Fanciful, whimsical, strange and silly.

[theredbaron]

I went to a traditional teahouse in Chengdu last summer. The scene you describe is accurate. But they used relatively normal-looking kettles.

Nice to hear that some things stay the same, even in China.

[theredbaron]

Nowadays I suspect there aren't many young waiters who have the skills to use the long spout, and most of those who can have joined the show business instead of staying in tea houses

The skills of those waiters were awesome!

[Poohblah]

I went to a traditional teahouse in Chengdu last summer. The scene you describe is accurate. But they used relatively normal-looking kettles.

Nice to hear that some things stay the same, even in China.

To be fair, there was hardly a soul at the teahouse under 50 years old. I talked to a student at nearby Sichuan Daxue about it who said that teahouses, mahjong, and chess are more popular with the older generation whereas the new generation prefers video games and Starbucks instead.

[tenuki]

and occasionally had their ears professionally cleaned by folks that offered that service.

[futurebird]

that's an awful lot of shock for one named "tanuki"

[gingkoseto]

and occasionally had their ears professionally cleaned by folks that offered that service.

To add a little more
The way of cleaning ears is not using fluid like in the doctor's clinic. It uses a long needle, almost the size of puerh needle. It could be a little dangerous. Normally you only dare to let a professional do it
This set is from Yangzhou, which is slightly complicated than that from any other province of China.

[ethan]

Yes, that set of tools makes ear-cleaning look complicated & scary. I have it done in barbershops in Thailand where they use only a few tools.

[theredbaron]

and occasionally had their ears professionally cleaned by folks that offered that service.

To add a little more
The way of cleaning ears is not using fluid like in the doctor's clinic. It uses a long needle, almost the size of puerh needle. It could be a little dangerous. Normally you only dare to let a professional do it
This set is from Yangzhou, which is slightly complicated than that from any other province of China.

Yes, that's the works.
I somewhat remember they also used some sort of a tuning fork as well, whose vibrations gave a nice tickling sensation in the ear.
This whole procedure felt really nice, and that deep cleaning really cleared my hearing.
I wouldn't want to have that done now anymore though - being married with a child one eagerly waits for the day that deafness releases you...

[yanom]

Most East Asians have hard dry earwax, the rest of us have wet earwax. Supposedly there's a correlation with armpit odour & wet earwax.

[Evan Draper]

Looks like a tiny set of chimney sweep's tools! Scrape ear canal, brush ear canal, chim chim cherree!

[tingjunkie]

Damn son. Ever hear of a Q-Tip?

[TIM]

Forth from the left.

[AdamMY]

Then what is the far right?

[Muadeeb]

I'd be most concerned about the 4th one from the right. It looks like you might stick it in an ear and then crank it around. *shudder*

[futurebird]

I'd be most concerned about the 4th one from the right. It looks like you might stick it in an ear and then crank it around. *shudder*

Ok now I'm freaked out too.