Thursday, September 2, 2010
Transportation in southern China
So here are just a few of the ways that folks get around town here in Shekou. To the left is a the mobile flower guy that I have a little softness for. He sits on the stoop in front of our apt most days next to his bike of trees and plants. He speaks no English and I speak no Mandarin, but he and I have made an agreement of sorts that come Christmas, he will supply our first "living tree". He rattles on about the great qualities of various plants and I nod appreciatively. When I ask, "Dou shou xian?" or "How much?", he pulls out his calculator and looks at my freckles and gives me the Western increase. I shake my head and I type in half the price and he laughs. So far no tree, but we are getting there. I like his perserverance and product quality. He likes my interested face, I think... To the right is one of the infamous red taxis. Infamous only to our family because we usually get in one with a driver who wants to kill us and can't read my Mandarin signs. Fortunately, Vic has perfected the words for right and left-- yo and suo -- in the right tone. With strong gestures, we usually get to our destination.
Beneath and left is a shot that Luca took from his school bus. We never knew that anything can be carried on a bike. We are trying to discretely capture a family of 4. This fella in the photo is a recycler. Recycling is done somewhat haphazardly, but with determination, here in China. Read: folks can make a living off recycling paper, metal and plastic, but they have to peddle their service around town. Fortunately, Chinese have mastered the whole work ethic here. No slackers around...
This is the school bus in front of our apt complex that brings R and L to school every day at 7:30. Kind of fancy actually.
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Hey! It looks like Garvan is following this, but actually it is MOI. My email would spam-ify anything that came from the site. The Christmas tree story reminds me of a tale our friend Marga used to tell about living in Puerto Rico. When residents would look at her Scandinavian coloring and name a higher price, she would always say in her excellent Spanish, "Blond, but not stupid." That usually got things on the right track.
ReplyDeleteHave you been able to use my favorite (only!) Chinese phrase yet: "Kill the chicken. Show the monkey"? It is one of those sayings that requires the proper moment. When it comes, "Shah-gee, jing-ho" is the way to say it (I have NO idea about spelling).
We're having Labor Day here which I celebrated by getting up at 4:30 a.m. to labor! I didn't get much work done yesterday because we did a 16 mi hike and I fell asleep around 8 p.m. Is there a Labor Day equivalent in China?
Sounds like you all are having a great time -- I can't wait to read the further adventures!
H
Hey you!!!
ReplyDeleteI have not perfected your sentence or had reason to use it, but I will try to fit it in.
Are you still coming to Shanghai?