Exploring Yangon: One of the most jarring experiences I've ever gone through

Yangon is a thriving city with restaurants, movie theatres, hotels, and a rich sense of culture. I decided to explore the area with an Australian guy from my hostel. And we had a very interesting day- good and bad. We walked around the neighborhood, tried various types of street food, drank this great sugar-cane drink, and eventually came to the river.

Once at the river we realized there was a ferry, and we got on. Our side of the river was very industrial, with shipping containers, docks, and various boats taking up all the space- and we just wanted to walk along the water. So we crossed to get to the other side, which looked much more peaceful.

While Yangon is a big, busy city, the land across the river is just small villages, schools and temples. Crossing this one river feels like you’ve been transported, not only to a new country, but back in time.

We walked around a bit, just taking in the change of scenery. There were many bicycle taxis on that side of the river, all of which were a bit too pushy for us. But soon this young guy on a bicycle taxi started talking to us- he was nice, had good English, and told us he’d charge us a little under $2 for a thirty minute tour. We said, “Why not,” and hopped on.

The guy showed us around the area and told us about life in this part of the country. He told us about the culture, and taught us how to say “Hello,” and “beautiful lady.” The people we passed were incredibly friendly and genuinely looked excited to see us. So many people waved to us and said hello. When we responded in the local tongue, saying “Mingalabar,” they laughed and smiled and waved. It was a lot of fun.

We tried betel-nut, (pronounced like beetle) which is similar to chewing tobacco. Most local men do it, and you can see them spitting this blood-red mush out of their mouths periodically. It’s gross. But we tried it anyway, and we spat just like the locals did. I won’t be trying it again- it burned the inside of my mouth and it tasted gross. I had purchased a bag of oranges at the local market, and I ate them to wash out the taste of betel-nut. My Aussie friend needed a few too.

The taxi man, who was really sweet, took us to a pagoda (temple), but my friend and I said we were more interested in seeing the villages. Once you’ve seen a pagoda, they all kinda look the same to you.

So the driver took us to a small fishing village, which was bustling with activity, and had many smiling faces. There was a small river nearby, and the locals looked comfortable and happy, even if their homes were small huts. The man then told us he would take us to another village, one which had been hit particularly hard by a recent hurricane. We said ok.

On the way to the village we picked up a straggler- he ran and jumped onto the back of the taxi.

We arrived in this remote village, and immediately young kids ran around me. I, being a teacher, remarked on how I just had a natural way with kids, and I enjoyed the attention all the little ones gave me. The kids were around me in a tight circle, one even holding onto my shorts; I noticed that none were around my traveler friend, but didn’t question why.

The farther we walked into this tiny village, the more kids came out. There were no smiling faces from the adults in this village. We said “Mingalabar,” to the locals, and occasionally received a subdued smile, but mostly just got stares. We didn’t feel comfortable in the area, but couldn’t figure out why this village was so different from the fishing village, just ten minutes away.

The taxi driver told me that it would be polite of me to give some of my oranges to the kids, sort of like an offering. I didn’t mind because I had a whole bag full of them, and could easily spare one or two. I smiled, happy to give, and picked out two oranges, even though there were about eight kids around me. As soon as I held out an orange for the kids, they all pounced on me at once. They jumped for the bag, tugged at my clothes, fought one another. One grabbed the bag, and took such firm hold that he squeezed the juice out of an orange inside. This wasn’t fun. It wasn’t a cute joke. And these kids were not playing around. I could see in the children’s eyes a wild, primal hunger.

And that’s when it hit me. These kids had been crowding around me, not because there was anything special about me, but because they were hungry and I had been holding a bag of oranges. I felt so stupid for my naivety, and actually felt a little scared- with all the kids jumping around me. The children spoke no English, and I had no idea how to give out the oranges in an orderly fashion, so I handed the bag to the taxi driver, and let him distribute them. Once the kids had the oranges, I was left alone.

We began walking away, and I remembered I had a little bag of food in my back pocket- just a few pieces of deep-fried dough. I turned to the smallest child and held it out for him. He smiled, reached for the bag, and just as he was about to take it, a slightly larger boy sprinted forward and snatched the bag out of my hand- to the small boy’s dismay.

The taxi driver scolded him and made him share.

My friend and I left the village right after this, and there was an air of silence between us. He and I, simply enjoying our vacations, had not been prepared to see this- and we were processing it in our own individual way.

I was happy to give, but was genuinely disturbed by the ferocity with which these kids reacted. The adults and teenagers were kind and polite, but these kids were mad with hunger. I couldn’t get the image out of my head.

The taxi driver bicycled us back to the ferry, and told us that many of the adults in this village had died in the recent storm, and that the people here often eat only one meal a day. Usually a bowl of rice.

As we neared the ferry, the locals waved at us, and said hello, just as they had done earlier. But I wasn’t ready to see smiling faces- I was still meditating on the hunger I had just seen, I was still seeing that little boy’s face as he was just about to receive that bag of fried dough, then had it snatched away. I was still feeling my clothes pulled at, and the bag of oranges practically ripped from my hands.

Eventually, some levity returned to us. We started talking, started asking more questions about the place, and my Australian friend even had a bit of fun with the driver. He switched places with him and rode through the small town, to the delight of all the locals.

Soon we rode the ferry back to Yangon, and returned to the world of restaurants and movie theatres and hotels, somewhat eager to forget that hunger existed so close to us.

But the point of travel, at least in my opinion, is to go through an ordeal that you wouldn’t go through at home. To experience a feeling, or a taste, or a smell, just SOMETHING, that you wouldn’t experience back in your comfort zone. This was a tough thing to witness, but I’m thankful that I did.

I’ve seen poverty in various countries. I’ve seen burn victims lining the subway in China- their faces and bodies horribly mutilated. I’ve seen child labor, and child abuse, and even child prostitution.

But I’ve never seen hunger. Not real hunger. Not like this. I’ve never seen the kind of hunger that’s kept me awake at night thinking about it. My experience with this has encouraged to help out a little. I’ve since done a little research, and found a group called ‘Food not Bombs,’ which has a chapter in Yangon. It’s run by a bunch of punk rockers, and they go around feeding the homeless. You can learn more about them here.

Thanks so much for reading, and PLEASE consider supporting a traveling writer. I quit my job to do this travel stuff, and every penny counts. Please help me to keep the blogs coming by purchasing a book.

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Among the Fallen - A tale of sci-fi, mythology, and action, revolving around an English teacher making sense of a post-apocalyptic Japan.

The Burning -  Ezra Hayes is a journalist who wants to see war first-hand. But he gets too close, sees too much. He learns that battle scars are not just for the soldiers, and that life after the war can be so much more difficult.

8 months in China: The Good. The Bad. And The Unbelievable

Meeting a local near Meili Mountain

I have now left China, and am continuing with my journey onto the next place.
I spent roughly eight months in the country, six months working in Shanghai, and two months travelling in other cities. And I must say, China was difficult for me- probably the most difficult country I’ve traveled in so far. So I’m writing this blog to explain life in China. The good. The bad. And The Unbelievable.

THE GOOD

1. China is safe. 

There is very little violent crime, and the only violent acts I ever personally saw were (a) parents hitting kids- sad, I know, and (b) police roughing up some people they were arresting. There are the rare muggings- two people I know were robbed, one rather violently. But that is very unlikely, and can happen anywhere in the world. I never once felt unsafe while walking alone at night. (This may have something to do with me being a man- I don’t know how a woman would feel in this circumstance.)

2. China is cheap.

I had eye surgery in Shanghai, with four doctors working on me, in a very professional surgical room, and I only paid $75.

I routinely paid $1 - $3 for most of my meals. I paid $160 a month for my tiny Shanghai apartment. A comfortable sleeper train that crosses the country will cost about $100. The same trip will cost almost half that if you’re willing to forego the bed and travel in a hard seat like this:

3. Chinese people are very kind.

I was BLOWN AWAY by the level of kindness I received in China. No other country has been so accommodating. So many strangers gave me free meals, free drinks, or just engaged in pleasant conversation with me. Once I was running late for a job interview in Shanghai, and couldn’t understand the directions I’d been given. I approached this random, young guy in a suit. He looked up the directions on his phone, found the place, got a cab for me, then paid for my cab fare!

Two girls who bought me lunch near Meili Mountain

Another time, also while in Shanghai, I found myself homeless. My landlord kicked me out of my place with 6 day’s notice. (not all Chinese people are nice). The two women who ran the school I worked at let me live at the school, in a back room, for five weeks. For free. They gave me free food too! I cannot find words to explain my gratitude to Aiqin and Lisa. They are truly wonderful people, and they helped me when I really needed it.

4. China is beautiful.

China is the most beautiful Asian country that I've been to. Its national parks, its villages, its countryside- this is the stuff of fairy tales. My two favorite provinces to visit were Yunnan and Guilin, both in the south. Yunnan has the name, “land of eternal spring,” for its great weather all year round. It boasts amazing places like…


Tiger Leaping Gorge:

The very end of our two day hiking trip in Tiger Leaping Gorge

At the bottom of Tiger Leaping Gorge. I saw the gorge, but not the tiger...

 Meili Mountain:

The holiest temple site in China, people make pilgrimages to this temple from far away,
and circle the temple, spinning these prayer wheels.

Dali:

Dali is famous for this huge lake. You can rent an electric scooter and ride around it.
You may have to stop once or twice to charge the battery at a restaurant.

Duoyishu,

Duoyishu has rice terraces that are 2,000 years old. The place has almost no tourists, and when there you know that you're really in China. There a handful of villages there, and nothing else. No ATM's, convenience stores, or anything else. I had to hitch hike to get around the area.

 ... and so much more that I didn’t get around to seeing. In Guilin, I really enjoyed a small town called Xing Ping, which was not touristy at all, and had stunning natural wonders. I did have some problems with the a**hole river police, and a crappy ferry boat driver who wanted foreigners to pay more than locals. This is Xing Ping:

5. China has great infrastructure.

The roads are nice, the winding mountain passes feel safe, and there are street lights everywhere. Riding on a bus through mountainous countryside genuinely feels safe, unlike in so many other countries where the roads are crumbling.

 

THE BAD

1. Don't say that!

China does not have free speech, and it has these incredibly vague offenses such as ‘engaging in secessionist activities.’ This can cover anything from inciting a riot, to simply saying, “Hey, I really think Tibet should have more independence.”

Because these offenses are so poorly defined, police can arrest a person for pretty much whatever they want, and just file it under 'endangering the State.'

During the 1990’s a kind of exercise and meditation, with a spiritual focus swept the nation. It was called Falun Dafa. The state had banned these exercises as they were immensely popular, and brought people together, across different cultures and backgrounds. The state feared it might unite the people and cause an uprising. Many people caught practicing Falun Dafa were arrested, tortured, and some 3,000 murdered by the state. 

People in China, and especially the minorities in the West, really have to watch what they say. There are still forced labor camps in China, and saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could land a person in one. As I got to know some Chinese people better, and they grew to trust me, they opened up and talked more honestly about their feelings toward China and the government. But they were always aware of the danger of speaking candidly.

2. What social media?

Many websites are banned in China. These include: pornography websites (not that I look at that), Youtube, facebook, dropbox, Line (a texting App I was using), Twitter, Google and all google owned products. This includes the Google app store, (so that Android users CANNOT download apps) Google maps, Google translate, this blog that you’re reading. I was forced to use the Chinese equivalent of all these things, such as Baidu (China’s version of Google), which is heavily censored, slow, and blocks access to most foreign websites. Yahoo.com and Bing.com work, but most websites they link to are blocked.

3. China is dirty.

Many Chinese people (mostly the older ones) have several habits that foreigners find repulsive. The government is trying hard to curb these habits, but it’s a slow process. Here are some of the gross things I’ve seen:


-They (mostly men and older women) spit. They loudly gather phlegm before letting their saliva loose wherever they please, and they do spit EVERYWHERE. In restaurants, crowded trains, hotel lobbies. You can hear them gathering phlegm from twenty meters away, and it is nauseating.


-Little kids pee and poop in public. Babies rarely wear diapers in China, as the custom is to simply cut a hole in their pants, and let them pee on the street. I have, to my astonishment, watched kids pee in restaurants or crowded trains, and watched countless people walk through the urine. I saw what was probably a ten year old boy, take a rather large poop in the middle of a crowded sidewalk in the heart of Shanghai’s financial district. This habit is slowly disappearing, but not fast enough.

A hillside covered in garbage.

-People litter all the time. Men will finish a box of cigarettes, then toss the empty box to the ground. They will finish eating a McDonald’s meal, then toss the bag and empty soda into the street. Because there are so many people in China, the casual littering can amass to disgusting piles of refuse. Shanghai has taken steps to curb the littering and employs numerous garbage collectors to wander the streets and pick up trash. Smaller cities cannot afford these people.

4. Chinese people can be very rude.

During China’s Cultural Revolution, one of the things to be killed (aside from millions of people) was politeness. Seriously. Saying "thank you" too often, or being too gentle, could get your family labeled as a “rightist conspirator,” or a “bourgeois intellectual,” and subjected to beatings and harassment. It’s interesting that Taiwan, which is a sort of time capsule of Chinese culture before the Cultural Revolution, has incredibly high levels of politeness.

Anyway, here are some of the most frustrating things I dealt with:

-People will cut in line, ALL THE TIME! They cut in line at bathrooms, or to board a subway. They (mostly the older people) will go to a line of fifty people waiting to buy a bus ticket, and just walk right up to the front as if no one else was there. I can’t tell you how infuriating this is! (I’m told this is also due to the Cultural Revolution. During the famine and ‘Great Leap Forward,’ roughly 30 million people died. There wasn’t enough food, and those who were too polite to cut in line, risked starving to death.)


-People are horrible when it comes to subway etiquette. The train arrives and the people all crowd on at once, shoving and pushing to get a seat. To exit a train requires struggling against a river of human beings. And if you really want a seat on a train, you have to face the gauntlet, and become one of those shoving, pushing, rude people. When I visited Taiwan, I found I was so used to China that I boarded the train, fighting for a seat, pushing past people. But the Taiwanese stood in perfect lines, and gawked at me as they all waited patiently for people exiting the train. (In Taipei, Taiwai, the train stops, people get off, and the new passengers wait for a special sound that tells them it’s ok to board the train. It’s very polite.)


-There’s no such thing as a 'no smoking area.' Men (Chinese women rarely smoke) will smoke on long distance trains, where there are no windows to open and let out smoke. You’ll be waiting in line at a restaurant or a cell phone store, and the guy in front of you will be puffing away. People in my dorm room at hostels smoked in the room. Over 60% of Chinese men smoke, and an estimated one million of them will die each year as a result. But 60% of all men, with a total population of 1.4 billion people, means that you will encounter A LOT of smokers, in a lot of busses, trains, and restaurants.


-Chinese people (mostly the older generation) tend to be loud, and have no concept of noise pollution. Imagine sitting in an empty restaurant, talking quietly with your friend. A Chinese man walks in, orders food, sits down to eat, and then gets a phone call. He answers his phone, yelling into it, as though speaking to a person across a crowded stadium. He maintains this level of volume for the entire conversation. Now imagine sitting on a crowded train; it’s 3 am and most people are sleeping. The old man, six rows behind you, begins watching a movie on a portable TV- some war movie with guns and explosions- at full volume. You wait until 4 am before you finally walk back and ask him to shut it off. (This actually happened to me on my way to Shangri-la.) Now imagine it’s 6 am and you’re sleeping in a dorm room with several other people. One guy wakes up and begins watching a TV show on his phone- at the maximum volume, even though everyone else is sleeping! I looked to the guy and yelled, “Oye!” and gave him a look like, ‘what the **** is wrong with you?!’ He turned the volume down to almost nothing, and seemed genuinely surprised that I was upset. Like I was the one acting inappropriately.

THE UNBELIEVABLE

China has a lot of good and bad to it, but some things are just absurd.

1. Are you famous?

People here LOVE to take pictures with foreigners. I got a lot of pictures taken of me in China, and when they approach you in groups, and the girls get all giggly and excited and nervous, it really makes you feel like you’re a famous actor or musician. I once had a mother and daughter come RUNNING up to me and my friend, brimming with excitement, as though they’d just gotten the last ticket to an Elton John concert. (Sorry, I don’t know any modern singers) But they were so excited to get a picture with me, and I could see in their faces that it really meant something to them.

While in Kunming I was staying at the same hostel as a bunch of college kids. We went out together and I honestly believe they, and other people nearby, must have taken a hundred pictures of me over the course of the day.

2. Hail to a mass murderer.

China’s current government has the position that it inherited control of the country from Mao Tse Tung, so in order to legitimize their own control over the country, they must legitimize his. But it’s REALLY uncomfortable to see Mao’s face everywhere- on statues, on all the money, in many restaurants. I mean, more Chinese people died under Mao’s rule, than during all of WWII. Imagine visiting Germany and seeing Hitler’s smiling, paternal face on all of the money, and on almost every street. It would be gut-wrenching.

Thirty million people died from ‘The Great Leap Forward,’ alone. This number does not include the civil war with the KMD, or the incredibly violent ‘Cultural Revolution.’


(Sidenote: I do realize the hypocrisy of this paragraph as Andrew Jackson, architect of the ‘Trail of Tears,’ and mass murderer of Native Americans, is on our own twenty dollar bill.)

3. China is intense.

While I was in Shanghai, China set a world record for fastest sky scraper completion. 19 days. That’s 19 days to complete a 57 story, 200 meter tall sky scraper. (Don’t hurt your brain trying to understand the physics: they built the parts in a factory beforehand, then pieced them together like Legos.)

From 2011 to 2013, the Chinese used up as much cement as the US did during the entire 20^th century. A ridiculous feat.


China tries to not only be the best at things, but to be the best by a landslide. Sometimes this patriotic zeal can get annoying.


While in the city of Wuhan I asked a local resident if he liked living in his city. He said, yes he did like living in the city, because the city had been so pivotal during the fight against Japan in the second world war, and his grandfather, who was born in the city, had fought so valiantly against the Americans in the Korean war.


“Ok, calm down, dude…”


This type of robotic, propaganda machine of a person was rare in China, but did pop up every now and then, and really seemed to embody China’s ‘We’re the best there is,’ mentality. Most Chinese people were really down to Earth and relaxed, but every once in a while you encounter the propaganda machines. 

Sum it all up:

China was really hard for me. At times I loved it, at other times I hated it. I loved the people, and the food, and the natural wonders. I hated the annoying, rude cultural norms. I hated the feeling that the police were always watching me, and the fact that people always got nervous and frightened when talking about politics. I don't blame them.

There’s so much more to talk about concerning the country, such as the AMAZING Propaganda Museum in Shanghai, or how the emerging middle class is affecting tourism for us visitors. But this is one blog entry, and I’m trying to touch on a little bit of everything. There will definitely be more to come!

Thanks so much for reading, and PLEASE consider supporting a traveling writer. I quit my job to do this travel stuff, and every penny counts. Please help me to keep the blogs coming by purchasing a book.

The titles are available from Amazon. You don't need a kindle to read them, you can just download the kindle app on your phone. It's free.

Among the Fallen - A tale of sci-fi, mythology, and action, revolving around an English teacher making sense of a post-apocalyptic Japan.

The Burning -  Ezra Hayes is a journalist who wants to see war first-hand. But he gets too close, sees too much. He learns that battle scars are not just for the soldiers, and that life after the war can be so much more difficult.

Life after Shanghai: Taiwan

After six months of living in Shanghai, I’m leaving.

My last month was rough, as I was evicted from my house with six day’s notice. “Renter’s rights? Never heard of ‘em.”

The people at my school were super generous, and let me stay, rent free in a back room at the school. It was a little creepy at night, but free rent and free food is always a blessing.

My next stop after Shanghai is Taiwan. The only way to Taiwan from China, without a plane, is by boat. (Remember I’m doing the whole trip without a plane) The Cusco ferry runs twice a week, and is the only ferry I could find. This is the company I used to book the ticket is here, if there are any interested parties.

www.amoytrip.com

Standing in front of the ferry

 My bunk

 Looking for their rooms

 Four to a room

It was about $108 USD for the cheapest room, and the trip took around 14 hours. The ferry felt more like a cruise though, I mean, look at this scenery.

Leaving China

Leaving China

A full moon over open waters. We also passed between two lightning storms, but the water was very calm.

The ferry landed in Keelung, which is in northern Taiwan, and about a 45 minute train ride from Taipei. After a stop in Keelung and Taipei, it was off to Jiufen. (joe-fun)

Pictures are below.

 The view from my room in Jiufen.

 The view from where the bus dropped us off.

 Sunset in Jiufen,

Adjusting to Taiwan

People in Taiwan and Shanghai both speak Chinese, but they could not be more different. Shanghai is a loud, polluted, overcrowded cacophony of busy people, fighting for a modicum of space. Taiwan is not.

Shanghai people have been so generous to me, and I can’t count the number of kindnesses I was shown. But still, life in Shanghai is rough, and the Shanghai attitude toward personal space is hard to live with.

I experienced Shanghai people frequently spitting, littering, yelling into their phones on overcrowded subways, ignoring lines and cutting in front of everyone- even if people had been waiting for over an hour. I also saw many instances of kids peeing. I once went two weeks were I saw this happen every day. One time I arrived at a subway station to find two young boys peeing on the stairs, playing a game where they could see who could pee farther and cover more of the steps. The father watched, and took no action to stop this or guide their urine to an area that people wouldn’t have to walk through. (I promise that all of this is not generalization or hyperbole- I lived with this madness EVERY DAY I was there).

People in Taiwan are very different. They file into orderly, almost OCD-like lines. There is absolutely no cutting. There’s no spitting. No screaming into cell phones. Almost no littering. Also, I’ve been here five days and haven’t seen one kid peeing.

It’s kind of funny, because six months of living in Shanghai has forced me to behave like a Shanghai resident, bumping and shoving and fighting for my space. (If you don’t fight for space you may not be able to board, or get off from, the subway) My first few hours in Taiwan I had to control myself and remind myself that I wasn’t in Shanghai. I didn’t have to push and fight for space on the subway because people would happily move over for me.

In shanghai, people tend to rush onto the subway as soon as it arrives, and promptly race to any open seat, especially the old ladies. The people who want to get off the subway must then fight against a flowing river of people.

In Taipei the train stops, people get out, and the train makes a special noise, telling people when they can board the train. Everyone waits to hear the noise before boarding. No pushing. No shoving. No elbows or shoulders or backpacks to fight through.

I cannot express the joy I felt at arriving in Taiwan.

(Politically correct side note: I hope the blog doesn’t seem racist or mean, this is simply my experience of six months living in Shanghai. It was hard for me. China is the most difficult country I’ve traveled in so far. And while the Chinese people have probably been the nicest, warmest, most generous people I’ve met on this trip, the Chinese attitude toward personal, public space has been incredibly frustrating.)

Anyway, this is Taiwan, I hope you enjoy. Lots more to come!

Rush hour in Shanghai (My descent into madness)

Rush hour in Shanghai is brutal. And I ride trains / buses between 4 and 6 hours every day, Monday through Friday. You read that correctly. 4 to 6 hours. I can watch The Lion King (89 minutes) four times on one of my long days, just on the metro.

This is the madness of my life.

A man tries to squeeze into an already overcrowded bus. He's not getting on...

You see, the bus I take to the subway station is crowded, and people often have to make tough decisions. Do I pull the old lady off the bus, or do I arrive late to work? 70 people waiting to board, and only 60 spaces… Only the strong get to board the bus, because there is no civilized line. I have been elbowed, shouldered, and shoved by people who wanted to get on the bus before me. Leave all humanity behind.

Once you enter the station, you have to pass security. This is more for show than anything else, and all it does is slow people down. The security check is similar to what you experience at an airport, and yes, that fancy x-ray machine is at EVERY subway station in Shanghai. (Also, you can they have Jurassic park posters up right now.)

Next you have to go through the turnstiles. There are a few hundred people pushing and only three working turnstiles. Fun, huh?

This is the same turnstile at night when the station is near empty.

Next you descend the stairs, and go to the train platform. The people here are waiting to fight one another- I mean, waiting to fight for a seat. I mean, they’re waiting to board the subway. In most cities, the riders get off of the subway first, then new passengers can board once it’s clear- not in Shanghai. People rush and bump onto the train, doing ANYTHING THEY CAN to get a seat. So if you want to get OFF the train, you’ve really got to work for it, and push against a flowing river of warm bodies. (Not proud of it, but I’ve had to shoulder check some people, just to get off at my station)

Now, once you get on the train, you have to deal with the passengers. Most people in China are very kind, however a few have very different ideas of what’s appropriate on a subway.

Here we see a woman clipping her toe nails.

Here’s a man clipping his fingernails- with fingernail clippers. I once saw another man shaving with an electric shaver. Many more will talk loudly on their phone, sometimes so loud that you can hear people's conversations in the next train car. You’ve got people who come by begging. Others come by with a suitcase full of suspenders, or kitchen utensils, or whatever, looking to sell them. People come by ‘passing out flyers,’ but all they really do is shove a paper into your face. The flyer people are incredibly rude, and pretty much everyone on the train hates them.

Getting home

The trains in Shanghai stop fairly late, around 11:30 or so. However, the buses stop earlier, some as early as 8 pm, with most of them winding down around 10 pm. Because of this, many people arrive at their train station to find that they’ve missed the last bus home. Because of this, a flurry of cab drivers descends on the train station, crying out for passengers. Here’s a fun little video.



Note* My train station is especially loud because it’s nearest to the airport, so the cabbies want to get the airport bound people.

Next you have to get on the bus to go back home. And boy, if you think people are vicious in the morning when they are going to work, wait til you see them in the evening, when they’re tired, hungry, frustrated, and all they want to do is go home, but it’s the last bus of the evening and you’re standing between them and their bus. I've seen people do some unpleasant things to get on a bus.

People waiting in the rain for the last bus. When it arrives they will sprint to it and crowd around the door. The first time I saw this happening I thought of all those zombie movies where mad zombies run through the streets and surround people. There really is something mad and desperate in the way they run to, and crowd around, the bus. It's quite a thing to behold, watching a hundred people sprint and push and struggle for something that will only accommodate sixty of them.

 People crammed so tightly onto a bus that the front door can't open.

This is my life, Monday through Friday, and sometimes Saturday and Sunday.  (Currently working 7 days a week) Pushing, getting pushed back. Trudging, shoving, standing- crammed into the corner of a bus or train, for longer than you can stand. Trust me, it's much worse than it sounds.

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Among the Fallen is a sci-fi fusion novel. It's a story mythology coming to life, heaven and hell, and surviving the apocalypse.

But more importantly, it's a promise that, whether Angel or Earthling, one can pick up the pieces after everything worthwhile has been shattered.