Big Cities

Travels Since Chengdu:

Bullet train to Chongqing: largest municipality in the world at 33mm people 

Bus to Feng Jie: town on the Yangzi River at the entrance to the 3 gorges

Boat down the Yangzi, ending in Yichang: unimpressive city of 4.5mm people where the controversial Three Gorges Dam is located

Flight to Shanghai: great, modern city of 22mm people

Bullet train to Hangzhou: beautiful/peaceful city of 8mm people built around the West Lake (check out www.nytimes.com for a recent article in the travel section)

Flight to Xi'an: see below for thoughts

Musings: 

I have found that the easiest way to differentiate Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Shanghai is by remembering what people continually offered me on the street. In Bangkok, it was sex and tailored shirts/suits. Hong Kong was fake Rolexes and tailored shirts/suits, and Shanghai was fake Rolexes and pot. I may have to throw out the Shanghai survey results, though; my hair is getting pretty fro-ish at this point, and I'm not positive I've shaved since Nepal, so I MAY be putting off the hippie vibe. 

While I continue to experience general enjoyment and amazement in China, I am willing to offer mild criticisms at this point. First of all, I think that the development of Chinese manners is lagging behind their infrastructure/technology progress. The most glaring example of this is with spitting. Men spit in the street very often, which is fine, in theory (I suppose), but this is no ordinary spit. This spitting would qualify as 'hawking a   loogie', but that doesn't even capture it. It's a deep, guttural groan that starts at the bottom of the ribcage, working its grumbling up through the torso, ending with a couple sharp, mucus-laden coughs and, at last, a spit. The whole production takes at least 30seconds. To make matters worse, the loogie is often followed by the runners' nose-blow (no tissue, blowing directly on the ground). I'll try to get it on video just in case my explanation is lacking. 

I have also found that manners on planes are not quite as refined as I am used to. Well, these could be chalked up to just cultural differences, actually. Regardless, people take flights as a time to get really  into some loud discussions. And these discussions are not limited to those sitting in your row, because all the men seem to think the cool thing to do is stand up in the aisle and congregate around the epicenter of the most lively conversation. I find this rude for 3 reasons: 1) flying is my reading and relaxing time, and I don't need people standing next to me and essentially shouting (yes, that's a selfish reason) 2) going to the bathroom is a hassle for everyone because 7 dudes have to decide to let you through 3) it's not a ton of fun for the flight attendants as they try to serve people. 

Lastly on the plane subject, people go wild when the plane finally reaches the gate. There is a sudden, chaotic, shoving-match-ish rush for the door. Mind you, the door is not open (and won't be for a couple of minutes), but everyone sprints 2 or 3 rows forward in an effort to be off the plane 12 seconds earlier (this happens on buses, as well). Yes, you could argue Americans do the same thing at times, but this situation is slightly different, because you'd be the last person off the plane even if you were in the first row. No one lets anyone into the aisle; there's no orderly procession out. So, you have 2 options, and my tour group is split evenly between the 2: 1) sit and wait for everyone to exit and then saunter off the plane or 2) have a little self-respect and throw an elbow into the aisle, letting people know you've played the game before. I respect both approaches, of course. 

Now that I've offered a little color, I'll go bland again and tell you I'm in Xi'an, which was the capital of China for 1,000yrs. It's now a smaller city at only 7.5mm people (seriously, that's not considered big here; I guess if you have 1.2 billion people, you end up with a couple big cities), but it seems to be a pretty cool place. They've got high-tech industry, a great 'old town' inside the ancient city gates, and the terra cotta warriors (I just got back seeing them: awesome).