Shilin: mommie I have no boobs
Mom: don’t worry, you’re just skinny. when I was your age I had small boobs too.
Shilin: are you sure
Mom: yea yea yea. lemme see them
Shilin: ok *flashes*
Mom: holy shit you really have no boobs
(actual conversation was in Chinese. Exact use of words may vary)
Guangzhou. Is. So. Hot.
Not “sexy” hot, “hot” hot. And humid too. I’m cooked to a desirable tenderness and is ready to be put on a plate. The air is so poluted; the wall of my throat must have like a layer of dust on it already. People out there are mostly impolite and selfish (aside from the people we ask in residential areas for directions, they are nice). And there are so many mosquitos :( We forgot to kill mosquitos after putting down the nets, and I got like 40 bites in one night (yes I counted). My mom brutally killed them in the morning… but nothing makes up for the big red dots on my legs :( now I don’t even dare to wear shorts cus I am afraid that people will think that I have some weirdo disease xD
Despite all bad things (those aren’t all), it’s still somewhat fun to be back. Everything changed; it looks much prettier now, and more developed. Really tall apartment towers are everywhere; no more motorcycle flood (cus it’s banned) and the trend of owning a private vehicle is now taking over. All the crapass busses got replaced by good ones, and public transportation pass is being used in all bus and subway lines to reduce the time required to wait for everyone to pay at each stop. (speaking of which, it’s absolutely hilarious to see people walk up to the buspass sensor and stick their butt near it for the sensor to scan the passes in side their pockets, especially men. It’s also slightly disturbing) the food is awesome and my relatives are same old freakishly welcoming. Services are so cheap; thorough hairwashing (almost 1 hour of washing), head massage, and hair cut costs like $4 USD, and a big long trip on a taxi across half of the city only costs $3 USD. Unfortunately some brand name goods aren’t that cheap at all, but luckily I don’t care for them. Everything also seem shrinked… the roads outside my old home seemed smaller. My home seemed a lot smaller for some reason. Maybe it was because I was small when I came out… but I wasn’t that small oO
People here drive like insane, and they are all so SKILLED that the accident rate in that style of traffic is similar to our accident rate. There are 39752938745 cars on the road, plus misc bikes and random people that don’t care for shit about traffic lights and rules. (not that the drivers do…) people change lanes and pass each other without signalling, and both sides are aggressive about taking the spot in the traffic flow before one chickens out in fear of being hit. If drivers see people trying to walk across, they honk and speed up. 2 lanes always fit 3 cars, and an aerial view of any major road is always a mess of straight and slanted cars in and out of lane. There is no priority in turning; you win if you are aggressive. All cars being manual doesn’t really help drivers drive in this sort of traffic either. It’s such a terror (and enjoyment sometimes) to ride a car here… the drivers here have true skill.
Robbery is really popular these days; people’s earrings have been ripped off of their ears (scary people running after theives with bloody ears), handbags have been taken right out of people’s hands by motorcyclists, necklaces have been grabbed, and backpacks are frequent targets of thieves on the streets by out of province people. My cousin had had her bag’s zipper opened halfway by a kid before she realized. When she yanked her bag out of the kid’s hand, a couple of men started walking towards her so she didn’t dare to do anything about the children. And no one really cares when they see something like this; no one really helps or want to help in fear of getting in trouble themselves. So people wear backpacks in front of them and keep one-shouldered bags across their body. No one wear jewelry and things. When I was going to go out, I was told not to bring stuff in case I get robbed.
O wow that’s a really long texted entry… more about China than about my actual travel. But it hadn’t been that eventful since my grandpa had to go to the hospital and stay there for a week the day after I arrived, then I got a grand headache for no freaking reason. It was really not that eventful aside from some mall-going and (many) restaurant outings. I drew a lot…. of manga, that’s all.
(ps: my parents will cry if they see this:… but I don’t like being back :( It’s not nice here. I don’t think I want to come back again.)
