Introduction
China is the wierdest place I've ever been, and remember, I've been to Indiana.
* The pollution in Beijing is so bad that sometimes you can't see down the block.
* When China was being carved up by European powers in the late 19th Century, the dowager empress demanded that her laborers build her a marble "boat" so she could hold parties on it. They did, and she didn't like it, so they had to build her another one. The boat is still in the Summer Palace. Obviously, marble doesn't float, so it has to be supported by an underwater pillar. The Communists decided to keep the boat because nothing better symbolizes the stupidity and greed of monarchs.
* One night, when we were leaving a local restaurant, we saw a kid, maybe 13 at most, come in, sit down, order a beer, and start taking long drags on a cigarette.
* There's an old man who sits around outside the McDonald's in Tiananmen Square. He keeps grasshoppers as pets, trapped in tiny bamboo cages.
* The soldiers who guard Tiananmen Square appear to be 15 years old.
* Beijing has no trash service. People throw their garbage in a pile outside their apartment buildings, scavengers take whatever's recyclable, and dogs eat the rest.
* Shanghai's Pudong district is the fanciest, most modern business area in the world, and has an occupancy rate of around 10 percent. It's totally empty.
* When we were walking around the Yeyuan Gardens in Shanghai's traditional market, everyone around us was eating whole roasted frog-on-a-stick.
* Our hotel in Shanghai was a cheap place in the bad part of town. To get a room, the Koreans had to pretend to be Chinese and not say anything, unless it was in English. Apparently, the hotel was not licensed to accept foreigners, and though there were four Americans in our group, we were such a minority we could be overlooked. When we got our rooms, I asked our bassist in English, "Do you think they know you're Korean?"
His response, in English: "They are not blind."
* The night we were left behind, our drummer, Ganji, and I went out looking for food. We picked the only place that had a menu we could order by pointing at. The waitress acted very strange, and soon the chefs came out of the kitchen and stared at us with their arms crossed and huge cleavers in their hands. The waitress came back and said something in Chinese to Ganji, who replied, "Wor bu shir Zhongguoryun, wor shir Hungwouryun (I'm not Chinese, I'm Korean)." The chefs laughed and went back into the kitchen and the waitress blushed. From what we could figure out later, they thought Ganji was Japanese and were discussing whether to harm or kill him.
* Almost no one takes credit cards in China. Most things are so cheap it's a hassle to use plastic. Keep that in mind if you're planning to visit for the Olympics. Also, banks won't exchange travellers checks. Bring big wads of cash.
* When talking with Beijing's Korean residents, I required a Korean-to-Korean translator. The person would speak in Korean, then the South Koreans would translate it into modern Korean for me.
