Lots'o'stamps
Seems my Myspace blog isn't blocked all of the time, just most of the time.
So I got to spend the night in my own bed for two nights in a row as of last night, it is nice. The past two weeks have been spent traveling up and down the coast here, but it's not all for work. Two weekends ago on Saturday night I went down to Xianju, about an hour and a half west of Taizhou into the mountains when I got off work on Saturday and spent Sunday hiking. I had meetings the next day in Taizhou so it was convenient, and who would have thought it was so close.
The mountains reminded me of Guiling, just sheer cliffs and spires with lots of clear waterfalls. The heat was intense, but it scared away most of the tourists (less people for me to make a scene with about littering the place they are touring) and the plenty of opportunites to swim the small, deep pools below the waterfalls. I discovered that opening my eyes in the crystal clear water was painless and hardly uncomfortable at all. At a small man-made pond I took a dive in one of the local custodians came out and told me that the fine was 50 for swimming ("there's no sign" I said) but if she didn't call the police it would only be 10. She didn't appreciate the laughter and for some reason the cop never showed (who I would've paid). A major cultural difference I have had a hard time getting over is people that go to beautiful places to tour and through their trash everywhere because they think the cleaners will come around. I've concluded that Mao, with his infamous efforts wasn't quite able to take the emporer out of Chinese culture.
Last weekend I had to go to the Shenzhen area on Friday and Saturday morning so on Saturday afternoon we went over to Hong Kong to tour the city. My previous visits were so hectic that I wasn't able to see much but this was more relaxed. I can understand why so many foreigners like to live there. It's very clean, has (so important) lots of mountains, and incredibly dense. I feel like I'm in Shanghai's busiest subway station just walking down the street. That evening we went up to the top of the mountain on Hong Kong Island where the high rollers live and looked out over the hay like city skyline.
On Sunday two colleagues and I went to Ocean Park, which is similar to Sea World, or I'm told. Equipped with several large aqariums, porpoise and seal shows, pandas (thrown in because this is China, not because they live anywhere near the ocean) and a few thrill rides. The Brits really did a good job there.
So I got to spend the night in my own bed for two nights in a row as of last night, it is nice. The past two weeks have been spent traveling up and down the coast here, but it's not all for work. Two weekends ago on Saturday night I went down to Xianju, about an hour and a half west of Taizhou into the mountains when I got off work on Saturday and spent Sunday hiking. I had meetings the next day in Taizhou so it was convenient, and who would have thought it was so close.
The mountains reminded me of Guiling, just sheer cliffs and spires with lots of clear waterfalls. The heat was intense, but it scared away most of the tourists (less people for me to make a scene with about littering the place they are touring) and the plenty of opportunites to swim the small, deep pools below the waterfalls. I discovered that opening my eyes in the crystal clear water was painless and hardly uncomfortable at all. At a small man-made pond I took a dive in one of the local custodians came out and told me that the fine was 50 for swimming ("there's no sign" I said) but if she didn't call the police it would only be 10. She didn't appreciate the laughter and for some reason the cop never showed (who I would've paid). A major cultural difference I have had a hard time getting over is people that go to beautiful places to tour and through their trash everywhere because they think the cleaners will come around. I've concluded that Mao, with his infamous efforts wasn't quite able to take the emporer out of Chinese culture.
Last weekend I had to go to the Shenzhen area on Friday and Saturday morning so on Saturday afternoon we went over to Hong Kong to tour the city. My previous visits were so hectic that I wasn't able to see much but this was more relaxed. I can understand why so many foreigners like to live there. It's very clean, has (so important) lots of mountains, and incredibly dense. I feel like I'm in Shanghai's busiest subway station just walking down the street. That evening we went up to the top of the mountain on Hong Kong Island where the high rollers live and looked out over the hay like city skyline.
On Sunday two colleagues and I went to Ocean Park, which is similar to Sea World, or I'm told. Equipped with several large aqariums, porpoise and seal shows, pandas (thrown in because this is China, not because they live anywhere near the ocean) and a few thrill rides. The Brits really did a good job there.
posted by Israel Holby at 5:34 PM
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