Major Noodles
Tiger, my Chinese friend from Beijing, took me out for noodles when I got back to Beijing. These were "Beijing noodles" as Tiger put it. They were, supposedly, thicker and tastier than noodles in other parts if China. All of the little bowls contained one of the variety of vegetables that were to be added to the noodles in the big bowl. You cold, essentially, mix and match whatever you wanted in your noodles.
RV China
I believe that, somewhere in China is a group of rogue RV’ers that are out there having a great time. This is the symbol of their club. It was plastered on the front of what appeared to be one of the strangest RV’s I’ve ever seen. I didn’t look at it too long or too closely. You have t be careful not to arouse suspicions in China. Especially about things that might be considered "fun" or something equally as lurid.
Xian McFlurry
Hey look, it’s a Chinese McFlurry. I thought it was novel, so I got one. It was the first McFlurry I’d ever had. Why would I possibly want a McFlurry in the United States when we have so much really great ice cream available everywhere? The Chinese, however, really don’t get into sweets and the McFlurry was one of the sweetest things I could find in China.
Chinese Oreos
Okay, they don’t look like real Oreos. But, they are. No, I can’t read all the stuff on the package, but I did see the word Oreo on each of the cookies and they did taste like the real thing.
Pedal Problems
It seems that Chinese bicycles have a tendency to loose the nut that hold the left pedal in place. I’m not sure why that is.
Chinese Drugs
They are Chinese western-style drugs. They’re harder to find than American drugs in American drug stores. The reason for that is most Chinese use traditional Chinese pharmacies. Traditional Chinese pharmacies sell toad spittle, gnat’s gonads and ointment of goat anus. Traditional Chinese pharmacies are not like western pharmacies. You have to work had when you go to a Chinese pharmacy to find the better-living-through-chemistry section, which, buy-the-way, may not even be there. Look for cash registers at pharmacies where you want to find western-style drugs.
Internet Cafe
I only saw a couple of internet cafes during my trip to China. I’m sure there were more, but I didn’t see them. Note that during the time I was in China I had an internet connection that was, at best, pathetic. It was really bad. The Chinese really can’t get a lot of web sites that westerners can. Plus, the speed is really slow. Fortunately, Chinese hackers provide ways around the government’s restrictions. Unfortunately, not around the slow speed and lack of internet availability.
Chinese Style Toilet
Hey, at least you got some warning before you opened the door and it did give a person a chance to make a choice between a squat and a western toilet. I thought that was commendable. Truth is, when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go and it really doesn’t matter what type of toilet it is.
SkyWalk Haze – Xian, China
It’s the Skywalk on the 100th floor of the World Financial Center. After viewing it I wanted my money back, all $25 of it. This wasn’t a view, it was a statement about the pollution of Shanghai. I felt like what I wanted was a view. The kind o view I got when I look out from Eagles Nest, NM and am able to see Sandia Peak, NM, a iew that’s about 120 miles. This view has a visibility of about one mile. I understand people can’t control the weather, but I think this was more than weather. My whole time in China, I think I got to see the sun maybe 10% of the time.
I’m Going Straight to You-Know-Where
This is one of my tour guides in China. I didn’t care much for this tour guide. I think she supports communism. I also think she’s a bad tour guide. She had some "control" issues as in she wanted to control everything so it would be easy for her. I didn’t really get off on her. She was also a tour guide who lost people. I had the misfortune to have her as my tour guide two days and on both days she lost a person off the tour. I don’t know how she stayed a tour guide.
