Life in China · Dominik Mayer · Products, Asia, Productivity

Why is there a bridge? You can walk under it but it seems too steep to cross it. Perhaps it’s a fountain? I’ll keep an eye on it.

The tourist guide showed a great image of an empty bridge to Yuyuan Garden. What we found was an overcrowded City God Temple.

“Temple”, an interesting expression. I’d rather call it shopping mall or tourist center. Not the kind of thing I need. I don’t like it when everyone tries to sell me something. I prefer having a look and then talking to someone if I need help. No “here T-Shirt” or “very nice”. And – same thing in the supermarkets – everyone’s always pointing at some random thing as if it was the newest, greatest, best.

Everyone always tries to sell you something. The sellers walk around like anyone else and then attack you. Especially if you’re a foreigner. Do foreigners buy watches and bags every other day? It’s been unpleasant on Nanjing Road but unbearable in and around the City Gold Temple.

At first I countered the permanent “watches, bags, t-shirts, …” touting by showing my watch with a “look, I already have a great watch” but then realized that there has to be a better way to get rid of them. So I bought the card they’re always showing from one of the vendors and the next time someone approached me I did the same with him. Didn’t really work but at least it was great fun.

The inside of Tongji School of Foreign Languages:

And the outside:

We walked past a broken vending machine when a friend asked his Chinese friend what’s been in there. She said it’s something you can get everywhere. You don’t have to pay for it. It’s only for older people, not young ones or students. It can also be found at Tongji.

The first one that posts the right answer will get a postcard.

Hint: I just repeat what she said.

The problem: The egg contained a larger quantity of meat which ended up here, together with all the other unappetizing things that have been lying on our table:

We didn’t need admission, passport or any other document. Everyone could have picked a Chinese name from the list, gotten a picture taken and he’d have a nice Tongji student ID like mine within minutes: