Like A Teapot

Well, I did see a full moon. It was freezing out there when I tried to snap a picture of it. I shot this one outside a shopping mall. There was too much light on the parking lot. I later attempted a few more times but clouds had surged to embrace the moon.

For the moon festival, I made a trip to the Chinese stores. I remember how my father used to prepare for the occasion when he was around, even though we would not exchange words for the whole day or the days before and after. He just cooked a sumptuous dinner and laid the various traditional snacks (mainly fruits, with symbolism) around. Sometimes I was amazed and wondered why he even bothered, since he was so cold and mainly kept to himself. Tonight I did not fetch all the traditional food items, but I felt the need to treat myself. And I did. I know my late father would like me to do that.

Vancouver's Chinatown Summer Night Market is ongoing. It is a yearly commercial and cultural event, held to attract local residents and international tourists alike. It was originally conceived as an initiative to revive Chinatown. This evening was the second time I paid it a visit in the span of almost a decade. Like many, I had some apprehension over transportation. I had a hard time choosing between public transit and driving.

There is some distance between Chinatown and the nearest sky train (as opposed to subway, the train runs not only above ground but also up in the sky most of the time) station and I was not sure about walking the distance at night on my way home. China Town is also notorious for lacking parking space. In the end I drove all the way there just to save the headache of having to worry about return.

Since it was Sunday late afternoon, the traffic was not too bad. After a rather smooth local driving I got on a relatively new highway that runs along Vancouver's scenic Burrard Inlet. I had tried this highway once long time ago and forgot how wonderfully exhilarating it was to be driving on it. Most of the Metro Vancouver drivers use the mainstream Highway 1 to travel around BC's lower mainland and I was also accustomed to using that route. But where I am living now, it is less tortuous to use the (partially) scenic route and I need not compete with annoying big trucks. The disadvantage of using this route, however, is that the highway ends a bit early and there are many sets of traffic lights to deal with on one long stretchy street. The first time I used it I was so frustrated that I used Highway 1 on my way back.

Today, that long street was relatively empty, and I arrived at Chinatown in a peaceful mood. I also found a free parking spot after making a few turns. I only needed to walk two blocks to get to the night market. But I also realized that I had arrived at an awkward time, with all the permanent shops already closed and the night market stands just starting to make sales. Had I got there half an hour later, parking would have been a serious problem.

With that big problem (in my mind anyway) solved, my mood got even better. I had come to Chinatown with a mission - to take some pictures and find some cool stuff for a dear friend and his children.

(to be continued...)

Dinner tonight is another popular Chinese dish, Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice. What makes it special is that tiny bits of dry salted fish is thrown in to add flavour to the rice. The fish used is not simply any kind but a specific one harvested from the Pacific Ocean with a fine texture.

It is one of those things that may sound too exotic or unappealing at its first mention but is a must try. Once you taste it, you would likely be a fan forever. Also one tends to eat too much while at it.

It is Chinese New Year's Eve here. I will visit some Chinese stores to see if I can get myself a box of the baby bamboo plants as shown below (double click). Last year, even the local western supermarkets were cashing in and sold them for very high prices. Though I like them, I did not buy any. The prices were too ridiculous. There is no point to wait for price drop though; you need to get it for yourself or others for good wishes at the beginning of the new year, just like you need to give out gifts before Boxing Day!

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Just downloaded Opera 9.6.3 Chinese version. It looks a bit different, with black, dark red, and grey on top. It is said to be specially designed to be more compatible with Chinese websites, which I still need to find out, through searching Chinese sites, I guess. It has no inline spellcheck, of course. But it looks sleek.

[update] Holy smokes! I just tried googling some popular Chinese websites, and boy is it fast! Much, much faster than before! In the past it seemed to take forever for those pages to load. I am really impressed.