Random Thoughts about Hunan, China

Weather: In winter, cooler than Guangdong. Less variety of palm trees. Leafless trees in many areas. Buildings have heating.

Food: Spicy, salty, oily. Lots of chilli padi. Jacy, you'll love it since you said you can eat chilli padi like eating rice. Hahaha.

Language: Mandarin everywhere with a strong Hunan accent. In some areas local people also speak Hunan dialect, known as "Xiang" or "Changsha hua". Almost nobody speaks English and the only Cantonese you'll hear comes from tourists.

Cities: Even their smaller cities are at least the size of Ipoh or Petaling Jaya. Lots of six-lane thoroughfares even in the smaller towns. Some district cities can rival Kuala Lumpur in size.

People: Mostly Han Chinese in the big cities of Changsha and Changde, and also in the Xiangtan and Shaoshan areas where Mao Zedong came from. In Zhangjiajie and Phoenix City areas, the minority becomes the majority. Tujia people dominate in Zhangjiajie City and Furong (Wangchun), Miao (Hmong) people live in Phoenix City.

Tourists: Usually Chinese from other parts of China, and some overseas Chinese or those from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hardly any non-Chinese foreign tourists other than Koreans. Can count the number of laowai (gwailo) faces with the fingers on one hand. Non-Mandarin speakers will have a hard time here. Being unable to speak or read Mandarin means no way to ask for help, directions, or anything.

Scenery: Breathtaking. Must visit at least once in a lifetime. Take as many photos as possible. Must visit both Tianzi and Tianmen mountains by cable car. It'll make you tremble when you realise how far you are from the ground below.

What else:

People plant veggies everywhere. At the roadside, at the riverside, on any piece of empty land where plants can grow.

It's customary to sound the horn when overtaking anyone.

Traffic rules don't exist. Yet there's some sort of unwritten order such as the customary sounding of the horn when overtaking.

A lot of people still spit everywhere in public. Kiak, ptui! Yucks. So don't ever fall down on the ground or drop anything. You'll never know if someone just spat there.

Some people throw all their rubbish outside their front or back garden. The reason: They can't afford to pay for proper waste disposal.

Cable cars and high-tension power cables go above people's houses and apartments. I don't know if it's the reluctance of those people to move out or ignorance of the potential health hazards.

In the countryside and even in some cities people still wash their clothes in the river. The water's clear, I saw it with my own eyes but I'm not confident about the cleanliness of the water.

Tourist in My City: Bukit Bintang

Last Saturday, 6 Feb 2010 I went to explore Bukit Bintang on my own in the morning. To avoid traffic jams I left home at 8 something and reached B.B. at 8:50 am, parked in Low Yat Plaza basement and walked around the still-closed shopping mall. Walked the backlane to Imbi Plaza, which I hadn't set foot in 13 years. Only a mamak and one or two computer service shops opened at 9 something.

Continued on foot to Sungai Wang Plaza around 9:30 am and overheard the security guards telling some lenglui tourists that the place opens at 10. Took snapshots of the lovely tiger decorations in the basement, taking care to use ISO HI in low light conditions. Continued to B.B. Plaza and crossed over to Hicks Street now known as Changkat Bukit Bintang.

A lot of restaurants have changed, old names of yesteryear are no longer there and new ones have taken their place. Saw a cute tortoiseshell cat with blue bell collar, patted her and made her my photographic model of the morning. Checked out the new Havana formerly known as Little Havana, looks nice with all new renovations. Said hello to the doggy at the Chinese temple nearby, her owner the aunty seems friendly. Saw the new Hotel YY38 along Tong Shin Heights just opposite Hotel Rae. Seems worth a stay.

Passed by Chua Brothers coffeeshop and the famous Meng Kee char siew place, both only open in the morning. Didn't eat because I already had breakfast. Ngau Kee beef noodle already opened for breakfast, they never sleep don't they?

It was getting hot as cloud cover dissipated so I walked past some travel agencies back to Alor Road. Near the place Aunty Linda worked before, I discovered a short row of small wooden houses from the 1950s or before. People still live there and doggies too. Quaint discovery a little off the beaten track :)

Soon I cut across some unnamed sidelanes to Federal Hotel and then back to Low Yat. Bought what I needed to buy there and left B.B. just as the jam picked up. By then it was ten minutes to noon. What a way to spend a Saturday morning :) Felt so happy. Must do more exploration some other weekend mornings.

Ting Ji Tiu Mou 停止跳舞

Since the middle of January 我已经停止跳舞。只系个一晚喺舞蹈室举办嘅 party 先有跳几场舞。果然冇嗮心嚟跳舞。 Granted I enjoyed the moments at the party, each and every one of them, but that doesn't mean that outings will be just as great.

到而家我仲未再去参加啲舞蹈活动。拜三拜五拜六嗰啲舞会我觉得冇趣。仲有几日就过年啦，之後就去中国湖南省旅行。返到嚟就月尾 so looks like 唔使去跳舞 for the rest of the month. 人哋觉得好有趣好 enjoy 嘅话， good for them, I'm glad they have fun and hope they continue to keep their interest going.

有人问我几时会出场？我嘅答案，唔知道几时，睇点先。 When I find back my 心 for 跳舞 I shall return. As long as 嗰个满意得唔到我唔爱去，因为挫败，尤其是阿哩也每次我去都系一样咁唔满意嘅。 Oh well. Just my opinion based on my experience. Others may differ, but they're not me, and they experience different things so that's their opinion based on what's applicable to them.