Back on Terra America. I should fill you in about our trip to Zhujiajiao.
It was charming. People live in cramped homes fronting the canal or the narrow hutong-like streets, and don’t seem to mind the touring hordes peering into their dim domiciles as they pass by. Of course there are shops, with vendors hawking the same wares we saw just about everywhere else: packs of chopsticks, hats, fans, “jade” bracelets, Mandarin blouses, embroidered shoes. But here, also, were shops selling food—dim sum, spices, teas, vats of live crayfish.
Our guide (“Tony”) told us that people pay about $4/month for electricity, but then they don’t have an enormous array of electrical appliances. At least none visible to the casual pedestrian. Some homemade fans twirling over the food for sale to keep the insects at bay; a TV, perhaps a refrigerator.
On one of the bridges Tony told us about the Buddhist tradition of throwing a live fish into the river for good luck, and sure enough there was an old woman selling just this opportunity for five yuan, offering the fish in plastic bags. I didn’t indulge and I feel bad about that; what’s five yuan, anyway—about 75 cents?—for the good karma the act might bring. Who cares if there are netters underneath the bridge re-capturing the fish to sell again?
L-L-Lunch.
I think I speak for the majority when I say that I was really looking forward to non-Chinese food upon our return home. Sorry, China (and all sophisticates used to the culinary deprivations of foreign travel)! I wasn’t eager for a Big Mac (something I don’t eat at home), but I’ve been looking forward to my neighborhood pizza pie for about four days now, and today I was rewarded. Thanks, Mr. Shoes! (Micky furiously calculates the capital needed to start a Mr. Shoes franchise in Beijing)
More updates later. The trip’s narrative has grown beyond its temporal duration.
2 comments:
Hey Mickey and Carl --- I'm enjoying your blog very much; so great to have another two-pair of eyes seeing things that I DIDN'T notice on the same trip!
You mention that in the canal village, people pay $4/month for electricity but they don't have many appliances. I did a bit of snooping around corners and found that many people, even there (and in the hutong that we visited), have air conditioning! (and I can't blame them a bit!)
Thanks for blogging!
Dan & Pam
Oooh, you intrepid soul, you! Thanks for the snooping. The only people I saw on that trek were collapsed in their hotboxes (home and shop) for the tourists to gawk at. I don't blame the ACers either!
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