Cirqadian rhythms.

So it’s been an interesting few days. I’ve spent most of this week dealing with immigration in various forms – either being fingerprinted for my Macau work permit, or getting a visa for China, or trying to get accurate information on a stay permit for Rabbit. I think it’s all sorted now, but oy, the hoops to jump through. So yesterday, I took advantage of it, and went to China for a day.

Macau, of course, is only technically Chinese. And ethnically, and culturally. Legally, it’s a “Special Administrative Region”, like Hong Kong – theoretically under Chinese control, but with its own laws and government. Right over the border is the city (and “Special Economic Zone”) of ZhuHai. “Special Economic Zone” basically means the Chinese government encourages them to be nice to foreigners, so the foreigners will bring in lots of money. On a macro level, that means huge construction projects for foreign companies tapping the Chinese labour pool and technological boom. On a micro level, it means that right next to the border is a shopping mall that is just acres of teh shiny. Cheap shiny. Stereo systems for $50 Australian. DVD players for $30. Don’t even get me started on the DVDs, and the bling. So next week sometime I’m taking Rabbit, and we can furnish the apartment a little.

Then, since I’d lost a day to shopping in China anyway, I figured I could dash over to Hong Kong and vote, so I could do other things on Saturday. This, of course, is a classic mistake. You’d think I would have learned years ago that the best way to deal with a budding infatuation is just to stay the hell away. But nooo, I had to go back. God I love Hong Kong. I’m not going to bother ranting about it again, but oh, the markets, the food, the lights.

Funny story – after I’d voted, I was in the lift with a guy who was clearly an Aussie expat living in Hon Kong, who looked at me and said “You’d be with Circus Oz, then?”. Apparently it shows. Though I did explain that no, Circus Oz weren’t in HK anymore, and I was with Cirque. He said “Oh, in Macau? Bloody Nora, you’ve come a long way to vote!”. I didn’t think anyone actually *said* “Bloody Nora”, even in Australia.

So, back to the title, today we went shopping for a junkyard. We think we’ve found one (or at least, a corner of one where we can throw up a shed and a genny and start welding), right next to a big fuck-off scrapyard, handy for buying steel. It’s amazing how much Cody (Assistant head of carpentry) and I think alike on this. We haven’t even had to discuss it, just one day I said “Hey, those big yards full o steel? Some of that shit’s for sale!”.

“Yup. I bought an 80 gallon drum to turn into a BBQ”

“Awesome. We should see if we can rent a corner of one and put up a shed.”

“Yup. Reckon we could build a potato gun that’d shoot all the way to China?”

It’s like we were seperated at birth. He’s even run it past the Powers That Be at work, and they, in theory, support the concept of an offsite workshop. I just wasn’t going to tell them, but this way we might even get budget. I think we have to print out photos from SRL and Monster Garage, though – our mate Danny is doing an awesome job of translating, but I think even he has difficulty answering “But *why* do the crazy white men want to build a shed in the corner of our steelyard? And what are they going to do with those old scissor lifts??”. There’s a culture barrier there, I suspect. Also – things they have here that we’ve never seen in Australia or the US? Scissor lifts with treads. Little rubber treads. I shit you not.  What *that* means is that they’re already tanks with elevating platforms. The possibilities are endless….

jai.

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This entry was posted Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.