China Charlie

A weekly column about living in Dongguan, for those new to Dongguan, new to China, or anyone that likes a good story.  Written by an expat  who first came to Dongguan in 1987,  hopefully this series of articles will be both entertaining and informative.

Archives:

Welcome to China Charlie

Dongguan Driving Challenges

Fun With Air Travel in China

Vertical Speed Bumps

Language and Culture

Mobile Phones and Other Stuff

Karen Carpenter, Kenny G and the Chinese Water Torture… . .

Dan Gerous, where are you when we need  you?

Life in hotels in the “old days”, a “Moon Shot”, and the saga of the pink panties….

Was There Life After M*A*S*H

Camaraderie of Dong Guan in the “old days”.. . . 

Who's on First, China Style

Life at the Ramada/Guangzhou, Resting trucks, Dynamite, and other stuff

Is Dongguan becoming too civilized?

 Roadside Word Games, China Style

Thoughts on American Thanksgiving

The Traffic Food Chain

Hong Kong Sleigh Ride

Those Nuisance Messages

Will the Grinch Steal Christmas?

New Year's Recap

You're Probably in China If..

Chain Reactions for Most Situations

Every so often it happens… . .  .

I’ve been trying to get a “Charlie” ready for this week, but somehow keep “running into a wall”. Given the events of the past and current week, and trip into the “wilds” northwest of Shanghai, a new installment should “write itself”, but somehow nothing seems to “work”. The pros call it “writer’s block”, I call it “drawing a blank”.

In any case, after setting in the coffee shop of a 5 star international hotel at lunchtime, watching the same video clip (captioned “Breaking News”) of a Thai Airlines Airbus “A-3 whatever” land at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) about 40 times in one hour, I decided I wasn’t the only one.

I mean here we are, with the other events today in the world (a new offensive in the middle east, gasoline prices in the states increasing again, a worm wrassle in Bum Butt Iowa, cow chip throwing contest in Coyote Junction Wyoming, etc.), and all the world class “muckrakers” (or “sensationalists”) at the 24 hour International News Networks can come up with is pictures of a fairly common event (a Thai Airbus landing), and then try to convince me it’s “Breaking News”.

Granted, this particular Airbus allegedly had a confessed murder on board, in Business Class (shown drinking a glass of Champagne prior to departure-I wonder who was paying the bill for his trip), but once you’ve seen the outside of one Airbus in Thai markings, you’ve pretty well seen them all. Also, please note that I wrote that he was “allegedly” on the plane they kept showing. This is due to a rumor that this particular confessed murder left Bangkok on a non-stop “Jumbo” (a common nickname for the Boeing 747) to L.A.. If this is the case, I suppose changing from a 747 to an Airbus at 30,000+ feet, somewhere out over the Pacific would make it a “Breaking Story”.

Moving on to the event that I intended to use this week, on the home page for “thatsdongguan.com” (that you had to go to in order to find China Charlie), there’s a note about the Planet Mars being the closest to Earth on the 27^th of this month, that it will be for the next 281 years,. According to scientists, Mars will be a mere 34, 650,000 miles from earth, and will look about as big as the full moon.

Keep in mind that we’re not talking about the “old, drop your jeans and flash your butt” moon here, they’re telling us that it will look like a second moon in the sky.

Given the effect that one full moon seems to have on Earthlings, having a second one in the night sky for an evening or two, could make things real interesting.

As an example of the effects of a full moon, I have an old friend in North America that worked many years as a bartender in a “local joint”, with a fairly amiable clientele. He claimed that the only time he had any trouble in the bar was when there was a full moon (and that he didn’t have to see it, to know it was there). 

It’s going to be interesting to see if the second moon causes any noticeable changes, or with Mars being so close, that little green men start wandering the streets (other than the normal amount of folks that have had one too many, at one of the local pubs).

Now, if I could just find a place for my chaise lounge, so I could take in the event on the 27th without getting a “crook in my neck”… .

Until next time “Y’all have a rice week now