Updates from Josh in Asia!

I know in the past couple posts I haven't really said much about China itself so I think I'll share some of my thoughts here...

People
By and large, and like every other country I've been to, the Chinese have been very friendly. There's the occasional "hello!" from some young person who's had one English class and then there's the person who seems to come out of nowhere with fluent English when I am stuck trying to arrange a bus ticket. In general they are curious and I catch many second glances as they catch me in their eye passing by. Whether it's my colour or my size I am not certain, but probably both. On a bus in the far west of the country a Tibetan man pulled the sleeves of my shirt up so he could point out the hair on my arms to everyone else aboard. I will often turn around upon hearing gasps to see a bunch of people staring at the size of my feet. It's all very funny of course. Being singled out for an arm-wrestle by a Kazakh who looked like a bull was a highlight (he easily won the second match after letting me win the first).

But if I was to comment on the people in general, or my "vibe" of the Chinese people, it's that they are very much out for themselves. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, it clearly is just a cultural difference. The Chinese throw their garbage everywhere. They smoke when they want to, where they want to (even on buses and trains under the CLEARLY posted "No Smoking" signs). They drive where they want to with complete disregard for pedestrians and other traffic. There is no such thing as a "lineup" and even when you're in the ticket window another head will pop in between you and the cashier interrupting your conversation. They will yell in the middle of the night to get their friends attention down the hall. In short, they don't give a f#ck. Maybe it's because they're all trying to fend for themselves among 1.6 Billion other citizens, or maybe it's because their culture is one of "if it's not mine, it's not my concern". I am not sure. Sometimes you have to laugh at it, sometimes you just lose your mind in frustration.

When crossing the street you have to constantly look out. Even at an intersection when the "walk" signal starts flashing - I am not even sure why they have that here as whoever has the biggest vehicle has the right of way. They will drive in the oncoming lane while passing another vehicle even in the middle of the city. They will stay in that lane as long as any oncoming vehicle is smaller. They honk their horns constantly, usually for no other reason than to say "here I am". The other day it was 6am, no traffic on the street and we hailed a cab. It stopped and as we loaded our bags into the truck another cab pulled up behind and just started honking to tell us we were in his way. There was no one else around. Even as we got into the cab he was honking. At this point I got out and walked in between our cab and his and just stood there staring at him. It was a good 15 or 20 seconds and then he realized that I wasn't moving unless he stopped honking. In the countryside the honking supposedly has the purpose of telling you to get out of the way. It also has the side-effect of scaring the shit out of you when they're directly beside you, and you've already moved out of the way because you could hear the engine a mile beforehand! I've said this before at home, and now that I've experienced it it's absolute truth; people in Canada will often complain about how "bad" Asian drivers are but I can tell you that this is all relative. They drive like they do at home. And if you were to drive here, YOU would be the one who's bad. You probably wouldn't get anywhere waiting for someone to let you in, or your road rage would have you in an accident in minutes. Annoying and chaotic as it is, it seems to work for them.

A big thing you notice here is the discrepancy with cleanliness. The people themselves are quite clean, washing themselves in the morning and at night. But then they hork and spit at whim, even the women, clearing out everything in their systems. Its funny when you see two people on a date, dressed sharply, and then one of them just leans over mid sentence and coughs up something nasty. And the other just stares adoringly onward.

The city's have a surprisingly large number of trash cans around, and you always see city workers picking up garbage. But this has a dark side. You'll see two garbage cans, one for regular garbage, the other for recyclables. But when you look inside you see that the people haven't bothered to make the distinction. If there's no garbage can then people just throw their garbage wherever they want. It's especially terrible at tourist sites or on hiking trails; you get to a rest spot or a lookout and it's littered with plastic water bottles, beer bottles and bags. Everywhere. Walking down the street you'll see people toss stuff out car windows, or just unwrap something they're eating and throw it to the side. You do see lots of government signs that say things like "Keep China Green" or "Take care of your country" - but people don't. Again I think it has to do with this idea of fending for themselves. I know I commented on this garbage thing when I was traveling in India too but the difference here is more noticeable to me as China is seemingly much more developed. Their infrastructure is booming, buses are relatively new, people dress stylishly and yet at the end of the day.... they don't give a f#ck. (You'll hear other travelers say that too by the way. Seems to be the consensus.)
Overwhelmingly however the most shocking thing I think I have to deal with is the bathroom situation. Chinese toilets are horrendous. My worst experience so far is during a bus stop when I got out to have a leak and followed the other guys into a small wooden shack on the side of the road. There, I crouched down to piss between two pieces of wood while two guys on either side of me squatted to crap with their shoulders touching my knees. There was a line-up to get in. I left shaking my head to find Isabelle leaving the woman's side. She just looked at me and said "I can't do it. I can't go with all those other people in there." Even washrooms at the bus stations are a challenge. The don't build the walls between the toilets any higher than 4 feet. So when you walk in you're already looking at people squatting, and of course they wall want to watch you do the same. The best thing to do is find a gas station, or till you get back to your hotel. In other countries with squats, there's usually a water basin near by with a bucket you use for cleaning yourself. Here in China, its just a small garbage can. You're not supposed to put paper down the pipe, so you just throw it in the can on top of everyone else's (or hell, just throw it in the direction of the can); assuming you've brought some of course. It's never supplied and I can't imagine everyone is carrying around a roll in their pocket so I'll leave that to your imagination.

The language here has been a real challenge though. Oh how I wish I brought a phrasebook (though my iphone has come in handy). There is very little English spoken anywhere. If the guesthouse is mentioned in the lonely planet, then MAYBE someone there speaks a little English. Other than that it's just random to find an English speaker. The language itself is very unforgiving too. No how many times you practice saying something, they often just won't get it. "Train Station" is my biggest challenge. It's pronounced "hoo-ah-chuh zan" (literally 'fire wagon house', bus is 'chi chuh' or 'energy wagon') and no matter how many times I say it, they just stare at me. Finally, after making choo choo noises or just saying it 1000 times they'll say "OOOhhhh, 'hoo-ah-chuh zan'!" in exactly the same way I've said it to them. I understand that tones are important, and that there's 5 tones in chinese so how I am saying it could mean 5 different things... but really... come on... when a white guy gets into your cab with a big backpack, of all the things "hoo-ah-chuh zan's" tonal variants could be, which one does he probably want? "Take me to the sewing machine... the sewing machine... "choo choo" goes the sewing machine?!" No, he probably wants the train station. The other tough thing with the language is that there's no words for "yes" and "no". They answer in the positive or negative depending on what you've asked. So the difficulty arises when I try to simplify things and ask questions that require a simple yes or no answer. "Is there a train tomorrow?" and then they just fire off Chinese at you for 3 minutes. The kicker, and this happens ALL THE TIME, is when the verbal just isn't working anymore and the person you are speaking to decides to write it out for you... in Chinese characters of course! It's terribly frustrating, and interesting that it happens everywhere in China.

Transportation
The primary method I use for getting around is the bus. They are usually newer here in China than other Asian buses but the interiors still need work. Often seats are broken or the windows rattle open as you go down the road but overall its pretty comfortable. They do have sleeper buses as well but I only use these when I have to. Basically a sleeper bus has beds instead of seats, with three rows down the length of the bus, upper and lower bunks, around a total of 32. There'll be a compartment for your feet that is actually the elevated head rest of the person in front of you. The length of each bed is about 5.5 feet, and because my feet are big I can't get them in the compartment so I have to keep them outside, knees bent and resting on the bar just behind the head of the guy in front of me. At 6'4" tall I get about 4'6" of space so this is an awkward sleeping position. I would much rather have a seat but they only run those buses during the day.
Trains are the best way to travel but of course don't go everywhere. I travel 2nd class "hard sleeper" but it's not really hard. There's a mattress, sheet, blanket and pillow. Each open compartment has 6 beds, 3 stacked on top of each other. I prefer the bottom bunk as its a little wider, but I'll take the top bunk if I have to. In that case I put my head opposite of how it's set up so that I can dangle my feet over the edge and everyone just walks underneath. All the trains have hot water freely available so most people travel with tea and big bowls of instant noodles. Seat trains are packed but still comfortable enough. Just hold your breath using the toilets. Wow.

Taxis are good for getting around town. They always go by meter which makes it easy unless the driver is trying to squeeze some cash out of you. I had one argument so far where the guy used the meter... it got up to 5 Yuan, then he stopped it, drove a bit more and let me out and tried to charge me 10. This made no sense. I ended up paying him 6 (because we did still drive a fair bit after he turned it off) but it was big hassle. The fun part about arguing with someone when neither of you speak the same language is you can get as mad as you want and say whatever you want about him, his mother, whoever and it won't matter - you know he's doing he same to you anyway. As long as you're firm and occasionally smile and refuse to leave it seems you'll get your way.

Food
Ahh... Chinese food. Love it! Most of it anyway... some... not so much. It's nothing like what we get at home of course. There's no sweet and sour chicken balls, or egg rolls or chop suey that I've seen. There's certainly no Fortune Cookies (that was an idea invented by the Japanese in San Francisco and stolen by the Chinese when the Japanese were thrown into internment camps during WW2). And of course as you move around China the variety of food differs from region to region. In Sichuan its SPICY. Fire food. Good... but WOW. In the far NW there's a lot more bread. I think the bagel may have been invented there, or at least came from Central Asian peoples as they have a bread that looks just like bagel and is often baked with Sesame Seeds on top. Hot in the morning? Outstanding. No cream cheese though. ;) The Tibetans make many bread items too but they fry it more often. As for the "regular" chinese food, I wish I had the chance to eat more of it. Each item is served as a big dish that a few people would eat from at a round table (you see these kinds of restaurants in Canada). So when you're on your own it doesn't make sense to order several dishes because it's just too much food. And no, there is no special combo A or B for one (I've asked). If I am with other travelers we usually go out and do it up and it's usually a treat. I really like Ma Po Tofu (spicy tofu), and we'll often get scrambled eggs with large chunks of tomatoes. Fried beef or pork with green peppers, many dishes come with a peanut sauce. Really though you never get the same thing twice because the sauce is always different, or it's a different kind of noodle. To order, there's three ways to go about it. 1. If there's pictures on the wall, you point. 2. If there's others in the restaurant you point at what they're eating. 3. You point at something random on the menu and surprise yourself. For better or worse. The Lonely Planet also has a small food guide in the front part of the book with rough translations so sometimes I'll open that and just show the cook and he'll point at what he has or can make and we'll go from there. When I am on my own I usually eat in small noodle houses or at the food stalls in the markets. Dumplings are a favorite, as is the muslim food you get in some areas. Some days I've just had enough local food and buy fruit. Grapes, pomellos, apples and kiwis where I am so far. Oh and pomegranates! Love those.

As for the weird stuff... well... In Urumqi I was hanging out with a Chilean fella and he suggested we go "try" some things. He went one way down the market and I went the other, we both picked the strangest things we found and joined to share at a table in the middle. He had a bowl of boiled innards... stuffed intestines, kidneys, etc. I came back with a goats head. I had watched a guy take it from a steamer, peel the "meat" from the skull, then crack the skull with a hammer to get the brain out. We sat down and shared our meals... about half of it anyway. At one point I commented on a large chunk of something I was chewing and noted how I thought it tasted like cheese... then my friend said he thought it was just pure fat. I suddenly gagged and that was it for me. The goat head "meat" tasted pretty good to be honest. The brain... well... it was somewhat creamy.. and just strange. That was my big food adventure in Urumqi. In Turpan I ate some bbq'd testicles and (I think) a kidney on a stick. Both delicious. Since then most things have been relatively normal. People here do like to eat chunks of fat though and I've had to get used to that. I've also had several flavours of pickled beef. Tibetan butter tea is something I just can't get used to. It's basically like drinking a mug full of melted yak butter. Some travelers love it.
On trains and roadside stops I'll often eat a bowl of dehydrated noodles. Like Mr. Noodles but with a lot more flare. The bowls are big, cost about 50 cents and have a fork inside. Hot Water is ubiquitous in the country. Every hotel room has a kettle or they will bring you a thermos full of hot water each day. On trains there's hot water either in a thermos near your bunk or just outside the bathroom. You open the noodle bowl half way, empty out the 3 or 4 different packets of seasonings inside, then pour in the water. You close the lid, then stab the fork down on the lip to keep it closed for the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to "cook". Cheap and easy.

And of course, any traveler who tells you they've only stuck to the local food will be lying to you. Sometimes you want comfort food, something familiar from home. One night in Xining the French couple I was with, another Canadian couple, and two Brits and I decided to go for real pizza at a "real" Italian restaurant. We even ordered a bottle of Italian wine. Cheesecake for dessert.... yum. My biggest cheat so far though was when I arrived in Xian... and I saw a McDonalds.... and I went in and I ate a Sausage and Egg McMuffin, with hash browns and coffee and it was glorious, quiet, and clean.

Money
China isn't as cheap as I thought it was going to be. I mean of course it's cheap relative to life back in Canada, but whereas I usually spend an average of $600 a month or less in other Asian countries, China is so far costing double that. It's about 6 yuan, or kwai, to the Canadian $. Food in the markets is cheap, about 3 to 6yuan for a bowl of noodle soup. In a restaurant a dish usually costs about 15 or 20 yuan, or $3. So every meal I spend anywhere from $1 to $6. Compare that with Thailand where a market meal is about 30 to 40 cents, but a meal in a restaurant about $3. Accommodation is pricier here too. A cheap bed in an 8 bed dormitory runs about $5-$8. A room to yourself anywhere from $10 and up. In Thailand your own room is usually between $4 and $7. Transportation is all over the map. A bus ride that's 10hrs may cost you $30, or it may cost your $10. Same with the train.Cabs usually start at 75 cents when the flag falls, and then go up from there. Here's some typical costs:

500ml bottle of water: 33 cents
600ml bottle of beer: 33 cents in the store, $1 to $1.50 in a restaurant
1L of gas is about $1
Grapes: $1 to $1.50 per kilo
Apples: 8 to 16 cents each
Goats head: $3
Huge bagel: 16 cents
electrical power bar: $1
Snickers bar: 80 cents
Big Mac Meal: $5
Bottle of Jack Daniels: $35
Pair of jeans: $5 and up

Without a doubt the biggest unexpected expense is admission charges. The Chinese charge for everything. They even charge you to go into certain villages or parts of a town. People live there, but if you want to just walk around the street you have to pay. And it's usually like $5 for the privilege. A temple or monastery will run you anywhere from $5-$10. The Terracotta Warriors was $15 to get in. Jiuzhaigou Park? The place where I took the pictures with the amazing colours... a staggering $37 to get in THEN you needed to pay $15 for the shuttle bus. These may not sound like a lot, but the fees quickly add up. I guess the shock is that no other country I've been to has fees like this or at least this steep. I'll often go to a temple and then just walk away when I see how much it costs. A picture of something you've seen 10 of before isn't worth $5. Maybe 50 cents or $1, but no more. This is a common complaint you hear from other travelers. "Did you go to the Bell and Drum tower?" "Yeah, but it's not worth it. You've seen it all before. Go to the market and people watch instead." I really think someone in the Tourism department should look at the elasticity of these fees. A lot of people are just walking away.

Well I think I'll end it here for this update. I've been on the road for another couple weeks since my last post so when I find some more down time I’ll update you on the places I’ve seen and add some more photos.