User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Chinese Geography

Hi John

I still can't download it on the laptop (has XP Google Chrome), but other files download. This is the laptop I generally use for ChinesePod and I have had no problem up to this point in time. But I did just successfully download the Geography lesson this morning on my other laptop, a little eeePc, strange. Same Internet, the former laptop has a faster processor etc,

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Yunnan

There are a number of standard cold dishes south of the Yangtze. In the south west for have for example:

拌凉粉 bànliángfěn - (Yunnan) 粉 could be rice, vermicelli or a number of other things. I'm told this comes as a jelly (haven't tried it.)

夫妻肺片 fūqīfèipiàn - (Sichuan) 肺 unfortunately means lungs.

夫妻 actually means man and wife!

请教皮蛋 qīngjiāopídàn - sounds like capsicum and preserved egg

拌黄瓜 bànhuángguā - cucumber, probably with lots of garlic and chilli and a vinegar sauce (a common way to start a meal)

拌花菜 bànhuācài - ditto, with broccoli and/or cauliflower

拌拼菜 bànpīncài - ditto, could be peanuts, carrot, cucumber etc.

鱼腥朝 yǔxīngchǎo - I don't know how to describe it. It's on the list.

拌 means a mixture, so too 拼 - these characters describe the manner of preparation rather than ingredients. Likewise 片 (slice). 凉 indicates cold.

I'm sure I've had cold noodles here but I can't tell you the name of a dish; I'm still learning.

Posted on: Blown Fuse

dunderklumpen

I think that the translator has just taken some liberties here - 'I think' substitutes for 'Seems like...'. This 'seems like' is the usual meaning of "好像...". In colloquial English 'I think' can probably be used with this degree of certainty. That's my take for what it's worth. :)

Posted on: Blown Fuse

So, we can probably draw some conclusions about your price range? You're not a cheapskate are you Jason? ;-) Actually my experience in older/cheaper houses in China I can blame on our daughter.

Posted on: Chinese Geography

It still does not work for me. Oddly I have no problem with other lessons.

Posted on: Chinese Geography

I can't get this lesson to download.

Posted on: Blown Fuse

Hi Jason

'Fuses are still pretty common in older Chinese buildings'

Maybe we should explain that hardly anyone lives in older buildings, even out here in the country! I'm thinking that only a few fashionable places in the big cities in the east would be old by Western standards? I have lived in places that look very old (but are maybe 20 - 25 years old at most) and they still have circuit breakers.

Actually this is quite different to the West. In Australia a block of apartments 100 years old + we (okay, real estate agents) would probably refer to as Federation, and desirable. Anything more than five years old where I live in China starts to be classified as old, and you wonder when it is going to be knocked down.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Yunnan

jen_not_jenny

I haven't tried it, but maybe we don't have so much trouble buying cheese in Yunnan. Well, particularly 乳饼. :) Actually apart from 乳饼 we usually have New Zealand cheese by preference at home - & it's easily available.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Yunnan

Hi Chanelle

I like tasty cheese and honey, but 乳饼 is a goats cheese, made from 山羊乃! Actually, cheese making is really expanding in China - Yunnan has cheeses made in the European style, and the latest I have heard about is a gouda from Hunan (Henan?).

I am not an expert on beers/spirits.. the most 'famous' Yunnan beer is probably Dali beer. But Yunnan has wine (maybe the oldest wine making in China?), brought here by the French. I have to admit that I do not like it a lot; fortunately we have Australian wine in the supermarket. Put it this way - I put out a bottle of Yunnan wine, a Great Wall and an Australian wine for friends. The Australian wine went first, then the Great Wall, and when they left I still had half a bottle of the Yunnan stuff. The trick is to just have Yunnan wine - then it all gets drunk!

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Yunnan

Hi Chanelle77

A Bai friend tells me that the 'classic' dish is just as pictured, with salt and pepper (top of picture), but also sometimes with some sugar. It is also eaten uncooked. In restaurants in Kunming it is often combined with vegetables. I have never seen it with honey but that does sound somewhat similar to eating it with sugar. Maybe that is a Nanjing variation?