Chinese malls have the strangest things

Chinese malls are mostly empty. Most of the local people can hardly afford to pay standard Western prices for clothes that they might otherwise score cheaply elsewhere. Strangely, Chinese malls are stocked with random pieces of art, for lack of a better word.

These are two random freaky looking Western kids dressed in soccer gear, in honor of the World Cup, I'm assuming.

But if those things are in honor of the World Cup, I'm not quite sure what these are.

They kind of look like the aliens in the arcade from Toy Story? Maybe in honor of Toy Story 3? Who knows? Very strange indeed.If you can place them, do post!

Blogging in and out of China

Now that I'm out of China, it's so refreshing to be able to look at Youtube and Facebook whenever I want. I'm on my way to Taipei now, with a short layover in Japan, just short enough for me to blog about a few of the things that I've seen while traveling.

While I'm in China, until i can get a VPN, I'll be blogging via email, which means that I will have no power to format any of my pictures into my blog. But, for the next two weeks, I'm going to go nuts!

First of all, this is true in all of Asia - if it's something is delicious, if you add a cute cartoon on top of it, it'll be more delicious.

Exhibit A:

 

Does it even matter what this bad boy is selling? It's so fucking cute!

But I bet you're curious, aren't you?

Have a look!

They're freshly blended smoothies! .. and on the other side

and at the same cafe apparently was this happylemon's little friend,

Weird cloud baby with antennae on the head. SO CUTE!

Beijing 2010

Yes, I'm in Beijing and completely reachable. Scroll all the way down and click on the call me link, type in your phone number and it will connect you to me. Don't you absolutely love technology?

Things I've discovered while in China. I love it. I can't believe I'm back and it frightens me to death that this isn't just a vaca. Today I lunched at DingTaiFeng, then did a little bit of shopping. My jetlag isn't so bad but I confess, right now.. I think I might have given myself a mini microderm abrasion this morning drying my face from the shower JUST ON THE LEFT SIDE OF MY FACE-- therefore I will not be going out. I look like Phantom of the fucking Opera. WHAT THE HELL!!!!!! I spent like 30 mins looking online to see whether or not I had contracted a fungus on the plane and was freaking out but I think I just scraped off layers of skin with a dry ass towel.

The flight was nice. ATL - SEA - PEK. Seattle was fun again! I never imaged that I would be back after going in April but... again, the dimsum was good and the people friendly! The Beijing flight was 11 hours long but I managed to score a business class seat, which means I slept in a 180 bed and I got to watch Valentine's Day and Sherlock Holmes on demand. V-day, ok. Sherlock Holmes -= LOVED IT.

Three course meal and unlimited red wine. Why thank you. Will do. 

Vat else? Well.. the smog is terrible. It's hot but not too hot.... the people are less than friendly and the traffic is not a little bad.

I'm staying at my cousin's for the moment, and I will be in Taiwan in about 3 or 4 days. AND, I might have already bought this watch.

I miss you, my friends. Please comment and visit often!

I'm obsessed with revenge.

Ha! Just kidding.

Actually I'm obsessed with this dress.

 Like... I really want it but it's nice and I would like it but I can't legitimize buying this thing because.. well..

Let's just have a look at the back, shall we?

Oh sigh, oh my. I love love love it. But NO, I can't buy this dress.. well, because I'm MOVING TO CHINA.

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the year of the Tiger! Le Tigreeeeee. I've spent about 30 mins thinking about how to soundly write a post on Chinese New Year.... culturally, I've never been able to take this holiday off at school, but I've wanted to every year. I thought about posting fortunes that you could look up on the internet, but I realized that I looked up mine quite a while ago and all I know is that THIS year is MY year. Therefore, it's not yours, so there's no point in showing off, really.

Hello Kitty is celebrating the CNY as well, as can be seen here:

 

and here!

Yes! This year, my habits of making RAWR noises is totally legit. I contemplated buying Le Tigre polo shirts, but polo shirts make my boobs look weird!

The TimesUK had a photo slide show of Chinese New Year in Beijing; I stared at it longingly.

 

click to enlarge!

I remember only 3 years ago when I was in Beijing during the New Year, buying random pig paraphernalia and going to large crowded festivals where a ton of Beijing-rs hung out. Little children wearing backless emperor costumes, the unnecessary need to buy things with pigs on them, including headbands and stuffed animals.... Meanwhile, the mass exodus of non-native Chinese people leaving the city making Beijing a ghost town of services. Chinese New Year began the month where I ate out of the grocery store for a month because no restaurants were open. I climbed to the rooftop of the library on the Capital University of Economics and Business campus and watched the fireworks explode from every surface for hours on end. Lawlessness concerning cheap fireworks = scarily amazing dangerous fireworks display! 

新年发财！ 红包拿来！

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! Wear red to scare away evil spirits and bad fortune! Feel free to mail me a red envelope stuffed with cash! Sorry this post isn't more edifying, but here's a wiki on Chinese New Year in case you wanted to learn more!

Egg Tarts

Because my cousin likes them so much, I took pictures of the ones I ate abroad. The KFC was incredible, freshly out of the oven, it tasted like heaven that only fast food a la Asia can produce. The Lord Stow ones were well known, the perfect marriage of Portuguese with Macanese cuisine.. and the others? Well, when in Hong Kong, you have to eat them where ever you see them!

Banquet in Beijing

Dining in Beijing is best done in groups. I learned this the hard way when I was alone for the first two days of my trip. Meals of one are hard already, but in China where the style of eating is banquet style makes things extra lonely!

Fortunately, soon thereafter, my friends Fei and Auggie came into town, then I met up with Hayes who was already here. Them combined with new friends Annie and Greg, who ended up meeting us in Hong Kong made for some big meals that really brought back what it was like to be a students with masses of friends in Beijing.

Together we went to a restaurant that we refer to in Chinese as 漂亮杯子, otherwise known as Beautiful Cup. I have no idea what the actual restaurant name is, which makes it hard when you're trying to give people directions on how to get there.

Ordering more than 10 entrees in a private room combined with 3 750mL beers each will always remind me of Beijing. Good times :)

The summer after I left Beijing in 2007, all of my friends that stayed in the city discovered this restaurant - Alameda. Alameda is Brazilian cuisine with a 60 kuai business lunch special that was truly a delight!

Here's a peek at our dishes!

I'm glad to see that it was still there two years later. Clockwise from the Left: Pumpkin soup, Peking Duck, Filet with Gorgonzola sauce, Risotto.

There were plenty of missed restaurants that I didn't get to go to: 123, the Hunan place with the spicy fish, Dog Meat City, the French place, the German Tankstelle next to the Saudi Arabian embassy, Che - the "Spanish" restaurant that had Destiny's Child songs playing on projector in the background - the songs were so good I couldn't concentrate on hanging out with friends, Pure Lotus.... that Beijing doesn't even exist anymore I think.

On a separate note, some people have voiced their incredulous opinion that they do not understand why I post pictures of food on my blog. THIS is a food and travel blog, not that they will ever read this.