ningbo-ing

yesterday i made a quick day-trip down to ningbo to visit our office there and a local factory. ningbo is a 30-minute flight but a 4-hour drive as there's no direct driving route, so there are a number of flights between shanghai and ningbo every day. the plane barely gets up to altitude before starting its descent, so the stewardesses have to run up and down the aisles flinging water bottles and peanuts at customers before getting into place for landing.


one thing that caught my eye in the factory was a t-shirt that one of the workers was wearing. it read, 'erotic of mid-summer'.

i worked one summer at university in london taking care of a group of about 60 japanese exchange students. japan is infamous for its bizarre usage of english and at the time there was a popular brand of jeans in japan called 'bitch', though few people (and none of the students I'd later find out) knew what it meant. one day we assembled the group for a trip into london. was only after we were in the city and taking roll that i noticed one of the smallest, quietest girls in the group was wearing a black t-shirt that had the word 'bitch!' written in huge neon pink letters on the front.

after we got back i told her that the meaning could be interpreted as rude to some people so best not to wear it off-campus. she, like other japanese, didn't know what it meant and just liked the look of the letters.

i somehow think the story is the same here, unless she was feeling particularly erotic that day.


after the factory visit we went to eat lunch in a seafood restaurant as i was told ningbo is famous for seafood. the concept was similar to the seafood market in bangkok, except the focus was more on live and less common creatures.

the folks from the factory couldn't tell me what the animal above was except to say it has blue blood and actually isn't very tasty. it reminded me of a trilobite fossil i had when i was a kid. they were all scurrying around the tank quite merrily except for that overturned one who seemed to be taking a long rest break. i declined the invitation to sample one.


this tank was filled with snapper turtles and eels. quite tasty, i was assured.


no one knew what these things were, seemingly including the staff working there. although when i showed interest in something i was usually asked if i wanted to try it, no one offered for me to try this thing.


i went to take some photos of these giant slug/snail things and the chef pulled them out of the tank and placed them on the counter top. he was intent on trying to sell the factory owner one of these things- finally they made it my call, which i politely declined. by the look on the owner's face he wasn't too enthusiastic about eating one of them either.

overall the meal was quite good, a lot more mainstream than these photos would suggest. i'm usually picky with my food but i could eat most of it, though there was a thick yellowish soup about which no one could translate the ingredients into english. the closest they could get was, 'some sort of seafood. like a fish but soft'. i tried not to let my imagination run too wild with that one.


sage advice from a sign in the ningbo airport toilet. if you're going to slip, make sure you do it carefully.


upon arrival back in shanghai we faced the world's longest taxi line. i'm heading back to ningbo again on saturday for work- this time will definitely book some transport ahead of time. people were born, got married, and died of old age in this line.

ningboing!