nanjing (南京)

i’m in a dingy net cafe at the end of the street. piles of cigarettes on the floor around a couple of chairs (since cleaned up, I must add), grimy desks and a bunch of kids playing games while the two of us type. a few security cameras sit across the room, near the ceiling, with the power supplies hanging in the air. bandwidth out of this cafe (or this country? her site was going ok…) sputters and spurts and reminds me of the Old Days. behind a screen, an open window lets in the street below – food smells and occasional car horns. but nobody’s paying attention to that. still, at least the window’s open.

i’m thinking of the places they want to take me, and i wonder about how much you can really sense about a city by just seeing the sights? isn’t the soul of a city in its streets? i haven’t taken many photos yet – she tells me to keep things out of sight, to not draw attention to myself. i’m trying.

soon it’ll be another new city, a bigger one. i look forward to seeing new things, new signs, but i also look forward to a chance to find a nice tea-house to relax in, and not do things.