... It has been the best part of 40 years since I last visited main land China, and such is the change I saw on my arrival...... I could have been in any modern western metropolis ...... unlike the industrial town of Dalian in 1980.
Back then, there were very few private cars on the road, , most people were bedecked in Chairman Mao suits and riding push bikes. There was a road side butchers stall with the meat hanging in the open with string from the wooden stall, with the finest pigs head on show.
At the main dept store, we weren't even given real money to spend, just visitors notes ..... and as you walked in ... the most obvious ..... spittoons at each entrance to the store .....
Fast forward 40 years [or so] and the roads are filled with cars ..... even a Porsche Boxster .... KFC's ...... designer stores ....... people fixated at their palms, seduced by their smart phones ...... Micky D's and even a 'fake' Rover 75 ......
A taxi driver was using a smart phone for sat nav and a second phone to have a videochat .... all whilst driving .......
Although the funny thing was no spittoons ...... that having been said traveling in the airport shuttle bus .... the driver snorted up what sounded like a gold watch ..... and must have been hankering after the good old days ...... but instead he wound down the bus window and with a resounding thrup ..... it hit the tarmac ..... loverly I thought .....
I did discover though ...... that I and a chinese taxi driver had something in common. It was only by pure happenstance we should have met as well ..... for my journey to Heathrow, I thought I would buy a new thermos flask. I went to my local Tesco and looking through ... there was a very trendy style fliptop one .... not a flask, not a mug .... but somewhere in between ..... never seen them before, but that'll be perfect .....
Well bugger my old sea boots, as I was traveling in the taxi to the Mausoleum of the Western Han Dynasty of the Nanyue King ...... in between his video chats .... the taxi driver leant over to the other seat ..... and picked up ..... a fliptop thermos flask ... identical to one the I had recently bought ..... who'd have thought it .... a Chinese taxi driver shopping at my local Tesco store ......
Today's SoD was written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop around the time I was last in China .... it is said .... although I was not there to verify it .... that the song was written about a girl Iggy was infatuated with ... and possibly not even Chinese .... I have to admit I prefer the Bowie version ... as much as I love Iggy ... his version is a bit too raw .....
But it got me thinking .... if it was written 40 years ago about a young woman .... then by now, just like me .... a young man grown old .... then so must she ....
Back then, there were very few private cars on the road, , most people were bedecked in Chairman Mao suits and riding push bikes. There was a road side butchers stall with the meat hanging in the open with string from the wooden stall, with the finest pigs head on show.
At the main dept store, we weren't even given real money to spend, just visitors notes ..... and as you walked in ... the most obvious ..... spittoons at each entrance to the store .....
Fast forward 40 years [or so] and the roads are filled with cars ..... even a Porsche Boxster .... KFC's ...... designer stores ....... people fixated at their palms, seduced by their smart phones ...... Micky D's and even a 'fake' Rover 75 ......
A taxi driver was using a smart phone for sat nav and a second phone to have a videochat .... all whilst driving .......
Although the funny thing was no spittoons ...... that having been said traveling in the airport shuttle bus .... the driver snorted up what sounded like a gold watch ..... and must have been hankering after the good old days ...... but instead he wound down the bus window and with a resounding thrup ..... it hit the tarmac ..... loverly I thought .....
I did discover though ...... that I and a chinese taxi driver had something in common. It was only by pure happenstance we should have met as well ..... for my journey to Heathrow, I thought I would buy a new thermos flask. I went to my local Tesco and looking through ... there was a very trendy style fliptop one .... not a flask, not a mug .... but somewhere in between ..... never seen them before, but that'll be perfect .....
Well bugger my old sea boots, as I was traveling in the taxi to the Mausoleum of the Western Han Dynasty of the Nanyue King ...... in between his video chats .... the taxi driver leant over to the other seat ..... and picked up ..... a fliptop thermos flask ... identical to one the I had recently bought ..... who'd have thought it .... a Chinese taxi driver shopping at my local Tesco store ......
Today's SoD was written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop around the time I was last in China .... it is said .... although I was not there to verify it .... that the song was written about a girl Iggy was infatuated with ... and possibly not even Chinese .... I have to admit I prefer the Bowie version ... as much as I love Iggy ... his version is a bit too raw .....
But it got me thinking .... if it was written 40 years ago about a young woman .... then by now, just like me .... a young man grown old .... then so must she ....
So for today's SoD
we have David Bowie
and one of his greatest hits ....
China Middle Aged Woman ...
