Ssshhh! It's the Weary/Wary Nomad's Birthday!

This year if your special day falls during my Around the World travels you can bet you'll have a foreign theme, the food and gift included.

Today is Lynn's (The Weary/Wary Nomad) birthday!  In case you haven't figured it out, he's my significant other.   And as you can guess, birthdays are not his thing.  In fact he dreads them.  His biggest fear in life is that I'll throw him a surprise party and invite his closest friends.
I've been known to do that but never to him.

One of our favorite shops is owned by a Chinese man.  It's very typical of the long stalls in Shanghai in the market district.  Goods stacked to the ceiling and lots of them.  When we have the urge to visit China and the flights are booked, we stop in here and take a little tour with our guide Mr. Chang.

Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to discuss the name of the shop because it's a wholesale place for artists and decorators.  So I can't post names or locations until otherwise notified.  But I had to share my excursion with you because I promised I would.

Every holiday I struggle with what to get my man who has everything.  Clothes are not an option.  He's too picky and too difficult for clothing.  He has all the latest gadgets.  He's one of those guys that buys the first release or downloads the latest upgrade.  Remember, I'm the gal who just bought an iPhone4G leaving my flip phone behind.  I miss her.

So I thought I'd shop in China for his gift.  However, many of the pieces are very expensive so I would have to find something in my budget.

The door was locked when I arrived but Mr. Chang opened it welcoming me inside.  He's a very, kind and gentle man whom we've gotten to know over the few years.  Visiting his shop is like visiting a museum.  Each time I go, I learn more about Chinese history and art.  We've taken friends and family on several occasions just to meet him and experience his store.  Our last visit was on my birthday.  A group of us stopped in for a look and before we knew it, we were drinking sodas and listening to Mr. Chang play the organ.  I haven't had this experience in any department store recently.  Have you?

I wound through aisles of furniture, brass horses, jade buddhas and giant clay pots.  I opened boxes with cloisonne eggs and frogs while asking questions about age, history and price. I had a couple of things in mind but wanted to look around carefully incase I'd missed that something special.

Then on a back shelf behind a brass gong I found several dusty, red clay teapots.  Mr. Chang told me they were 100+ years old.  He'd bought a case of them back in the 70's.  The Chinese government purchased them from the people in the country for the purpose of reselling them. And if I understood him correctly, he bought them at a government auction in China.  I decided on this one for it's shape and handles.

I'm leaving the tape and dust on it for a more authentic feel.  Besides Lynn likes cleaning and polishing his old treasures and so I don't want to rob him of this pleasure.

Notice the small stamp on top of the lid.  This is the artist's signature.

I know what you maybe thinking.  What man wants a teapot for his birthday?

Well, I'll just tell you that the men in my life are unusual and love unique things.  My grandfather being one of them.  I loved him to bits!  That's him over there to the right with my grandmother.  He had a collection of antique teapots that he'd brought home from around the world.  Most of them came from Asia.  I guess you could say I have a thing for men who like teapots.  I also have a thing for men who collect foo dogs. But that's another story for another trip.  I'll write more on China later.

I also chose this snuff bottle as a gift from Buddy (our dog).  Lynn picked this up during our last visit so I know he'll like it.  It's small and black and white like Buddy.  I think it's perfect for him to give.

After making my selections, I sat and totaled my invoice. He has you do this, which I think is nice.  Mr. Chang offered me a root beer and gathered up a few more items and boxes.  He handed me four small figurines to give to The WN for his birthday along with his best wishes.

We sat a little longer discussing the American and Chinese economies.  As I left I thought of all the people I was meeting from the different countries I visited.  Each person shared something with me that they loved.  Whether food, art, religion or culture, they all had one thing in common.  Passion.  And they have traveled their own long and arduous journeys to get here.  This is the part of travel I love.

Oh, and this present.  Technically, it was made in China.  However, it has nothing to do with travel but everything to do with me being a little bit nerdy.  Okay, A LOT nerdy!

Tonight we'll meet "me mum" in Italy for the birthday celebration!   It's The WN's favorite food and country.

Happy Birthday Lynn!!
I love ya, Jenn

The International?? Arts Festival

We went . . .

We saw . . .

We ate . . .

We bought . . .

The International Arts Festival didn't seem to be as "International" as I had anticipated.  Fortunately, for me I could count this excursion because I captured this image of a man sporting a kilt. If you look closely enough, you'll see that he as a "wee Scotty dog" on his
shirt so I'll give this post to Scotland.

If you look even closer at the picture of the corn, just to the left, you'll see a bottle of seasoning labeled "Italian".  Hey, when I started this journey, I made no promises as to how or what I would consider a foreign country.  You take what you can get!

Please note that I have refrained from raving about the corn as I have done this in several previous posts.  It was delicious, not loco, but very tasty!

Guid Eenin,
The Lucky?? Nomad

The artist who made the pottery bottles is Debbie Little from McKinney, Texas.  You can check out her site here http://www.dlittlepottery.com/.  She has some wonderful pieces and is from the International City of Enid, OK.

From Saigon to the Kalahari

The other night my mom and I stopped in Saigon to pick-up a few vegetables.  We came across many items that looked similar or related to produce we buy on a regular basis.  And many things we simply couldn't name.

Here are just a few:

This is a Jackfruit.  It can get up to 80lbs.  It grows on a tree that's in the Mulberry family.
Would you have guessed this to be a Mulberry?

A very nice man from India saw us admiring this fruit and photographing it.  He gave us a little history and told us how to eat it.  Unfortunately, these were not ripe and there were none cut ready to try.  We couldn't taste it unless we bought the canned version.  He didn't recommend trying that at all.

King Mushrooms

Enoki Mushrooms

Many varieties of mushrooms, none of which were Portobello.

Roots and Yams.  The larger one to the right in the middle is Taro.  I have tried
the Taro flavored yogurt at Pink Swirl.  I did not care for it:(.

Whte Eggplant

Green Eggplant

But no Purple Eggplant.

And looooooonnnnnnnnggggg beans!  The longest I've seen.  I'm thinking one per serving.

Quail eggs.

Twenty-five egg omelette anyone?

Dragon Fruit

Dragon Fruit or Pitaya is the fruit from a cactus of the genus Hylocereus.  I've never tasted this variety but I've eaten the fruit of a prickly pear cactus.  It's popular in South Africa among the children in the desert.

Once while traveling with a priest in the Kalahari, we were caught in a flash flood.  The water rushed like a river down the road and within minutes was up to the door handles of our small bakkie (Toyota pick-up truck).  Finally forced to stop, the water swept us into the ditch.  With no way to get ourselves out, we were stuck in the middle of no where.  

After 30 minutes or so, two African cowboys rode up on horses.  They spoke in Afrikaans so we couldn't understand a word.  They tried to help push us out, but no luck.  One of the men had hot-pink, swollen lips. Dry and cracked, they looked tender and painful. I kept staring at him and thinking, "Oh dear he must have some form of lip cancer from being out in the sun so much."

After several unsuccessful attempts to move the vehicle, the two men spoke a few words, gestured, mounted their horses and rode over the dunes.  The man of the cloth thought we'd seen the last of them.  Oh ye of little/no faith.

I on the other hand had been stranded many times on empty country roads in Oklahoma. Stuck in ditches.  Spinning my wheels until my axel was buried in the mud.  There's an etiquette in the country and it's universal.  If you come upon someone stuck in a "bar ditch" you get them out.  I never doubted they'd be back.

Within another 20 minutes or so, we heard the moaning of a loud diesel engine.  We saw no sign of houses for miles so it was quite a surprise to see the two cowboys top the hill followed by a man on a tractor.

The water receded as quickly as it had come.  We climbed back into the bakkie, thanked the men for rescuing us and headed on to the next village.

"Man, that cowboy's lip looked terrible." I said.  "I've never seen lips that color. Do you think he has a form of mouth cancer?"

Bewildered by my comment, the priest looked at me, thought for a moment and then broke into
an embarrassing laughter.  "His lips are red from eating cactus fruit!"

The entire time we were digging sand out from underneath the driveshaft of the bakkie, my mind worried over the man with cancerous lips and how we might get him proper medical care.  Never once was I worried about being lost in the desert and never found.

Not sure how I started out in Saigon and ended up in the Kalahari.  But that's what I know about cactus fruit!

All my best,
Jenn

The Second Reason for Parking My Camel

In my previous entry I mentioned my iPhone 4G as part of the reason I've been so haphazard in posting.  I became so carried away with html coding, or the lack of, that I forgot to mention the other reason I've been away.

I've had my new iPhone now  for a little over two weeks and have not been able to access my iTunes account.  Even though I double and triple checked all of my information it kept telling me that it didn't match my bank's records.  So I called my  bank to verify my data.  If you're wondering why I'm blogging about this, it's because I consider it a visit to a foreign country.  The lady on the other end of the line had an accent and I'm sure she was from Bangladesh.  So that counts.

She confirmed that everything was correct and stayed on the line while I continued my application on iTunes.  Each time I completed the iTunes account info I clicked the tab labeled done and got the same message . . .  The information you have entered does not match your bank's records.  That means I could not purchase anything from iTunes correct?  Correct.

However, while I am talking to the lady she is telling me that for every entry I make and click done, iTunes is charging me a dollar.  So now I'm at 20 clicks, which translates 20.00 and I'm still getting the same message.  Would someone please explain to me how my account is not valid and yet before my eyes the charges are being recorded on my billing information.

I closed iTunes and decided to wait until a later date and try again.  So while I'm giving it a few days, I have a debit card compromised.  Another day goes by and another credit card is compromised.  Now I've had to cut up two cards leaving me no access to an account that I can list on iTunes for payment, which won't accept them anyway.   However, two bozo's are traveling the world using my credit/debit card information to purchase whatever they want whenever they want without any hassle or id.

Today my cards were replaced.  I could now try again to access my account.  I called Apple support and talked to a young guy I'll call Paul.  Finally, after several failed attempts I was able to get one of the cards to work.  I was good to go.  I thanked Paul and asked him if he'd ever had this kind of problem when using his iPhone.  His reply. "I don't have an iPhone.  I don't even have a cell phone.  They're too addictive."  My reply.  "Where were you when I bought this thing?  I could have stayed with my raggedy ole flip phone which never gave me any trouble."

Hmmm, I wonder what Steve Jobs would say?

Jenn

Parked Camels and the Pentagon

I have not abandoned my camel on some remote dune or wandered off toward a mirage and lost my way.  And though you haven't seen a trace of me on this blog, I've been traveling every chance I get.  Which lately has been limited to 30 minute trips and drive-by's.  I just haven't been able to post my experiences.  My apologies to the three of you that have been following diligently along with me.  However, I must tell you that I have plenty of valid reasons for being absent for so long.

Remember my post on the iPhone 4G?  Well, there in lies a big part of the problem.  The other being that I spent hours trying to design a personalized background for this blog, which I think turned out quite nice and I'll show you in a photo below . . . because that's the only way I can.

Bright and  cheery don't you think?

After getting it nearly completed, I decided to try and load it myself by changing the html coding .  After many late nights and hacking into the pentagon, I finally gave up and decided I would have to seek professional help.

A few days later my dad logged on to my blog and gave me a call.  "I really like your background with the pictures of your grandparents", he said.  "What?"  I went to my computer pulled up my blog and there it was, sand.  No photos, nothing.  But he had to be seeing my new design or he couldn't have described it to me.  I hadn't told anyone about the changes because there weren't any to see. Or so I thought.

I tried three different computers.  Then it occurred to me.  He must be using a different browser.  He was.  Somehow the changes I made showed up as a garbled mess on Firefox but not on the other browsers.

So if you are one of the three people following this blog and you happen to be using Firefox, OMG, I don't even know what to say to you.  I bet you'll agree that it looks like something from Wikileaks that the Pentagon would not want out.  I would fix it, but I don't know how.

I am happy to make a couple of suggestions to make your viewing easier. Choose another browser or help me find someone who can do html coding and help me get this thing fixed!

I think it should be more apparent as to why I have been so inconsistent with my posting.
I appreciate your patience and understanding.  And for goodness sakes, please come back!

Jenn
The Lucky?? Nomad