You open a menu in China. Good news: there’s English. Then you read the translation. You read it again. And somehow… you understand LESS than before. 😂 What exactly are you about to order? 🥟 The Quick Bite A translated Chinese dish name doesn’t always describe the food in the way an international traveler expects. Some Chinese dish names tell you the: ingredient + cooking method + flavor. Others may refer to:...
You’re walking through China. A sign appears. Four Chinese characters. No English translation. You stop. Look again. “Okay… what does THAT say? 😳” For international travelers who don’t read Chinese, this can happen many times a day. At a restaurant. At a metro station. Outside a toilet. At a temple. Sometimes the sign is merely interesting. Sometimes… you really need to know what it says. 😂 🥟 The Quick Bite Mainland China...
Dad & Elaine have had this experience more than once while walking through morning markets and night markets in China. Food stalls everywhere. Something bubbling in a pot. Something hanging from a hook. Something sliced beautifully on a tray. Dad looks. Elaine looks. Then: “Er… what part of the animal is THAT? 😂” And sometimes… we didn’t dare order it. 🥟 The Quick Bite Chinese cooking can use a wide range of...
You point at a picture on a Chinese menu. It looks good. You order it. The dish arrives. You take a bite. Then you look at Elaine and ask: “Er… what exactly ARE we eating? 😂” Welcome to one of the most common little adventures of eating your way around China. 🥟 The Quick Bite Chinese food is enormously regional. Travel around China and you may encounter: ingredients + cuts of meat...
Dad & Elaine have taken high-speed trains across China again and again. And one thing kept striking Dad. The trains can be packed. The stations can be enormous. Waiting halls fill with people. Then hundreds of passengers board one train while another few hundred are waiting for the next. Dad started wondering: “Where is everybody GOING? 😂” 🥟 The Quick Bite China doesn’t only have an enormous population. It has an enormous...
Before your first China trip, your mental map may look something like: Beijing. Shanghai. Xi’an. Chengdu. Maybe Zhangjiajie. Then Dad & Elaine started travelling farther. And suddenly our China map exploded. 😂 🥟 The Quick Bite China is enormous. Yet international tourism concentrates our attention on a surprisingly small number of famous destinations. That can create a very misleading equation: I’ve heard of it = important I’ve never heard of it =...
Dad & Elaine arrive in another Chinese city. Hotel reception? Maybe some English. Major attraction? Possibly. Then we walk into a small restaurant. Dad speaks English. They speak Chinese. Everyone smiles. Now what? 😂 Yet somehow: we order dinner. we find the train. we get the DiDi. we reach the hotel. And after travelling through city after city, Dad realized: “We actually CAN travel China without being fluent in Chinese.” 🥟 The...
Dad & Elaine have travelled across China on many different trips. Chengdu (成都, Chéngdū) → Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān). Beijing (北京, Běijīng) → Hong Kong (香港, Xiānggǎng). Hong Kong → Shenzhen (深圳, Shēnzhèn). Hong Kong → Macao (澳门, Àomén). And through cities across Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan. Again and again, Dad noticed something strange: the China outside the window kept changing. But after a while… travelling through it started feeling strangely familiar....
Dad & Elaine have travelled beyond China’s internationally famous tourist circuit to: Linfen (临汾, Línfén). Anyang (安阳, Ānyáng). Yuncheng (运城, Yùnchéng). Baoji (宝鸡, Bǎojī). Zibo (淄博, Zībó). Dezhou (德州, Dézhōu). Taiyuan (太原, Tàiyuán). Jinan (济南, Jǐnán). Tianjin (天津, Tiānjīn). Some Dad barely knew before planning our journeys. Then we arrived. China completely broke Dad’s definition of a “lesser-known city.” 😂 🥟 The Quick Bite In China: Lesser-known internationally does NOT mean small....
Look at China on a map. Beijing (北京, Běijīng). Shanghai (上海, Shànghǎi). Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān). Chengdu (成都, Chéngdū). These places are seriously far apart. Then you get on China’s high-speed rail. A few hours later… you’re there. 😳 🥟 The Quick Bite China is enormous. High-speed rail doesn’t change that. What 高铁 (gāotiě) — high-speed rail — changes is your idea of what counts as “too far.” A journey that looks intimidating...
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