Liuzhou Meet & Learn

Whilst Brits tend towards pubs and bars for their evening socialising, the locals in Liuzhou go to the 烧烤 BBQ to chat and drink late into the night. These restaurants are on roadsides throughout the city and, given the great weather in summer here, provide the best opportunity for some al fresco dining with Chinese characteristics. By all means go to the BBQ for your main meal but many locals, after having dinner at home or elsewhere, descend on these restaurants for 宵夜, which roughly translates as a "midnight snack". Sitting outside on benches or yellow plastic chairs, you'll see dozens of tables packed with people eating 烤鱼 BBQ fish, 串 skewers of meat and veg, 炒米粉 fried rice noodles and other specialities. As well as the regular BBQ stalls, there are also some speciality places, including our favourite Mongolian style restaurant which serves up the most amazing lamb legs and ribs. Sitting in 30 degree heat at 11pm, eating amazing food, drinking cold, cheap, wate...

To welcome everyone back from the winter vacation in February, we put our cooking skills to the test, ate far too much and, as far as I'm aware, avoided giving each other food poisoning. The Chinese are obsessed with food and, if you spend much time in the country, you'll find yourself following suit. We certainly have. The food was as varied in its origins as the chefs themselves, ranging from a Denver omelette, fishcakes, fried rice, steak, quiche, sushi, popcorn chicken and the biggest 粽子 (a type of glutinous rice dumpling) I've ever seen! There were also the obligatory 番茄炒蛋 tomato with scrambled eggs and 可乐鸡翅 cola chicken wings; the two dishes that always make an appearance as all 1.4 billion Chinese are able to cook them. I was amazed at the culinary skills on display, even from those who claimed not to know what they were doing. This is an event that we'll definitely hold again, especially when the weather improves and we can make use of one of the man...

We're not quite a year in, but the end of the winter break seems like an appropriate time to take stock of what's been achieved since we kicked things off in the spring of 2018, and to announce some changes as we move forward... What began as a fairly impulsive decision to strike out from some of the more unsavoury and negative elements of the expat community here quickly developed into a regular meetup attended by foreigners and locals alike. Weekly attendances rose to around 30 and the busiest events saw more than 40 people turn up - our groupchat membership topped 100! Due to the somewhat unexpected popularity of these events, we branched out into organising BBQs, KTV nights, CS days out and, more recently, overnight trips. This all culminated in the first Liuzhou Meet & Learn Christmas Party, which you can read more about here . This event was hugely oversubscribed, and really well received. It's provided the impetus to continue with what we're doing and m...

As the end of the winter break draws near, we decided to release our inner warrior and shoot some arrows... Global tensions are high at the moment, relationships between super powers increasingly strained - who knows when things will suddenly flare up and tip over into full scale war? After the inevitable apocolypse, we're going to need skills like archery so, ever one to plan for every possible eventuality, I decided Liuzhou Meet & Learn shouldn't leave these kind of things to chance. Like a band of merry men we went to the local archery range for a lesson and some practice.  After a being taught the basics of posture and technique, we got to the shooting and, in a suprising turn of events, we actually weren't that bad at it, definitely more Robin Hood than Friar Tuck. Apart from one member though, who kept hitting my target instead of the one in front of him; but I won't name and shame. *ahem* Isaac. If you're interested in joinin...

Undoubtedly the biggest week of the year in China is nearly over, and the year of the pig is upon us. Here's a short update on how we've been celebrating... There are a lot of misconceptions about how China does Chinese New Year, often exemplified by confused visitors to Beijing and other big cities wondering why there's nobody there and why anything of interest has shut up shop for the week. "But where are all the fireworks and dragon dances", they cry forlornly into the empty void. Unlike our new year celebrations in the west, this is very much a family affair and, owing to the movement of people from the countryside to cities during the last 30 years, the need to spend time with family explains the mass exodus from urban centres as everyone heads back to their 老家 family home in the village. We were very lucky to be invited by friends we know through Liuzhou Meet & Learn to celebrate with their families. So we headed off, accompanied by unseasonably ...

Whilst the New Year that we, and indeed most of the world, celebrate pales into insignificance when compared with 春节 Chinese New Year here, a group of our members were determined not to let that stop the revelry. So, to picturesque 阳朔 Yangshuo we went... Continuing to organise things in the city will, hopefully, encourage others to do the same in the future and, although the Chinese seem pretty slow on the uptake, the foreign contingent has already put together a number of their own events. So, while I can't claim credit for organising this trip, I was really glad to be a part of it. Especially as last new year was a bit of a washout. In total, 11 of of us travelled to Yangshuo, a stunningly beautiful town set on the banks of the 漓江 Lijiang River, surrounded by amazing karst mountains. I'd be lying if I said that drinking to excess wasn't on the agenda and Yangshuo doesn't disappoint. Well, actually, it disappoints if you're looking for tasteful or classy pl...

It's been a while since the last update but our activities continue apace. Rather than an indication of things slowing down, the lack of updates has actually been due to a combination of VPN issues (now resolved, fingers crossed) and new business ventures occupying most of my time. But rest assured, we're still here... To bring you up to date, I introduce out biggest event yet and, as far as I've been told, the city's first traditional Christmas party! This event was on a different scale to what we've peviously organised and was so popular that we had to limit the amount of attendees; we actually ended up with a waiting list in double figures. It was a great night and, hopefully, we can build on this success and make an event big enough for everyone to attend next year. With traditional Christmas snacks and drinks, including home made mince pies, mulled wine and cider, peppermint creams, chocolate drops, garlic breadsticks and many more treats, this was ...