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Published: March 4th 2010
Pedi Taxi
They're cheap but not that great.So here are the juicy details of China.
Well I’ve stated before about having to have a visa that we got in Bangkok, As well as the price difference between Greg’s visa which was about a hundred bucks. Then there’s my visa which was about three hundred bucks. Yeah, really! Also the fact we had to give it to some stranger on the street who will give it back to us the next day cuz the the Chinese Embassy was closed and our flight was booked. Now that was probably the scariest part of my trip.
We get the visas a little bit later then planned which made me sweat and now we’re off to China. Seriously China just scares me. I've traveled to many places and I never thought China would be on my list. It’s a communist country, how they treat people scares me, and the entire language barrier too. They say not to judge a book by its cover and it’s true. China isn’t scary at all. Ok the language barrier is a little rough but nothing that I’m not used to, especially after Thailand. I do a lot of singing and dancing to get
What DO You Need Delivered?
This the main idea of moving different items around like dirt, bricks, caged pigs, to family, and whatever they need moved. my point across for now.
The plane ride to Shanghai was just that and wonderful to get out of it. The taxi ride to our hostel was interesting as he keeps trying to talk to us. No chance of that happening. We have a piece of paper with the name of the hostel. We’re on this freeway and the skyscrapers are amazing at how many there are to the design of them. One building is supposed to look like an elephant. I don’t see it but ok. I just keep wondering what it looks like at night.
We check in to a dorm style room that sleeps 6 but Greg and I are in different rooms not cuz of gender but cuz of lack of space. He showers and of course I’m hungry! I go to the streets and I’m completely overwhelmed at being in a massive city. It’s bigger then Beijing! I get lost so easily and couldn’t wander far. I get to an interesting guy that has a wide variety of veggies and pasta. That looks good. I point and he adds, mixes, and weighs. It all cost about 2 bucks and it was a lot
of food. But he didn’t cook it? Hhhhmmmm? I go back to the hostel and asked if they had anything to cook this in. Silly me, you just eat it cold. It was sooo tasty! I even shared with Greg!
That night we found some people to hang out with that did all the leg work of finding the best skyscraper with the best view! Nice!!! We hung out there and the view was beautiful as well as the lights on this building that’s shaped like a golf ball. We stayed til we got the bill for the first round of drinks. What! The view does have a price. Us poor travelers left after that and just wondered for a bit. We got haggled by a sales man that could sell us anything we wanted that has a major label on it for cheap. He followed us around like a lost puppy that we couldn’t shake. It started making me nervous and Greg just played it off. I offered to get the taxi and we’re back at the hostel just the same as we left it.
In the morning we hit the train and 6ish hours later we
KFC
Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's crazy walkin in here to see the menu in Chinese and Chinglish. Same same but different hit Bozhou. The city’s name sounds like Boar-joe. We are the only westerners getting off the train and easy to spot and so is the other westerner who’s waiting for us on the other side. We get a quick tour of town and it has that typical architectural classic design of when I think of China, lots of brick buildings with Spanish style roofs but the the bricks are grey with the red roof tops. It was very rich with color but not money. So weird to believe that we’re here, that I’m here! Everything is completely different from the cars, to the electric motorbikes, to the buildings, the markets, the people, and KFC.
Everywhere we went we got stared at. People were taking our pictures regardless and we signed our autographs. What? WOW!!! The stares never stop along with the pics. We eat at a style of restaurant called a hot pot. It’s a big metal bowl on a hot pan. The bowl is divided into halves and in the center has a round section to scoop out soup. One side is red and spicy and the other is like a cloudy water and not spicy. The spicy
Really?
They have huge statues like this everywhere in the middle of intersections. has all sorts of shrimp, potatoes, and other veggies. The cloudy side just has veggies. Once the shrimp is gone then part one is finished. It’s time to order part 2, whatever that can be boiled, like sliced potatoes, cabbages, meat, mushrooms, and pasta all work well. The beer is the tastiest extra too. We’re eating lunch with the boss and he keeps ordering beer after beer after beer. Now understand it’s only has 2.8% alcohol. Nothing’s going to happen on this beer. Just like the Greeks, the Chinese don’t really get drunk off of beer. Now if I was to mention Bai jio (By-e-joe) now that’s another story! The Asian red glow comes fast on that stuff!!!
We finish and we’re off to the Tunnels. It’s the place where they built underground tunnels during the war and obviously they’re still here and sturdy. They say they go on for kilometers everywhere. It was very interesting! Then we get to our flat. It looks pretty bad and definitely dirty. I wasn’t so impressed at all. They leave us to unpack and chill for a bit before dinner.
This is still just the first day but after a week
Old China
Very modern and old united of being taken around, learning basic Chinese and directions means playtime is over. We start working at the first school. We get introduced and we have the games that we learned in Thailand. We get a couple of warm-ups in and ready for the big time. The smaller of the schools is about 20 students deep at Bryan’s. Feng Hua is completely different which is about 78 students deep with very little room to work in the front of class. It’s completely different and crazy from back home. It’s ok to smack students, shake them to wake them up, yell at them and I’ve even seen the teachers pull their ears when they’re not paying attention! CRAZY! Can you imagine getting away with that in America?>!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! No Way!!!! It is what it is and I thought I’d never be that way. B.S. I don’t pull their ears but smacking them on the arm with an old magazine does wonders and dragging them to the front of the class is pretty common!!!!!!! It’s a lot of fun and not that much work! The students which are between the ages of 13-15 just love us, the Lao Wai (low ways)!!!!!!!!!!
We’ve
been here for a few weeks now getting into the groove which is out of the house at 830am and usually not back til 730pm. We work at both schools most days. We start at Feng Hua at 830 til 330. Then we go to Bryan's til about 730pm. It's not that bad considering we do have a lot of break thruough out the day. It also depends on dinner. We go out to dinner after work so then not back til about 10ish or 11ish depending what the night consists of.
Now the skinny on the area, after seeing other flats means I am very happy with mine, especially after a good cleaning! I live above an outdoor market that sells anything from meat on a hook, to a slab of meat on a wooden block to fresh ground beef where grinding on the spot is not extra and I cant forget the chickens. There are cages and cages of live chickens to about 10 per small cage. PETA would hate China!!!!!! They take them out, weigh them by using a string around their wings, go to a table, slice their throats, drain the blood in a special
The Funerla
They have these huge plastic stands at all the funerals. I bowl, throw them in a tall bucket similar to a butter churn/turn or something all the while that they’re usually still flapping around. From there they get tossed in a machine that looks the same of a washer machine, a big metal bin with a bunch of wholes in it. It gets turned on and similar to the spin cycle of a washer, round and round they go when it stops they don’t know, til they’re really dead and feather free!!!!! After that they get put in a pot to clean them up a little more. I can hear them screaming from my flat on a good/bad day!!!!!!!!! “Are the sheeps still screaming, Clarice?”
That’s the worst part of my walk to Bryan’s school. After that it’s just fish, pasta, rice, fruit, an a ray of sweet and salty sun flower seeds, and veggies. On the way I pass a few stores, an indoor proper meat market, and a small medical clinic. Outside the school are a couple of supermarkets, outdoor food venders that are sooo good and cheap, bicycle repairman, and a shoe repairman. All these street venders set up and breakdown everyday all traveling by means of 2
Goi with the flow
just a typical intersection here in Bozhou. The streets are divided to seperate the motorbikes from the cars. wheels and a wagon of some sorts to carry everything that they petal back to their homes. CRAZY!!!!!! Even the portable repairmen do the same.
My days are of working at Feng Hua, Bryan’s school, maybe the gym, dinner, and bed. I freeze my ass off everyday!!! It’s like I’m going to the mountains where it is super cold, go play and then upon returning to the bar it’s cold. Everywhere here is cold. At least the mountains the only place that it is cold is outside. Not true for this town. My flat is cold except for the dungeon, I mean my room that has a heater that is an air conditioning unit. Both schools are cold, the shops, the restaurants, the gym and anywhere else is cold. This town is cold everywhere all the time and it doesn’t help that they like the cold and keep the windows open!!!!!! They say it’s healthier this way. I drink just hot water to warm me up just like the Chinese. I wear minimum of 2 layers from top to bottom. I wear a variety of boots pending on the weather. I sleep with one layer and four blankets. I
Pedi Taxi
These guys can take up to 3 but it's not comfortable.
I took these to work everyday! don’t like the heater on all night. I have more sick days then healthy days since the weather has changed. I’ve seen the Dr. here more then I care for and I have received a series of 12 shots from the arm to the butt, they call it the flu shot. This lady walked in and wanted to watch me get a shot cuz they don’t have a private room, it’s just a building with dividers. I had to kick her out!!!! Hopefully they’ll work!!! I am tired of coughing and being sick!!! My body does NOT like the cold weather at all!!!! I have a cat, been through 2 flatmates, the electric turned off each month cuz my boss’ cant remember to pay the bill on time, and the same goes for the internet. I miss my family friends a lot especially during the holidays. I can’t wait for it to warm up!!!!!
I love but I hate the toilets here. It’s just a porcelain whole with running water that flushes it. I hate the ones at Feng Hua. It’s a trench with about a 3 ft wall with no doors. You can walk by me and see
The River
It's t he boardwalk along the river. Cars drive on it for a short cut! There are no rules! everything!!! There isn’t anything to flush. The tank that’s about 10ft high fills with water and drains when it’s too full which causes a powerful flow enough to wash everything away, almost. The women’s toilets are the worst with their freakin bloody tampons, the used toilet paper everywhere and the bloody pee just stagnant til the tank is full to wash it all away. I use the closest trench/divider near the where the water pours out! Oh and you can’t flush toilet paper and I have to carry TP everywhere I go. Most places don’t supply it! Just think of me leaving my flat with the basic necessities that are keys, money, phone and TP. After a while it is the norm except for squatting or if you’re me who hovers over the trench or porcelain whole to go number 2. I try to train my body to wait til I get home to my western toilet!!! It sucks to hover and poop!
At night we only have a few places to go out. There are the oh so many KTVs!!!! These are hotelrooms with built in mini kareoke bars like concepts that each room is your own personal
karaoke rooms that have toilets, a dance floor that bounces when danced on, karaoke machine, couches, a heater (thankfully), a large screen, your own personal server, and lights. It’s pretty cool! They range from shitty to very nice. One place has a KTV on the first floor and a disco upstairs, Happy Valley. It’s the most popular one too. There’s a regular bar that we can’t find and only been to once cuz we don’t know how to say the name in Chinese nor can we explain it to others due to the fact that most people here don’t go out very often! We are limited on nightly activities!. We can go to Happy Valley only so many times before we get sooo tired of it.
There’s a movie theater some where but all the movies are in Chinese. There’s a zoo with a water park that I just learned about and a real coffee house. Right now I’ve been drinking instant coffee which does the trick but there’s nothing like a real brewed cup of joe!!!! There are a few places of interest that we can’t get to cuz we don’t know the language or what they’re called
Bicycle Repair Shop
This is where I go to fix my bike on the spot. but that will all change when the weather improves. I’ll want to go outside more! We have Chinese lessons about twice a day on a good day but definitely one a day for sure. The problem is that we have many Chinese teachers. We pretty much tell them what we want to know. Just this week the language has improved immensely. I just don’t know words anymore but sentences too!!! It has been very exciting lately in my Chinese world as I am putting these mixed up sentences together as they understand my meaning but the order is wrong. We just laugh and go back to the drawing board!
I get laughed at frequently for things that I have no idea but I like it. Each time I spit out some Chinese they laugh. I ask them what they’re laughing about and they tell me I am so clever. What a cover up for the truth! Hehahehaehehaehehe!! I get yelled at for things that I have no idea why but it is the culture too. That's the only time they show expressions. The horns from cars never stop communicating or getting used. I am always cold but thankful for
Bicycle Repair Shop
When not fixing they play this crazy card game. my Uggs. Just making the best the of China til it warms up!
I leave you with “I know I’m in China when”
I can hear the people spitting the green stuff indoors!
I can the smell the toilet before I see it!
The taxi driver is taking my pic and driving in the opposite flow of traffic!
The sun flower seeds are on the floor in my flat!
It’s an average of 45 degrees in my flat and 50 degrees in my room!
I no longer hear the honking of the horns!
The pedi-taxis know where I’m going!
Smoking is everywhere and I’m no longer bothered by it!
I understand why they wear the masks over their mouths due to the freezing weather!
I leave my flat with TP and hate it when I forget!
I walk by someone and they don’t say hello til about 20ft away!
I have said, “Ni Hao (Knee How)” (hello) so many times that my voice is horse!
I’m asked regularly my salary by everyone, all the while they’re not telling me theirs.
This is for my brother and his whining of wanting my everyday life here in
China. I know it’s a long one but hopefully after a few days of trying to read it that it’ll be worth it and laughter follows.
Missin everyone like crazy and enjoying this truly bizarre experience for each day I am yelled at, learning something new and in awe of all this!
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shelbi
non-member comment
Wow!
I feel like I´m there. Very different way of life!