Day 6: Hangzhou goodness
Since the last post was kind of a "I miss home" post (and a bit of a downer
to write), this post is dedicated to all of things that make me happy here.
1) Food. Yes, I know I said I had problems with it. But, I love food.
And coming to China is an adventure. I am willing to try pretty much
anything, so the adventure aspect kicks in (think Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom - eating eyeball soup). *starts singing the Indiana Jones
theme song* The sauces are diverse, but the rest is pretty
straightforward. I've had many types of meat -- chicken (comes with bones
and skin automagically), beef, fish, etc. I don't know how a vegetarian
could survive.
2) the People. First - the produce shop has a wonderfully nice female
shopkeep. She is quite friendly and tries to help me out with my chinese
(she speaks no English). Second and most importantly - Chinese people are
friendly and curious about "white people". I use that term lightly to
describe anyone not Asian. I have been poked, touched, and stared at.
Little kids like the poking. I usually bend down and say "Ni hao" to them
-- they run away quickly. ;) I mean -- I'm 6 ft. 3 in. and about 260 lbs.
Enormous to them. Third -- I have received an enormous amount of
"hello", "thank you", "where is the bus station", and one "where is the
airport" when I am walking around. Randomly shouted from
cars/buses/people. I get confused when this happens, but I always respond
with a "ni hao" (hello)
3) money. It is very inexpensive here. Taxis are quite inexpensive. I
usually eat for $2/day. Eat well really. In fact I just bought some sweet
and sour stuff -- 15 Y = 1.875 dollars. Clothing is inexpensive. The
only things that are expensive are many electronics. Ipods and DVD players
are cheaper in the states. Weird, but even bargaining the electronics guy
down to roughly $35 for the cheapest dvd player doesn't beat the $28 Walmart
deal.
4) The city itself -- absolutely beautiful. Seriously fantastic. I'll be
taking more pictures soon I promise.
Until next time
posted by Mike @ 8:09 AM
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