Endless Mindnumbing Prattle

When I was a kid I was always into doing “rad” stuff (BMX, skateboarding (both times around) etc) but despite practising hard and doing my best to live by the “it’s not just a hobby, it’s a way of life” motto I was basically totally crap at both of them

I mean, BMX I wasn’t too bad at for a kid from the village, I could pop a mean wheelie and jump over a few milk crates but ultimately, I was too small (I started when I was 12 and very wee) and my bike was too heavy, it was always in control of me rather than the other way round, I did tend to dress up like I knew what I was doing though.

Oh yeah, I was a complete chicken too, I’d always got a good excuse though. When the neighbours (two brothers) set up a ramp at the end of the pub car park to try and jump over the canal I REALLY wanted to try but had accidentally worn “an expensive t-shirt which I couldn’t dare to ruin” or something of the like, leaving it all to the two brothers to try and subsequently fail in a predictably spectacular fashion (followed by a significantly less spectacular half an hour of trying to get their bikes out of the mud on the bottom of the canal). Similarly when I had an argument with the younger brother about whether it would be possible to ride a bike off the roof of his dad’s workshop and land it successfully it was him, not me with my “sprained ankle” that went ahead and tried (for reference, it’s semi-possible except the pedals tend to snap off and the wheels go oval and sink deeply into the lawn, future attemptees should also be reminded to keep their chin away from the front handlebars, which were thankfully padded in this case).

Anyway, we were lucky, our families weren’t rich by any means but at least we had bikes and skateboards to muck around on, but how can the youth from poorer countries get their fill of radness??? These guys seem to have it all figured out:

You know, I have one major complaint about this video, NO HIGH FIVES!!! what were they thinking???

Right you lot, forget about work today and get your thinking heads on, let’s see how much you’ve been paying attention!!

Everyone over the age of 30 must remember getting one of these logo quizes, photocopied and passed round the office on a Friday (at which point all work would stop for the entire day). Well, I’ve put together a few logos (ok, 100) which your typical expat in Shanghai (assuming that I’m “typical”) should be familiar with, not all of the brands are Chinese but they’re definitely part of the Shanghai Expat lifestyle.

They were a bit too easy in colour so I’ve converted them all to black and white (and obviously erased all the words), let’s see how it goes, I might put some colour ones up here if a few of them prove too difficult!

Post your answers in the comments below, I’ll add the answers as they come in.

Oh, click on the images to enlarge them (right click to open in a new window).

edit: colour images of the remaining few logos: click here

edit: final clues on the colour images: click here

I don’t know what everyone else thinks about the food at Starbucks in China but personally I’ve always found it very disappointing, their scones are stale, the sandwiches are unimaginative, of low standard and overpriced.

I went there this morning for coffee and a bite to eat (it’s the only place for coffee near my apartment, I can bear it every now and again) and took a look to see what new delights they had to offer, nothing prepared me for what I was about to see.

It’s difficult to make out from the photo but what you’re looking at is basically a sandwich with chunks of kiwi fruit and melon (and something white,  lychee?  banana?  apple?) with mayonnaise holding it all together.

If anyone who reads this knows the guy at starbucks china who came up with this idea I suggest you do him an extreme personal disservice before the day is out.

After finding Yansghuo to be pretty much devoid of good food (catering entirely to tourists who only stay for 1 or 2 days, no need to be good) I researched desperately for somewhere good to eat, we tried a couple of recommendations in town but they were lacking. Eventually I came across an article about a remote restaurant called Liugong which sounded perfect, a remote 800 year old village, riverfront restaurant in an ancient black tower with fantastic views, nouvelle cuisine, cheap (think 50 kuai per person for a three course meal), we decided to make a day of it, hire a boat to go downstream to the village, have lunch and poke around the village for a few hours before making our way back.

Unfortunately not all went to plan, we made enquiries about the restaurant at China Cafe, the owners of the Liugong Pavilion (who would organise the boat etc), only to be told that during last year’s floods the restaurant was flooded and the owners decided to give up the business. We were sufficiently intrigued by Liugong though and still decided to go ahead.

H, who settles for nothing less than 40% discount, negotiated (10 minutes of shouting and jabbing fingers at each other) with the tour agents we’d befriended near to our hotel and negotiated a boat at heavily dicounted prices. We made our way into Yangshuo to meet the tour agents contacts, straight away something was a bit odd, “if the police are on the river, we may have to stay out of sight, this is a non-standard route” they told us (we would later figure out that they probably avoiding paying commission to the river bureau and the trip was unlisted). Anyway, we got onto the boat, basically similar to a canal narrow boat, and left for Liugong.

Going was good, we were heading downstream and enjoying the view, the driver was nervous though, he was constantly scanning the river ahead and standing to inspect anything that appeared round the corner, also he regularly stuck his head out of the window to see who was behind us. After ten minutes or so he decided that someone was following us and ran to the back of the boat, folded our chairs and instructed us to lie on the floor until he told us otherwise. He put down the throttle and turned wildly, possibly through 360°, it was impossible to tell, presumably to show the followers that his boat was “empty” and put them off checking us out more closely. Ten minutes later the driver eased considerably, lit a cigarette and motioned for us to get up, H took the opportunity to stretch her legs and sat up-front for a while.

The journey took the best part of an hour and as we arrived at Liugong there was a lunch boat parked in front of the watchtower (the previous Liugong Pavilion). The driver jumped out first to chat with the owner (to discuss his commission) and we settled down for a reasonable lunch.

Lunch Boat

The Liugong Pavilion, the floods came halfway up the first floor Read More »