I'm all theme-parked out, so I got on my wheels and toured downtown Kiss-my-immee. The core is around the same age as some Seattle suburbs, making it a relatively "old" town for Florida. You could be walking down a street in Bellingham, the buildings and architecture are identical.
Just twenty or so miles from Orlando, it is an established sleepy town, although somebody is clearly buying up all the old buildings and refurbishing them for a living. Nice old character houses.
As the heat came on, I found an indoor Swap Meet with "over 400 stores". Everything brand new merchandise. However, it was a great layout and plan, something I could build myself. There is a sizeable (surprise) Mandarin contingent in there, and I got some excellent advise on spelling and pronunciation from a few of the shop ladies. Looks like I have a Cantonese accent. If you want instant acceptance, understand that accent is far more acceptable than an American drawl. I've now learned that the languages (Mandarin and Cantonese) have the same phonetics, but different consonant sounds.Then, on the way back I found the Manhattan Internet Cafe. Charges twice what I do, has six units set up. When I arrived, the place was busy but I was the only one who had any interest in the Internet. Where am I, anyway?
Marion and husband left for a pre-arranged tour, so I have the day to myself. As with most of Florida, there are apparentely no women between 18 and 46 to be seen. I'm planning on taking a longer ride back, around the west edge of Okeechobee.
There are two versions of todays blog, this is the second:
I got up early and biked around Kissimmee. It is surprisingly like west coast towns in the styles and architecture. That tells me it is an older town than Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Marion had the day planned at Universal but I’ve had my fill. I rode along the Kissimmee waterfront and along most of the town between Main and Central. The Amtrak roars right through town and some local outfit is renovating all the older buildings, often into small offices.
The going rate for hotel rooms seems to be $228 per night, although there are lots of Motel Eights and I think they charge $34.95 and rent the room next to yours to a half-dozen sailors on shore leave.
Kissimmee is a nice-looking little town. The downtown has been re-done and there are cobblestone roads. There was no evidence of local industry, just nice old houses. There’s a music store and some non-chain restaurants, although nothing was open on Sunday. It seems like the kind of town people leave each other pretty much alone but no such thing as a job. It has a ton of spin-off shops from Disney up on the main road, mostly selling the same merchandise, which is supposed to be of very good quality.I found a Popeye’s and had spicy chicken for old time’s sake. I’d made a mistake and could not get a coffee at Denny’s. I didn’t read the sign closely enough, it was not a Denny’s but a Denny’s Diner. Read close, it can be hard to see the small print. That means no counter, just large family booths, so you won’t occupy one just for a coffee. Way to go, Denny’s!
By noon the heat made even the shade unbearable, so I followed a set of huge billboards to an indoor Flea Market. Every scrap of merchandise in the place was new. It was a great way to keep out of the heat. What struck me was how simple the sheds were put together, even I could build such a place. There were several indications the place had been raided by the copyright/trademark police, such as tattoo parlors with signs that specified “No Internet Pictures”.
Did I mention I’ve been practicing my Chinese writing? It is quite simple, really, but you need to get attuned. Anyway, I was surprised at the large number of Mandarin Chinese operating on the premises. Not as surprised, mind you, as they were when I walked up and spoke. One of the ladies was a bit of a charmer and spent a half-hour showing me the correct way to write characters.
It seems the book I have used special Chinese typesetting fonts and I was copying the stick figures too literally. It would be like printing with serifs, I suppose that to be a good analogy. The directions of the strokes I made was generally wrong, in the sense of traditional writing, I mean. She could easily read everything I had painstakingly written but had to smile upon watching me do the writing. She had to laugh at the order I made the marks; she also laughed because she could not believe I first started writing Chinese a few days ago.
She sold me an acupressure device for Marion. It has a magnetic end and she was able to “cure” several things that were bothering me, such as stiff breathing. I’m still warding off a mild flu. She pressed the device, which looks like a handlebar grip, onto the fingertips of my left hand and what do you know, I could indeed breathe easier. It works but it is not amazing or anything.
There are no pictures of plywood George because I never brought him along. This is a holiday, for crying out loud. George is back home where he belongs. Here is a shot of Main Street in Kissimmee. I know, it could easily be Salem or Olympia. Maybe they have the same decorator. The town is just west of a lake which, like all Florida lakes, must be very shallow. (Florida isn’t that high above sea level.)
There are real hills in the area, which is something I missed seeing for a few years now. I took a break and kept out of the sun, noting again the complete absence of women in the area. Just me and a bagel, with cream cheese, so much for heavy adventure. On the plus side, it was relaxing. I don’t know if you did anything extraordinary today, but I spent an hour correcting my own Chinese spelling mistakes.
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