CHINA
Country Overview:
“Love the food, hate the government”
I arrived in China in May 2013 and left August 2020. I taught English for awhile, did my master’s of politics & foreign policy at Tsinghua University, worked for a year at China Today, and then two years at Xinhua News Agency. I spent most of my time in Beijing, but also traveled to Shanghai, Wuhan, Inner Mongolia, Shenzhen, Panjin, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xi’an, Sanya, Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Went to a restaurant that only served spicy food
The menu had pictures of chillies next to items based on the level of spiciness. Which wasn’t very useful because there was no baseline for comparison. So I figure that a 3 chili dish will be edible, and it was, along with copious amounts of rice, beer, and a giant glass of water. All in all, most dishes were pretty tasty. On the other hand, others scalded my entire mouth and left me wondering how people could rationally eat it, smile, and declare it “delicious”
Cheap hot pot place was amazing
Choose spicy or non spicy broth, choose what you want to cook, then go for it.