While I was going through my old photos, I came across the following (rather blurry) photo of a Diet Coke can (more…)

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As mentioned recently, I’m going to publish some of my old photos of China. Here are a couple of photos of an ‘international’ hotel in China – the Dynasty Hotel in Zhaoqing – taken back in 2002. Hotels such as this provide a great refuge for expats living in China, especially those living in small to medium cities.

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Flickr Picks: My favourite China related finds from Flickr, the photo sharing website. Click on the image to visit the photo's home page on Flickr.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Yes, they have Diet Coke in China. These days it’s fairly easy to get, especially in the big cities. However, when I first went to China in 2002, to a smallish city in Guangdong, it was almost impossible to get.

Having searched the city, with no luck, I tried asking for it in the Dynasty Hotel, which was to become our favourite watering hole. The waitress just couldn’t understand me, even with the help of my phrasebook and my miming.

After about 15 minutes of this, on and off, something went click in her mind and she brought me an ice cold can (yes it was cold!), just like the one in the picture and I was a very happy man!

Actually it was called Coke Light, not Diet Coke, which is the name which was used in Hong Kong for some reason. I’m not sure what it’s called in China these days. Obviously, it has a Chinese name, which you can see in the picture, but if you turn the can around, the other side will be in English.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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poeloq posted a couple of photos of a small restaurant / food stall:

It looks like this small restaurant / food stall is serving steamed mantou (steamed buns) or baozi (steamed buns with a filling inside). You can see the stack of bamboo steamers in the picture. There’s a chance that it’s actually steamed jiaozi (dumplings), but it’s much more likely to be mantou / baozi.

For more information on mantou, check out Wikipedia’s entry on the subject.

Anyway, I really like these photos because they capture the subject well. There are thousands of small food stalls like this in Beijing and in other cities across China and they look just like this. Also, I’m a sucker for black and white photos!

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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flibblesan posted a couple of photos of Burger King:

Yes, China has Burger King (or Hungry Jacks as it’s called in Australia – but that’s another story).

Burger King is nowhere near as popular as McDonalds or KFC, which is the clear number 1 in the Chinese fast food market, but most of the major international fast food chains are present in China to some extent.

I’m a bit worried about the increase in obesity in China. There are a lot more overweight children in China now than when I first arrived in 2002. It’s a worrying trend.

Why is it happening? I’m pretty sure it’s related to the increase in Western dietary habits in China, ie fast food restaurants and snack food. There’ll be other reasons involved as well, but this will be the main reason. They should get Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me translated into Chinese.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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Darren On The Road posted a photo (DSC_4845):

Darren On The Road said:

Nearby, in front of a Korean resturant, the waitstaff stood in formation while what I could only assume was the manager drilled them. He would yell something then his partner would yell "ee, ar, san" (1,2,3) and then the whole group would repeat was the first instructor said. I also saw them marching in formation.

This seems to happen a lot in China (and not just at the Korean restaurants). I’ve seen it many times. It’s just like they are in the military and are on parade.

It’s quite amusing to watch. It’s the little things like this that make living in China great. You just never know what you’re going to see when you go for a walk.

Of course, this would never happen in the West. The restaurant staff would be paid a pittance – maybe 800 yuan a month. No one I know would stand on ‘parade’ while the manager yelled at – not for minimum wage anyway.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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