This, That and the Other
What to write about? Taxis? IVs? Or perhaps getting discovered? Well, I have some time this morning so I will write about them all.
Being Discovered.
When I started this blog, I wanted to stay anonymous. I didn’t really want anyone to know who I was. Unfortunately, that didn’t last too long because some friends of mine found this blog and recognized me right away.
My last blog, while far from popular, was still seen by enough people to make it very difficult to write about the things that I wanted to. My friends knew about it, my family knew about it and more importantly even some of my clients knew about it. It started to be more trouble than it was worth to dance around all of the things I wanted to write about. So I closed that blog and started this one.
I am not upset about my friends knowing about the site, mostly I just want to keep my real name/ old blog name out of the Internet. So if you could kindly avoid using my real name (first name is fine) and my old blog name, I would really appreciate it. I like my new home here and I don’t want to give it up just yet. :)
Taxis.
One of the main ways I get around my new home town is by taxi. Taxis are everywhere here. And more importantly, they are cheap. Not nearly as cheap as busses, but still cheap.
The people that wait for taxis like to play a game. They will approach the street where they want to get a taxi and they will notice others waiting for taxis as well. You know that they see you because they are constantly looking at you over their shoulder. Instead of doing the polite thing and getting behind the person who is already waiting there, they will walk 10 to 15 feet down the road in front of you and try to flag down a taxi.
This causes what I like to call, Taxi Leapfrog. If I see some rude person stand just a few feet in front of me in order to get a taxi before me, I will just walk a few feet past them to do the same thing. Surprisingly, this seems to make them upset as they think they are the only ones allowed to jump in front of other people who had already been waiting.
So they will in turn Leapfrog over me to once again stand in front of me in order to get a taxi before me. This is when my normal polite, calm self goes away on vacation. I will normally once again get in front of that person, but this time I will put myself just a few inches in front of them. And I will give them a look that goes beyond all language barriers. They know, without a doubt that if they jump in front of me again, I will show them just how ugly Americans can get. :)
Most of the time the person who was playing Taxi Leapfrog with me will then give up and walk away to find another location to wait for a taxi. The ones that don’t will give an apology and wait their turn for a taxi.
IVs.
It is amazing how much this country (and Asia in general) depends on IVs. If you have a cold, you get an IV. If you have a fever, you get an IV. If you have a bad hair day, you get an IV.
The other week I had a really bad case of food poisoning thanks to some really nasty black pepper sauce. Which is a pity because I love black pepper sauce. Anyway, I was in and out of the hospital for 3 days. And each time I went into the hospital I would be given a room and have several gallons of IVs pumped into me.
After 3 days and about 4 visits to the hospital, I stopped counting after almost 20 different IV were hooked up to me. The good news is that they really did work and I feel that I am part of the living again, but it was just kind of strange how in one weekend I got more IVs than I did in all of my life up to that point.
So if you are sick in Asia, be prepared for IVs. Be prepared for a lot of them.
Being Discovered.
When I started this blog, I wanted to stay anonymous. I didn’t really want anyone to know who I was. Unfortunately, that didn’t last too long because some friends of mine found this blog and recognized me right away.
My last blog, while far from popular, was still seen by enough people to make it very difficult to write about the things that I wanted to. My friends knew about it, my family knew about it and more importantly even some of my clients knew about it. It started to be more trouble than it was worth to dance around all of the things I wanted to write about. So I closed that blog and started this one.
I am not upset about my friends knowing about the site, mostly I just want to keep my real name/ old blog name out of the Internet. So if you could kindly avoid using my real name (first name is fine) and my old blog name, I would really appreciate it. I like my new home here and I don’t want to give it up just yet. :)
Taxis.
One of the main ways I get around my new home town is by taxi. Taxis are everywhere here. And more importantly, they are cheap. Not nearly as cheap as busses, but still cheap.
The people that wait for taxis like to play a game. They will approach the street where they want to get a taxi and they will notice others waiting for taxis as well. You know that they see you because they are constantly looking at you over their shoulder. Instead of doing the polite thing and getting behind the person who is already waiting there, they will walk 10 to 15 feet down the road in front of you and try to flag down a taxi.
This causes what I like to call, Taxi Leapfrog. If I see some rude person stand just a few feet in front of me in order to get a taxi before me, I will just walk a few feet past them to do the same thing. Surprisingly, this seems to make them upset as they think they are the only ones allowed to jump in front of other people who had already been waiting.
So they will in turn Leapfrog over me to once again stand in front of me in order to get a taxi before me. This is when my normal polite, calm self goes away on vacation. I will normally once again get in front of that person, but this time I will put myself just a few inches in front of them. And I will give them a look that goes beyond all language barriers. They know, without a doubt that if they jump in front of me again, I will show them just how ugly Americans can get. :)
Most of the time the person who was playing Taxi Leapfrog with me will then give up and walk away to find another location to wait for a taxi. The ones that don’t will give an apology and wait their turn for a taxi.
IVs.
It is amazing how much this country (and Asia in general) depends on IVs. If you have a cold, you get an IV. If you have a fever, you get an IV. If you have a bad hair day, you get an IV.
The other week I had a really bad case of food poisoning thanks to some really nasty black pepper sauce. Which is a pity because I love black pepper sauce. Anyway, I was in and out of the hospital for 3 days. And each time I went into the hospital I would be given a room and have several gallons of IVs pumped into me.
After 3 days and about 4 visits to the hospital, I stopped counting after almost 20 different IV were hooked up to me. The good news is that they really did work and I feel that I am part of the living again, but it was just kind of strange how in one weekend I got more IVs than I did in all of my life up to that point.
So if you are sick in Asia, be prepared for IVs. Be prepared for a lot of them.
Labels: china, discovered, food poisoning, friends, iv, taxi
This entry was posted by Joe China, on
Friday, October 27, 2006.
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