Back to work and stories of water.

The Wuxi Water Crisis broke on my days off.  Now, I am back to work, I will have more stories to tell.

Bradley tells me that the Muslim noodle restaurants are charging 1 rmb extra on all meals because they have to pay for their bottled water.  A few days ago, I did express concern about going to those hole-in-the-wall places to eat.

Emily, a student who lives in Hui Shan where we are moving next year, says her water is okay.  They don't get their water from Tai Hu.  Good sign for property values there.

Miriam, a HyLite trainer, tells me she is showering with spring water.  She felt and smelt funny after taking a shower in stinky water.

One of the vice mayors of Wuxi, a student at our school, has been said to have had no sleep the last three days doing whatever she could about the problem.

Rain the last two days.

It has been raining the last two days.  Good thing in the face of the water crisis?  The rainwater collecting in depleted Taihu should help, we hope.

The pregnant wife has decided to go to Nanjing for the duration.  She will stay with a friend.  The smell of the water is that bad.

Wuxi Water Crisis. I buy a new phone.

My wife is going to Nanjing for a week because of the smell of the water.  Is the water bad in Nanjing?  Apparently not.  Also, I have been told the water in Suzhou is not bad.

Today, the wife and I went to the McDonald's on Zhongshan Road: the main drag of Wuxi.  McDonald's was selling Coke and Sprite in cans. (a 355 ml can counts as a medium drink)  While we were there, a shipment of Coke in cans was being taken to the back by McDonald's staff.  Never, ever, I have seen cans being sold in McDonald's.  It is scary to think that they had been using tap water with their fountain soft drinks.

The wife and I went shopping for a phone and we ended up buying a Nokia 6085, a flip/clam-shell model with MP3 player, video camera, USB connectivity, and 1 gb memory for 1300 rmb.  I immediately phoned the King to test the conversation hearing level and I am happy to report it is excellent.

The King of Wuxi says not to panic.

The King of Wuxi is in Shanghai today trying to get a visa for his son's passport.  However, he learned that he has to bring the child along to do this.  So he will go back tomorrow.

Asked about the Wuxi Water Crisis, The King has told his subjects:

don't panic!

don't panic!

don't panic!

don't panic!

 

don't panic!

 

don't panic!

 

Why?  I asked.  The King responded that there is no point.  "Let the locals do the panicing; everything else will look after itself."

Drinking Water Crisis

The China Daily news site says there is a Drinking Water Crisis in Wuxi.

Here is a dispatch from Reuters.

Montreal Gay Bar has complaint filed against it in a Human Rights Tribunal.

Here is an interesting story from CTV.CA in Canada:

Montreal gay bar under fire for barring women

Ducks win!

Maybe, I was a little pessimistic about the apocalypse coming apond us.  The Ducks have taken a two-nothing series lead in the Stanley Cup Final.  As I predicted in the previous entry, the game was won on its only goal.

Hockey, phone-shopping, water.

The water still smells this morning.  Washing dishes is going to be tortuous.

I am listening to game two of the Stanley Cup Final on the Internet.  The score is nothing-nothing late in the second period.  The first team to score will win this game. And so with a probable 1-0 score line, I should say this is the second leg of the UEFA semifinal.  It is the Anaheim's station broadcast that I am listening to.  The Ducks' play-by-play man is uninspiring.  And so I can't believe I am listening to a Stanley Cup Final game.

I have had my mobile phone for over two years now, and so my wife says it is time to buy a new one.   My old phone, a Motorola V220, was never good.  I had to replace the CPU once and I have never been able to have a phone conversation where I don't ask if I could be heard.  The past year, I have put the phone's speakers on, anytime I have had to talk.  The phone also looks so worn and battered that it gets gasps from students when I show it to them.  The wife ordered me to visit phone stores, of which Wuxi has many, and find a suitable model that she likes and hopefully I like too.

Yesterday, I wandered on Zhongshan Road looking for phones.  The choice of models I saw was overwhelming.  But I have narrowed down the brand names to Nokia or Sony-Ericson.  The students and expats have told me that Nokia phones are the most reliable.  I would also  like a phone that has MP3 capabilities, has clear listening for conversations, and is  a clam-shell or flip phone.  Most phones, these days, have MP3 capabilities.  Flip phones seem to be out of style as most of what I can see in the shops are the face phones where you have to lock and unlock the keypad anytime you use the phone.  My name starting with "A", I have had numerous people phone me from unlocked phones in their pants, so I hate flat faced phones.  I did not see any Nokia phones that suited the budget and had the features I wanted.  They all looked ugly to me, as well.  I did see a Sony model, the Z558c, that suits all my requirements, but the wife thinks it is ugly and she is dead-set on me getting a Nokia.  The Chinese must also have some prejudice against Sony.

Together, the Wife and I will look at phones today.  It will be a battle of wills where my wife gets her way.  And so she will chose a model and purchase it for me after my pay day.

Another Traffic Video.

I took this video on the corner of Mianhua Xiang and Wu Ai Roads near where I live in Wuxi, China.  Notice what the drivers do to make left turns and the fearlessness of the pedestrians.