The Belly-Baring Men of China in Summer

Hi! We're alive! Oh, we have quite the plethora of updates about what's been going on with us since we left Hong Kong (many many flights, buses, temple visits, mosquito bites, and a couple of unavoidable doctor visits, just to mention a few) and we're trying our darndest to keep up writing and posting despite the overabundance of terribly slow internet in the places we visit. True story.

But as a result, I've decided two things. 1) I won't be rewriting in English about the same places that Micha's already written about in German. Or else I won't even likely be done with China before 2014. Maybe one day... but for now, English-speaking friends, I will leave you in the trusty hands of Google Translate (which is bound to provide some extra entertainment)! There's even a button on the right side column of this here blog, right under the new Instagram map I added - to keep you at least updated through those pictures on where we currently are! And 2) I will leave you with one last hilarious post about China before moving on. That's not to say I won't come back and write more about some places Micha's already written about one day, but this will be easiest for keeping up with where we actually are, I believe. Fingers crossed!

So, my absolute favorite thing about China, hands down, was the following of a trend that oh-so-thankfully ended for most of us in the early to mid-2000s: belly baring. Now I know you're now picturing teenage girls in flared jeans with shirts that ended 2 inches above their pants à la Britney Spears, and that would be the normal group of people one would expect to bare their bellies. But not in China, my friends. Oh no, in China, when the temperatures get sizzling, it is the menfolk who, apparently completely unable to bear the heat on their midsections, hike up their shirts in reckless abandon and strut around as if they'd just won either a beauty pageant...

...or just finished their cupping beauty routine (much like a Hollywood starlet)...

 ...or, you know, just won a hot dog eating contest, depending on the dude

And now you know the true key to beating the heat and humidity during the summer. (Could have come in handy for that recent heatwave in Germany, no?) You can thank me later!