Another awesome slice-of-life video

Tremendously creative timelapse video of the streets (and ferryboats) of Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). Very well-edited. We've wanted to check out Vietnam for some time now - although after this I know we'll stick to taxis and public transport when getting around...

Video: Night Taxi Timelapse in Hong Kong

Posted tonight on YouTube by Agence-France-Presse (AFP); nicely done. I really miss Hong Kong...

weninchina.com now on Google+

Our Google+ page is now up and running.

Stop by and +1 us into one of your Circles, I guess is what we're supposed to say. For now, I just want to learn what G+ can do, figure out how to integrate it with all the other media pieces like our Facebook Page, YouTube channel, and Twitter feed.

There are some new media reviews coming soon, an article about Chinese "Lucky Numbers", and the seasonal update on Transpacific flight options. Stay tuned, and drop us a note with any suggestions, feedback, or just to say "Ni hao."

Still more Milk Coffee reviews!

While I continue to advocate for your local dairy to follow the lead of their Asian comrades and start putting half-gallons of rich milk coffee on supermarket and convenience store shelves across America, in the meantime I’ll keep presenting the various single-serve options you may come across.

The Milk Coffee Review Criteria are:

1. Creaminess. On the one side are the super-dense drinks like Vietnamese Café Su’a made with condensed milk, almost toffee-like in thickness. On the other side is watered-down coffee. An ideal milk coffee texture should resemble 2% milk – not too fatty but not too watery. Our scale is 0 = water; 10 = thick condensed milk.

2. Flavor. This is a more-complicated judgment, subject to individuals’ taste – as all the different drink options at Starbucks will attest. There seems to be a four-way balance in the drinks I’ve tried: water – chocolate – milk – espresso. A good milk coffee doesn’t have to shy away from cocoa notes but can’t ignore the coffee beans (otherwise it’s just chocolate milk.) Our scale looks at M = Milk; C = Chocolate; E = Espresso. 0 on the scale is weak; 10 is overpowering.

3. Price per serving. Milk coffee is supposed to be an everyday beverage, not a premium treat.

4. Caffeine punch. 0 for no effect; 10 for jarring.

The products in today’s review are:

Mr. Brown Cappuccino Iced Coffee, from King Car Foods of Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan and Japan have a deep relationship of trade, tourism, and food culture, so it’s not surprising that manufacturers there also caught on to the milk coffee trend. What is perhaps surprising is that it took until 1982 for production to begin; however, the brand began to be exported in 1986 and now reaches to 50 countries. The King Car firm, per their German website, (can’t find one for America...) is involved in “drinks, food, biotechnology, aquaculture, horticulture and chemical production.” Just like Ma and Pa back on the farm.

The brand and character design are a riff on Suntory’s “Boss” coffee

You do see this brand in Japan so the quality control is respectable. Again, like the UCC drink reviewed last time, the can is steel; it’s meant to stand up to containership travel. 

1. Creaminess - 4: Not unpleasant by any means but not necessarily better than average.
2. Flavor - If you’ve ever had an older specialty coffee brand like Butter-Nut, this is the taste that comes through. There is a nutty, caramelly, almost burnt undertone going on - but I’m not getting the espresso note as much. E = 5; C = 1; M = 3
3. Price - at $0.99 per 240 ml can, it’s one of the more-affordable options. (How do they afford the cost of the can?)
4. Punch - 3: I literally took a nap about an hour after drinking this can.

Recommendation: it’s a product you’ll have a reasonable chance of finding at your Asian grocer, and it’s ‘good enough’ if there are no other convenient choices. But I wouldn’t stock up on the stuff.

                                        

Frappuccino - Coffee flavor, from Starbucks of Seattle, Washington

This is the one milk coffee product most Americans will be familiar with; it is available everywhere - groceries, convenience stores, mass markets. They package it in recyclable glass containers that resemble old-fashioned milk bottles; the small size comes 4 to a carton; the larger size is sold individually.

1. Creaminess - 6: it’s a well-blended drink from first to last sip with good body and without any chalkiness. It’s not particularly rich-tasting, but by no means is it watery.
2. Flavor - You can certainly taste the milk in this drink, unlike many of the other products reviewed here, but it’s a coffee-based formula first. If you like Starbucks’ house blend, this is what it’s based on; that flavor comes through strongly. A little hint of chocolate delivered by the sugar (but they make other flavors if that’s what you really want.) E = 7; C = 2; M = 6
3. Price - The 12.5 ounce bottle as shown above runs $2.39 (Target) to $2.69 - $2.99 at convenience stores.
4. Punch - 5: right down the middle, nothing too extreme but adequate for a morning pick-me-up. They make an energy drink based on this with extra caffeine and vitamins, but I won’t be reviewing that on this site.

Recommendation: You’ve already had it, so you know if you like it or not. The packaging is way too excessive and the distribution chain is way too complicated - so the retail price per serving is far too high. If the UCC Kona Blend milk coffee can be imported and sold for $1.99 per can, you know you’re getting overcharged with this.

                                        

DyDo Milk Coffee, imported from Osaka, Japan

This is a brand I came across at a Seven-11 in Hong Kong in November 2010; have not been able to find it in the States or Vancouver. The company specializes in bottled beverages - coffee, tea, water, and nutriceuticals.

1. Creaminess - 5: like the Frappuccino, very well-blended and no grittiness, although a lighter texture and a bit more watery. More like a milk tea, if you’ve ever had one of those.
2. Flavor - The milk flavor was present but not strong; the coffee flavor was nice but not nearly enough of it in the drink. E = 5; C = 1; M = 4
3. Price - came to about $1.25 US - about average for the premium single-serve milk coffee brands available in Hong Kong.
4. Punch - 4: This was a pleasant morning accompaniment to a hotel-room breakfast of toast and fruit but not meant to be a keep-you-awake drink. Mornings start slowly in Asia, anyway.

Recommendation: if you’re in Japan or Hong Kong you’ll want to compare this to other brands; it was the easiest-to-obtain in Hong Kong; good quality at a reasonable price. DyDo has a Shanghai division so you may be able to get something similar in the PRC. If it ever becomes available in North America, put it on your “do-try” list.

For more product and media reviews about Chinese and East Asian culture, food, and travel - and resources to help you and your children learn more, visit www.weninchina.com/reviews.

New Hong Kong video! With Hello Kitty!

Epic levels of cuteness abound.

Come see our other videos at the weninchina YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/weninchina and our Hong Kong "stopover guide" at http://www.weninchina.com/Travel/Hong_Kong_Stopover.html

Book Review: Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

I originally read this book when it was released in hardcover back in 2008, but seeing the softcover version on a display last weekend at Barnes & Noble triggered me to go back and revisit it. I remember liking the book the first time through; how would it hold up?

Troost - who’s been published in the Atlantic Monthly and the Washington Post - doesn’t want to be called a “travel writer”, as his other books about exotic locales were written after living for extended periods among regular citizens in places like Vanuatu and Eastern Europe. While ‘ethnography’ might be a more-appropriate word for his other two books, here this books’ entire premise is Maarten traveling from place to place in China over several months, having wacky adventures, and writing a small essay about it. That’s a travelogue, and because he visited a different city each week he just doesn’t achieve the depth of cultural understanding found in his other works.

I’m not knocking the approach; if a publishing company wanted to make me an offer like that I’d jump immediately. (I even have an itinerary sketched out, and essay outlines for all the other parts of weninchina.com.) But then again I’m not trying to write a humor book or a picture of a people in transition.

Now, having read through the book again, I’ll still say it’s a fast-paced, fun, light read. There are 24 chapters, but the tone Troost uses is dry and conversational and one could finish the whole book in less than a week of evenings after the kids have gone to bed.

Looking over the notes I took, however, gives me the idea to make a Chinese Travel Channel Special Bingo - Troost hits all the obligatory observations and statements you’ve seen in every documentary and guidebook. Here are my entries for Chapters 2 and 3:

• Crazy driving / astonishing traffic
• Children peeing in inappropriate places in public areas
• Food made of animal bits we don’t eat in the West anymore
• The Cultural Revolution was really evil
• Blowing Noses
• Crossing the street is dangerous
• Chairman Mao
• Crazy ads on TV
• Luxury goods on ostentatious display
• June 4 is a mystery for Generation Y
• Smog in Beijing / dust storms

He circles all the way around the country, out through Shaanxi and Sichuan onto Tibet, then down through Yunnan to Guangzhou, up through the Yangtze Delta and finally into the northeast, ending with a boat ride along the Yalu River at the North Korean border, wishing to go back to the States.

I have to compare this book now to Kosher Chinese reviewed in an earlier entry. Both books are alternatingly funny and poignant, both are light reading, but Lost could have been Kosher if Troost had stayed put in one place for a couple months instead of taking the Grand Tour and hanging out with other Westerners. Take for instance how each author covers the gap between Han and non-Han ethnicities: Lost shows the absurd ‘surface’ of Han tourists in Yunnan having fun looking at Westerners interact with Bai people, whereas Kosher follows several young hill-tribe girls in Guiyang over two years, gets to know them and shows how the cards are stacked against them even though they keep trying. Both stories are true, but the latter one really helps you learn about what’s actually going on.

A book of just ‘surface’ observations can be fun, but too much at one place starts to feel like snarking, even though the author has only good intentions. Lost on Planet China is ultimately a highlight reel; a spice to add to your reading meal - entertaining in controlled doses, and with a balanced diet of other China media - but not a standalone dish.

For additional media and product reviews about China, its culture, and traveling around Asia, visit http://www.weninchina.com/Reviews/Reviews/Reviews.html

Book review: Chinese Folk Tales, Volume 1; adapted by Zhao Jie

Our daughter is now attending a Mandarin immersion school here in the Twin Cities, and each Friday is a library day. For this past week’s reading she chose this compilation of 8 short stories, printed in both Chinese characters and English. Published in 2005 in Beijing by Dolphin Press, this softbound book features full-color traditional illustrations on every page (which is why our sweet kindergartner chose it.)

These are legitimate and old folktales, although we aren’t told from when, what part of the country, or what religious/political order. They aren’t arranged with any particular theme or arc; each story is self-contained, and there’s no discussion by the translator or publisher to help non-native readers understand the context and “moral” of any story. Having read *some* Chinese history I can identify a few characters, but these stories just raise questions and leave me with nowhere to go to learn more.

The second issue is with the quality of the translation; this was clearly done in Beijing, in an academic setting, quickly, by someone (or a team of someones) who hadn’t spoken English conversationally with Westerners. The vocabulary swings from college-level to preschool-level without warning, phrases are awkwardly stuck together, and dialogue sounds like it came from the 1960’s. Characters are not clearly identified, and titles are not explained. Word choices are often dull: several stories refer to “devils” when we would use more-precise words to describe monsters, like demon, phantom, or satyr. Another story tries to explain how the Jade Emperor severely and negligently fouled setting up how the rain would fall, causing extreme flooding, but the words used literally make it sound as if he made a .03% accounting mistake.

The third issue with several stories is the almost random inclusion of implied or outright violence - political retribution, attempted assassination, and choking death. And let’s not forget the story of Yan Song, who basically prostituted his daughter to the Emperor’s court in order to gain political power (although that word isn’t used, the meaning is still there.) While I know Chinese society has adapted differently and is used to a different level of behavior - and that we can’t judge the past through today’s morals - the book is clearly intended for a Western audience.

Parents will need to pre-read each story before telling it with children - to use age-appropriate words, think up explanations and questions to get their child’s response, and to decide how they’ll phrase what goes on in certain scenes to still convey the main idea without getting dragged into explanations they don’t necessarily want to have at that time / age.

Was the book interesting? Yes, I learned more about a few New Year’s traditions, and heard a story about one of Taoism’s Eight Immortals that I found quite funny. But is this a book I’d recommend? No; for a casual read with kids, or to try to learn more about Chinese stories and customs, there’s just too much work for not enough insight.

For more reviews of media and products to help you learn more about Asian culture, click on http://www.weninchina.com/Reviews/Reviews/Reviews.html