HorstWelten

Food, Part I: Stuff that I liked

Food in China is a social experience: You order several dishes together and they get served on the middle of the table so everyone can help themselves to part of it. If you're a big group you have a rotating plate in the middle of the table so everyone can access the different dishes. I liked this a lot because it gives me two big degrees of freedom: I can order something without having to worry that I won't like it (somebody will) and I can try out many dishes at the same time by visiting a restaurant only once.

Some other things that I liked:

The waiters are very unobtrusive: Usually, you can stay as long as you want, even after you have finished eating.

One thing that surprised me very much: There are no fruit flies here. Those pesky small flies usually prevent you from leaving something uncovered for too long. This is not the case in China and I like it.

Animals are very well used: You can order a dish for almost every part of an animal and fish often get served as a whole.

I was surprised when I realized that food is cooked here without dairy products: No milk, cheese or cream is used. Eggs are a popular ingredient, though, so eating vegan is still an obstacle.

Traveling by train in China is an exercise in frustration. Also, it is very cheap.

It begins with entering the train station: I might sound like a spoiled European here but damn do I miss escalators and elevators. One of our main train stations could only be entered through a fleet of about forty to fifty stair steps. The only support you get with your luggage is a steep, smooth layer that is next to the stairs. With this, you can drag your hopefully wheeled luggage up.

After you got a ticket for which you had to provide a valid ID you have to go through a security check with your luggage where you have to show ID again as well as your train ticket. Then you enter the main waiting area. In China, you're not allowed to wait for your train on the corresponding platform but rather in the waiting area with all the other passengers.

By the time your train arrives, you can proceed to your platform. To exit the waiting area, you have to show your ticket again, as well as when you want to enter the train. In between you get stairs again, two of them if you're unlucky. Make sure you enter the train at or next to the car number that is printed on your ticket.

The train itself travels somehow bumpy: From time to time it feels like another car has been connected to the train in mid-ride. If you booked a night train, your tickets will be exchanged for plastic cards which in turn will be exchanged for your tickets again before you get off. At all times you can get hot water from one of many dispenser. You can use it to prepare yourself hot noodles that train assistants are offering while going from the front to the back of the train.

Getting off involves stairs again and another ticket check. Once you're out of the train station you will be greeted by a fleet of illegal cab drivers offering their service loudly to you, sometimes escorting you a part of the way to convince you to take a ride with them.

In total, for a normal train ride you will have gone through a security check, fought a lot of stairs with your luggage and have your tickets checked at least five times.

Going to the washroom in China is slightly different when it comes to the toilet. And by slightly I mean so much that it took me a few days before I dared to use a non-western toilet. The typical Chinese toilet is little more than a hole in the floor with some china around it. This reminds of trips through France as a child, when my parents would tell me to hold it a bit longer because the French toilets on the highway were often very much like this with the bonus that they would be as dirty as you expect highway toilets to be. Happily, most toilets here are comparably clean.

There's one thing that I happily did not know at first: Most often, you're not supposed to throw your toilet paper into the toilet but rather in a trash bin beside it. Often, public toilets would not offer any toilet paper (the same with restaurants that don't offer tissues).

Chinese New Year Light Festival

The blue dragon in the picture was especially impressive: It was made out of cutlery. When you look close you can see that the body is made of Chinese spoons.