a piece of history out of the classroom

So I heard from some of my readers that my blog entries are too lengthy. I do not know whether I am being too explicit or just reporting on garrulous happenings. However, I have had my fair share of blog readings in the past and occassionally I would want to have more pictures and less talk while sometimes have more talk. So in my entries I have included both so its either u want to read it or nt and most importantly, dont make your problem my problem. so chillax =)

So today Woo Chol, Chloe, Miya and Woo Chol's 2 other Korean mates came with us to our little history trip to Tian An Men Square aka 天安门广场. Actually I was quite depressed that the Forbidden City 紫禁城 was not open the public. The reason why so remains an enigma. Thousands flock from around the world to come visit this majestic architectural beauty but I was prohibited to be one of the millions to witness its grandeur. The forbidden city was a place where the emperor would reside during his tenure so it was reverent and I really wanted to see how he lives in contrast to my "ghetto-ness".

But nonetheless, spirits were kept high and our group snapped a considerable amount of photos. However, I only put these few up as uploading photos to blogspot can be a bitch if you know what i mean.

Also, one funny thing is that when you are crossing the bridge into tian an men, you are not allowed to take pictures so as to not slow down the human traffick of people crossing it. So I manage to take a video of how the police man would shout at the people to not take photos haha. So chloe was my accomplice and help instigate the police man to do it by whipping out her camera and pretending to take photographs. Anyway I will tag the video below but I am not too sure if you are able to see it. If you are on facebook, you can check out the video at "more supper LESS badminton" my facebook group where i will be uploading it there soon.

After our disappointing visit to Tian An Men, we went to this street called 王府井小吃街 which sold alot of interesting food! So here is a brief tour of it.

So here we have the

冰糖葫芦 bing tang hu lu. Which is a ancient chinese candy which has been brought to light to many/all of us through chinese martial arts series like 神雕狭侣. But just like the liberalisation of communism in MC, this candy too has experienced a change in its ingredient, no more MC berries but a vibrant set of savoury assortments to choose for the never mundane human palate- kiwis, strawberries and even slice melons! Today, I had strawberry and it was very fresh!

So Chloe was raving about 臭豆腐 chou toufu which smelt like manure and she deeply needed satisfy this craving. Unperturbed, she advanced to the stall, made her purchased and walked to the group. Though it smelt bad, I did not think it was too taxing on my nasal cavities and after little or no persuation from Chloe, I downed one of the fried cubes: it tasted bland. Perhaps, its not the same in terms of smelly degree to the ones that you guys had. But at least i can say i have tried the most probable only dish in the word where the more disgusting it smell, the better it is.

Here I have a splinter in my mouth that was used to pierce the toufu. I handed Miya the stick of strawberry candy and decided to down a cob of corn as it looked so tempting on the roast. But sadly it tasted quite boring, I believe the streets of phuket had nicer tasting ones. If only they smeared a slab of butter on it. I was so full after eating the corn, though it was bland the kernels were full and fresh. After eating through 7/8 of it, I decided to let the dustbin devour the rest.

So here are some of the weird food that I had spotted on the street. Most of these we have seen before but I have never once spotted a starfish haha. The things people eat here is amazing. AND NO I did not eat the starfish.

So anyway, i loved today alot since i was able to experience a whole lot of the rich heritage that china had to offer and I believe that this is the defining factor of what makes an overseas working/studying experience worthwhile. Just like how Hamon Shen is making full use of his time in America to go visit many other places of interest. So Hamon let's compete to see who had a more fulfilling academic semester abroad when we are back haha.

Since I have dedicated a paragraph for you, dont keep complaining to say I write too much since you are one of the reasons for this lengthy entry.