List of Differences....

I'm going to start doing lists - first b/c I'm OCD, but secondly b/c they will compress 20 min. of my text rambling into half of a half of a paragraph.

Differences:

a. Condiments - Places like McDonald's here serve cucumbers on their sandwiches instead of pickles... don't know if someone just got the recipe wrong, or they are catering to the local market. [also, McD, Pizza Hut and KFC (which is the undisputed KING of western restaurants here) are almost the only one's here... no Taco Bell, no BK, no Wendy's, etc.] Starbucks is here though - every corner just like in the U.S. And, it is normal practice here to eat ketchup on chicken mcnuggets.... hmmmm.

b. Milk - tastes weird, even super super fresh milk straight from the supermarket - straight from the container, tastes like it is either blended with coconut milk, has some sort of preservative or additive in it [or worse is not really cow milk like the label says].

c. Two Tone Hair - in the U.S. women / girls would get laughed out of the country for two tone hair, but here it is THE fashion trend. LOTS of girls have 3 to 5 inch black roots, some 8 to 10 inches and the other color is a funny looking orange. But, to their defense, in a country where EVERYONE has the exact same hair color - anything else seems to break up the monotony.

d. Karaoke aka: KTV - EVERYONE in China is a rock super star... you could fill the state of Texas, twice, with the number of people here that think they belong on the next season of Idol or Star Search or American Band Stand (trying to bridge all generations with that one). Everywhere you look, especially on TV or at bars / clubs in the evening (doesn't matter if it is a school night or people have to work early) you will find people with a mic in their hands reading teleprompters for lyrics. LOVE to sing and perform... wow.

e. Department Store Layouts - usually in the U.S. when you go to large or small stores there is one centralized place within that establishment that "groups" like items together - it's called organization or order. Here each store is made up of ten thousand or more "mini" stores within that one large store... and each one of these "mini" stores (some the size of your closet, most the size of your bathroom) contain different items.... So, for example if you were going to buy a new toothbrush you might have to visit eight or ten of these places before you found the toothbrush you were actually looking to buy.... even though four of those mini stores stocked them, those four stores do not have the same inventory. Literally amazing people can find things here.... but, I CAN say this... you can find ANYTHING you are looking for, from anywhere in the world if you are patient enough to keep looking. It's here somewhere. It's all a matter of how much energy you are willing to expend to get it.

f. Gold Waving Cat - a sub-topic to e. several of these places have a little gold plated (seated upright) cat that mechanically waves it's right arm. Jen says it is a good luck thing... but you see it everywhere. It would be the equivalent of the gumball machine in every restaurant in the States, just here the cat is in every store, not just the ones that serve food.

g. Bumps on Sidewalk Bricks - I can't remember when I was in Chicago or Miami or San Fran last.... or if those larger type cities did this or not [or if they've ever even heard of something like this before], BUT, here several of the city side walks have bricks laid in patterns within the walk that are special bricks. These special bricks have raised geometric patterns or shapes on them... usually either small / short cylinders or sometimes elongated ovals [think: racetrack]. Not sure what these things are exactly for, but Jen seems to thing that they were placed there to stimulate the bloodflow in peoples' feet as they walk across them. My opinion: they are there to make your feet hurt to force you to ride in taxis, which pay money in taxes. :)

h. Law Enforcement [or should I say the 'lack' thereof] - Interesting thing about "law enforcement" here is that there are essentially three layers of 'officers' with power. At the bottom of the heap are the 'assistants' these people are usually dressed in some off-olive drab colored uniform [looks like a painters outfit] donned with a reflective vest, hat whistle, etc. These people, although commonly found at intersections and street corners, are what I like to refer to as the 'herders' - they control the flow of people when things start getting out of hand or at a high pedestrian traffic flow time [rush hour in the beginning of the day, lunch, rush hour at the end of the day and dinner]. I haven't seen any of these people give out any tickets for violators or arrest anyone, but people tend to obey them routinely; this is probably b/c they are connected or linked to the next layer of 'officers', which I like to call the actual 'police'. These guys have all the gear, the blue uniform, the hat, the utility belt w/ all kinds of gadgets - but rarely a sidearm / gun. If I'm not mistaken there is a 'sub-level' within this organization, b/c I see some blue police officers that have a weapon and those that don't. Both wear the exact same uniform and display the large POLICE lettering on the rear of their shirt / jacket. 99% of these guys are very tolerant of things that if done in the U.S. you would be in Jail in 10 minutes flat. These guys demand an even higher level of respect - and are regularly seen issuing tickets and settling disputes. Something that you don't see here are people getting pulled over like you do in the States. No need here... the cops just pick a place and sit and watch - they see violations and just corral the people that are breaking that particular rule and citations are issued. Something that is COMPLETELY out of this world is this: these same blue police officers drive marked vehicles with their logos and all, the Chinese version of the "black and white" [i.e. cop car], and travel around ALL THE TIME with their lights running. Interesting thing - no matter where you are, busy city street, highway, whatever - NO ONE gets out of the way for these guys and, even better, no one PULLS OVER for them either. It's like they've got somewhere important to be or are chasing someone and everyone else just keeps on doing whatever they want regardless of these guys. Jen and I were in a cab going to dinner and sat a traffic light with a cop car behind us with it's lights on for three cycles of the light [b/c of thick traffic] and when we finally did start to move the cab just kept driving like he didn't have a care in the world. AMAZING. People overtake them on the highways like they were standing still and cut them off in traffic routinely. The last group of 'officers' here in the country is the army [I think that is what they are called] or the military. The red army is literally everywhere and 99% of these guys do carry sidearms - all green outfits, red should insignias, green hat w/ red star. Some of them carry modified versions of the AK47 assault rifle - with extra clips. I can tell that when they are around NOBODY messes with them or what they tell you to do... you just do it. I've been told that they are NOT the people you want to piss off here. They command an extremely high level of respect everywhere they go... which they do in groups of no less than 5 to 10. Funny thing though, for all the power that these guys have, I've never seen them do anything out of the ordinary. They patrol around and are in front of important places like government buildings [of course] and banks, etc. But, 99% of the time these guys are really relaxed and seemingly patient with everything that is going on around them. Which I guess all this brings me to crime - for a population, and shear density for that matter, I've never been anywhere [with the exception of Whistler in Canada] that feels safer. There is very little to no crime here. Sure the occasional pick pocket or some small scam or something... but for the most part, you never see anything worth making the 6 o'clock news here. Just doesn't seem like people here are like that... sure there are all the other pinnings of large city life, but in the area of crime - virtually none. In fact, you see young women walking the streets late at night alone - no problems. It is a really nice safe feeling all the time.... and no one ever really gets mad either. For someone from the U.S., this is like living in the twilight zone.

i. Laundry - one of two things is true here, either 1. it's too expensive or 2. people just don't believe in it - no one drys their clothes in a "dryer"... everyone hangs their clothes either outside [which is everywhere] or in a glass enclosed 'sun room' to dry. The majority, 80+ percent, do it this way.... it is no strange thing to walk down the street, look up and see peoples pants, shirts, underwear, etc. hanging from huge poles and racks out of their windows. This is the quintessential method of decorating the exterior of any home here.

j. Moving Sidewalk - anyone who's been to Chicago Intl. Airport aka: OHare has probably seen the moving sidewalk from one terminal to the next... lot's of big airports have them, I think Atlanta does, anyway... the grocery stores (and Walmart) have them here - but instead of taking people long distances they travel between floors. Exactly like an escalator, only flat and at an angle. One more thing... they've produced shopping carts with special wheels that fit into grooves on this moving 'ramp' that does not allow the cart to roll... so, you can come in, ride the ramp down to the store, shop and when your ready - the opposite ramp takes you back up to the main floor with your cart. It's really neat.

That's all for this go around.... more to come, plus more pix [I swear].