I Just Don't Have A Title For This One

Today, since Tim had the day off, we had our driver, Mr. You, pick us up at 10am and we headed off for the downtown area in a quest for some good meat, beef mainly.  Some very kind people that Tim works with told him about a market in the area around Nan Hu Park where they like to buy their beef.  The butcher there will bring the meat out and cut it for you depending on what you want.

As a starting point we picked Wobo Plaza, another apartment building very popular with expats.  It is at the far end of Nan Hu Park and the large lake that runs through the middle of it.  We first came across a playground so the kids had some fun on the slides and teeter-totter.  A little girl who was also playing there seemed to develop a fast crush on the boys and started following and chasing them around. 

We dragged the kids away from this play area to try and get to the other side of the lake.  We headed toward the Wave Bridge which was fun to walk across and very aptly named.  Along the way, we saw a lady doing some tai chi, not unusual here but very pretty.

Wave Bridge

The view from the bridge is pretty cool, too.  This is a giant ferris wheel that offers great views of the city - so I've read on Anna's blog.  The kids weren't too keen on the idea and we didn't have a lot of time today to try it.  Maybe next time.

We did make our way down to the base of the ferris wheel where we discovered a carnival with lots of rides.  We didn't pick the best day for this as there were bus loads, probably twenty, of school kids there enjoying the rides.  Not that they were badly behaved children (they were actually very good) but by the looks on their faces most of them have never seen a blond haired, blue eyed boy.  The entire walk through the park to the carnival we were getting looks, touches, laughing and any other reaction you can imagine from various adults so when we walked into hoardes of children pointing and chattering it became a little too much.  I did take Ryan on the merry-go-round but Nick didn't want to go and instead waited with Tim.  One of the school groups had stopped right by the ride to eat their lunch and Tim and Nick were swarmed by a bunch of enamored eight-year-olds girls.  Tim was still able to get some pictures but poor Nick didn't know what to do.  We got off the merry-go-round and took off to another ride where there weren't any school kids.

At this point we had decided not to try and find the meat shop by ourselves but went back to find our driver whom we had told to meet us in two hours (we told him this in Chinese and he understood!).  We met up with him again after more stares and requests for photographs with the kids, which they were having nothing to do with.  To assist us in our meat expedition Tim called a co-worker named Sam who is originally from China but has lived in Canada for a few years.  He spoke to our driver and told him where, approximately, this butcher was located.  We piled into the van and headed around the perimeter of the park.  We stopped at a market and Mr. You asked some locals how to find this place and they told him.  We had to get out of the van and walk down this particular street because it had a gate that kept cars (well, some of them) out.  We purchased some vegetables at one little cubby hole of a store, with more stares, poking and some people with very few teeth coming right up to the kids and talking (which sometimes sounds like hollering)  in their faces.

From here Mr. You asked for more directions and we worked our way down the street passed an elementary school that was on lunch break.  The kids were all out in front of the building and again we had more waves, smiles and "hellos".  Luckily this group was all fenced into the yard and couldn't get to us.  From here we went around the school and between some apartment buildings.  At this point, I look just past the apartment building and see that we are about two hundred feet from the carnival we had been at an hour before.  We began thinking that perhaps no meat is worth all this trouble.  Ryan was not cooperating and Nick was pretty tired from all the walking we had done at the park.  Just when we were ready to give up we came to some doors that led into an open warehouse sort of place and Mr. You pointed inside.  In here there were vegetable vendors and the beloved butcher.  Using his cellphone as a translator Tim asked for steak and hamburger.  What we got were two hunks of beef that look nothing like steak or hamburger.   We ended up chopping one, the one that was supposed to be hamburger, into stir-fry strips and fried it with some onion and green pepper.  It was really tasty but I think my sister's dog could have used it as a chew toy, it was so tough.  I ate it anyway with most of it getting stuck in my teeth.  Tim had one piece and gave up on it - pansy.

You'll notice that there aren't any pictures from this part of the day which is too bad - it would have made the story more believable.  However, when you have a defiant two-year-old and a tired four-year-old and you tell them you are partaking on this great journey just to find a piece of meat that they probably won't eat, the enthusiasm just isn't there.  We were dragging them along which didn't give us much of a chance for snapshots.

When we finally returned home from our great voyage, I put a screaming Ryan to bed and walked by myself down to the Carrefour.  I took a little more time in the meat and fish section and discovered that there is a butcher there and if I can just figure out how to ask for the right cuts of meat, I should be able to get it.  Go figure!

Well I think that is it for tonight.  Tomorrow should be a little more low key - not great blog fodder but good for the kids.  Have a good day all!