Yichang history

Its only taken me four years or so to actually go to this monument to find out exactly what it's about. It's always caught my eye since my arrival here because it has a huge purple anchor sticking in the top of it, and being a Freo Dockers supporter, I've always thought it a bit if an omen, like a sign I came to the right city, lol. I have tried to find out what it represented but my friends didn't know and just because my bus routes don't actually stop close by, well I've just not ever made it to the actual spot, just seen from up on the bridge as I pass by. Last Saturday, the weather was gorgeous, so Moli and I decided to walk a fair length of riverside park, all the way up to the monument and the foot of the bridge to have a gander. 1938 and the Anchor is a monument representing Yichangs role in moving people and machinery, goods etc around China at a very scary time whilst Japan were invading the country and carrying out events such as the Nanjing massacre. Wuhan and Yichang itself were in a dangerous situation but Yichang became a major port in a time of crisis. It states for a period of 3 years "37 - 40" Yichang sent civilians to the rear, soldiers to the front and cargo to the west. 1938 was a particularly tense time as the country tried to protect Wuhan. Within 40 days a whole years worth of traffic, goods, equipment and people (civilians and soldiers,injured, orphaned children, businessmen, celebrities) all came to Yichang to be evacuated. An amazing effort indeed!


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Chinese Cold remedies recipes

So with the cold weather setting in here in China, I'm already getting more than a fair shares worth of colds. I like to turn to a few of the traditional Chinese home remedies to treat rather than the dreaded hospital visits and antibiotic drips. A favourite for me coz it tastes so damn nice is "ginger coca cola"... And its so easy even i can do it. Chop up some ginger, add it to the coca cola and bring to boil, simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring to check it doesn't caramalize. DRINK, whilst hot( careful not to burn yourself) Delicious, clears the sinuses and warms you up. Its even popular here just as a winter drink in restaurants. It really warms you up. Its also pretty effective for upset tummies. It is an ancient traditional recipe, but obviously years ago they used brown sugar not coca cola 😉. The other useful and tasty remedy is "steamed pears with rock sugar". This is for chesty coughs etc. Now I've never seen rock sugar before I came to China so I don't know how available it is? It looks like big lumps of crystal. Anyway dice the pear and put into a small bowl with quite a few pieces rock sugar. Stand the bowl into a saucepan with about an inch of water in it and bring to the boil, lower to a simmer and put the lid on. Steam for about 10 -15 minutes. Carefully and skillfully remove bowl from within saucepan, eat and enjoy ( careful... Very hot). The rock sugar melts through the steaming pear making a tasty syrup. Apart from the fact that both these recipes are tasty, they do in fact seem to be quite effective. Disclaimer : these are just recipes i find useful and recommended by friends. Use with your own discretion.

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Hmmmm

On one of my walks around a different old area of Yichang, I happened along this window. It's had me imagining all kinds of scenarios about its story. Why does it have Russia written on it, when I'm clearly in China ;-) and why is Russia written in English and not Chinese? I'm thinking there's a whole movie behind this window and door.

Yep she is definitely Chinese

One thing people often mention about China is the mess people make at the dinner tables in restaurants. Rubbish, bones, wrapping from chopsticks, bowls etc is all over the tables and floors. I've always been fascinated by Chinese peoples ability to filter out fish bones in their mouths, no hands needed, just put in a mouthful, seemingly swirl it around, then spit out neat clean fish bones. I just stay away from fish here, river fish has too much danger involved ;-) My dog being 100% Chinese born but with my western influences still regularly shows her Chinese side. Stepping or jumping over wet patches on the pavement often amuses me, but she has the fish bone skill too, it's just that she does it with all the biscuits she doesn't want. Check out this video of her causing the Chinese dining mess by skillfully cleaning the chicken and rice from her biscuits whilst in her mouth and then discarding the biscuits on the floor.

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Location:Yanjiang Ave,Yichang,China