Bring on the Night

As promised (threatened) a follow-up on my first visit at my parents-in-law the summer 2007.

In the summer you would constantly hear an infernal screaming of the word: “Pingau” (not sure how it’s spelled correctly).

At first I didn’t notice it much other than one of the many new sounds that filled the air in China. At a time I asked C what the woman shouted and was told it meant “ice-cream”. Turns out it was the mobile ice-cream seller. We have those in Denmark too, but they drive in vans and use a bell to signal that they are close.

The version Yilan city used was nothing close. A woman wearing a sun screen hat thingy drove a 3 wheeled bicycle, while she use a pre-recorded message put on a megaphone. Every 5 seconds or so, megaphone would release a deafening scream: “Pingau!”. The volume on the megaphone so pitchy and loud, that a few months doing this would no doubt affect your ability to hear people talking.

On the bicycle there was a temporary homemade freezer with ice-cream inside. Back in Denmark we would have a pick between 20 different Ice-creams ranging from ice-lollies to Ice-cakes. In Yilan there was no agony of choice. There is only one kind of ice-cream, but on the plus side it’s extremely good. I never found out what it was made of (probably something toxic?), but who cares when it tastes like heaven.

You get the ice-cream in a plastic bag and go eat it instantly of put it in your freezer/refrigerator. No fancy package deal here.

Tags: China, icecream