THIS IS CHINA, PART II or DUST IN MY PANTS..PLEASE / KARASHAR/ 24.5. 2007

Its hot – and to have these riding trousers.. And long johns underneath are quite something. To sit in the saddle for eight hours /day…something needs to be done. It is like having a wetsuit on all the time.

I did forget the talcum powder In Finland. Stupid me. So here I sit with my wet pants. Karashar (or Yanqi in Chinese) is a city of good size. One would think that some relief in form of talc could be found. But no, after running around in different sport shops the result is still zero. In my desperation I went to a beauty parlor and bought some powder. Nice light brown shade. A Korean quality brand…” your wife will love it” they said. Well, my wife is far, far away - and she has quite a collection of different small boxes of make up equipment. This one is for me. But it is so small…and frankly, is it any good for my needs. Better than nothing though. Here I stand on this shopping street. Tired of these shops, with a constant soundtrack of Chinese schmaltzy pop music. But I decide to try one more. Just one. It is also tiresome to explain over and over again what I need. My Chinese is a bit rusty. In fact is nothing but rust (if even that.) This last one is filled copies of Nike, Reebok, and Adidas etc – as they all are. But it is neat and well kept. In the back corner – behind a small desk sits a Chinese woman in her late thirties. As I approach her, I once again prepare myself to explain in a mostly visual way what my problem is and what I need. She looks at me with curiosity (westerners are not common – even in bigger cities) After ten minutes – that includes the usual amount of misunderstandings she finally understands what I am after. The tight expression on her face softens and she picks up her cell/mobile phone. And after half a dozen of calls she says that talcum powder has been found, hurrah. In a gym outside town. Hmm – how do I find the place?...no problem she says (in a very visual way) She will take care of it. That’s nice – only problem is that I am leaving this evening. No problem again. She tells me to come back two hours later…. Wonder if this works.. … Postscript: I went back two and half-hours later – she was not there. But a plastic bag with approximately one kilo of talcum powder was waiting for me. How much I asked? 5 Yuan was the answer (5 Yuan = 50 cents/ 75 US cents) this included the transportation by taxi, the entire phone calls … Nice with people who just want to help. This is China..

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