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When my Kenyan friend Jackie told me she was going to China to shop, it sounded like a safe plan to make my personal China discovery.
I was not interested in the heavy duty shopping she was planning. My vision was that I would discover Guangzhou while she discovered Gucci knock-offs.
She excitedly shared that there was a restaurant that prepared Swahili food in China. I looked at her like she was crazy if she thought I was travelling all the way to China to eat chapati. I never believed that our visions would ever align, but we maintained flexibility.
So I travelled with her to the handbag and shoe markets, taking advantage of her wholesale prices and helping her literally drag her purchases, like a ‘Mama Mboga’.
The expression ‘Shop until you Drop” was born in China. The fatigue at the end of the day pretty much obliterated my idea of tasting Chinese cuisine as often as I hoped.
There was a 24 hour McDonald next to our hotel. As much as we hated the idea of succumbing to the Golden Arches, it was extremely convenient. Driving around town it felt like there was a McDonald’s every 100 meters with an occasional KFC nearby.
The shocker was to learn that the estimated 2,000 stores across China were all open 24 hours. One would be hard pressed to find a 24 hour McD’s in the US. If you do, it is likely in a black neighborhood and only on a weekend drive-thru.
The idea of Chinese forgoing Kung Pao, Lo Mein, and fried rice for a hamburger is insane to me.
Chinese like to eat out. They have their fast food that looks like home cooking, they just not eating it at home. Some restaurants have photos of dishes that help... sometimes.
In many instances I found myself clucking, mooing and oinking, much to their delight, to ask what it is they are serving. Many say, I should have barked as well. Jackie and I were together most of the time and she would join me in my Chinese food adventure.
Sometimes the dishes looked questionable, but most times it was good. We observed that the Chinese sales staff took their lunch break at 12 without delay.
We shopped through lunch. As we starved our bodies, we wondered why we can’t lose weight despite the 10,000 steps we were making faithfully!
When my Kenyan friend Jackie told me she was going to China to shop, it sounded like a safe plan to make my personal China discovery.
I was not interested in the heavy duty shopping she was planning. My vision was that I would discover Guangzhou while she discovered Gucci knock-offs.
She excitedly shared that there was a restaurant that prepared Swahili food in China. I looked at her like she was crazy if she thought I was travelling all the way to China to eat chapati. I never believed that our visions would ever align, but we maintained flexibility.
So I travelled with her to the handbag and shoe markets, taking advantage of her wholesale prices and helping her literally drag her purchases, like a ‘Mama Mboga’.
The expression ‘Shop until you Drop” was born in China. The fatigue at the end of the day pretty much obliterated my idea of tasting Chinese cuisine as often as I hoped.
There was a 24 hour McDonald next to our hotel. As much as we hated the idea of succumbing to the Golden Arches, it was extremely convenient. Driving around town it felt like there was a McDonald’s every 100 meters with an occasional KFC nearby.
The shocker was to learn that the estimated 2,000 stores across China were all open 24 hours. One would be hard pressed to find a 24 hour McD’s in the US. If you do, it is likely in a black neighborhood and only on a weekend drive-thru.
The idea of Chinese forgoing Kung Pao, Lo Mein, and fried rice for a hamburger is insane to me.
Chinese like to eat out. They have their fast food that looks like home cooking, they just not eating it at home. Some restaurants have photos of dishes that help... sometimes.
In many instances I found myself clucking, mooing and oinking, much to their delight, to ask what it is they are serving. Many say, I should have barked as well. Jackie and I were together most of the time and she would join me in my Chinese food adventure.
Sometimes the dishes looked questionable, but most times it was good. We observed that the Chinese sales staff took their lunch break at 12 without delay.
We shopped through lunch. As we starved our bodies, we wondered why we can’t lose weight despite the 10,000 steps we were making faithfully!
