A McDonald’s cheeseburger. It’s ok to eat. It’s nothing fancy, but rather plain and mass-produced fast food. The “meat” is too processed and full of preservatives, and the toppings are rather pedestrian. The bread roll is bland. Posted on 05/18/2019 4:31:27 AM PDT by vannrox
China is a big country, with a huge population. At any given minute there are all kinds of things going on, from the curious to the absurd. That’s pretty much what makes travel so enticing. You are exposed to new ideas and new ways of doing things. These new ways might be better or worse. Yet, the fact that they are different adds value to your experience.
If the new experience is better, then you can see where your previous assumptions might be wrong. This is what happens when you move out of your “comfort zone”. You learn that what you are accustomed to might be wrong or problematic. A good example of this is paying for drugs overseas. Drugs are cheap just about everywhere outside of the USA.
If the new experience is worse, then you have a better appreciation of what you have come to accept and live with. A good example is going to the public toilet in rural China. You really start to appreciate Western-style public restrooms.
I created this post to illustrate that there are many ways to do things, and often these other ways might appear odd, strange or simply curious to someone who is not used to them.
You know, when I first visited China, (back around 1993 or so) many of my (new) Chinese friends thought that a “hamburger” was exactly what McDonald’s made. They had no idea what American food was, and their only exposure to it was McDonald’s or KFC.
A McDonald’s cheeseburger. It’s ok to eat. It’s nothing fancy, but rather plain and mass-produced fast food. The “meat” is too processed and full of preservatives, and the toppings are rather pedestrian. The bread roll is bland.
They were surprised when I explained to them that hamburgers are something totally different from what you would find in most (not all) American “fast food” restaurants. They didn’t believe me, and had a very difficult time visualizing it. So, what I had to do, was make up some home-made hamburgers on real rolls, with fresh fixings to show them.
This is how a hamburger is supposed to be made. It is 100% real beef. The roll is fresh and has a crunchy outside crust. It has fresh vegetables, and is cooked just right.
Well, China is like that. They often do things different from we are used to seeing. And because of that, that kind of exposure, let’s us view things that we have taken for granted over years and years of exposure.
Maybe we need to take a look at why we do certain things in certain ways. As such, we can start to question if the things that we are accustomed to, are really the best way to do them.
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I was raised watching David Carradine in the television show Kung Fu. I, like many of my generation became entranced by his Shoulin kung fu style. I, as well as most Americans, at that time, only knew of two ways of battling bad guys. (Aside from shooting them, and boxing them.) That was by using Karate, or Kung Fu.
You don't even have to go to rural China - just about any public building in Guangzhou (outside of the ultra-modern Tianhe District) offers the same, er, culturally enriching experience. :)
Travel India to get the “full monty” eye-opening experience.
OTOH in Shanghai and Beijing, at least the parts I saw, there was a campaign underway to put lots of modern public restrooms in high-traffic areas. So things are getting better fast.
In before arrogant idiots start lambasting you for nothing.
What is the breed of dog that performs CPR?
You are paid ChiCom propagandist blogging form behind a red firewall. F off.
He’s a ChiCom hack.
Lots of websites with hair-curling photos. Here's one of 'em: Filthy India – not for sensitive viewers! (47 pictures)
That one threw me for a loop, and I have seen some bad ones.
I bet people there have a really strong immune system if they make it to adulthood.
I think that the little puppy is a Rottweiler. I think it’s kind of cute how he tries to pound on the heart, and then lays on the neck instead of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Yeah. I’ve been to Chengdu. I thought that it was a nice mid-sized city.
I know that 14 million people is enormous compared to the USA, New York City only has 4.6 million people. But, still it’s really got everything you need, and it is the gateway to some outstandingly beautiful scenery.
I never ate any hamburgers there, I was too busy stuffing my face with BBQ and hot pot.
Though, finding a good hamburger is hit or miss. The best ones around these parts (Zhuahi) are in Western restaurants, and they charge USA prices YIKES! I mean, really 60 RMB for a pint of Guinness stout? Why not just buy a bottle of wine or two, how about ya?
The videos are pretty good. Most come from TicToc, though some are your’s truly. What did you think about the crazed Chinese driver? Man, he certainly couldn’t drive for shooot.
I was hoping to see what people thought about the Monkey style Kungfu, but I guess no one actually read the article and watched the videos. Sigh.
NYC has over 8 million people.
.
For later.
L
By far the worst bathroom experience that I ever had was on the North Korean border outside of Harbin.
It was a doll-house sized brick construction. The floor was all shit. You would walk on top of randomly placed bricks. You would then try to balance yourself on two of them as you did a Chinese crouch-crap. Needless to say the stench was over-powering.
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