Final thoughts and Zai jian China

Well this will probably be my final blog before i leave. Flying out to hong kong in a couple of hours to do touristy stuff for 6 days,then back to home and the drudgery of real life :(
I am missing home and all friends and family of course, but after a few weeks at home i'll probably be missing travelling again!

For this final blog i'm just going to talk about random small and quirky things and share final thoughts about my time here in china.

1) They love inflatable the inflatable arches. To me they look so tacky and remind me of inflatable jumping castles. but whatever floats your boat i suppose.

2) Almost every entranceway into a building has these annoying plastic door flaps to keep the heat in. They're so so annoying, especially the multiple flap ones. i've been whacked in the face so many times with these, and sometimes you can't see if someones coming from the other direction! maybe they get rid of them in the warmer months.

3) It's well known alot of people smoke in china, but it's very hard to see a female smoking in public. Well maybe in the bigger cities like beijing it's easier, but in xi'an i seldom see them. Men smoking, absolutely everywhere, but women no. I asked shu shu the other day if actually there are just as many women smokers but that they don't smoke in public because of the bad stigma attached to women smokers. He said thats partly correct but also that very few females smoke anyway.

4) KTV (karaoke tv). Like any other asian country they love karaoke. what is it with asians and singing? i reckon maybe it's got to do with the language, since you have to pay close attention to the four different tone marks when you pronounce words. maybe this somehow gets u'r mind interested in striking different notes?! If you see big buildings with lotsa bright lights here in china, chances are it's either a restaurant or ktv. Most of these places are 24/7. During the 3 months here I've been dragged along to karaoke more times than i would've in 3 years back home. I'm still working on being able to sing an entire mandarin song without having to hum through some parts. and the english selection here is just as bad as the ones back home. most of the videos aren't original, just some cheap clubhouse singer with random footage of a couple from the 80's frollicking around a beach or park.
when i gave up on the chinese songs i belted out the usual 'wet wet wet', all-4-one, and boyz to men hits to be received by polite applause *LOL*(since the people i'd been with had never heard half of these before)

5) seems like everyone is selling something. chinese people sell anything! it's had to find a street without a person with a layed out blanket in front of them selling stuff. Obviously most of these vendors aren't registered businesses, so if you added up the value of all the goods that was on sale china's GDP would blow out! Check out the pic of this girl with her custom mobile hot-dog bike.

6) people talk loud. I mean REAL loud.. i can't figure out half the time if people are quarreling or just talking. (wonder if it's rubbed off on me? please tell me if it seems like i'm shouting at you next time we chat). it's so loud i feel i have to physically take a step back from some people when they talk. whats the reason? dunno. maybe it's all the years of exposure to firecrackers.

7) spitting doesn't bother me as much anymore. i'm used to it. i still don't do it myself though. it's the nostril clean out that still buggs me. block one nostril and blow out the contents of the other one onto the pavement. charming! save it for the shower please.

8) i swear this last one is very true. For almost 3 whole months i haven't heard a single kid or baby cry. it was only last weekend on the bus that i heard one, thinking:now thats something i haven't heard in awhile! I don't know what it is, but kids and babies don't cry or chuck tanties. Is it the way they're brought up? is it in the genes ? (no, because i remember i used to cry heaps), or is it in the diet? (i won't make melamine jokes here cuz it's inappropriate). maybe cuz most families still only have one child they give him/her anything they want and take good care of them?so no reason to get upset! but then seems that most chinese people are pretty humble.

And that's it. That's my china experience. I hope you've found it interesting, if not long-winded!
I hope i haven't scared you away from china! i've been only picking out the weird and interesting things that might have horrified you, and haven't been talking about all the normal or good things (because they're just boring to write about!)
it really is a fantastic place with fantastic people. One thing i admire about the chinese is how they all seem to get on with things, and make the best of the situation. the vibe on the street generally seems to be one of happiness. That's what i've felt it xi'an anyway. maybe bigger cities like beijing and shanghai might be different. I don't know if i'm describing it properly, so you'll just have to come experience it yourself if u've never been here. And they loove foreign looking people. no animosity there at all. i've never felt endangered here at all either, just watch your belongings obviously, and make sure u bargain!

I think i'll definitely come back in the future to see other parts of the country. Maybe go back to the old ancestral home region of fujian. Don't think i'll try to learn the dialect though, since mandarin is enough on the plate already!

China is changing so rapidly though, so who knows what i'll find when i come back in the future. In any event I'm sure there'll be more blogs to fill!

Zai jian China!