Picture of the Day: Prickly Fruit

A prickly-looking fruit that has lime green juice inside with edible seeds

Last night after dinner, we wandered into a Taiwanese grocery store and one of the first things we spotted in the fruit section was this yellow prickly thing that has spikes but aren't sharp. We asked one of the staff what it was and they said it was huo shen guo (火参果).

He said that we could slice the top off, add a bit of honey that was in a small packet and then sip the juice through a thick straw that it also came with. We were so curious how it tasted that we bought one to try at about 35 yuan.

In our hotel room we used the small blade on the wine opener to cut the top off and then poked the straw in. Sucking up the juice this way was very tough and at one point the stuff went straight down my throat!

So I cut open the top a bit bigger and got a teaspoon to spoon the fruit juice out.

It smelled like a banana, and inside it was lime green with seeds, kind of like a cucumber. It didn't have much taste, hence the packet of honey, but we didn't add any in to adulterate the natural flavour.

This fruit is apparently good for those who have persistent coughs, and digestion, has lots of vitamins, fibre, and while it can be eaten raw, the promotional material suggests double boiling it with crystal sugar, and that it is good for losing weight because people feel full after eating it.

It really is a dense fruit -- I kept spooning out more and more of this bright green stuff with beige-coloured soft seeds.

In the end it was interesting to try, but not something I'll be desperate to add to my healthy diet regime...

Picture of the Day: Library Vending Machine

Interested in taking out a book from this hi-tech library?

Today we headed out to one of Xiamen's most famous spots, Gulangyu, which is best known for having a piano academy and museum on the island.

It is also a tourist destination for domestic tourists who devour the snacks on sale, from jack fruit to pineapple cake.

Locals take their wedding pictures here because of the European-style architecture from the 1800s that evoke a romantic atmosphere.

But we were really surprised to see how progressive Xiamen is with this 24-hour self-serve library near one of the three ferry piers on Gulangyu.

Users insert their ID card, pick the book they want, and like a vending machine, press the number for whichever book they want, and then it comes out of a slot.

When users return the book, they again insert their ID card and then scan the book's barcode on a scanner there before putting it into a slot.

We think perhaps this idea came from Taiwan, which may have originated from Japan.

In any case this is something you would never find in Hong Kong! But if these library vending machines were in the city, would they encourage Hong Kong people to read more?

Picture of the Day: Truffle Soup

This menu item caught our eye -- a soup with black truffles in it!

Greetings from Xiamen, a third-tier Chinese city in Fujian province that is geographically closest to Taiwan.

This evening we had a delicious dinner at a local restaurant called Lucky Seafood that serves all kinds of Chinese food -- Cantonese (including dim sum in the evenings), Shanghainese, Sichuanese and Fujianese.

What caught our eye was this intriguing soup -- stewed black truffle with fresh bamboo fungus in a soup.

Black truffle isn't meant to be cooked but shaved raw. Seems like a waste putting black truffle in a soup, but China does produce black truffles though the quality is questionable.

Nevertheless, if there's someone you need to impress then perhaps that's a must-order dish...

Simmering Tensions

Parallel traders have sparked conflicts between Hong Kong and China

The tense issue of parallel traders clearing shelves in Hong Kong to sell supposedly "real" goods across the border is not going away, thanks to the inaction of the government.

Hong Kong officials have let the tensions simmer to the point where protesters are escalating their actions, verbally bullying people, physically assaulting people, and holding up traffic. It has been happening in Yuen Long, Sheung Shui and Tuen Mun, and this past weekend also spread to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Instead of trying to solve the problem, officials like Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok claims the protesters' actions were "close to that of rioters".

Protesters in New Town Plaza in Sha Tin last month

It's quite extreme for him to brand them "rioters" because it was not excessive violence, but yes, we should be trying to resolve the situation as peacefully as possible.

And who's fault is that?

The Hong Kong government could very easily limit the number of times parallel traders could come across the border daily, and yet this has not been curbed, probably because it wants these people to continue stimulating the city's economy.

After all, the parallel traders are snapping up everything from baby milk powder, to shampoo, chocolates, cosmetics, cookies and so on -- whatever is in demand and can be turned into a profit.

That has left a sour taste in Hong Kong residents' mouths -- particularly those in districts that are impacted by these people. I recently asked a relative if things were really bad in Tuen Mun where she lived and she confirmed it was terrible.

A shop like Watson's would be packed with people and so she would have no choice but to nip in there as quickly as possible to buy what she needed and then get out. There was no interest in trying to fight the crowds in the store to browse.

The government is planning to build shopping malls right by the border specifically for these commercial shoppers, but that's a ways yet before we might even begin to see some easing.

Another issue is that for some reason, the cause for universal suffrage has been mixed up with this one on parallel trading. Some see the protesters as the same ones in the Umbrella Movement, and claim that their violent actions are what people fighting for democracy do.

It's a kind of scare tactic someone or some group is using to to discourage people from supporting the Umbrella Movement, and in a way it is succeeding because no one wants to be associated with a group that is very easily provoked into violence.

In the end the Hong Kong government needs to move in and resolve this issue -- branding protesters as "rioters" will not solve anything.

And more importantly, Beijing needs to step up its campaign to prove its food and products are not substandard quality to regain consumer confidence. It's been over six years since the melamine milk scandal and what has come of it since? Can anyone blame Chinese consumers for buying up anything they can get their hands on -- outside their own country?