Four weeks' wisdom

Tis now a month since I stepped off the plane, and the last four weeks have been filled with many a new discovery, and countless lessons have been learned. Here are some of them.

Pork is a very clever meat. It often manages to sneakily find its way into supposedly vegetarian dishes. Research has found it has developed cunning disguise strategies that allow it to cling to pieces of tofu and not be noticed until bitten on.

If you are uncertain about how people are going to react to your nationality, just say you’re German. You’ll be loved. Telling people you’re Japanese, on the other hand, may not get you quite as far.

A bicycle is not fully loaded until you have packed it with at least 1.8 times your own weight, preferably in pieces of cardboard.

You can tell Koreans by their haircut. A fashionable bunch.

Everything can be faked. Cocktails are no exception. It is, therefore, possible for a vodka-based drink to give off a slight whiff of baijiu.

If you’re black in Beijing (especially outside the main business district), you may as well pick a Chinese name that means Sore Thumb. A colleague of mine is from South Africa, and he’s never seen as many heads turn in his life.

Tips are not given in Beijing, except in restaurants where they have gotten used to it and to cab drivers who don’t mind the extra money. Which is which can be found out solely by trying and risking to embarrass the life out of your waiter or driver.

Fortune cookies are not, and have never been, Chinese.

Starbucks outlets, apparently, sell their products at the same prices everywhere in the world. While selling a cup of coffee for EUR 3.40 may not be the most unusual thing to do in Dublin, it requires a lot of neck in Beijing.

Garlic is your friend. Embrace it.

You won't be able to avoid this little guy in Beijing, I tell thee.

Bis dann,

Nadine