Just Arrived...

...in China. Arriving at 11pm on a Sunday, my friend met me and we took a taxi to her house where we had to lug my bags up to the 6th floor. The next day I moved to my own place, so we lugged them again up 5 floors.

I was so out of breath, but later realized I'm even out of breath without the heavy bags--which I suppose is normal for being suddenly transported to an altitude of 6000 feet. They say you'll accimatize 95% in the first 6 weeks, but 100% takes up to 6 months!

The apartment complex I'm staying at for now. The nearest tall grey building ("Good World, building D") is where the new design office will be. Just a 5-minute walk from here.


My language school is also only a 5-minute walk! It's a good location.
Here you see how tea is often served... with the whole leaves sitting in the cup! Since they're whole (higher quality!), you don't need a tea bag.


And finally, similar to Thailand, I guess folks here will carry just about anything on a motorbike! (It's a one-seater couch.)

Probably the Best Haircut I've Ever Had

Styled straight by the professional:


...or allowed to air-dry by me:

Beautiful snow

Snow Cream!

I took advantage of the abundance of snow the other day to make Snow Cream, from my Granny's recipe!

Since it was just two of us, I went for a half recipe.

I mixed together:
1 egg (first beat white, then add beaten yolk)
1/2 c sugar
1.5 T flour
1/2 small can evaporated milk
1 t vanilla
small can crushed pineapple

Then I brought in a dishpan full of the fresh snow (fresh is key--it doesn't work if it's old or icy).



I started stirring this snow into the above mixture, kind of fast to avoid meltage:



When the mixture can't "take" any more snow, you're done! I ate 4 bowls of it (drizzling some of the extra evaporated milk on top) and shivered for the next couple of hours--it's a lot colder than ice cream! Yummy, though.

Road Trip Snack (in Thailand)

Going back through my photos, I found some that would make for interesting posts. Here's one of my favorite snacks as I traveled from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai, where I had to cross the border into Burma about every 2 months or so.



It's sticky rice steamed inside of bamboo! Slightly sweet, and there are several variations on the type of rice and the flavoring. Just peel back the bamboo and dig in! And the container is biodegradable.