Downtown gets the wanghongs but my heart is in Yangpu. Why I love this district of Shanghai so much, all from a ~2 hour walk today. Living rooms extend onto the streets… and so do shops… It feels more relaxed, too. HEMA (盒马) delivery drivers having a lunch or waiting for their next ride. The […]
Dongbei stewed meal 东北炖饭. The experience is fun but the taste is a bit meh; it’s just throwing everything into a broth. (The things on the side are corn cookies.) My favorite and maybe the best thing I ever ate in China: Huaiyang steamed fish with pork on the top (淮扬菜鱼), extremely tender and […]
We stayed at Nanbei Lake (南北湖) which is a nice (yet a bit touristic) lake on the edge of the Zhejiang province. It’s all new roads and bridges, and newly planted trees and flowerbeds. Plus 美女 being photographed. Hellobike (哈啰单车) is also expanding to these sites. Family bikes and even electric ones you can simply […]
My first time on a green train, the famous (infamous?) 绿皮火车. I didn’t even realize it when buying the ticket, I should’ve bought a hard seat because I read so much about that in books about China. The old lady only spoke about her Shanghai house and how much it’s worth per square meter, and […]
Friend lived in this neighborhood 30 years ago, and we go back to everyone’s favorite wonton store. Someone recognizes her and yells: “Hey! Going to eat wonton?!” The store is +50 years old, has no logo, yet you need to queue to get your dish. Plus 15RMB for a bowl of pork wonton isn’t super […]
路上，乡下，中国 Long rides on the National Day of the PRC are becoming a ritual. 136 km from Shanghai to Nantong today. My favorite part is always the ferry. Cars can choose one of two huge bridges, but not so much for bicycles. The Yangtze river is massive — and because all the passengers walk around […]
After 3,5 years of Mandarin classes I took to Taobao to buy a gaming console to play Pokémon LeafGreen from 2004: 口袋妖怪-绿叶. Here I take you through the process and adventure of learning new words and catching Pokémon. Google spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GhwzcucQiNB0QzTtAa7mc_Y_16YF0r1Ic9WH1ofS_tA/edit?usp=sharing Spreadsheet tip: – For Chinese to English, use a formula such as =GOOGLETRANSLATE(A1,”zh-CN”,”en”) – […]
Goujian (who from 496–465 BC was the king of Yue) walked these hills a long time ago. The legend goes that a tiger jumped at him, roared three times and led him to this cave — declared a holy place by Goujian — now known as Tiger Cave (老虎洞) in Wenyan (闻堰镇) near Hangzhou. The […]
“I used to work on a boat and we often ate turtles. And I kept several as a pet. One I had for 50 years, but he grew so big and ate so much. Meat. Too expensive. I didn’t want him anymore, I just ate him. What would you do? Oh, release in the wild? […]
Sometimes, a person does great things abroad and makes history — all while remaining virtually unknown in her or his home country. I guess this happens to some vloggers or gamers now, but my best example would be Henk Sneevliet (马林), who in 1921 guided the formation of the Communist Party of China. Except for […]