Alright, won't keep postponing all the stuff I want to write about China, since I'll be going to Manila soon and then I'll have Manila to reflect on also.. and then I'll have thought indigestion huhuhu.. That's the thing about travelling.. Long after the actual travel is done, one can still savour, mull over, and learn from the experiences gained..
But on to the main points. I've written before of my HUGE inferiority complex of not being able to speak Chinese, and an image that stuck to my mind was of me being scolded/looked down on by some old/middle-aged/young (yeah I have an active imagination) Chinese person for looking like a Chinese but speaking like an American gone wrong..
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, my inability to speak Chinese, coupled with the fact that for the most part I was hanging out with "lao wai"s, brought lots of fun to my travel. One of the first incidents was when I had to top-up my prepaid SIM card.. I kept replaying in my mind how to answer the possible questions..Whether I want a new SIM or just to top-up? check. The card value I want? check.
"Hi miss, I want to top up my SIM card, 30 RMB please.."
"Which $#%%$#%$fgregg?"
"What...? OH!" *I gathered that she meant which phone company*
"Uhm...uhm..." *tried to show label in mobile phone to her, but she couldn't read English huhu..*
In the end, I called my Beijing friend to explain to her which company did my SIM card subscribe to huhuhu.. and then, an old man inside the shop who had been watching my idiotic attempt to communicate approached me and asked, "Are you Korean?" *I get this a lot, somehow.."
"Ah no.. am Indonesian Chinese..that's why my Chinese is not good.."
"Oh don't worry, it's okay.. we are all still Chinese people.."
Needless to say I was morally buoyed by this show of solidarity haha.. The thing is, I don't know whether my luck is just good, but the Chinese people I met, from taxi drivers to waitresses to people on the street and the train, were very friendly and very accepting of me as a non-white foreigner.. It really made me fell in love with China.. No more inferiority complex!
The night train ride from Beijing to Dalian was particularly memorable.. I was struggling to hoist my backpack onto the top baggage compartment when a tall Chinese man came and helped me to it.. Then, he struck a conversation with me saying I must be a foreigner because Chinese people don't use backpacks.. A pretty and very soft-spoken lady joined in saying, "Yes, when you came in all covered up I thought you might be a boy.. your bag is so big!" They said something more and I didn't really understand, so another person, a student from Dalian, joined in to translate because his English was good.. And before I knew it I was talking about Chinese people, my impressions, my background, and asking about theirs too.. The Chinese man was a landscape architect! In the end we communicated through drawings because he wanted to know how vertical gardens are done in Singapore, and we pestered the student so often because the landscape architect would be saying something, and I'd have a blank face and turn to the student, and he'd say "Drainage.." Hahaha... And when the lady spoke it was with such soft tones that I realized the Chinese language is indeed beautiful..
At another time, was looking through pirated books *yes, a concept I really love.. will blog about it next time* when the vendor showed some English books to me and said "These ones are really good!" Amongst them was the book titled: "Why men marry bitches", so with my minimum Chinese I told the vendor, "Uncle..Do you know what this book says? It says here, good men likes naughty women...." And he blushed! I mean, HE BLUSHED!! And he just looked so adorable hahahahaha.. We both laughed and before I went off he said, "Yes, actually you are right.. Good men likes naughty women..." *Anyone wanna try to disprove that?* ;p
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