Thursday, October 16, 2008

Never Take a Cab to the Airport Again

I need to give major props to the new "Airport Express" line on the Beijing Subway- I finally got a chance to ride it earlier this month, and I was really impressed by how clean, fast, and comfortable the thing is. Riding this line has a one-way flat fare of 25 kuai, but it is totally worth it. I have an apartment near Bagou subway stop, and were I to take a cab from there to the airport I'd run up a fare of over 100 kuai, but now I can now take a subway for a quarter of the price that takes the same amount of time as a cab would! Take a look at the photo to the right. That is the new subway, not a train. Those are individual seats! The Chinese are actually encouraging personal space! There is even plenty of room for baggage. And the very best part of all is you never need to worry about dying in a horrible Beijing car accident again! Huzzah!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Chinese Have No Respect For Rules


Take a look at the photo on the right. This was taken in a noodle restaurant in the Chaoyang district of Beijing. In the photo you will see a man smoking a cigarette- not a surprise here, since people will pretty much smoke anywhere and everywhere in China. What makes the photo awesome though is the sign CLEARLY stating "No Smoking" in the upper right corner of the picture. This is just another example of the Chinese not caring about what other people think or say- they do what they want and that's that. This trait can definitely be annoying at times, but then there are instances like this here where there is nothing you can do but laugh at them.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Childrens Clothing Gone Bad

One of my very favorite things to do here in China is to read the many horrible misspellings printed everywhere. When I say everywhere, I'm talking official state documents to subway advertisements to roadside maps. And now, everywhere has expanded to children's clothing lines. Huzzah! It's not just misspellings that are affecting these poor children's clothes- its horrible judgment and a complete lack of understanding of the English language by the printers that is now making hilarious/horribly inappropriate apparel. Let's look at some examples I've managed to snap photos of:


Example #1 can be seen on the left. This is one of my many kindergartners. Her name is Wendy. She is very cute, and loves to laugh. She also loves to wear a sweatshirt with the word "Shit" written across it. My question is, why was this shirt ever made, let alone as a small children's t-shirt? The word "Shit" is not a mistake- this is one of the few shirts I have seen in China where the spelling is correct and that doesn't happen unless someone takes the time to check it out.


Example #2 can be seen on the left, and I would argue this is even worse than the first example. This too is a children's shirt I am holding up, and it isn't hard to notice the words "Touch Me Now" printed across the chest. A cute heart across the center further encourages young girls to wear it. Now I've been joking the past few months about China being a pedophiles paradise, but for God's sake how did this shirt ever get approved to be made for kids?! Was this just a mix-up with something along the lines of "hug me," or is there a creeper working behind the scenes making these perverse shirts? I don't even know what I'd do if I saw one of my students wearing this shirt. By the way, that shirt was being sold en mass at the local Beijing Walmart.

OK well those are the only pictures I've taken so far, but I assure you there will be more in the future (but hopefully not children's shirts)!