Water Doesn’t Fall From the Sky
I never thought I’d say this, but I miss the rain. I’ve been here 13 days, and it has yet to rain. It rains almost every day back home.
The air is also much drier, and there’s a fair bit of haze in the air — put those two variables together and you have me, standing around coughing my lungs out :( . The temperature is apparently between 21C and 25C, but when the wind picks up it feels more like 16C. I think I understand now why foreigners seem to love Malaysian weather (Till they get sweaty. Then they whinge.)
We’re Walking There? Again? Oh, And Back Too…
I’ve taken a taxi ride three times since getting here and I’ve taken the bus once. The rest of the time, we walk. We walk to work, we walk back. We walk to dinner, we walk to store. We walk to the bakery. I’ve never walked so much in my life. The one good thing about this is that I get to see a lot more of the city on foot than in a car… and it sure is cheaper. Steve would be proud of me.
Cross on Green
In China, green means, It might be safe to cross now.
If the taxis don’t run you over as you’re cross the road, the bicycles will when you’re on sidewalk. If they miss, then you’ll be assaulted by very persistent beggars. Walking to work must be the equivalent of an hours jog in terms of cardiovascular workout :o
Something even more shocking is how nonchalant people are about stepping out in front of oncoming traffic — today two people stepped out in front of a bus as it was hurtling towards them … and proceeded to relaxedly cross the road. They walked. Leisurely.
Good thing the buses here have good brakes. One went from ~50 km/h to a full halt the other day. The driver actually managed to lock the wheels — No ABS apparently — which must’ve left some interesting marks on the road.
Fresh Meat
I think I’ve eaten more than my standard quota of pork for the year in these two weeks. This isn’t a bad thing of course, but still, it does feel weird when you have to say, Can we not eat pork today?
The food is excellent though, but then again I am not exactly eating cheap either…
Booze
Beer is cheap. Really cheap. It’s 4.5元 (~RM 2.25) for a large bottle of Kingway beer. It doesn’t exactly win any prizes for taste or texture, but it’s not too bad. Well, it doesn’t taste too bad anymore.
There’s also the local rice wine, which smells somewhat like paint stripper — it’s ridiculously raw and strong stuff, sitting at a comfortable 45% vol. Yes, I do realise that a lot of liquor does match, or surpass that figure, but this just burns with the fury of a thousand suns on the way down. If you drop it on your skin, it feels exactly like paint thinner, really.
The Condo
Well, Vivian, moved out of our apartment to a place of her own, and two dudes from Shanghai moved in with us. We are now in permanent bachelor pad mode :-/ People here find it completely acceptable to smoke indoors, in air conditioned rooms. Sigh
