Mood:  irritated

Again, I do respect foreign culture to the max, but seriously…. Can anyone tell me the cultural signifigance of hawking a loogie on the carpet of a 5 star hotel?  Or perhaps the need to blow a farmer snot at the dinner table?  Maybe you could even figure out for me the reason it’s ok to hang your toddlers bare ass over a restaurant garbage can to take a dump, or fill an ashtray with urine?

Normally, I feel bad about knocking other cultures.  This subject however continues to perplex my mind here.

From the time I get up in the morning and make my way down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, I have the privilege of hearing men, women, and even sweet elderly  grandmothers working up a nice big loogie to spit on the floor of the hotel.  Even at dinner the other day, the girl at the next table not once, but twice felt the need to loudly extract her phlegm into a cute and wiggly little puddle beside her chair.  At which point, my dinner tastes somewhat less ‘yummy’...  And if you think your stomach is turning by reading this, try eating beside that every single day.  I don’t really think it’s something I will try to respect or even get used to. 

Something else that bothers me are the toddlers with no covering on their ‘bathing suit area’….. I get the fact that some are just too financially strapped to buy diapers, but WHY oh WHY is it ok to take your kid to the steps of the restaurant and let them evacuate their bowls where people have to step over to get in the door???  This one really gets me going… 

Heidi and I went yesterday to KFC so her 1-1/2 year old daughter Zoey could play on the playground and eat some chicken nuggets.  She soon realized that she had forgotten to bring socks (as you are not allowed to wear shoes in the play area).  The last time we were there, Zoey had stepped on something sharp in the play area and had a sore foot, so Heidi decided that this time Zoey could keep her sandals on.  The floor was waay dirtier than her shoes anyways!   About 3 minutes passed, and a Chinese lady came over and told us ‘NO SHOES! NO SHOES!’ so Heidi had to then remove Zoeys shoes if she wanted to continue playing.  Ok, fine, rules are rules.  Then came along two other children.   We thought, oh that’s good, Zoey has someone to play with.  It was then that we noticed one of the toddlers had the ‘open bum’ concept and was playing in the play area with his junk hanging out, and his bare ass smiling away.  His mom took him to the bathroom briefly, and then returned to play.  Where did he go?? Oh, the slide of course!  He had a hard time sliding due to his bare bum, so he basically inched his way down the slide over and over again.  So let me get this straight… Not allowed to wear shoes on the disgusting filthy floor, but SUUUURE, NO PROBLEM, you can let your kid leave skid marks on the slide for my child to touch with her hands and then eat some chicken nuggets, I don’t mind!  Hey, why don’t we invite grandma over to hawk a few greeners on the monkey bars?  Seriously, yeah, while we’re at it, bring over Uncle Jin to rub his junk on the ladder, afterwards we’ll go grab some chicken wings.

Mood:  a-ok

Sooo, it's been a while since my last blog simply because I had no idea what to write about!  I do plan on writing about the food here, but I would like to get a bit more 'seasoned' in that subject first.  Last week I hired a tour guide to take us shopping.. I know that sounds a bit strange, but it was well worth the fourty-five or so dollars that it cost us each.  Huh, guess what?  My luck was that I booked our little excursion on one of the BIGGEST travel days for Chinese people.... labour day! GREAT. 

I had to book train tickets to take us into Beijing to meet the guide.  I tell you what, the transportation system here is great BUT for people who are used to the casual boarding of a bus or train or plane, doing so in China is a little different.  Baoding train station wasn't very big or OVERLY crowded, but we had no idea how all those people were going to fit on one train!! They all did, and we had a comfortable 1 hour train ride into Beijing.  When we got there and stepped off the train, it was unbelieveable... The amount of people is really something that takes you back.  Imagine the busiest airport you have ever been to, the most crowded bar you've danced in, and then multiply that by about 10,000 and you have the Beijing train station! I was expecting everyone to be staring at us like they do in Baoding, but to my surprise, we felt somewhat 'normal' there.  The next thing to think about was actually finding our guide amidst the sea of humans!  We just followed the crowd until we arrived at the gate's exit, and there she was with a sign above her head 'Mandy Kuhbandner', cute as a button and grinning from ear to ear.  She directed us through the sea of humans and safely got us to the taxi bus. 

I must say Beijing is MUCH prettier and cleaner than Baoding where we are staying.  The traffic is heavier of course, but at least they obey traffic lights!!  One thing we were all yearning for was COFFEE!  So we asked our guide if we could make a stop for some... She had no clue where to find coffee!  So we just went to our first stop which was Tianyi Wholesale Market.  There, she asked a security guard to direct us to some coffee, and we were golden!  Yes, we will have 4 coffees please!  'Ok ok' said the China man as he smiled and handed us 4 plastic bottles of room temperature brown liquid :)  To all of our surprise, it tasted pretty good! Our bodies must have needed it. 

We entered the first building and the heavens parted, the pearly gates opened, the angels sang (at least they did for Lars)... Directly in front of us was..... endless mountains of POLO SHIRTS!!  Lars tried to contain his excitement as he asked the first vendor if they had one in his size.  They did, and then came time for the price.... 'How much?'...... '90 Yuan'.  Lars got a little grin on his face as he said '80?'... Sold!  80 Yuan is roughly 9 euros or 13 dollars.  Not bad for the first purchase of the day!  He ended up buying 2 more at different stalls with different prices, and I got one for myself too. We were in heaven here.  Every floor had mountains of different stuff, and it was all so CHEAP!  We had to get to our next destination though, so we called it quits there and headed for Silk Street.  To get an idea of this place, you can google 'Silk Street Market, Beijing' to get a look at some pictures of the market.   

The people here were much different than at the first market.  They literally jump out in front of you, pull on your arm, anything to get you sucked in to what they are selling.  Then, you don't generally leave the stall until you've bought something.  The price starts out really high, and you MUST bargain with them!! Generally offering only 10% of their asking price!  I'm REALLY bad at it, and Lars is REALLY good.  So, he did most of the bargaining, but he let me have a go at it ONCE.... It proved to be an expensive lesson... :(

All in all, the shopping was cool.  We spent alot of money despite everything being cheap.  But we got ALOT of stuff, and we plan to do it again sometime!  But for the day, 4 hours of shopping was definitely enough.  So, we were taken back to the train station and waited for our train to arrive. 

As soon as the bell dings to notify you that boarding has begun, a sea of people push and elbow and literally RUN to be the first on board (mind you, your seat is assigned).  It reminded me of a national geographic video I saw about rats running from an oncoming flood.  I held on to my stuff as tightly as possible and just tried to 'blend in' with the crowd.  Haha, sure, like one marshmallow trying to hide in a box of coco-puffs kind of 'blending in'.  Anyway, we boarded the train and found our seats no problem, and enjoyed the 1 hour ride to back to Baoding.  I really don't know how we would have managed alone without a guide helping us.  Next time we go, I'll hire the same guide and pay more attention to the train station.  Maybe once, we can do it ourselves!! That will be something to write about!

Mood:  caffeinated

Ok, here's the deal.  I do completely respect and realise that I'm in a totally different country with a totally different culture.  No problem... Or is it??   Funny how one can be so used to and so prepared for something, yet completely blown away when it happens.  That was my problem today. 

I was a bit nervous to venture off alone into the abyss that is Baoding, China.  The sky filled with an off-white haze that layers your mouth and throat with a tingly film, and the drivers who appear to have no idea what a stop light is, nor any comprehension of pedestrian right of way... I felt like I had a nervous disorder while walking down the street, trying not to look up in fear of making eye contact.  The problem was, without looking up, I couldn't protect my life from oncoming traffic... Doesn't matter if you have the little green man or not, you keep yourself aware, or they WILL run you over!  I must have looked like that nervous kid from Zombieland... Anyway, as I made my way down the busy street, hand tightly grasping the handle of my purse, I couldn't help but notice every head turning as I walked by.  People stumbling over their neighbour just to get a glimpse of the strange white creature walking down the street... And if they didn't happen to see me, they were nudged by another and pointed in my direction.  It was so surreal, as if I were in a movie, or a nightmare!  I imagine it would be the same if I were to walk downtown Toronto naked with a for sale sign over my head. 

I finally arrived at my destination.  The market.  I thought 'perfect', I will blend in as just another human in need of food and basic necessities, right?  Hahaaaaa!  I think for every 3 shoppers, there is one sales clerk.  They too nudged each other to be aware of the alien with the Betty Boop purse.  I stopped to look at a piece of luggage and was immediately bombarded with a clerk saying god knows what in Chinese.  I responded with 'No Chinese', and was answered with more Chinese as she waited for me to respond.  I raised my hand as if to say ''it's ok, I'm leaving now''... And politely smiled and walked away.  So again, I was back to the 'just look down, no eye contact' method.  How on earth was I going to get any shopping done?? I didn't.  So I went downstairs to the grocery department to pick up some drinks, salt for a bath, a bottle of shampoo, shower gel, and maybe a snack.  Same stares of course, but I tried to ignore them and pick up my things as quickly as possible.  I found some shampoo, and began to search for the body wash.  ''Excuse me Miss?'' said a little Chinese woman... ''Can you pay for this now here?''.  Despite feeling like a known criminal, it was surprisingly nice to hear someone speaking english!  She directed me towards the cash register and I paid for the shampoo as they tightly sealed it in a plastic bag with a heat sealer.  What do I do now?  Go back and pick up the body wash, pay, and then look for the salt?  No, forget the body wash, I'll skip this department and head to the food.  I got everything I needed, paid the cashier and scurried out of there as fast as possible.  I walked back to the hotel so fast, I broke a good sweat, and practically kissed the floor of my little fortress that some call a hotel room... As I unpacked my things I realised I hurried myself so much in the grocery store, that I only picked up one tiny bag of salt for the bath (enough for just one)... Which means another lovely trip to the market.  I don't know if my nerves can take it!