July 31st, 2009
Quick Note: Spain (and Portugal) Trip (22-28July09)
[[SPAIN]]
[PPL]
- people are happy
- people tend not to care about rules: no queue at bus station; some ignore traffic light (also the drivers!)
- people are nice, polite, and welcome tourist
- no bad kids
- not many people speak fluent English
- small population of chinese and other foreigner
- Chinese open “chinese store” beside chinese restaurant. chinese food has no place in spain
- people are sporty; have beautiful body — hard to see a fat man/woman
[ECON]
- SME shops everywhere
- privately owned small shops can survive
- things are not cheaper than UK
- food: expensive (6+euro for a mcdonal meal)
- public transport: cheap (1.xx euro for most bus; taxi costs almost half of that in UK)
- many people are paid at minimum wage (around 600 euro/month as i remember) and live a good life
- haven’t seen many manufacturing industries
[FOOD]
- i fallen in love with the bar-cafe
- bar-cafe: it’s like spainish style 茶餐廳; sell any kinds of drink + tapas and food
- all day
- sea food are nice
tapas are nice
diet coke is called “cola light”
beer is cheaper than soft drink (1-2euro for a 300ml bottle of soft drink)
[LAYOUT]
- buildings are generally taller than those in liverpool
- old church and building everywhere but rather clean and tidy
- Graffiti everywhere like part of the culture
- roads filled with buses, taxis and motor car
- streets are wide and comfortable in commercial area
- blocks pack tight with lanes in residential and older regions
[WEATHER]
- was 45`C in Sevilla; around 30 in Malaga
- quite dry. nicely hot. slightly windy
[ETC.]
- English songs on the radio
- many festivals
- train: clean, tidy, big, comfortable
- beach, beach, beach
[[PORTUGAL]]
(this post is long enough!)
- Graffiti rule: 1) respect — does not cover one another; 2) never paint on religious place like temple
