China Diary 2010

What ever it is the breakfast - or the dinner table in China , this is just far above what we are used to in Denmark. Many danish will think about rice when talking about the chinese food. Actually rice is not what makes the chinese dinner table. Its rather all kind of vegetables and all ( literal) all kinds of animal that walks on four and two legs, and anything that fly or swims.
I have been very pleased with a little help from my good chinese friends at the dinner table. I admit it has more been a matter of avoiding surtain dishes , then choosing some specific dishes ;-) I Guangxi provins - they do raise dogs for eating . Should be very delisiours - according to the locals . Well I don't know about that. Whatever animal is on the dish - nothing is thrown away - everything can be eaten : feets , organs (stomach , liver , lungs etc) ears, the nose of the pic , the tale as well, and even the pigs genitals should be delicious. Talking about fish - nothing is wasted - very nutrition should be the fish head / brain that is just sucked out .

Well I guess it comes down to the hard facts of China history - the ever lasting lack of food compared to a very big population. Nothing shall be vasted. Today it dont seem to be the lack for food that explain the chinese good apetite ; but also the somehow superficial believe that everything in the chinse kitchen is good for your body in one or the other way. I could not help pointing out to one good friend who is a doctor: how comes that the chinese still sufferst from poor health - when they do eat all these organs and strange animals - which should prvent all decises and illness in the body ;-)
I am even beginning to taste the different kitchen here in China - from the very spicy dishes in Sichuan to the sweet dishes in Shanghai . But I admit - I only tasted very very little from the Chinese kitchen.

Food seems to be the most important for the chinese - every where food is sold and eaten.. and as we all know ; they can just eat about everything that has 4 legs , except tables , everything with two legs ( except humans) and everything that flys or swim. So with all these food shops and restaurants everywhere , one should thing that its easy for the turist to get something to eat..
Well I dont know, First problem for me as danish here , is that I have not yet become use to chinese breakfast .. and some of the hotels I stay in dont really provide an european breakfast in the buffet. So where does it leave your poor traveler ? One day I admit that I found myself in a KFC and even and Macdonald 'restaurant' just to get a burger for breakfast :-| Too me these fastfood restaurant represent the very end of western civilisation. And actually this also goes for StarBucks Cafe - with its gigantic paper cups of coffee . But for me star Bucks Cafe - has now become my first target in the morning . Here I can have a good cooffee ( even served in a porcelain cup) and some spicy roles of bread or whatever. Finaly - Starbucks offers something that is very very hard to find in China ; outside table and chairs .. and this I like the most. So actually Star Bucks Cafe has made my day :-)

when it comes to lunch and dinner - well their is nothing you cant get in the chinese kitchen - and this also goes for every possible part of any kind of animal. They just eat it all ; hearts and brains , feet and tales, noses of this and a liver from that. yesterday I went to one of these very very tiny 'restaurants ' also called 'cockroach - restaurants' (Kakelak)just to have some shadow from the sun and a cold beer. Here my very few chinese words made much fun and happiness around the few tables. And I was served a small plate with some kind of meet and some vegetables to it. I could not tell what it was but my stomach didn't seem to matter at this time , These very tiny slices of meat was most deliciours :-)
I payed 13 yuan (11 dkr) for 600 ml of beer and this wonderfull dish. Later my chinese friend told me that this meat was from a little animal with wings .. what kind I still dont know .
See you later at dinner .. Otto

I had tree days in Hong Kong , staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel . Not cheap .. and as seems to be the rule here ; the more you pay the less you get. Like at the Mariiott Hotel in Guangzhuo , the internet connection was not included in room price, and neither was breakfast. And for both of these big expensive hotels came , that there was just too many people. The lobbys like a trainstation in rush hour. My best Hotel so far has surely been the Li Jing Hotel in Liuzhuo, for less then 300 yuan a day.
Hong Kong is charming and crowded and with a compled lack of any kind of urban planning . Street turning, bending over and under each other, and again finding directions is quite difficult.
But the view of the city is magnificent, and walking along the 'star-avenue' at KowLoon gives a little fresh air and a beautiful view of the Hong Kong city.
Went to a Salsa bar one night - and found that everybody on the dancefloor had actually learned the Salsa dancing. At home it will mostly be the woman who can do a little dancing , but here both men and women were very skilled . Normally I would not keep my self away from the dance floor , but here I saw that I didn't have the nessasary skill in the salsa dancing . So I watch from the side.

De første dage i Beijing var det overskyet - og det i en grad at man ikke engang kunne sige hvor solen måtte befinde sig bag skyfækket og smogen. For en geografilærer er det meget frustrerende ikke at kunne sige hvad der er op og ned - øst og vest. Kun indgående studier af mit by kort gjorde at jeg fik lidt orientering.
I Beijing - har man ellers gjort sit bedste for at give retning og orientering for folket. Alle gader ligger i symetriske ringe rundt om universets centrum - Den Forbudte By og tianamin pladsen. På by kortet ser man fire hovedfærselsårer - ring veje med 5-6 spor i hver retning, som omkredser by centrum . De fire ringveje er dog nu blevet til seks.
Trods menneskemyldret fungerer trafikken utroligt godt - og endelig er der et uhyre omfattende Metro system som meget hurtigt bringer en derhen hvor man vil. Jg fortrækker dog taxier . Kørte en sightseeing rundt i 3/4 af ring 3 ( ca 33 Km ) for under 100 kr.
Sydpå i Guangxi provinsen , boende jeg 6-7 dage i Liuzhuo. Her var solen fremme - men nu var problemet at midt på dagen stod solen så højt på himlem at det faktisk ikke var til at se hvad der var nord og syd. Man trådte bogstaveligt talt i skyggen af sit eget hoved. Også her - forblev det i flere dage uklart for mig hvad der var nord og syd . og jeg har ellers en udpræget god retning fornemmelse.
Senere i Hong Kong - blev det helt umuligt at orientere sig . Her er absolut ingen byplanlægning. Gaderne snor og bugter sig i alle retninger - over og under hinanden. og solen var her så tæt på 90 grader over hovedet på en - som muligt er. At kystlinjen i Hong Kong så endvidere vender mod nord - bidrager kun yderligere til forvirringen - nu man ved at Hong Kong ligger i det aller sydligste Kina ... og vandet derfor skulle være mod syd. Nå men her lykkedes det mig dog allerede på 2. dagen at finde vej rundt - omend jeg fortsat var nord-syd forvirret. En britisk indbygger fortalt emig til min trøst at det havde taget ham 3 år at finde ud af hvad der var nord og syd her. ;-)

Dear friends and family
after some 6-7 days in Guangxi Provinse in southern China - yes this is where they raise dogs for eating .. well I didn't get any ... I think :-) Im trying to get to Hong Kong today to meet my danish friend Jens and his chinese wife. But I missed my plane .
I had a wonderfull Hotel for several days in Liuzhuo / for only 290 yuan (=250 dkr) a night.The hotel staff will blind the windows in the evening , and this actually coursed me to sleep to long .. woke up at 7.30 ! Really not me as you will know. Had to catch the bus for Guilin at 8.00 , I had no time for breakfast / not even coffee. My sister wouldn't have managed this ! After 3 hours bus drive I came to Guilin airport and had 3 can's of Nescafe :-) and now even some lunch
Now checked in for an afternoon plane to Guangzhuo (Canton). what I will do there I m not sure ... try to find a Hotel .. and look at some of the citys 11 mio people. Im not sure I shall go to Hong Kong at all . Everytime I do book a Hotel there , i get a email 10-12 hours later, telling that the hotel is fully booked :-( ... tell you a secret .. I dont really care then. After Guangzhou / canton / I go north west to Chengdu , and then Shanghai .
So right now - Im spending quite a lot of time and money .. for waiting .. and well , thats a part of traveling . So let it be.
Hope everybody is fine, and also to hear some news from you
best wishes Otto