Just checking in again

 Just checking in again

Just checking if the blog is still active.

Buying Food (Reposted from FB)

 I've noticed something odd about my behavior.

Occasionally I make a trip to Guilin because there is a European grocery store there where I can buy things that are impossible to get here in Yangshuo. So I go there - it's about a four hour round trip - and I buy canned goods (soups, baked beans, pasta sauces, canned tomatoes), all kinds of sauces (BBQ, Thai curry paste, satay etc), packs of flatbreads, decent quality bacon, cheese. I usually end up spending fifty to sixty pounds - 500-600 RMB. It's a lot more than I'd pay either for more easily available stuff here in Yangshuo or for the same stuff if I was back in England.

None of that is odd though.

The odd thing is that I bring them back to my apartment and put them in the freezer or on the shelf AND THEN DON'T EAT THEM. The reason I don't eat them is because every time I look at them and think of eating them I know that I can't replace them by popping across the street to Asda or Tesco. I have to make that four hour round trip again and spend a sizeable chunk of my salary.

Then, about three or four weeks later, I think, OK now I can start eating them. It's amazing how China can make you rethink your habits on normal everyday stuff like buying food.

And while we're on the subject

And while I'm on the subject I think it's marvelous that the spirit of Mary Whitehouse lives on. That lovely bunch of people over at One Million Moms want to ban the current version of the Muppets because it's "promoting interspecies romance and promiscuity".

You couldn't make it up.

In the interests of accuracy One Million Moms actually have around three thousand twitter followers while Kermit (who, for the hard of thinking, is a puppet) has more than seventy six thousand.

Would you like to hear my conspiracy theory?

I think they are actually a secret advertising agency. Anything at all that they want to ban, I want to see. A Million Billboards couldn't be more effective publicity.

In another campaign it was nice of them to bring to my attention the bizarre series "Black Jesus" of which I had previously been unaware. Thanks 1MM!