Thursday, July 10, 2008

Only in China...(I)

So, we decided that there is so much amazing randomness in China, we must document it diligently for our loyal readers back home. That's you!

Thus begins an intermittent mini-series in our blog that will be titled "Only in China..." We will follow each title with things you can really only find in China. What kinds of things, you ask? Oh, you'll see.

We'll start with some easy ones. Here goes!

Only in China...

can you buy puppies in a box on the street.

Yours for only 200RMB (less than $30USD, which I might remind you is also just a starting point for bargaining). It's so tempting...



And only in China can you buy "baijiu" liquor (one of our friends here described it as vodka's gangster uncle) in a plastic bag. Looks kind of like an IV bag...


Yours for only 3.5 RMB (that's about, oh...5o cents USD).


How anyone would have the courage to drink this stuff, I don't know.


Exciting stuff, huh?

8 comments:

Florence said...

hahaha. man.. that puppy in a box was so cute. haha and man.. liquor in a bag?! It did look like an IV bag.

Unknown said...

liquor in a bag...goes great with chicken in a bag!

J.Dou said...

haha. haven't seen the chicken in a bag, but did see duck in a bag. and a person in a bag, you know one of those striped nylon bags that grandmas use to carry everything.

marilyn took me by that street where JK got those mao lighters (for two! for two!)...and some guy selling scorpions on a stick accosted our friend who's going to school in canada: "hey, do you have anything from canada that you can show me?"...totally creepy.

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

that is a classy meal:
chicken/duck in a bag, complemented by liquor in a bag, followed by a light snack of scorpions on a stick (cooked with mao lighters sold on the side of the street). YUMMO!

hahhaa. what the heck would that guy expect to see your friend carrying that's from canada?...bet you he was hoping he'd have something to throw in as a gift-for-free-if-you-buy-a-puppy-on-this-street today!

Unknown said...

boy o boy im excited to see where this lil mini series goes youre gonna have to hook a brotha up with some of vodka's gansta uncle. that stuff sounds wicked. haha watch out for those mao lighter sellers, they can be aggressive.

Jirat said...
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Jirat said...

It's my dog in a box!..yeah, baby.... *nods*

I remember seeing the liquor bag at this store a couple times in E.Asia, and I totally thought it was one of those prune juice things. The sour, sweet, and salty kind that Chinese people love so much. It's a good thing I'm not one of those Chinese people that adore that flavor, or else I would've gotten one and before I know it, I'd be passed out on the Canteen floor (ok, worst hygiene nightmare ever), and Steve and I would've had a long talk.

Speaking of one of my worst hygiene nightmares ever. The other day I was cooking dinner for G3, and had bought three cartons of chicken breasts b/c it was $1.99 a pound at Safeway! Anyway, I was ready to throw away the cartons into the trash can, until I noticed that the trash can was full to the brim (I remembered it being empty in the morning, but I guess trash fills up really quickly when you live with four girls), but it was too late. I had already tilted my hand to motion the cartons into the trash. I tried steering it away from the trash can and gained balance, but it was one of those clumsy days, so in slow motion, three cartons with chicken breasts juice and its foamy pad drops away from my hand and on to the floor, meanwhile the juicy pads ejects from the cartons, takes off, and lands on my left bare thigh (I was wearing shorts), and slowly slides off down to my ankle, drenching its raw chicken juice all over my poor, poor, skin. You can imagine what happened after that. Best day ever.