Feel Like A Number

A quick observation as we continue our Chinese adventure: the name badges worn by workers in the hospitality industry in China simply read a number. There's no name. Not in Chinese and not in the Roman alphabet. Sometimes these plaques that are pinned to the uniforms of housekeeping staff, bellmen, front desk and at restaurants simply display a 4,5 or even 6 digit number. Of course, I find this odd. But not really. After all, I'm in the “Peoples's” republic of China, not any one person's China.

Also interesting to note is that whenever we catch a cab from our hotel to go anywhere there is a sole person dedicated to providing us with a yellow slip of paper that informs us of the number of the cab we're taking. I guess just in case we leave something in the cab we'll know how to find the cab. This of course is assuming we could communicate such a misfortune.

Looking forward to traveling west. Away from the big city.