A few weeks ago I came back from a trip to China, and I've mentioned previously about how incredibly pleasing it is to see that China retains its craziness.
I'll explain. I first visited China 9 years ago. At this time there were motorbike taxis, everywhere. Really cheap, convenient and quick, but really, really dangerous. Having big legs and being generally bigger and fatter than most Chinese, each time I tried to get a motorbike taxi I would be sized up and you could see an instant of doubtful mirth flash across the eyes of the rider of the bike.
Most times you would wear no helmet and have to literally cling onto any crevice deeper than your finger nail would fit (if you were lucky, there would be a small luggage rack at the back of the bike). The driver would then proceed to hurtle in between cars and along highways and undertake huge buses and drive the wrong way across a busy intersection into oncoming traffic. And the adventure wasn't over when you reached your destination. The rider would pull over safely and without warning would lean the bike to come to a stop. This causes a bit of an imbalance to the passenger and their body reacts by shooting a leg out to stabilse the body. The problem has roots in the fact that sometimes in China it is quite warm meaning that foreigners generally wear shorts in the summer. A 125cc or 250cc bike that has been revving its bollocks off for 15 minutes is going to have warm exhaust pipes. Scorching, skin-sizzling, hotter-than-the-sun exhaust pipes. Right where the calf of the stabilising leg is going.
I still have the scars on the back of my lower legs.
Now though, the majority of these motorbike deathtraps are gone. Outlawed and replaced by way more car-taxis. There are lots of electric bikes now too.
The standard of English is much better in China now too. There are many, many new buildings. There are much more shops. The poorer Chinese people are generally more colourfully dressed and you can see that they are generally richer. Many in the urban areas in the south have new iPhones or Samsung mobiles. Many local Chinese people used to stare at me and stare a lot at foreigners in general. They thought that all Western-looking people are rich. This is no longer the case. I wasn't stared at very much and one beggar even ignored me when she was begging for money on the street,...choosing to hassle the rich looking Hong Kong guy next to me instead.
Corruption is still pretty bad though. And in a way bluntly hits you in the face while walking down a street in ChangPing (常平) past a government building with Lexuses (Lexii?) parked outside, top of the range BMWs, maybe a Porsche Cayenne, maybe some Audis. Then like 100m away there is a woman with no legs begging for money in between swarms of skimpily clad prostitutes and sex tourists from Hong Kong or Taiwan and business men, local and foreign. I mean, what else could it be but corruption that makes the gap between rich and poor still be so great.
A while ago, I read an article on the population growth of Chinese cities. There were tables that listed the population of major Chinese cities in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. It was insane how the numbers were just growing larger and larger. Like one city doubled its population over the course of a decade, from 15 million to nearly 30 million. Wow. One city had a overall loss of only 2 people too over a decade. How convenient for the census. I can't find the article/site now, but there is this Wikipedia page, which is pretty good too.
The recent trial of Bo Xilai was also really interesting. Entertaining in a way. This BBC News article discusses how maybe it was made to a bit too theatrical. But in a way, I think that's not unusual of China.
China is even more of an interesting country, as it shows to me a unique picture of how a country comes from being a "3rd world" country 20 years ago to that of a "developed nation"....and still be a super-power in world politics.
But it's still absolutely mental and still so, incredibly unique.
I saw some things again this time that were worthy of picture taking. Stuff that I hadn't actually noticed before.
For the first time in an apartment block, I was in the lift and noticed, for the first time that there was no number 4 or number 14. I had heard about this but never actually seen it.
The number 4 (四) in Mandarin, Sì (a sharp 'sssih' sound) is similar in sound to the word dead (死) Sǐ (pronounced the same but not as sharp sounding....'sssi')
Fancy some German Shepherd for lunch? An area in the south of China LeiZhou (雷州) that specialises in catering for an appeitite for canines, as well as chicken and cow.
And if you don't quite fancy the dog you can always choose the good old Bacteria Cheese Tape. I don't even know what this was. This was on the menu in a sushi restaurant.
I'll explain. I first visited China 9 years ago. At this time there were motorbike taxis, everywhere. Really cheap, convenient and quick, but really, really dangerous. Having big legs and being generally bigger and fatter than most Chinese, each time I tried to get a motorbike taxi I would be sized up and you could see an instant of doubtful mirth flash across the eyes of the rider of the bike.
Most times you would wear no helmet and have to literally cling onto any crevice deeper than your finger nail would fit (if you were lucky, there would be a small luggage rack at the back of the bike). The driver would then proceed to hurtle in between cars and along highways and undertake huge buses and drive the wrong way across a busy intersection into oncoming traffic. And the adventure wasn't over when you reached your destination. The rider would pull over safely and without warning would lean the bike to come to a stop. This causes a bit of an imbalance to the passenger and their body reacts by shooting a leg out to stabilse the body. The problem has roots in the fact that sometimes in China it is quite warm meaning that foreigners generally wear shorts in the summer. A 125cc or 250cc bike that has been revving its bollocks off for 15 minutes is going to have warm exhaust pipes. Scorching, skin-sizzling, hotter-than-the-sun exhaust pipes. Right where the calf of the stabilising leg is going.
I still have the scars on the back of my lower legs.
Now though, the majority of these motorbike deathtraps are gone. Outlawed and replaced by way more car-taxis. There are lots of electric bikes now too.
The standard of English is much better in China now too. There are many, many new buildings. There are much more shops. The poorer Chinese people are generally more colourfully dressed and you can see that they are generally richer. Many in the urban areas in the south have new iPhones or Samsung mobiles. Many local Chinese people used to stare at me and stare a lot at foreigners in general. They thought that all Western-looking people are rich. This is no longer the case. I wasn't stared at very much and one beggar even ignored me when she was begging for money on the street,...choosing to hassle the rich looking Hong Kong guy next to me instead.
Corruption is still pretty bad though. And in a way bluntly hits you in the face while walking down a street in ChangPing (常平) past a government building with Lexuses (Lexii?) parked outside, top of the range BMWs, maybe a Porsche Cayenne, maybe some Audis. Then like 100m away there is a woman with no legs begging for money in between swarms of skimpily clad prostitutes and sex tourists from Hong Kong or Taiwan and business men, local and foreign. I mean, what else could it be but corruption that makes the gap between rich and poor still be so great.
A while ago, I read an article on the population growth of Chinese cities. There were tables that listed the population of major Chinese cities in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. It was insane how the numbers were just growing larger and larger. Like one city doubled its population over the course of a decade, from 15 million to nearly 30 million. Wow. One city had a overall loss of only 2 people too over a decade. How convenient for the census. I can't find the article/site now, but there is this Wikipedia page, which is pretty good too.
The recent trial of Bo Xilai was also really interesting. Entertaining in a way. This BBC News article discusses how maybe it was made to a bit too theatrical. But in a way, I think that's not unusual of China.
China is even more of an interesting country, as it shows to me a unique picture of how a country comes from being a "3rd world" country 20 years ago to that of a "developed nation"....and still be a super-power in world politics.
But it's still absolutely mental and still so, incredibly unique.
I saw some things again this time that were worthy of picture taking. Stuff that I hadn't actually noticed before.
 |
| No number 4 |
The number 4 (四) in Mandarin, Sì (a sharp 'sssih' sound) is similar in sound to the word dead (死) Sǐ (pronounced the same but not as sharp sounding....'sssi')
 |
| How much is that doggy in the window? |
 |
| Bacteria Cheese Tape |
And if you don't quite fancy the dog you can always choose the good old Bacteria Cheese Tape. I don't even know what this was. This was on the menu in a sushi restaurant.
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