small town laowai

an Americanish life in backwater China

Page 14 of 19

The chaotic, dangerous, beautiful fun of Chinese New Year fireworks

Last night was Chinese New Year’s Eve, and boy, was it a doozy. (But then, Chinese New Year’s Eve is always a doozy in China.) When people ooooh and aaaah over fireworks shows in the States, they’re talking safe, orchestrated… Continue Reading →

Preparing for tonight’s “war zone”

If you’ve never experienced the absolute and overwhelming explosion of the world at the stroke of midnight on Chinese New Year’s Eve in China, it will be hard to explain it to you. Over and over, I’ve heard foreigners describe… Continue Reading →

Smokin’ pot outside everyone’s home (wait, that sounds wrong)

If you’ve ever learned anything about Chinese New Year, I’m guessing you were told that Chinese families gather together at Spring Festival to bao jiaozi (stuff dumplings.) While that seems to be true in much of China, it isn’t so… Continue Reading →

Waffles, darts, and Valentine’s Day

Here in China, Valentine’s Day is an imported holiday. It’s celebrated only by 1) young couples who aren’t yet married, 2) any restaurant, flower shop, or bar that can make money off of said young couples, and 3) laowai. Since… Continue Reading →

12 times Taobao made my eyes bleed

You can get anything you want on Taobao (exceptin’ Alice). But just because you can get it doesn’t mean it should have ever come into existence in the first place. Here are 12 things I wish I had never seen.

Sunny day, sunning day

In the winter, we don’t get a whole lot of seriously sunny days around here. Most days are either overcast or outright rainy, so when the sun breaks through, the people rejoice. And by rejoice, I mean, they drag out… Continue Reading →

What in the Middle Kingdom? Dr. Seuss fruit #2 – fire dragon fruit

Today I’m continuing the fanciful trip through the market with another fruit that looks like it’s straight outta the Jungle of Nool. It’s 火龙果 huo3long2guo3, literally ‘fire dragon fruit,’ but usually just called “dragon fruit” in English. (Personally, I think… Continue Reading →

What in the Middle Kingdom? Dr. Seuss fruit #1 – rambutan

If Dr. Seuss had been a horticulturist instead of an author, I’m pretty sure he’d come up with a few of the fruits and vegetables that we have here in the Middle Kingdom. Let’s take a look at these strange… Continue Reading →

How to hack your bathroom into a clothes dryer

Every year around this time, Eric and I are reminded of what is missing from our lives: a clothes dryer. We do pretty well most of the year with drying clothes out on the line in the sun, but the cold,… Continue Reading →

10 reasons Hong Kong Disneyland is better than the original

We just enjoyed a fantastic Christmas present: a day at Hong Kong Disneyland! While there, I was reminded that some aspects of the park are much better than the original Disneyland in California. 1. The lines for rides are ridiculously short… Continue Reading →

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