Chairman Mao & Coca Cola

You know that I am feeling out of my element when I do amateur travel moves--like picking up local currency before leaving the States. That's the kind of move my parents make (no offense Randy and Lynn).

But this time...concerned that despite my calls to them, my banks will shut down my card and leave me penniless in Asia, I picked up some Chinese Yuan. (How do you even pronounce that?? You-ahn. Ywan. Wan. Who knows.)

Anyway, I'm not actually unfamiliar with the local currency exchange shop in Birmingham, as I head there at least once a year to pick up currency for--you guessed it--my parents. 

So while the gentleman working there was doing other low-tech amateur things involved in currency exchange like photo-copying my driver's license and finding exchange rate cards for me to put in my wallet, he did offer up some very interesting and compelling Chinese travel advice.

For instance:

Note the photo of my shiny, new 100-Yuan note below. He made me notice that it is plastered with a large rendering of Chairman Mao. He assured me that all Chinese banknotes will have Chairman Mao's face on them. 



If it doesn't have his face on it, then it is either Taiwanese (?? Apparently they will slip these into the change of unsuspecting tourists??) or "jiao"--which are coins. Paper coins. Paper coins? Yes, paper coins. Whatever. Instead of helpful, I found this slightly confusing and certainly anxiety-inducing. The key appears to be: Look for the Mao. 

Mantra for the trip: Look for the Mao.

Besides this, though, he gave me another tip. As a fairly seasoned traveler, I feel that I have the rule down that you DO NOT drink the water if ever in doubt. So as he started to tell me that I shouldn't drink the water, I was smirking on the inside.

But then he said something that totally validates my unhealthy existence.

He said that if I don't have enough bottled water to brush my teeth, that instead of turning to tap water, I should use coke. 

Coke!

He claims that this will work better, and will even disinfect your teeth.

I may take to doing this even here in Michigan!!

China: The Next Frontier.

....and I thought getting ready for an RV trip was rough.

The fact is, we are leaving for Spring Break in China in 3 days. (Oh---you didn't know that China was the hot new Spring Break destination?? Well it is.) And this time, I'm not running around like a crazy person worrying about whether I packed enough socks...I'm kind of freaking about about the loss of internet capability I expect to find in China.

In fact, this may be the only post that any of you ever read. Why? Apparently, the following sites are all blocked over there:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WordPress.com, Blogspot, Blogger, Flickr, SoundCloud, Google+, Google Hangouts, Google Play, Google, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, LeMonde, L’Equipe, Netflix, Youtube, Vimeo, Google News, Daily Motion, Wikipedia, Google Drive, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, Dropbox

Plus about 3,000 more.

Basically, the whole internet. I'm freaking out.

So I'm frantically downloading various VPNs to try to access anything while I'm there.

Wish me luck. If you don't hear from me, I'm not dead.

I'm just offline.