Ho flang, quite a lot has happened since the end of the taxi saga. I'll have to do a one-two-skip-a-few here and just say that we made it to Chengdu safe an' sound, no issues with luggage, and our SNU (Sichuan Normal University) contact was there at the airport to pick us up. Sweet as.
So now it's two days later, and I'm sitting in my butt-numbing chair typing this blog while drinking a cup of super-*%#%&#ing-strong green tea. I took a few phots of my new homestead, which I'll post inna sec. First, I gotta tell you about Chengdu.
There's 11-point-something million peoples in this city i.e. almost three times the size of the whole population of New Zealand. That's a lot of people. And, by jove, it feels like there's 11 million people here. In fact, it feels like there's 11 million people just outside my bedroom window. And this place is hot, man... but admittedly, not Macau or Zhuhai hot, the temp here is only low 30s (celcius), and the evenings ain't too bad.
Anyhow, our contact picked us up and jousted us from the airport to SNU. I use the word "jousted" because a) traffic rules? What traffic rules? b) go in the same direction as everyone else? Why? c) Traffic lights? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! d) other vehicles weren't so much "vehicles" as they were "targets". Pedestrians, like everywhere else in the world, are worth 50 points, only here they literally are. The older and slower-moving, the higher the score. But if they're in the middle of the road, they're only worth 25 points (it's more common for pedestrians to be in the middle of the road, you see). Footpaths are overtaking lanes, and not just for scooters either, but buses, 18-wheelers, and hearses.
So we get to SNU. There are approximately 11 million people hanging out at the University's gates alone (first day back at Uni, you see...). The guard at the gate salutes us as we enter. The salute is possibly an acknowledgement that our contact made it back in the same vehicle she left in (as opposed to returning in a taxi or requiring a pick-up from the nearest hospital (which is likely in Japan or Baghdad, I haven't worked out which is closer yet)).
The Foreign Experts area (that's us, you see, we're foreign experts by virtue of the fact that we're foreign. Expertise has nothing to do with it) is quite nice, and definitely a refuge from the rest of the campus. Our apartments are also nice, although I will, in my next post, tell you about the bathroom. The title of my next post is "Round #5 with the mop", for reasons which will become obvious.
Surprisingly, there is wireless internet here, but it is very strange. While you can watch youtube videos real-time (indicating high-bandwidth), nzherald.co.nz is as slow as flang, and I have a theory about this, which I may or may not disclose to you later.
Anyhow, enough yik-yak, I'll post some phots now and maybe in my next post I'll tell you's all about things so far. I'll also grab more phots for you's all of the outside of this place. You might notice that the next sequence of photos has omitted the bathroom. Again, the reasons will become obvious. Stay tuned.
Here is the living room with Lindsay sitting in one of the butt-numbing chairs. It truly is a curious sensation which I recommend to anyone who enjoys losing feeling to key parts of their body (however, excessive usage may have a laxative effect. More on this later).
Le kitchen les minaturenes. The fridge is nice and cold, the floor is nice and hard, and the electrical-switchboard is nice and close to the sink. No splashing while doing the dishes.
Ok, so I lied about not having any photos of the bathroom. Here is my tub, complete with giant crickets. My washing machine is camera-shy, so much so that after this picture was taken, it wet the bathroom floor with nervousness. I think that was Round #2. More later.
Apologies for the face-obscuring flash. The one thing this bathroom has going for it is it's oversized mirror. It's so you can see the bathroom floor flooding from anywhere inside the house.
Door and television and other stuff. The door is decorated with a picture of an elephant and a flying mouse. I'm sure a joke could be made about this, but I am not clever enuff to come up with one.
When I was working at WDC, I used to think that a view of a petrol station and a busy intersection was pretty lousy. For some strange reason, I now no longer think so...
Some trees. Chengdu has a lot of trees, but they don't seem to make too much difference. I'll take some photos later of the city, and you will see why living in China is equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. In Chengdu, it's more like eight.
Pies out.
Pies tip of day: Washing machines can be your friend, or your enemy. Treat them well, and they won't widdle all over your bathroom floor.
