Shanghai Nights

Especially the morning rush hour:

Hello! Hello! Nice T-Shirt! One Dollar!

This will be an attempt to recap my day as well as provide a cost-analysis of living in China:

First of all, I am currently staying at Clark's place, which is on the 14th (and top) floor of an apartment complex in Beijing. One of his roommates has gone back to the States for a while, so I get his room...the place is GORGEOUS! Clark and I had never met before last night. I guess our mom's work together or something? Whatever...he's a really great guy and has been so kind and generous to me...it's just what I've needed after spending the last few weeks on trains and in hostel dorm rooms.

So today I got up late and decided to wander up to the Great Wall. One of my friends was going with a tour that her hostel arranged, but they were leaving at 7:30am and it was going to cost 180 yuan. Instead, I decided to take the local bus (route 919, 24 yuan return) and go solo. This did mean I ended up at the most touristy part, but in some ways it was nice not to feel like a minority again (on the other hand, I was pestered by souvenir sellers, using the line I put in the title, among others). However, in the end the whole thing, door-to-door cost me 55 yuan (including metro fair to and from) as opposed to 180.

First of all, let me say that the Great Wall is alot more steep and a rugged climb than I thought it would be. I'm glad I wore my boots!




Having only a few pringles, a hot dog on a stick and a bottle of iced tea (which is extremely popular over here...understandable, since the Chinese love their tea, however the Brits drink tea too and iced tea hasn't quite caught on over there in the same way, but i digress..) was really not the best diet to hike on, yet I managed. And I was certainly better off than all the Russian women who thought they could do it in 3 inch stilettos. Honestly now...

After climbing around for a couple hours, I caught the bus back and was starving (i didn't want to eat at the Great Wall cuz everything was tourist prices x 100). I ended up walking into a random restaurant on the way home and invented a new game. Basically, it works like this: go to a restaurant where you don't read or speak the language, and they can't speak yours and then you try to get something to eat. I pointed to someone else's rice and made the international sign for the chicken (flapping arms and 'bock-bocking') and yet somehow wound up with a bowl of noodles covered in beef. Nevertheless, it was a success. And the total cost? (For the huge bowl and two 500 ml bottles of iced tea) 11 yuan. That's $1.75 Canadian or about 80 pence. You couldn't even get one bottle of iced tea for 80p in the UK!

Last night I had a few drinks with another friend of mine...between the two of us we consumed about 2.5 L (just under 5 pints) and the cost again? 12 yuan. That's like 1 pound sterling. For 5 beers. Good beer too. Clark says that if you buy it by the crate (like to put in the fridge at home) it costs half that. Man, I love China!

One last semi-related tangential observation I have made about the Chinese is that they can fall asleep absolutely ANYWHERE. Here is photographic evidence:



Tonight I'm watching a bootlegged copy of Lost in Translation in preparation for Japan.

UPDATE: I think I was half-asleep last time I saw Lost in Translation...that and the fact that I couldn't appreciate the cultural differences and the traveller's mindset...at any rate, it is a BRILLIANT film...I can already relate to it on this trip in a billion different ways....

'Nuff Said

Beijing

Dear Taxi drivers and Rickshaw drivers of Beijing. Yes, we can both see that I am a tall male from the West with money. This does not mean that I am lazy and unable to walk anywhere. Please stop honking your horns and shouting at me EVERY time we cross paths.

Also, to the hawkers in Tiananmen Square: yes, your kites that look like they have Strong Bad printed on them are lovely, but there's no way I'm going to buy one cuz I'm not haulin' that shit around for the rest of my trip, therefore, please stop asking.

Other than these two grievances (oh, and the air pollution sucks) Beijing is an awesome city! Huge and really clean and really cheap. The food and beer is both delicious and plentiful...I'm loving it!

More Mongolia

I typed this whole thing up bupt i am\ at the worlds worst internet cafe...the com\pupters are bogged down by spyware/adware, the connection is crap and the keyborad is v
ery generoups (youp m\ay hav
e noticed it lieks to add letters) - they also seem\ to hav
e pupt 'hollaback girl' on repeat.

I will write som\ething m\ore legible from\ china (i arriv
e on the 23rd)


By the way, I hav
e a pictupre of m\e with a cam\el (they woupldnt let m\e get on thoupgh)

Mongolia

Made it to Ulaan Baatar...just barely.

Lots of good stories from the last train to come in the following days...

Siberia

Well, I am in Omsk, killing some time before catching my next train to Mongolia.

I had hoped to be able to type daily updates, but I can't even seem to manage to write them all down, so it's clear that's not gonna happen.

Moscow was phenomenal, although extremely large. It was also a lot cleaner than I expected. Omsk is in bit rougher shape, but it feels more properly 'Russian' - not because it's run down, but because it's less cosmopolitan and touristy. I mean London is 'British' but not the same way that somewhere like Swindon is British. Or something.

The train from Moscow to Omsk was good. I thought I would have lots of time to read and write but ended up spending all of my time hanging out with people in the cars beside me. There was a swedish couple, a guy from the czech republic, a russian man and a russian single mom (who was from Omsk and spoke english - extremely helpful!) We shared food and tea and beer and had a blast...I only hope I'm as lucky for the next leg! I'm feeling pretty positive about the trip. The way I have designed it, I never spend more than 2 nights on a train and I think that's a good thing. The swedish couple were doing 4 nights/5 days straight, and I think that would make me mental! So now it's two more nights on the train and then 5 nights in Mongolia. I will stay in the capital the first night, but I'm hoping to find a tour out to the country-side, and to get a picture of me riding a camel. Really, that's all I want from this entire trip: photographic evidence of me on top of a camel in Mongolia...everything else is just icing on the cake.

Speaking of trains though, the time zone thing is messing my body up. I crossed 6 time zones in as many days, with only a short break in the middle. My body is never sure when to eat, when to sleep, or what to do... Most of the time this is ok, since I'm just sat on a train, but still, it's a bit jolting to the system. I will cross 2 more into Mongolia and China, and then two more when I arrive in Japan.

Oh! One thing I would suggestif you ever plan on traveling in Russia is to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. I surely can't speak Russian for the life of me, but just knowing which characters are what has made all the difference in the world (especially traveling solo). For example, P = R, B = V, C = S, H = N, Y = U. There are lots more, but considering most of the English guidebooks use the roman alphabet, and most of the russian street signs use the cyrillic, its nice to be able to translate between the two. It also helps for basic words on menus and directions and so on.

Well, I still have two hours before my train leaves, but I need to go to the supermarket (cyepmapket) and get some food for the train, and then navigate the trolleybus back to the train station (thanks to my super-cyrillic reading abilities I have been using cheapo public transportation and not had to pay for a taxi once!) so I think that's it for now. I will update again from Mongolia, and try to upload some photos...possibly of me and camels.

From Russia, With Love

I'm in Moscow! I'm hanging out with Scots! Two of them are quite cute!

I leave on the train tomorrow evening for a 2 day trip to Omsk.

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time, that's it for now.

Kiss me goodbye!

Literally just a few hours now! Everything is packed and ready to go. I'll try to update as much as possible en route, but keep in mind I will be on trains for literally days at a time. Also, I'm not sure how it will work in China since they censor all the internet traffic.

Wish me luck, say a prayer and I'll see ya on the other side!!

Greenbelt, a la Rich

Although it does not exactly represent my own spirit or impression of Greenbelt, Rich has done a fantastic write up of his experience there and it is definitely worth a read.

EDIT: Suzie has added her thoughts, as well as a group photo (in which I'm sure I make my mother proud).

EDIT: Jim's piped up with his here. He's also got pictures at the bottom.

It is doubtful I'll ever actually post my own reflections...I've only got a few hours left (really) to pack all my stuff and then I'm on a train to Russia & beyond!

In the News Today

1.) Klein bids tearful goodbye to Alberta legislature
For those who don't know, Ralph Klein has been the Conservative Premier of the Province of Alberta (Canada's richest province, due mainly to large oil reserves) for the last 14 years.
During that time, he has:

• Opposed the Kyoto Accord
• Become good friends with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney
• Lobbied for a national referendum on same sex marriage AFTER it had already been passed
• Suggested that rather than give out welfare, the province should give unemployed people a one-way bus ticket to Vancouver (which is in British Columbia, the next province over)
  
• Threw a copy of the Liberal Health Care policy at the 17 year old girl who delivered it to him during the Alberta legislature, shouting "I don't need this crap!"
  
• And finally, one night he got rip-roaring drunk, went to a homeless shelter in Edmonton, verbally abused the people there and reportedly threw money at them. And he still got re-elected after that.

Well, so long Ralph. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

2.) Many Canadians not practising good hand hygiene: study
I have already partially shared my views about hand-washing in an earlier post. Now, I understand that there must be some scientific evidence behind all of this...and it's not as if I never wash my hands (just rarely). And yet, I stand by my testament that in spite of this lackadaiscal personal policy toward hand-washing, I tend to be healthier than many 'clean freaks' that I know/have met. I obviously can't extrapolate my personal experience to the world at large, however I think there is something to be said about building up one's immune system (so maybe I just spread the germs without getting sick myself!) As I have previously admitted however, I am not a scientist or biologist. Lastly, while we are on the subject, two lines tucked away in the middle of the article caught my attention:

"[The think-tank which did the survey] operates on a grant from Reckitt Benckiser, which makes home-cleaning supplies such as the Lysol and Dettol disinfectant products."

Call me cynical, but in a society based on our perverted form of capitalism, in which money is more powerful than absolutely anything else, does that not make this a foregone conclusion? What I mean is, the think-tank is not going to publish the results of a survey which are contrary to the commercial interests of its funders/investors. For example, Nike isn't going to fund a think-tank investigating sweatshops but may fund one investigating the positive effects of basketball on inner-city youth. Similarly, I doubt the funding for this group would last long if they discovered that the effect of products like Lysol and Dettol were really rather minimal. Therefore, I'm questioning the relevance and authenticity of such a study...

3.) Argos' lineman faces sexual assault charges
(Disclaimer: innocent until proven guilty, I know)
According to the article, Williams used to play in the American football league (NFL) until he "was suspended by the league for violating its substance abuse policy." It's nice to know that Canada provides a home for the drug-using rapists from the NFL :P

And on that final, cheery note I am off to a supper at Aziz to say farewell to my friends from hOME this evening.