What's weird …
Posted: October 20, 2007
there are thousands, thousands, of Asians traveling right now. I think China is in a huge economic boom that is scattering the youngsters like satellite dandelion seeds.
Four years ago I think I met one Asian fellah, Japanese kid named Yoshi. In this hostel in Vienna there are enough Chinese here to have their own cliques, their own tables, they are insulated, only speak to each other, and boil stinky noodles.
On our train from Budapest to Venice we had a car full of Chinese. At the Croatian border they were tossed off. The Chinese protested, and the bulky Eastern European border guard repeated "China need visa Croatia. No visa. Get off train." The Chinese pleaded. "China need visa Croatia. No visa. Get off train." One weighty Chinese woman asked her what they were going to do, they were being tossed, at the stroke of midnight, at a tiny border village train platform in Western Slovakia. "What will we do? Where do we get visa? Do we have to ride back to Budapest? Where will we go tonight? Where will we stay?"
"China need visa Croatia. No visa. Get off train."
