I do live in a somwehat remote place (not Shanghai/Beijing, and most of all I miss...

[Qiuyue]

Oh god, I would give my leg for a piece of that!

[smalltownfart]

Yogurt?! How hard is it to make homemade yogurt?

[liuzhou]

Come on! I lived up a mountain in the middle of nowhere ten years ago and had regular early morning deliveries of yoghurt.

I still live in a relatively remote place (compared to Beijing or Shanghai) and regularly meet people complaining about the things which are "totally unobtainable in town", but which I have been buying for years. Just because they dobn't label them in English! Pesky forners!

The great deoderant myth, for example!

Cheese - got it. (see below)

Coffee - Come on! You can hardly move in China for coffee places! It is the fashion.

Fresh bread - We have had a very nice bakery for about five years which does very good European bread

quiteness - OK. I'll grant you that one.

Clean toilets - You should have seen them before SARS.

English books - Well. Ever tried buying Chinese books in England?

English newspapers - Ditto.

Wine (not huangjiu ; ) - Everywhere!

Yogurt - see above.

Rock music - What do you think the internet is for?

If you really can't find cheese then you may want to check out this site.

[muyongshi]

Pesky forners!

Be careful what you say...that is actually a last name (maiden name of one of my classmates)

Yogurt is easy to find... If you look hard enough I think many places will have atleast a few books in English (granted it may be about learning English ). I can get bread, coffee, and Cheese but the lowdown on them is...if I didn't have one of my classmates who loves to make it then I would really miss it. Coffee- I love french press but the quality of the coffee you can get is not up to par in my book as well as I wouldn't mind a real cup of slow drip... (the machines that can be bought are usually junk and I can get it in a nearby city). Cheese is the same- I can get it in a nearby city but I miss the selection (and packaged cheese is not cheese- it's plastic). So I guess the big thing is just being able to open up my fridge and eat any kind of cheese I want and if I run out just have to go 5 minutes away and then get more. But hey 豆腐干 is pretty good too!

All in all I survive and have those things frequently but not as frequently as back home.

[muyongshi]

Oh and if you want a clean toilet trying buying some cleaner and take care of your apartment:mrgreen:

[Qiuyue]

muyongshi - where are you residing?

[muyongshi]

It says right next to my name...绵阳

[Mugi]

Coffee - Come on! You can hardly move in China for coffee places! It is the fashion.

Never found good coffee outside of major hubs or tourist spots popular with westerners.

Fresh bread - We have had a very nice bakery for about five years which does very good European bread

Non-sweetended bread practically doesn't exist anywhere in Asia (except Indochina - something to thank the French for!) Although, I confess I can find good bread in Tokyo if I look hard enough and am prepared to pay a sweet penny for it.

Wine (not huangjiu ; ) - Everywhere!

Imported wine is okay, but I wouldn't use local stuff even for cooking.

[lilongyue]

I'm not living in a remote place (I'm in Hangzhou), but as far as books are concened, you can download ebooks. A lot of people don't like reading a book on a computer screen, but if you're desperate . . .

[muyongshi]

but if you're desperate . . .

. . .print it out

[ABCinChina]

One thing I miss the most is smoking the "sticky icky" green stuff...

[roddy]

Reading material used to be the major one for me, but I'm now quite happy reading ebooks on my palm. Can be hard to find stuff worth reading in ebook format sometimes, but I generally get by. I would love to have a daily newspaper to read in English if it was up to date - back in the olden days of dial-up I used to get the Guardian Weekly and used to devour every word on its thin airmail paper pages, even if it was almost two weeks out of date when it arrived.

Currently, cheese. Yet to find anywhere in Dalian that sells it in non-processed form. Although on the plus side the pepper-flavored cheese slices are back on the shelves.

[muyongshi]

For cheese....if people have a western restaurant that uses cheese in their food you can usually buy it from them. That is how I get it in Chengdu, go to Peter's and the sell it to you. Just an idea to check out....

[mr.stinky]

just returned this morning from a week-long visit to baise in guangxi (pop. 150K)

researching for a potential move next summer. from the list at the start of the post:

cheese: none available in any store. i asked for 奶酪 which only got me condensed

milk. would have to buy from a local restaurant (if they have any) or take a monthly trip to

nanning for supplies, two hours by train. same for margarine/butter.

coffee: instant in the stores, but the western coffee shop sells various varieties of beans

at 120-180 rmb per 450 gram bag. the department store carries 'lectric coffee makers,

but of course no coffee in the food department.

fresh bread: only the standard too sweet bread-like spongy things. electric ovens

are available in two stores.

quietness: amazingly, yes....unless you live over a ktv. otherwise, plenty of new

apartment complexes going up along the river or outside of town beside the lake, new

prices range 1800-2500 per square meter.

clean toilets: absolutely! only had occasion to visit two, but were well-maintained.

some restaurants even stocked paper. forgot to check the availability of toilets at

the plumbing supply shops.

english books/papers: no

wine: found one shop stocking french wines, but became accustomed to the baijiu and

red bull mix.

yogurt: yes

rock music: does one carpenter's cd count?

also available: spf 25 sunscreen, deodorant, normal size shoes (size 48) can be

ordered says one shop-owner

(why the smiley?? should read forty-eight)

[muyongshi]

wine: found one shop stocking french wines, but became accustomed to the baijiu and

red bull mix.

Is this good? Kind of a pepsi and vodka idea huh? I'll have to try that sometime...