Jet Lag...

Got home last night and now It's five a.m and I am wide awake at the computer.  Haven't been to sleep all night.  I tried to stay up all yesterday to avoid this but accidently fell asleep for three hours in the afternoon.  Who knew it would keep me up all crazy.  I'm usually a champion sleeper!!  But on the bright side I can have my sons hot breakfast all done ahead of school schedule. How truly rare!
We ended up spending ten days in South East China.  My ideas and notions of China where completely different than the reality.  I had these funny images in my head about China.  I guess the equivelent of thinking that America is like being in a John Wayne movie.  I had this notion that there'd be little old ladies in silk shirts with slippers on.  Hoards of old things, evident history, gardens and clay roofs, cheap shopping, Asian artwork, wooden carts. I don't know, Chinese things.  I had this romanticized version of  China in my mind.  I'm a little emberassed to admit it now.  Maybe it's all the Jet Li movies I watch with my son and my obsession with traditional Chinese artwork.  Whatever filled my head with these images wasn't even close to the modern day reality, at least in this region.  China was incredibly modern, progressive and booming with a palpable economic heart beat.  It's the first time I have literally felt the influence of business all around me.  It was like a heavy current that was unlike anything I've ever felt before.  People where so kind and so lovely for the most part.  The oldest civilization has moved on to embrace a new-world vision of it's future and it's present day.  One distinctly unique.  China was a wild learning experience and I'm still digesting the vast differences between our cultures and those that overlap.  It's the first place I've been that has me in such contemplation.  I am trying to identify what it is that is so intriguing and challenging to me at the same time.  Maybe it was the food.  That did kinda set the tone...
 Those of you who already heard through facebook, sorry but I have to tell again.. People I hardly took pictures but I should have taken a whole card full of menu photo's.  And had it not been entirely uncool to our hosts I would have! I heard the food might be a challenge.  I thought naaaahhhh. I'm good at this.  I'm a good traveler and  I can adapt while traveling and besides.  I love Asian food! oh no!  There was literally alligator claw on the menu one afternoon!   Complete with scales and fingernails.  Imagine the size of this thing.  Albino mini birds sitting erect on the plate with mohawk hair do in a taxidermy style.  An oddly vast assortment of knuckles, pig being most available. Ox tongue salads, livers, fish heads, loads of chicken feet, bones and more bones.  Not stretching the truth here.  Every menu was like an Indiana Jones segment.   I have to confess I started happily stealing food from the business lounge and the mini bar at the hotel to make it through the long days!  

China was an amazing experience.  One that will take time for me to fully integrate. I think China will take practice and that's good since I'll be heading back a lot over the next couple years.  For now I feel so happy with yesterdays pancakes and coffee.  Today...I'll be sleeping.  xoxoxo

Comments

[Diane]

welcome home. WOW. the food sounds very interesting and the whole experience sounds like something I would not expect either. It will be interesting to see how the trip influences your artwork....maybe some birds with mohawks?

[krista]

Oh yea, the food...hmmmmm...While traveling in Asia a few years back I made sure to learn how to say "I'm a vegetarian!" right away at every new destination. Phew! My fellow travelers in China became ravenously envious of the glistening pile of veggies that would be brought out to me along side the monkey brain delicacies:( etc. Not that adventurous when it comes to "food":)

[Lisa Kaus]

Amazing Anahata- its on my to do list- I heard about the food thing but not quite that offal...hope to see you in the future-Lisa Kaus

[LORI CLARK]

Hey honey, welcome back! I love Dianne's idea about birds with mohawks! Food for thought! Ha ha

[michelle]

haha!! misery loves company. i love hearing other people's experiences with the food there. you just can't really imagine until you're there. it's something else! will you be traveling back often? hope it was successful!

[Frith]

love your posts, your work, your inspiration. pleased you're back from your travels & looking forward to reading more here.

[annie]

i've been to china three times and it's such an amazing, varied, fascinating place. a lot of my extended family still lives there and the food is awesome, but yeah it can take some time to get used to it. i was in a restuarant in guangzhou once and the waiters were trained to pour tea into our cups from several feet away. how cool is that?

[Vibeke]

Thank you for inspiration! Love your blog.

[anahata]

Annie that's so cool. We stayed in Guangzhou too. Didn't get the cool tea service though. have to see that when we get back.

[Cheap Jordans]

Seeing the blog should leave some comments, I think that is a polite to blog host, and thank you for sharing!