No Fat Men in China
hello from smoggy beijing.
is a long story but my brother in law is here for a work conference - his wife is chinese so we thought it the ideal opportunity to visit here.
my sister-IL tried to tell us a while back that there were no fat men in china.
we just laughed and i even showed her my 'supersize me' book quote that said china was the fastest growing junk food country in the world.
tho i have to say despite kfc and mcdonalds being here in great numbers the majority of overweight people u see here are american tourists so maybe she is right!
most entertaining thing i have done so far is sit in the front seat of a taxi.
these people are crazy.
much much worse than rome.
i dont know if any rules exist but there seems to be no correlation whatsoever between traffic flow and the color of the lights.
bikes and cars seem to share right of way here so if youre a pedestrian here lookout!
most dangerous thing you can do is walk on the green walk sign.
i think everyone here lives in a tiny unit.
u hear stories of 5 people per bedroom.
how else so u fit 17 million people into here i guess !?!
all u can see from the roads are heaps and heaps of 20 story high unit towers.
went to the markets here yesterday.
had some advice that most of the clothes and sports shoes and electronics are 'real' -made in the same factory, but obviously when they try and sell u a rolex for 10 bucks its not! ;)
bought a ski jacket for 90 australian - my SIL reckons i could have got it for half that and they they would have got it from the factory for half that again.
made me think a bit too much about consumerism and how much stuff there is in this world that we dont need - me especially.
i am hereby donating all my gear to tim.
i am told china is the most capitalistic country in the world.
i am starting to believe it.
most of the salespeople at the markets are young girls )look about 15 but probably older) and they scream out at you and grab your arm as you go by.
they asked one of our friends for some aussie coins so she handed 3 of them 50 cent coins.
each of these is more than 3 chinese yuan/dollars and when comparing against yearly salary(but not cost of living) is about 30 bucks.
one thing china isnt short of is labour.
there are people in the hotel toilet here to turn the tap on for you and hand you the tiny towel.
not exactly staying at the ymca but freaky nevertheless.
doing a fair bit of walking here with no knee probs.
hopefully trial run in a week or so.
wall tomorrow.
hopefully catch up with CR virtual when in HK.
is a long story but my brother in law is here for a work conference - his wife is chinese so we thought it the ideal opportunity to visit here.
my sister-IL tried to tell us a while back that there were no fat men in china.
we just laughed and i even showed her my 'supersize me' book quote that said china was the fastest growing junk food country in the world.
tho i have to say despite kfc and mcdonalds being here in great numbers the majority of overweight people u see here are american tourists so maybe she is right!
most entertaining thing i have done so far is sit in the front seat of a taxi.
these people are crazy.
much much worse than rome.
i dont know if any rules exist but there seems to be no correlation whatsoever between traffic flow and the color of the lights.
bikes and cars seem to share right of way here so if youre a pedestrian here lookout!
most dangerous thing you can do is walk on the green walk sign.
i think everyone here lives in a tiny unit.
u hear stories of 5 people per bedroom.
how else so u fit 17 million people into here i guess !?!
all u can see from the roads are heaps and heaps of 20 story high unit towers.
went to the markets here yesterday.
had some advice that most of the clothes and sports shoes and electronics are 'real' -made in the same factory, but obviously when they try and sell u a rolex for 10 bucks its not! ;)
bought a ski jacket for 90 australian - my SIL reckons i could have got it for half that and they they would have got it from the factory for half that again.
made me think a bit too much about consumerism and how much stuff there is in this world that we dont need - me especially.
i am hereby donating all my gear to tim.
i am told china is the most capitalistic country in the world.
i am starting to believe it.
most of the salespeople at the markets are young girls )look about 15 but probably older) and they scream out at you and grab your arm as you go by.
they asked one of our friends for some aussie coins so she handed 3 of them 50 cent coins.
each of these is more than 3 chinese yuan/dollars and when comparing against yearly salary(but not cost of living) is about 30 bucks.
one thing china isnt short of is labour.
there are people in the hotel toilet here to turn the tap on for you and hand you the tiny towel.
not exactly staying at the ymca but freaky nevertheless.
doing a fair bit of walking here with no knee probs.
hopefully trial run in a week or so.
wall tomorrow.
hopefully catch up with CR virtual when in HK.
posted by undercover brother at 8:17 AM
6 Comments:
Maybe you can pick up a cheap "made in china" itb?
Say g'day to Virtual for me.
That is a great post - might even use bits of it in a Year 10 lesson on Asia and the Pacific.
cheers Plu
Too lazy to log in so anonymous Owl here.
You could exchange all your gear for a copy of "the china study". Tim's probably got a copy.
I do have a copy and will be around when you get back for the gear.
why did you buy a ski jacket when you have that puffy jacket you are always talking about?
LOL. Your post brought back many memories of my trip to Beijing a few years ago!
Glad to hear that you are having fun. Looking forward to the photos!
All those crazy things you talk about make me want to go there now!
Enjoy the rest of the trip. And give Brendan a punch in the belly for me.
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