Internet Cafe

I'm in a dark and smoky room. It is weakly air conditioned. Rows of computers fill the center of the room and line the walls. Rows of people sit intently in red armchairs staring at the glowing screens in front of them. To my right, an older guy chain smokes and plays on line mah-jong. To my left a young woman is using e-mail and instant messaging on a site featuring a pink background and kewpie dolls.

My internet access on my laptop has been blocked for more than 24 hours, and I am having a fit because I'm out of touch with my office. After all, for an attorney, a mere 7000 miles of distance should not impede my ability to have contact with work. Of course, without my secure software on my laptop, I cannot log on to the office, but I can send pathetic, longing messages from my personal e-mail from this internet cafe.

Conditions are less than ideal. Someone has left a half-eaten sandwich next to the monitor. The bottoms of my sandals are sticking to the floor. Smoke from the chain-smoker to my right is making my eyes water. But I will say that the connection is zooming fast, which is the most important thing. There are people in here watching movies and playing very advanced war games, so you know these are very fast connections.

The proprietress is 50-something, and is watching some sort of Chinese soap opera on-line when she's not waiting on customers. To get in, you give them your national identity card (or in my case, my driver's licence) and 10 yuan as a deposit. They register you in, and give you back your card, but keep your money until you check out. 10 yuan is about $1.25, I think it costs 3 yuan an hour to use the computer.

We are buying a computer for my mother's birthday next month. It will cost $499 for the laptop that she wants. It would be cheaper just to make her go to the Internet Cafe, but it would be a long commute from Canada.