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Published: November 30th 2005
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The throngs of people
We were psrt of this herd in the train station. Emilia hung on for dear life! OK, for someone who prides herself in her linguistic ability, China has been a real ego-check. I spent the month before the trip attempting to learn a little travel Chinese (which did come in handy) but not being able to read is a real handicap. I have become an expert mime and pointer. When I do try to say anything apart from nee hao (hello) or xie-xie (thank you), I quickly get into dangerous territory. I am turning into one of those awful travellers that just start speaking English. The times I have tried to ask in Chinese if the person speaks English, I get either blank stares or my favorite response, "What?" (in English) which humbles me to my core. I guess my Chinese pronunciation needs a little work.
Still, the Chinese people are very, very nice and extremely gracious. I like them a lot.
We spent 4 days in Beijing, which is very different than Shanghai--not as overpowering, but still big. Emilia and I climbed the Great Wall, and I need to tell you, it was NOT an easy climb! Believe it or not, I think it was harder coming down than going up--you just use a
Me and Mao
When you say "Chairman" over here, people aren't thinking "Luis Aguilar!" (The chair of the LAA board, for those who don't know.) different set of muscles. We also visited Tianamen Square--funny enough, there is no mention of what happened in '89. People don't know about that here.
Even though Beijing wasn't as overpowering as Shanghai, there was still a lot of traffic, which, in turn, contributes to the huge pollution problem here. I thought that once we left Shanghai the skies would clear, but no, because then you have the bezillions of factories churning out all kinds of air trash so that all of you can buy cheap crap at Wal-mart (oh, I forgot--
I was at Wal-mart the other day!). It is really bad; I can feel it in my throat. Hope I don't come home with brown lung disease.
Heading home tomorrow, whatever day that is over there!
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Janet Junod
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Cute kids
I'll vouch for the cute kids :)