China: Land of the Free, Home of the Brave?
China has its own system going on that we, in our simplicity, never really understood. Its Communist I guess in its politics and kaibashes Nobel Laureates for any statements that go against the grain but at the same time the amount of independant business ownership is obvious on every street corner. The area that we stayed in could be compared to Robson Street in Vancouver, only in the sense that there are rows and rows of shops on the main streets selling perfume, camera's, instruments etc etc etc. In the back streets or Hutongs, however, you can get anyting else that is made in China, scorpions included [see Lannie's photo's]. It was an interesting contrast between our ideas of old China and new China. But everything here is cheap as. Lannie bargained an adapter for his I-phone down from 480 yuan down to 120 yuan which is roughly $80 down to $16. I'm sure that the last name Thielen comes from the hills of Scotland somewhere.
We spent some time at the tourist places {The oh-so Great Wall, Tien'ammen Square and the Forbidden City} and were a little suprised to see that most of the tourists there seemed to be Chinese. I guess with a billion people in your country you dont really need to attract foreigners to see the sights.
I'm still digesting all the sights and sounds................and food from the time there which, now that we're in Vietnam, is being strongly contrasted. So thoughts on China? Hmmmm. I have to say that the feeling I have right now is somewhat comparable to watching a foreign film without subtitles; you kinda understand whats going on but you never really get the whole story.
Xie xie
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