User Comments - feds

Posted on: Chinese Liquor

Guys, great job! About drinking culture in general, I found that the formalities of toasting and drinking hard liquor in general were mainly done by the older generations. Very few people under 40 seemed to drink anything but beer in Shanghai, much to the chagrin of their fathers and uncles. I really was surprized at the discrepancy between the 20/30-something generation and the 40/50-something generation. The older guys often drink 白酒 like water while the younger guys often prefer not to drink at all. From the stories I've heard, it sounds like there's a lot more drinking in Northern China as well.

Posted on: The Seven Year Itch

Hmm, John... it's about seven years since you got married, right? The timing of this lesson is questionable ; )

I noticed once my wife and I got to around 7 years of being together she'd jokingly question me about having an 'itch' every once in a while. For an imported idea it really seems to be hard-wired in to the Chinese psyche.

Posted on: Shanghai Expo Pavilions

Just went last night - Brazil and Canada had excellent pavilions, Mexico's was very good, and Algeria and Peru were decent.  The African pavilion, a huge building with many mini-pavilions inside, is a massive disappointment.  Most countries only have a couple of pictures up and some music videos.  Very limited info and no interesting cultural displays.  Most 'visitor's were simply running from one to another getting stamps on their expo passports and not even glancing at the country's display.  The ultimate example was Benin - they had nothing in their pavilion, I'm mean it was totally cleared out;maybe they haven't really opened or whatever.  But there was still one woman sitting there stamping passports.  How lame.  Still, it was better than Slovenia.  One of the best things to do is find a seat and watch the performances in the various squares they have.  Saw some great dancing and heard some great music.

Posted on: Shanghai Expo Pavilions

Just went last night - was very good... not the best but far better than most pavilions. Short video at the start, lots of touch screen panels to see pictures of different regions of mexico and find out information, plenty of art, and a great restaurant with food from Mi Tierra. There was a strange section with different heads set up where you could look in through the back of the eyes and see video clips of mexico. Great idea, but difficult to use many unless you're 4 feet high, and a little disorienting.

Posted on: Shanghai Expo Pavilions

7 million as of a couple days ago - looks like they won't hit 70 million unless they start shipping in people from the countryside and giving away more tickets... on the other hand, summer holidays are coming up for kids.