An Extended Post About Dogs and Travel
Oh, for those who know me, check out my facebook page for new photos of Coco. I should explain that Coco is my new black lab puppy who is exceptionally cute. Actually she is sick at the moment so in at the vets. While I was away this weekend she started to shit liquid blood, so my poor housemate James has been on his hands and knees blotting the floor with kitchen paper and disinfectant. He took her to the vets and they have assured me that while it sounds serious it is probably not and she should be back wagging her tail, eating my furry slippers and giving everyone “I have not been fed for a month so please feed me” looks very soon. (For the record she gets 4 squares a day from me but that never stops her trying to convince others she is a victim of doggie abuse due to starvation.)
Minor interruption while I get off the plane and now back to writing…..am on the bus going back to the city centre. This is the first time I try the bus out, as I am quite bus-phobic, and being as taxis are quite cheap here, it really is not much of a problem. However in the interest of the blog, I am giving it a go, as I know not everyone is as profligate with money as I am. As such I am going to keep score. So far so good for the bus. Only 15 kuai and vigorous assurances from the driver that it should take not much longer than the taxi. (Will update his obvious lie when I arrive). Either way for the time being Bus 1 Taxi 0. (Taxis are expensive, about 80 Kuai. The last time I was on a bus in China was in Yunan in April, when I went traveling round the South. If I can impart one piece of advice to would be China travelers, it would be bus related. If you have ever been traveling on planes with the Chinese domestically you will have noticed their propensity to over-pack. They bring everything from the kitchen sink to the family chicken. Clearly I am joking about the chicken on planes, however on my last 15 hour bus trip in Yunan, someone had actually packed poultry. The god awful smell was to be expected, but the non-stop clucking was just ridiculous. The bird does not realize how close it came to meeting it’s maker by the hands of an angry Englishmen that day. So if you have any form of bird phobia, avoid the bus. Poultry issues aside, the bus drivers feel the need to beep the horn about every 30 seconds the entire trip. So over 15 hours that calculates as 1800 separate ear numbing beeps. I honestly believe that the Muslim dissidents that get subjected to white noise torture by the American Army in Guantanamo, actually get it easier. By the end of the at journey I would have fessed to anything. In fact I may write a letter to the state department suggesting that they adopt the method. So my advise is this: definitely get out and about and see China. It is an amazingly diverse and interesting country. But take planes or trains, not buses. It is simply not worth the saving.
Okay, Taxi 1, Bus 1. My seat has literally collapsed and the back (with me on it) has fallen into the lap of the guy behind me. I know I have been piling on the pounds recently with my weekend of gluttony and fast food diet, but I refuse to take the blame for this. The bus is just shit.
Taxi 1 Bus 2. Just realized in all the commotion that the bird sitting across from me is hot. Don’t get that in private travel.
Taxi 1 Bus 1. She is defiantly not interested in me. Pretending not to understand my Chinese. What a cheek. Non-interested hot chicks don’t get you points Bus.
Taxi 2 Bus 1 – Just hit 25 minutes. Already 5 minutes longer than the taxi and still going.
Anyway while I was away this weekend, I got confirmation on a real job offer from a real company earning a pretty decent wage in Shanghai. I will be working in Chinese and English in account management for an IT firm handling clients and managing the Chinese programmers. I really know jack shit and networking so god knows how I managed to bag this job, but it is really decent money for China. I am not sure that I really can share how much I am earning on the blog, but suffice to say I will be earning more here than in the UK. And I was doing pretty ok in London. So some time in the new year, I will be leaving the provinces out here in Qingdao and heading for the big smoke. I actually very much like Shanghai so am quite looking forward to it. It is expensive as shit,, but great fun. Actually according to my friends that have lived in Beijing and Shanghai it does not have to be any more expensive that Beijing if you go to the right places. For example, the last time I was there, I was taken to a bar that literally had free beer and vodka mixers for 2 hours from 10-12. So everyone just got shit faced and then left for the next free bee ……
Okay, I have ended that paragraph abruptly due to the fact that I had to run to get off the bus. As it turns out I missed my stop by 2 stops and only realized that this had happened when the bus pulled into the depot, and I was rather rudely ejected. Now I am not sure my retardation is a good enough reason to deduct points off the bus. In total it took 45 minutes, so about 20 more than the taxi. So will give each one ½ a point.
So final scores
Bus 1.5
Taxi 2.5
Hence my advise is always use the taxi, never the bus. Don’t be cheap, not worth the saving.
Quick update on coco before I go. Went to see her last night and this morning, and she is actually very sick, at deaths door apparently. So everyone send good vibes. She is a tough little thing, but it is a really shit illness she has got, so it will be hard for her to survive.
-Nick