However, in China of course, things are a little different.  For the first time I was seeing entire shelves stocked with these little packets of milk that I didn’t even recognise as milk at first before closer inspection.  Take a look..  (I only recently found the big one in the carton, however I then read about 2008 milk scandal in China so I WON’T be drinking it!)

Apparently every single milk brand (apart from one) was found to be adding chemicals that gave people all sorts of ailments including kidney stones etc.  Crazy stuff!  Read more about the scandal here.

The one brand that wasn’t found to be part of this scandal is 三元 (Sanyuan) and I was previously recommended this milk by my 汉语老师 (Chinese teacher) as being 好喝 (delicious).  Now, since I love chocolate, I decided to go for the chocolate milk packet..  Tastes good, so I will be having one a day from now I think.  Today I had 4..  Well, for only 1.5RMB (£0.15) per packet, it’s hard not to want to have a few at a time.

The milk isn’t ‘fresh’ like what I am used to back home but it’s some variation of long life milk so I can just about live with it.  I read it came from a real cow too, not just a factory like some of the other brands..

Have you had any strange/interesting experiences buying simple groceries in China or anywhere else in the world?

Chinese food? I don't think so..

I have been thinking lately about the different kinds of food we have here in Beijing compared to ‘Chinese food’ I’ve had back home.  It’s quite fascinating when I think about it in detail..

My favourite Chinese take-away back home is called Wok Heaven and if ever used to get Chinese food, that’s usually where it’d come from.  The food tasted so so good and the service was always excellent!  Normally I’d call up and they’d recognise my voice and ask me if I want my usual order – fried crispy chicken in spicy sauce with rice (S12 on the menu)..  Mmm…  It really was so nice!  Apart from that, my other favourite ‘Chinese foods’ were sweet and sour chicken, black bean chicken and also spring rolls!  Who could forget spring rolls?!  Ahh, thinking about it all makes me want to go back and order something!  I wonder what their delivery charge is for Beijing, China?  Haha.

But…

Now that I’m in China, I am realising that I can’t get any of my favourite ‘Chinese food’..  I can only get the real Chinese food (which I also really love).  So this makes me think of a few things..  Firstly – why is it that when Chinese restaurants open up in the UK, their menus are so far from what is actually available in China?  I know they need to cater a little to local tastes as well, but it’s still so so different.  I can almost guarantee if you ask the average person in the UK what their favourite ‘Chinese food’ is, the answer will be something I would struggle to find at most restaurants here in China.

Secondly, when I hear people saying things like “I wouldn’t go to China because I don’t like Chinese food” – it makes me think ‘but you’ve never even tried real Chinese food’.  I can guess the same applies to foods from other nations we have in the UK too.  I remember going to a Jamaican restaurant in Nottingham and thinking how sad it is that everyone will associate this with Jamaica, when the food is nothing at all like real Jamaican food I could eat almost every day at home.

What are your thoughts?  Do you like ‘Chinese food’ at home?  Have you tried real Chinese food in China?

I’ll start taking more photos of food available here and show you some of my new favourite dishes!

A glimpse into the future? ~ Photo: Brando Posocco

I have never been somewhere that has so much construction!  Beijing just has so much of it all over the place!  Whether it’s HUGE sites like the one above and below….  Both pictures show a dividing wall with one side completely developed and one side awaiting development.  It shows the scale of development when it takes place – they do this in enormous chunks!

Another glimpse into the future? This side of the wall hasn't yet been redeveloped.. I guess the previous tenants have only just had their houses demolished..

Look at the current 地铁地图 (subway map) compared to the one containing a bunch of new lines opening this year and in the next few years!  The difference is huge!  All over the city there are smaller sites which are for new 地铁站 (subway stations).  It’s kind of good and bad at the same time.  Good because the city will be so much more connected, but bad because sometimes the location of the stations, of which there are so many, means that homes have to be demolished.

Current Beijing Subway map

The Beijing Subway Plan.

The people who get their homes demolished for the city’s redevelopment, are moved given the opportunity to buy apartments, which I had a look at today..  As far as the eye can see was construction, construction, vacant apartment blocks and more construction.  It was an interesting experience!  Have a look at some of the pictures below.  Sometimes, you can see in the background the fate of the remaining small buildings and rubble.  Beijing really is so big!  Oh and of course, you’ll see the occasional factory chimney *cough cough*..  This is just one single area of Beijing (which in 2008 already had over 400,000 residents) designated for this kind of development.  There are many more areas like this!

This was in the north of the city on subway line 13 (The yellow hoop at the top of the map).

*Click to enlarge*

Won't be like this for long.

Work in progress! I hope..

Tonnes of land yet to be removed

It’s like they just cram as many tall buildings into the same area and they don’t need to worry about people moving in because Beijing has 22 MILLION residents!!  There is an automatic demand for the space..  Or at least there will be soon.

Everything in this picture is still under construction

Men at work. 小心 (Be careful)

I am going to photograph every single bike I see carrying a huge load. Update coming soon.

Only the buliding on the left was complete/had residents. ALL the others were empty and/or still under construction.

The air STANK of coal, burning in local factories.  We saw the occasional ‘coal mountains’ on our walk today..  Not good.

How many people might eventually live there? 10,000 maybe? Wow.

Hunger strikes!: Jian Bing - THE nicest street food you can get in Beijing!

So much reclaimed space! I wonder what it looked like before everything was demolished?

Look to the left is like looking to the not too distant past...

Look to the right, is like looking into the very near future..

The only other place I have ever been to that could even almost compare was Dubai.  Nowhere else I have been has had this amount of construction!  I find it unbelievable how fast this ‘historic’ city will change in just the next few years.

I once read that China is using 50-80% of the world’s concrete and now I can really believe it!  This is just one city in China..  Not even the biggest city..  There are 2 cities bigger (Shanghai and Chongqing), also there are an additional 100+ cities here with over 1 million people including 10+ bigger than London.  Can you imagine the combined construction efforts going on right now in China?

What is construction like where you are?

Speak soon!

In the 4 months I have been here, I have managed to study almost 2 complete books. This means I should technically be able to recognise a few hundred Hanzi (Chinese characters) and definitely be able to have conversations. I can definitely get by with my speaking now, I am learning day by day that I am starting to understand people who I could previously only nod and smile at.

我的两本汉语书 (My two Chinese books) Almost finished book 2 now! So fast!!

Part of today's class... Homework is to write all the questions and answers in characters and to practice writing the 10 new characters we learned today for a mini test tomorrow...

I think one of the main reasons for me enjoying this kind of studying is that it is so practical. I can see my progress every day, I can practice using the new words straight away, those ‘noises’ people make are now distinguishable as actual words. I can’t think of any other better way to learn a language than to completely immerse yourself in it.

When I was at secondary school, I studied French for 5 years and I thought we learned a lot.. I could by the end say a few sentences about myself, my house, my family etc. But, I think after my first month here in China I could already say more in Chinese about myself!

Practice makes perfect

I think most people that study Chinese will agree, the most difficult part of learning Chinese is the 汉字 (Hanzi – Chinese Characters). I feel that I can recognise a lot of them now and read simple passages, however writing them is another story.  Also, the knowledge that there are thousands of these to learn is casting a huge shadow over my ‘progress’.  According to my books, I am almost at the level of knowing 800 Chinese words – wow!  That doesn’t mean I can reel them off in a long list, nor does it mean that I can write every single one..

考试 (My most recent test results...) 78%

Have you studied Chinese? Do you have any tips for remembering how to write the characters?

Light reading?

Some more 'light reading'... I can only understand some of the headlines here, but it's interesting to look at nevertheless.

Anyway, I must go – back to my studies!  Speak to you again soon!

My friend introduced me to this restaurant/bar as ‘这宫保鸡丁比萨地方’ (the Gōng bǎo jī dīng pizza place) and I never actually knew the real name for it until last night.  The pizza there is so good!  We ordered 2 large ones, 1 of them was of course the famous Kung Pao Chicken (as it’s called in English) and the other one was 羊肉串儿 (spicy lamb, which is usually skewered).  Both of them were amazing!

The restaurant is called Pass By Bar and if you’re in Beijing I’d definitely recommend you go there!  The service was great and it was nice and warm inside – which is sometimes not the case as Beijing gets ridiculously cold at night.

Tip: Beijing is COLD in winter, so in all restaurants aim to sit as far away from the door as possible : )

I can’t describe how good it tasted, so you’ll just have to go there yourself!

There were 4 of us sharing this meal and we each paid around 60RMB (£6) for the food and drinks together!  I am still amazed by prices here!

This is a slightly more ‘expensive’ restaurant compared to prices elsewhere in Beijing but it’s nice to go to every so often.  I could eat at my local neighbourhood restaurant for 10RMB (£1) per dish – but they don’t serve pizza and their food definitely isn’t as good.  Beijing has so much variety when it comes to food, there really is somewhere to suit all pallets and all budgets.

Do you live in / have you been to Beijing?  Any nice restaurants to recommend?

I am sure there is some explanation, some Chinese justification..  But, in my eyes it looks like a rip-off Nike shop!  Isn’t their logo a little too similar to the one we all know and respect back home?  Hmm..

I doubt they'd get away with this back home..

This particular shop is located at the end of Subway Line 1 苹果园 (Pingguoyuan).  I know there are others scattered around Beijing, but this was the only one I could definitely pinppoint.  I went inside and every single item of clothing and footwear really looked like it was supposed to be Nike.  I seriously mean, it looked good quality and resembled the styles and colours of real Nike, rather than ‘just another’ sports brand.  I guess there is no international copyright agreement here?

I took the subway, going in a straight line west for just under an hour to get here!  When I came out the subway, I was at the most western tip of the Beijing Subway system.  Thinking it was going to be a little less built up, a little less busy, a little less ‘Beijing’ – but no, it was just the same!

Wide roads, tall apartment buildings, bridges, buses, taxis, power cables everywhere.  It was just the same chaos I left behind an hour earlier.  I wonder how much further I’d have to go before I started to recognise the ‘outskirts’ of a city?

In winter, I have seen sections of the canal almost professionally divided into separate arenas for ice hockey with space for spectators too!  I have seen 5 or 6 games happening side by side with people sitting watching on the ice too.  The players were completely kitted out in their hockey attire, looking almost professional, but I noticed something..  These weren’t players in their teens or their 20s, these players all looked to be over 40!  I was surprised at the speeds they were blasting around the ice and the energy they had too.  It looked like a lot of fun!

Today they were a little more relaxed and opted to bring out their chairs and tables to play 麻将 (Mahjong).  I like how the older generations here are so much more active and social than back home in the UK.  Despite the cold, these folks are still out, chatting, playing games and just enjoying life

We had clear skies today because it was so windy!  Windy and cold!  Brrrr…  :-/

Another thing you’ll notice when you travel around Beijing, is the amount of construction going on.  I have only ever been to one other place in the world which had a similar amount of construction – and that was Dubai.  I will get a collection of construction photos and you will be able to see just what I mean.  It really is unbelievable.

Sometimes it’s a little sad when you see what appears to be an ‘island’ of old buildings and homes, completely surrounded by imposing glass towers.  You just know that within a year, they too will look like the buildings in the next few photos.

Speak to you again soon!

This past year has really flown by so quickly – it’s unbelievable!  2011 has been a great year for me, so much has happened and I had so many new experiences.  One of the main things that happened to me was moving to China!  I have been here now for almost 4 months and this to me seems to be going incredibly fast.  I have enjoyed studying Chinese more than anything else I have ever studied which is definitely a good sign!  I am usually ‘allergic’ to studying and have until now found it hard to find anything I really seriously enjoy.

In 2011 I have met so many interesting people!  Some really interesting and some ‘interesting’ in a strange way if you know what I mean..  But it’s all been good fun.  I am slowly building up a network of friends from all over the world and learning about all kinds of different cultures, languages and customs.  So far my experience in China has been great!  I haven’t forgotten about my friends and family back home –  I think about you every day!  (James – keep me posted on the plans for your big day!!)

What I really want to do while I’m here is to try some sort of martial arts.  This country seems to be the birth place of a few different ‘Kung-Fu’ style martial arts – I really want to try!  I have seriously been saying this for years and it’s about time I really really did something about it.  If you are in Beijing and know of anywhere good to start some martial arts – let me know!

How did you celebrate the New Year?  I think most cultures around the world typically have some sort of gathering of people, whether friends or family and some kind of countdown leading up to midnight.  We did that this year at a friends apartment.  There were 20 people from all over the world eating and drinking, watching the clock count down on the TV.  At midnight, we toasted with champagne, sang songs and danced the night away.  I had so much fun!  But of course we didn’t stop there – me and a couple of friends went out to celebrate in one of Beijing’s bar streets in Wudaoko (五道口) until 7am!  Fun times.

This year I promise to take more photos/videos to share with you all!  Here are some unseen pics from my time in China so far!

Subscribe to my blog if you haven’t already!  Do it and check your spam email in case the first email goes there!

Click to enlarge

Have you made any New Year’s Resolutions?  I have only made one – “make sure I am always happy whatever it takes”.

Let me know if you made any!  Speak to you all soon

This sign is in one of the lifts at the gym I go to.  Well, as long as no one smorks, I guess it’s OK to smoke.  Right?

We stayed there for 2 days, 1 night and did some in depth exploration of the village.  I think if you want to go during winter, aim to get there early in the day and leave before it gets dark, unless you’re brave enough to face the pitch black night time!  You will have plenty of time to check out the scenery and speak to some of the locals.

The village (as you will see in the photos below) is very small and it really has kept to it’s original roots and not been modernised, other than the sparse solar powered lamps.  It had a few street lights, but they were almost like candle lights – so when it got dark at 5pm, it was pitch black!  See some of my many photos below, in no particular order (Click to enlarge)..

Have you ever been?  What did you think?

[YouTube video coming soon, having VPN issues.  Can anyone recommend a reliable VPN to use in China?]