If you don't like the way I drive, stay off of the sidewalk

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We really haven't done any sightseeing the past 2 days and instead have been staying close with Lisa's family which means her mother, her grandmother and her son. This has meant that I am eating way too much and getting spoiled because seafood is so abundant in Qinhuangdao. I have also gotten some sleep the past few nights because we are staying at Lisa's grandmother's house who has a regular mattress and while it is extremely hard, it feels like a feather bed compared to the board that is known as a bed at her second uncle's house where we were staying. I simply couldn't sleep on that board and slept on the sofa the first night to be awoken by the construction that started at 6:00 in the morning. The following mother, her grandmother stayed with us and she started cleaning the house at 5:30 which made the 6:00 AM awakening comparative late sleeping. I am very grateful for being able to get close to 8 hours of sleep 2 nights in a row and perhaps the bags under my eyes are back to simply tired looking. Seriously though, when we got to her grandmother's house last night at about 10:00, it was the first time in my recollection of China when I wasn't thoroughly exhausted when I got back home. I even volunteered to be the one to run out and get laundry detergent and water for the evening.

Since Lisa's mother is also staying at her second uncle's house now, we have no way of calling her so I suggested that we needed to get her mother a cell phone. As far as I can tell, everyone in China has a cell phone and they talk on them with regular frequency. I think more than anything other single thing, if the Chinese government were to shut off people's cell phones, the population would revolt. They don't seem to really care about the Internet or censorship...but their cell phones, that would cross the line. So we head into a big store for China Unicom (I gather the largest cell company in China).

There are about 6 'counters' where each counter has display cases that make up a fairly sizable rectangle and on each side of the display case, there are probably 150 phones. I would estimate that they had at least 1500 different cell phones on display for purchase including every model of every brand you know, probably brand new and discontinued models including the Apple iPhone. I think this tells you how serious Chinese people are about their cell phones. I also gather that the tactics are similar in China where they will sell a data phone for relatively low cost but the 3G data plans are expensive. The phones are all GSM like AT&T in America and all over Europe which means you can take the card out of one phone and put it into another phone and you are up and running.

Yes, 3G is alive and well all over China and I know this first hand because when I got to China, instead of staying in a hotel, we stayed at Wang Jian's house in Shaungliu and I had no access to the Internet. So I ended up buying a 3G wireless adaptor with 2 months time (the shortest I could get). The adaptor and 2 months cost me 600 yuan (approximately $90). It worked poorly in Shaungliu but has worked very well in Chengdu and Qinhuangdao.

When I pointed out to Lisa that it was now impossible to get in touch with her mother because her second uncle did not have a regular telephone, she told me that her mother didn't want a cell phone but it was obvious that her mother needs a cell phone so I offered to buy her a phone. By the time we got to the store, it made more sense to get Lisa a newer, better phone and for her to give her old phone to her mother which is what we did. So we ended up getting Lisa a brand new model Samsung, very slick for 1280 yuan, not quite $200 which would be a bargain in America. There is no subsidy by the provider for a new account. The accounts are the GSM cards which give you a phone number and are paid separately but in this case, the card was included but I don't know how many minutes are on the card. Chinese life is interesting because to get the GSM card, Lisa had to provide her government issued ID card.

Anyway, her mother is now connected to the world. Her mother and grandmother are interesting. Their world has changed so much in their lifetime it's amazing how they can cope. They lived through the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the takeover by the communists and now the capitalist changeover but their worlds are relatively simpler. Like most Chinese mothers over 55, they cannot work a job so they care for their children and grandchildren and cook and clean constantly. We are not finished with breakfast and they are planning lunch and obviously planning dinner while eating lunch. I have never eaten so much so often. Skipping a meal is unheard of. I don't want to insult anyone so if I don't eat a minimal lunch, I will never be hungry at dinner time.

These days have also given me an very good idea of daily life for the people in the less important cities in China. For example, of her entire family in Qinhuangdao, no one owns a car. They simply take a bus and public transportation is cheap and frequent. And they walk... There are 'convenience' stores everywhere and you can get ice cream, water, cold Coke, toilet paper, etc. probably within a block from wherever you are and they are all independently owner and they seem to be open all of the time. Surely within 4 blocks of where ever you are, there is going to be a marketplace where people are selling fruits and vegetables and raw meat, fish and even some prepared foods like whole chickens. Since absolutely no one in China has an oven, breads are available for purchase everywhere. If there are food stores like a Safeway, I wouldn't know because I have yet to see one.

There is also very sophisticated packaging for prepared things such as milk and juice and snacks. Vacuum packed, sometimes metalized plastic and it seems even the milk is packaged so that it doesn't need refrigeration. Some places even have heat sealed lids for bowls of things like chicken. Otherwise, it is the small plastic bag. Chinese life depends upon small plastic bags for everything. Trash is put into the plastic handled bags that you carry fish and vegetables home from the market. Even the fish 'soup' that was left over was put into a plastic bag and tied up and put into another plastic bag. You don't throw away a plastic bag, you simply save it for the next use.

As for the markets...well, they are pretty unsophisticated and technology has passed them by for the most part. Indoors, they are dark and dingy. Meat cases are not refrigerated. Only the most sophisticated fish sellers have tanks to keep the fish or shrimp alive and oxygenated. But the fruits are plentiful and delicious and the fish and meats are fresh and quite good. I sort of like this system but I think that for most of these vendors, the hours are long and the money probably not very good. They are all very friendly. I have been to 3 different markets of this type in Qinhuangdao and though I liked the market in Shaungliu better, I am still wondering how it is that they allow bicycles and motorbikes to roam through them because it makes it so much more difficult to walk around.

Now I have snapped a few pictures to make a recollection of what the streets are like. These thoughts don't apply to Beijing because as I understand it, there are more police and much more enforcement of the traffic rules in Beijing. I simply do not see any traffic enforcement elsewhere. A typical 'main street' in Qinhuangdao is 3 lanes in each direction and crossing them is difficult. Anything you can imagine with wheels can be found here from a bicycle to an electric scooter, to gas powered motorbike. I see donkeys pulling carts. I see the 3 wheeled cars. I see what appears to be motorcycles fitted with a cart so you have the two wheels of the motorcycle and the 2 wheels of the cart. Any of these things may have passengers or cargo. There are the 3 wheeled pedestrian bicycles. And of course pedestrians. This 6 lane street will also have another lane and a halp in each direction separated from the main street by a curb and people will walk, ride things and even cars will use them in either direction. Then there are wide sidewalks and in China, cars will drive or even park on the sidewalks. No where is safe for a pedestrian. Cars not only rule the road, they rule the side roads and the sidewalks. Drivers expect pedestrians and all other wheeled vehicles to get out of their way. The more power you have on your vehicle, the higher your priority and so the pedestrians always have the lowest status. You simply cannot allow your attention to wander. I suspect that is why I see so few people listening to music. Perhaps it is the fact that they won't be able to hear their telephone ring, but I have only seen 1 person wearing ear buds my whole time in China. Traffic lights are another amusement for me. You will see both directions get green lights and green left turn arrows and the left turns will always force their way through first. An intersection of 2 very busy streets will be very large and traffic will be moving everywhere, all at once. It's not uncommon to see cars making a left turn cross over the double yellow line to get an advantage against the oncoming traffic to force their ability to make the left turn before the people coming from the opposite direction can go straight.

Surprisingly, for all of the chaos that is in the streets, I have seen very few accidents and the ones I have seen have been very low impact, not much damage. I think that this is the only saving grace...that traffic moves slowly compared to America. I am pretty sure that with the exception of the very late night hours of driving in Beijing, we have not gone over 35 mph. But it does mean that it takes longer to get around.

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Photos

grandmother's house
a real mattress, yea!

grandmothers house
large dresser

kitchen
narrow

down the street
where the market place is, lined with many vendors

expanse of street
it's a long view but the entire street is show. Look closely and you will see mule pulled wagon, motorbikes, bicycles and cars

expanse of street
left is sidewalk (cars), bicycle rider is in side road (middle) and the real street is on the right (not much visible)