This days China update edited by Josh.
The unedited version is still available.
This Days Pictures.
I vomited in china today! woo hoo. what is the point of going to a country if you don't vomit in the streets? I really was afraid of getting in trouble for it, because it was on a busy street and everything I read says to fear the police. I was probably breaking some sort of vomiting ordnance.
Anyway, I believe it was food (not sure what) that made me sick. it was one of those vomits that make you feel a lot better afterwards. And it came out of my nose too. But I feel fine now, thanks.
So after vomiting we (henry, his friend Stephanie Maxwell, and I) and I took a bus to a really cool boat trip. We just stayed on the boat and ooohhh and aaahhed at the pretty things. At one point we were supposed to get off the boat but the bridge which floats on the water was not working. We sailed (not actually a sailboat but it seems like a fun word to use when talking about being on a boat) on and came back and just got the boat right next to the water (Stephanie Maxwell is watching Smurfs now, but in Chinese) and walked on the land. It was basically a lot of people selling stuff. I got a fish on a stick (and I complain about throwing up) for 2 yuan (about 20-30 cents) it was yummy. And then Stephanie Maxwell picked up a crab. We played with it for a while. When I saw this girl pick up a crab and start playing with I knew she was cool. She actually stopped quite a few times during the day to play with different bugs. that impresses me in a girl.
So I was pretty hungry so we got some food. It seemed to be a sort of non-fancy sit down restaurant. I can inaccurately describe it as the sizzlers of china. We sat down, women wearing heavy makeup come up with food carts. They ask us what we want in terms of appetizers, then we (meaning henry) goes and orders the main dish. He chose three dishes and then let me choose whichever one I wanted. It was yummy. Unfortunately he is insisting on paying. I feel like he is helping me so much that I was to buy.
Today some chinaman's cell phone rang and his cell phone ring was amazing grace. I thought that was very funny.
So from lunch we went to a park. but I feel like park is an understatement, this was a PARK (does that make it clearer). Really it was awesome. Like big ol'moutains that we hiked up, and the view was great. then on the way down we were invited to have some tea in a traditional tea ceremony. that was really cool.
The whole tea thing rocked. She went through the whole tea tradition (in Chinese with henry translating). It's crazy how inefficient the tea drinking is. but inefficiency in nice in ceremonial things. My favorite thing about the ceremony is that when pouring the hot water into the porcelain pot she overfills it on purpose so that water spills out. then you know the tea is ready when the water on the side of the pot has dried.
Then surprise, at the end of the ceremony you can buy the tea. I bought some. But the funny thing is that when I bought the tea she said she needs to get her manager. Then the manager comes holding other things for me to buy. It's like she went to the manager and said , "Hey, I have a white boy here with money." The manager was a real salesman. What I bought cost 90 yuen, and rather then give me change she insisted that I buy something else for 10 yuen. She rocked.
Okay, this is true, I promise. The woman who did the tea ceremony who spoke very little English knew the word "osmosis" I thought that was funny.
Then we strolled around the grounds more and went to another gift shop. Once I walked in I literally had a salesman at my side the whole time. As I walked into a different section that salesmen would trade off. When I bought something they spent 30 minutes (4 hours in josh s. time) trying to get my American express to work. They failed.
We headed out to the Internet cafe where I found out that my site was still up. That really surprised me. And I sent out an e-mail to my friends and chatted on IM with a few people. That was nice to do. Internet access at the cafe costs less then 50. Then we took a taxi back to the hotel. I bought (with help) my ticket the Beijing and now we're sitting in the hotel room. Soon I will be buying Henry and Stephanie Maxwell dinner, as a thank you.
I should explain Stephanie Maxwell’s name. She didn't have an American name so I was asked to choose one. Naturally the name Stephanie Maxwell jumped to mind. I think she likes the name.
The USD dollar is so strong here. When I take a taxi ride that costs about one and a half dollars and I give him a little over two dollars the drivers are so happy. It's like I made their day. Henry says it's not normal to tip taxi drivers.
Our taxi driver today was listening to some boy band but his tape player did not play back at the right speed. It took me a while to figure out if the tape player was broken of if we're listening to some n'sync cover band.
Now Stephanie Maxwell is watching Chinese Disney cartoons. Henry left to buy himself his train ticket. When he gets back we'll all go to dinner.
Ah well back from dinner. It was one of those places where you point to the animal you want to eat. We got a bag of frogs, a bird, some beef, and some vegetables for 13 dollars. It rocked! So now I'm going to go to bed, I am told I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow.
While I'm taking pictures I wish I had a tape recorder to record the sounds that I'm hearing. I think the sounds are just as important as the pictures. When I was in the train car they had a loudspeaker playing Chinese music, and hearing that music while seeing the Chinese landscape whirl by really added to the experience. That sounds corny.