Bus stop is gōngjiāo chē zhàn (公交车站)

If you want to travel or live in China, one of the most important words to learn are "bus stop" or gōngjiāo chē zhàn (公交车站). 

gōngjiāo chē (公交车) is literally public bus so gōngjiāo chē zhàn (公交车站) is a public bus stop. 

I spend a lot of time waiting at the bus stop (公交车站 Gōngjiāo chē zhàn) and sometimes, I can't help but snap a photo of the people waiting. 

Here are three Chinese women checking the bus schedule and waiting for the bus along a busy main road in Xiamen:  

 

I look like the woman in green while the young, hot and sexy woman in the white and grey dress with black hosiery and high heels is one of the colleagues that my husband sees everyday. 

We lived in an apartment right in front of this main road, which is super convenient because there are rows and rows of restaurants along the bus stop. 

Street food vendors will also set up shop at night along this road so you can easily get your Chinese breakfast, lunch, dinner and even supper here. 

SM Mall is located at the end of this road, which is about 2 bus stops away. 

Sheraton Hotel Xiamen is also located on this side of the road. 

Dried pork floss or (肉松) ròu sōng

Once in a while, we enjoy the barbecued pork by Bee Cheng Hiang , a Singaporean company with a prominently red and yellow brand, now visible on Xiamen's public buses.

Little did we know that Xiamen has its own brand of barbecued pork too - long lines of tourists would supposedly form outside the original shop on Gulangyu Islet.

Anyway, we stumbled upon one of its outlets in Zhongshanlu and bought a few packs to try.

Here's the packaging and logo, which I think proclaims its reign as an established brand ("old brand")

Here are the 3 colourful packs of dried meat floss we got:

1. The GOLD pack is probably their signature product, which is dried pork floss. (肉松) ròu sōng is kinda like dried pulled pork?

Mmm...we appreciated the lower price compared to Bee Cheng Hiang but we found this to be a bit on the sweet side.

2. The PINK pack contained "oil-free" dried pork floss, which we felt lacked flavour. If you're gonna eat the pig, you might as well take the fat, right?

In China, if you go around asking for "fat-free" (wu you) pork, then you're definitely going to encounter food scandals like the one revolving the lean pigs. 

The only way to get any decent food in China is to encourage traditional, pre-Mao farming practices or organic farming practices. 

la wei niu rou liu (辣味牛肉榴)

***Our favourite*** is the RED pack, spicy (辣味) là wèi beef floss which is unique to the Xiamen brand, since Bee Cheng Hiang sells only dried chicken floss and dried pork floss.

The dried beef floss was flavorful with a hint of spiciness that made it a nice snack to chew on while you're reading and etc. If you enjoy beef jerky, you will love this too!

The dried beef floss came in vacuum-sealed, zip lock bags, which were clever since we could conveniently seal it up again after a bout of snacking.  

Here's a glimpse of the spicy dried beef floss - it's really good. Give it a try!

 

Famous snack on Zhongshan Road

I was walking along the shops off the main stretch of Zhongshan Lu when I came across this lady who claimed that she's selling one of the famous snacks of Xiamen (Amoy).

She pointed to this newspaper clipping of herself:

I nodded impressively and noticed that the snack sells for only 1.50 yuan (yi kuai wu) that I thought, "Why not?" and promptly agreed to try it out. 

  Smiling with joy, she started preparing her "famous" snack, which looked like spring rolls:

She continued her cheery banter as she bustled about her cart. Smilingly, she said that hers was not an ordinary spring roll. 

Her famous snack had a sweet surprise: 麦芽糖 (mai Ya Tang) or maltose candy although it was softer than the lollipop kind - it's like a soft nougat? 

Do you see the shiny strips of "nougat" on either side of the spring roll? 

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical because spring rolls, Chinese and Vietnamese, are savoury and should, in my opinion, stay that way!

Anyway, I didn't want to hurt her feelings as the spring rolls were looking kind of tasty with crumbled roasted peanuts, freshly grated white radish and some chilli sauce:

The spring roll is nice on its own since it's freshly made - the maltose candy added a sweet touch to a savoury snack. In the end, it tasted like what peanut butter pasta tastes like :)

Lesson 6: 静夜思 Jìng yè sī by Li Bai

床前明月光， Chuáng qián míng yuè guāng，
 疑是地上霜。 Yí shì dì shàng shuāng.
 举头望明月， Jŭ tóu wàng míng yuè,
 低头思故乡。 Dī tóu sī gù xiāng.

Bright moonlight before my bed,
Seems like frost upon the floor;
I raise my head and watch the moon,
Then lower it down and think of home. (Translation by Christopher Evans - taken from here.

Here's a cartoon with a child reciting the poem:
Here's a sung rendition of the poem (in Chinese and English) along with beautiful photos of China:

静 (jìng) comes from "quiet" or 安静 (ān jìng)

夜 (yè) means "night", which threw me off the track since I'm only familiar with 晩 (wǎn) as in 晚上 (wǎn shang)?

思 (sī) means "to think". Again, I couldn't relate to this word at all since I only know of 想 (xiǎng).

Thus, is the title of the poem "Quiet Night Thoughts" Or "Quiet Night Thoughts"?

Nonetheless, it's good to learn some new Chinese vocabulary and a lovely poem.

Lesson 5: A Chinese Poem

小小竹排画中游 Xiǎo xiǎo zhú pái huà zhōngyóu 

A little bamboo raft in the middle of the river

小竹排, 顺水流, xiǎo zhú pái, shùn shuǐ liú
Little bamboo raft, flowing along the river

鸟儿唱, 鱼儿游. niǎo er chàng, yú er yóu
Baby bird sings, baby fish swims

两岸树木密, liǎng'àn shù mù mì
Left and right, trees, wood and honey

禾苗 绿 油油. hé miáo lǜ yōuyōu
Grain seedlings, green and shiny

江南 鱼 米 乡 jiāng nán yú mǐ xiāng
South of the river, a fish and rice country

小小竹排画中游. Xiǎo xiǎo zhú pái huà zhōng yóu
A little bamboo raft in the middle of the river.

Isn't this a beautiful poem? Never mind the fact that I had to look up numerous Chinese characters in the dictionary, I enjoyed reading it aloud. Probably the coolest thing we've EVER done in Chinese. I LOVE IT!

P/S Please pardon the awkward English translation. I opted for a literal translation to retain the original Chinese structure as much as possible, which helps me remember the poem in Chinese. At the same time, I tried to make the English version flow. Hope it makes sense. I am not a poet. Please, please, please correct me where I am wrong.