I was rather pleased with myself yesterday getting my visa re-issued for another 30 days in Hong Kong, getting there with 2 bus transfers, and getting out on the express train. Visa requirements are that you leave the country every 30 days so they can check you out electronically at central, what we should be doing with the Latinos and Arabs.

Again, I'm the only honky in a double multitude of Asians, and the only one not knowing what he was doing. When I got back last evening, I treated myself to a fine fish supper at the best restaurant on the strip.

While standing with a group waiting to enter immigration, on the wall beside me were 20 sketches of known pick-pockets, all looking sinister. Bored, I took the shoulder of the guy in front of me and turned him towards me full face, then alternately looked at him then at the poster. At first, he froze with fear, gradually he understood I was doing American humor on him. He said he was going to Hong Kong to shop. I asked for what, he had no idea. It's in the air, spend that new money. Hong Kong is shopper's Mecca


I may have gotten a clue why it is not yet a good idea to release Taiwan back to the mainland. My third bus ride let me off in the middle of the bathroom fixture district. I panicked. It was my old fear of never having enough money to get un-stranded. Then it occurred to me that I had a pocket full of money and my wits--don't worry, be happy.

So, I saw a McDonald's, went in and had the best cup of coffee I had in a month, better than Starbucks I had a few days before. A New Zealand couple showed me on a map where the major shopping district was. No one on the street spoke English which was surprising since there was British rule for over 100 years until recently. I think the Brit rulers were isolates, not sharing with the masses.

I had decided to not waste the visit but to find an English book store. Went to a 1 star hotel, the clerk phoned an English speaker, I asked him about a book store, she wrote it in Chinese, I gave it to a taxi.

The driver, a native, knew the store, he drove, we talked, his English rusty but fair. I asked him about how it was going with the mainland ruling. He said life before was good. Since the change, it was difficult. I pressed. He said he had to pay bribes. His analysis was that when poor people had an opportunity, gained power, they would make money anyway they could. Top government wants a clean operation, the underlings are the problem. I thought of Richmond and how the new power elite after 1965 had degraded the city beyond recognition.

My man on the inside of Richmond's government tells me that Mayor Wilder sees the government as an employment agency, many departments budgets are bloated, and I know for a fact that nothing works.

So returning Taiwan to the mainland, at this time, could be like turning it over to Richmond's Mayor and Council, hardly a way to treat a friend. The Mayor's parents were sharecroppers. All men are created equal, in deed.

Another adventure was getting some cash. I had tried everything I knew.
Found a Bank of America office, was only a corporate agency, no cash. I cornered the English speaker, indicated my desperation, I had a lot of money in his Bank and was not going to leave, could not be dissuaded, was my best performance. After 2 hours, he took me downstairs to the Chinese Construction Bank's ATM. my card worked fine, took out 4K yuan, (7.6 yuan=$1.), was so excited. Also, I was so embarrassed, haranguing that poor man to exhaustion, mia culpa.

Flush again, I walked the street, confident. Found a nook, ate lunch, went to pay, they said my money was counterfeit. I had put a 100 yuan note in my left pocket, the rest in my wallet in my right. It never occurred to me they could have been correct. They would not accept the note. I caused a nasty scene and left without paying.

Took a taxi home, the driver would also not accept the bill. The hotel staff, always covering my ass came out, the bill was counterfeit. I brought out my wallet, the next bill was good. We went in the hotel, ran all my money through the counting machine, that one kicked out as fake.

The next day I went back to the bank demanding they take the fake and give me good money, another good performance. They said no. I left the bill with the official and departed in a huff. I just remember I had 2 bills in my wallet, it could have been one of them. All my 100's came from ATMs which means someone in a bank is switching, almost impossible to prove. I also had someone refuse to accept very small denominations, another, very worn money. So, legal tender is not necessarily legal tender.

I have noticed that everyone checks the money, scratching, holding to the light. So that's a problem with emerging China. I've seen Americans check bills with a magic marker, a hazard in the age of the Common Man.

The fine restaurant where I treated my success, the front is stacks of many aquariums with maybe 30+ species of finny fish,maybe 10 shellfish, crabs,snakes, shrimp. I recognized sturgeon,sheepshead, cat, drum and porgy, many unknown. I picked one, at the hostess's suggestion that looked something like a croaker. The assistant netted him out, put him in a sack and whacked his head. He weighed a kilogram, 2.28 pounds. The hostess and I walked over to the greens selection of 10, I chose baby bok choy. There were many other choices inside: hanging duck , chicken, etc.

I was seated, having a second beer, fish, greens and rice came, fish fried perfectly and a great stack of stir fried bok choy. I ate the whole fish, was well rewarded for my day. $7.

The book store has maybe 30 feet of shelved classics in English: Bronte. Dickens, Joyce, everybody. I was like a pogue in a pickle factory. I bought: The Brothers Karamazov, good selection of Poe and Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Ultimatum, which naturally, I'm reading first, feel well off and secure.

Thinking back, I think the the woman who wanted to refuse me food was Muslim. The Muslim baker was just around the corner where the clerk made disagreeable sport with me. A young Muslim here, with his beanie, made eye contact with me, lost his stride and stumbled, he could have smiled. None of these people were Chinese. But they are emboldened enough to confront and ridicule me me publicly. I can see the progression from Egypt and Tunisia from 25 years ago, the growing hatred.

Tell your Democrat friends to continue to encourage the enemy. It's very effective.

I'm reluctant to tell you this because I know how you are. The other night on the government owned English TV channel, for 5 minutes they went on about the new craze in China, the Lolita Lifestyle, Lifestyle! mind you. Young girls by the droves were frilled up and telecasted, suitable for 15-24 year olds, kept praising Nabokov. No old men were shown, so guess consent is implied. To think, I felt guilty all those years for nothing.

S.