Street Food

Street food in action

For a foreigner living in China it is more than possible to continue having a western-style breakfast each day -- if you have the spare cash that is. When I say western-style, I mean the basics of one bowl of cereal and a piece of toast with butter (and jam if you like). It is very easy to buy milk and bread everywhere here, although 99.9% of all the bread I have eaten in China is rather sweet. Problems arise with butter and cereal. In Wenzhou these goods just aren't available in the supermarkets, the only place to buy such things is at D&L square (which I briefly mentioned here). Almost everything in the "European Supermarket" is imported, and it comes at a price. So, if money is no option you can quite easily live in China with a daily dose of home.

On the other hand, I find that a Chinese breakfast can be equally, or sometimes more satisfying than anything my toaster can prepare -- and it comes at a fraction of the price (literally). I don't particularly like going to a Chinese restaurant for breakfast, I simply cannot adapt to eating similar dishes I would normally have at night in the morning. I find the best way to eat in the early hours is on the street. Some of the most enjoyable food I have eaten has come from street vendors, the food is quick, simple, and breakfasty enough to suit me just fine. At the top of the list is Baozi, a kind of bun with pork or vegetables inside (I go for the veggie one). How much for two? 2 RMB. Next on the list is something called luo bo si bing (see above), which is kind of like a fried pitta bread with white carrot inside. How much for one? 1.5 RMB. If you are not still full yet, there are numerous other options available on the mean streets of Wenzhou, from balls of rice to sticks of deep-fried dough. To wash it down, for 1 RMB a nice bag of warm soya milk can be yours -- that's right a bag (see below). The grand total for this street-food-breakfast: 4.5 RMB (that's around 45 British pence at the current exchange rate). Or you could just have a Macdonald's breakfast for 35 RMB....

Nothing like a nice bag of soya milk to perk you up in the morning

Home Studio Feng Shui

One of my hobbies (I guess I can call it a hobby now) is making use of, and adding to my home studio. I studied a music degree at university, and started piecing together a DIY studio in my second year there. I decided that I wanted to compose, record, and produce some music in the comfort of my home. At university everything was time restricted and of course there were many students in the building. I sometimes felt inspiration was hard to come by this way. After much researching I realised that I could put together some of my work at home with the right gear. This is where the credit cards came involved (I'm still paying them back now). After a few months I managed to rig together a fairly impressive studio that I could use for many musical purposes.

After finishing the course I decided to take a break from music altogether. My aim was that this would be a temporary thing. I would work for a while, have a holiday in China, come home, and start it all up again. Things obviously didn't turn out that way. Once I had decided to come back to China I knew that leaving my keyboard (a Roland Fantom X8) at home would be a mistake. Not only would it be neglected for a year or two, but it would also be devaluing by the day. So I logged onto eBay and sold it immediately. Actually, the money of the sale paid for my plane flight and financed my first two months in China.

I returned home 5 months later, and felt that more of the equipment should go. Just like the keyboard, some of the other items would just get old. New technology is released all of the time, it is wasteful to keep them in my bedroom collecting dust. So I sold some more. By this point my studio was down to more than half the size.

Today I posted off the remaining pieces of gear that I own: my Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro mixer, and my M-Audio BX8 speakers. The reason I had kept these for so long was that I didn't want to see them go. Unfortunately I don't know how long I will stay in China, and after reading an article about Feng Shui the other day, I realised that getting rid of them was the right thing to do. When I do return from China for good, I can slowly rebuild my studio again -- I hope.

Mackie Mixer, I will miss you the most

My studio speakers (confusingly, in music we actually call them monitors, not speakers)

Pounds Now on Sale in China

There were many reasons for me to come to China, but there were also a few reasons for me to stay at home. One of these reasons was money.

After finishing university I came out with some debt that needed paying off ASAP. I had previously taken out a couple of credit cards which mainly went on buying music equipment to help with my coursework. My plan was to finish university, find a job, any job, and pay them off. Things didn't run so smoothly as my trip to China came just seven months after finding work (which I was happy to get out of anyway). Then, once again, I used my credit card to fund the plane trip from the UK to China and back. I never expected I would want to come back to China after my holiday, but it felt so much like the right thing to do. I guessed I would be able to pay off my credit cards while working in China -- surely no problem.

In fact, there were many problems, and I found out that it is impossible to transfer money from one bank account to another without being completely ripped off. The final blow came when I travelled back to Hangzhou, went to the HSBC -- who I have an account with -- and failed to put any money into my account. Why? Because HSBC in China only deals with domestic transactions. The world's local bank indeed.

Now, with Kimi's help I have saved up some money and exchanged the Chinese Yuan (RMB) into British Pounds. The first time I did this was here, and the second time was just a couple of days ago. I now have a worrying amount of cash to bring back home with me when I come back at Christmas (all £50 notes too).

It is an especially good time for me to exchange money because of the terrible economic disaster going on in England. I remember four years ago when I came to China, the exchange rate was GPB 1 = CNY 15.4. When Kimi exchanged my money the other day, it was an incredible GBP 1 = CNY 11.8. But today I was shocked again. Things have changed dramatically in just two days. On Windows Vista, my exchange rate gadget is now telling me this:

That is a fair amount of extra money I could have got with my RMB if I had waited just two days. I can only assume it will get worse now that Gordon Brown has revealed recession is happening. I think it is time for everybody to leave England and come to China.

Finally, my seven-day working week is now over!

Money-Making: The Chinese Way

Last night I had a rare quiet moment at Web and was chatting with a couple of my favourite students in the "Web Café". One of them, James, asked me if I could go to his apartment after work to give my opinion on something. His home is very close to mine so I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look.

He lead me into the same building that I previously mentioned here. This time it was to the seventh floor. As we made our way up the floors in the lift, I asked him how much he pays to live in such a place (it's a standard question in China, not taboo in the slightest). The price he gave me was astonishing, only 550 RMB (about £45) a month. After my painful experiences of apartment hunting in China, I couldn't believe such a good area and modern building could be so cheap. Why couldn't I find such a deal? I was given my answer as soon as we came to the front door -- which was already open.

The apartment was divided into seven different bedrooms, with two people in each. There were two bathrooms and one laundry room for everybody to share, but no kitchen. It was like a halls of residence for first year university undergraduates. I was also surprised to see one of my colleagues, Cucu (pronounced "cuckoo") there. At first I asked her, "what are you doing here?", not even thinking that she would be a tenant. When she replied that she was indeed living there, it hit home that as a lao wai in China I am getting paid considerably more than my local workmates. It's not fair and I don't like it, but it seems to be the way every school in this country is being run right now.

As I sat in James' bedroom the conversation came back to the original reason I was there: for my opinion. I was very interested by now to know what he wanted my point of view on. He walked to his wardrobe and revealed a grey suit jacket. In fact, it was a fake Dior suit jacket (see top right), and he wanted to know if he could make any money from selling them. I couldn't help but think, "why has he asked me here for this? I'm the last person who knows anything about clothing." He told me why: apparently I wear stylish clothes and if I think it's good he'll think it's good too (which is ridiculous, but very flattering all the same). Of course, my first question about the jacket was how much it cost him to buy one. He told me, 100 RMB (about £8). Wow, even in China that is a bargain. We spoke a little longer and discussed selling them together on eBay to the UK or USA. If there is a market for it I am convinced we could make a little more than £8 for each suit jacket online. He's going to buy twenty more and we might give it a go....

Guitar lessons have been going well so far, I found a great website with some well-structured lessons on it. Results have been quick and I'm finding the lessons pretty easy. This false sense of security is only due to my brief learning of the guitar previously, and the fact that I know all of the theory already. I am waiting to hit the brick wall of progress in a month or two. For anyone who doesn't know, this is the time when improvement suddenly becomes painfully slow, only motivation and sheer perseverance keep you going.

I've also started keeping a diary of Chinese words that I learn during each day. I had become fed up of forgetting everything that people tell me. If I come across a word I consider to be helpful or necessary I will write down the pin yin in my little green notebook (see left). Unfortunately I'm constantly having to carry it around with me in my pocket for it to be of any real use (which isn't too bad because it makes me feel a bit like a homicide detective). To memorize the words I will attempt to read them before I go to bed at night and then again after waking up in the morning.

It looks like October is a good month for starting new things.

Bad Eggs

A common recurrence I have seen while living in China is that hordes of people think that I am made of money. Why? Because I'm a foreigner. It's true that I get paid above the average wage for a Chinese person in this city, but I'm certainly not earning a fortune like so many of the millionaire Wenzhounese who drive around in their huge 4x4 Porsche cars all day.

Usually this way of thinking isn't a worry, but other times it can be tiresome. Shopping for many items can be very different here, mainly because some goods don't have fixed prices -- they can be bargained down. For something like a bottle of water, you would expect the shop assistant to sell it at a reasonable price that should need no energy for haggling. Sometimes, things can be different if you are a "wai guo ren" (the more polite way to say "foreigner" in Chinese). A drink that was once 3 RMB will now suddenly cost 4 RMB, or a pair of shoes that should be 150 RMB will be sold for 250 RMB. This kind of practice is even more common in tourist hot spots, they will rip you off left, right, and centre. I will not forget the time I bought a small statue of one of the terracotta army figures in Xi'an for 80 RMB (haggled down from 200 RMB) thinking I'd got a bargain. Soon after, I found the Dutch guy -- who was in our group -- had bought two larger statues at a total of 40 RMB from the shop next door. To add insult to injury, my terracotta emperor was beheaded in my bag on the way back to Hangzhou from Xi'an.

The reason I'm writing this is because I was once again hit by the rip-off yesterday. Kimi and I were on "Wu Ma Jie" (translates as "Five Horse Street"), a high street in Wenzhou where many of the major shops reside. After eating our dinner we were ready to go home, but too lazy to walk all the way, so we decided to get one of the many rickshaws -- cycled not pulled -- that plague this city. As soon as we walked up to the group of them huddled together at the end of the pedestrian street, the drivers were charging 10 RMB when usually it is 5 RMB. Just out of principle we would not accept being charged double the standard fare. We tried to get the price down but to no avail. We were about to leave when one of the drivers commented that it was 10 RMB because I'm a foreigner ("lao wai")*. This angered me slightly, so I called him a "bad egg" (ben dan) -- quite right too I thought. The stroll home was probably better for us anyway.

A lone rickshaw cycling near my home

I have just finished putting up on the wall some various photographs that I had printed yesterday (2 RMB per photo) of family, cats, home and sightseeing. Kimi and I also hung up the two hand-made-kind-of-Indian-looking fabric pictures I bought from Wuzhen last weekend. My room actually feels more like a bedroom and less like a prison cell now.

The two hand-made pictures from Wuzhen (the lady is in the living room, and the elephant in the bedroom) and my small wall of photographs

iMoan

Kimi bought an iPhone 3G today (see left, picture taken on my now very crappy-looking Sony Ericsson). For someone who usually analysis every aspect of any kind of decision, she quickly came to the conclusion that she had to have an iPhone -- and a white one too. The only way for people in mainland China to get hold of one of these things is to buy it from one of the many "phone markets". Here, they mainly deal with imported handsets that aren't currently, or will never be available in the country. The phones are then unlocked to accept a Chinese SIM card. All of this is completely illegal and ignored by the authorities (just business as usual in China).

The only drawback for the customer is that the phones come with an over-inflated price tag -- the iPhone being no exception to this rule. Why China Mobile haven't done everything they can to launch this must-have product here is beyond me. Apparently an agreement was in talks but things went sour and Apple pulled out.

I can show you how much money these people are making off each phone by looking at Kimi's transaction today. First of all, I'm sure most people would gasp at the £399 o2 are selling the 16GB iPhone for on a "pay as you go" tariff. But wait, today Kimi got hers for an eye-watering 5,500 RMB (about £460) -- no Apple warranty or guarantee included of course. This is in a place where dinner costs £2 and taxi fares are 75p. It's insane, but she doesn't seem to mind the ripping-off that has taken place.

Another drawback with the phone is that it is from America, so when Kimi came to synchronise it to iTunes, it requested that her AT&T card needed to be registered first....there is no AT&T card. She's going to have to go back to the market and get it dealt with tomorrow, she's not happy about it. Another annoyance is that the 3G capabilities of the phone are of no use here because there's no 3G coverage yet.

I will stop my moaning now and express my jealousy of not owning such a beautifully designed piece of equipment myself. It's no surprise it's been such a hit around the world. Sure, the battery-life may be terrible, but I imagine it's only because everybody can't take their hands off the thing all day.

Back of the white iPhone 3G

Speaking of illegal activity, copyright infringement is everywhere in China, from Adidos to Nokir they've thought of it all. I'm sure my local "Brioche Doree" bakery (see below) does not belong to this Brioche Doree. Although it seems the parent company have recently reinvented their logo, a quick look on google brings up the older, more familiar one.

Copyright infringement is everywhere

Hopefully we will be going to Wu Zhen and Xi Tang for the Mid-Autumn festival holiday. They are two traditional Chinese towns that were also filming locations for Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 3 (the parts where he is running around a very stereotypical Chinese scene which is supposed to be Shanghai in the movie).

Working On My Day Off

I had to work on my usual day off today because last week I took a three day weekend to visit Hangzhou. Although I wasn't looking forward to a longer week of work, today has been an OK way to start it.

Firstly, the amount of people at Web has significantly lowered. During the summer holiday we have had an influx of high school students whose parents didn't want them lying around doing nothing all day. This caused a huge number of uninterested students attending my classes, which was not my idea of fun. They all seem to be back at school now which is a relief for me and all of the other teachers.

In the afternoon I was asked by the sales department to chat to two young women from a local bank. They were both very nice and invited me to go horse riding and play golf sometime (!). I also asked them about my current financial problem to see if they could help. My problem is simple: I have saved up some RMB to pay off my credit cards; the exchange rate has been so bad in the UK that I thought I should make the most of it and convert my RMB to pounds; when I came to add these funds to one of my British bank accounts it was either impossible or ridiculously expensive (even HSBC, "The World's Local Bank" wouldn't do it). They made some calls and told me that I should be able to get a real Debit card (not just a cash card like I have now) which would make all of my problems disappear. Apparently they will be getting back to me soon with news of how I can open such an account. I can't relax knowing that I have so many pounds just hiding in a bulging envelope somewhere.

They gave me all £50 notes

* The picture on the top left was taken by a student through one of the glass walls at Web (without my consent).

The Cost of Living

There are some perks to being a resident in China. For example, in Wenzhou it couldn't be easier to find an unoccupied taxi, they are everywhere. Once you are in the taxi, the fare will usually cost around 75p. Also, catching the bus is just like at home, but the cost of travelling to any stop in the city is rather different (approximately 15p).

Food is also on the cheap in China too. Of course you can find plenty of restaurants that will cost an arm and a leg to eat at; but for eating on a daily basis there is a different option. Previously I would shop at the supermarket and buy enough groceries to feed me for a whole week. I was saving money -- or so I thought.

Since moving to Wenzhou I found that my working hours meant I had to eat out more and more. At first the cost was worrying, but then I realised that by regularly eating at "sensible" restaurants I was actually not spending any more money than I did at the supermarket. The food in these places is simple home-style Chinese cooking which is actually very healthy and completely different from our Western-produced Chinese food.

Tonight we went to the local Chongqing restaurant that serves some spicy dishes, almost identical to Sichuan style food. Inside, the restaurant has been recently refurbished and would look quite modern and chic if it was 1978. It's a comfortable environment with adequate air conditioning (a must if spicy food is on the menu), plenty of tables and waiters that haven't learnt to smile.

Three dishes are usually enough for two people to share. Tonight we ate:

• Mapo Tofu

One of my favourite Chinese dishes is Mapo Tofu. It's filled with a variety of spices, some of which can actually numb the inside of your mouth temporarily. The heat of this dish changes from day to day, sometimes it's very pleasant to eat and other times completely unbearable. That's part of the surprise.

• Chinese Cabbage

I'm not exactly sure of the English word for this vegetable. It literally translates as "White Cabbage" but I'm certain such a name doesn't actually exist. The Chinese know how to do vegetables and this is one of the best examples of how effective simple cooking can be. There are no hidden calories or trans fats in this.

• Aubergine

This dish consists of slices of Aubergine (they're usually purple and thinner in China) with spring onion, garlic and soy sauce. Usually, the chefs like to add tiny pieces of pork into this dish (and the Tofu too) which doesn't really benefit the dish at all. For me, it can be annoying because I am a vegetarian. Occasionally when we ask for no meat ("bu yao fan rou"), they put it in anyway.

• One bowl of rice

Well, of course a Chinese meal wouldn't be complete without a bowl of boiled rice.

So how much does all of this cost I hear you ask? Considering there is strictly no tipping in this country, the total comes to a breath-taking £2.00.

And that's why I love eating in China.