Sunday, August 7, 2011

Friday, August 5, 2011

Guerilla farming

Woman picking mangos

A woman harvests mangos with a wooden pole and plastic container from the trees which line the city streets.

Guerilla farming

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The vines around these trees aren't supposed to be there. Someone has been planted themselves a sweet potato crop.

Coney Island Sandwich Shop

Coney Island Grill

Chili dog and vanilla milkshake

Inside the restaurant it looks extremely Spartan--there are booths, stools, a counter and cooking equipment (all well used, but tidy and clean), plus some Cocoa-Cola advertisements on the walls. The place probably hasn't changed since it was built (the '40s?).

The food fits this environment perfectly. You can get thick milkshakes and scrumptious chili dogs. I tasted all sorts of childhood memories when I bit into mine.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The two brothers: KFC and McDonald's

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In China, wherever you see a KFC you can almost always find a McDonald's nearby, and often the stores are open 24 hours a day. I preferred KFC as do many Chinese people. I was told KFC is seen as more “Chinese”, but for me, I just thought it tasted better.

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Picture menus are available, which makes ordering somewhat easier (but not always). If you can't see a menu laying around just hold your hands open like a book and the people at the register will give you one.

The buildings are often multi-story affairs and it is expected you will leave your garbage on the table when you are finished (no putting it away yourself!). As in the rest of China, tipping is considered weird.

Drinking milk tea in a Zhuhai KFC

Both restaurants focus on sandwiches and some items were familiar, like buckets of chicken, french fries (served at both restaurants), and quarter pounders. Other things were wholly unfamiliar to me. For breakfast you can get congee, a rice porridge with bits of egg and meat mixed in:

Congee for breakfast

or a pastry (like a croissant but square) containing a fried egg, ham, and a salty mayonnaise:

A KFC breakfast choice in China

For lunch KFC served a beef wrap of some kind that came with a chicken wing:

A Chinese KFC meal

Inside the spicy beef wrap

The food tended to be spicier than what is served in America, and the only thing I can say against it is that it sometimes had a little too much mayonnaise, but you could always scrape that off.