Opulent Chair Sitting – Almost!

If there’s one thing I missed during this Christmas and New Year’s Yunnan Extravaganza, it was the chance to do some serious Opulent Chair (or Sofa)- Sitting.

How strange; Guangdong province is replete with ultra-opulent chairs AND sofas – you can’t walk past any hotel before they come hurtling out, throwing themselves at you with their gold-embroidered upholstery and luxurious depth. But in Yunnan? Nothing! Or so I thought, until I discovered the bizarre interestingly decorated Sofitel Luxury Hotel in Kunming.

OK. The chairs here don’t really fall into the real Opulence category, having no embroidery, gold or silver (real or painted) on them, but looking at the rest of the hotel’s extravagant decorations, I decided quickly to let Sofitel join the pantheon of opulent chair-owners, especially after seeing this tableau of abandoned chairs?

I only went in for a coffee and to have a look around, but the concierge and receptionist followed me around as if I were a spy or running dog for imperialism or something. There were no other guests and the whole place seemed deserted. Could it be a Potemkin village of opulence?

凳 – dang (chair)
梳化 – so fa (sofa)
酒店 － jau dim (wine shop/hotel)

More About That! 嗰

嗰個人係四川人 (go go yan hai Sei Chyun yan – that piece person is Four River person, that person is from Sichuan) 嗰個人 (go go yan – that piece person). That should be pretty plain sailing →

That! 嗰個！

Here’s a word, short, unassuming, that often creates trouble for my clients (“victims”). It’s 嗰 (go – that.) Now, the word this is never a problem for any of my clients. It’s all 呢個(li go →

飲茶 The Civilised Lunch

I’ve just travelled 25 minutes there and 25 back just to eat. What, didn’t I have perfectly good ingredients for Sichuan food in my fridge? you ask. Yes, of course. But no matter how good →

Train! 火車！

One of the most wonderful of many wonderful things about mainland China is the train. Last weekend we went to Guangzhou for some r and r and it was good, but the best thing was →

Its Name Was Amber, It Was A Vomit…

Do you see that lake? That was a green and throbbing grassland only yesterday. Surely this must be an amber rainstorm? 黃色暴雨 (wong sek bou yu – yellow colour violent rain)(That’s right! The surname Wong →

Transformation Continues on All Levels 2

Is Cantonese dying? Last weekend’s visit to Guangzhou was quite depressing in many ways. It’s nothing new that people from all over China migrate to Guangdong province, especially Shenzhen and Guangzhou, to make something of →

Transformation Continues On All Levels 1

Guangzhou used to be my favourite city with its leafy streets, car-less alleys and languidly flowing river whose name, Pearl, also gave itself to an excellent beer, 珠江啤酒 (jyu gong beh jau – Pearl River →

Good Weather Likely

A lovely day has begun in the lovely city of Guangzhou and after yesterday’s torrential rain people are pouring out in the streets again. Just outside the hotel I saw this guy relaxing with a →

Owner Of A Broken Face

I’ve finally finished the last chapter (or recipe) in my Sichuan cookery book, a book that isn’t really a book, for can it be a book when it’s only online? If not, what should it →

Donner Und Blitzen Kebab

Drowning in weather! I got up at 5 having slept very little due to the absolutely wild weather that shook my house all night. Apparently the lightning had struck Lantau Island 3,000 times out of →

By Popular Demand (Journey Into the Hinterland)

Happy Jellyfish Podcast Player

| Open Player in New Window

.. an old podcast: A Sojourn in Shenzhen.

Yes, one whole person has expressed interest in hearing it, so I must oblige. Also I happen to be going to Shenzhen again tomorrow as part of a longer trip, and during tomorrow’s hedonistic extravaganza I’m going to undertake the rigours of a foot massage, just to be able to put it on a poddie castie so you can learn everything about various degrees of pain – in Cantonese.

But soon all this digging around for old podcasts will be a thing of the past, because soon a brand new Happy Jellyfish People’s Democratic Language Bureau is going to rise from the ashes of …the old one, I suppose, like a flaming fundamentalist Canto-phoenix.

On it you’ll be able to click on podcasts, films and all the other stuff in one place. A click in time saves nine, as you know. So bye-byeeeeeee for now. It’s into the Mando I go!

Facebook

Recently I’ve … not exactly been inundated with invitations to be friends with people on Facebook, but had a few requests. The people who want to, oh how I hate this noun as a verb, →