Sea cucumber











Of course according to chairman Mao one is never really a man unless he has walked to the top of the Badaling Great wall trust me its far steeper than it looks And I am glad to tell you guys I am real MAN now

Nice one Kin! Thanks for reminding me of the infamous Sea Cucumber.
Always on the menu at the many banquets I had the 'pleasure' of. It was always sliced in a sauce and as black as the Ace of Spades.

Convinced by my boss that it was a 'Vegetable' if rubbery, I was always happy to consume a few slices as it was 'good for your health', washed down by that next to lethal MeoTai 'wine'
I don't feel so bad now, seeing the rest of those disgusting snacks

Hi Frank sounds like your line of work/business has a lot to do with the Asia market? Do you mind telling me what you do? PM me if you want?

Yes those sea cucumbers are considered as delicacy by the Chinese and is supposedly healthy for your body. If you had them over here in the Uk chances are those imported in the form of dehydrated/sun dried version the chefs would have to prepare it the night before by soaking it in the water to fatten it up...

During my stay in Beijing I also have to attend this important wedding in Dalian(seaside city) in order not to upset the host I have to down this triple shot of Mount tai wine in one and consider I am teetotal "Lethal" is how I would descibe it!!

I didn't had my camera with me at the time I even saw some large hairy black spiders on a skewer as well

I guess some of the Chinese could give Bear Grylls a good run for his money and more

I like the avatar! They say, if you throw a stone off of a hill anywhere in Korea you will hit someone called 'Kim' so don't go there with a name only one letter away

Back to China. I was originally there in the early 80's setting up Clothing, Suit Factories to make Western Styled Suits for men and women as they wanted to discard the Mao suit. I was in Inner Mongolia where anything from the sea had a dubious history. The local rough 'Maotai' was more lethal than anything we were given to eat. I became a banquet target toaster and 'Never' left one knowingly.
I spent many years before that doing similar work in Scotland with the 'amber nectar' to cope with.
I am retired now hoping the body holds up after such a happy pasting.

That's like Malaysia - I swear every Chinese in Malaysia is related. No matter where you go, there's always a member of the extended family nearby. Every time I go to Malaysia, everyone seems to recognise my mother

Even in this country, some of the Chinese food is 'interesting'. Most non-Chinese tend not to like the idea of chickens feet, which I think are far more palatable than the pictures above!

Great photos Kin, thanks for sharing them.

I can't say I feel like a snack after seeing the delicacies on order; however, I'm sure many of the locals would say the same if we showed them some of the stuff we eat!

My knowledge of the Chinese mainland is pretty limited- most of my trips to the Pacific Rim are/were Malaysia(KL and Penang) or HK -to where I go back this coming September for a month. Re KL, I still rate fish head curry and coconut milk as one of my favourite breakfasts

I was forewarned about the sea cucumber but did get caught once with snake wine as a cure for the 'flu
Cheers,
G

Cambodia has 90 million mouths a day to feed, think of that and that's why every one is related. 90,000,000......wow
Some even have 2 or more heads its said.
Australia has only 20 million and is so over crowded that its not funny any more.
I even saw a real Morgan last week going north of Taree. Yes it was real

I used to go to KL on business.
I miss Jalan Alor with the great eat on the street restaurant & the sting ray wings.

Have also been to Korea, Indonesia & Hong Kong so I have had the odd sea cucumber too.

My favourite Asian food though is Durian. There s a great market in Malacca with really smelly strong Durian.

John,
Ah, memories of the Bangsar food stalls! I just could never work out with Durian how it smells so foul but tastes so good.

Love Malacca. My paternal grandfather worked as a marine engineer for an outfit then known as 'The Straits and Java Oil Company" which I believe subsequently became part of Royal Dutch Shell. He spent about five years out in Penang and Malacca and never took home leave at all.( Mind you, from the memories I have of my grandmother, I'm not surporised he never wanted to come home )

Cheers,
G