June 28, 2006
China is bizarre (although probably no more than any other country we've traveled to), and here is an incomplete, unalphabetized glossary of miscellaneous insights:
Money: the base is the RMB (the People's Money) or yuan, sometimes simply written as a 'Y' before numbers. Y8 is about a US dollar. Y1 has two different paper forms and a coin version. A tenth of an RMB is called a jiao. A tenth of a jiao is called a fen (confused yet?), which has approximately no value (I can't even use one to pry open the battery cover on the GPS!).
Food: cheap and greasy. My first meal in China was a plate of fried noodles from a street vendor for Y2 (25 cents.) From a restaurant in Qiqiha-er, my last meal was a huge plate of shredded vegetables/potatoes, transparent yellow crepes used to wrap the former, a thick bready pancake, cilantro,onions, sauce and tea. Leah and I both ate until we were stuffed for a total cost of Y11 (less than $1.50). My favorite food is cold noodles with cucumbers in a spicy sauce. In hotels with breakfast, Western and Asian foods are offered. The strangest is what I have named 'white bread topiary', which tastes like white bread and is fashioned into all sorts of unusual shapes--spirals, twist, etc. The food has all tasted good, if a little too oily, with the exception of a sweet "pastry" roll that was dipped in a finely shredded sweet meat and filled with mayonnaise (Just mentioning this breakfast makes Leah a bit sick).
Traffic: mayhem!
Parks: relaxing with lots of people of all ages. Kids run around, young adults play badminton or basketball, adults walk, and the elderly use the park's outdoor exercise equipment, such as walking machines, parallel bars, twisting platforms and gym rings, just to name a few.
TV: almost nothing in English. If we do turn the TV on, we watch the World Cup, since soccer doesn't require translations. Once or twice we've tried to watch a Chinese movie and do our own dubbing, which can be hilarious.
Internet bars: noisy, smoky and filled with kids playing video games or watching movies.
Chinglish: most English sentences are strange--ranging from just awkward to completely incomprehensible. Here is a sample of my favorites:
1. In Dalian at the hotel, a price on a disposable razor reinforced with the label "uncomplimentary."
2. On the road to Qiqiha-er a large official looking sign reading, "Rearendcolusion: Keep Space."
3. In Harbin at the restored church of St. Sophia, a panel painting of the Virgin Mary entitled, "Board picture of Holy Mother."
-David
