Pissing Match & Fast Food
Yesterday, off the train in Quin Dao, the station workers weigh by bags and want to charge me money…for having my baggage on the train! I get my back up and refuse the scam. The guard slams the gate so I can’t leave the station so shaking my head no, I turn around and take my luggage back down the platform from when I came…not knowing where I’m headed but hoping there is another way out. They relent…probably to keep from having a scene with a foreigner…thankfully.
This seaside “small” city of 7 million used to be controlled by the Germans who started the TsingDao Brewery here and there are some early turn of the century German architecture mixed in with glass and steel standing against the beautiful beaches of the Yellow Sea that I can see from my $10 a night hotel window. I see an English sign, “New Era Book Supermarket” high above a McDonalds and if I want I can round the corner and satisfy my craving for greasy chicken at the KFC, although there is no more greasy food in the world than in China.
These fast food places are ubiquitous in Asia and filled with locals who love them…not because they are American but because of the food….no different than at home. I never could figure out why at home a meat patty on a plate with some lettuce and tomatoes with salad dressing with a roll on the side is ok but let McDonalds put it all together and call it a big mac and you would think the sky was falling in. Besides, without McDonalds in China where would all the westerners go for a clean sit-down toilet?
I am in an internet cafe with at least a couple hundred computer terminals about a half a block up from the railroad station…with mostly young well-dressed Chinese guys playing video games. Don’t they have a job? Last night I left my leather jacket here and figured it was toast but when I came in this morning the friendly internet lady handed me my coat with a smile. I profusely thanked her with bowed head and folded hands. Today is cold but the sky is clear and I think I’m going to take a tour bus to see what there is to see.
Tags: Altercations, China, Quindao
Zoe