What a melancholy watermelon kind of day

Well, it could have been dull and boring, but watermelons helped to save the day...

It is often necessary to have a Plan B in Beijing. As mentioned in my previous blog post, the air quality here means you may have to change plans. I had originally hoped to visit The Summer Palace today (after two years of living in Beijing, I still haven’t visited it, but don’t tell anyone, I am sure it’s a criminal offence). However, the pollution levels were too high to spend a whole day outside, so a colleague and I decided to visit a strange yet interesting museum.

We went to the China Watermelon museum (中国西瓜博物院). It was a rather long drive from Chaoyang District, but it was definitely a unique experience on an otherwise grey, smoggy day. The museum is dedicated to educating visitors about the history, culture and technology of cultivating different kinds of watermelons.

Although most of the information there is written in Chinese, it was still a fun place to look around. Dotted around the grounds of the museum are some comical statues, including Zhu the pig from Journey To The West.

Trư Ngộ Năng!

We were surprised to enter the museum for free, as information online stated there was a 20元 fee. We were the only people in the museum during our time there. I think that somehow made our time there more enjoyable. To emphasise the science and technology component of growing watermelons, most of the museum has been given a “sci-fi” theme. On occasions it felt like I was inside Doctor Who’s Tardis (if it had been powered by watermelons).

There were melons of all sizes. Something for everyone...

A personal highlight was the satellite orbiting a globe (half planet earth, half watermelon).

We happily viewed a variety of watermelon seeds (who knew there were so many kinds?), photographs of random people enjoying watermelon and impressive carvings made out of watermelon. 

I have decided to spend the rest of my weekend hunting down watermelon toothpaste, which was given a special display cabinet in the museum. Hopefully I can find it in a local supermarket and test it out.

Muskmelons were also mentioned. No idea what they are so may conduct a little research after completing this blog entry.

Before leaving, Liz and I thought it would only be fair to purchase a tacky souvenir as a memento of our adventure. As we prepared to get in our taxi, Liz and I realised that the outside of the museum has been designed to look like a watermelon with wings. Genius.

Back in Chaoyang District, we enjoyed a fest in Baoyuan Restaurant. We ate broccoli, dumplings, sweet and sour pork, spicy tofu and an aubergine dish.

Mike 1-0 Air pollution. Ha.

Hôm nay tôi đã đến một viện bảo tàng rất tốt nơi tôi có thể học rất nhiều về dưa hấu… lạ mà độc đáo =))