Eight months ago, me and Steph packed up our life in a (relative) hurry, and moved from China to Thailand.
It’s been… an emotionally exhausting eight months. The other day, me and Steph were contemplating over a beer whether we would do it all again - knowing *everything* that we know now.
I’m not sure if any of you actually care about any of this, but the answer is… probably? Maybe? We’ve got a… complicated array of feelings, if you’ve got a hot minute for a read:
1. At the time of the move, things in China were looking increasingly dire, re when and if they were ever going up again. The way the world ends up always looks inevitable with the benefit of hindsight, but it’s worth highlighting that it took an almost unprecedented social movement within China to finally force the government’s hand to end the Zero-COVID policy (though I’m sure some particularly dire looking economic data didn’t hurt). Could we have simply waited seven months for the borders to have opened? Definitely – if we had known for *certainty* that it’d have been just another “seven months of suckiness”, we wouldn’t have pulled that trigger. I mean… we were quite happy in China.
2. One of the great uncertainties of the move was whether Steph would be allowed to leave at all. During Zero-COVID, Chinese citizens were barred from non-essential international travel – whether the wife of an American moving to Thailand long term counted as ‘essential’ was definitely a grey area. It’s difficult to describe the roller coaster that was (1) waiting alone for a half an hour outside the Shekou border, as border authorities were figuring whether she could leave (2) hopping on a flight to Bangkok, wondering if and when we’d ever be able to go back to China again, followed by (3) landing, getting our life in order, and finally being free of all the Zero-COVID restrictions. No getting tested every 72 hours, no showing codes to get into places, no tirelessly explaining to people that ‘I know, I’m a foreigner, but I haven’t left the country since 2019…’
3. But at times, it was definitely a little difficult to edit some of our videos last year. Our ‘secret sauce’ has always sort of been to travel to some smaller city in China, find some fantastic food that hasn’t made much of a footprint abroad, and attempt to recreate it to the best of our ability. We rely on some of the pictures/videos we take to test the recipes, and we try to splice them into the videos whenever possible (always iPhone footage, but hey). During that time, scrubbing through Shunde footage, Guiyang footage, travel footage… it was kind of rough. Because while you know that you’d *likely* be able to swing back in someday (even if you had to quarantine), there’s always that nagging feeling that… maybe this was it? Maybe you won’t be able to return? From a global perspective, it’s not like that’s unheard of…
4. During that time, a continual source of comfort for us was the Chinese community in Bangkok – particularly in Huai Khwang (i.e. the newer ‘Flushing-esque’ Chinese neighborhood here in Bangkok). Now, we’ve always been big believers in trying to get out there and experience the local culture wherever you are, to the best of your ability – whether it’s in China, or Thailand. So while the Chinese comfort food offered up here was never a priority per se, on a rough day going over to the Chinese supermarket in Huai Khwang and commiserating with the owners… gave you a sense that you weren’t experiencing this all alone.
5. But, the last couple months of China opening up again? It’s hard to overstate how much it’s been an *enormous* relief to us. I mean, while our respective state apparatuses using our tax dollars on a high stakes game of bloons the last couple weeks doesn’t exactly bode well for geopolitical stability in the future, that’s sort of… ‘same as it ever was’. The borders are open. We’re planning a handful of trips back to China this year, which we’re really looking forward to.
6. So then, obvious question – will we move back? Not in the next couple years, at least. Because while I’ve just dwelled a bit on what made leaving China difficult, coming to Thailand’s also been… incredibly energizing. New country, new language – makes me feel like I’m in my 20s again, ha. There’s a real benefit to being jolted outside of your comfort zone. There’s just… so much to learn.
7. And for the channel? I think getting your feet down into a different soil can also give you a radically different perspective on your home cuisine. Like, before coming, we had the vague idea that we might be able to cover some of the dishes of the Chinese diaspora here in Thailand – we knew that there’s a ton of Teochew influence, in particular. But once you leave those original borders… the lines aren’t so clear, and things end up getting jumbled in fascinating ways. Like, where does Thai-Chinese food end, and Thai food begin? In Bangkok, there’s often Som Tam and oyster omelet on the same menu! Or perhaps equally interesting is to see how people in modern Thailand interact with Chinese food in the here and now: like, every day in our neighborhood we see people queuing up for “Mala Suki” – Sichuan-ish single-person sized hotpot with ingredients going around by conveyor belt. Or just down the road, you could chase that down with some Tom Yum dumplings from our favorite Taiwan-style restaurant. You can start to see how food travels, adapts, and localizes. It's no longer something distant, something you read about… it's something vibrant and vivid and happening right in front of your eyes – and you can taste it.
So yeah. Here is home for now. If you want to know more about that aforementioned ‘newer Chinese neighborhood’ here in Bangkok, recently we did a video on the topic together with our good friend Adam. Not going to link it here because the algorithm seems to nerf posts with videos, but it’s the most recent video if you swing over to their channel: youtube.com/@OTRontheroad
And as an aside, Adam was actually in a similar position as us, actually – left China after spending the last decade there (we crashed at his place when we first got in). He was a bar owner and restauranteur in China – I got to know him quite well because he was one of a handful of close friends that’d always be down to try out X new restaurant or Y regional cuisine. After moving here, he decided to try his hand at making videos instead of jumping right back into the F&B meat grinder. And while I’m pretty much the definition of biased, I do quite like what they’re doing over there. While in Chinese there’s the formidable A Xing, I’ve always felt that English language YouTube’s always been lacking smart food+travel content. Food geekiness-wise, think of their content as something of the mid-point in between us and Mark Wiens, I’d say. So if you’re in the market, definitely check them out. @OTRontheroad , in case you got lost there.
Chinese Cooking Demystified
Eight months ago, me and Steph packed up our life in a (relative) hurry, and moved from China to Thailand.
It’s been… an emotionally exhausting eight months. The other day, me and Steph were contemplating over a beer whether we would do it all again - knowing *everything* that we know now.
I’m not sure if any of you actually care about any of this, but the answer is… probably? Maybe? We’ve got a… complicated array of feelings, if you’ve got a hot minute for a read:
1. At the time of the move, things in China were looking increasingly dire, re when and if they were ever going up again. The way the world ends up always looks inevitable with the benefit of hindsight, but it’s worth highlighting that it took an almost unprecedented social movement within China to finally force the government’s hand to end the Zero-COVID policy (though I’m sure some particularly dire looking economic data didn’t hurt). Could we have simply waited seven months for the borders to have opened? Definitely – if we had known for *certainty* that it’d have been just another “seven months of suckiness”, we wouldn’t have pulled that trigger. I mean… we were quite happy in China.
2. One of the great uncertainties of the move was whether Steph would be allowed to leave at all. During Zero-COVID, Chinese citizens were barred from non-essential international travel – whether the wife of an American moving to Thailand long term counted as ‘essential’ was definitely a grey area. It’s difficult to describe the roller coaster that was (1) waiting alone for a half an hour outside the Shekou border, as border authorities were figuring whether she could leave (2) hopping on a flight to Bangkok, wondering if and when we’d ever be able to go back to China again, followed by (3) landing, getting our life in order, and finally being free of all the Zero-COVID restrictions. No getting tested every 72 hours, no showing codes to get into places, no tirelessly explaining to people that ‘I know, I’m a foreigner, but I haven’t left the country since 2019…’
3. But at times, it was definitely a little difficult to edit some of our videos last year. Our ‘secret sauce’ has always sort of been to travel to some smaller city in China, find some fantastic food that hasn’t made much of a footprint abroad, and attempt to recreate it to the best of our ability. We rely on some of the pictures/videos we take to test the recipes, and we try to splice them into the videos whenever possible (always iPhone footage, but hey). During that time, scrubbing through Shunde footage, Guiyang footage, travel footage… it was kind of rough. Because while you know that you’d *likely* be able to swing back in someday (even if you had to quarantine), there’s always that nagging feeling that… maybe this was it? Maybe you won’t be able to return? From a global perspective, it’s not like that’s unheard of…
4. During that time, a continual source of comfort for us was the Chinese community in Bangkok – particularly in Huai Khwang (i.e. the newer ‘Flushing-esque’ Chinese neighborhood here in Bangkok). Now, we’ve always been big believers in trying to get out there and experience the local culture wherever you are, to the best of your ability – whether it’s in China, or Thailand. So while the Chinese comfort food offered up here was never a priority per se, on a rough day going over to the Chinese supermarket in Huai Khwang and commiserating with the owners… gave you a sense that you weren’t experiencing this all alone.
5. But, the last couple months of China opening up again? It’s hard to overstate how much it’s been an *enormous* relief to us. I mean, while our respective state apparatuses using our tax dollars on a high stakes game of bloons the last couple weeks doesn’t exactly bode well for geopolitical stability in the future, that’s sort of… ‘same as it ever was’. The borders are open. We’re planning a handful of trips back to China this year, which we’re really looking forward to.
6. So then, obvious question – will we move back? Not in the next couple years, at least. Because while I’ve just dwelled a bit on what made leaving China difficult, coming to Thailand’s also been… incredibly energizing. New country, new language – makes me feel like I’m in my 20s again, ha. There’s a real benefit to being jolted outside of your comfort zone. There’s just… so much to learn.
7. And for the channel? I think getting your feet down into a different soil can also give you a radically different perspective on your home cuisine. Like, before coming, we had the vague idea that we might be able to cover some of the dishes of the Chinese diaspora here in Thailand – we knew that there’s a ton of Teochew influence, in particular. But once you leave those original borders… the lines aren’t so clear, and things end up getting jumbled in fascinating ways. Like, where does Thai-Chinese food end, and Thai food begin? In Bangkok, there’s often Som Tam and oyster omelet on the same menu! Or perhaps equally interesting is to see how people in modern Thailand interact with Chinese food in the here and now: like, every day in our neighborhood we see people queuing up for “Mala Suki” – Sichuan-ish single-person sized hotpot with ingredients going around by conveyor belt. Or just down the road, you could chase that down with some Tom Yum dumplings from our favorite Taiwan-style restaurant. You can start to see how food travels, adapts, and localizes. It's no longer something distant, something you read about… it's something vibrant and vivid and happening right in front of your eyes – and you can taste it.
So yeah. Here is home for now. If you want to know more about that aforementioned ‘newer Chinese neighborhood’ here in Bangkok, recently we did a video on the topic together with our good friend Adam. Not going to link it here because the algorithm seems to nerf posts with videos, but it’s the most recent video if you swing over to their channel: youtube.com/@OTRontheroad
And as an aside, Adam was actually in a similar position as us, actually – left China after spending the last decade there (we crashed at his place when we first got in). He was a bar owner and restauranteur in China – I got to know him quite well because he was one of a handful of close friends that’d always be down to try out X new restaurant or Y regional cuisine. After moving here, he decided to try his hand at making videos instead of jumping right back into the F&B meat grinder. And while I’m pretty much the definition of biased, I do quite like what they’re doing over there. While in Chinese there’s the formidable A Xing, I’ve always felt that English language YouTube’s always been lacking smart food+travel content. Food geekiness-wise, think of their content as something of the mid-point in between us and Mark Wiens, I’d say. So if you’re in the market, definitely check them out. @OTRontheroad , in case you got lost there.
2 years ago | [YT] | 3,467