Chongqing - the Second Journey

Well, while I’d intended to do a blog post every few days, it would seem that I am constrained to only one per week. That said, there’s definitely lots to discuss as far as my trip here thus farly.

My trip here was uneventful – 20 hours of flying with limited sleeping makes Ben a sleepy boy. However, only one day was rough for jetlag, so I was able to hit the ground running, though I’m afraid that my trip back will not result in as much tireless-ness.

The first week has been very busy with few tangible results. We are still sorting out a lot of things about processes here, so we have actually completed very few printers compared to the amount of time we’ve put in. We have, however, made many fascinating discoveries whilst here.

First – Orange Juice in this country tastes like Tang and has the ability to electrically shock you. No joke – everybody was zapped upon making contact with the fluid. We put an ohmmeter to it and found that there was likely a very high metal content in the juice. And I thought you only needed oranges to make orange juice…

Secondly – Hot Pot is still definitely hot pot. This region is famous for its spicy food, sometimes with a delayed reaction. Somebody will put a bite of food in their mouths and, when no fire appears immediately, continue the chewing with ease. Seconds later, however, his comrades will be treated to some exclamation of surprise, such as “Oh boy…” or “uh-oh...” (or others, that I won't mention here...) as the fire surfaces in his mouth and he frantically reaches for a water glass, but to no avail. Moments later, sweating, huffing and puffing, and sure he will never taste anything ever again, the burning will finally subside, and the person can again breathe easily, now more wary of what else he puts in his mouth.

Thirdly-most – this city is beautiful when decorated for Chinese New Year. Those of you who have viewed my FB have seen many pictures of this city at night. Since it has been windy and rainy, the air is surprisingly clear, making for very nice evening outings.

Fourth – there are pigs in the shopping malls here. Pig petting zoos, in the mall. No hand sanitizer anywhere nearby. Enough said.

Fifth – there is a cable car whereby one crosses the river. It was a lot of fun, though an accidental, illegal viewing of the engine room left us wondering ever so slightly as to the robustness of the system. However, we did enjoy the trip, as well as our unplanned excursion down 5 stories of steps that led us to said engine room in an attempt to find an exit. Needless to say, we needed to retrace our steps back up the stairs to re-enter the permissible zone.

Well, I hope you did not finish this memorandum bored, and perhaps slightly lighter after laughing. Excuse me now, I must return to my hot chocolate as I prepare for the day tomorrow. Tsai Chi!