small town laowai

an Americanish life in backwater China

Page 16 of 19

Step inside the most beautiful Starbucks in the world

“My sister travels a lot,” our friend told us not too long ago, “and she says the Starbucks at Minge Hu is the most beautiful Starbucks in the world.” This was not the first time we’d heard the Minge Hu… Continue Reading →

5 hours or 109 miles, whichever comes first

We just visited a small city near us. It’s 176 km away, according to Google maps. That’s 109 miles for all you Muricans, which would take about an hour and a half if you were driving on freeways in the U.S…. Continue Reading →

Foreigner! Foreigner!

I wrote most of this a couple of months ago, but never quite finished polishing it up ’til now. Enjoy! When I tell people back in the U.S. how much we get stared at, photographed, and shouted at here in… Continue Reading →

Care packages

I’ve already gotten a couple of questions about Christmas care packages for this year, for which I’m grateful. I feel bad because postage is so insanely expensive (it’s about $80 for the larger flat rate box, like the one in… Continue Reading →

What in the Middle Kingdom? Sleeve protectors

Alright, roll up your sleeves… No, wait, hang on a second. You don’t have to! Not with these beauties! These are Chinese sleeve protectors. I know, I know, you were thinking, these are undoubtedly the Chinese version of those plastic… Continue Reading →

Rice paddy bonfire

Now that the rice has been harvested, everyone is burning their fields, which makes for really cool-looking scenery. Apparently, after rice is harvested is also when family and friends gather in the fields to make a bonfire from the rice… Continue Reading →

Apples & oranges

You can’t compare apples and oranges. Or oranges and bananas.   So close. So very close. At least it’s still the names fruit, and not swear words. (It’s been known to happen.) 12 times Taobao made my eyes bleed Insulting… Continue Reading →

On harvest and homesickness

Fall has arrived. At least, I hope this is really it. Autumn usually gets here by stops and starts, tricking all of us into excitedly digging out jackets and blankets by sending a few cool mornings, and then – bam!… Continue Reading →

7 awesome recipe hacks using jiaozi wrappers (饺子皮)

I don’t know about you, but any recipe that requires dough to be rolled out raises a great big mafan flag for me. For one thing, I don’t have a lot of counter space in my kitchen. For another, I… Continue Reading →

Waiter, there’s a tooth in my soup

There have been, on occasion, bags of soup bones for sale in the butcher area of our supermarket here in rural China. I love using bones for soup – bones make the broth. So, on a fateful day not that… Continue Reading →

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