Random Stuff

IMPORTANT! Some hacker either here in China or elsewhere has broken my password and accessed my email accounts. If you have received an email from me that diverts you to Canadian drug ads, Viagra sales or that informs you we are stranded and need money please ignore them. Hopefully the problem is fixed now but I have done all I can do from here.

We are now pretty high in the mountains. The scenery is gorgeous, snow capped peaks, etc., and the weather cold especially after dark. Tomorrow we go even higher when we move to Shangri-la at about 10,000 feet. Most of what we saw today will make much more sense and require less verbiage when it can be accompanied by photos. For this reason I am going to abstain from long winded explanations (like this one) and just write about some random stuff I have noticed that either does not require photos or for which photos are hard to come by.

For example, on that latter point one of the interesting aspects here is the wide range of clothing styles. Older Chinese seem to prefer the drab utilitarian clothing that was ubiquitous some years ago. The youth are more westernized. Jeans are everywhere. Sneakers are also very popular and the current fashion seems to favor bright colors; red, green, yellow, electric blue and so on. Among young women short (mid-calf) high heeled boots with faux fur around the top seem to be the in thing. Short skirts are matched with those boots and dark colored stockings in a heavier, presumably warmer, material. Young men favor tight jeans, the aforementioned brightly colored sneakers and logo tee shirts (the Rolling Stones is the only thing this old geezer recognized).

Hair styles embody a similar generation gap. Older women have plain, modest relatively short styles. Most men have crew cuts or Western businessman styles. Young women have more fashionable cuts with some perms and reddish dye jobs. The boys seem to favor punk styles involving excessive goo to comb the hair straight up or razor cut short hair on the sides.

The only things missing that one would expect in the US are tattoos and piercings. We have spotted one or two here and there but nowhere near the numbers you would see at home.

Another Chinese oddity for which no photos will do justice is the glass walled shower stalls. Understand, the glass wall is not in the bathroom but rather is the whole wall that separates the bathroom from the bedroom/living area of the hotel room. Kinky, eh? A waterproof curtain can be pulled down but I am left wondering who came up with this idea in the first place. Or how it is utilized. “Hey baby, why don’t you take a shower?” The mysterious East indeed.

Construction is another fascinating item here. Every town we have stayed in or past through has at least one enormous apartment complex under construction. Several of the hotels in which we have stayed appear to have been built yesterday. Our current lodging features the key card door entry now becoming common in the US, the aforementioned glass bathroom wall and a heating system controlled by what we thought at first was the remote control for the TV set.

A brief note for the winos both in California and New Jersey (hey old buddy). Some authentic Chinese red wine was served at the banquet tonight (this town is hosting the camellia shindig in 2016 so they wanted to make a good impression). Imagine the worst Pinot Noir you have ever had and you will have some idea of what it was like.

One last item, you have to love the place names here when translated into English. Today we visited Snow Dragon Mountain and Jade Water Village.

On to new digs tomorrow so I am not sure when I will write again. Be safe.