When there are 1 billion people in your country...

...health standards appear to be the least of your concerns. I'm surprisingly okay with it- I mean, it's not like I have a choice right? On the other hand, here are some unhygienic oddities for your entertainment:


Water in public places is served hot because it has to be boiled before it can be consumed. (Bud, you think you dislike the taste of the water at Ma's house? I can literally taste dirt in the clear sink water I use to rinse after brushing my teeth.)

By Chinese custom, the school's department heads took me out to dinner on Tuesday. My supervisor had to use the restroom before we walked home. One of the waitresses was washing utensils in the public restroom...

I guess just rinsing produce is not good enough to sanitize it, because all the dish soap bottles have some variation of this suggestion:

"You obviously haven't tasted my Palmolive potatoes!"

I attended a Christmas Eve celebration put on by the local, private language school, and look what drew its last breath on my delicious pancake-bread-treat:

[sigh] I just pulled off the top layer and continued eating