We still haven't been able to figure this one out...

Of the many things that kept us awake at night during our romp through China, this is one mystery that we still haven't been able to crack (no pun intended.) For some reason, most of the babies and toddlers wear buttless pants without diapers. If parents can't afford pants of this sort, they'll just open the back seam for the world to see their rosy cheeks. Our question is: how do the babies know not to make a mess and instead pull over to a tree and squat? I can understand for toddlers, but babies that can't even crawl...how do they do it?

Something I've never seen before

We saw a man today walking down the street of Guangzhou (population of many millions) with 3 pet monkeys on a leash. They escaped before we could take a photo.

Traveling through China on a train

In honor of us having just completed our last and final long distance train ride in China, I thought it would only be appropriate to dedicate a blog entry to our good friend, the Chinese rail system. Oh Chinese trains, how I have loved and (mostly) hated you so....

As anyone knows who has traveled on a Chinese train, the system breaks down its seating structure into three categories--Hard Seat, Hard Sleeper, and Soft Sleeper. A Hard Seat ticket basically gets you a spot on a three person seat in a car of about 120 people, while a Hard Sleeper ticket will provide you with a cot, pillow and blanket in a car of about 60 other pals. The most luxurious way to travel is on the Soft Sleeper which is similar to the Hard Sleeper option, but is slightly upgraded, as you are only sharing a tiny room with 3 other people. Like in most of China, you can't escape people even if you try.

For the most part, Adam and I have been lucky enough to snag Hard Sleeper tickets on our overnight destinations. Again, not the most ideal of circumstances (especially if you get stuck near loud snorers, which we have on all of our many overnight trains), but we've learned to grin and bear it--Adam more than I. A note on snorers, there never seems to be more than 1, but there is always one person making the walls quake.

Recently, while trying to make our way on an overnight train from Hangzhou (my favorite town we've visited) to the mountain village of Wuyishan, we were forced to take Hard Seat tickets, as all Hard and Soft Sleeper tickets were sold out. Despite every fellow backpacker saying that an overnight train in a Hard Seat was equivalent to minor forms of torture in some countries, we thought we were mentally prepared to endure the sleepless night. This was all before we had ever set foot in a Hard Seat car. Getting to our car and seeing the rock hard bench with 3 depressions for 3 bottoms that was immovably positioned at a 90 degree angle, we knew we were in trouble. That combined with the grey air from cigarette smoke and the fact that our seating area would be shared with six other people, making leg stretching nearly impossible, was enough to send us both into a state of panic. Luckily our good friend, the Chinese policeman saw us poor souls and let us know via cell phone text message typing (his wallpaper photo on the phone was a porn picture) that Hard Sleeper tickets had become available and we could upgrade if we wanted. The policeman also was kind enough to alert us of the dangers of a "petty thief" on board and kept making the "lookout" symbol by touching his eyes with 2 fingers. We made our way quickly out of the car but not before stirring the curiosity of everyone on the car. Each and everyone of our fellow 120 passengers on the car became completely silent to witness our interaction with the authority. Needless to say, I will never complain about a Hard Sleeper again.

After pushing our way through 5 crowded cars with our backpacks on, Adam sweating profusely because his fever from food poisoning decided to break at that exact moment, we made it to the clerk who took our money and sent us to the complete opposite side of the train to claim our sleeper seats. We passed the policeman again who checked our tickets and gave us a triumphant grin as if we had led us to the promised land. To give you an idea of the length of Chinese trains, they are about 15 cars long. You can not see one end from the other. The hard seat was in car 14, our sleeper was in car 1. As we made our way down the moving train we noticed that about half the sleeper seats were empty. Just goes to show the wonderful effects of bureaucracy on train ticket sales.

The art of Chinese staring

Actually, there is no art. Chinese people have no shame in giving you a good head-to-toe stare down. Oh the wonders of travelling through a country in which you could never pass for a local. Whether it be on the street, train (I've found these particularly painful given that when entering a train car nearly everyone stops what they are doing to look at what shoes I'm wearing), or even in the bathroom, people seem to simply be fascinated with the strange foreigner visiting their country. Even the babies do it!

Its always a great feeling when Adam and I walk into a small restaurants. The scene that usually follows is one in which the entire place goes dead silent while everyone watches as we painfully try to order something on the menu (that of course we can't read) all while keeping our fingers crossed that we didn't order dog or some other crazy food. I must say though, we've gotten pretty good at doing a quick survey at what other patrons are eating and subsequently order by pointing at dishes that look appetizing. Between ordering and being served our food, people tend to forget about us, but that quickly subsides once the food arrives. The prospect of watching a foreigner fumble with chopsticks usually proves to be too appealing. Slowly we're getting used to the attention...baby steps.