My friend Aman is writing some great stuff in his travel blog about his trip around the world. One of my favorite excerpts:
Everything is going well, except I have been "China-ed" four times in the last 24 hours. For those of you who don't know, to be China-ed is to have your basic expectations about goods and services far from met in shocking and awfully disappointing ways. For example, if you're ever eating a meal in China and you see a small container of dark black liquid on your table and think to yourself, "Oh great, some soy sauce to put on my Chinese food, I love soy sauce!" be forwarned: you're about to get China-ed by some very potent vinegar.
Suffering from my first upset stomach of the trip yesterday, I sought out a public bathroom in the Russian flea market. Walking into one expecting sweet relief, the bathroom China-ed me and offered me a Chinese-style hole in the ground to squat over rather than a toilet. Later, at the grocery store, I bought what looked to be a delicious chocolate croissant, opening it 20 minutes later only to discover that what I expected to be chocolate was actually some sort of black sesame paste, and borderline inedible. These are both fantastically tragic examples of getting China-ed (because they could very easily happen to you in China, and probably have if you've ever been there). The two today were milder - I opened what I expected to be a Cup-O-Noodles and found no noodles. Thinking it was supposed to be some sort of soup, I poured boiling water in, only to realize that (I believe) it's supposed to be mashed potatoes, which turned into mashed potato gruel at my worthy hand. Last, I thought I was buying a delicious Kit Kat type bar, only to find that it was some squishy marshmallow crap. China knows I'm coming and is sending me a message. Fuck you China, you can't scare me, I know your game and I see through your tricks!
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