Hello, I blog!
I share all my sporadic and toilet thoughts in here, because I am random like that.
One cabby’s take on China and its people
I was on board a taxicab en route home one weekend (when it was approaching midnight) … when the taxi driver started talking.
Like most Singaporeans around me, I’m not particularly fond of chatty taxi drivers. But I felt that I owed this guy one – he was supposed to be changing shifts at some other part of Singapore but still agreed to ferry me all the way to the East anyway. So I decided to listen.
As it turned out, this fellow had plenty of interesting things to say.
The topic was on … foreign talent.
Foreign talent was a huge issue during Singapore’s General Elections some months ago. For the benefit of my overseas readers, I shall provide a brief run-down. Basically, immigration in Singapore was on an uphill trend in recent years. So much that the local dwellers are beginning to feel the heat, mostly in the form of competition for education, housing and uh, space in general. Not to mention how migrant workers being with them a host of practices and behaviour that is considered the ‘norm’ in their home countries, but didn’t sit quite as well here.
This taxi driver had a particularly huge vendetta against the immigrants from Mainland China, yammering on about his personal experiences with such commuters in his cab.
“You know ah, I can be driving halfway and these China people will suddenly just wind down the window and spit outside! Very disgusting, you know!”
I could only nod politely. Didn’t quite agree with this one. Time and time again, I’ve personally witnessed other local taxi drivers doing the exact same thing. Much less so for the foreigners.
He also went on about their other bad habits such as speaking in full volume, their general aggressive nature and sense of hygiene – most of which I was only partially listening.
Well, I did share the same sentiments but didn’t want to add oil to the fire by contributing my own thoughts. It’ll only cement his general hatred for China immigrants and strengthen the stereotype, no? I have friends from Mainland China and they don’t quite fit into the stereotype of these folks being loud, aggressive and rowdy.
It was only when he began sharing a particularly bad experience from his travels in Guangzhou when I completely sat up and listened.
He was on board a taxicab heading back to his hotel in Guangzhou. For some reason, the taxicab alighted him at the back entrance of the hotel instead of the main, road-facing one. (The reason is not the point here, though.) He simply alighted and made his way in.
Now, to make his way back into the hotel, he had to cut through the kitchen of a pretty well-known restaurant in the hotel premises. According to him, this restaurant was rated four-stars, pretty popular for their dim sum, and was often bustling with enthusiastic customers.
So when he entered the restaurant’s kitchen, he was totally unprepared for the sight that greeted him. Right at the back entrance of the kitchen was a large cage of stray cats. Seated next to the cage was a kitchen assistant skinning them cats one by one and basically slaughtering them for (what’s most likely to be) food.
Mister Taxi Driver began describing in great detail how shocked he was when he came across that sight, and his bewilderment at the sight of stray cats in the kitchen of a four-star restaurant.
He asked the kitchen assistant about it, only to be given the following answer.
“Well, don’t you know that people in China eat everything?!”
It basically scared him off all food in China from then on. Mister Taxi Driver began telling me about how he absolutely refused to step into China since that particular trip, and even shunning food in hawker centres and food courts in Singapore when he sees a migrant worker from China behind the counter.
I sat still in my seat, completely transfixed by his story.
Out of this world as it was, it was completely believable. China is no stranger to food scandals. (Remember the tainted milk, fake green peas, glow in the dark pork and the most recent exploding watermelon scandals?) Not to what my dad (who’s based in China) told me lately about the ongoing recycled cooking oil trade.
It’s little wonder why people are so distrustful of China (and its people) in general. Their (locally accepted but not well-accepted overseas) behaviour certainly doesn’t help.
The conversation with Mister Taxi Driver ended when I had to alight at my home. We bid each other a friendly farewell, and I wished him a pleasant and safe drive home (something which I generally don’t do). Then, we went our separate ways,
Me? Well, my personal perception of China’s mainlanders remain below average – considering my multiple bad experiences with these folks. (If I were to write about my experiences with them both overseas and in Singapore, it’d probably be as thick as an encyclopedia.)
However, I refuse to wipe them off entirely yet. I’ve met fellow students and friends from China who don’t fit into the general stereotype of China’s mainlanders, which leads me to believe that the crass behaviour seems to be limited to the middle-aged generation (while the Y-generation remains untainted). Not to mention how my Chinese counterparts at school and at work are extremely bright individuals, and are so easy to talk to and get along with.
What are your thoughts about China folk?
When day became night
The weather on eclipse day was dark and gloomy. It was overcast, with the clouds threatening to burst with rain any moment.
Despite escaping the rain belt in Shanghai which was threatening to ruin eclipse viewing, it still dealt us a glancing blow in Yangshan. (The latter supposedly to be the best observation area in China.) As a result of the clouds, I only managed to witness less than 15% of the eclipse in progress.
The clouds broke every now and then to provide me with glimpses (and photo opportunities) of the eclipse.
About 40% obscured at 9.09 A.M.
I am however, slightly miffed that I didn’t get to see the eclipse during totality. An extremely thick bunch of clouds decided to move in at the last minute (and it wasn’t as if there weren’t enough clouds to begin with) and thus the majestic sun corona was completely obscured from view despite the sheer length of totality.
The atmosphere was terrific, though!
I was amongst a whole flock of avid eclipse chasers with really bizarre, advanced equipment which made me really envious.
However, the weather was so bad that it was really beginning to look as if I’ve flown all the way here for nothing. It made me grouch for a while. Then, a gap suddenly appeared in the clouds and everyone started screaming with joy. (That was when I captured the above photo.)
To put it in my dad’s words – “This is one eclipse that will really make you shit in your pants.”
The rest of the eclipse viewing was erratic. I was staring at a patch of grey clouds for most of the duration, occasionally sitting up, alert when I spot a potential patch of cloud-free sky heading in my direction. The fact that there were so many people around with the same goal, and looking out for the same thing felt … good. It was as if we were all united against one enemy – the clouds.
I spent most of the time just sitting around and soaking up the atmosphere.
The period of totality was especially amazing despite not being able to see the sun. It suddenly became extremely dark (and rather eerie) really quickly, and I was surrounded with cheers and shrieks of delight.
The period of darkness lasted for slightly more than five minutes before light soon flooded the area again. Bloody awesome feeling, really.
I am really happy we made the decision to drive down to Yangshan for the eclipse. Based on what I’ve heard (and seen in the news), it was raining heavily in Shanghai throughout the eclipse duration and hardly anyone managed to even catch a glimpse of it.
More photos within. ;)
Solar eclipse preparations
Standby and counting … less than 10 hours to the eclipse.
For the benefit of my fellow sky-watchers who have scooted all the way to Shanghai for this once-in-a-lifetime phenomena (a total solar eclipse that lasts almost 6 minutes during totality is definitely a big deal!), here are some timings to take note of:
First contact: 08:23 (Start of eclipse)
Second contact: 09:36 (Beginning of totality)
Third contact: 09:42 (End of totality)
Fourth contact: 11:01 (End of eclipse)All timings stated are Shanghai local time (GMT +8).
I’ve finally gotten the chance to test out the makeshift solar filter (made from filter film) on my DSLR yesterday evening when the sun peeked out from the (rather overcast) sky.
Pointed the camera directly at the sun and obtained the following result. (Warning: Do not try this at home unless you have a solar filter or filter film safely protecting your lens! You do not want to risk damaging your camera and your eyes.)
The sun through my filter and lens.
Awesome possums!
I am presently in the midst of packing a duffel bag for tomorrow’s road trip. Will be heading further south from the city to catch the eclipse as meteorologists had forecasted bad weather in Shanghai tomorrow morning. I believe more than half of the eclipse-watchers here will be doing the same thing and thus we’d be setting off early … at 5.30 A.M.
The sky is still pretty overcast right now and it rained quite a few times today. It’s quite depressing really, although I am keeping my fingers crossed for clear weather during the eclipse.
Meanwhile, packing awaits!
Excitement is mounting. Oh, woweeeeeeeee!
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