Hooray! I'm On! (for now)...

Well, the Great Firewall is big, and great, but not completely impervious. Years ago I married a computer geek and not regretted it for a minute. :-)

It is very humid here compared to the dry climate we're used to. We got off the plane and felt like we were breathing under water and had a serious case of insta-sweat. By the time we went to bed that first night, our clothes were quite wet. Whew!

We wandered through a night market in Hong Kong that first evening. It was like a giant street festival or the farmer's markets in the U.S. EVERYTHING was for sale. Part of me wishes I had bought one of the nice purses I saw, but we had too much luggage to deal with to be adding more stuff to it. Guess I'll just have to go back one of these days or find a local equivalent.

It's interesting, I was cautioned not to carry a purse in Guangzhou because of the risk of theft, but I look around and everyone carries a purse - the men even more than the women. It's a sight that takes a little getting used to. In Spain they call them "bolsas" and there is no gender attachment to who carries them there either. I wonder why we have such rigid "rules" about it in the U.S.?

The sun is setting here right now. It is very red due to all the pollution, but it's beautiful. Still, I have been paying attention to the infamous pollution levels and at least here on the outskirts of the main city, it's generally not so horrid. In the city where the factories are is another matter altogether... Today was the worst pollution day since we came here - like a bad inversion day in Utah. The sky was white today, but the past days they have been blue with some clouds. I think the daily rainstorms help clear the air. I wonder what the acid content of the rain is here?

It is interesting to me to see that in the homes, each room has a separate air-conditioning unit rather than central air. Here at the hotel, people seem to appreciate the cool A/C, but don't hesitate to leave outside doors open.

When we go to the restaurants, if they happen to give us "napkins", they are always the equivalent of pocket facial tissue. Most of the time however, there is nothing in the way of napkins at the table. Also, public restrooms, if you dare to use them, have no tissue so you'd better carry your own supply.

The company has a driver who's sole job is to drive "the bosses" around where they need to go. He has been carting us places all week. It's nice not to have to worry about finding our way around or driving here. It's been a strange concept for the kids to think about a man's only work being to drive people places. They understand taxi drivers, but to pay a driver a constant wage just so he's available whenever you want him, sounds rather "high-brow" and "chauffeur-like". I guess it is, but I would never, ever, want to do the driving here.

It's an interesting thing about the drivers here. There is zero concern about letting engines idle while waiting for someone even as long as an hour. This ensures that the drivers have an air-conditioned environment to wait in. Of course, it also contributes to all the pollution. If the Chinese government really want's to clear the air here, they have a lot of work to do beyond making the factory standards more stringent. They have two or three billion people to educate about personal environmental impact. I consider myself a global warming skeptic, but come on, people, unless you're a fish, do you really want to poop in the water you live in (so to speak)? In fairness, they are making some progress here with anti-pollution, but the factory growth is hard to keep up with and people seem very willing to accept the status-quo.

We've been eating at restaurants since we came and have concluded that our favorite food in China so far is..... Korean. It's the only place to easily get regular rice and veggies, except at a Mongolian hot-pot type of place, where you cook it at your table as you eat it, which gets a little complicated. At the Korean restaurant, we can order stone-bowl Bi Bim Bop, with rice, veggies and an egg, served in a VERY HOT stone or cast-iron bowl. Simple and YUM. :-)

Gotta run. It's time to hunt up another meal. Maybe we'll do Korean again...