Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Observations from S….




Cokes/Sprite are still distributed with “pull tabs”. Coffee is so strong at the hotel restaurant that your spoon can stand straight up. God bless the person who invented Folgers coffee singles.

No potable water in a 5 star hotel – we must boil water in the room or use bottled water to brush teeth and clean baby bottles – but right down the street you’ll find a Starbuck’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and a Haagen Daz.

Chongqing is the largest city in China with just over 30 million people compared to 8 million in New York City.

Smoking is a national past time in China – hotel lobbies, bathrooms, restaurants, office buildings, etc. Cigs are stocked in the hotel room mini-bar.

Very little, if any English is spoken in Chongqing – far different than Beijing where most attempt to speak English.

If you want a “fresh” dinner just go to the local supermarket to select a live crab, fish, frogs, turtles, chicken feet and other various animal parts.

Chongqing is made up of slums located directly next door to new skyscrapers – major rebuilding of the city to accommodate the rapid growth.

We’ve not seen the sun in 5 days – not sure if its smog, fog or straight pollution but our allergies are going strong.

Buicks, Fords, Chevrolets along with Toyotas, Nissans and other unrecognizable auto brands pack the city streets and highways.

Young children don’t wear diapers – when the urge hits them they just squat no matter where they are…McDonald’s, airport or a city park. J asked if the circle “P” was for no parking or no…

Younger generation…20 somethings…celebrate the gift giving of Christmas not the B.C. Older generation don’t even acknowledge the gift giving. Strangely enough they use BC to recognize years…

CNN (Hong Kong edition) on Channel 43…communist propaganda on Channel 44…and their version of MTV has the communist flag in every music video.

Pre-requisite for driving…a course in the finer art of using your horn…turn signals are optional….

Steak dinners are interesting to say the least…everything is rare to medium rare…I’m not sure they understand the concept of anything past medium.

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