Never race your mechanic

Today I tried something truly new. I involved myself in a community social activity that did not involve my students.

I discovered that there is a bicycle riding club that meets at the giant shop several days a week (I was unsure as to just what those days were) and, from there, goes on a spirited 21km ride (which took well under an hour). I found this out when I was having my bike serviced and the group of them rolled in, completing the ride, last week. I was not told what day, as we were having trouble communicating days of the week; however, I gathered that they leave at 6:00pm.

Seeing as Tuesday is my slow day, I left my flat about 5:30pm and rode to the shop. On the way there I noticed that my headlight was loose and wobbling so I pointed this out to the mechanic when I arrived. I then asked about the ride. Keep in mind that this was my first attempt to engage, in an activity, with a group that, simply, does not speak English. I was trying to ask about the group that leaves at six and he was telling me five. It turned out that there were five riders scheduled to go and two of them were not there yet.

We got that straightened out and the others arrived, the mechanic got his bike, and off we went. The pace was spirited and I think that they were all surprised that I was not the slowest (I was also not the fastest). We took a series of back roads that ended up with us crossing the dam at Niawan Lake (the large lake I visited and took a boat to Monkey and Bird Islands). There we met with others and waited for stragglers. From there the front runners, of which I was one, raced into town.

As we approached the university I shouted, "Bye," to them broke out of the pack and headed to a café for dinner. It was after dinner that I noticed something. My brakes were dragging. Not only were they dragging, but they were not fully releasing.

The headlight attaches to the brake mount. It must have been over tightened when he adjusted the headlight. My brakes had to have been dragging the entire time. That being the case, I figure that next week I will be a lot closer to the front…

New toy, and feeling a bit ill

This week I have had a bit of a sore chest and trouble talking. Of course, my job is to talk at a classroom voice level. I even ended up having my class on Thursday leaving early. I just told them I was done. It did not help that this was an inspection week so I was not able to get anyone to walk me to the clinic. I need the person to go with me from the office so that she would be able to tell them who I was in order to get the service free. There is also the point that I have never been to the clinic so I was not all too sure where it was at.

This morning I went to the clinic. I took a newspaper to read while I was there. The newspaper was entirely unnecessary as the clinic was not crowded and I was pushed to the front of the line. I was then given some medicine and there was no need to go on base to see the specialists. I am now sitting at my flat listening to Car Talk on NPR recovering from the medication.

Earlier this week I did get a new bike (yes, a pushbike). I was not even aware that there was a Giant dealership in this town. I have seen some Giants and I finally located the dealer. In general, there is no room for dickering on the price. This is an odd thing to the Chinese. I am not as concerned about price as I am with not feeling like I have been cheated. So, after I looked at it I then went and got Gao and returned. I got a Giant Tourer2.0. This is a model that is not available in the US but I think it will serve me well. I also got another cycle computer with it. The reason for not using the one on the current bike is about threefold.

The first reason is that I am intending to keep the bike for Zeneta to use and I think that she will like speedometer. The second is that I am continuing to use this bike for on campus riding. I want to keep the speedometer and they must be programmed for the wheel size of the bike. The other reason is that the speedometers have odometers and I like to know how many Kilometers that bikes have gone.

So, I expect to do more road riding soon. As you can see from the name, it is a touring bike, not a race bike. Gao looks at it and calls it a race bike because it is a multigear bike with non-mtb tires (they are 700x41c, not really a narrow tire). Once I find a way to get My space to post pictures again I will put them up.

Merry and Debra in Xian

Last weekend I went to visit Debra in Xian. This plan, to visit her, started when she called me asking for some books. It turned out that she also had some books to return to me with the intent that I would, eventually, give them to Zeneta. I also wanted to get some more movies for my class. Merry was visiting as I discussed the details of this visit with Debra and I invited Merry to come along, an offer that she agreed to.

This left me, on Tuesday, trying to get two tickets on a train that worked with both my schedule and hers. This was harder than I thought. I normally get tickets on, what I will call, vacation schedule. Vacation schedule means that I am not overly concerned with when I leave or arrive; however, this schedule had to match class schedules.

As should be expected, nothing went smoothly. It turned out that there were not two sleeper tickets available on any of the three trains that I had listed. Further, I was not going to go twelve hours, to Xian, in a hard seat. It just was not going to happen. I ended up calling Gao (that's right, gentle reader, another YL, they are all YLs', it's a teaching college) and getting tickets on an earlier train.

The rest of the week really had little to write about except for the process of making reservations at the Hostel and insuring that there would be no problem with Merry staying there (more on this by private email). On Friday afternoon I began packing to leave for Xian. About four Merry arrived (I did notice that she was using the Gucci purse I got her. I am glad she likes it.). At that point we took off for the train station. Normally when I head to the train station I stop at the market and get some munchies to nibble in route; however, she gave the cab driver instructions to take us straight to the station and that was the end of that plan.

Once we were at the station we had a slight disagreement about where we were to wait. She was convinced that we needed to wait in the common waiting area. I was not interested in that idea and finally steered her to the lounge that I normally use (she has been to that lounge with me many times; I do not see why this must always be a point of confusion).

While I was waiting for the train she ran off and got some food, arriving just before we needed to head for the platform (yes, I was mumbling, "where is that girl," the whole time as the departure came ever closer) We located our bunks and ate the dinner that she had purchased. I now know that I do not like Chinese Goose eggs, they are way too salty. The other stuff was pretty good.

As is usual for these trips, I read a while and then entered a restless slumber for the remainder of the trip. We awoke a little out of Xian and, after breakfast, prepared to depart.

It was here, when we arrived in Xian that I did the first thing that was, clearly, not Chinese and this began her exposure to traveling with westerners. The absolute first step was purchasing the return ticket. The reason was obvious. In order to insure that I had a ticket I wanted to get it as soon as possible. I also wanted to know what time I needed to be at the train station. That would leave me a lot freer on Saturday.

Merry commented that my reasons made sense. However, she, and most Chinese, would have just waited until Saturday and then gone to the station and made the effort to get the ticket then. As it was, two days in advance, we didn't get the tickets we really wanted. I can not (well, really I can, they would have been standing tickets) imagine what it would have been like trying to get the tickets on Sunday evening.

We then walked to the bus landing and, after waiting a while due to it still being early, got a bus to the Bell Tower. I will say that the moment I walked up to where the hostel had been was a shocking moment. It wasn't there. Where the entrance had been was a closed Nokia (mobile phone) shop. Then, as I was turning, doing the "WTF will I do now" scan, I notices a sign with directions to the new door for the Bell Tower Hostel. It seems that the hotel that they had been over went out of business and they had to move the entrance. That also meant that they no longer had a lift, such is life.

We stumbled up the stairs and found Debra, still sleeping, in her room. After we put our bags down Merry discovered that this place had 24-hour hot showers and she was gone. I then went and waited for them in the restaurant on the second floor and chatted with a gentleman from VA. When Debra arrived, and discovered that he was from VA, she began asking him a number of questions about the area near Hollins.

It is interesting, with out having been to Xian so many times and living in the country, at the hostels people are beginning to question us as if we were experts on living in China. We come to hostels, in part, to hang out with westerners; they come in order to see China, but at a manageable level. We did get a normal western breakfast.

We then went walking. We first went to a small temple. It turned out that the temple grounds were under reconstruction. The temple itself was intact. When we visit the temples, we go in, look, if it is safe we will even snap a picture, and then we leave. It was clear that Merry felt that it was incumbent to pray at these temples. It was a reminder that the places that we visit as curiosities are indeed holy places to the others in them.

We then went and did some shopping for relatives and I went and looked at a bicycle. I have mentioned looking for a touring bicycle recently. The most common high end brand in China is Giant, this would be considered mid line in the west. Very simply, I did not like the offer that was made, so I left. I did consider it helpful to find the Giant dealer because of the warranty program in China. It is a simple warranty, take it to any Giant dealer and it will be fixed. No time limit on the warranty and at no cost. The reasons are simple and there are two of them. They are selling a premium product at a very premium price and need to offer something. The second reason reflects on the first. They do not want people, potential customers, seeing Giant bicycles in poor repair. They want a potential customer, when they see any Giant bicycle, anywhere and at any time, to see a good bike that is in good working order. It is smart business and it seems to be working for them (oh, and of the four Giant dealers I have visited so far, only one of them did not have a English speaking employee, even if the one in Xinyang had to send for him).

From there we went looking for a dress (a 2000RMB Dress!!!) that Debra wanted to get; however we did not find it. My suggestion was to go into any ole dress shop and have Merry describe what Debra was looking for; but this wasn't what Debra wanted to do and we finally gave up on finding the dress. We then went and visited a small Mosque and went to the Foreign Language Book Store. After lunch it was Merry's nap time and Debra went and got some more gifts, these were for Ken and Scott (and they cost more than I expected them to, it is clearly tourist season). While she continued to nap, Debra and I went to the post office and shipped some things, including the gifts, back to the states (They are going surface freight; so, with good karma, expect to see them at some point in your next life).

Merry had a couple of interesting experiences. One was simply doing the math on the Hostel. She sat and listened to a staff meeting of the Hostel employees while she was, ostensibly, napping in the lounge and discovered that this was one of the highest rated Hostels in the country. She also went and talked to the front desk people and got a good idea as to the profitably and operation practices. It will be interesting to see if the gears turn, and mesh, in a way that benefits her.

She treated with great amusement one incident. She was asked what county she was from. While it was an amusing moment, it also shows how the Hostels tend to not cater to nationals.

She commented to me at she had never seen as many westerners at any place in her life. We were walking in a subway and came around a corner in a subway and walked into a western group and I thought nothing of it until I looked at her, there was an expression of being entirely overwhelmed on her face.

There was One thing she, specifically, wanted to do. She wanted to go to the Foreign Language Institute in Xian. This is a very highly rated college for learning English. In simple terms, it has a much better reputation that the college I am at has. I had Debra go with her; as I felt that it would be more fun for the two girls, who are of similar age, to do something together. It turned out that, after arriving, Merry talked to the administrators and the decision was made to have another student show her around the school. The student that was showing her the school was in the same grade.

Both students were sophomores, or second year, university students studying English. The part that was funny was when Debra was noticed. Merry was able to talk to her, in English; however, the student of this famous university was entirely unable to. This student then admitted that she could read and write English; but, could not speak, or understand, the language. I think the incident left Merry feeling better about the quality of the instruction that she is getting at this school.

The next day, after Debra left for Ankang, we went to the Drum and Bell towers. I have been to them before but Merry has not. I think she enjoyed them both. I think the thing she will remember (other then me telling her not to touch the museum artifacts) was the German couple we met. Very simply, she has seen very few blacks and this was the first black that she had spoken to. The biggest trouble was that we both ran out of words fast. My German is limited to H.S. German, which helps, and his English was also limited. He asked us if we spoke French; however, my French is worse than my German. So, it was a short conversation. It did help that his wife spoke English. As I have said before, if as an American, you really want to travel you have one good thing going for you, you already speak English, now learn French.

We then went to the open air fruit market and got some dried fruit (I left mine in her bag and never got it). We then went to Mc Donald's, she didn't like it, which is fine, I just wanted her to try it. I definitely did not like the steak I had eaten at The Hong Kong Restaurant the previous night. I realized what was wrong; it had been fried in oil. Everything in China is cooked in oil; it should come as no surprise that they cooked the steak in oil.

We then had to leave for the train station. Once there she located the correct VIP lounge and was happy to have an opportunity to spend more time talking to westerners. By being with me I think westerners are more willing to talk to her because there is the assumption that she had already been vetted and that there is no scam underway.

The car back was very crowded, as the ticket process indicated to me that it would be, and she was not in the same compartment. So, we did not talk much on the way back. We arrived a bit late for her first class and I hurried to prepare for my class.

Back in Xinyang

I got up on my last day in ShangHai and decided to go for a walk before checking out of the hostel. The route I decided on took me to SuZhou Creek, which I followed to the first bridge that crossed the Huangu River. At this point I crossed in to the PuDong district.

This is a new district that is almost entirely post war. There is very little that is intended to be "touristy" in this area. Instead, following the streets and alleys took me to the real Chinese street markets that I have become accustomed to.

As it approached tome for me to begin heading back I happened to notice the China Post Museum. It was free and I wandered in. For something that is not in the guide books or mentioned anywhere, it was a very good museum. As one can guess, it was devoted to the Chinese postal system and had an impressive stamp collection. While there were many other displays I think it was that stamp room that stood out.

I left there, returned to, and checked out of, the hostel. Stopped for a café for lunch and caught a bus to the train station.

Like the rest of ShangHai, the train station is huge. However, it is well marked and easy to navigate (except for traffic barriers that seem to be placed to force pedestrian traffic into the street with the auto and bus traffic). I chatted with some students while I was waiting for my train, they were taking the same train, and they offered to show me the local bike shops if I return to ShangHai.

Once I was in my bunk I became an object of interest for my cabin mates, who I was not able to talk to. At one point I was asked if I spoke Chinese; but they then asked another question that I was not sure of that I did not have time to answer, "no," to the first one.

Finally, I got tired of the rapid questions that came to fast for my, real bad, Chinese to deal with so I phoned Merry. I then passed them the phone and let her talk to them. The trouble with that was that they did not speak the same local language and she left them thinking that they needed to take me to the bus station to get me a ticket to Zumaden once we arrived in Xinyang. I finally dot off be telling them that I was not going to Zumaden this week, but next week (I was not going at all but this satisfied them that I did not need help).

One really weird thing happened on the train. The two old ladies were sitting on the bunk across from mine and the first one yawned, at that point the second said, "You should go to sleep." The first then replied, "It is still early." At the point the second lady got up and climbed the ladder to her bunk.

You may ask what was strange about that. Here is the strange part. I understood every word. It was like they were speaking English. I, later, asked Merry to repeat the words of the conversation and they sound nothing at all like the English words. I write it off to a high context environment, but it was still a very weird feeling when it happened.

I then caught a cab back to the college and went back to sleep for a few hours, as the train had arrived at 05:30; prompting the conductor to wake me up (I was actually already up) at 05:00. That evening he teacher from South Africa, Merry and I went to dinner at his favorite café.

The next morning Merry and I played scrabble for a while and then did some shopping. Today has been equally slow. I posted the journal entries that you have already seen and Ellen came over and cooked me dinner (she cooked a lot more that I was able to eat; so, I will have leftovers for a couple of days).

Shanghai

I finally rode the Chinese Bullet train. I have several good things to say about it. I already discussed the problems, which center on the station service. The train itself was a pleasure; it was a modern train.

Both the interior ventilation and the lights worked. The seals between the cars were in good repair; this means that my seat, between the car connections, was not a deafening experience. There were no vendors and the toilets were clean and modern.

Compare this to the, all to common, older cars in service that are ventilated by means of opening the windows and a small number of ceiling fans that rattle against their safety cages. Power for these fans, and cabin lights, is supplied by generators that are belt driven off of a pulley on the car, resulting in lights that flicker and vary, when they work at all. As I have mentioned in the past, the toilets are often a hole in the floor of the car. Compared to this the bullet train was a marvel of luxury; the seats were even padded.

I have not made much of a point about the speed for two simple reasons. First, it is a bullet train; you expect it to be fast. The second reason was that on such a short run, only about 90Km, it never managed to get, fully, up to speed and topped out at about 230 K/h, which is just less than 144Mph.

Because it was so late, Shanghai railway station, gladly, did not live up, or down, to its reputation of being a massive peasant encampment and a sea of vendors, poorly, managed by a disinterested railway staff. Instead, it was quiet and well managed. I was directed to the correct bus by a staff that was bored and tired enough to actually be interested in being helpful. I got to my bus rather quickly where my destination was rechecked (I had taken the precaution of printing the destination, in Chinese, in a large font before I left) and when I reached my stop, the bus driver informed me that I was there.

At that point I phoned the Hiker Youth Hostel again, as I had been trying to do all day, and this time I got a person. I was given correct directions and within minuets was walking in the door. Unlike the last place, as I walked through the door I knew I was in a hostel; if I had not seen the sign I would have noticed, walking through the door, the music, the activity in the lounge and the sound of billiards. It was a little after 10:30p.m. And I was in ShangHai.

The reason that I had been trying to contact them all day was that I was actually scheduled to arrive the next day, as I said; I had just gotten bored in SuZhou. My arrival caused some confusion as they thought that I was late and was convinced that they had already let out my room. The solution that they offered was to call around to other hostels to find me a room or to allow me to, at no charge, in the lobby. Seeing as that offer included a shower, pillows, a blanket, and what really was a comfortable couch, I chose the latter.

As the lounge activity died down, and I finished writing, it was about 1a.m. and time to get some sleep. What I did not realize, although I have seen it in enough hotels that I should have expected it, was that the staff also sleeps in the lounge. It was in no way a problem, it just took me a moment to figure out what all these other people were doing there when I woke up about three a.m.

The building was starting to come back to life by about seven a.m. By ten in the morning I had a bed (although I still could not use it because it had not been changed, but this gave me a place to drop my bag). The only remaining challenge was to secure a return train ticket.

I told the desk what I needed and they reported needing a deposit of payment in advance. So, I went in search of a bank. During my walk to the bank I also took a moment to get breakfast from a vendor with a cart. It was no real search seeing as I had seen a bank the previous night while walking.

I then returned to the desk and explained to them what I needed. Basically, I need a ticket back to Xinyang. I want a soft sleeper but am willing to settle for a hard sleeper. Further, I want it on the fourth; however, I am willing to leave on the third or the fifth. I am being very flexible in there plans. The only two things are that I want to be back in time for school and would like to spend an afternoon in Zumaden before school starts. I returned tonight to find that there were no soft sleepers on the fifth, I restated my flexibility and the priority in my plans and they stated that they would check tomorrow. If it turns out that they still haven't gotten me a train ticket then I will try booking a boat ticket back to SuZhou and getting a ticket there.

I then went and got a pair of pants and returned to drop my existing laundry off with reception. When I returned to the lobby I met a pair that I thought were a couple and discovered that he was a Chinese who had spent sometime in the states and she was his student. They then offered to have her show me to one of the places that I had intended to go. On the way there she offered to pay for a river trip that she stated she had also never gone on. Her reasoning was that, by this time, she had discovered that she was getting good quality tutoring for the cost on entertaining me for a day (yes, my scam detector was running on high). We then walked to a large tourist shopping district that was crowded way beyond Disneyland. Speaking of crowds, my morning walks were deceptive. Later in the day, when the people were out, I discovered that this is a truly crowded city.

From there, and lunch, we went to another garden; this was not comparable with the ones seen in ShuZhou however, it was interesting, relaxing, and there were some fantastic calligraphy artifacts, taken from the wild pidgin pagoda on Xian, on display.

From there I went to see the famous "nine curves" bridge, I am not clear why it is famous, but it is. This was followed by purchasing some DVDs' and a visit to some book stores in, yet another, crowded shopping district. From there, after dinner, we returned to the Bund, a famous park of Shanghai. Then, back to the Hostel from this description it may not seem it; but, it has been a full day.

Seeing as I actually had a bunk this night I pretty much slept in. I did not sleep in so much as some of my roommates, who I discovered just got out of the army in Singapore, but, for me, I did sleep in. I then fixed my breakfast and checked my email and was ready to go.

My two destinations for the day were both museums. There are two important museums that are both near the people's park. The first one is the museum of city planning. It is devoted to the history and future of Shanghai. This museum has a display that perpetuates the myth of the Bund once being signed, "No dogs or Chinese permitted," however; it is well known that no one can actually document such a sign having ever existed. This myth remains and is repeated as part of the, larger, "triumph over racism within their own land" since of achievement.

On my way there I did run into a form of the tea house scam a couple of times; at least I think I did, seeing as I just wandered off the moment I saw it developing. The scam goes like this, a pleasant young woman, or a small group of them, approaches a person and introduces themselves as a student and asks them to come to tea; or, if claiming to be an art student, to see an exhibition. Then the tea, or the art that is "given," is billed for, often at well above market rate. Seeing as the exact same line was used on me by three different women as I made my way through a large, several block, plaza, I can expect that this was the game of the day. The real looser in this scam is the legitimate student that wants to spend some time talking to a person from another country; the visitors are often too trepidatious to be courteous (I prefer the more direct approaches, then I can be more sure that I am not being rude as I ignore them and walk away).

The museum was very good for what it was; I would have liked to see more about the infrastructure; which, for a city of this size, is always an incredible achievement. It is interesting to see cities in China go away from a dense walkable and bikeable development to a system of residential communities and auto dependence. This is something that was done in the west with disastrous consequences.

Just leaving the museum of city planning was a strange experience that contained its own bit of irony. I followed the exit signs and they took me to a narrow, seldom used staircase. This staircase descended deep below ground level and it began to feel like one of those dreams in which one continues to descend, by a variety of means, until awakened. I finally came out in a duty, seldom used, passage, well below street level, which was detailed to appear as a street in Shanghai in 1910. Following this passage to its end let me out at a door marked, "staff only," on the other side. The door opened to an underground mall that provided pedestrian passage to several areas in the city. This led to a heavily trafficked passageway which took me to the park in front of the municipal museum.

The municipal museum is one of the best, if not the best, museums that I have seen in China. The displays were well lit and non-flash photography was permitted in nearly all of the exhibits. The collection was large and varied. It did not suffer from the "advance to the present" view of history but was instead logically arranged by artifact type. The building itself was a clean and modern building and while it, to, suffered from a vendor explosion; the placement of the vendors was tastefully done.

I remained in the building until I was chased out at closing time. There were a lot of western tourists and it was funny watching them react to the authoritarian way of chasing people out of the exhibits by the guards and police. It was clear that the guards and police viewed directing westerners to be akin to herding cats.

As I left I chatted with some students who I suspect were legitimate and just wanted to practice their English; but there is no way to be sure so I separated from them quickly. I then went to an early dinner, seeing as I had missed lunch while touring the museums. I then returned to my hostel, stopping to get some more DVDs along the way.

Upon arrival I found that the hostel had secured my return ticket to Xinyang and had finished my laundry, they even folded them for me and put them away. I then chatted with my Singaporean roommates who had just finished their compulsory service. They were using their exit money to do some touring before starting university the following year. It seems that the former enlisted members had hidden the former officers clothing leaving him no pants other than a pair of tight shorts with ,"hot buns," embroidered on the rear pocket (he referred to them as "gay" shorts). This indicated to me that relations between the ranks were quite collegial; they all seemed to be friends.

I then went for a last moment bit of shopping. I wanted to get Merry something for the help that she had provided me. I then returned to the hostel for the loud music in the lobby and a table to write on.

Suzhou

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So far, the trip has been somewhat uneventful. On the way to the train station I stopped at a large grocery store and got some munchies and put them in my pack. I am rather glad I did as this hostel is no where near a grocery (at least as far as I can tell). The train was a slow one and made a lot of stops, the only issue with that is the stops sometimes woke me up. In the morning I did see my first bullet train (trains that run in excess of 300K/h or 176.5mph) and I intend to ride one soon.

Finding the correct bus, to the hostel, was a bit of an ordeal due to an expansion of a canal. To add to the problem, after I got of the bus I followed the directions provided exactly. This got me no where near the hostel. I then called and on the third try got a person who spoke some English. In her attempt to clarify the instructions she said," I'm sorry, I don't know which way right and left are." This was my clue. I returned to my starting point, where I got off the bus, and did exactly the opposite of what the instructions said; this took me to the hostel with no difficulties.

This hostel, SuZhou International Youth Hostel, is a strange one. It is on the fifth floor above a regular Hotel. Where most of the hostels have been... well, party central... This place is more like a hotel; it is very quiet and has a very different atmosphere than I am used to.

There is a small self service kitchen but there is no bar or food service, and, as one German I was talking to noticed, the toilets are squat toilets. There is a TV room but here is no public lounge. The real funny part is that it turns out that this is not the hostel that I made the reservations at. All I can say is that the website for contacting these hostels is outlandishly poor. I may go look at the place I was supposed to stay when I am out riding tomorrow.

Well, my roommates did show up. They were a couple of South Korean brothers that were studying in ShangHai and enjoying their spring vacation. They basically came in and left. We talked for a while as we ate breakfast and hat was about it. In the evening a German student also dropped in; I intentionally left my door open so that there would be some life here. He was leaving to look for another hotel. The toilets were it for him. I found it interesting that a person of Chinese heritage, and born in china, and who was studying Chinese culture would be so put off by the toilets; but I do have to admit it, squat toilets do smell pretty bad.

This morning I got up and rented a bicycle, for which I was charged 20RMB.This is about the going rate. The bike itself was a total mess, bad brakes, bearings, and about everything else. However, it was a bike and made seeing the city enjoyable.

Many people referred to Kunming as the garden city. Su Zhou has everything Kunming claimed to have. The first place I rode was the lion garden. It had a great stone maze. One thing that is notable about Chinese gardens is that they do not try to adapt to or in any way utilize the natural beauty. They are seen as objects of art in and of themselves. As such, everything about the gardens is artificial. That aspect takes some adapting to and adjusting our concept of outdoor beauty.

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I was surprised, considering the rain, just how crowded this garden was. Like most Chinese scenic things, there are many organized bus tours. Once you get away from the tours the crowds diminish rapidly.

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They are really into these stone boats, no garden is complete without one

From there I went and looked at some bicycles. The bikes I was looking at were high-end models that are, simply, not available in Xinyang. In truth, they were very reasonably priced when compared to what the same models cost in the states. As much as I am attracted to the skinny tired racing bikes, I am looking harder at the touring models.

The main two things that held me back at this shop were the consideration that I am going to ShangHai next and expect to see more, and better, bikes and the fact that I have some questions regarding shipping and with no one in this shop speaking English I felt that I needed to shop somewhere that I could get answers.

I then located Pan Men (coiled gate); a large park that recently hosted the Pan-Asian economics conference. Before entering I rode until I found a small shop that would provide me lunch. I then entered the garden and climbed the Ruiguang Ta pagoda, an 11th century structure. I then spent several hours wandering around the park and then visited the remaining sections of the city walls. These sections are also within the park.

This city is a great place to return to with Zeneta. Not only for the many gardens and photographic opportunities, but also for the silk industry and the many Chinese silk dresses that are available.

After leaving there I rode to the docks looking for a boat that would take me down the Grand Canal to HangZhou. I had a bit of trouble communicating with the boat crews; but, with Merrys help, I was able to determine that there are no more passenger boats that make that run. It was a ten hour trip and most people, simply, what to travel faster.

I then returned to the hostel, returned the bike, and walked to a restaurant for dinner. I am strongly considering cutting my stay here a day short and heading for ShangHai tomorrow.

Today it was still raining when I got up; so, I first checked out of the hotel. While checking out I tried to get the hotel staff to write what I needed to say at the train station. They got it wrong. This was not a typical full service hostel and they were not prepared to get the tickets for me; which was just as well, seeing as none of them spoke English.

The train station was its own ordeal that I will go in to in short order. However, after the train station I went to two museums and had a good lunch (good because I managed to get lunch).

I arrived at the train station with a note that did not say what I wanted. I wanted a first class ticket on the high speed (bullet) train to ShangHai. The staff at the hotel had only written, "SuZhou to ShangHai." An English speaking Chinese woman tried to help. However, she, seeing that I wanted a bullet train, got me a ticket that would have gotten me to ShangHai faster than any other way. She booked me a ticket on a regular train that was leaving in about twenty minuets.

What she failed to understand was that I did not need the fastest transit to ShangHai. I wanted to ride one of China's bullet trains.

I got back into line after taking a picture of one of the promotional posters for the train and, after waiting in another unbelievably long line, showed the picture to the woman at the counter along with pointing to the words, "first class." It seems that her vocabulary was limited to the word, "mayo," which is a form of the word, "no."

I finally got into another of the intractably long lines and made another try. This person was willing to tell me that there were no first class tickets available on the bullet train that day and that the next ticket was for a train that left at 8:47p.m. I took the ticket.

I then went in search of the Silk Museum. It was supposed to be on Ren Men Lu (people's road); however, due to construction, I was having trouble finding this road that is in each and every Chinese city.

After walking several kilometers (remember, at this point I am carrying a pack) I started to give upon that museum and caught a bust that should have taken me to the SuZhou city museum. As I passed the museum I was assured that I was on the right bus and I also realized that I would have a walk back.

The museum itself was a very good and modern one. The bathrooms even had clean and modern toilets (that fact that the condition of the toilets is considered something worthy of note should tell you something about China). The exhibits were a collection of jade pieces (found in all Chinese Museums) and some of the artifacts removed from, nearby, pagodas and tombs. Many of these artifacts are of such quality that they are classed as national treasures. However, as you will notice, there are very few pictures from this museum; thus, few lasting memories. Like many places in China, photography is forbidden. However, unlike so many other places, this place was crawling with guards to enforce this rule.

After I left the museum I started walking toward where the next museum should have been. I stopped at several places for lunch but they all insisted that I point to what I wanted on the menu. Very simply, my ability to read Chinese is not that good and I refused to call on Merrie's great skill with the language just so that I could eat lunch (For those who are wondering why she did not help me at the train station, she is not with me. When I need her, I phone her. If Zeneta were to come I would ask Merry to accompany her; but, I am making this trip on my own).

After lunch I walked further and found the Silk Museum. I passed a pagoda on the way there but realized that I was coming close to closing time at the museum and wanted to get there more than I wanted to see the pagoda. A couple of more blocks put me across the block from the museum.

The silk museum was interesting with a number of samples of ancient silk, which has been cultivated since about 4000BC, and a large number of looms and other traditional machines for making and processing silk. Unfortunately, there was supposed to be a room where I would be able to see a plethora of the little mulberry munchers at work. However, they were all dormant when I visited.

Leaving there I caught a bus that took me most of the way to the train station. I was not able to bull my way into the first class waiting room as I did not have a first class ticket and this is a large town that is used to dealing with foreigners (in fact, I was surprised at the number I saw in this town). Someone did help me find the correct waiting room and a seat; yes, I could have found the room and a seat on my own but people like to feel helpful.

At that point, it was just a couple of hours of reading while I waited for my train. I did have one person who told me that he as a senior, majoring in English, and who wanted to talk for a while (he was also having trouble with the he/she thing). So, I chatted until it was time to catch my train.