Colin's Daily

[Colin Deng]

I too am interested Colin.

I'm an F1 fan. When F1 returned to China post-COVID many of those who traveled from Europe were suprised to find China to be cleaner, more bustling, and more prosperous than both the Europe they'd traveld from and the China they'd visited pre-COVID.

We really don't have much info about China in our media.

Additionally, I'd be interested in what you thought about Germany. Were you in Stuttgart? That is in Baden-Württemberg which is characterised by other Germans as being where where the "worker ant" Germans live. It is more industrial than neighbouring Bavaria, where the stereotype is much more: beer-drinking, meat-eating, and fun-loving.

I stayed in Frankfurt last week.
The city was nice, and the sightseeing was great.

We stayed in the central area of Frankfurt, where everything was conveniently close—just around 2 to 3 kilometers away.
On the last day, we visited Limburg (not sure if I spelled it correctly). It was a quiet and peaceful town, and life there seemed truly enjoyable.

[Ken]

yes please.

[Colin Deng]

2025.7.3

Here we go!

Today I want to share what I had for lunch and dinner.

In this first picture, you can see my lunch. China has so many different cooking styles—boiling, steaming, stir-frying, stewing, frying, braising, baking, deep-frying… This one is steamed food.
I’m not sure if it’s because I haven’t eaten at this restaurant for a long time, or if the food was just too salty this time.
This dish is called Stuffed Three Treasures. It’s made with three kinds of vegetables stuffed with minced meat. (In China, we also call tofu a kind of “vegetable.”)
This is a traditional Hakka dish from the southern part of China.


The second photo shows the dinner I made for myself.
The vegetables were grown by my parents, and the eggs came from our home-raised ducks. The fruit is lychee—also grown by my parents. We have so many fresh fruits to enjoy in China!
My parents grow all kinds of fruits, and I’ll go back home this week to pick some myself.
In Germany, I couldn’t find much choice of fruits. These lychees would probably cost at least €10 in Germany!

After dinner, I went for a 4 km walk.
It’s around 10 p.m. now—time to take a shower .

[Joeboy]

Looks great Colin!

[Colin Deng]

2025.7.5

It’s been extremely hot in Shenzhen these days—I just can’t live without the air conditioner on.
I’ve been to Thailand and Germany, and both places get hot in the summer too, but at least there’s some wind.
In Shenzhen, sometimes there’s no wind at all, and even the air feels hot and heavy.

When summer comes, typhoons usually follow, which makes it even hotter.
But things get a bit better after sunset—there’s usually some breeze, and the air doesn’t feel as suffocating.
It’s important to drink more water than usual because the weather is just too hot.
In China, water is cheaper than beer or cola, which is quite different from Germany.

Tomorrow I’ll go to the hospital to pick up medicine for my father.
After that, I’ll take a Didi back home—it’s like Uber overseas but seems cheaper here.
A 40km ride only costs around £10.

[Moxi]

Hi Colin do you stagger the working day to avoid the peak temperatures in China ? I know in many hotter climates the peak hours are used to take a rest. When I used to work in Tehran it was common practice in the summer for everyone to emerge after sunset to socialise and eat and play in the parks and grassy areas all around the city.

It’s less of a thing in the uk but as regional temperature continue to rise yearly I do wonder if it will become a common practice here someday?

[Colin Deng]

Hi Colin do you stagger the working day to avoid the peak temperatures in China ? I know in many hotter climates the peak hours are used to take a rest. When I used to work in Tehran it was common practice in the summer for everyone to emerge after sunset to socialise and eat and play in the parks and grassy areas all around the city.

It’s less of a thing in the uk but as regional temperature continue to rise yearly I do wonder if it will become a common practice here someday?

Hi Moxi,

We don’t really have peak hours for taking a rest during summer, at least not in Shenzhen. But for outdoor workers, they do receive a high-temperature subsidy on hot days.

After sunset, we also like to have fun with friends—eating, drinking, and relaxing. In China, sunset comes early, around 7 p.m. even in summer.

[resybaby]

Food looks lovely Colin, and good to know that folk try and grow some for themselves. Used to be far commoner in the UK to do the same but seems less efforts made in that area generally in the UK these days. So many folks seem to like it all provided in plastic from the supermarket and make little effort. Remember your posts previously about your family growing and also making their own drinks.

Am not one of the widest of travelled people myself, so the differences between your days and mine are interesting. Its More common in the warmer southern parts of the European continent to have breaks in the day to avoid some of the hot temps, Spain Portugal etc, then pick up lifes activities in the cooler evenings, here in the UK we tend to just continue to do what we do - whilst hankering after the close of the office, schools, or jobs as soon as possible at 5-6pm so we can all go home and plonk ourselves in front of the television or computer.