I wish I could capture on film what I saw the other day at the local Xiang Jiang grocery store. It was packed with people as it usually is and I was going along getting my receipt stamped (a security thing) and I saw a delightful sight. Now, in Hengyang it is in the upper 90's with a whole lot of humidity (I'm not a weatherman, so I can't tell you exactly how much humidity, just know that it is HOT). You walk outside and start sweating in the space of ten steps. I have noticed that Chinese people do not sweat as much as us laowai (foreigners), but even these people were sweating. People were packed into KFC simply by virtue that there was air conditioning in there :). So, I walked out the security section of the grocery store (still inside) and to my right were these fans. There were probably fifty fans turned on in order to get people to buy them. There was a long bench and there were all of these old people (maybe 80 years old and up) sitting on the bench- lined up, in their pajamas, in the middle of a grocery store, basking in the air of the fans. And they were just gabbering away as if they were lounging in a park. It wasn't like they were waiting for people, they were just sitting there taking advantage of the cool air. In their pajamas! (I had to stress that one more time). It was delightful!
If I get enough courage, I'll go back and take a picture of them :).
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Michelle, this posting made me laugh! I've seen similar scenes in Thailand. I can picture it oh so clearly! You should have gotten a photo! (but i understand; i don't have courage to take those shots either!) One night I was walking along the street and there was this very overweight thai man, sitting in his boxer shorts on a chair and he was holding a hand fan up to his face with one hand...and a white poodle in his lap on the other!! i wanted a picture so badly!!! but i was too chicken. :-)
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