Life and Travel in China

You have no idea how badly damaged banknotes are in China. 100 RMB is still OK, but about 10 RMB, 5 RMB and 1 RMB fall apart in your hand. There are several reasons, one is that the banknotes are simply old. Second, and probably most important, many Chinese do not use wallets. They fold the banknotes into four pieces, carry them in their pocket all day, crumple them up, and at the end of the day they pay in a store somewhere. And then I get the change, and I either immediately ask for a banknote in better condition, or I carefully put it in my wallet and pray that it doesn't fall into pieces. Smaller denominations are also destroyed on buses, because here you pay immediately on public transport. You know, in a hurry, they move coins and banknotes from pocket to pocket and simply crumple them terribly and tear the edges. Putting money in your pocket has its disadvantages. They lose this money, and I have already found 50 RMB, 20 RMB and 10 RMB. If they had bought themselves a wallet or a purse, there would not have been such problems.

In China, I have already survived the year of the monkey (very perverse), the year of the rooster (relatively calm), the year of the dog (even happy), and now I am facing the year of the pig. I hope this doesn't mean I gain a lot of weight! However, superstitious Chinese believe that it is the year of the golden pig and if a child is born to them, it will live happily and in wealth. The government should probably take some action and explain to these people not to plan to have children en masse, because it means further problems with population overgrowth. Imagine that several million children will go to school in 7 years? Or will they be looking for places at university in 18 years? I don't think that having a child after February 17 guarantees a great life for such a descendant. It is probably the parents' task, not superstition, to take care of the child's future.

When the Chinese go on holiday in two weeks due to the Chinese New Year, no one will care about production, transfers, transport... just chill blues, all the time. And I see that my website has become very popular, even too popular, because the transfer is a bit too fast and I have to buy a bigger server. The photos will continue to come... but I wonder what the visitors are doing. I miss entries in the guestbook and sensible comments under the photos. People! Let me know that you like this site and that you find some use for it! It's true that some people are only looking for 'photos of Chinese women', 'Asian women', 'prostitutes' etc., but I guess this website offers many more interesting topics and various photographs. I am waiting for some sign from you that it is worth expanding this website.

My wife (Chinese) is surprised how in Poland, in my hometown, a hospital can be in debt? For her it is incomprehensible at all. There is no compulsory insurance in China, of course some (better) companies buy insurance for their employees, it can also be purchased privately, and there are no indebted hospitals. If you don't have insurance, you pay in cash at the hospital. The worst situation is faced by seriously ill people who have no money... we know what fate awaits them. But where is the logic of the Polish health system? Everyone pays mandatory contributions, but not everyone gets sick at the same time, right? Additionally, we pay for some special treatments or better tooth treatment at the dentist, right? I don't understand why there is no money for those who pay and are sick. Where is this money? Since we pay some basic and mandatory fees, we also pay extra for advice, visits, treatments and surgeries. Why do we need compulsory insurance?

The funniest thing about our strange country is that every pig fits every chair. Someone left, someone resigned and the question appears on Internet portals who could replace the current minister or the mayor of the city. It doesn't matter what you know, what experience, skills, education, practice you have... the important thing is that you govern. It's like sending a welder to a bakery, a waitress to a convent, and a nurse to pilot an F-16. Skills are not important, what is important is to be present somewhere and perform some function.