i am flobelly

chinese people are everywhere in this world. endless migrant histories about the chinese working longer and cheaper than other people, where they eventually open up canteens and small businesses to establish communities.

i have been continuously discovering these communities, where many of them involved my brother and his insatiable appetite for fried rice and stir fries in the most undistinguished places.

two summers ago, my brother and i drove cross country in the states. in an obscure town in utah, we managed to find a small chinese restaurant. the food was shite, but they managed to muster a decent living selling general tso's chicken and sweet sour pork.

this summer, we did a tour of eastern europe. we managed to find chinese restaurants in prague, budapest and krakow. though i preferred perogis and goulash, i confess i did appreciate some comfort foods. i was intrigued with how these people get out there.

(what really tripped me out was budapest. calvin and i stumbled upon an outdoor market, that resembled the silk alley i shopped at when i lived in beijing. apparently they take the orient express from southern china to budapest, where they get their weekly knock-off stocks of pumas and nike wear. )

here in scotland, you would be impressed with the abundance and variety of chinese restaurants here. i can get roast duck and cha siu bao within blocks of my house. surreal.

anyway, it is bizarre and not too sure how i feel about it. but then again, i am a chinese american living in glasgow...and despite where i find chinese people, i am able to exchange meaningful banter in the dialects of cantonese or mandarin. it is almost as if it is a secret language networking a conspiracy of global domination...through the means of rice and noodles.

rice in my belly.