8 November 2011
Science museum
I am fully aware that people think its strange that I like museums, because to most people, going to a museum is the most boring thing imaginable.
I guess I should be getting drunk at the KTV or sitting on the Bund having some sort of $50 cocktail, like normal people do.
I dont care though, I like museums, all of them.
The science museum was fantastic, but most people would not have been able to handle it, it was deafening.
There are a ridiculous amount of Chinese school students in here, and their volume is on 11, they are super excited and sprinting through the whole place.
A lot of the exhibits are interactive, you can ride a bike, fire a bow an arrow, kick a football, travel through a large intestine, etc. The kids literally attacked all these things. I saw kung fu moves everywhere.
Interesting to me was recess. The kids all brought a clear plastic sheet, they sat in groups and all put their food in the middle and shared it. Generally this wasnt really food, but chips, chocolates, cakes etc.
If you read about the science museum, you will find lots of western woment talking about skipping it and going to the large 'fake mall' underneath it to stock up on gucci bags for $5.
This was indeed full of women with more shopping than they could carry, and much like the Chinese school children above, they were sprinting from store to store and screaming with excitement. I left.
Right now, I am waiting to see if I get my laundry back. This was a very confusing experience, you go to the laundry room, and theres signs about buying a token from reception for the machines, and never to leave your laundry unattended etc.
I did all this, took my mp3 player and a drink down with me. I try to start putting my clothes in the machine, and a lady comes running in and shoves me out the way! She starts checking all my pockets and turning every item of clothing inside out including my underwear, and putting it in the machine.
So I stand and watch, and I am pretty sure shes abusing me!
After the machine is on, she just glares at me, I have no idea who she is. I sit down and put my mp3 player on, and she starts yelling at me!
She then grabs me by the arm and drags me to reception, where she yells at the reception girl, who speaks basic english and tells me to write down my room, and go to my room and wait for my washing, do not go back in laundry!
So I am doing as I am told, but whats the deal with having a 'self service guest laundry' with machines that take tokens that I have to purchase myself and put in the machine, and signs saying not to leave it unattended.
...update: its been 2.5 hours and I dont have my washing back yet!
The outside of the museum, its a very large building, my lense wasnt nearly wide enough.
Me being electrocuted.
Some of the interactive exhibits.
This was amazingly cool, the lights in this spin in a clockwise rotation, I had to close my eyes periodically to stop myself from feeling sick. I saw a school teacher who was unable to go through it at all, grabbing her chest and turning back.
Strata layer is the bible teaching about the earths history. I cant really improve on that.
Interestingly, the museum had lots of info on the benefits of cloning farm animals, and genetically modifying vegetables to grow in poor soil etc.
I am not going to the zoo, too many people say the cages are depressing, so these dead stuffed animals will have to do.
The indoor rainforest was pretty impressive, its a mix of fake trees and real plants.
Robot world. In here they have a robot theatre with robots in fancy dress dancing. It seems to be a show that goes for 30 minutes but they had a sign up saying all performances today were full.
Kids everywhere, enjoying their snacks.
I presume this is the journey through the digestive system, every science museum has one.
However, just off to the right, was 'human reproduction story'. No fig leafs here, everything shown in graphic detail, I couldnt bring myself to take a photo of a bunch of 5 year olds watching a Chinese couple have graphic sex, and then a time lapse of the pregnant woman, and then the birth in all its detail. The kids seemed to enjoy it.
The space travel part of the museum was surprisingly less busy than the rest. With the recent successes in Chinese space exploration I would have thought this would have been a focus for the kids.
OK, no more museum pictures, instead you get a shot of a mall. Just north of my hotel, is a river, on the other side of the river, it looked to me like there was nothing much, and the map showed nothing of interest, today I decided to walk across and see, turns out theres another restaurant mall, 9 floors of eating places with a cinema on the top.
Heres my lunch. Its a proper sit down restaurant, but my meal was $2. This was concerning, to be honest I would rather pay $5! However it was still quite good, its supposed to be sichuan style, the menu photo showed a hell of a lot of chilli, which I didnt get. I suspect I was the subject of racial profiling here.
When you read Chinese language guidebooks, the 2nd most popular thing people learn to say in chinese is 'no chilli please', the first thing is 'where is the bathroom'. I am a chilli lover so this is annoying.
The funny thing about this $2 meal, it came out and the waitress waited just away from my table. Then a large woman came out from the kitchen and yells at me 'YOU PAY NOW, THEN EAT!'. I guess they have had a few bad experience with westerners skipping out on the $2 bill?