Wrinkly Bits
A Blog by Gail Cushman
I am not sure what day it is, what time it is, what direction we are going, but I do know that we are in China. Our first port was Shanghai, with a population of about 29,000,000 people, give or take a few. Buildings compete to be the tallest, prettiest, and most confusing. You can tell a business building from an apartment house by noting whether laundry is draped on poles from the windows…which means what? No dryers? Another thing I’m not sure of.
We did a few tours, an art museum which was mostly intricate beautiful carvings on all kinds of substances. We rode in an elevator that sky-rocketed 88 stories in a matter of seconds which made our ears pop. Of course, I needed to use the “happy room” as it is called, and I was most unhappy to see the Asian style “hole in the floor,” which didn’t make me or my knees happy. The Cowboy said his “happy room,” looked just fine with “western style” commodes. The happy rooms are usually located up a couple flights of stairs or in the basement, which is fine now that my knee is AOK, but for many people using all kinds of assistive devices (wheelchair walkers, canes, walking sticks), I think most traveling Americans appreciate our ADA law.
Our food, of course, is wonderful, yummy, and plentiful, so that both Cowboy and I can attest to “wintering well” in Asia, as well as Montana. Last night: salmon, shrimp cocktail, and ice cream. We are keeping track of our exercise… and tried tai chi yesterday. I’m sold, but we missed it today.
Another interesting thing we saw is the continued observation by Big Brother. I mean BB is watching, really watching, if you know what I mean. Cameras are everywhere, watching, watching, watching all the time. Cameras on the streets are about 30 feet apart, meaning nothing gets by whoever is monitoring them…an AI entity, probably. This morning, we arrived in Dalian. The Chinese police were out in force, checking papers and passports and taking our pictures, and they are all carrying. Tomorrow we are going to Beijing where we will see the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square…We’ll behave ourselves, for sure. It’s an overnighter so it’s sure to be a grand adventure. Peking duck is on the menu…
Yes, it’s a great trip, we are meeting people and enjoying our time looking at the water. Boats and water are two things we dearly love. Stay tuned for more on Cowboy and Gail’s Excellent Adventure!
Gail Cushman, Author
