It would have been wise of me to keep a journal over the past few weeks but I did not. What did I use my moleskine for then?? Phone numbers, some doodles, and a short list of strange things I saw or ate.
So, a brief recap instead on some of my thoughts and insights:
Surprises:Openness and willingness to discuss politics of the past - most people we talked to disdain the Mao era and admit its catastrophy on the land and the culture. I was shocked... but it gave me a positive perspective of one of my main concerns on the schism between China's economic v. social development (nerd).
The smog in Beijing was overwhelming! We had not a single sunny day in our seven days there- it makes me sad to think that if it's already this bad, how much worse will it get?
Beijing Roast Duck is better in New york than in Beijing.
The government has it all wrong when it comes to 'preserving the past.' The temples and thousand-year old relics are not so much "preserved," but completely repainted. It was disappointing to see the
Temple of Heaven, the annual prayer hall of the emperors, covered in a new paint job, completely disguising the impressive fact that it was built in the 1400's.
There was a Starbucks in the
Forbidden City, the imperial palace of the past emperors and in Badaling, one of the entry sites for the Great Wall of China. I was disgusted.
Singapore is an incredibly regulated city. It is gorgeously maintained - cleaners on the buildings, gardening the highways, sweeping the city streets. People are generally happy, 95% of the population own their own homes, 75% live in public housing (which are better than privates ones in the U.S. even), and automobiles are taxed at 200%.
Singapore's zoo is the closest thing to an animal sanctuary - no concrete or cages; it is all open air, in the jungle, clean and so well maintained. Ada and Sehan '03 were awesome homo sapiens who took me on the night safari. The bathroom of the zoo was open air, and the trees served as the roof of the stalls.
Strange things that I ate:Camel hump, rabbit, deer, duck heart, raw shrimp, dragon fruit
Some yummy things I ate in Singapore:Batak Teh - pork bone soup
Laksa - curry with thick vermicilli and seafood
Tepanyaki at the Chjimes, treated by Ada
Behaviors:In China, men walk around with their shirts rolled up to show their bellies. I found this distasteful but always humorous... tried to convince my brother and dad to do it, but they were too prude.
Beijing-ers lack fashion sense - I saw some of the worst, incomprehensible outfits on the men and women there. So, wearing my old navy plaid pants and a polo shirt made me feel modern like I worked at Vogue. Wearing the same outfit in Shanghai though? The Shanghainese must have thought I came straight from the rice paddies.
The Chinese are still rather rigid in their actions - as in, they follow the rules by the book and to a T. Some good ol' american joking or flirting does not work o'er there.
People did not spit or squat as much as I had expected - in fact, I think it's improved since i studied in shanghai 4 years ago. I did make my dad and brother squat in front of Tianamen Square and it makes for one of my favorite pictures.
The bathroom toilets are still in-the-ground bowls; me no likey.
