My experience with coffee in Dalian has been a varied one. Unlike Tea which has a long history in China, Coffee is only starting to make it’s mark. Young people consider visiting Starbucks/drinking coffee as a sign of status and an exciting fairly unusual thing to do.

The people I’ve spoken to who have said they like coffee, don’t like strong tasting coffee. I put this down to the rather weak (and dodgy tasting) coffee that one can get from small hot drinks sellers. Their market is cheap and cheerful, which mainly involves instant milk tea, with syrup as sugar and little sticky fruit things.

Water cooler/heaters are a common household item here, that either have water filters on the top or purchased 18L distilled water bottles that get delivered by bike (12yuan – 1pound20p), as tap water isn’t drinkable without boiling. So most people will have access to on-demand hot water. Nescafee and Maxwell House have both marketed their instant coffee powder extensively, and one can readily get these brands from supermarkets right the way down to little corner stores (of which there are plenty). This marketing has lead to the fact that I’ve been served instant coffee in a reasonably expensive cafe at a price which one would assume that they’d serve real coffee. The packaging of this instant coffee comes in a box of 25-30g packs with milk powder and sugar included, to which people add their on-demand water. The problem with this is that the quantity of water is usually too much, which makes their taste for coffee a weak one.

So pervasive the marketing has been (and relative youth for the taste of coffee), that acquiring real coffee is actually quite difficult. You can either (usually) buy it from imported product shops (such as the German Metro chain, or French Carrefoure) or you can buy it directly from real coffee shops such as Starbucks. The later option is expensive of course because you’re buying into the branding, the former however is still reasonably expensive because of hefty taxes placed on imported products (4-5pounds for 250g coffee). We (Miao and I) did however find a third place to buy: a small coffee maker shop. This is selling 500g bags of beans for 6pounds and they’ll grind it for you. It just so happens that the quality is also better than the Carrefoure espresso coffee I was getting, and the grinding is more appropriate to my method of brewing.

When I first came to China, onto instant coffee I go and the search for a method of making real coffee begins, as I had become accustomed to an inexpensive high pressure DeLonghi 14-Bar espresso machine at home.

Wanting a cheapish high pressure one (more than 5 bar) we looked in the household electrics shops, B&Q (yes it does have shops in China), and the aforementioned coffee shop and decided to buy a 30 pound 15 bar machine from taobao (Chinese Ebay) with a 3 month guarantee. There are seemingly lots of filter coffee makers, stove-top makers, cafetieres and 5 Bar pressure espresso makers, none of which took my fancy. Filter coffee makers aren’t good for just one cup. Stove top makers (ones that are metal hexagonal cup things) are bit a faff and I think need a flat stove, which we don’t have here (it’s shaped to fit a wok). 5 Bar espresso makers are pretty useless in my opinion and cafetieres tend to let the water loose a lot of heat.

It worked adequate to purpose, but with incredible engineering precision decides to break in it’s 4th month of operation. After considering the options, having decided not to spend 100 pounds on a coffee maker with decent pressure from a high street store, we became happy customers of the little coffee shop (near Tesco) of a siphon coffee maker. This performs better in taste than a cafetiere while serving the added function of keeping the coffee hot while brewing, and have been using it since.

I’ve now been in China for a year and a day, and what have I seen?

I’ve seen quite naturally that things perhaps aren’t as different as they first appear. People still have the same needs for education, jobs and job security, friendship, love and family. Some people like to help, while others try to cheat and take your money. Luxury items are expensive (though maybe more so than in the west) and everyday items are cheap. There are cars on the road, and toilets in the houses.

Of course these are just trivial observations, but tend to get lost when you are new to a place. All you see are the differences, of which there are many that come to mind. For me, the things I feel most strongly about is probably road safety, employment, education and traveling by train. Due to the fact that I’ve had some negative views about these aspects of life in China, which strangely doesn’t included internet censorship, as it hasn’t been much of an issue for me. Of the positives the following particularly stand out, low cost of living and restaurant patronage, low employment tax, native English speakers are easily employed in teaching jobs (and the relative ease of life that provides for) and a distanced appreciation of ones own country. Of course there are others, such as access to learning opportunities for Language, Music (Er Hu) and Sports (Tai Chi) and lax copyright enforcement from western content providers.

There are plenty of things that I miss from home, my family, friends, western food, affordable computer gear, affordable coffee. The things that I’m happiest about are of course being here with Miao and loosing 15kgs of weight and the negatives can’t knock that.

I preface the following list as being from a British middle class perspective.

1. cars driving and parking on pavements, 
2. people frequently walking on the road when there are large pavements at the sides,
3. pedestrian crossing lights that show green, that still allow cars to turn, 
4. driving test is done in a car park and gives the driver about 5 min experience in traffic (I take it on authority that this is true)
5. car crashes and collisions are resolved with a discussion and little in the way of physical aggression. 
6. purchased items can rarely be returned,
7. cheap effective local and national public transport
8. cars (baring taxis) are most definitely a commodity restricted to the upper middle class and above
9. e-commerce and online banking still feels new and people don’t trust it fully.
10. conservation of resources (energy, water and gas) is done to save money and less about saving the planet
11. utilities are paid for in person at an office in the city center (not by phone, fax, post or internet)
12. restaurants are much more affordable, good quality and healthy, but usually the internal stylings and customer service leave much to be desired. 
13. there are lots of public cleaners for the parks, streets and shopping centers
14. littering doesn’t have much of a stigma attached to it
15. taking out your rubbish means finding a place on the street where there’s a pile and leaving it there.
16. rubbish collection means driving around and looking for piles of rubbish.
17. people randomly spitting on/in/around the street

Here’s how this goes. Type in each phrase below with your own name in it (Type it in quotes!!!) into Google search. Paste the first thing it gives you. Have fun!!!

1. Google ”[your name] needs”:
Clearly Alastair needs the bathroom REALLY badly

2. Google ”[your name] looks like”:
Alastair, looks like you could do with a forum ;o)

3. Google ”[your name] likes”:
Alastair likes to surf this spot but you have to hike up and over the ridge with

4. Google ”[your name] says”:
If only we all did as Alastair says

5.Google ‘[your name]‘ wants:
Alastair wants to win talent contest.

6. Google ”[your name] does”:
Alastair does not have any lineup tags. 

First, I want to say, I love my family, I love my parents!

I was born in a happy family, at that time, both my father and my mother were doctors. The day my mother gave birth to me, my father was saving a young soldier who burn more than ninety percent of his skin. When he came to see my mother and I after he brought that soldier back to life, it was already the next morning. But from their smilling faces, I know I have the parents who love me very much.

Just before I entered the elementary school, we moved to Liaoning from Heilongjiang because of my father’s work. At that time ,he already has been an officer in the army. The first year when I was in the elementary school, everything went well, then my father got a transfer order again, he had to go back to Heilongjiang. While my parents thought the standard of education was higher in Liaoning, so my mother and I didn’t go with my father this time.

When my father was transfered back to Shenyang, it was already seven years later. During that time, we’ll meet at most four times one year, My mother looked after me almost all by herself. fortunately, I’m a good girl. As I grow up, I become to know and understand how hard my mother went through that period of time. Except the work pressure, she must take care of everything in the family.

I still remembered in 1998, China suffered the flood disaster, my father went to the frontline where I know was dangerous even if I was a young girl. Finally, he came home safely with glory.

Last year, we suffered the earthquake disaster, five days after it happened, my father went to Beichuan, built the Beichuan field operations hospital and be the headman. His hospital was the best one of the four field operations hospitals in Sichuan, that need hard work on every espects. On the other hand, he missed my university entrance examination. But it’s OK, he made contributions to our country and both my mother and I are proud of him.

At last, I want to say, in my family ,there are only three people, but we love each other so much.

Holiday tourism booms in Shenyang

Shenyang’s tourism has a good start in the Chinese Ox Year’s Golden Week Holiday. Shenyang City Tourism Administration yesterday said Shenyang receives tourists of 791,900 person-times and makes a total profit of (yuan)564 during Janurary 25-31. And with a order travel market, there is no complaint.

Moreover, the festival consumption of dense tourists and Shenyang citizens boots the regional commercial service industry. According to statistics, the three major commercial enterprises, including Shenyang Xinglong Happy Famiily Store, Zhongxing Shenyang Commercial Building and Shenyang Commercial City, exceed (yuan)120 million in sales.

The ice and snow tour is the most attractive one among those tourism projects in Shenyang. The ice and snow tour is especially popular during the Golden Week, official of the Shenyang City Tourism Administration said. Statistic [sic] shows that only Qipanshang ice and snow world recieves 64,000 person times, an increase of 37% year-on-year.

Weather Today: Conditions – Sunny, Wind – NW/2-3 Scale, Temperature -12-0 Degrees Centigrade.

Warm Reminder: Although today is a sunny day, the cold air is strong, so the temperature will begin to dive.