The Shindog Blog
Ok it's more on the subway ... i bumped into a couple of aussies today ... they said 'china really knows how to move people around' . It's true.... the number of people being moved around it's pretty impressive that there are rarely any hiccups. There are 2 types of travel cards ... a single use type which is sucked back in by the exit machines when you end your journey... or the multi use recharge cards ... which i use ... they record your entire history and you can take a sneak peek at the data stored in the card via the use of these 'card reader' machines which are located in some of the more central stations. You simply wave your card past the reading sensor ... |
| and whalla ...it gives you your current balance and recent travel history!. I imagine with the use of this data they could calculate how many users are in the system at any one time ... and regulate flows of traffic into the system. HMmm im running low ... just 1.3 rmb left ... time to recharge! So travellers store their cards in the outer section of their bags ... its quite funny watching them when they dont get a good read ... they will usually retry quite a few times ....waving their bags back and forth ...trying to get a read with out taking the card out of their bags! |
| Now this is a classy east side freestyle calligrapher! just 2 days out here and i've seen a couple of them already!!! ... this 'park' leads itself to this kind of use as the floor is polished stones and also shaped in little squares ... perfect for street water calligriphers! It's |
 |
| and of course polished stone floors are great for roller bladin' around! Looks like i'll be crackin out the skates! These 2 old guys are having a smoke break between sets! This park is pretty artsy! Those golden coloured wheel things were spinning around ... not sure what they represent but im sure they have some meaning! But anyway they look pretty cool! |
 |
beijing got a mass flower planting pre olympics ... flowers went in everywhere!!! time to get rid of them now! |
 |
| with 33 blocks to cover that could be a lot of running/riding around for the local postie! Heres building 14's post boxes conveniently mounted outside for easy drive by access! can you spot mine!?! |
 |
| Theres a lot of bikes in china ... everyone lives in quite small apartments ... no one has tools to fix puntures ... and why would you when theres one of these guys on the corner of nearly every 2nd block!!! They'll get you up an running again for about 3 quai! Which reminds of the time we got a flat in Xidan whilst out shopping ... the first time i came across a chinese male crossed dressed as a female! I'll have to dig up those shots ... it's not every day you get a puntcure fixed on an electric bike by a tranny wearing hot pants and high heels! She/He did a great job though ... it's been 6 months and she's still holding out ... fixed in about 5 minutes flat! |
 |
Shenme Dongxi!!!
"every day in china you see something (shenme dongxi) you don't see every day" [one billion customers; auth : James Mcgregor ..lessons from the frontlines of doing busines in china]. This little section is dedicated to that weird or strange thing which inadvertently you see everyday in china .. so to prove a point i'll see if i can find one 'mai tian do' (every day).Pay Per P** 05.11.08
alrighty today's shenme dongxi is coin operated loo! Its located in guomao subway station on the east side of beijing. For anyone who travels in china public convenience are quite different out here ... prepare to squat! You sometimes see pay per use toilets around busy tourist attractions ... usually an attendant will take 0.5 quai ... this unit here is coin operated and its 1 quai per pop. I guess they wanted to minimize its use seeing a loo in a subway station could get a lot of customers. On another note you learn to carry around little tissue packs which are sold in bulk in convenience stores around the city as its more often that not BYO loo paper around here ... better be prepared! |
 |
| I'm not sure how you activate those alarms ... eee aww eee aww ... weve got a blockage in cubicle one! I reapeat blockage in cubicle one. All available sanitary workers please report to cubicle 1! |
