call your parents. give your grandmother a kiss on the cheek. hug your brothers and sisters. play with your nephews. be kind to your neighbours, you might be their first smile of the day.
most important of all, give your family members what is most precious in life: time spent with them.
happy (early) holidays everyone. |
Many Years
(by Bei Dao)
This is you, this is
driven-mad-by-magic-shadows-whirling-you,
first clear then cloudy
I won't go to you again
the bitter cold also deprives me of hope
many years, before the icebergs formed
fish would float to the water's face
then sink away, many years
the reverant wing beats of my heart
bear me gently through the drifting night
lamplight breaks upon steel beams
many years, silent and alone
here there are no clocks in the rooms
when people left they also took
the keys, many years
within thick fog, a whistle blasts
from a fast train over a bridge
season after season
set out from small railway stations among the fields
linger at each tree
the open flowers bear fruit, many years |
Now, I wasn't expecting this to come from the Chinese although I'm not extremely surprised. Apparently, after a huge controversy following the Miss China contest a few years back, which included a contestant that had had plastic surgery... A group of Chinese created a contest especially for people who have taken a knive to themselves at least once or ... thirteen times!!
Here comes Miss Plastic Surgery. Get more info at :
http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/13/content_399645.htm
(I wonder if they could have helped Mao with that double-chin?) |
"Go buy a chicken leg and he will come play with you," the woman said.
In China, even animals work through bribery.
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| » Peanut butter toast and other mundane topics |
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Well, I'm back. Which is a great thing, but a sad thing. I've got tons of laundry to do and I'm craving so many different kinds of food, it's not even funny. Top of my list right now: french bread, cheese, greek salad and bruschetta. Maybe a vegetable stew, raw vegetables and lots of dairy... as the only dairy I've consummed in a month came mostly from ice cream!
My lungs and throat could not have supported one more week of the Beijing smog, but my mind could have really well adapted to spending more time there. Next time, though, I'll join a group that goes camping in rural China (hopefully not anywhere near the industrial north) and maybe my lungs can survive a bit longer.
I got up this morning (which is really, my body tells me, early evening) and was so happy to get a chance to eat peanut butter toast. It was honestly the craziest thing!
I've transfered my digital pictures onto the computer and will sort through them today, I'll upload the address where you can view them, later on. I was carrying two cameras with me most of the time and took the better pictures (or so I like to think) with the fully manual one, so maybe I'll scan the best ones.
So much to do, gosh, where do I start?
Aug. 5th, 2005 @ 07:52 am
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| » Rain |
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It's raining today and the Red Latern - the place we are staying at in Beijing - is turning into the Wet Latern.
I've mentioned a hundred time how lovely this place is. It's a courtyard with a roof over it, made of wood, pieces of glass and plastic. It's a lot like the Marilene, the little house in the country that my grandpa (Poupou) had built from scrap he had collected (in fact, I could find a lot of ressemblance with the Chinese entrepreunarial genius and that of my grandfather). It smells like wood, plants and gas lamps (especially when they light them up at night) just like the Marilene did. There used to be crickets, too, that would sing us to sleep just like when we went to visit my grandparents in Rawdon.
Today, however, the roof is leaking and we have to walk around plastic cans that the owners use to collect the water. The area by the showers is completely wet at the few plastic sheets that they put up there are no match for Beijing's heavy rain. You hardly need to turn on the shower to actually get wet! It is quite brilliant!
We're going to go to Gulou (the Bell Tower) today as we heard that the area around it is going to be wiped out for the Olympics. It's probably our last chance to see it before it goes.
p.s. My bum is sore from yesterday's bike ride, the bike has - unfortunately - left it's imprint on my behind!
Aug. 3rd, 2005 @ 10:48 am
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| » Beijing Bicycle |
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I rented a bicycle today as I figured it would be one of my last opportunities to do so before I leave (and also figuring that, god forbid I had a accident, it would be a good reason for the Chinese government to grant me an extension on my visa!). Anyways, I'm insured and I'm sure Dad would enjoy flying over here, there are really amazing gardens and I would love for him to get a chance to see them!
I initially hoped to get a Flying Pigeon but had to resort to get no-name bike, that seemed clickety enough to make this a memorable ride. I inspected it before leaving: not enough air in the front tire, deficient brake system, uncomfortable seat, perfect I take it!
I rode down two blocks east in the Hutongs, then went about a block south until I almost hit a small dog that the owner had let go without a leash... but who was not shouting frantically as she was seeing this strange foreigner balancing precariously at an uncontrollable speed towards her precious loved one. Not to mention there were also two cars aiming for the poor pooch. I managed to brake on time - the dog did run away from me as it same me come closer - which helped quite a bit. The locals seem to enjoy seeing me almost kill myself every time I hopped on and off the bike or attempted to cross the street. A lot of them grinned as I passed by or tuck on each other's sleeves and pointed in my direction. I've always wanted to go down with a bang!
I discovered a few temples, a beautiful lake and a huge bar district next to where I've been living all this time. It is apparently a pretty nice stroll in the evening so I might try to convince Ivan to venture there with me when he comes back. We're a bit at opposite ends of the clock these days. He went to bed around 9 pm yesterday, exhausted from a day at the Summer Palace, while I barely managed to fall asleep before midnight. I think I'm trying to get used to Montreal time, I guess.
There is this absolutely hilarious guy staying at our hostel. He is a travel writer for the lonely planet and is coming back from a year long stay in Russia. He collected stats about the percent of people with mustaches by region (people with beards are automatically disqualified from the count, he warned me). He is trying to find a way to get someone to design a t-shirt with the results from his 'study', something like a map of Russia with different percentages printed over it. Hilarious!
This girl from the hostel was washing the plants (!), the leaves in fact, to make them seem a bit more healthy. "We use beer to wash them up," she confessed. Which against stands in line with the theory that beer in China is cheaper than water.
I'm going to head out. I still have room for 400 pictures left on my memory card (I already took probably just as much) and haven't found anything worth getting as a souvenir for Fred. Somehow, I don't think a pirated DVD of Mr and Mrs Smith in Chinese would cut it!
We're moving out of here tomorrow, to go stay at Ivan's friend's parents' (I'm not sure which one of the previous words required the possessive form so might as well put it everywhere!) for our last day. I might write again tomorrow, if not I'll see you all soon enough.
Aug. 2nd, 2005 @ 02:42 pm
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| » Books |
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I've picked up many books while traveling around, so many in fact that I hope not to have to pay for over-weight luggage. One of them is called The Good Women of China and although I've only read a few pages it sounds immensely interesting.
We went to the Summer Palace today, where the Empress Cixi established her quarters for a good part of her life. The site is so beautiful that I'm expecting none of the pictures I've taken to translate properly how it felt to be there.
There are extremely interesting signs all over the city. A lot of them in engrish (funny English!)... It seems in fact that a lot of places, even tourist hotspots, rely on Google translation. Potential carreer prospect! (Check out www.engrish.com for endless hours of amusement and procrastination).
Anyhow, my favorite one is the sign displaying a trumpet with a bar accross it which indicates, I believe, that you should refrain from honking! There are also all those signs advising you to 'Mind your head' (which could be interpreted in a lot of different ways!) whenever you are using escalators. You really begin to wonder, at one point, what the Chinese do with their head when they ride escalators. I've taken pictures of them, probably too many actually.
Wow, that's a silly entry. I think the day in the sun made me particularly bubbly, I might write back something more enlightened tomorrow!
Aug. 1st, 2005 @ 08:45 pm
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| » Beijing |
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I think one of the things that was the hardest to grasp for me, as a concept, was about the pollution level in China. A thousand words could be written about it, yet they would all come short of the actual experience of it.
I'm back in Beijing in this hostel that I've begun to consider as my home (although we have to swap rooms every day, but that's another story!) and some construction workers are building an extra room right behind me. As I'm writing this, their discussing - which really sounds like arguing to my untrained ears. If you venture out on the Hutongs (those tiny amalgamated brick huts built chaotically one against another in peripheral neighborhoods in Beijing) you'll heard honking, bicycle bells, messages recorded on loud-speakers announcing a grand sale, a delivery entrepreneur searching (screamin!) for clients, neighbors chatting (very lively!), DVD sealers prompting you to have a "look-e, look-e" and so on.
Your lungs will be sumbitted to an overwhelming array of smells and scents, some more mouthwatering than others. The smell of plaster walls being cut (China is perpetually under construction and you can actually smell it!), kebabs being cooked at the corner restaurant, peaches and melon that you can by from behind an old woman's cart, garbage trucks parked every now and then were local residents flock to drop whatever they can reuse for something else. And everywhere you look a mop - suspended to dry or being plunged into a bucket of grey water.
And, of course, the pollution.
The sky was a beautiful bright blue when we got to Beijing. The previous evening Beijing had been graced by a thunderstorm that cleaned up the concrete streets from Tian'anmen to the Hutongs. Cleaned up the parts the government wants tourists to see, and those that it tries to wipe away before 2008. Cleaned Beijing up from of its smells and scents - even temporarily chasing the smog away for the time of a day or two, making the scenery as beautiful as some of the postcards I have sent to you. The smells quickly came back. The old women never tires - it seems - of pushing their carts of peaches and the kebab guy will grill his meat until every brick of his restaurant has been bulldozed over to build ... a stadium? a shopping center? yet another commerce and industry bank? or, maybe, maybe, decent and affordable apartments for the people.
Jul. 31st, 2005 @ 07:38 pm
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| » Soft Sleepers |
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Our experience on the train in China has been noting short of fantastic. The train are for the most part very efficient and we've been lucky enough to get on sleeper cars which makes the ride quite comfortable.
Hard sleepers are exciting as it is a chance to spend time with middle-class Chinese people who are going on vacation or returning home. Soft sleepers, though, are the ultimate luxury experience as every passenger has a soft bed to lounge on and a TV that hooks up to 11 channels showing movies and old reruns. A crew members refills your tea kettle as you'd like and wakes you up in the morning to tell you that your stop is the next one. I wrote an entry about 3 weeks ago on the train from Shanghai to Beijing, which seemed particularly relevant to type in here as yesterday's train ride made me feel pretty much the same. So, well, I'm also treating you guys to reruns!
I woke up at 5 AM this morning just to see the landscape from our soft-sleeper compartment's window. I drink the hot water that the crew member gladly refills and am wearing our complimentary slippers. We seem to always be passing by small villages made of small bricks houses, that look hardly better than shanty-towns. We see the occasionnal road, always boarded by a Sinopec gas station every few miles. The only vehicles with see are bicycle, motorcycles and those by old blue trucks that enabled communist countries that mostly carry coal and garbage. There are so many gas stations, in comparison with the number of vehicles, that it is surely the most striking sight of all. The rest of the picture is composed of roads, fields and trees. The farmers, workers and day-labourers have probably been up long before I first stuck my head out of the compartment to have a look. I see them build brick walls, layer by layer, cultivate the land and herd their sheep, from the comfort of my soft seat with a blanket on my knees. The young and the old are toiling out there, preparing my next meal, building the walls of the next hotel I will stop in, but when they come home at night after their 12-hour shift, I doubt anyone bothers to offer them complimentary slippers.
Tourist, whether they stay in the most magnificent hotels or in a shady one in a northern industrial town are contributing to changing the face of the country. The issue is not whether tourism should be regulate, or whether there should be quotas or such, as we were discussion one night with a well-rounded Neo-Zelander, but rather how could we work together to change this place into something that is suitable for those who won't be moving on to the next town in 2 days or so.
Jul. 29th, 2005 @ 03:03 pm
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| » Priviledge |
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One of the really striking things about life here in China is the subtle, but ever present, discrepancy between the Chinese's level of priviledge. Interestingly enough, China's new 'communism with a twist' offers quite a lot of opportunities for inequalities to occur, as Ivan quickly informed me the first time we met after he had spent over 2 months studying in China.
"You'll notice, he said, how some men would rather keep the nail of their pinky (le petit doigt!) long." It serves to show that they do not have to get involved in a profession that requires them to use physical strenght and thus their hands and nail immaculate.
We've often encountered children whose apperance betray their family's lack of fortune. Some of them will simply hold out their hands and ask for money, while other will follow you say "money, money, money" (in English!) and grab your arm. It is difficult for people as priviledged as we are to turn our backs and decide not to give them money, although every piece of information we've read on the subject strong advises us not to do so.
As foreigners we are often seen as rich - which we are, relatively speaking, but not as much as, say, the Holiday Inn tourists - educated, and so on. Yet, not all of us are treated equally, and the usual warmth, mixed with curiosity and amusement, is not always the attitude we are greeted with.
For one, Africans, South East Asians, Indians and anyone with a 'darker' complexion will often not be treated as nicely as 'Caucasians' (and, yes, I do understand the arbitrary nature of the labels I am using, though they only reflect the arbitrary nature of some of the labels that the Chinese are using themselves).
While the attitude of most Chinese people as been at worst neutral, there were a certain number of occasions when we were denied access to places because of our outward apperance.
Once in Huhehaote, we were actually refused access to a cybercafe, because the owner claimed that "the sites we would want to look at would be impossible for us to reach from his cafe." Ugh, what??? Of course, the owner not knowing we could understand the conversation with his colleague mentioned that foreigners out not to be allowed in there!
This morning, in the search of food to fill our stomachs with, Ivan and I set off to explore the side streets of Xi'an. We've both grown quite fond of rice porridge, which also serves as the perfect meal to prevent dehydration and diarrhea. This morning, though, we were looking for a new place to try out and stopped in front of a street stall selling you tianr (long, unsweetened, doughnuts) and warm soy milk in a bowl. The two man standing in front of the store (who neither looked like the owners nor like employees) told us that there was nothing left. Despite the fact that the cook, just a few steps away, was still frying up 6 long doughnuts! Ugh, what?
The thing is, though, there is no real way to argue your point with these people and in such instances it is often better to shrug it off, maybe use a few church words (in French!) and walk away.
As much as it makes me mad to grow through situations like this every now and again, I am often quickly reminded, by the sights and sounds of the Chinese's everyday life of my own priviledge. And those few moments where I am temporarily denied access to trivial things and quickly compensated by simply walking down to the next stall and finally being served (often with a smile and a few compliments on my spoken mandarin) whatever it was that I wanted in the first place.
When I think about it further, though, I am also thankful that I can live through those less pleasant experiences. That I can have the priviledge of not always having the priviledge. It brings me a little bit closer to those common people I walk on the street with, those who can't afford the luxury of not cutting the nail on their little finger.
Jul. 28th, 2005 @ 03:02 pm
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| » Inner Mongolia and Northern Shanxi |
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We are now in Xi'an after a week of backpacking in what originally was presented to us as rural China. Although neither the books nor our friends were particularly enthusiastic about our two first stops on our week and a half long trek, we thought it would be good to step out of the city (and the pollution for a while).
On July 19th, we boarded the train from Beijing to Huhehaote (also known by the Mongolia minority as Hohhot). We arrived to our destination at around 5:30 am. The train ride was amazing and gave us the possibility to sample the great diversity of landscape of China's Northen region. Mountains, grasslands, dried fields, it appeared all to be bucolic at first. We also passed by a huge nuclear (or maybe coal) operated power plant, nothing that I had ever seen before. When we finally dropped our bags out of the train, the first breath of air seemed a little less bucolic. You had the impression that you had just opened a bag of charcoal to start up your barbecue, only this very feeling lasted pretty much for as long as your stayed in the city.
We crossed the street and found our hotel room, which at 60 yuan (10$) a night seemed like a pretty good deal. One has to be careful when booking the cheapest room in an hotel, though, we quickly found out. Our window gave out on the train station (and it's adjacent parking lot with hordes of honk-obsessed cab drivers), the only thing is we could neither see the parking lot nor the train station as the banner advertising our hotel was put right on top of our window, leaving us with nothing but a tired old fan to cool ourselves down. The place was a bit shady, though we deemed it not to be unsafe so we opted to stay anyhow as our first glance of the city offered little else in terms of accomodation. We walked out and decided to go fill our stomachs. People in the street were staring at us in a way I had not experienced in China, which says a lot since I've pretty much gotten used to the stares and pictures after spending close to 3 weeks. We opted for a place that looked alright and was busy enough so that we would not attract everyone's attention too much. The waitress quickly reported that there was no menu and that we ought to try to order either one of 3 dishes that she mentionned really quickly. Ivan tried asking for other dishes he had sampled before, but none of them were available. I decided to point at the other tables and order 'whatever these people (were) having'. Our waitress brought us back two bowls of rice congee (a kind of porridge) and lamb dumplings (people in that region eat lamb at pretty much anytime of the day).
There was a group of men, not too far from us who were talking very loudly. We did not make to much of it in the begining as Chinese people tend to enjoy their restaurant as Re-nao (literally, hot and noisy). Which this place perfectly qualified for. Besides, with the local accent, it really seemed like everyone here was about to jump on each other's throat. Ivan noticed, though, that the one man who seemed to 'complain' the most was washing his feet (!^!) He eventually said "10 000, 100 000, 1 000 000... ah whatever!" Some guys quickly started pushing each other around, some dishes were thrown, bottles were broken and Ivan and I were both transfixed. I eventually urged him out and we went back to our squeaky beds for a rest... Actually, not before booking our spot in the next train out of there. It was a pessimistic decision, yet, at the time it seemed perfectly logical.
We bought tickets and quickly realized that they would get us to our next destination at 3 a.m. the day after that. The prospect of entering a similar city at 3 a.m. was not a good one and we decided to ditch the train and take a bus instead. Each ticket costing about 5$ a pop, it was really no big deal to change our plans.
We went to the Inner Mongolia Museum, later in the day and we were about to leave to go for lunch, the power was cut down. It seems simple things like 24-hour electricity and hot water is not something rural Chinese can take for granted. God knows, the first time I read that an hotel was boasting 24-hour hot water, I thought it meant that they would refill your tea-thermos at any time, day or night.
I guess I quickly sobered up!
We've now been in Xian for about 5 days. It's one of my favorite places so far as it offers a lot of sites to see, including in more remote parts like Hua Shan (one of China's 5 holy mountains). We hiked part of it up yesterday and I would not even know where to begin explaining how magical that was.
Of course, our sore legs today seem a bit less magical, but that's alright.
We're heading back to Beijing tomorrow, and will probably stay at the Red Latern again. I'll write more when we get there!
Love,
-j.
Jul. 27th, 2005 @ 10:36 am
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| » Word of the week: la du zi |
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Literally transleted it would mean: pulling on stomach. Which, you've maybe guessed, means having diarrhea in Chinese. Well, I am proud to say that I have been graced by the La Du god a few days ago and that, after a few hours of faithful prayers, that experience is now behind me. The people at the hostel where I'm staying at in Beijing have been kind enough to offer me rice porridge on the first morning and with the arrival of Ivan and Pascale, two friends from University of Montreal, everything is now back in place. Best yet, I've managed to tough it out without caving in and taking Immodium so, hopefully, my stomach got stronger because of it.
I was supposed to leave Beijing for Inner Mongolia today, but discovered that my tickets were actually for tomorrow (yes, my notion of time, in China anyways, is absolutely out the window). The teenage girl that I've befriended, from the family that owns the hostel, was ecstatic as it meant I would be there for her birthday. Pascale, Ivan, Su Meng (the girl) and I went for green teen ice cream to celebrate although she tried, as chinese people do, to refuse our invitation. You could tell, though, that she was really happy to tag along.
We went to drop out extra luggage off yesterday afternoon at the apartment of Ivan's language partner's parents (it sounds complicated but it's not!). It was quite a trek in the northern part of the city that the subway does not reach yet. We were greated by a cheerfull sixty-some year old man (although he could very well have been 70, it's hard to guess with the Chinese). His accent was absolutely incomprehensible. Even our cab driver, with a strong Beijing accent, seemed not to understand the man's southern pronounciation. He helped lug our suitcases up the 4 flights of stairs, his wife sat us down and they readily asked us if we wanted something... What, well, it was really hard to guess! So, although we politely decline their offers, they still disappeared in the kitchen and came back with bowls full of fruit: watermelon, peaches, apricots and prunes. Enough for two people to live on for a week. They gave us empty bowls and told us to spit the pits in them. Ivan then told me, quietly in French : "I wonder what they'll say when they find out that I eat the pits too!" They would prompt us to take a new piece, despite the fact that we were not done eating the one we had, as apparently the top part is the best. So we sat there, trying to hold our end of the conversation for a good half-hour, which was a bit awkward as the both of us combined could probably guess about one fourth of the words they said. Of course, they sat next us and, as Chinese etiquette dictates maybe (correct me if I'm wrong), they did not eat any of the fruit with us. We then informed them that we could not stay for long as Pascale was leaving the next day and we had planned an outing with her at 6:00 pm. "But you can still eat a bit us no? Nothing complicated!", the mother said. "Well, we have to be in town by 6pm and it's 4:30pm," Ivan replied. "But, we're only going to make something really simple!!!"
So, in the end, we left though not without being asked to take all (almost) of the fruit with us and, of course, a corn on the cob because I made the error of saying I had yet to try it!
Oh! Another thing. Ivan and I both heard them invited us to stay over at their place when we come back to Beijing before our departure. The irony of this is, though, that we are not really sure - accents and all - that that is really what they said!
Jul. 18th, 2005 @ 07:46 pm
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| » The Great Wall |
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I'm now in Beijing. It's actually my second day here. It's much more relaxed than Shanghai, which is a good thing I suppose, I will certainly say that the 'cooler' temperatures are definitely appreciate. I'm staying in a hutong, a traditional house in a popular neighbourhood, that was taken over by a Chinese family that takes great care of it. The place is incredible, we have a magnificent courtyard, two very friendly dogs, birds, and a small pond with fish. People meet in the common areas for coffee (1,00$!) or a beer (0,50$ for 0.6L!!! cheaper than water)
We went to the Great Wall today, with some girls I met in Shanghai. We took one of those organized bus tours that take you around different places, without really taking into account that you might not want to spend 45 minutes at a small town fair. Our driver managed to reprogram his cellphone and speak on it while driving (!), our guide systematically *screamed in the microphone and walked away when I told her I had not understood some of her instructions (!!) and they put own a karaoke tape for us on the way back from the Wall. It was awesome!
We did make it to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall though, which was amazing. We had to climb up, being careful about how we balanced our weight as it would have been pretty easy to fall down the stairs - that have been made uneven with hundred years of rain and the marks left by all of our footprints.
I again took way too many pictures, including one of this really strange bug that we saw at the top of the wall. The guard of the wall came to see what the foreigner's were finding so interesting (which seems to be the national sport of Chinese people!) and made a really strange face when he saw two of us laying on the ground trying to capture a bug on a photo! He then said: 'There are really a lot of pretty things here, and *this is not one of them'
Mao Zedong said in a famous quote that no one can claim being a real man until one has climbed the Great Wall. I'm sure I can not claim being a real man, but I think I somehow understood - while standing atop of this magnificent sight - what he meant. In fact, I think the whole ascension makes you understand the triviality of your own life and learn to admire the great things people can do when they start to work together. I guess the issue is to learn to make them build house, community centers and cultivate fields, while also teaching them that they should share some of what they reap... As the limit of one's kingdom could one day simply turn out to be just another tourist attraction.
(p.s. I'm having a hard time accessing the internet lately, and when I do I rarely am able to check my email... So, well, my apologies.)
Jul. 12th, 2005 @ 10:25 pm
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| » Pfew |
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I got here okay and I'm not too jet-lagged. Suren (my language partner who lives in Montreal) asked her husband to pick me up at the airport. He drove me through the city a bit, made me visit his office and treated me for dinner. It was awesome. Nothing like what I had even eaten in Montreal, except for the spicy tofu (Ma la do fu) which was so spicy I started to cough and my eyes watered. I tried to hide it by gulping down two mouthfull of tea.
Managed to figure out how to get access to the internet for cheaper than what my hotel charges (for 10 yuan an hour which is 1.30$ or something like that)... But had trouble trying to use the phone. I bought an IP phonecard, which connects through the Internet to save on long-distance fews, but you can only use it from certain public phones and I've not been able to locate one yet. Worse comes to worse I'll get a China Telecom card, which will a bit more expensive as China Telecom is a state-run monopoly.
I met interesting people already. Yesterday night, after Liu Yanjun (the husband) dropped me off, I went on a stroll on the Bund . People are not very used to seeing foreigners so a lot of them were staring in a very obvious way. A lot of them, also, tried to sell me all kinds of kitchy souvenirs... I swear it felt worse than at Battery Park or Times Square in NYC when all the street vendors rush towards you trying to make you bargin for watches.
I sat on a park bench on the Bund, which is a few kilometer long pedestrian area by the Huand Pu river. From there you can observe the skyline of Pudong (the area west of the Huang Pu river) and its overwhelming and sordid skyline. The most notable building the Oriental Pearl Tower glows with a rotating pattern of rainbow colored lights. Hundreds of street vendors harass you to take your picture, but, if you decline politely most of them will leave you alone. One of them came up to chat with me for a while (which was a great occasion to practice my Mandarin). I taught him a few words of English and he gave me two of those hand-fans in return.
I went to Mc Donald's for breakfast, the only place that would cather to my foreigner's needs at 7 am. Granted, after waking up with a coffee-headache at 5:30 am, I was not in the mood to be adventurous. I managed to order in Mandarin "Wo yao san hao he yi bei ka fei." Interesting thing, McD's still offer "surprises" to adult with its meals. I got a free tube of Zhong Hua toothpaste. Must try it out! Will report about it later.
It's raining today, which is not really a problem as it makes Shanghai soaring 38 Celcius a bit more bearable. I'll probably head down to the Shanghai Museum which is a not to be missed visit... apparently!
p.s. I think I'm going to do a count of how many people want to have their child's picture taken with me. Day 1 has barely started and I'm already at 2. Yay!
p.s.s. I'll upload my own pictures in a couple of days, when I have enough to make it worthwhile!
Jul. 6th, 2005 @ 08:32 am
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