Life and Travel in China

I read today in a Polish weekly that Poles use mobile phones mainly for texting, we simply cannot afford to talk. The average Chinese employee talks on a mobile phone 14 minutes a day, and the average Pole talks 4 minutes. Private conversations? How do I know this "Well, I'll be there soon, I'm on the bus, come on, bye!" - a conversation between a Pole who simply can't afford a cell phone, or maybe we love typing on such a small keyboard? Such a national hobby? Recently I was traveling by bus for 20 minutes and one Chinese guy was talking to his friend all the time, and I meet people like that every day. Calls are cheaper here, about 8-12 cents per minute, but many tariffs charge for incoming calls. The Chinese can afford it and don't have time for texting. Maybe in Poland they should introduce a cheaper text messaging system instead of a telephone? A pager with a keyboard.

Interesting facts about Poland from a foreign perspective... The Minister of National Defense said that Poland's rank in NATO has increased (because ours will go to Afghanistan), and a little lower there is information that the physical education exam in the Polish army did poorly. Absurd? Or maybe we have two armies? One which is available in Poland and the other one which is more efficient and which is sent abroad? Besides, Poland is such a rich country that we no longer have anything to spend money on, so we send soldiers in different directions, all over the world.

I have probably already mentioned that in my area most karaoke clubs and 'dual-function' massage parlors were closed, some order from the top and prostitution was combated. Two days ago, a few intersections away, police caught 167 prostitutes and 10 Hong Kong bosses. They even organized a public show of all these people, the police conducted them nicely in front of the gathered audience, and there is no shortage of onlookers in China. I saw these photos and an article about it today, I haven't been there personally.

Ningbo is ugly at first glance. I'm supposed to be in the city center, in a hotel, but there's nothing interesting here. However, in every smaller street there are 'massage parlors' with pink neon signs. In Shenzhen, prostitution takes the form of nicely decorated karaoke clubs (KTV) or massage parlors, but at least they are elegant. Here there are dirty, small massage parlors and not very pretty, neglected country girls. But I guess there is both demand and supply for these services, since there are more of them here than grocery stores on some streets. I'll add some photos later! Tomorrow I continue my journey around Zhejiang.

Coming back to the city of Ningbo, there are nicer and uglier places. My hotel wasn't exactly in the center, about 5 minutes by car. Today I visited an open-air museum, the city center and the modern part. If someone tells me that only Shenzhen is rich and developing, I will gladly take him there. Ningbo is also developing strongly. Entire new districts, a large university town, office buildings and quite decent residential houses, but after crossing the bridge we are greeted again by old and neglected tenement houses.