food continues to be an eye opener with packs of bugs on sale at the airport shop and three rabbit heads served on a plate at the airport restaurant. Tonight, Rich went for dinner and was served chicken knuckles (you know, the knobbly joint bits) while I ate dry oatcakes and waited for the hot water to work so I could have a bath. 

I'm now in transition between not getting shots of pain through my back and developing the dreaded stomach tenderness.

Anyway, less of that, my suitcase full of drugs has something for every occasion!

Interesting ol' hotel, I can tell you! We're tonight, in bed, wondering whether it's a communist trait not turning the temperatures up. The last hotel was cold, it's colder outside here and so is the inside of the hotel! Thankfully, our little nest in the burrow is cosy.

My photo may be the view into Chengdu on the first flight or perhaps the sign showing an awful faux pas on the translation stakes - I'm really surprised they haven't employed native English people to check on some of them - this was in the airport! I didn't know sit down toilets were reserved for disabled people here with the preference being for the stand on launch pad style. There is, in fact, a sign on the backs of the doors saying, Please slow down after long crouching. Given I find it hard to move after crouching let alone slow down, I'm using the disabled toilet and that's that.

Today, we've been on a two-flight adventure and arrived in Juizhaigou (the one I've found hardest to remember how to pronounce... Joe-dye-go (although the Chinese outside of the area call it Joe-zhy-go). 

We landed at 3,500m in cloud and a snow storm but it's definitely our kind of place whatever the weather brings us. Snow dusted mountains, yaks, Tibetan prayer flags and pine trees - all looking beautiful. We breathed a sigh of relief and felt instantly relaxed as we drove down the mountain to our hotel, leaving concrete, city and crowds behind.