Wonders of Beijing

Let us make a tour to Beijing and reveal the most interesting places in the capital of China.

Forbidden city

In Jinshan park

View of Forbidden city

Blossoming Tulips of Skegit Valley

In 1940s in the marchy valley Skegit there settled a family of immigrants from Holland. The bog of Skeget occupied a huge territory. And why tulips aren't boggy flowers? The company http://tulips.com/  opened by that family calls itself the biggest producer of tulips. 

And in our days, each year, approximately all population of state Washington and British Columbia come to the little village in the valley to see the wonderful tulips. Very many wonderful tulips.

The tulips blossom in industrial scale, but it's not quite clear why. Only those tulips whose glomes haven't opened yet can be sold to stores, but on the other hand, tourists wouldn't come to see at such tulips that don't blossom. One has to pay to enter the territory, but not much and not everywhere.

American tourists taking photos.

A Lesson In Nepal

We've already seen a lesson in Cambodia, now let's move to Nepal and discover what spiritual values pupils have there.

This is a little village Gandruk hidden among the Himalayas.

Not for all children the way for knowledge is easy. Some pupils go to school from neighbouring villages for 1,5-2 hours. There are no buses, children have to get over mountains, forests and follow the slippery paths in any weather.

Happy Birthday, the Queen of the Netherlands!

The 30th of April is the day when Holland celebrates its favourite holiday - Queen's Birthday (Konninginnedag).

Queen Beatrix has been rulling the country more than 20 years already and her influence on the political life of the Netherlands is enormous. In 2000 it was 110 years of the continuous governing of Holland by queens. Though this "tradition" cost the Netherlands the crown of the Luxemburg dukedom where accoding to the law, throne succession in the female line was forbidden. Its own royal dynasty appeared in the Netherlands only in 1815. Three Wilhelms had changed on the throne before 1890. And then came the turn of women.

After the queen dowager Emma's mother the throne was taken by Wilhelmina who reigned during the two world wars. In 1948 she gave the crown to her daughter Juliana who agreed to recognise the independance of Indonesia and Surinam who afterwards abdecated the throne giving it to Beatrix.

The 30th of April is the birthday of Juliana, but not Beatrix, who was born in January, 31st. For 32 years of Queen Juliana's governing the Dutch got used to celebrate her birthday in April, 30th and when her daughter Beatrix became a queen she didn't change the date of the holiday.

Each citizen has an orange costume for this day. Orange is the color of the royal house d'Orange-Nassau. They decorate streets with ribbons, garlands, balloons and flags - and all of them are orange.

Inflatable crowns, orange of course too, are in great demand as well. National flying flags and portraits of the queen are everywhere.

Orange staff are sold everywhere.

Someone even dye their hair red...

Special costumes for pets are not rare too.

On this day in the Netherlands Free Market is held too. By a special order of the queen in April, 30th all stores may sell goods without VAT. So on the last day of April everything may be bought 30% cheaper.

Kids can earn too, theyarrange mini concerts.

Children enjoy sweets.

Hundreds of people are sailing by boats.

This boat even has a DJ.

Noisy music everywhere.

Big concert on the central square.

Disabled people can have fun too.

Composting toilets for men have such an open light construction...

Police has no right to interfere, they patrol the streets to prevent serious incidents. However they happen really seldom.

Spring in Amsterdam

The Beatles Museum in Liverpool

Liverpool is the seaport where previously ships were repaired. What is the most famous thing about Liverpool? Probably many people say The Beatles and will be right.

Today we'll visit the museum dedicated to the popular group. So let's enter.

The beginning of the exposition.

One of the first Beatles pictures and the real instruments from this photo.

The installation from the Hamburg period of the Beatles. It was rather stormy time.

The Mersey Beat, 1964. Before Beatlemania.

Rare guitars.

The Cavern stage where the Beatles popularity began.

Everything was just the same many years ago.

The records shop of Brian Epstein.

In a recording studio.

John Lennon's glasses.

The big white hall dedicated to John Lennon. 

Mathew Street.

Little moorages.

The Cavern club.

Once the Beatles performed here.

And not only they. Other popular rock stars were here. The club works as a pub, you can drink ale or something stronger.

The whole street is studded with shops and pubs.

Museum of Pharmacy in Riga

Riga has the wonderful Museum of Pharmacy. Let's make a short tour along such an interesting place.

This woman is a guide. She welcomes the visitors and tells them a lot about medicines, their production, sale and history. 

These are various pharmaceutical brands.

That's how they were attached to the phials with an appropriate remedy.

Old containers of medicines.

A mortar.

Various old literature on the subject.

In former times, when Wikipedia didn't exist yet, pharmacists had their own analog - "Pharmacopedia". It looked like this.

At those times pharmacy was directly related to the production of medicines. A pharmacist was both a holder of a trade shop and a producer. Every pharmacy had a laboratory in which remedies were produced. Now pharmacy is just a shop. If it has such a lab it's considered something really exceptional.

The exact copy of a modern pharmaceutical laboratory occupies a separate room in the museum.

This lab has two lockers for strong medications and poisons, and drugs. Keys are hold by the main pharmacist of the lab. The picture shows the locker with drugs. It's notable that all the labels are black and inscriptions are white.

Such nice lockers were used by ordinary people to keep their medicines in there.

Tinctures were sold in such creative packaging.

This is the road kit of Alexander II.

Let's look at the packaging of different times.

Thermometers.

Cupping glasses. 

Condoms.

Pharmacy scales.

Pharmacy scales of a bigger size.

Famous Riga Black Balsams invented in the 18th century. 

The matrix of medicines.

Making medicines of herbs.

A device for herb cutting.

For grinding.

Inside the woman's house.

Some medicines are made of snake's poison.

The museum has a wonderful cash desk. And what's amazing - it still works and is used for legitimate purposes.

So take your medicines according to your doctor's prescription until it is too late...

Chinese Cuisine: Not The Post For the Hungry!

The cuisine of one or another country is one of its major attractions. The Chinese cuisine is quite "friendly" until you read the menu carefully and chew the food thoroughly.

When you are in Hong Kong, it's often easier, cheaper and certainly more interesting to go out for breakfast, lunch or dinner, than to cook at home. The food in its cafes and restaurants is not a luxury, but a very common thing. In the picture you can see a queau of the hungry and thirsty to one of the Chinese canteens in late Sunday's morning.

People go to the canteens, cafes and restaurants to eat, rather than to discuss the latest gossips while having a cup of coffee. Such long queues are quite normal during meal time. The longer queue, the better cafe.

Usual breakfasts. 

The most important thing in Hong Kong is breakfast. If your breakfast was good the day will be good as well. This is Cafe de Coral and its menu. Breakfast.

19 Hong Kong dollars for fried eggs, two sausages in gravy, a toast and coffee (or tea). Instead of sausages you can take a chop. And instead of eggs - a sweet loaf of bread with butter and strange soup with noodles, thinly sliced sausages, a fresh cabbage and corn.

For lovers of light breakfasts there is wonderful Pret A Manger. Light fruit yogurts, puddings and delicious sandwiches with tuna. Each dish costs about 20 dollars.

Lunch.

Chinese menus.

Not every Chinese menu has an English version. So if you don't know Chinese you can simply point out a line with the characters you like and wait patiently, wondering what they will bring to you. The following hieroglyphs will be very helpful for such people.

A delicious hieroglyph. Chicken.

An important hieroglyph. Attention, spicy food!

An abstract hieroglyph often mentioned in the names of dishes. A great success and good luck.

A friendly hieroglyph. A dog. Shouldn't occur in the names of dishes.

And this one means pork.

Chinese dumplings.

They are very delicious. 

They are served in wooden boxes (4 dumplings in each) and may have different filling.

These ones are filled with crab meat.

These ones look like small white towels. 

And these ones are crunchy.

The "nest " under dumplings is also edible.

The cooking range.

Traditional dinner at a cafe usually consists of rice, duck and vegetables.

The close view of the duck.

The most common garnish is rice, of course. Most often, the cups of rice are served separately for each guest. But some cafes serve it in one huge bowl.

Various sauces and sauce boats are to any taste. In addition to the usual soy sauce, all the others can be divided into several categories: "something spicy", "something very spicy" and "something sweet, and then, aaaaaahhhhh, spicy!"

If you see "season's vegetables" written in the menu, it doesn't matter what season it is now, it will be anyway a lettuce with oyster sauce.

Noodles with chicken.

Salad: some pods, pepper, seafood and nuts.

Noodles with seafood and broccoli covered with cheese.

"Beaten" cucumbers. They are called so because of the way they are cooked. Ordinary cucumbers are placed in vegetable oil, spices and seasonings. Then the cook starts beating them really hard until they become ready. A very tasty dish.

There are special boxes on the tables where spoons for broths and soup are kept.

Tasty soup with lamb, noodles and greens.

That's how quite ordinary Chinese lunch (or dinner) looks. Two sauces at your choice. Some vegetables. Soup. Chicken. A traditional bowl of rice.

And this is probably one of the most amazing traditional Chinese dishes. It is called a "millennial egg". The millennial egg, in fact, is not so old.

It is a usual egg that is coated with a mixture consisted of strong tea brewing, clay, wood ash, lime and salt. The bottom of a clay pot is covered with a layer of soil. Then eggs are laid into it and covered with another layer of soil. They have been rotting in a dark and cool place for 100 days.

As a result the white of an egg turns into a dark jelly and almost loses its taste. The yolk also changes its color, becomes black or blue. And only the core remains yellowish and viscous.

Chinese fast food.

Street fast food in Hong Kong is a unique phenomenon. The open stands located throughout the city can offer you a great variety of fast food: fatty fish balls, cooked right on the street, brightly-colored sausages, chicken legs, fried chestnuts and tofu and other steamed and baked snacks...

There is one place in the Yau Ma Tei district which all tourists try to pass by as soon as possible. European children, not hiding their emotions, run through these half a block holding their noses and making scary eyes... It is the place where entrails are fried. If you once cooked them you know how smelly they are. What is interesting that the Chinese usually have a snack right here in front of the stands and seem not to worry about the smell at all.

The previously mentioned fish balls. Actually, they can be different in color: from yellow to pink.

Their price is extremely low.

It's not clear if these eggs are millennial or not but they are bought up very fast.

Here you can try the bamboo juice. It tastes quite unusual, like sweetish vegetable juice.

Sea restaurants.

Sea restaurants all work by the same scheme. Fishermen bring the catch, unload it into an aquarium and wait for visitors. The latter poke their fingers at the crab or fish they like and that's it - their destiny is decided. After a while they are served on the table. The life of a caught crab is short. In the picture you can see a crab with the claws bound.

The same crab half an hour later...

And some more minutes later...

Many-colored fish in the aquarium.

And this is one of them lies on a table with its fin sticking out.

The range of sea restaurants is quite diverse. The freshness of their products doesn't raise any doubts. If you want to fully enjoy the wonderful taste of seafood, you should go to the islands. There are tons of fish and it's much tastier (but not cheaper). Seafood is usually expensive everywhere.

Seafood too may be very different.

A big fish.

Waiting for its destiny...

How to cook soup in a restaraunt.

There is a very interesting restaurant in Hong-Kong where you can cook soup yourself. This is how the table looks with the stove built into it. A pan of broth is waiting for you.

This table is at the very beginning of the hall. Here you can choose any sauce, condiment and spice.

Fresh and dried garlic.

The drinks are free. There is a huge fridge with various drinks: Mirinda, Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Seven Up. Take any you like.

Meanwhile the broth begins to boil and all the needed ingredients are brought to the table.

Large black mushrooms, minced meat, thin white mushrooms, sausages, chicken, meatballs, ravioli and two boxes of lettuce and greens.

The process of cooking is very curious. Everything is hooked up with sticks and put into the boiling broth.

The general view.

A "dashboard" of the stove.

Monastery vegetarian food.

Visiting the monasteries of Hong Kong, don't forget to eat at their canteens. Well, actually, the word "restaurant" is more suitable for them. 

Soup with cabbage and mushrooms.

Salad with mushrooms, lettuce and carrots.

Another salad.

Cabbage baked in a thin puff pastry. Such small pies are also very tasty.

A delicious dessert that you can only imagine to see in China. Something flaky with sweet sauce, syrup, mango and lemon. The edge of the plate is covered with thin slices of cucumber... Very tasty.

Unexpectedly, the flowers also turned out to be edible. 

This is another vegetarian restaurant of one of the monasteries.

And for dessert...

Dessert in Hong Kong is a relative concept. Of course, you can find Sneakers, Nestle, and some other chocolate bars like everywhere.

From local ice cream you can choose the one with a taste of red beans, green tea and ginger. Though such windows with cakes can be quite often seen on the streets.

The sweetest local food is fruit of course. This is the dish made of mango.

Some unknown fruit.

These ones taste like apples.

But the most important Chinese "dessert" is ginger, of course. And three variants of medicinal tea.