The Journey Begins

I just got word that Dee is safely aboard a big rig, heading to Kentucky.  She will lay over there for a few hours and then set off for Knoxville!  She should be here tomorrow afternoon.  CANNOT WAIT to see my baby!

Good News, Ladies and Jellyspoons!

Miss Dee and I will be reunited soon!  Once I can orchestrate shipping, Dee will be moving down to Tennessee to live with her mama, where she belongs!

That's Not Vodka, That's Moonshine with a Chicken on it.

I am officially back in Knoxville, TN.  Did I really just spend a whole month in China?

For our last night in the city, Alice, Toni, Lauren, Courtney and I treated ourselves to a beautiful dinner at M on the Bund.  The food was absolutely delicious and well worth the prices.  Courtney and Toni had bought a bottle of vodka before we went to dinner, and after dinner, they brought it along to the Peninsula, opting not to spend money on the expensive cocktails.  Of course, I use the term vodka loosely.  I think Lauren put it best when she turned to Courtney and said "that's not vodka.  That's moonshine with a chicken on it."

Following a delicious mangotini at the Peninsula, we headed over to Bar Rouge, which is another rooftop bar on the bund.  Alice bought a Wasabi Martini, which sounds weird but was actually really nice.  It had real wasabi in it and everything!  After a little while at Bar Rouge, we hopped in a cab and went to No.88 Club.

All in all, it was a fantastic final night in Shanghai.  I will miss the city, but boy, it's good to be home!

Please Get Ready To Exit From the Left-a Side.

What a whirlwind of a month it’s been.  Tomorrow, I’ll be on a flight to Chicago, time travelling my way back to the US.  I’ve enjoyed you, Shanghai, but I’m ready to go home. 

The past 5 days have been a bit wild, but here goes.  Wednesday night started off on the 92nd floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center drinking free Champagne.  The view was amazing, the music was good and the dancing was fun, but the free champagne stopped at 10, so it was off to hit up some other Ladies Night deals around Shanghai.  Unsurprisingly, we decided free Margaritas at Zapatas were in order, and still likely a bit punch-drunk from our trip to Beijing, we wrangled ourselves a van and haggled ourselves a good price.  That poor man really didn’t know what he had gotten himself into.  Courtney, Lauren and I serenaded him with “I like big butts” and then Alice and Toni jumped in with an Australian folk song (Waltzing Matilda, if I’m not mistaken), followed by their national anthem.  Not to be outdone, Courtney and I performed what must have been the world’s worst rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.  Tomcats caterwauling in alleyways have sounded more appealing.

After an appropriate amount of dancing at Zapatas and somewhere in the vicinity of 3 margaritas, we were off again, this time to M2.  This time, we grabbed a regular cab, once more haggling our fare in order to get 5 of us into the cab’s 4 seats. 

The night ended with Alice, Courtney and I in McDonald’s.  Courtney gave all of her coins to a little boy and his grandma, and I tried to give a little kid who was peddling fake flowers a French fry instead of money.  She just ended up looking confused and possibly a little disturbed as she went off to sell her wares elsewhere.

The next day was considerably quieter, with Alice and I opting to do dinner at TianZiFang.  Let me just say, it was a fantastic decision.  We went to a Balinese restaurant, which had fantastic food paired with a great atmosphere.  After dinner, we hit up a club called Glo, which was having free Mojitos until 11.  We were worried that they would be terrible, but that Mojito was, quite possibly, the best Mojito I’ve ever had.  I’m pretty sad I’ll never get to go there for another one while I’m here.

Friday was a big night out, and really our first since arriving in Shanghai, since we’ve travelled every other weekend.  We went out to a place called Mural, which was offering a deal of 100rmb (about $15) for all you could drink.  Oh dear.  Never a good thing.  Shots and Mixed drinks were flowing freely, and at one point every one of us had two drinks in our hands.  The bar itself was fashioned to look like a cave, and was really quite pretty.  The music had been plucked straight out of the 1970’s, which was weird, but a nice reprieve from the loud, frantic pop anthems of the clubs (and pretty much everywhere else in Shanghai, I think there’s a set playlist that is passed out to all of the bars and clubs). 

There was much dancing on stage, although Alice and I managed to lose Toni, Lauren and Courtney after awhile.  No matter, though, two of us were enough to get home, and we were having a fun time dancing with a Czech guy who was even cheesier than us (and if you’ve ever seen me dance, that’s a FEAT.)  By around 2:30, the club was thinning out, and Alice and I went out to find somewhere else or maybe go home.  We ended up eating some street food and then, because Alice bought the most firey Chili I’ve ever tasted, going to a club for a quick drink.  It turned out to be a super weird club, with girls dressed in gold studded outfits dancing on platforms (but you couldn’t take pictures of them).  We stayed for as long as it took to finish a beer and then high-tailed it out of there.  By the time we got back to the room it was nearly 4, so we opted to stay up and watch the opening ceremonies. 

I will preface this by saying I have not had the opportunity to watch the ceremony at a reasonable hour, in English and without alcohol in my system, but it was really bad.  It felt a little frantic and extremely over the top.  A lot of it didn’t make sense.  Bad vibes were everywhere.  When the sun came up at 5, we decided to abandon the ceremony and turn in. 

Saturday, I visited the Yuyuan Gardens, which are, like the Summer Palace in Beijing, a great escape right in the middle of the city.  The gardens were stunning and peaceful (despite the hoardes of other tourists) and thoroughly enjoyable.

I also discovered “the noodle man” on Saturday.  This noodle man sets up shop right near our apartment, with 5 different noodle styles, spices, veggies and a hot wok on his cart.  Getting the noodles is a long process, because the man is a master and the line is long.  I was finally able to pay, pointing at the noodles I wanted, but he was still in the process of cooking a few other orders.  When I knew it was my turn, a girl tried to push in and order.  However, the noodle man was fair and told her “no, it’s the laowai’s turn.”  (Or some approximation of that, he shook his head and I heard “laowai”.)  The noodles were worth the wait.  I actually think they’re the best noodles I’ve ever had.

The master at work.

On Sunday, the five of us participated in “The Crazy Race.”  The race had a number of tasks that involved making a fool of ourselves around town.  One task was “get a picture of you playing rock, paper scissors with a local child under 12.”  Well, two crying children later, we finally found one.  However, I did feel kind of bad about striking terror into the hearts of two young Chinese children.  We would say hello, ask the parents for a picture, and then the parents would try to shove the kid at us while the kid shook in terror or tried to run.  I guess we really are “frightening foreigners.”  All in all it was a fun day, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Courtney’s copies of the photos (she had the “team camera”).  After the race, we all convened at a sports bar, where the winners were announced and the drinks were on sale.  Unfortunately, we came 4th, but it was still a good time.  I think, however, the highlight of my night came when Alice, Ingrid and I were outside (Alice and I barefoot), coming back from the convenience store.  One of the guys we had met earlier in the month was getting out of a cab in front of the apartments.  He was alone, with a full shopping bag and a half drunk beer.  After his cab driver opened Ingrid’s beer on the stone steps with some considerably impressive skill, we talked with him a bit.  Everything he said was “we did this” or “we went here.”  This was confusing, because he was alone.  He then showed us some panda gloves, complete with big ole panda claws, that he bought at a market.  The weird part?  They were each sold separately!  I’m not sure what you could do with one panda hand, but apparently it’s a thing.  I then took a picture of him mauling Alice with them and we bid him and his multiple personalities good night.  You’ve just got to love weird late-night encounters.

Yesterday was fairly quiet, but we did cocktails at the Peninsula, which boasts one of the best views in Shanghai.  We were sat on a terrace, with the Pearl Tower lit up right behind us and Pudong’s skyline shining brilliantly around it.  Boats shining like Christmas lights floated languidly down the river, presumably carrying nighttime dinner revelers, and even a few stars came out to play. 

Such a beautiful skyline - I'll miss that.

Tonight we’re doing a swank dinner at M on the Bund, probably followed by another cocktail at the Peninsula, and then it’s time to think about going back to reality.  Next time I write will probably be from my couch in Knoxville, and while I have thoroughly enjoyed by time here, I can’t wait to be sitting in my own apartment.

The 40-year Storm – Or, How We Survived Beijing.

When I left Shanghai for Beijing on Friday night, I was feeling a little frustrated with the city. When I arrived home last night, I realized how glad I am that I’ve gotten to live here for the past 3 weeks.

Friday

The trip started innocently enough.  We were set to ride an overnight train into Beijing Railway Station, and our departure went smoothly enough.  Lauren and Courtney had purchased tickets late and ended up in one of the “soft sleeper” cars, while Toni, Alice and I ended up in a “Soft Seat” car.  As it turned out, these cars had the same set up, but our car required bed sharing and didn’t offer pillows or blankets.  After dropping our things off in the car, we all convened in the dining car, where we purchased a few beers and broke out the card deck.  About two games in, we decided to start a game of Kings.  By the time we got to the third rule, we had to “Baahh” like a sheep and then pat our heads after drinking.  At one point, a couple came in to the car, watched the spectacle, and asked, “is that some sort of Chinese tradition?”  “Yes,” we replied, “yes it is…”  Of course, they didn’t believe us, and as they sat at the table next to us, we heard them say, “they must be German.”  Do the Germans have weird drinking traditions like that?  I highly doubt it, but I guess I’ll have to wait and find out in December.

At around 10:00, after a rousing game of Kings, Lauren went to get a beer and came back with five in her arms, “I made an impulse buy…” Turns out, she bought not 5, but 10.  As it also turns out, the dining car closed at 11.  Apparently our train had a curfew.  We didn’t make it through all ten of the beers, but our empty pile was still pretty impressive, and after we were kicked out of the dining car, we moved into the hallway, where we hung out until around Midnight.

When we finally decided to retire, we all went back to our cars.  Alice and I were sharing the top bunk, which was going to be interesting.  Needless to say, we slept fitfully.  Each of us was curled up on our end of the cot, trying not to kick the other, alternating between being freezing cold and burning hot.  I used my backpack for a pillow, but without a blanket, it was pretty uncomfortable.  I think I probably netted about 3 hours of sleep (or less).

Saturday

At around 8am, we arrived in Beijing.  As soon as we disembarked from the train, we knew we weren’t in Kansas Shanghai anymore.  A sea of people flowed down the tunnel towards the exit and the air in the station was hot and still.  When we got to the exit, however, I was still not prepared for what we saw.

The square in front of the railway station was thick with people, some of who were camped out with their luggage on bamboo mats.  Everywhere we turned, there were beggars or panhandlers.  We were quickly swarmed by pushy men offering us a “bus.”  The smog over the city was thick enough to hold on to, and the air closed in - heavy and dirty and stagnate - on us immediately.  The taxi line was enormous, and we jumped into it, thinking that there might be some order awaiting us at the end of the line.  There was not. 

When you got to the front of the cab line, it was a free for all.  The taxis were speeding away from us as we approached, the line attendant was useless, and no one seemed to know where it was we were trying to get to.  Desperate, hot, hungry and tired, we almost decided to get in one of the “busses” after haggling for a price.  However, as they lead us to the bus, the men smirked and laughed, and after spotting the metro entrance, we slipped away, preferring not to be robbed or worse. 

We took the metro to the Tian An Men square stop, thinking it was fairly close to our hostel.  As it turned out, we were still over 5km away from the hostel and would really need to find a taxi.  Now in Shanghai, getting a taxi for 5 people is always kind of a pain, because we need to track down two.  But in Beijing, it is an absolute nightmare.  Can’t get ONE taxi?  Great!  Now you need TWO!  We finally tracked down one taxi, and Courtney, Toni and I jumped in, with Alice and Lauren staying behind to flag another.  Well, forty minutes later, what should have been a 10 minute trip was just finishing up, thanks to our crafty driver, who drove us all over the city before taking us to the right place.  When we got to the hostel, Alice and Courtney weren’t too far behind (they had apparently gotten a ride with someone who wasn’t a taxi driver… glad to hear that worked out ok).  Of course, after a stressful morning, things managed to get even worse.  We were informed that although we had booked 5 beds, they only had 4 beds available.  Desperate, we said “fine” and were shown to the room.

Now, when they said “four beds,” they were exaggerating a little bit.  In reality, there were three beds and a broken army cot that was jammed against the wall by the door and made it impossible to open the door fully.  Perfect.  At least they were giving us a discount.

We all freshened up a little bit and, desperate for caffeine and food, set out for some sightseeing.  We had a delicious soup lunch followed by coffee slushies at DQ.  Satiated, we found the bus line to Tian An Men Square and set off.  When we got on the bus, it was drizzling.  However, after the first or second stop, the skies opened and the rains began in earnest.  After every stop, the rain seemed to fall harder, until it looked like a river flowed over the windows.  When we got off at the Tian An Men Square stop, the streets looked like canals – people washed clothing in the water, and we sunk up to our ankles as we crossed the road.  This was especially disturbing given that a few minutes later I saw a large pile of poo on the side of the road.  It wasn’t yet caught up in the newly formed river, but I’m sure it also wasn’t the only poo in the area.  I’ve just decided not to think to hard about what might have gotten on my feet that Saturday.

Before heading to Tian An Men Square, we took off down Qianmen Street, a famous pedestrian street offering shops galore.  When you venture off of the main road, there are tiny little shops selling trinkets and food.  I snagged a beautiful silk dress for a pittance.  As we wandered down the narrow paths and wove in and out of striped awnings, the skies once more opened up, sending fierce waterfalls off of the plastic canopies.

Once the deluge had abated, we set off for the square.  Tian An Men square is incredible.  The sheer scale of it is mind-boggling.  Directly in the middle of the square is Mao’s mausoleum, which is, as you might guess, massive.  The only silver lining to the foul weather was that it kept the masses at bay.  When our cabbie had trucked us all over the city earlier, Tian An Men was packed with people, but by the time we arrived, only the hardcore tourists were left over.  Well… the hardcore tourists and, inexplicably, the Chinese Quiddich team. 

By the time we crossed the square, it was nearly 4pm and we were all wet, tired and in need of a sit down.  In front of the Forbidden City’s Meridian Gate, we veered off for a cup of tea.  We thought nothing of it at the time, but this proved to be a mistake.  By the time we had finished our tea and formed a game plan (see forbidden city and then head to Wangfujing snack street), it was 5pm.  Off we marched to see the Forbidden City.  Instead, we got to experience the Forbidden City in the same way as the ancient Chinese lay people – we were chased out by a policeman in a golf cart (ok, fair enough, the ancient Chinese wouldn’t have been chased by a golf cart, but you get my point.)  Turns out the Forbidden City closes at 5.   

Slightly deflated, we set off for the snack street instead.  On our way, we were stopped by two Chinese guys.  They asked us if we spoke English and then asked what we were doing in Beijing and blah blah blah.  Then, they tipped their hand.  “Do you want to go get some tea and we can practice our English talking to you?”  Ahh.  There is was.  The Beijing Tea House Scam.  We politely declined and went on our way, having a good laugh over the fact that they tried to scam us. 

Eventually we stumbled upon the snack street, by which point my umbrella had thrown in the towel and succumbed to the torrents of water, letting drop after drop land on my head.   The snack street is an endless row of red and white food stands, with vendors trying desperately to sell you their snake, sheep balls, baby sharks, squid… you name it, they’re probably trying to sell it to you.  We tried some veggie dumplings and a duck pancake.  Then, Alice and I decided to get a little weird, so we ordered a starfish.  The woman fried it up and handed it over.  For as weird as starfish sounds (and looks), it is actually pretty tasty.  It is crispy and a little fishy (expected), and reminded me a little bit of calamari. 

With a few snacks in our stomachs and rain pouring through out umbrellas, we decided to try our luck with a taxi for the ride home.  The first one to show up looked at our hostel card and said “150.”  I replied, “Turn on your meter.”  He drove away.  We finally ended up in a covered tuktuk, who offered to drive us back for 80rmb.  Lauren and I took one and Alice, Courtney and Toni ended up in the other.  The ride was terrifying.  The tuktuk kept hydroplaning, didn’t stop at red lights, and sounded a bit sick.  The driver then stopped at the end of our street instead of our door.  We didn’t have exact change, and had to hand him a 100rmb note.  Mistake.  At that point he starts saying “no, 80 per person.  160.”  We tried to argue and get our change, but eventually we just got out, each of us 50rmb lighter.  fàng pì.  We walked back to the hostel through a foot of water.

Originally, we had planned to go back to the apartment, clean up, and go get some real dinner.  However, waterlogged, frustrated and exhausted, we opted to just stay in, instead.  After showering and hanging our clothes up to dry, we shoved three of the beds together and folded the cot up, deciding it would be easiest to just share one big bed, family style.  We settled in for the night and bought a few beers from the hostel.  After a few hours, we decided we’d like to try to get something more substantial that a few snacks.  The hostel owners told us that KFC or McDonald’s would deliver.  Turns out they were wrong.  As it turned out, this was the worst rain storm that Beijing had seen in the last 40 years.  In fact, as we later learned, 3 people died in the flooding and parts of the city were under 9 meters of water.  One newspaper had a picture of people being rescued from the top of a double decker tour bus, which was submerged up to the second row of windows.  Disheartened, we decided to just go without, at which point Lauren announced that she was getting another beer.  When she came back, she had five beers in her arms, and was followed by a guy carrying another five.  Yup.  Another impulse buy!

That night, we fell asleep to the rain pounding the ceiling.  The bathroom was leaking and the hallway was lined with sleeping bags to sop up water.  Luckily our room stayed dry.  Somewhere around 3AM, the rain stopped and an eerie silence fell over the room, waking me up.  Could it be?  Had the rains finally stopped?  Would our trip to the Great Wall actually be pleasant?  At that point, Beijing had a lot of making up to do.

Sunday

The morning dawned blue and cool.  The humidity was gone with the rains, and the heavy winds had managed to oust the smog.  What a day to go to the Great Wall!  We dressed and walked down the road, where we found a street vendor selling delicious steamed buns for breakfast.  The buns were filled with spinach and only cost 1rmb each.  At about 7:45 we were picked up by our tour bus.  There were only three other groups on the tour – a man from Shanghai who was travelling with his son, two American businessmen, and a French man (who had lived in China for 7 years) with his girlfriend.  Off we went to the Great Wall.  Our destination?  Badaling.  Badaling is the section of the Great Wall that is most frequented by visitors, and it was also the first section ever opened to the public.  The whole section is 4.7 miles long and averages 19 feet wide (which allowed soldiers to ride 5 abreast).  While we weren’t thrilled at the prospect of sharing the wall with thousands of other tourists, we were still excited to see it.

As it turned out, our tour guide didn’t take us to the section of Badaling most visited by tourists.  We ended up at a lonely outpost, which offered beautiful views and an incredibly steep climb.  The wind whistled up the mountain as we climbed ever higher, going from tower to tower, drinking in views that continued to improve. 

I don’t think I can really describe to you the wonder that is the Great Wall of China.  Words don’t do it justice.  This wall spreads out as far as you can see, snaking across imposing mountain peaks.  It’s hard to imagine even needing the wall, as the mountains seem an obstacle enough, but I suppose that after the Mongols got through once, it made sense to try to make the route through the mountains a bit more daunting.

At one of the towers, a corner of the roof had crumbled, leaving it open to the air.  Feeling ambitious, we climbed up through the hole and up to the top of the tower.  While we were up there, looking down into the tower (the center of the towers were open), two young boys passed through and saw us.  The confusion on their face was evident as they poked around the tower, trying to figure out how all of the laowai got up so high.

After climbing up and down a mountain of stairs, we all promptly passed out on the bus.  Our next stop was a “jade market,” which was actually more of a show room.  We did get to see some beautiful jade pieces, and I ended up buying a “happy family ball” as a souvenir.  The ball is carved out of a single piece of jade, with independently moving balls within it and symbolizes family love, a big family, happiness and luck.

After looking at the jade, it was time for lunch.  I think our tour companions were a little surprised when the five of us grabbed our chopsticks and dug into the plates of food, ignoring the forks entirely.  The food was very much “western” chinese food, but it was pretty good and plenty filling.

After lunch we went off to the Ming Tombs.  We were to see the tomb of Zhu Di.  Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor, was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  This was the emperor who moved the capitol to Beijing and constructed the forbidden city.  His final resting place spans 30 acres and is quite the site to behold.  While the tomb itself hasn’t been opened, we were able to tour the temples, which are magnificent.

We had been told that after the Ming Tombs, we would get a chance to see the Bird’s Nest. I guess it was a bit hasty of us to assume this meant an opportunity to get out of the bus and see it.  In fact, it meant that as we drove by on the highway, the tour guide said, “and there’s the bird’s nest.”  I snapped a picture.  Barely.  It was kind of disappointing, because I would have liked to get up close.  It looked quite impressive.

After we did a drive-by of the Bird’s Nest, they took us to a “pearl market,” which was another display room.  Alice and I didn’t even bother going inside, instead opting to enjoy the Beijing sun outside.

The bus then dropped us off back at the hostel, and we set off to find get slushies before dinner.  Courtney, Alice and I found some pretty good slushies at a little hole in the wall place (though not up to Coco standards, in my opinion), while Lauren and Toni opted to have Blizzards at DQ.  Once we had finished our treats, we split up for an hour, with Alice and I opting to wander through the Hutong while everyone else went shopping.  After finding a charming little courtyard hotel that put our hostel to shame, we stumbled onto the local market.  Locals were carting home their groceries, and there were hundreds of stalls to be seen.  The market was broken into sections – fruit, veg and dairy made up one section, spices another, and then miscellaneous odds and ends.  The meat was kept in a separate building.  I couldn’t actually bring myself to go inside.  First, the stench was unbearable.  It slammed into my senses like a truck and I knew that if I went inside, that slushie probably wouldn’t stay down.  Second, the first thing I saw when I glanced inside was a fish being beaten to death with a club.  No thanks.  Alice went and had a look, though, and apparently the fish were the only things being killed right there.  Thank goodness!

We all met up at the hostel at 6 and got ready for dinner.  The plan was to go find Nan Luo Gu Xiang Hutong, which is supposedly chock full of great bars and restaurants.  Well, the best laid plans and all that rot…  Frustrated when we couldn’t find a taxi who would turn the meter on, we ended up wandering down a little side street and finding a restaurant called “My Home,” that had some delicious looking things sitting at the tables of the customers inside.  It turned out to be wonderful.  The high point was a spicy shrimp, beef and noodle dish that we absolutely devoured and then wished we had more of.  After dinner, we were finally able to find not one but TWO honest cab drivers in Beijing, who took us to Nan Luo Gu Xiang.  Once there, we found a cute little bar and had a couple of drinks.  By this time, my eyes were crossing from lack of sleep, and the thought of a super-late night was not appealing.  So, after drinks, Alice, Courtney and I opted to go back to the hostel while Lauren and Toni opted to find some real Beijing nightlife. 

Monday

I slept in until around 9 on Monday (well, probably until 8, but no one else was up until 9, so I just kind of laid around until someone else got up),  Alice and I were the first ones up, and since we knew that Toni, Courtney and Lauren wanted to go to an art gallery, we opted to go to the Summer Palace before we got on the train back to Shanghai. 

Summer Palace was absolutely packed with tourists, but it is an impressive place.  For one thing, it is enormous.  I still can’t quite believe that something that big and serene can be hiding in the middle of a city as big as Beijing.  There is a lake, more temples than we had time to see, and plenty of flowers and trees.  Of course, even with all those trees, it was still sunny and HOT.  Because of the sun, many people were walking around with umbrellas (making for dangerous going at times – I kept getting poked in the head).  However, some people were wearing the umbrellas.  Yes, that’s right.  Umbrella hats!  An ingenious idea, if you ask me.

We didn’t have enough time to see the whole Summer Palace, because we needed to be back at the hostel by 2pm in order to get out to the train station in time.  The high speed train we took home was pretty impressive – it got past 300km/hr and took us home to Shanghai in a little under 6 hours.  When we got into Shanghai station and made our way to the taxi stand (because we were too tired to take the metro and then have to lug our stuff over a mile from the station back to the apartments), we just smiled knowingly at the men halfheartedly offering us busses.  Sorry guys.  We know the schtick.  We’re basically locals now.

It’s good to be back in SH.

The Fascinating, Frightening Foreigners

After being here for 2 weeks, the things I don’t feel I’ve touched on enough are the interesting reactions to foreigners and my interactions with the locals around here.  Sometimes I feel kind of like a unicorn, or maybe a mutant.  For instance, if you walk through the streets in a big group of westerners, be prepared for people to stare and take pictures as if you’ve all just parked your spaceship down the road.  Children wave frantically or stare, wide-eyed and mute; adults have no qualms about sticking their iPhone in your face to snap a photo; teens are the most daring, and will brazenly ask you for posed shots.  Of course, I’ve also seen children sobbing as we walk past, but I’m not sure if we invoked that reaction or not.

At a restaurant one evening, the owner actually told us “I love you” after we answered her questions and complimented her food.  This was a far cry from the woman two doors down who had greatly disapproved of our hot pot skills.  I also got a disdainful look from the man next to me in the metro line today when I declined to shove into a place half my size on the train, instead opting to wait for the next train.  He looked at me as if to say, “What are you thinking!?  You’re holding me up.”  The doors were still open, so I stepped over a bit, gestured at the train and looked at him pointedly: “Be my guest, buddy.”  He instead opted to glower at me until the next train came.  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  You’re just being ornery.

Today at lunch, a colleague, who had introduced herself to me via post-it note last Thursday, told me “I think that a lot of people in the office would like to know you because you are a foreigner, but they are scared of talking to you, like I was.”  This is not the first time I’ve heard this sort of sentiment, and it is completely mind-boggling to me.  Here I am, with the life skills of an advanced infant (sure, I can take care of myself, but I can’t speak, read or write, and most of the locals would argue that I can’t actually feed myself, either), and YOU’RE scared? 

However, all that weirdness aside, I do find that most people are willing to engage with me, even if it is in the language of “awkward mime.”  Most people have been friendly and helpful once we actually get to talking (or miming).  I also find that they are very willing to just run me down in the sidewalk, but that’s a whole different issue for another day.

On a completely unrelated note, this afternoon I drank something called “charcoal roasting flavor iced coffee.”  Not quite as exciting as the “Man of snacks” or the “Big face” (I’m going to have to compile a list of weird food name translations), but it gave me a chuckle when I read it and it tasted pretty good.

We’ve also had a bit of a towel debacle.  Yesterday was cleaning day, and we came home to discover all of the towels missing.  Thinking the maid just made a mistake, we called down to the main office to ask for some towels and were told “no, I’m sorry, you only get towels for a week.”  Thoroughly confused and slightly enraged, we hung up.  This morning I got a text from my roommate that says, “I found us some towels.”  I’m not sure I want to know where or how, but I AM glad we have towels!

Paradise and The Blue Lagoon

After a beautifully relaxing weekend away (more on that in a moment), this morning’s metro ride felt like a slap in the face.  As we descended to Line 2, I saw more people waiting than I have seen yet.  When the first train arrived, people were pressed up against the doors and windows due to the sheer volume already on board.  Only a handful got off, to be replaced by double that amount.  It took us two trains before we could squeeze aboard, aided by the crush of people behind us and an attendant at the door who was helping to jam people into place.  Oh, hey Shanghai, so nice to see you and your 22 million residents so early on a Monday morning.  But, the city still manages to endear itself to me.  When I emerged from the metro station in Pudong, a city worker was on his hands and knees, with a bottle of spray cleaner, scrubbing the sidewalks clean.  Not terribly efficient, but you have to admire the effort.

Anyway…

This weekend I went to Hangzhou and Moganshan.  There is an old Chinese saying, which says “In heaven there is paradise, on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou.”  In Hangzhou is West Lake, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a popular tourist destination in the city.  We set out for Hangzhou on Friday night, and arrived around 2 hours later at a very hip looking little hostel.  With Bob Marley posters on the walls and comfy, colorful chairs inside and out, it was cozy and cool.  When we arrived, they prepared a dinner for us, after which we hit up the bar, playing pool and foosball well into the night.  We even got our tour guide, John, to play a drinking game with us.

The next morning we all gathered in the main area out front of the hostel and began our first trek of the morning – a 2-mile or so walk out to West Lake, where we would take a boat ride.  Of course, even leaving at 9am to get out to the lake, it was already boiling hot, and the air outside wouldn’t have been out of place inside a Turkish bath house.  As it turned out, it got up to 102 that day, and we were out hiking around town in it, all of us soaked in sweat and pouring water bottle after water bottle down our throats.  However, it was worth it.  West Lake is absolutely beautiful, and the boats we rode on were fashioned after ancient Chinese boats.  

There is also a lovely shopping district not too far away, which we wandered around for a few hours before and after lunch.  I found a fantastic bracelet/ring combination piece at one of the shops that is absolutely stunning and only cost me about 10USD. 

After checking out the city, we walked up to a Pagoda.  By this time, I actually thought I was melting, and walking up a big hill was incredibly unpleasant, but the Pagoda was beautiful, and there were amazing views (and a fantastic breeze) from the top of it.  In fact, when we all got to the top floor of the pagoda, we all just leaned against the wall, looking out over the city and West Lake and letting the breeze cool us off a bit.  By the time we got back down to the bottom of the Pagoda, however, a sort of heat-induced delirium had settled over us.  I imagine that, given the heat, it was some sort of "brain melt" that resulted in uncontrollable laughter and general incoherence.

After the Pagoda, the bus took us back to the hostel, and it was a good thing, because as soon as we got on the bus, the sky opened up, the temperature dropped 16 degrees (celcius) and it absolutely poured.  When we got to the hostel, we rushed up the hill to shelter, and while most people went to go nap until dinner, Lauren and I opted for cocktail hour, since we figured that if we fell asleep we wouldn’t get back up.  After a little while John and Alice joined us and John told us some fun stories about traveling around China.  Cocktails outside under an overhang in a comfy chair while a thunderstorm rages a few feet away have never felt so relaxing.

For dinner, we made and grilled our own kebobs, which were delicious.  We then decided to go to Reggae Bar (suggested by John, since none of us knew the area) for a few drinks.  The bar was fun, and we stayed there playing drinking games for a while until John gathered us all up and told us he was going to the club, if we wanted to join (of course we did).  The club was crazy.  At one point, the DJ cleared the dance floor and 3 scantily clad girls got up on stage to dance to Moulin Rouge, after which the DJ got up and asked if there were any Frenchmen in the room.  We all pushed John on stage (he had told us earlier he was from France).  He said some things in French, had a French flag draped over his shoulders, sang the national anthem of France, and then all of us jumped back on stage and started dancing.  It was kind of weird to be celebrating Bastille Day at a Chinese club, but there you have it.

That night, we also discovered the dreaded squat toilet for the first time.  They are awful.  That’s all I’ll say about them.

We left the bar at around 2:30am and had the most terrifying cab ride back to the hostel.  The guy was FLYING down the road, running red lights and going over the bumps in the road at high enough speeds to get air time.  Apparently everyone had a similar experience, too, so I guess cab drivers get a bit wild late at night in Hangzhou.

Sunday morning we packed back onto the bus and headed for Moganshan, a village near Mogan Mountain.  When we got off of the highway, the roads were impossibly narrow, and our bus driver demonstrated some serious driving skills as he wove through the hills.  Rice fields dotted the landscape, and the hills were thick with lush, green bamboo trees.  It was the perfect escape.  After about an hour creeping down winding, narrow roads, we got off the bus and walked about 15 minutes to a lodge for lunch.  It was gloriously cool outside and the lodge was nestled into a hill, with gorgeous views all around. 

Following lunch, we set out for what was probably about a four-mile hike through the bamboo and down some dusty roads.  Our destination?  A lagoon tucked away in the hills.  After a little over an hour, we arrived to find an impossibly blue lagoon. It was as big as two football fields and surrounded by cliffs and bamboo trees.  We all leapt in and set out across the lagoon, enjoying the cool water.  The far end of the lagoon resembled an infinity pool, with a man-made wall that looked out over a valley.  We all grabbed onto the rock wall and enjoyed the view for a bit before swimming back across. 

Part of the Lagoon

Overall, it was the perfect getaway weekend.