Our Humble Abode

Hey Everyone,

Now that we've finally managed to get our own internet connection in our apartment I thought it might be a good time to give you all a little tour of our new place! We moved into this place about 2 weeks ago and are finding it very comfortable (other than it being on the 5th floor of a building that has no elevator).

We have 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, and both toilets come fully-equipped with western-stlye toilets. This is much more of a blessing than we all could have hoped for because, despite the name of our blog, none of the three of us are particularly good, or even functionally adequate, at squatting. It's just hard man...

I apologize for the poor quality of photos, but its probably best that you can't tell how dirty our floors have become in only 2 weeks time. Oh, and the pink walls - not our choice....but boy were we happy. Our lease is a whopping 6 months long, so the future is a little uncertain, but we're all ready to be content wherever we happen to end up. So come visit us!

Till next time,

swami

A Day at the DOG MARKET

A couple weeks ago we had the oppurtunity to visit the "Dog Market" that is near our apartment. OK, when I heard the term "Dog Market" and lined that up with what I've heard about Chinese culinary habits I became a little concerend. I love dogs myself, and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle this experience. Was I going to see Fifi filleted? Fido fried?! Balto being boxed??! Benji being baked?!?!? Culture shock would be no strange on afternoon.....

But when we arrived, I soon realized that I would be spared those sights (at least for that day). What the 'Market' amounted to was a large system of covered alleys and small streets that were lined with glass kennels and many wire cages . We saw about a hundred dogs all together, some that looked healthy, but the vast majority looked pretty pitiful. The smell was somewhere between a horse barn that hasn't been cleaned for a month and what I imagine Clifford the Big Red Dog would smell like after swimming in a cess pool.

Oddly enough, 90% of the dogs we saw were some sort of German Shepherd mix. But, we did see some huskies, a really sweet Golden Retriever that was in a cage that was about 1/2 as big as it should be, and even a couple that reminded me of my Misha back home (husky/g. shepherd mix).

The whole experience was both interesting and, to my American sensibilities, a little sad. For whatever reason, dogs are awarded a higher place in most American minds than, say, musk oxen. Here, however, I have seen some women with those "Designer Dogs" but the overall sene that I get here is that animals, all animals, are not regarded nearly as high as in our Western minds. I don't think PETA has a large presence in China. Right or wrong, I won't make a judgment, I will say that I honestly don't have a problem if the Chinese want to chow down on a chowchow or anything else for that matter. It will take some getting used to though...

Later,
swami

A Day at the DOG MARKET

A couple weeks we had the oppurtunity to visit the "Dog Market" close to our apartment. Now, when I heard 'Dog Market' and placed that term next to what I've heard about Chinese culinary habits I became a little concerned. I love dogs, and this seemed like a difficult thing to take in. Was I going to see Fido being filleted?! Fifi being fried??? Balto being boxed?!? Benji being baked?!??!! (Sorry, I got a little carried away). Culture shock was going to be no stranger during this trip...



But, as it turned out, I would be spared. The 'Dog Market' was no more than a large system of covered alleys and small streets that were lined with what could best be described as glass kennels. We say probably a hundred dogs, some healthy looking but the vast majority looked pretty pitiful. The smell of the place was somewhere between a horse barn that hasn't been cleaned in a month and what I imagine Clifford the Big Red Dog would smell like after going swimming in a cess pool.



Almost 90% of the dogs, oddly enough, were some sort of German Shepherd mix. There were a few really nice looking huskies and even a really sweet Golden Retriever in a cage that was probably 1/2 of the size it should be. I even found a dog that looked an awful lot like my Misha back in Auburn (Husky/ G. Shepherd mix)!



The whole experience was both interesting as well as sad. I have seen some women here with those "Designer dog" but I get the feeling that animals are certainly given much less regard than in the states. Don't get me wrong, if they want to chow down on a chowchow (that's the last one, I promise) I'm not going to hold it against them, but it's gonna take some getting used to...

Here are a few more pictures of our latest trip. We went and saw a huge waterfall. Above the waterfall we found this neat little village.