As I write this, it is October 24 and I am Jianshui. Yep, that’s still in China. After about four weeks in China, tomorrow will be my last full day in China. It seems like as good a time as any to do another passing thoughts entry on China. It may be my last chance, so here it goes.
Chinese Beer: Why is Chinese beer like having sex on a boat? Both are fucking close to water.
Chinese Food: I think I’ve had to write about Chinese food in every one of the passing thoughts entries. The farther south that we have moved into China, the less Western the food has gotten, as well as having gotten much spicier. Most of the best meals that I have had in China are meals that I’ve had in the past several days.
Chinese Hotel Amenities: I’ve stayed in cheap hotels all over the world and several in China. China’s freebies in hotels and hostels are unique as far as I’ve seen – at least compared to the U.S. and Europe. In every hostel, there are free toothbrushes with toothpaste and combs. All of them. There’s also hot water, but that’s another topic.
Hot Water: You can get water boilers or boiled water in every hotel and on every train. It also is pretty common at many tourist attractions. This is huge because you can’t drink the water here, at least not until it has been boiled, so it provides safe drinking water. Also, it means that I can always have instant coffee in the morning and the instant coffee here isn’t half bad. It also means that you can eat practically any time because of the ramen noodles, but that’s another topic.
Ramen Noodles: It’s everywhere. It’s cheap; it’s convenient; and it’s good. The noodles are primarily sold in buckets with little packets of seasoning. I’m not sure how much I’ve eaten, but it’s eaten by almost everybody on the overnight train rides because it’s an easy way to have a hot meal while traveling, thanks to the boiled water that is available. You also see a lot of people here sitting on the side of the road eating it in touristy areas. I’ve developed a whole new respect for the ramen noodle.
Chinese Potato Chips: In the west, we usually flavor our potato chips with things that we put on potato products – sour cream and onion, cheese flavoring or salt and vinegar. The potato chips in China, especially the Lay’s brand, are flavored out of the most random things you can imagine. Among the flavors of potato chips that I’ve had since I’ve been in China are: Red Chili, Blueberry, Hot & Spicy Fish Soup, Cucumber and Lemon Tea. Some are kind of good, some are kind of gross, but all are kind of interesting.
Soft Drinks: There are all of the typical soft drinks available here, though bottled tea appears to be much more prominent here. There are two that I have fallen in love with here. First is a Minute Maid grape and aloe soda. It’s basically a grape soda – it’s green, not purple – with aloe. It also has a lot of pulp in it. It’s very good. The other is milk tea, which is basically sweet tea with milk. There are various brands of it that I’ve tried. My favorite is the Kirin brand but, shhh . . ., it’s Japanese.
Okay, I guess that’s enough for now. There may be more, there may not. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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