Before coming to this city, a quick research told me that it was an industrial city. Before disembarking at the Shi Jia Zhuang train station, a few thoughts hit my mind: stone + industrial = ... quarry?
Shi Jia Zhuang is home to a population of 10 million people. Taking a bus around the city makes Melbourne feel like a small flat village, and makes Shi Jia Zhuang (which I will now call SJZ) seem like an ultra-huge megatropolis.
Okay okay, so the first impression of SJZ was that the girls were prettier =]. Not that it's what it's all about, but if you sort a list such as this by beauty (click to sort by beauty): buildings, cars, ipad2s, cloud forms, construction workers, girls - girls would usually come near to the top.
I learned two things the hard way.
1) In SJZ, you require a Chinese ID to book a 3-star or below hotel. Passports not accepted!
2) In SJZ, you require a Chinese ID to use a computer in an internet cafe. Passports not accepted!
I had already booked a nice 3-star hotel but was denied access for a lack of ID. Then I was denied access to an internet cafe for a lack of ID. My mobile phone was running out of battery and I had no hotel to charge at. Even if I had battery, there are no open wireless hotspots, not even at McDonalds.
Good things come out of lessons like these. I felt like I was in times of the Bible prophecy (many prophesies already fulfilled, and all will be fulfilled, please stay tuned) where citizens would require some sort of a high-tech ID implanted somehow into their skin/body, and they will have to swipe in order for them to purchase any item, including food items. (In the meantime, check out the companies that have already begun developing technologies such as these.)
I felt the frustration when the internet cafe boss said: "I'm sorry I really don't know how to let you use the Internet. You don't have a Chinese ID, and your passport just won't swipe on our system... See? No beep. No beep. No beep. I really cannot help you!" It's not that he was being tight, but it's just what the government has regulated. In those tribulational days, will it not be the same? The food stores won't be able to sell you anything without that ID even if they took pity on you.
No stone quarries here in SJZ. Lots of shops and street markets. See you again soon.
1 comment:
Glad to hear that you are enjoying China so far despite the ID struggles.
If you feel so inclined - save your plastic waterbottles for bottle collectors and see their faces light up when you give it to them. More bottles = bigger smiles.
Ray : )
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