current.mpercival.com

Wow, this article sums up why I love downtown Atlanta. We have such a worthless police force that a downtown bar owner built a robot to deal with the crime problem. I have to admit, I’ve seen cops downtown laugh at a guy vomiting on the street and too drunk to stand up, then walk away and do nothing about it. And I don’t even lock my car doors anymore, I’d rather them not break my window to steal the change in the ashtray. Although the last bum that rifled through my unlocked car a month ago took my bottle of hand sanitizer; I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t a little dissapointed about that. Oh and then he pee’d on my car.

Three Gorges, Damn

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:01:00 -0500

I saw this article today in the WSJ on the continuing ecological problems with China’s Three Gorges Dam. Something in the article stuck me as slightly warped logic. The complaint is the amount of waste and pollutants in the dam reservoir, and the quote is as follows:

“Critics also say the dam would create a giant cesspool by halting the ability of the river to flush out pollutants to the sea”

Ok so take your pick - pollutants stay in China, where they remain a problem that must be addressed, or pollutants head out to sea where everyone can ignore them.

I’m not going to sugarcoat China’s enviromental record, but I will make the contrarian argument that Three Gorges Dam could be the best thing that’s happened to China’s fledgling enviromental movement.

My lungs are black

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:10:00 -0500

When I get back to the states I’m going to have to take up smoking. I think I’m up to a pack a day via second hand smoke here in China.

I’m not one to make a big deal out of cigarette smoke; going to a bar in the states is thankfully still a smokey and unhealthy affair. But the Chinese have a pure and untainted love for the cigarette, in that 1950’s America kind of way. I’ve heard first hand that it’s actually good for you! Nothing beats a cigarette after a good meal… or a bike ride, subway transfer, waiting for the train, buying a ticket, browsing the internet, climbing a set of stairs, grocery shopping, looking the the train schedule, drinking tea.

I knew the Chinese were adamant smokers, but it’s a disturbing realization when you combine the second hand with the fact that each day spent in Beijing is the equivalent of smoking 70 cigarettes due to the factory and coal pollution.

Chaos reigns in 中国

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:06:00 -0500

Well apparently global warming has taken a bite out of my travel plans. China’s having one of the worst winters on record and the train network has failed to handle the load for the Spring Festival.

The word is that the central and southeastern parts of the country have become a travel nightmare, with 600,000 people soon to be stranded at the Guangzhou train station.

The best news is that the train station I’m headed for tommorrow has had to call in the cops to maintain order. In all honesty I live for this stuff and can’t wait to see what it’s like, it makes travelling so much more interesting.

I came over here looking to wing it and travel without an itenerary, and now it looks like I’m about to get my chance. I’ll make sure to take plenty of photos.

Chinese and tea

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:56:21 -0500

I guess I always figured it was a stereotype that all chinese drink tea. I was wrong, these people are obsessed with tea. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has a portable tea thermos. Not to mention the number of places that provide hot water for free. Train stations, cafes, hotels, the trains themselves - they all place hot water spigots for their customers to use in their portable tea flasks.

Friendly Chinese

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:50:54 -0500

I’m pretty impressed with the level of scams going on in most big Chinese cities. Their pretty ubiquitous and you’d think that someone would tell them to change the name or get a new method to scam tourists. That being said, it’s a great way to get a free tour and learn some Mandarin. Here’s the deal. A couple young chinese people start to chat you and your friends up. Usually they avoid large groups and prefer 2-3 people. Then they take you around the city and eventually ask if you would like to get some tea. At this point you’ll be taken to a high priced tea shop and presented with a large bill afterwards if your foolish enough to stick around for the “Tea Ceremony”. Every hotel and hostel warns you about it, so the minute any friendly chinese mention tea you’re tempted to just end it there. Some people get irate about it, but I’ve found it’s a really handy way to practice the language. They get really pissed when you won’t go in the tea shop, but by that time you’ve got a free tour and pratice session out of the deal.

Tumblr blocked in China

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:47:28 -0500

It turns out that someone in China’s Internet censoring department has decided to block Tumblr.com - the site this travel blog is hosted on. Anyways, it’s pretty crappy, but now I’m limited to posting to this via SSH tunnel. Hence the reason there’s been no updates.

On to bigger and better things. I’m in Beijing, I’ve had the duck, walked the wall, and seen the perserved corpse of Chairman Mao. It’s my first upclose experience with human taxidermy, but I was a little disspointed that they chose to use the “sound asleep” position, rather than opting for a more active pose such as “Chairman Mao enjoys a game of badmitton”.

It’s also the cheapest and shortest tour I’ve been on so far. You pay 1 yuan(14cents US), get shuffled quickly by Mao, and then exit into a room where you can buy a number of Mao trinkets and gifts, including the ubiquitous Chairman Mao watch.

It’s freezing here and hopefully I’ll have more to update tomorrow.

Zài Jiàn