Missing my B.F.F.

I miss my best feline friend like the Chinese would miss KTV (Karaoke T.V). Honestly the Chinese are obsessed, there is a KTV on every corner. I would compare it to the number of Tim Horton's back home. The favourite Chinese pastimes are singing aloud with friends (and strangers), public showers (with friends and strangers) and gambling (mahjong).

 The funny thing about singing karaoke here is that they don't need to be under the influence to do it. People honestly fancy exercising their lungs and vocals for fun and can't imagine why North American's don't feel the same way.

xie xie for reading,

shelly ♥

Fun fact: Karaoke means tone-deaf in Japanese, whom the Chinese deeply despise.

Changchun thrill ride... taking the taxi

Coming to China many things are shocking at first and then become mundane later on. One of the things that will always be a life-threatening experience is taking a taxi. The drivers here have road rage like you have never experienced in North America. Take the craziest driver you've ever met and multiple that by 10. Here in China there are no rules on the road. Absolutely zero. No enforced lanes, lights, stop signs, signaling... nothing. It's just a race to get to your destination Fast and Furious style. The taxi drivers simply don't like to step on the break and will avoid using it as much as possible. They do fancy using their horns, though.

Back home, most drivers use their horns when appropriate and they most likely won't hold it down. Here in China, it's much different. All you hear is honking and drivers really hold it down. I guess it's how they communicate rather than using their signals.

Drivers (taxi and others) will make their own roads using sidewalks, the wrong lane and anywhere the vehicle will squeeze in. People park anywhere they please even if it means blocking other cars in.

What makes this experience the most terrifying is that no one wears their seat belt in China. It's not enforced and half of the taxis don't even have seat belts. I remember getting into a taxi when I first arrived and looking all over for the seat belt and giving up after realizing it was missing. Now, when you can find a seat belt the taxi driver will actually discourage/stop you from putting it on... imagine that. Every time I take the taxi I think to myself, "What are my friends and family back home going to think when I die in China for not wearing my seat belt?"

I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard from a Chinese friend whose brother is living in Beijing that the drivers here in Changchun are much worse. You'd think that with a bigger population, hustle and bustle and crazy traffic that Beijing drivers would be worse. When and if we make it back to Canada even the worst driver will seem calm.

Fun fact:  I read that Taxi drivers in Changchun get free taekwondo training. 

xie xie for reading,
shelly ♥

Postscript: Dearest friends and family, if we do die in a car accident it's not because we neglected to wear a seat belt. It's because we couldn't find one or weren't allowed to buckle up.

More on the Chun

This post will just be random since I've let too much time past since the last post. Now that I have a reliable VPN I should be posting more often!

Pets for sale on the street include:

 - turtles, mice, bunnies, kittens, puppies and the list goes on...

Oh, check out these goldfish in teeny, tiny ziplock bags. The guy claimed they didn't need to be fed and would live for a month. They are sold as keychains or trinkets for your cell phone...

Street meat!

The streets are lined with food vendors (and this is in the winter). With the warmer weather coming people are selling everything imaginable on the streets. Food, pets, clothes, electronics, and the list goes on...

People spend their whole day carving and selling pineapples.

More...

Beggers/the homeless

You can pretty much find someone asking for money on every corner. This guy is missing his foot and every single day you can see him outside writing on the sidewalk with chalk while exposing what's left of his foot. Even though we see him everyday, it's not something you get used to.

Paul's Pizza

One of the places we go to be reminded of home. Hands down, the creepiest place to get a pizza I've ever been to. The pizza here isn't exactly the same as home, but it's close enough.

The second hotel we stayed in. This one was so nice that at times I would forget we were half way across the world. Oh, and I flooded one of the rooms here... 

Our May holiday is coming up so hopefully I will have better pictures to post!

many thanks,

shelly ♥