Crazy Cars, Crotch-less Kiddie Pants and Crunchy Crickets

We had a bit of an exploration day yesterday.

Four of us wandered off-campus to track down breakfast.

We picked a place out that was packed with locals and ordered by pointing at the pictures on the menu.

It ended up being really nice and none of us got sick.

The female waitress stared at my chest quite intensely for a while there though.

We just figured she’d probably never really seen those before.

(And yes Mum, they were covered up)

For four of us, with a giant pot of tea, it only cost us 45 Yuan.

And they don’t understand tipping.

I’m not sure if that will be any different right in the city, but at this place, they had no idea why we tried to leave our change behind.

It was good sitting near a window too.

We got to discover an incredible phenomenon: crotch-less pants – for babies.

Yes, welcome to the land of no Huggies.

Mothers encourage their not-yet-toilet-trained offspring to just, well, let it go.

Wherever, whenever.

The example we saw was about 12-15 months in little pink pants – with a giant split straight through the crotch.

Ew, gross.

Always wear shoes in China!

We had a meeting with BOCOG officials yesterday afternoon to find out where we will be working and what uniform size we would need.

I’m pleased to announce, I have been chosen to work at…

The National Aquatic Centre!!

Below is my team, and we’ll be covering the swimming, diving and yes, the synchronised swimming too.

YAY!!!!

It seems like we have a more intense training schedule than most other sports.

But I think working a lot will be good, especially as we can be closer to the city.

I got asked to do a radio interview for China Radio International.

Thankfully, it was for the English-speaking branch.

It’s a bit scary actually speaking Chinese in real situations!

Just saying ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ have served me well.


After that, we had to go try on our incredible uniforms.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to have a trial run with the bucket hat, nor the bumbag.

The zip-off at the knee, elastic waist cargo pants are even more high-rise than expected.

They are every bit as amazing as they sound :s

The sizes were really small – I, and a few other girls, had to march our size 9 and over feet into the boys change-room to fit the shoes.

After a bit more of a stroll around, we all went home and got ready to go out for dinner.

Dinner was at a place called ‘American Island’.

Picture East Maitland Bowling Club’s Billabong’s restaurant, but triple the amount of food options.

And don’t forget to include a section for the fried INSECTS!!

I ate a cricket.

Actually a few, they tasted like rice snacks.

(Mel, you’d love them IF you could handle eating an insect…which I doubt hehehe)

I also ate some pigeon.

Sort of tastes like chicken but has a more intense flavour.

Apparently the giant bush cockroaches weren’t so nice...

I couldn’t go that far!

The restaurant also has an in-house crocodile.

I think they may cook and replace him each day.

He was still alive when we saw him but was caged-up near the stove…

Today we’re headed to the markets early, then back to the apartment to get ready for our embassy visit and BOCOG dinner tonight.


Crickets and crocodiles,

xo