April 07, 2003
What You Can't Get
This being my first entry here at Lost In Transit, I thought I'd take a moment to whine.
While visiting the Excited States in December 2002, I glommed onto the flavour of diet Vanilla Coke. I loved it. It was even better than diet Lemon Coke.
Unfortunately, I still can't get it in Hong Kong. I don't know why it takes so long for new flavours to come out—my only guess is it has to do with setting up manufacturing and bottling, along with distribution and the inevitable glut of marketing.
Regular Vanilla Coke is out here now, but I won't drink it for the negative effect on my diet. I didn't lose 65 pounds only to put them back on again. But now that Vanilla Coke is here, with any luck, it may not be long before I am once again able to satisfy my taste buds.
What do you miss that you can't get?
Posted by BWG at April 7, 2003 09:40 AMI lived close to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and spent much time browsing there. I miss large book stores full of English-language books I could afford. Amazon delivers here, but I like to browse. I never know what I want until I see it.
There are small stores here selling books in English, but the titles are all the same in every store, the same cheap editions from Wordsworth Classics or Penguin Popular Classics, and a few modern Penguins that cost way too much for a guy earning a good living in local terms but not much in terms of the Western prices charged for imported books. Regardless of prices, the selection is very limited: I must own a copy of every book of poetry in English for sale in this town, and it's not because I own a huge library of poetry.
But I'm not griping. I know I'm in another country. I'm only telling you what I miss.
Posted by: Eeksy-Peeksy at April 7, 2003 10:54 AMDecent Mexican food.
Decent Asian food.
Stores with humongous selections of outdoor gear such as REI in Seattle.
(The English bookstores aren't too bad in Vienna.)
Posted by: Mig at April 7, 2003 11:54 AMI miss fried corn on the cob. (Yes, we actually deep-fry corn in the South!)
Posted by: Miss Anthropy at April 7, 2003 06:52 PMMe being Dutch and living in Belgium makes me an expatriate (or an emigrant as I'm living in Belgium for 15 years now) but I'm lucky to live near the border of the Netherlands. I don't have to miss anything, I can just hop in my car and within 30 minutes I'm back in the Netherlands... :-)
Posted by: Morgaine at April 7, 2003 11:51 PMI'm Dutch and living in the USA.
I miss my favorite beer, Westmalle Dubbel. Also, I miss some Indonesian stuff, like Kroepoek, saté and Sambal. And I miss the giant eggrolls you can order at Chinese restaurants in the Netherlands.
I'm in Sydney and I'm praying for Diet Vanilla Coke too. I harangue the man at the local convenience store every day in the vain hope that he'll register a complaint or something.
Posted by: Kris at April 8, 2003 09:43 PMI never thought I'd say this, but it would have to be my mother's apple pie. I never liked it as a child, always turned it down for a bowl of icecream. And then a couple of years back I ate some out of politeness. What a revelation. This is what other folks had been raving about. It really was the best apple pie I've tasted. All those years of turning it down. What an idiot.
Posted by: Daisy at April 10, 2003 05:20 PMGebhardt's chili powder. McCormick's Bacon Chips (guaranteed not to contain bacon, but so much better than Bac-O's (did I spell that right? It's been so long. . . ). Deodorant that also contains anti-perspirant, and is therefore more than Pit Perfume. Miracle bras. Pantyhose where the crotch doesn't creep down toward your knees five minutes after putting them on. And, yes, REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS. (Deb, whoever you are, thanks so much for giving me that particular craving. ;) )
Posted by: dilettante at April 10, 2003 07:32 PMbeing married for 10 years, missing the friends of the past mostly from abroad. when I was a single-man I used to travel a lot to go and visit friends and relatives all over Europe. The people I most went to are living in Scotland? Ireland and Spain. Not forgetting Corse ,France and the Netherlands (Friesland). Sometimes I think that marriage is a prison, but I have a family now: and that softens the pain. always trying to meet new friends as well
Posted by: franky claeys at November 26, 2003 02:04 PMbeing married for 10 years, missing the friends of the past mostly from abroad. when I was a single-man I used to travel a lot to go and visit friends and relatives all over Europe. The people I most went to are living in Scotland? Ireland and Spain. Not forgetting Corse ,France and the Netherlands (Friesland). Sometimes I think that marriage is a prison, but I have a family now: and that softens the pain. always trying to meet new friends as well
Posted by: franky claeys at November 26, 2003 02:04 PM