Wherever I travel, I always like to do 3 things:
1. Ride public transportation
2. Eat local street food
3. Drink the water
You can learn so much about a country (as can your stomach) by doing these three things. Guangzhou in particular gave me a special experience this past weekend. GZ is a huge, huge city literally bustling and brimming with people. The buses are no exception. When the doors open, people literally fall and spill out of the bus. Getting on the bus is extra difficult, but the good news is once you're on, you really don't have to worry about balancing or holding onto a hand rail as you're cushioned against all those other bodies. So you just fall into them, but they can't go anywhere either.
I remember playing a game called "jello" on car rides when I was younger. You basically let your body sway, bend, and fold where the momentum takes you. This adult version in a bus holding 150+ people is way more fun.
Of course, public transportation is also a cultural experience as society's finest is always represented. This time, and old grumbly man got on and started chattering in Cantonese, which I didn't understand. Then he switched to Mandarin and yelled at the gentleman next to him "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!" We all took a giant step back (in the already packed bus) to give him some extra space. He spent the next 5 minutes giving some dude an evil death glare, which I tried to avoid, by observing him through the bus' mirrors. Indirect eye contact is okay.
If Medusa were an old Cantonese dude...
--
Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China
1. Ride public transportation
2. Eat local street food
3. Drink the water
You can learn so much about a country (as can your stomach) by doing these three things. Guangzhou in particular gave me a special experience this past weekend. GZ is a huge, huge city literally bustling and brimming with people. The buses are no exception. When the doors open, people literally fall and spill out of the bus. Getting on the bus is extra difficult, but the good news is once you're on, you really don't have to worry about balancing or holding onto a hand rail as you're cushioned against all those other bodies. So you just fall into them, but they can't go anywhere either.
I remember playing a game called "jello" on car rides when I was younger. You basically let your body sway, bend, and fold where the momentum takes you. This adult version in a bus holding 150+ people is way more fun.
Of course, public transportation is also a cultural experience as society's finest is always represented. This time, and old grumbly man got on and started chattering in Cantonese, which I didn't understand. Then he switched to Mandarin and yelled at the gentleman next to him "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!" We all took a giant step back (in the already packed bus) to give him some extra space. He spent the next 5 minutes giving some dude an evil death glare, which I tried to avoid, by observing him through the bus' mirrors. Indirect eye contact is okay.
If Medusa were an old Cantonese dude...
--
Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China
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