Ice City Roads

We got a lot of snow (for here) this November plus the usual fluctuations in temperature, which resulted in some incredibly icy roads even for Harbin! Pictured is the first bus I tried to take home from work. It got most of the way up this hill coming out of Qunli, but then got stuck on the black ice at the intersection. Most of us got out two or three times to try to push it along, but after moving a bit it would stall again and I finally called it and started the long walk home...

Common Sense Takes A Holiday

I sometimes think common sense has taken a holiday here...a long, long, possibly permanent holiday! This is of the metro construction along Hongqi Avenue in eastern Harbin, and if you look closely on the left under the trees you can see a mom and her toddler, not even two meters away from where a huge steel beam is being lowered into the earth. There's nothing protecting them beyond the flimsy barricade pictured - one slip and someone will have lost his wife and child in an instant.

China: Safety First?

Road safety is such a big priority in China, as you can see here, where in the middle of repair work on a bridge for one of the city's busiest roads the city has very carefully separated vehicles and pedestrians to ensure the safety of all...haha, okay, so maybe not! But I have to walk through here most days on my way to work and I haven't been hit by a bus yet, so that's something...

Expecting the Unexpected

I so wish I'd had the nerve to take a picture of the overweight 60-year old man wearing a form-fitting mesh shirt I passed earlier - it was both a shock and a delight to see! Of all the random things I've encountered so far, that was far and away the most random. And it reminded me that if China's taught me anything so far, it's to expect the unexpected!

I moved here thinking I would be able to find familiar herbs in the spice/herb aisle of the local grocery store. My local Carrefour goes so far as to stock the McCormick brand in its spice aisle, but only in endless varieties of powdered black pepper and cumin. I've been here three weeks now and still haven't found anything recognizable to me as basil or parsley. Cilantro - something I neither expected to use nor planned to miss - is at my local grocery store. As is a range of fresh seaweed options! Expect the unexpected.

I knew the air pollution could be bad in China, and (if the averages are anything to go by) will be bad here in Harbin come wintertime. I fully expected to buy and wear a face mask once I got over here, and I see people out and about on the occasional bad smog day wearing face masks. But after hours of wondering around supermarkets, underground and over-ground malls, and various shopping districts I have yet to see a single face mask for sale. Whenever I'm out and about now I keep one eye scanning kiosks and stores for face masks, 'cause they have to be coming from

Seaweed options at my local Carrefour.

somewhere! I fully expect to find them in a gigantic pile at the sausage kiosk one of these days. Expect the unexpected.

I quickly adjusted to crossing the street here - it's a lot like where I grew up in Africa, where we crossed lane by lane - only to discover that lighter vehicles like scooters often go against the flow of traffic and that cars will occasionally use a U-turn-only option to angle across a major intersection to get onto another road, which means that you basically have to look every direction except up when crossing the road. (And I still half expect to be crushed by a helicopter someday!) Expect the unexpected.

Expecting the unexpected is getting to be quite draining, as my head spins in circles scanning the streets I cross and I keep my eyes peeled for a growing list of things I have yet to spot in a store here. Just keeping from running into someone on the crowded streets is a job in and of itself! But to see something so unexpectedly funny really makes my day, so picture or no, I'm so glad that I passed that retiree in his mesh shirt! Expect the unexpected!

Update (31/7/2014): I found basil and parsley! After the dust settled from my neighborhood Carrefour's reorganization both popped up in the imported foods aisle!

Update (5/12/2018): I'm very happy to say that awareness of the need for protection from the air pollution has risen and it's much easier to find face masks than it was when I first arrived here!