Surf, Thieves and Betel Nut

Well it has been an adventurous week! Surfing has been great, with consistent waves in the 2-3' range. Great crew of surfers - two from California (Marin/Santa Cruz), one American from Florida, a couple Aussies,a German, an Italian, and 2-3 Chinese locals. Quite fun surfing and trying to ask what time it is in the right language.

After my last surf outing, I hopped on the bus in DadongHai (it is 1 RMB or about 15 cents and 5 minutes) to head back to our condo. Two guys got on the bus at the same time and were acting a bit odd. Seemed like they had been drinking or doing drugs - something. They wandered around the bus laughing and smiling. I smiled back, but watched them all the same. They ended up next to me on the bus and I made sure my backpack was out of their range. They were doing the "bump into" everyone so I became more suspicious, but
still thought them harmless drunks (it was Friday afternoon after all, not that they really care). Next thing I know the "Tall" one pulled out the most awesome tweezers I had ever seen - probably 12" long. The "short" one was busy jostling the crowd. Now Tall takes the tweezers and, in what I still consider a beautifully fluid motion, reached into an old man's pocket and began to pluck out his bills. Well I didn't really have time to think and I
just started moving and slapped the Tall one's arm and grabbed the old man and pointed at the money which had now fallen to the floor. So crime averted for the moment, but now I have Tall & Short staring me down. Granted they weighed maybe half my weight, combined and wet. But the tweezers were steel, 12" long and had a bit of a point on them, we were in very close quarters and there were two of them. Meanwhile the old man and his old man friend are trying to figure what's happening. They are looking at the three of us and
trying to figure why all his money is on the floor. They are picking up money, counting money and eyeing me and the tweezers' crew. I have not learned "thief" or "these guys are trying to steal your money" or anything else helpful like "just get off the bus and we will forget about this whole thing". Also, I am realizing that I am the only person on the bus who doesn't speak Chinese, therefore no backup. The tension is mounting and I have no idea what they intend to do and, I guess luckily for me, they have no idea what I am going to do. The five of us are still in a tight circle as the bus continues to roll. My stop is next and is maybe 90 seconds away. The old men are confused and I am now in a vicious stare off with Tall & Short. The bus stops and I immediately get off, Tall & Short disembark as well, just great news. I head immediately down the street, and found some police to loiter around (I did not want them to see that I lived across the street). They kept a keen eye on me for a few minutes and then jumped on a "pay' motorcycle and they were off.

So as I told this story later I received three different opinions on the
matter:
1) The police don't care and you should just mind you own...
2) The people and the police hate petty thieves and the government has pushed for action. If I had said "these men are thieves", the bus would have been stopped and the people would have basically beaten them on the spot.
3) Let the people decide. Should have announced the actions and shown the people the "tweezers" and then let nature take its course.

I have since learned to say "thief" and "thieves" in a variety of sentences.

Finally, a man named Patrick, who has lived in China for twenty years, and is an avid Betel (Binlang) chewer conducted my initiation to this local activity. Now it is important to note that they say Hainan Betel is not like Indonesian Betel. Hainan Betel is actually quite tasty and mild compared to its cousins in other locals. So you buy a small bag of 4-6 "nuts" and the
associated "pouches" (leaf wrapped around a paste) in a small Ziploc bag for about two kuai (30 cents or so). You then take a 'nut" and peel it a bit and pop it into your mouth with the "pouch". You chew the heck out of it to mix it together. Odd right? How do you get a "nut" and a "pouch" to go together by chewing? Well as I have now learned you chew and press and squeeze like crazy. Okay, now this produces a chemical reaction between the paste in the
leaf and the Betel. This creates a tremendous amount of "juice", which I was told I should not swallow at the beginning. So, okay then I get to spit it out. A couple of good spits and a masticated wad of produce and I am off. It is a mild stimulant, similar to drinking espresso, like 3 shots, very fast. Lasts about 20-30 minutes and is cumulative in nature. I learned this the hard way. I saw Patrick on this third nut and asked what I should do with my nut. His reply, throw it out and get a fresh one. Okay, why not. Well for a first timer, I was shocked at the jump in stimulant. Let's just say twice as much or so. Less than a minute and I laughed and threw that nut out as well.

The betel nut is the fruit of the Betel Palm. One chews the "nut" and then the leaf pouch which contains a paste which activates the stimlulant in the "nut."

 Baggie of binlang

Basket of binlang

Two pieces of binlang

Binlang detials