Selecting Down Jacket Again

I was constantly being reminded by those around me how important a down filled jacket 羽绒服 is for Mountain East winter. The thing is, I've spent most of my years in the UK and I don't remember freezing to near death because I didn't own one. I really doubt that it's a necessity at all.

But my Malaysian colleagues keep on asking if I've got one already prepared for winter yet and whenever I announce proudly how I'm all prepared with my old BRANDED European winter clothing, they go "Oh, ya, you know winter better than we do." And that somehow defeats my confidence a little and consequently gears me into deep pondering IF I really do know winter well enough... Latitude wise, UK is just about as north as Shandong above the equator, so the weather should be similar? No? What do you mean no?

To make it worse, my Taiwanese friends keep giving detailed account of how horrible winter could be with description of the wicked wind that knows how to drill into your skin through your sophisticatedly woven fabric and that no boots are ever high enough to keep the 3 feet deep snow from getting your feet wet.

Sure or not? I know Mountain East is a peculiar place, but how wicked can winter be? Jesus!

And whenever I tell my lecturers that I will be staying here till Spring time, their pupils dilate as if there's not enough light and then go bling bling like a diamond as if I'm the rare brave little southern girl they've not seen for years and go "You do realize you are going to spend your winter here, don't you?"

What is that supposed to mean?

Heck, I'm starting to have second thought. (Ok, you guys win!) I recon since down filled jackets are so incredibly cheap here I might as well just buy one. Just in case.



So, we visited the Jinan People's Market Stock Company Limited, the main supplier of down filled jacket for the whole freaking 20 million population here. Again.

It has got to be quite a popular place because they are a lot of people selling by the road side.



Lots of seasonal fruits for sale. Er, too lazy to try out. Those in the middle are fresh dates.



Total respect for this guy. I couldn't even write like that with my so-called skilled hand.



These professional tailor can mend anything you could think of.



It was quite exasperating seeking through hundreds and hundreds of jackets that looked exactly the same only to be distinguished from the randomly tinted colour that are so bad taste that would no doubt have no problem promoting the upward mechanism of vomiting when you are not up to the weather.



Anyhow, I ended up buying this and a matching handbag from nearby Etam, as well. Boy, how did that happen? Yuck, I hate the chocolate. See, this is what happens when you are FORCED to buy something you ain't want.



Anyhow, while I went to the cashier to pay for my bill, these 2 appeared to be having a little fun by themselves.



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There's Mountain East 山东, and, naturally, Mountain West 山西. No joke. I just came to know there's another piece of peculiar land called Mountain West sitting right next to the province of Mountain East when my Taiwanese friend brought me to this Mountain West Noodle Shop.

Gee... I wonder what people are like there. Anyhow, not a bad start by trying out there food first.




It was really nothing different only that they put 4 different kind of stir-fried toppings on top of the noodle with thick sauce, i.e. stewed pork with potato, fried egg with tomato, leafy veggie and oopsforgotwhatelse.



I ordered the one made with green peas. ERr.... too soft for me, no like.



This one is nice because the noodle is al-dente. Got strength and texture. I learnt that delectable noodles should be in long round strands not weird irregular pieces. So, ya, from now on stick to stranded noodle.