One of the most important parts of exploring a new country and culture is — for me at least — trying all the new and exciting foods.

China is no different. In fact, China offers more opportunities than many of the places I have experienced to-date. This seems to be the result of a strange historical and cultural combination whereby food is initially eaten through necessity and then continues to be eaten through that dogged Chinese determination that is ‘saving face‘.

It’s quite amazing what you can get ‘on a stick’ here:

I am reliably informed that all of the most expensive foods taste bad. Taste is — apparently — not the point.

In a truly Chinese way, the lifts in my appartement building in Beijing are somewhat ineffectual. This one has given up ‘lifting’ for something a little deeper. I expect it’s only a matter of time before it asks ‘WHY’:

One of the things I lament living in China is the lack of time to comment on everything I see around me. But it’s not only time which restricts: the old adage runs, ‘if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all’.

In my young, obnoxious, and — I suspect — extremely judgemental Western way, I find it very easy to be critical of China. This fact alone has, to date, kept me quiet. Certainly, the last thing China needs right now is yet another dis-enchanted foreigner letting loose on Chinese foreign policy, human rights and other issues. There exist far better educated and informed people to do this…

I do, however, find the Chinese approach to flying flags quite disturbing:

In my understanding, one flies the flags of other countries alongside one’s own to show strong international relations, unity and understanding. Not so in China where the national flag is invariably flown above those of other nations.

There is no doubt that China is going somewhere. However, I’m not sure that the sort of extreme nationalism this suggests is really a necessary part of the process. One can but hope this is a lost-in-translation moment.

If you ask someone to describe Beijing, it’s highly likely they will mention the pollution. In fact, tales of Beijing pollution travel far and wide and, as if they didn’t have enough on their plate, it’s even been causing concerns for the Olympics.

With all of this, it’s only natural that friends and family should inquire about the pollution. Is it really all that bad?! To answer this, I took a photo out of my window a few days ago:

The photo is taken mid-morning and is of what I would describe as a ‘two block day’. Quite literally, one can only see two blocks down the street. ‘One block’ days are not uncommon.

One has to wonder how clearly Ctrip was thinking when they recommended Lhasa as one of their ‘top destinations’: