Nutty for seeds
(Ying and I relaxing in the Master of the Nets Garden: Suzhou, China)
Another swift one. On the May holiday weekend, Ying and I went for a stroll in another of Suzhou’s gardens, this one was named ‘The Master of the Nets’. It is a petite walled garden near the centre of town and he sunshine made the whole experience complete. Well, the tea and the sunflower seeds made it absolutely complete. I might not have mentioned the popular Chinese habit of eating sunflower seeds before. If you ever spot a Chinese person with a triangular notch in a front tooth, no doubt they are a pro at opening sunflower seeds. They are so popular that they are sold in all the supermarkets, corner shops and tea houses everywhere. We bought two cups of green tea, which includes a huge flask of scalding water for topping up, and a red paper bag of seeds. We made it most of the way through the seeds and through many cups of tea before admitting defeat. It took just a few minutes to get this far – by the time we were done, the metal tray was almost invisible under a pile of seed chaff.
You may be wondering why I have been so quiet on the subject of the Shanghai World Expo recently. Well, I haven’t been so see it. Ying and I planned to go last weekend, but since I was given work at extremely short notice, we weren’t able to make it. I am still hoping against hope (if my work will be finished on schedule) that we might manage this weekend – my final weekend in China this trip before my return to the UK. Stay tuned.
