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.

Finishing Jigou shan and preparing to leave for Shanghai

At that point we all returned to our hotel in order to dress for dinner. Seeing as none of us had any dinner clothing, we, essentially, returned as we were. I did wash a shirt that I had managed to splatter during lunch and borrowed a spare from Collin.

We then all headed off for dinner. Dinner was standard Chinese fare. The foot of some chicken was sticking out of the soup; it looked shockingly like a little hand.

Because the table was not large enough for us all, the Chinese ended up sitting in a larger, less ornate, room and coming to visit us at our table from time to time.

After dinner conversation seemed to drift to how to go about refocusing the English club. It is our desire that the students spend more time talking to each other, in English, and less time with us, the westerners, talking. On a cultural note, the Chinese do not talk business after dinner; they talk business during the meal. So, if there is a lot to talk about then a lot of food is ordered (remember, all meals are shared) and once the food is done then it is time to leave.

This cultural difference was notable at this dinner because the Chinese finished well after us; but, when they saw that we were done eating and were talking they quickly announced that it was time to leave.

Shortly after we returned to the hotel a storm fell upon us. It was fine all day and walking back; but, within a half an hour of our return to the hotel, a string wind came and, with it, brought heavy rain.

The rest of the evening there was little to do but sit and watch a Chinese horror movie, it did have English subtitles. The balcony on my room was covered however the wind blew the shirts I had hanging outside onto the ground and I had to go and retrieve them the next morning.

By the next morning the weather had not improved. So, after breakfast in the village that Colin, Brawnie and I had been walking toward the previous morning, when we were stopped, we returned to our hotel and waited, drinking tea and chatting, in the hotel lobby, until it was time to return to the school.

After the test I went to dinner with some of the students, something I have done very little of this semester. Before dinner they wrote to the Hostel (in Chinese) and asked them to call me so that I could make a reservation; of course, the call came in while we were eating dinner. That actually worked out well because Sam was able to talk to the woman at the hostel. Then, on Tuesday, which is my afternoon that I have off, I went with Gao, Sam, Lee, and Walick to get my train ticket to Su Zhou, seeing as I now had a confirmed place to stay.

Wednesday, Sam, Lee and I made some scrabble like pieces and a game board; in total, we made three complete sets. A real Scrabble set costs over 375RMB here, if you can find one, and it was quickly decided that if I wanted a scrabble set I was going to make it.

The scrabble issue can up in an attempt to decide what to do during the week after the test. Because the test was followed by a week of classes and then a week of vacation, as stated, a lot of the students left early. I wanted something easy and fun to do in class; however, it still needed to be educational. It is interesting to see how competitive they get and to observe their sense of fairness.

Friday morning I had one class (two sessions) and there were no students at all. Julia came by and told me that all of her students were also gone; so, after waiting a while to see if any stragglers came in I left to start packing for my trip.