Saturday, May 28, 2005

Filth

I've written that China is a dirty place, so I figured I should justify this statement.

Yes, there is pollution, more than I'm used to. Although I shouldn't complain because Dalian is apparently one of the cleanest cities in China. As far as the air goes, it's at the bottom of my list of grievances. There is a lot of garbage on the streets, and that's during the day when cleaners are constantly sweeping. Late at night the roads are an absolute pigsty. There are heaping piles of trash in front of some homes. There is also constant construction going on everywhere, causing huge mounds of debris and dirt to accumulate. Restaurants dump buckets of dirty water into the street. Everything looks old, stained and lacking maintenance. The sidewalks have cigarette butts, stickers and dirty blotches all over them. The standards for restaurants are miles from what we would consider acceptable - we have often seen roaches while dining (once a few even crawled across our table).

Oh, and children go to the bathroom anywhere they need to. Babies don't have diapers, they just have an opening in the back of their pants. So suddenly you'll see a kid squat down to take a dump in the street, or pee in the middle of a store (once it went straight on the floor, another time the mother had the decency to make him pee in a plastic bag).

But the thing that disgusts me the most is the deluge of spit. Everywhere I am, I hear the repulsive sound of someone hawking up a big ole phlegm ball. And nowhere is safe from the onslaught of flying saliva. Streets, malls, restaurants - they have all been defiled! Men, women and children are all guilty. It doesn't quite shock me as much as it used to, but it still makes my skin crawl.

There, I feel I have substantiated my comment.

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deadites: As far as nose-picking goes, yes, I've seen it plenty. However, i usually avert my eyes before I see whether they flick it! Ew.....

11 comments:

Marley said...

YEE HAW! Congrats on hitting 5000. You\'re way ahead of me girl! I agree with u about the spitting. I hate spitting, too. I think it\'s absolutely disgusting and I can\'t believe that ppl do it indoors there. Are you staying there permanently or just for a while? Hope u have a great weekend.

///.:: §hĂȘllĂȘ¥ ::.\\\ said...

Now I kinda understand why my chinese friend is the way she is! She will often start horkin....yuck, gross, disgusting, not to mention very unlady-like. Thanks for the heads up. *_*

islandgirl said...

yuck, spitting.....I don\'t care if you are a cowboy or a baseball player, it is still disgusting..........Have a great weekend!C U round!

Unknown said...

Oh common.. yerust jelous...we all know you are just dying to drop your drawers and plop a big steamer in the middle of the street..we know it.. its ok, you dont have to be ashamed.Azhehe

Josie said...

what you need is a bublble towalk around in ....likethose hamster things ..he he ...but could you imagine how dirty it would get? ..you could probably bankrupt china of windex....:) ..TTFN

Jen said...

eww please don\'t show any pics of that.. not sure my stomach could handle it : S lol

Laoch said...

The important question is, can one bring their cats to China?

Jade said...

Thank You!!! Wow, what an eye-opener for me...my dad said it was like that but not THAT!! Other countries are always saying americans are piggy...uh, I beg to differ!LOL @ AZ!!!

deadites said...

I gotta ask.. do they all pick their noses and fling \'e?

Heather said...

Wow...You have tenacity lady...I admire you & I don\'t even know you...are you sure you\'re not growing balls?Write a book.....boy, are you gonna have some stories for your children & grandchildren....and I\'ll bet you won\'t want rice for eons when you come back home!!!Dame H

Unknown said...

I too have spend time in China and was totally amazed at the carelessness of the chineese in general. The filth and the stench at times completely overwhelmed meWhat I did like was people\'s interest in practicing their English God what a nightmare. Students would come out of the woodwork to try out their version of ehgrlish ( about the way most pronounced it.) Fansinating!The food oh my GOD !! I speak lousy Cantoneese (not Manderin) And read Chineese Very poorly.And whenever I ordered food my heart rate shot up. "I hope I didn\'t order another horror".I could go on and on but suffice to say getting back to Canada was a great relief.

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