China won't get the best of this blog! I know you have all been waiting in heated anticipation for the next entry.
Anyhow, without further adieu, wanted to update ya'll on these funny "Reflections on Asia" (which really just are reflections on some funny things in Northern India and my few days in China).
This is a random list without any classification or particular order, it is just funny, if you aren't laughing, you need to re-evaluate your life, seriously (or i just have poor story telling skills).
1) The plane from Delhi to Shanghai - The sheer amount of rude behaviour on this leg of my journey was unreal (and nothing i have seen on plane in the past comes even close in comparison). There were mostly Indian men on this China Eastern Airlines flight, obviously the flight attendants were Chinese. I don't know if the behaviour is normal for Indian men on a Chinese airline (i met and interacted with many considerate Indians on my travels there)...but this was outlandish. The group of Indians around me were constantly ringing the Flight Attendant bell (you know, the little light that you sparingly use because you know it will really anger the flight attendants). Perhaps this was their first time on the plane, or perhaps they didn't care (i think the latter). But this whole group (sitting in coach) would ring the flight attendant bell for the smallest problem or request. There was one (very overweight) guy who rang the bell at least 30 times in 3 minutes (this is not an exaggeration). And the requests weren't the least bit urgent. If they wanted more water (even right after being served, while all other customers were getting served drinks), they would ring the bell and yell at the flight attendants for more water. If they were done with their water and wanted to get rid of their cup, instead of waiting like normal human beings for the trash collection, they would ring the bell and yell for the flight attendants to take their cup away. I could barely comprehend how the rudeness around me.
2) The Chinese on Planes - On Chinese planes, the lavatories have directions on both english and mandarin. Very difficult to misread these signs. They also have colors (just like every traffic light on the face of the earth) where green mean go/vacant and red means stop/occupied. This doesn't concern many chinese travelers. More than once, i saw grown Chinese men, pushing the clearly occupied lavatory doors with reasonable force. One even tried to throw his shoulder in it as he couldn't understand why the door didn't open on his command. I guess these are the growing pains of developing countries! In a similar vein, we saw a variety of Chinese people of the subway who were very scared of the escalators (both old and young) and who were very cautious/nervous about getting on these complicated "moving" stairs. Some funny sights for parts of life that we consider so "normal."
3) Hello Laser - Obviously in all of these countries there are many people on the streets trying to sell what is mostly junk. Same here in China as in Africa and India. But here it is quite funny, because the language barrier is greater and command of english is even lower than in Africa or India. When you walk the streets of Shanghai at night, there are guys trying to sell you toys and their main "attraction" is a laser pen (or something with flashing lights). Their method of getting your attention is to shine the laser at your feet and say "Hello Laser" - this phrase is not separated as in "Hello, (pause) Laser" - but is one continuous phrase. It is quite funny to hear people say it this way. And i know most of you are curious...do they actually saw the "L" or is it more like "Herro Raser" - Surprisingly enough, when one hears "Hello" in China more often than not it actually sounds like "Hello" - very odd.
4) The best way to combat street sellers - This is a random funny, Eric Nicola anecdote. But the best method for making the constant barrage of street sellers humorous is to speak to them in various English phrases they won't understand. So when a street seller engages us and we say "No Thank You" he also ends the encounter with "I Love You." Hilarious.
5) Michael Jackson - WOW - totally obsessed over here. 2 nights ago was our first night in the Beijing hostel and we grabbed a quick dinner, the girl working here asked us if she could put in a Michael Jackson video - it was more like "Rock-u-mentary" - but either way she was very excited. About a half hour later i was talking to another guy eating dinner and he had been here 2 weeks ago, same video was playing! Last night we had dinner here again, a different MJ video on the TV (all night)!. Apparently, the death of MJ was very traumatic for Chinese youths and this is their way of remembering.
6) Bad Driving - This is the understatement of the year. I am utterly shocked at how appalling the driving situation is in Africa, India, China. In Africa it is likely because they have no real idea how to drive, but there is enough space to make things relatively safe. In India they don't know and definitely don't care. There are tons of lorries all over the road and most of the drivers are sleep deprived, drink, high or a combination thereof. Additionally, since we were in the mountainous regions of India, the driving danger was exacerbated by the small roads, steep cliffs and blind curves. It was almost as if the drivers would wait until there was a blind curve to pass on a narrow mountain road. Unreal. In China, i think they may know what they are doing, but they definitely don't care. Traffic enforcement is non-existent and traffic signals are obeyed only on occasion. At any given corner all four lanes are trying to get through the intersection and if someone is in your way (pedestrian or vehicle) keep moving until they get out of your way.
That is it for now. Hope to have more updates and anecdotes in the future. China won't keep this blog down!
Enjoy the rest of the summer.
dave
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