Remember that river running between my compound and downtown? (psstt! If you don't, just scroll down).
Well, I went for a wander yesterday, and no bridge was required. I found out later that this is an annual phenomena; the water is stopped further upstream so that the muck and guck can be cleared away.
At any rate, as I was gingerly making my way across the channel, I noticed a number of people searching through (and pulling things out of) the sludge.
I was hesitant to look closer, in the event that their plunder resembled some mystery munchie from the compound restaurant. But it turned out to be some type of clam (or at least a clammish kind of shelled thing). Of course, they might have been pulling other things out as well..... Nope! I don't want to know.
I continued on my walk, through and beyond downtown. No specific destination; just window-shopping and people watching. When I reached my furthest point away from home (a couple of hours on foot), I realized that I had yet to use a public toilet in China. I also realized that I didn't know how to ask for one. Some things you just don't mime.
Oh, for the days of the John Muir Trail when the world was my toilet (in a good way).
The situation was becoming more than a tad uncomfortable, when I spied a sign with a graphic of a man and woman. Yes, relief!
Two lessons learned: One, until I learn to speak Mandarin, always carry my phrasebook. Two, always carry toilet paper. Like many Thai facilities, this was a squat toilet without paper. Unlike Thailand, there was no water spigot.
NOTE: If this blog entry is short, it's because my notes were used elsewhere. Nope, you don't want to know.
Well, I went for a wander yesterday, and no bridge was required. I found out later that this is an annual phenomena; the water is stopped further upstream so that the muck and guck can be cleared away.
At any rate, as I was gingerly making my way across the channel, I noticed a number of people searching through (and pulling things out of) the sludge.
I was hesitant to look closer, in the event that their plunder resembled some mystery munchie from the compound restaurant. But it turned out to be some type of clam (or at least a clammish kind of shelled thing). Of course, they might have been pulling other things out as well..... Nope! I don't want to know.
I continued on my walk, through and beyond downtown. No specific destination; just window-shopping and people watching. When I reached my furthest point away from home (a couple of hours on foot), I realized that I had yet to use a public toilet in China. I also realized that I didn't know how to ask for one. Some things you just don't mime.
Oh, for the days of the John Muir Trail when the world was my toilet (in a good way).
The situation was becoming more than a tad uncomfortable, when I spied a sign with a graphic of a man and woman. Yes, relief!
Two lessons learned: One, until I learn to speak Mandarin, always carry my phrasebook. Two, always carry toilet paper. Like many Thai facilities, this was a squat toilet without paper. Unlike Thailand, there was no water spigot.
NOTE: If this blog entry is short, it's because my notes were used elsewhere. Nope, you don't want to know.
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