Taichi mutton skewer

Finally, I am back from my Shanxi spiritual and pasta pilgrimage, and still intact. Unlike the bigger cities of China, everything in Shanxi is so primeval. The upsides are that most things are kept just the same as its heyday and everything here is dirt cheap. More than just food, it is everything. You'll have the feeling that even breathing and farting here are cheaper than any other places you've been to. The downside is that there're quite a many sufferings en route. Still, a little suffering is the least we could pay for, ah, great food, right?

Took a truckload of photos while traipsing around with my camera, lenses, camcorder and tripod. So take a gander at my Flickr stream to the right (i.e, the latest 7 sets) anytime you feel like, please. The Wedding Crasher in Pingyao, in particular, was the highlight of this trip. Absolutely phenomenon! Believe me, it'll make the original wedding crashing pair Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn look pre-teen (more on that later). Though I'd like to set the record straight: they're in for chicks whereas I was in for chomps -- yours truly had a much nobler cause!

Also took some video footages on the way people here deals with food/pasta; will post them up one by one -- really has YouTube to thank -- after figuring out how editing in iMovie works. This one above, shows how a kungfu master cum cook called Siu Liu in Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province) food market combines taichi chuan (or taijiquan, if you will -- I am so sick and tired of these pinyin convolution) to his grilling of mutton skewers. Man! His moves really spiced things up! Enjoy.

[Music clip from Mars, the Bringer of War, 2nd movement from Holst's "The Planet" Suite]