strange appetizer

Attended a Chinese friend’s wedding last week. The whole process takes half a day plus more pictorials in the afternoon.  While waiting in our table for the bride and groom to appear, I took notice of this interesting sight.Who would have thought that among the  plates of appetizers served already on the table some  sticks of cigarettes could be one of them? Actually, after the wedding ceremony the bride and groom would go to each table of guests  then  they will give a toast to  all   then  they will give either another toast or  they will lit a cigarette for each male guest on that table and  offer sweets for the ladies to show their respect and gratitude.  Normally there will be about 25-35 tables with ten people in it ..so just imagine how tired they will be after the whole event.

the “beloved” lotus

I don’t know if you are familiar with lotus flower but this is the pod. It’s a special delicacy in this part of China. The petals  as  well as these  pods  are made into special dishes. It has a peculiar taste and  they  said its very nutritious. Well , everything is nutritious here as Chinese have all this balance of the yin  and the yang food…which is really hard for me to get the basis of. I don’t know really know which food has more yin  and which has more yang.I have tasted a lotus pod dish but I  never did  see the raw stuff in the market… but alas!  in the streets of Suzhou I found this one so I quickly took a snapshot.

Cooling off

Since I  can remember I always love looking at National Geographic’s  vivid  pictures of all sorts of wildlife. Last summer,  in a hot afternoon  in Suzhou, a Chinese friend and I visited one of its many nature parks. By the way Suzhou is famous for  its canals and gardens. I thought it was just perfect to spend it in a park full of man-made ponds and  lots of trees. As we stroll leisurely we came across this sight. I’m thinking this is my first almost like a NG (magazine) shot, of course it is far from it since my camera is below par  for that. But it was  refreshing to see these geese just immersed in their own world and oblivious to us.