lucky crickets

After a whole week of rain, on Friday we were finally greeted by the sun, maybe a little too much sun. They don’t lie when they say the summer here can get really bad. You can be outside, doing nothing, but be sweating as if you had been running for an hour. We took advantage of having a break from the rain to go to Qibao Ancient Town, also known as Water Town because it’s crossed by two water lanes. The town is 1000 years old and the name ‘Qibao’ means seven treasures. The town is named Qibao because, according to legend, seven treasures were housed in the town. History, however, states that only four treasures, the Gold Lotus Scripture written by an imperial concubine of the 10th century, the Big Bell, the Magic Tree dating back 1,000 years and the Golden Cock ever actually existed- and only two- the Scripture and the Bell-survive today.  

 

They sold a lot of crickets in the streets and they were chirping REALLY loud. Crickets are a sign of good luck and wealth, it’s like the Mulan cricket! They say the more crickets invade a family's residence, the wealthier that family will become.

diet shoes! These shoes said they were for dieting! XD

And of course there were lots of snacks! Food is really important for Chinese XD. One of they way Chinese people usually ask ‘How are you?’ is by asking ‘Ni chi le ma?’ which literally translates to ‘Have you eaten?’1) bamboo filled with rice and pork, 2) mango watermelon ice, 3) I don’t know what the bunnies are but they looked cute, 4)the thing that looks like a cave is actually a bunch of eggs and the hard shell is all salt, 5) I had never seen durian so big!!!, 6)black stinky tofu, I don’t think I could try this!! I think I can even see some green in there >< The lady said it was almost the same except a little more ‘sour’ which for me makes it sound less appetizing

Trying stinky tofu!! It was pretty good. I can’t believe it but I liked it.