#chinafab

it’s officially fall here, which i’m quite pleased about. i like boots and leather jackets. i like the crisp air. i do miss the east coast foliage. 

so, as the seasons change, i’ll reminisce about seasons gone by and wax nostalgic for summer. i do not miss sweating through my clothes, but i do miss the chinese crop top. crop tops popped up on runways about 3 years ago, and chinese men have a slightly different interpretation than alexander wang. when hot, crop. 

i’ve been encouraged to get back to blogging. i could give you a whole laundry list of excuses about why I have not been. the biggest would be that my new job, which I love, is busy! but, i just read brene brown’s book, the gifts of imperfection (she’s famous from her ted talks on vulnerability) and i’m trying to practice courage. so today, it’s the courage to share my thoughts on this blog after saying my new years resolution was to blog more, and totally failing.

since I’ve last spoken to you, my fab followers, i have seen A LOT more of china. i’ve been to the capital cities of a number of provinces and I feel like I have some level  of familiarity with mainland china, especially for a white girl from connecticut. there are some spots i’d recommend for an adventurer who wants exposure to authentic day-to-day chinese life, and some places i don’t think you’d ever like to go to (and i certainly never want to go to again). here’s a list, and some thoughts:

chongqing (population: 27 million) this is a vibrant Chinese city. i’ve been told by Chinese colleagues that the cities in western china are sleepier and people enjoy living their lives more. they take their time to do things and they’re not always rushing around. chongqing has a lot of students and universities and has the energy of an up and coming metropolis. i’ve heard there’s an interesting art scene as well. you may think as i describe this, ‘oh sounds cool, maybe i should go here.’ this is when I warn you that i have been in china for more than two years (o.m.g.) and my perception has changed since i first touched down in shanghai and was totally taken aback. chongqing is certainly not shanghai, and the average white person may struggle to get themselves around a bit. it’s not pristine in any regard, and certainly feels like china. it does have character. they are known for extremely spicy hot noodles and hot pot. It’s also extremely hot. chinese people think that eating spicy food when it’s hot helps to cool you down and maintain your qi. my american colleague that visited chongqing described it as eating ‘fire soup’ inside of a ‘fire pit’. to each their own.

spicy spots (i did learn while writing this post that eating spicy food activates the parts of your brain that associate with both pleasure and pain) 

links are from dianping, china’s yelp equivalent. 

吃面不要钱 (fire noodle soup) 

大队长 (spicy hot pot) 

chengdu (population: 14 million) i need to come back. i was only in chengdu for about 15 hours, so i didn’t see the main attraction - panda bears! i will not leave china without a picture of myself snuggling with a panda bear and us eating a shoot of bamboo together. my tutor and i agreed that we both love panda bears. just one of the many things we bond about: love of pandas, love of pink and purple, love of shopping, love of shoes and bags. once again, i did manage in the short time here to showcase my ability to eat extremely spicy food (it must be the pleasure and pain thing!) also, thank you sylvie for feeding me the spiciest Indian food in LA, and building my spice tolerance because i got quite a bit of spice street cred in chengdu. first at the spicy fish head hot pot and the following day when i was forced to have a bite of spicy brain. i was told it tasted like tofu. i’ll leave it at that.

spicy spots

谭鱼头 (fish head hot pot) 

三只耳火锅 (standard sichuan hot pot) 

zhengzhou (population: 8 million) do not go here. do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. do not. stepping outside into the thick polluted air is unfortunate. putting your black suitcase into the trunk of a taxi and removing it with a film of dirt is unfortunate. the airport is extremely unfortunate. the apple store and the le meridien are quite nice (where i spent 85% of my time) but the other 15% did not make me happy. and by not happy, i mean borderline panic attack.

shenyang (population: 8 million) this is a cold northern city. i went in June, so it wasn’t cold. it wasn’t notable, but it wasn’t as bad as zhengzhou. After zhengzhou, it felt cleaner and more established. there’s only one northern city i really want to go to, which is harbin, because they have an ice festival that looks like disneyland created out of ice. i’ll go to that even in negative 30 degrees just for the instagram picture. 

tianjin (population: 11 million people) suburb of beijing and where the crazy explosions happened recently. when i went, i actually thought it was quite lovely. there was blue sky, i went running, there were ‘european’ style buildings juxtaposed with modern asian buildings. exceeded expectations.

shenzhen (population: 15 million people) the day we went to shenzhen I had gone to carbone in hong kong the night before, and holy hangover. carbone was fabulous, major food group can do no wrong in new york, and hong kong too. so, the way I was feeling taints my short visit to shenzhen. crossing the border in a car was pretty much unbearable without sunglasses. i don’t know that I’ve ever gotten my passport stamped via car before, so there’s a first time for everything! i felt like i was going to TJ. (yes, that’s an OC reference). didn’t see much of the city, really only saw the apple store. i did have a lunch with an american colleague and two chinese colleagues, and the american colleague ordered for us. he takes pride in his embracing local culture, so he asked us, on a scale of 1-5, one being not chinese and 5 being very chinese, how chinese his order was. the two chinese colleagues said they didn’t want to disappoint him, but it was only a 2. For me, it was at least a 4. We ate a tripe salad among other things not typically on my must-eat list. it’s really all about your perception! there was also a couple that ordered a spicy fish dish next to us and the man was sweating so much as he ate it that he had to chinese crop top (pull his top up to expose his belly) in the middle of the restaurant. i wish i had a picture, but i’ll let your imaginations run wild.

wuxi (population: 6 million)  suburb of shanghai, 20 minutes on a high-speed train. at least an hour getting to and from the train and printing the train tickets. just trying to manage expectations here. it’s funny to think that i grew up in a suburb of new york with 27,000 people, and a suburb of Shanghai has 6 million. There are just so many people in china!

my favorite thing about the travel throughout china was getting to know one of my coworkers better, whom i traveled with for a number of these trips. we work together every day and she is an absolute delight. in fact, she is a saint. so patient. such good perspective. she’s seen me at my highest highs and lowest lows (think 5 hour delay in zhengzhou or sitting in the last row of a plane for a 2 hour delay leaving shenyang). for me, it always comes down to the people you meet (or are with) on the journey that really make it an adventure.

one of the great benefits of traveling in china is flight delays. a flight taking off on time is like actually seeing a proboscis monkey when you go to borneo (highly unlikely). the delays are typically due to ‘air space restrictions’ which i learned from the book china rich girlfriend means rich, important people (who likely have some affiliation with the government) are flying private, and they take priority. if you haven’t read crazy rich asians, the precursor to china rich girlfriend, i can’t recommend it highly enough. enough of that diversion. this is me, sleeping, in a flight delay situation before i realized that the priority pass card gets you into even the dirtiest of chinese lounges. 

fire noodle soup in chengdu. 

i can’t even caption this, i can’t even believe i’m posting it, but i feel like it needs to be included to really beef up the authenticity of this post. 

my favorite part of a sichuan meal. coconut milk and a fried sesame ball filled with sesame paste for dessert. 

my typical hotel breakfast. i’ve had a lot of these lately. 

view on my run in tianjin. kind of nice, right? sky looks blue? 

china train travel. 

high speed bullet trains are one of the things that china does quite well. someone pointed out to me recently that building new infrastructure is always easier than updating old infrastructure which is one of the reasons why it’s such a challenge to build high speed trains in the united states. after living in china, it’s absolutely mind boggling to me that it is going to take the next 14 years to build the california bullet train. china will have built trains covering the entire nation by then! 

a sunset in chongqing 

a new year. but still the same person. 18 months in china. but am i really still counting? 

do i need to make resolutions when i'm happy with who i am? no, but reflections are good, goals are good, dreams are good. writing them down helps make them a reality. 

i'll start with reflections. last year, i shared three 'thoughts'  for the new year on this blog. first, i wanted to develop a daily meditation practice. total fail. did not do that 51% of the time, it is not a habit. i am lucky to get 35 seconds when i catch myself about to lose my mind because i don't understand what someone is saying in chinese and vice versa for the 75th time that day (you would think by now i could pronounce the cross streets for my office and my home 18 months later, but apparently my hybrid valley girl / new york chinese tones are a bit challenging to understand) to stop and think, relax. think about how amazing your life is. breathe out what you can't control, breathe in everything you're grateful for. daily meditation is still a goal. general positivity i have down, so i'm grateful for that. 

next, i said i'd develop a skincare regimen. done and done. i am benjamin button (in a snow white sort of way). i promise i will share my 7-10 step korean skincare routine this week. yes, you should be very jealous of the incredible skincare products they have in asia. they're the products of the future.

third, i said i'd enjoy china. for that, i get a gigantic check plus. an A+. i was always okay with the A (or even the A-) but on this one i deserve over 4.0. to think about how i felt at this point last year, compared with how i feel now, it's night and day. i've even committed to spending more time here (OMG) .. more on that later. 

lastly, and i didn't say this on the blog, i said this in my journal (which i flipped through last night), i promised myself that i'd keep writing and be more creative. and i stopped focusing on my blog. i think that's exactly the opposite. i'd like to think i kept releasing creative energy through travel and socializing. for some, socializing is a chore, not a passion. for me, i love people. i thrive off of relationships with other people and i'm super happy to share that i've made some genuine and wonderful life-long friends here. 

so on to the goals. this year, i'm going to do more things that scare me. eleanor roosevelt said to do one thing every day that scares you, and while i think she was an incredibly admirable lady, i don't think i'm up for that yet. i'll start with more scary things. 

so far, i've done three scary things.

i learned photoshop basics which i've been wanting to do forever. i completed my first project.

i told my team that i am leaving my job. the family that has welcomed me to china with open arms. the people who have worked around the clock and taught me what it's like to be a manager. to not focus on my individual growth, but the company's growth and others' growth. honestly, i've grown up at media arts lab. i've learned about aesthetics, details, seriously hard work, and most importantly, i've collaborated with incredible people. i've laughed a lot. they moved me around the world. leaving is bittersweet,  but it's time to move on, and i'm very excited to join apple retail's team in shanghai later this year.

and, the last thing i'm doing right now. part of me is scared to start writing on this blog again. scared that i'll stop again. scared that i always start things, and don't follow through. scared that i'd like to see what it's like to really build a following, and challenge myself to do that, but not succeed. scared because i hate that tumblr isn't functional enough for my aspirations, but even more scared to learn how to build my own site. 

okay, so yes, i've mentioned this before, but i've yet to dedicate an entire post to it. i know what you're thinking, i haven't dedicated an entire post to anything lately. i know. going to try to get back in the groove. when you do something at least 51% of the time it becomes a habit. so here's to at least 4 days of updates this week. 

enough about that, back to the marathon! i can say that it was definitely the hardest thing i've done physically in my entire life. i've always been very active, but not very competitive. i was never really a team sports star. unless you count playing with my tomagatchi in the outfield during little league an MVP move .. i knew japan was what's up well before 2013. i've always spent time 'working out' and i think i've probably taken every yoga and fitness class in los angeles and new york (bar method, physique 57, exhale, equinox, barry's bootcamp, cardio barre, SLT, soul cycle, flybarre, studio MDR, the dailey method, pilates platinum, yoga works, city yoga - which is now sadly a yoga works, still yoga, jivamukti yoga .. should i keep going!?)

i need my daily endorphins to keep me happy (since happy people don't kill their husbands) and, i've always WANTED to run a half marathon. 

i planned to run one in 2012; my brother and i signed up for the ojai to ocean half marathon in ojai, california. this was supposed to be the perfect jumping off point, it was mostly downhill and we could spend the nights before and after relaxing (and playing golf for those of us that can't spend a vacation without doing that, hint, not me) at the ojai valley and and spa. 

so i started training for the race, and whenever i got to more than 3 miles, i would have an excruciating shooting pain in my right knee. so, we ended up pulling the plug and just going to hang out at the spa. if you ever find yourself wanting to take a little adventure to a nature-filled paradise outside of los angeles, the ojai valley inn and spa is magical and the skillet cookies at  jimmy's pub are heavenly. 

so fast forward to march 2014, i'm at dinner with some girlfriends, and my friend aimee casually mentions that we have two friends that were supposed to run the great wall half marathon with her and her husband, but no longer can. somehow (after bottles of wine) my friend jess and i are in! aimee has done an amazing job selling this 'experience' .. we'll be staying at the best hotel in beijing, the opposite house, and there will be endless bubbles flowing after we complete the race.

i started training immediately, and i decided that since i get enough cardio from tracy almost every day, all i needed to do was one long run per week in the 6-7 weeks leading up to the marathon. 

i started in thailand with 7 miles on the treadmill. terribly boring, but no problem. i'm telling you, dance cardio does SERIOUS work on one's stamina. try jumping like a maniac every day for a year (fine 60% of days) and then train for a marathon, you'll be amazed! the next week, i was at duke for my 5 year college reunion. i don't know how i did it, but i managed an 8 mile run, hitting up my two favorite spots to go running on campus (the washington duke trail and the east campus loop, in one run!) it was the only thing i did all weekend that made me certain i'm no longer in college - the rest of the decisions we're questionable. then, back to shanghai, where the polluted air prohibited me from an outdoor excursion, but i headed over to twelve at hengshan, the luxury hotel across the street from my apartment, pretended i was a guest and ran 9 miles on the treadmill. my parents do stay there when they're in town, so i think it's okay, and i don't think they're frequent visitors to chinafab. the next weekend it rained, which is when pollution levels are the lowest, so i headed out for an outdoor run. i ran into aimee on the bund (also out for a long run) and i finished 10 miles in record time, at 9:25 per mile! i was crushing it. i was super pumped about not only being ready for the half-marathon, but possibly finishing in under two hours! 

then, my knee started to hurt. if i walked, if i sat on a plane, pretty much always. so, i didn't train at all for two weeks. it was still hurting week of the marathon, but i was already in it to win it and decided i'd take some aleeve and suck it up the day of the race. as i popped my aleeve on race day, someone advised me against it, but, whatever. and we were off! aimee said that the first mile was up hill, and boy was she wrong! it was closer to the first three miles! but, i got off to a speedy start, with about 9:15 minute miles up the three mile hill. when we got to the wall, i was feeling great! and then .. the wall happened. oh my god. so. many. steps. two miles on the wall was just. so. hard. it was incredible seeing everyone climbing around you, but it was PAINFUL. when i finished with the wall, i felt liked i'd already run a half marathon and i was only done with 5 MILES. holy $h!t!!!! there were still 8 MORE TO GO. at this point, pace was completely out the window, i was aiming to finish (and to not walk). miles 5-8 were okay, since they were on a slight decline into a little village. 8-10 were through the village and i mean, i wanted to die, but less than i wanted to die miles 10-13. on miles 10-13, it was the reverse of the ever-so-slight downhill, an ever-so-slight uphill. absolute torture. at one point this really friendly chinese dude took a selfie with me and tried to get me to keep pace with him. i was like - sayonara, bye-bye, zai jian, adios, leave me to my personal physical and emotional struggle buddy. somehow, and i don't really know how it happened, i was at the end, crossing the finish line. 2 hours, 42 minutes and 24 seconds later, although, it really felt like a lifetime. 

someone asked me what i was thinking about and i was able to say i was 'in the moment' because i think i was so focused on one foot in front of another and finishing the damn race that i couldn't possibly have thought about anything else. 

a bit later my girlfriends aimee and jess finished, looking like models as they leaped across the finish line. i can promise you, i did NOT look like a model. and then, the celebrations, endless eating and bubbles began. 

recently, i was asked to describe a peak experience during a talent development training at work, and it was easy for me pin point the marathon! it was the dedication + challenge of training, the group achievement of doing it with three close friends and the weekend we spent together gearing up and then celebrating. 

next up, a flat half marathon, so i can really try to break the two hour mark! i've heard that the great wall marathon is hard enough that it takes time and  a half of your typical marathon pace, so i think it's do-able. and then a new lifetime goal: the new york city marathon. 

the sweetest welcome note + bubbles from piper and chris (who we got the marathon tickets from) .. the perfect motivation to make it to the finish line! 

welcome to the race day celebrations! ji county warmly welcomes friends from all over the world! 

pre-race photo. doug and i are sleeping still. 

so. so. so. many. steps. 

headed up .. yes, you walk, you have to, otherwise your legs fall off. i'm not joking. 

and headed down .. and repeat. 

crowds and welcome breathing moments headed through the view points /watchtowers / tunnels connecting the different parts of the wall. 

this chick a) beat me handily and b) is wearing a furry leopard tail. she's a boss. 

the ultimate photo finish from these amazing mermaids! 

post-race smiles + bliss. 

post race dinner of champions (yes, i made everyone wear their medals to dinner, duh!) at duck de chine. we had not one, not two, but three ducks for five people. and attempted to order a 4th, but they'd already sold all of them for the evening! 

and some cupcakes to kick off the birthday celebrations for yours truly ;) 

my favorite hotel in beijing, the design-centric, uber-modern opposite house. 

post race breakfast of champions: mimosa, pancakes + bacon! 

i can't put into words how painful going up and down steps was. 

so, we sat and made friends with this adorable lady selling these #chinfab glasses + mustache sets. yes, we paid the laowai (foreigner) price, but as you can tell from the look on my face, they were priceless. 

a dragon boat at the summer palace. 

fab followers, i have neglected you. i don't know why really, but i am sorry. i know to be a successful blogger you have to blog every day, so i probably won't be getting any complimentary luxury trips anytime soon. note to self: blog more often!  

july 7, 2014, marked one year in china. 365 days. (this is also the one year blogversary of china fab!)

when i landed here on july 7, 2013 i was shocked and appalled when the driver who'd been sent to retrieve me from the airport cut an entire line of people walking into an elevator. now, i catch myself when i visit the US entering the elevator before everyone has exited. another note to self: this is very rude. 

anyway, i can't really believe it. it's been a roller coaster for sure, but i wouldn't change this decision for the world. in the past year i've done so many new things and met so many new people. i can officially say that i feel like i've established a life in a very foreign city. it's still hard to come back from the US, but i don't feel the lump of dread in my throat like i want to run kicking and screaming away from the airport as fast as possible. (well, i guess that really depends on if i'm flying economy or not ;))

below are some of my china faves and china flaws. 

china faves

asia travel

after the business opportunity, the number one reason why i moved to china was the easy access and ability to travel in asia. and i have! i think that travel is my number one passion. i love exploring a new place, going to fabulous hotels, trying new food and people watching. plus bringing home some of the local goods .. (see what i did there? i just said shopping in the most subtle way possible. i know, impressive.)  in the past year i've been lucky enough to go to hong kong, taiwan, japan, south korea, thailand, cambodia and vietnam. i've crossed 13 places off my travel to do list .. but i still so much more to do! if i could travel every weekend, i would! 

booming business 

i'll just state the obvious, it's an exciting time to work in china. every brand wants to figure out how to be here, simply based on the sheer number of people that live here. observing growing local start-ups like xiaomi and watching major brands (like burberry) find success here, is fascinating. and, everything changes constantly, and i love the fast-paced environment of growth and opportunity. 

bright lights, big city 

i like being in a city again. this means, no driving, which i totally hate. in fact, i hope to never drive again. this also means, anything you want, any time of day - manicures, massages, delivery - it's all at your service. 

china fab 

this phrase embodies everything that i love about china. it's more than just the hello kitty scooters and planes, and people wearing jumpers with ears and tails and leopard print everything, it's the fabulous lifestyle that is accessible to me in china. chic new restaurants and bars pop up every weekend, and on any given day i can enjoy a cocktail at a just-opened speakeasy or a meal from a michelin-starred chef. for lunch, i can have a set of six soup dumplings that cost $2, and for dinner i can head to jean george vongerichten's newest restaurant on the bund. this juxtaposition of the fab and the fabulous is what i love about china. 

china flaws

luxury good tax 

why is shopping during sale season only bringing prices down to standard US pricing? it's tragic. and yes, i love hong kong. but WHY must i go there in order to buy a suitcase? 

mail + china post 

snail mail in china is THE worst. on friday, i got an invitation for a bridal shower that has already happened! i do LOVE getting save the dates and invitations, but they usually take 3-6 months. like my tax refund check. charming. i promise if i'm coming to your wedding, i'll write an email so that you're not waiting for my RSVP to make it across the pacific. 

the bank + chinese currency 

i admit, it's efficient that no one in china uses checks and does electronic transfers. it's almost green. however, the fact that the largest bill is 100 RMB (the equivalent of 16 USD) totally negates this paper saving, since they have to print SO MANY BILLS. i literally see little ladies at the bank with stacks as tall as i am of 100 RMB bills. and this is just the beginning of my rant about the bank. every single month, i go to the bank to transfer money to pay my american credit cards. (i know what you're thinking, stop using your american credit cards ya dummy! but, i'm just addicted to swiping my american express. can't stop, won't stop) so, i make the trek to the bank and present 5 different types of paperwork in order to successfully make a transfer. this takes at least two trips, without fail, either because i forget something, or there's a mistake on one of my forms. the people at the bank hate me so much that they laugh whenever i walk in and occasionally they'll put up the sign that says 'teller unavailable' or something like that, which i can't tell you due to the fact that i cannot read chinese. it's so infuriating that it's hilarious. 

the internet + censorship 

happy monday from china! 

today we will play my favorite game with this chanel 2.55 handbag. this name comes from the year it was originally made, 1955. 

what do you think readers, is it made in france or italy (where real chanel bags are made) or made in china ? 

i'll never tell. 

xoxo, 

chinafab 

chinese food in china is a far cry from fortune cookies and chow mien. in fact, the way that we all say 'main' is entirely incorrect. noodles are actually pronounced 'mi-en'. 

so today i give you everything that you need to know (as far as i am concerned, and who else matters anyway?) about chinese food in china. 

chinese food in china is based on different provinces and regions. something like going to the south and having shrimp and grits, going to new orleans and eating cajun food or even going to new york and having new york style pizza. historically, there are eight regions of cuisines that have cultural significance, and i'm struggling to figure out why these 8 make up the 'culinary tradition of china', but i'll venture a guess it's based on the original 10 provinces during the yuan dynasty.

today's china has 34 provinces and i've noticed that there are different cuisines from a number of them. here are some of the regions that i enjoy: 

hunan

so far, this is my favorite chinese food. hunan food has bold spicy flavors and is most often made with a plentitude of fresh chili peppers. hunan food can be elaborate with overnight marinades or complicated spice rubs, like my favorite spice encrusted lamb and pork ribs at di shui dong. others think that guyi is slightly more upscale and better than dsd. 

di shui dong (2 locations) 

2/F, 56 maoming lu

茂名路56号2楼

6253 2689

guyi  (3 locations) 

89 fumin lu 

富民路89号

6249 5628

yunnan

many think that yunnan is the most beautiful province in china, home to dali, the yunnan province has a mix of ethnic backgrounds so the food has a number of flavor combinations. they're quite experimental and will often use different edible flowers and plants. notable spots in shanghai are lost heaven for 'fancy' yunnan and mia's for a more casual experience. 

lost heaven (2 locations) 

38 gaoyou lu

高邮路38号

6433 5126

mia's yunnan kitchen 

45 anfu lu

安福路45号

5403 5266

xinjiang

most of the muslim population of china lives in the xinjiang province so here there's a lot of lamb, as well as smokier barbecue flavors. at first i was hesitant, but xinjiang has definitely grown on me. it has a turkish influence from the uyghur people, and i love mediterranean. notable spots in shanghai: 

xibo 

3/f, 83 changshu lu

  常熟路83号3楼

5403 8330

guandong

this is essentially cantonese, as the port of canton is in the guandong province. this area is known for a lot of fresh seafood and access to different flavors via the port .. all of my co-workers say that shanghai is not the place to eat real cantonese, so i'll trust them on that, but i've had good dim sum (only one aspect of cantonese food at 1525 yue and xien yue hien (which overlooks a stunning garden in the middle of the french concession).  

yue 1525 

penta hotel, 2/f, 1525 dingxi lu

定西路1525号

6225 8665

xien yue hien 

849 huashan lu

华山路849号

6251 1166

and regions i could pass on: 

anhui

anhui cuisine has ingredients from the mountains, and has a lot of soups and stews. they're not opposed to using ingredients like bullfrog and turtle. i am. 

shanghainese

i'm sort of 'eh' on shanghainese. it's known for being sweeter than other chinese cusines, and other than xialongbao (soup dumplings, which i could eat for days on end), i could generally pass on shanghainese cuisine. too many whole fishes with bones, and too many greasy sauces. i did try the most 'famous' shanghainese restaurant last weekend, and it was pretty good, so if you want to go real local, check out jesse, and make sure to order the sesame noodles, braised pork, and chicken with peanuts. 

jesse 

41 tianping lu

天平路41号

6282 9260

hotpot

this encompasses a number of different regions, so it doesn't really fit in perfectly, but hot pot is more or less a seasoned broth in the middle of the table to which the diners add different ingredients. the first time i went, we added everything from frog to vegetable to hearts. i don't want to eat my vegetables with any kind of animal hearts. there's also a number of different ingredients like spicy, sesame, scallions, etc to make your own sauce. the whole experience is very DIY, and many people love hot pot. i am willing to give this another chance at one of the following spots, with people who i trust.  

qimin organic hotpot 

407 shanxi bei lu

陕西北路407号 

6258 8777

elixir heath pot 

xiangzhang garden, 2 hengshan rd

衡山路2号甲香樟花园内

+86 021 5456 1489

mahota kitchen

1/f, m-town, 680 huaihai xi lu

淮海西路680号新淮海坊1层泰生天地

5267 9988

and regions i still need to try:

szechuan

given how much i love hunan, and szechuan (or sichuan) is the other region of spicy cooking, i'm surprised i haven't found a go to szechuan place yet. many people i know love sichuan citizen, so i'll add that to my to do list, but only with experts who know what to order! i do not recommend blindly going to any chinese restaurant. 

dongbei

i know some people who love dongbei food (which comes from northern china and features excellent dumplings) and it's on my hit list.  i've found that one of the most important things about trying chinese restaurants is to go with someone that knows what to order. if that person is native chinese, they will likely be more adventurous with the order than a western person whom it's their favorite chinese restaurant. be wary of this. 

additional tips + observations when eating chinese: 

1. you use chopsticks .. even if you're not good at it. i'm not. 

2. napkins aren't really a thing. forget about luxurious cloth napkins, you'll be lucky to get paper. 

3. not every person gets a menu. chinese food is eaten family style and restaurants expect one person to order for everyone. it's common for one table to get just one menu. 

4. expect round tables with lazy susans. this makes it easier to share. i am a fan of this approach. my family loves nothing more than a round table. 

about a month ago, i went on my first business trip in china. and i went to a new city in china. not one on my travel wish list, but i always like to explore. 

you'll often hear people talking about chinese cities in terms of tiers. tier one cities are the first cities we're opened by the government for economic development. they have huge populations and are economic powerhouses. they are: shanghai, beijing, guangzhou and shenzen. guangzhou is the third biggest city in china, after shanghai and beijing, with a population of 14 million people.  tier two cities are the cities that most people talk about opportunities for economic growth in china. there's also tiers 3, 4 and 5. i can't fully explain, but here's an interesting article from the WSJ about opportunities in second tier cities. okay, enough of that, now i'll tell you about guangzhou. 

the best part about guangzhou is that it's only two hours by train from my happy place: hong kong. where designer goods are easily purchased for american prices. you think i repeat this too often, but if you took a look at the prices in mainland china you would love hong kong too. 

i was lucky to stay at the delightful w guangzhou. great room, great gym, great breakfast buffet. luxury hotels in china are fabulous because they're all brand new, and they're quite inexpensive when you compare to a five star hotel most other places in the world. 

i went with our media team, who conducts most of their business in chinese. typically, when i go out to dinner with co-workers, at least 40% of conversation takes place in english. everyone that i work with speaks english fluently, and usually there's at least one other expat there, so i converse very easily. in guangzhou, i'd say about 5% of the conversation took place in english. my colleagues tried hard to include me at the beginning, but eventually it was a full transition to chinese with me occasionally interjecting 'are you talking about x?' and usually being wrong. on the upside, we were in the most elaborate private room i've ever been in complete with a sitting area, en suite bathroom, a silver glitter lazy susan, a crystal chandelier and the olympics playing on a television directly in front of me. figure skating, yes. conversation. no. no big deal. 

my colleagues were insistent that guangzhou has some of the best cantonese food in china (because of it's proximity to hong kong) and i needed to try things. i explained that i would eat anything they expect an adventurous, but not crazy western eater would have, and while there were a few 'interesting' choices, most everything was pretty delicious. i of course, liked the durian pastry. i can't get enough dessert. 

they also explained that guangzhou is rich, which explains the elaborate restaurants and constant building. i'm not kidding when i say 25 buildings were being constructed in all different areas in guangzhou. one neighborhood was described that it wasn't much now, but would be a commercial center once construction was complete. rapid growth in china is real.

seriously tall buildings and only getting taller. 

there were some corners where every single building in sight was under construction. 

like this street. 

the new downtown area. i should have gotten a panoramic shot! 

ordering in our private room. skiing on in back ground, glittery lazy susan front and center. bathroom to the right, sitting area where i am taking the picture. 

i hate this shot, but i loved this dish! scallop with rice noodles. 

our group, post dinner. 

i thought this was interesting, i've never heard of corn juice.