Housekeeping Issues

Housekeeping Issues

Before I continue with my sightseeing experiences, I think now is a good time to discuss some of my impressions from everyday interactions with the food, language, road and cleanliness here.

What No Fortune Cookie?

Like any good Jew, I've always been fond of Chinese food. Of course my experience is based upon the Americanized version of this cuisine. A big part of traveling is eating and I was particularly excited about my visit here. So far the results have been mixed, yet encouraging. Much of Chinese restaurant cuisine is communal style with several dishes ordered for everyone to dig in. One of the problems with traveling by yourself is there is less opportunity to try random food. And of course there's the problem of actually ordering. If you find yourself at a place with pictures you can simply point and say jigga. It's also acceptable to wander around and point to other people's food. If this isn't an option, it's usually a funny experience trying to communicate and always exciting to see what arrives. So those are the tough parts.

One of the great things about eating here is the ever present food stalls in night markets. You can find all sorts of fun treats. The other night I had dinner in one such market. I samples BBQ meat (mystery meat for sure), stir fried noodles, dried tofu, minced meat in pocket bread, sesame pudding and fresh sugar cane juice. Mmmmmm night markets. Plus they're really cheap, the above cost me no more than three dollars.

The couple times I've eaten in groups have been a real treat. My favorite places so far are the night stands step-up for dinner. There are a row of carts each proudly displaying the dinning possibilities. Aside from the requisite veggies, you'll see an assortment of proteins; tofu, chicken, assorted organs of various animals, live fresh fish, not so fresh fish, squirming sea creatures, random bugs and probably anything else you can possibly eat. Of course this is much easier to navigate with a Chinese speaker and since everything is cooked in one of two pans the tastes kind of run together. But so far, I've been pleased with this arrangement. And I'm proud to say I've done a pretty good job of just sticking food in my mouth. I'm sure sooner or later I'll end up eating something strange (could have happened already) like goat testicles, fermented yak spit, or dog's tail. But what's the harm if I don't know?

One last thing I have yet to see (nor do I expect to) is a fortune cookie. If you want a fortune, you need to go to a temples and pay a monk to shake some sticks, just like any other good Buddhist.

Me No Speaky Chinese

This is an understatement. In my week plus I've learned about ten phrases. But it seems that none of them are understandable. What makes Chinese so tough are the four tones. The same words can have multiple meanings based upon accent and inflection. I can barely hear this and fail miserably in my attempts to speak it. This difficulty is made harder by the reception of the Chinese people who seem to be totally unforgiving to mispronunciations and foreign accents. I feel like I can be 95% correct and still often receive blank stares. Plus it seems there are as many local dialects as people.

Hope can be found in the relatively simple grammar. There does not appear to be tense forms, nor gendered articles, or plural forms. I'm probably not correct. I have been unable to find a phrasebook (I've looked half-heatedly in several stores) and the three language pages at the back of my Lonely Planet book are barely helpful. At times I have similar ambivalence about the book in general.

They have Licenses Here?

Theoretically there are rules to the road, they appear to be followed primarily based on convenience. I've seen people drive on both sides of the street (right is standard) and it's not uncommon to see motorbike taxis on the sidewalk. The sound of honking is ever present in the city. While China has some catching up to do regarding car technology, I would be willing to bet that the next breakthrough in horn technology will originate here.

Safety is a major concern for anyone on or near the road. The street food can be intimidating at times, but it's unlikely to kill you. The same cannot be said with the roads. I joke with my family that one of three things are bound to happen while I'm here. I'll either get food poisoning, get hit jaywalking or be in a bus accident. Personally, I'm rooting for number one.

While at times the roads are dangerous when I'm able to take a step back and watch, I see some funny things. Not a day goes by where I don't see some car passing on the wrong side of a crowded two lane street honking at on-coming traffic as if to say, how dare you drive on my road. Surprisingly, I have yet to see an accident.

Naked Baby Bottoms

I love wandering the cities. Just picking a street int he general direction of where I think I'm supposed to be going and just exploring is what I'm all about. It's fun to dip in and out of the market I see. What's not so enjoyable is the general filth that's all around me. Every body of water must be passed with caution, lest the stench of the putrid green-grayish much knock me over. The Chinese people are a dirty bunch throwing trash everywhere, constantly spitting. There's no respect for the environment, which in Chinese must be synonymous with trash can. I noticed this again several days ago when I was at Tai Shan. At the top of China's most sacred peak, young and old alike were throwing plastic bottles, discarded wrappers and all other trash down the mountain. This slovenly behavior is learned at an early age. Babies and young children often wear clothing that covers neither gentiles nor bum. When there is business to be done, the parents just watches over the child as they do their thing wherever they happen to be standing.

I'm sure the lack of trash cans does not help the situations and the street cleaners seem to all be elderly citizens working with brooms fit for the tenth century. None of this explains the truly crude behaviour. Smoking in elevators, smoking in bathrooms (often while squatting and chatting with a neighbor), smoking in buses, leaving food sitting outside for days.....

The Chinese government is currently freaking out about H1N1, canceling schools, encouraging people not to travel. I know I'm just a silly Western tourist, but maybe suggesting people to wash their hands with soap, not eat from the same food trough and provide clean water would be more affective than to create hysteria.

That's what I got for now. There will be much more to say about these issues in the coming weeks for sure.