Utopian Society

Well I'm home. This is my final blog post until I travel again. I have to say, it's weird. Maybe because this time I'm not just "visiting", but this is actually going to be my reality for awhile, and that's making it difficult to adjust to the States.

Things I won't miss about China:
- Fireworks. At any time of day.
- Risking my life everyday to and from work. Thank you traffic/construction hazards.
- Lack of quality control. Finally I can depend on stuff, for the most part, not breaking or being already broken!
- Chinese business mentality. The idea that everything revolves around money. It's really hard to do anything for goodwill when someone is always trying to make a profit.

Things I'm looking forward to:
- Reese's and bagels and just yummy food that does not create "China tummy".
- Children not peeing on the sidewalk.
- Grown men not peeing on the sidewalk.
- Toilets in public areas. Restaurants, malls, parks. (No more squatty potties!)
- And for that matter, toilet paper at the toilets in public areas.
- Driving!
- Dancing!

So, I've done a little bit of traveling, and I always try to take the best things from different places with me. Of course, that's not always possible. But if I were to create my own little Utopian Society, perhaps on my own island, these are definitely the things that I would bring with me from each country ... (There's a few more on China, but I also spent the most time there out of any country)

China:
- Shopping Carts. All four wheels are slippery and make it easy to slide around people, instead of having to lift up the back of the cart in order to maneuver. It really does make a difference!
- Hair Salons. You get to lay down for a 15 minute head massage while they wash your hair. And there's even a little pillow for your head. PLUS your hair is stays straight for about 3 days, which is pretty exciting for the humidity out there. Alice and Shelley are laughing here. I think they were a little embarrassed that I took the picture.

- Local produce person who slices the pineapple for you (and other things, but I mostly just buy pineapple). I never eat the pineapple if I have to cut it myself. The guy will also slice it up into bitesize chunks, but I thought it looked really cool like this.

- Ayi. My cleaning lady. All the ayis are magic, I swear! How they can keep things spotless in China is beyond me! There's so much dirt in the air that settles daily on the floor. It's SO hard to keep clean!!


Mexico:
- Food
- Music
Enough said.

Guatemala:
- Xela Pan. It's the bakeries, especially up in the city of Quetzaltenango. Best bread, no question.

Germany:
Architecture. Unless the houses are built on the colorful hillsides of Guanajuato, Mexico, I think all villages should be built like the ones in Bavaria.

Vietnam:
- Scarves. Especially all the kinds of unity scarves. So much material. So colorful, and so warm!

- Coffee. Best cup of joe I've ever had.

Cambodia:
Buses. Their long distances buses have attendants that serve fresh baked goods. And the TVs play karaoke.
Tuctucs. They're like open air motorized carriages. They're zippy, and refreshing. Nothing like the blue boxes of death in China.


Cambodian tuctuc.

 

Chinese blue-box-of-death.

 



So that's my list. Do you have any to add?