Lunch time wanders

I am feeling some pressure as to what tonight's Blog will cover as I feel that yesterday's was one of the better ones (make sure you read it). So, how do I maintain the standard? Here goes.

Let's start in the real world of work. The morning flew by as I was racing against a deadline for some research interviews. I was writing the questions. Nothing unusual there but they had to be translated, so I had to finish early and give the team time to translate and re-phrase. Strangely, they didn't invite me to sit in on the interviews.

Anyway, lunch time came around, the food options are endless and Xiou Bing gave me a tip on where to get some good food as we left the lift. I was a bit stiff, so thought I would walk for a bit first. What a great move.

Just two small blocks from the office (ad the main street of downtown SH) is a really traditional area of city dwellers and, weight for it, an antique market. It was awesome. So many things to look at from Charmian Mao posters to old coins and a lot of crappy stuff too. I felt like I had discovered a new world.

The antique market (which is actually just stalls on 3 streets), was just the precursor to today's real discovery.

Everyone has hard the saying "Chinese Laundry." Well, I stumbled on the perfect example. Streets where they hang their laundry from anything, between anything. Down the foot path, across the street, on phone lines, on power cables. Anything will do. Clearly a hazard of an underwear fetishist walks by, but it's just the done thing. You get to see a great variety of clothing and underwear from the lacy to the winter long johns.



See the picture (above), this is a footpath that I was walking along until I was confronted with the day's washing. And the second photo (right) is a cracker. If you look closely in the middle the dark section s a bunch of guys sitting and standing playing cards. Just like kids in a makeshift 'cubby house,' these guys play on surrounded by the sheets and towels.

Key observation;
Without the clothes on the lines, I don't see the strings and the hang just at my neck level. So I think hanging clothes on these lines is a good safety thing.

You also have to be careful and nimble when they are using long poles to get the clothes off the overhead phone lines across the streets - I nearly had a set of long johns land on my head as I walked by. I was just quick enough to dodge and avoid a disaster of "luandromatic proportions."

Enough laundry talk, back to the office.