Well if that last post wasn't on the boring side, a step by step account of my first visit to China, I don't know what is. Now, for a bit of personal commentary on my first trip to China.
People, many, many people. How do you get away from them all? Bicycles, many many bicycles and many of them motorized. Traffic, a bit hairy at times, such as you are trying to take a left at an intersection and cars going straight go on either side of your car. It is just amazing to me there were not more cars with stripes scraped along the sides from all the lane changing and interesting maneuvering.
Smog....a combination of pollution and dust in the air, you can see what you are breathing:( We pulled up at an intersection, there were some bushes planted in the median, they were so covered with dust the leaves looked gray, I said to Mike, "how can the plants even breathe through all that?" I will say you don't see much trash or many cigarette butts on the ground as there is an army of street sweepers going around constantly cleaning up the streets and sidewalks. Everyone told me I was seeing the worst of the air pollution. It was bad/sad and a bit scary. Hopefully China will wake up and admit it is a serious problem and do something about it. I never saw the sun even though it was very bright, like a white blanket over the world between you and the sky. A large percentage of the population smokes. I wonder if they all didn't smoke for a day how the air would look?
Spit, gross, need I say more. Seems to be a national pastime. Gotta be sure not to be downwind!
It will take a bit of getting used to, not being able to see the sun most days. When we came home it was amazing how vibrant everything was after days of hazy grayness. Now for months. Maybe I will need one of those sun light lights so I don't get SADD
I had fun in the grocery stores. Although the packaged chicken in the meat area with its featherless head very much in evidence caused a bit of consternation. I asked Fei about it and she said they use those for soup. With the head, really? I think I will take the head off for my soup!
I would say maybe half the items I looked at in the store had written in English what they are so I think I can survive in the locals/natives grocery....some stuff I may take a while to figure out. Hopefully I can find a person who speaks and reads Chinese and English to guide me.....I imagine I would have to bring them with me, tehe. Live and learn....buy the wrong thing? Don't make that mistake again......
Getting kind of wordy. Gotta pack for vacation.
Zàijiàn
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