Look Michelle, just the fact that you have a hotmail account and can communicate with me, wherever, tells me you don’t have it half bad. You stayed in a hotel in Chengdu, could afford a bottle of wine, had a bunk on a train, and you’re taking pictures so I imagine you also have a camera. You have a backpack, purse, and at least one change of clothes. How could you forget my matching lingerie set! All of your necessities? Um, let me see, no…I need a new laptop and another camera, and definitely another ipod, and another coloured phone, and…Things the average Asian, no, average human, will never have for quite awhile. You have a visa so you have a credit card, and cash. Your qualms are pathetic. After making the effort of deducing all the things I might have in my greedy little paws, I still don’t know what your point is Jame. Again, I don’t want to sound like I’m nagging, but I have to repeat, read my previous blog entries, and you’ll see I go on ad nauseum about how lucky I am in relation to the rest of the world. How happy I am. How many choices I have. How shit other people have it. Satisfied? I’ve been on the rails in China too. I was on a 40 hour pig with a bunk, at the same time realizing there were people cars down the stretch sitting and standing the entire ride with smells, sickness, and crying. This is a bit confusing to say the least…So, let me work it out…Wait a minute, WERE YOU ON A PIG FOR 40 HOURS?? Geez Jame, I’m still reeling at this one….Kudos for the stamina, man, but I really feel sorry for the pig! Listen dude, you’ve now convinced me that you’re a real little adventurer, but please buddy…Boots ‘n All is a family friendly traveller’s forum, I’m sure some people out there, no matter how open-minded, will not appreciate your tales of marathon sessions with a pig. And you did this 40 hour stunt “at the same time realising there were people”? I’m blushing….On top of it, you’re an exhibitionist with no shame! I can very well believe there must’ve been some smells emanating from your bunk… And all those poor people with nowhere to flee, no wonder they were sick and crying! You’re lucky they didn’t lock you up for animal cruelty.
So, Jame, another career opportunity there. You can always try the adult entertainment industry back home, specialising in farm animals. I’m sure that’s a niche market. Shouldn’t let that talent go to waste. Chuckles aside, let this be another little lesson (you’ll thank me for this one day).Prepositions are your friends.Use them.Order is important word - you see how important correct word order is! And lastly, dont give up on punctuation. I saw the picture of you in your dainty bunk. yeah, OK mate, just dont get too excited while looking at it.So don’t come up into my inbox and accuse me drinking coffee in the city I loved for a year. Hypocrite. Well, maybe your heartache for Chengdu has blurred the memory a bit. You were the one who started all this by rapping me on the knuckles for wanting western food and drinks while in Chengdu. Now you come out with your dirty little secret. You also indulged in a cup of the strong stuff!

And now you’re in India!!! Yeah, I think you should add another exclamation mark, it’s that great!!!!!.Did you ever inquire of the average Chinese citizen to see if they have ever been out of their town or city, let alone their own country. I did and it’s all a dream to them, and reality for you and me. Just because you know how the Tibet people live doesn’t disqualify, (I think you mean ‘qualify’) nor give you the right to take a dump on my city experiences. I’ve been to the Mongolian frontier and those people east roughly the same thing smart ass.so if I’m a smart ass, then that would make you a…..no prizes for guessing!

Eating with your hands, even if one is reserved for wiping, may be noble to a culture, but it’s still unsanitary. Believe it or not hygiene saves lives. Ask the millions that died (from) the Black Death.(Plague is better, to die a death sounds a bit silly..) Then ask Typhoid Mary and her victims. Why is China unsanitary? Pre-industrialization duress. (nice euphanism, but a lot of it is just good ol’ littering). The Chinese culture is changing rapidly for the good and bad. The Chinese say they have a revolution every century or so. Centuries ago, what are now minorities ruled, and now is the time of the Han through Communism. The next revolution will tell what comes next. The Chinese like it that way so leave them alone.Gee, thanks for the history lesson Jame, or is it a hygiene lesson? What were you trying to tell me there? Uhm, besides the fact that History or Safety&Hygiene is obviously not one of your majors. Instead of giving me your candy-floss insights, why don’t you just stick to reading the backs of cereal packets. Next time you eat your Fruit Loops, you might just learn a few things, for example that the Black Plague started in China and slowly spread to Central Asia and then to Europe by means of the Silk Route. It was carried by fleas living on infected rats. Hygiene could do little, if anything to stop its spread.
Although the typhoid outbreak had a nice name like Mary, I can’t actually ask a disease a question, Jame. Nor the dead victims. You understand that. Or maybe you believe we can talk to ghosts and all that. But talking to diseases? Call me ignorant, but never heard of that one. Well, seeing that we’re on this subject, why don’t you ask Mr/Ms Aids why he/she still kills people even though they eat with shiny clean utensils, wash their hands, and keep everything nice and sanitary? Yeah, you’d find that if you had to talk to a disease it would probably be a lot more intelligent than you.
Well, the next revolution will obviously not be a Tibetan one, the Chinese government has made sure of that. And even if there is one, they’ll make sure ‘The Revolution will not be televised’ to quote a great song. Hopefully the next revolution will be a recycling one.

Here’s a question for you activists. (wow, thanks for the compliment, Jame!). Why does the Dali L. get a palace, while Tibet children have to mob strangers for food? Aint nirvana grand . . . He’s no worse than the Red government. Well, maybe you should ask that question to the Indian government, they are the ones who gave that ‘palace’ to him. Yeah, maybe if the Chinese government didn’t throw all those pesky Chinese street kids in jail, you’d also be mobbed by them. But, everything has to look spic ‘n span for the Olympics now, remember Jame?

If this doesn’t remain posted, the truth is told.What truth?? Maybe you should come here to India and become a guru. There’s a lot of kids here looking for ‘THE TRUTH’.

Michelle

In a world defiled by irony, sarcasm, cultural subversion, faux intentions (and hair colour!) and the general malaise of insouciance, it is most refreshing to find that people like you still exist. Someone who can still get completely worked up and enraged by the sardonic observations of a complete stranger (or in your own very spicy lingo, “dipwad”). Please don’t lose this very endearing (but sadly dying) attribute.
Just to add to your comment:
Together with the adjective of “arrogant” and “pompous” used to describe my writing, I think you should add the following: culturally insensitive, religiously disrespectful, and culinary biased. I’m sure you can think of more. Mea culpa…but unfortunately I have no shame. Yes, my observations can be crass, rude and obnoxious, but if you like your travel writing to be fluffy, cuddly and sweet, where the locals are always “nice”, friendly” and “polite” then you dont have to look far. They’re more profuse than the Chinese nation and more mediocre than a communist party propaganda speech.

Having lived in Vietnam for nearly two years I’ve experienced the local delicacies of dog meat, beating cobra heart, snake bile, barbequed sparrows and juicy frogs legs. Besides the dog meat, I’ve enjoyed all of those. But I have to admit that I cannot suppress some boorish “western” tastes. While living in the East, I do relish a glass of good wine or a cup of coffee, and ofcourse some foul-smelling cheese. Unlike you, I have no country/home to go back to after sampling another culture for a year.
It appears that you havent had the displeasure of reading my blog entries about my travels prior to Chengdu. Before reaching the culinary oasis of Chengdu, I was travelling for 6 weeks in the outbacks of Sichuan, exploring the Tibetan plateau. The Tibetan people not being as affluent as your Chinese friends in Chengdu, they have to subsist on tsampa, or barley flour. Eaten on its own, or mixed with water to form a porridge, this is their staple diet, together with yak curd. (It seems that the Han Chinese have not yet been able to introduce the Tibetans to their superior cuisine. They’re obviously too busy dealing with the war-mongering Dalai Lama.)
Staying with some Tibetan nomads, this was also my staple diet for a while. No trendy bookshop cafe’s, glistening supermarkets, or tasty street barbeques; all the things found in your beloved Chengdu. (I went to the Bookworm, by the way…in such an authentic Chengdu neighbourhood, complete with expats, and other one year exchange students like yourself). So, by the time I had reached Chengdu, I couldnt ignore the culturally insensitive demands of my tastebuds anymore…. I succumbed to some steak and chips, washed down with red wine. It was sooooo good….unfortunately no amount of noodles or rice could have the same effect. And no amount of self-flagelation could rid me of my uncontrolable carnivorous and bacchanalian apetites.
Maybe you should patrol the Chinese joints in your hometown, I’m sure you’ll be appaled by the number of homesick Chinese slurping away a tasty noodle soup, instead of sticking to the local cuisine. Shame on them!

Oh, just one little critique….
“The Chinese were eating with sticks, while your ancestors were eating with their hand, and there no paper to wipe with because the Chinese invented that too.”

You should be careful about implying that people who eat with their hands are in some way uncivilised or backward. I’m sure you dont think that of Indian, Middle Eastern, or African people. And I definitely wouldn’t uphold the paper wipe as a great invention. If only the Chinese had stuck to water or wiping on grass, maybe our environment wouldnt be in such a bad condition.

Anyway, to end off with, just a little favour I have to ask you…
If you are in any way hippy-inclined, in either music, taste or hairstyle, or have friends who are (or even if you’re not) please read my blog entry: “Dali: Ancient city of dreadlocks and pancakes”. In it I indulge in some vicious hippy-bashing. No holds barred. I’m sure it will rekindle your fires of indignation, and hopefully I’ll get another comment. I need more comments like yours, Jame. The other comments, although very appreciated and needed, have been far too nice and flattering.

Give it to me,
Michelle

And I quote:

“Many welcome! How you tonigh? You Italy? ” Oh god…an over-eager waitress, even more annoying than a sluggish one.”

You are an absolute piece of work princess! At least she is attempting English, and getting paid for it!!! SHE’S A CHINESE WOMAN IN CHINA!!!!!! YOU DIPWAD!!!!!!! DOING HER JOB!!!!! YOU DIPWAD!!!!!! Out of the billions that live in China I am sure less than one percent even care about Italian food and wine, let alone your measly foreigner existence. She was just trying to be nice and you have to say that. Go to hell.

The plain truth is I spent a year in China, with Chengdu as my main residence. Is a year a long time? By no stretch. I do know that Chengdu is China’s city of leisure, has the best “Chinese” food, and the best foreign book store. So instead of cowering in your room, you could have visited the Bookworm (www.chengdubookworm.com), picked from a huge range of books, and had a real cup of coffee. The people I met are friends for life. I can’t believe how they bent over backwards to show me a good time. Btw, you make friends at college campuses.

Whoever goes to another civilization, searching for the attributes of their own culture, only to become disappointed when they don’t reach the desired expectation, is not only arrogant, but globally inept. It is people like you who give me the burden of explaining that exceptionally rude behavior from Westerner’s, Euro’s and Aussies is an unfortunate nuance. The Chinese were eating with sticks, while your ancestors were eating with their hand, and there no paper to wipe with because the Chinese invented that too.

Do the world a favor and stay where it is you call home, FOREVER!!!!

Cities visited: 14 Provinces visited: 13.

The only disappointment was, we didn’t get to Juntaville. With Myanmar in the news, you should peddle this — and the rest of the story — to a serious magazine! It’s far more than a travelogue. It’s a photoessay. (By the way, your photos didn’t show up on my browser, but your writing being photographic, I saw everything.)

You have a brave, knife-edged style that’s a pleasure to read.

Cheers,

Tom

Loved reading about your adventures. love the style in which you write. i will read on later…

Love and huggs