on my way to work this afternoon, the bus was playing the radio loudly. i have no idea what was on the radio (sounded like a talk show), but it didn't seem to matter to the bus driver whether or not his passengers wanted to listen to it. the bus driver's will was the passengers' way.
this, i notice, may be a continental phenomenon. in the six Asian countries i've visited in the past two years, there is a constant: noise, noise, noise.
on the streets, trucks are blaring advertisements: "strawberries! five thousand won! tofu! one thousand won!" vendors on streets use amplified horns to sell their wares. on long-distance buses, movies or soap operas are shown on an aisle monitor. in family-owned convenience stores, televisions are blaring. in subway stations, commercials are playing on large flat-screen monitors. in China, even the bus stops and elevator stations had commercial-playing monitors. and there is no such thing as gentle, easy-listening Musak in department stores. it's always the latest pop song - nice and loud so you can get sick of it even faster.
so this i find most perplexing - why all the noise?
i miss silence. i really really miss quiet.
