Medical Exam

Last weekend I went with another teacher from XYNU and Ju Hai Ying (Julia) to Zhengzhou in order to take the standardized medical exam. This was at the place I took my first exam, and Zeneta took both of her exams, at.

Julia was a bit tired form having just finished her second stage Graduate exam in Shanghai. It seems that the procedure is to first take a national exam to see if one can even advance to the graduate level in their chosen field. Then, they go to the individual school, that they intend to study at, and take a battery of tests there. The first test is an all day test. The second stage, at the chosen school, takes about a week.

The other teacher was just being himself. By nature he is very short tempered and was upset from the start. He was not happy about going to Zhengzhou for the physical. Last year the end of year physical was done in Xinyang and he refused to understand why the physical, this year, could not also be done in Xinyang; this, relieving him of the need to travel.

The reason was simple. The school was fined quite heavily for doing that last year. The physicals are required to be done at the entry/exit medical examination facilities. Before a Chinese national is permitted to travel abroad they are required to undergo a medical exam and receive a battery of vaccinations. Then when they return they are also required to take an exam, primarily to be tested for AIDS.

It is at these facilities that foreign experts are also required to be tested. It is that simple, and that inflexible.

The next issue, one that I will expand on in my trip to Xian with He Zhi Qing, is that Ju Hai Ying did not get the tickets we asked her to. We asked for "D" Train, or "soft seat," tickets. She got is hard seat tickets on a "K" train. Yes, the seats are padded, which is an improvement; but, they are not "soft seat" which is the first class carriage. To someone who does not travel in China this sounds like a small issue; but, remember that the "hard" carriages are also the standing room carriages with all the chaos and crowding I have described in the past.

We arrived in Zhengzhou late, upsetting the other teacher further, and got a snack; which, due to issues with stomach problems, the other teacher could not eat. We than got to the hotel and discovered that Ju Hai Ying had gotten a single room for the other teacher and I. She had never given this a second thought, or mentioned it to us previously. To many Chinese, sharing rooms is common and normal.

The other teacher again got upset and demanded to be returned to Xinyang. I think this was the third time he made that demand on this trip; and, we were still on the first evening.

After getting the room issue straightened out (the other teacher and I did not share a room; but, Ju Hai Ying spent several hours walking aground Zhengzhou looking for a room that night) Ju Hai Ying wanted us to go to dinner with her and a friend of hers (a man, which was why she was not able to stay at the friends place); however, the other teacher said, "no." (really, he said a lot more than "no;" but, it distilled to, "no.").

I let Ju Hai Ying pick the place for dinner. It was Chinese, very Chinese, but good.

The next morning went fine, other than having trouble getting a cab. It was rush hour and we had a lot of trouble finding a cab that did not already have a passenger.

The medical went as expected. They had a few words about someones blood pressure, not mine, and that was about all. I did tell Ju Hai Ying to make sure that they were aware of my problem with blood draws. She really did not understand; but they did. She started trying to explain what I had told her and they almost immediately interrupted her (which was good, she really did not understand the problem; but they did) and asked if I needed to lie down as the blood was being drawn or after. I told them after and they put me in a draw chair that was right next to a cot that was set low to the ground. I almost didn't make it to the cot.

Ju Hai Ying tried to get me to get my feet off the cot and lie properly and the staff there stopped her and told her that I knew what I needed to do. As I have said, it is simply a case of lying with my knees high, or legs elevated for about five minutes and I am fine; but, if I don't do this after a blood draw, I wont make it those five minutes. I have lost more blood, than is taken in those draws, in accidents and been just fine. Like the doctor in America said, its just needle effect.

We left there and got a snack then wet to the hotel room where the three of us discussed the plan for next year. As you can guess, I said that the other teacher's favored workbook was not suitable as the sole text.

After that it was time for lunch, the need to move fast in the morning through the three-meal-a-day Chinese time schedule off. As a result the other teacher did not eat with us (us being Ju Hai Ying, her friend, and myself). We had western food, steak, for lunch and I tried to coach Ju Hai Ying a bit on western utensil usage.

After this we went to the western food store in Zhengzhou. The purpose was to get some breakfast cereal and cheese. I was not impressed with the cheese selection. Zeneta, later, told me that they had been cutting back on the cheese selection, even, while she had been shopping there.

We left Ju Hai Ying at that point and went back to the train station where we waited for the D-train to Xinyang. I did notice that the train was more crowded than it had been in the past. I think that the D-train has been a big hit here. Along with the improvement in speed, the cleanliness and standard of service is something that is not normal for China; and, the D-trains success shows that there is a demand for it.

Zeneta makes her exit (from China)

Gao Jing is back. She went with Zeneta to Beijing in order to insure that Zeneta had less problems leaving China. While here, because the dorms were closed, she used the couch in our "den."

Gao Jing came a couple of days before Zeneta was due to leave in order to complete some final paperwork that was necessary for Wa Dou to leave the country. I was surprised at how well that went.

She and Zeneta also tried to mail back some of Zenetas clothing and personal affects, only to discover that the post offices are closed for the month in honor of the New Year. The result of that is that I still have a giant pile of stuff waiting to be shipped once the post offices open again. I am under the impression that they will open in a couple of weeks.


The first step was to take a cab to the bus station. She took a bus instead of a train fir two reasons. First, she had a tremendous amount of stuff, well over the weight limit for baggage on the train. The second reason was that, much like in America, dogs are not allowed on the train. She had hopped that the dog could sit on her lap on the trip, like he has done in the past when traveling to Zhengzhou; however, the driver insisted that he be in a cage. So, he sat in a cage, on her lap, to Zhengzhou.


In Zhengzhou they met with Sunny, one of my freshmen students who lives in that city. She then assisted them in finding their hotel and she also took Wa Dou for the night, as dogs are not allowed in any of the hotels that Zeneta contacted in Zhengzhou.


The next day they met with Sunny and went to the airport in Zhengzhou (cab from Zhengzhou to Zhengzhou International Airport is about 150? in order to fly to Beijing. It was necessary to fly form Zhengzhou both to reduce the length of the bus ride and because, having obtained his exit papers in Henan province, it was necessary for Wa Dou to leave China from Henan province.

It was at the airport in Zhengzhou that Zeneta ran into her first problem of the exit stage (which is different from the planning stage; or, the, still separate, pre-exit stage [the paperwork stage] ) Gao Jing's ticket was no good. Zeneta had purchased it from Expedia and, as such, her name was written as "Gao Jing" in pin yin (roman characters) instead of 高竟, and only Chinese characters are acceptable for Chinese nationals tickets. Instead of having her name in characters, it would have been acceptable to have her ID number on the ticket; but, that was not there either. As such, the ticket was, simply, not valid.

Zeneta ended up purchasing a ticket for her there, at the airport so that she could continue to accompany Zeneta to Beijing. Other than that, there were no big problems. She was permitted to check in her two large bags and her dishes as regular baggage. The rule is two pieces of baggage so she had taped the two large boxes of dishes together tin order to make them into one box instead of two. However, this still left her at three packages. She was still not charged for the excess baggage. This has given me some encouragement as to getting my bicycle back in June. She was charged extra for Wa Dou, we were prepared for that as the China Air website, clearly, says that animals are charged as excess baggage, even if there is no other baggage. The charge was 10? per Kilogram, or, 100? for Wa Dou and his crate.


They then flew to Beijing where they got their luggage and went through the process of checking it again, they do not transfer your luggage for you in China. You have to retrieve it and check it in at each transfer point. Here they charged the 200? that the China Air website said that it would cost for excess baggage to get Wa Dou on the plane. As before, there was no charge for the dishes, which constituted a third bag.


At that point Gao Jing left Zeneta to idle her time away as she waited to fly, non-stop from Beijing to San Francisco.

Almost ready to start another year

I went riding again this weekend. I have been having some trouble contacting the bicycle group's message board; however, on a ride, at the 10Km point, I ran into a teacher at the university. He told me that on Saturday was going to be a women's ride, but that on Sunday would be a general group ride that was leaving at eight am. He estimated about 100km (it turned out to only be 90) and stated that the route had some strong hills.

Gao Jing is in the green and white shirt on the right, Zhang Pei is the third fom the Left, looking at the camera and wearing glasses.

Gao Jing was not able to go on this ride (in truth, she has no intention of going on any of the long rides) because she got a job for the weekend. She was selling convenient noodles, these are what we call ramen noodles, in front of a market. Several of her roommates were also selling noodles at this market, and another market in town.

The ride was supposed to start at eight so I headed off, a bit behind schedule and I ate some bread as I was riding. Eating while riding, or driving, is not common here; however, talking on the cell phone certainly is (and in a nation where no one has any sense of social responsibility, it can be scary). As a result I did manage to arrive a few minutes early.

A few people noticed that I did some stuff to my bike. Because I am having some trouble finding an affordable shipping company to return it to the states (UPS quoted about 3500RMB) I am hesitating on getting a road specific bike; so, I started looking at what I can do to this bike. There are two issues that I wanted to address. The first was rattles. The second was weight. When I got it, it was what I wanted for certain tasks. I wanted a quality bike for trips to the store, this necessitated racks and carrying capacity. The second thing I wanted was a touring bike. For long rides, like the one I made in the summer. For these tasks the bike I have is close to ideal.

However, I am now using the scooter for trips on campus. And, simply, the increased carrying capacity makes the scooter well suited for trips to the store. This leaves the bikes main use as a sporting bike.

With this in mind, I removed the front rack and basket, which was a lot of the rattles. I also removed the kickstand, which was over a kilogram by itself. Being as I am riding it in, generally, good weather, I also removed the fenders. Removing the fenders took care of the occasional maladjustments' that caused tyre rubbing, noise and friction. I left the rear rack on. This was because I needed a place to put the lock. That may eventually go to, as I do not stop anywhere on my recreational rides.

Doing all this made my bike more suited to the type of riding that I am now doing. The weight removed, particularly on the front, made the bike more responsive and with the fenders gone, there was nothing for road debris to get hung up on. Of course, everything done was fully reversible; so, if I change my mind it is a simple task of bolting it all back on.

The front runners and some of us taking a break (the guy in the red shirt also teaches at XYNU)

Of those of us who were there on time, there were about six others that were present and ready to go. So, we simply left while the others were assembling, we did tell them that we were leaving. All six of us were relatively fast riders and kept a strong pace, which lead to a lot of spreading in the pack. We stopped at one spot, about 25Km down the road to insure that all were present, and then we kept going. At about 303Km we turned off the main road onto a mixed pavement road the quickly led to a village that was not noticeable from the road.

It is fun going through these little villages. We all enjoy the look of the small children when we go through their streets. It is not like automobile, or airplane, or even motorcycle racing. We are on bicycles. This is something that they can relate to; yet, when we go through faster than they have ever seen bicycles go, in formation, and with riding gear that basically provides an identifiable uniform, their eyes light up. It is something that they know is a realistic thing to think about doing.

After leaving the village we were on a narrow road, about three meters in total width. Many people were drying their crops on the road and the only way through was to ride right over. It did not seem to be a problem with anyone as we did so.

We went through one little village and something surprising happened. In general, the dogs in China do not chase bicyclists. They grow up around them and are broken of chasing at an early age. Well, this dog was an exception to that rule. It just happened to be an exception to the "dogs in China are small" rule also. I was in the back of the pack and a police officer I sometimes joke with was in the middle. When this dog came out we all went to full power. What was funny was the way I just shot through the pack from the back. Because of the admonition that I am not to ride fast, I was intentionally loafing near the rear and had a lot of energy to burn. The police officer (that is right, I forgot his name) also pulled to the front. Then another dog came out and we kept pushing (It was like the old joke that ends with "I only have to outrun you"). In a few moments we looked back and we were over a hundred meters in front of the others. We both got a good laugh over our little sprint. When we came across dogs that would bark, later in the day, we both made like we were going to sprint.

This rolling single lane of mixed pavement and dirt continued until we got to the last four Km. then it turned into a narrow, about 3 meter wide, road that was well paved. It was just outlandishly steep. There was one spot we measured; it had more than a meter of rise for four meters of run. Some of it was rideable. However, we all had to make the walk of shame. I was not the first, and I was not the last to start walking.

When we got to the top of the road there was a large, rather new, roadhouse. We all went in to watch the Beijing World Cup Triathlon (Spain won) on television and wait for the others. It was sort of embarrassing when they arrived and asked us when we had gotten there. We had been there for over an hour when they arrived.

We then walked to the top of the mountain. The climbing was not hard but I really need to start wearing something other than sandals for these activities. The view from the top was blocked by trees but there was a great rock shelf that offered a great look at the road we had just ridden and the rest of the valley.

After the short hike we returned to the roadhouse for a typical Chinese meal. They have their large meal at mid day; so, the meal consisted of eight dishes and two soups, along with rice and rice crust. This meal went well for me because I did something. I asked Gao Jing to contact the ride leader and let him know what I do eat.

In the past there has been a lot of concern that about all I was eating at lunch was rice and broth. Well, I just can not get into floating head and foot soup. As most of you know, I do not eat really fatty food and avoid pork. I also do not like eating food that leaves me spending more time spiting bones onto the table than I spend eating. Yes, I am picky but I will not starve (just to be sure, I put some bread rolls in my pack before leaving).

After the meal we went on another hike. This one was boulder hopping down a hillside. I did not go all the way down. I came to the conclusion that everything I hopped down, I would have to climb back up. I went back up to the pools by the small waterfall and waited there.

We then returned to the roadhouse, where they had moved our bikes to keep the seats out of the sun; however, that made mine hard to get to. We then got some water and prepared to leave.

Leaving was harder than it seemed. Not because of all the photo opps that took so much time (trying to get that many people in a single picture is not always easy, particularly when the person taking the pictures wants to be in them and does not have a tripod). Instead it was because of the hill that had tested us as we rode to the roadhouse. Going down it was its own challenge. Several people's brakes were barely up to it. I even had some problems with over heating, this was a place that the disk brakes, that some of the bikes were equipped with, showed their worth.

The ride back was quick and easy. We regrouped once; however, I was one of the first into the rest point, and, as such, I was also one of the first out. Having actually eaten lunch helped my riding a lot.

Just another rest stop, only about half the riders are in this picture.

I was asked by a person what it was like living in China. I pointed them at my, rather lengthy, blog. I think if it were ever printed out that it would come to a couple hundred pages; and, I do hope that, somewhere, in this mountainous haystack of, largely repetitive, diatribe are a few needles. So, if you are reading this, make a few comments now and again so I will know that, at least, someone is reading it. Also, comments help me to zero in on what people are interested in hearing about.

Later in the week I went to take part in the evening fitness ride instead of going alone. I was under the impression that they leave at six thirty. However, I discovered at they leave at six. So, I ended up riding alone anyway.

I went back the next night and went riding with the mechanic and a girl. I then had all kinds of bike trouble. Either, it was a good thing the mechanic was with me, or, he was bad luck. He ended up taking my bike back to the shop where we determined that the derailleur was not repairable. I ended up taking a cab back.

While we were at the shop, we saw a bike that Zeneta liked and we added another to the stable. I will post some pictures of her riding soon.

I was planning to go, with the other teacher, Ken, and visit a coal mine and power plant during the past week. As we understand, the coal mine is an open mine; as such, it should be entirely safe. We were then to travel on the route that the coal takes to a power plant. We are told that this plant has been in service for over one hundred years.

The problem is getting there. This shows one of the cultural differences between westerners and Chinese. As westerners, we insist on a plan. We have worked out the itinerary and the trains that we will need to, both, depart and return. However, train tickets are, generally, not available in advance. It is simple; if you do not plan then purchasing tickets in advance is not a problem because you do not do it. Like I have mentioned, if a Chinese Citizen needs to go somewhere they wait until they are ready to go and then go to the train station and try to see what kinds of tickets are available. If they can only get a standing ticket, then they stand.

For us, this is a last option, not the plan. So, I first look up the trains on the internet and find the time and cost. At that point I go to the advance sales ticket office. The problem is that I then am told that the first train on my list is available, but the others are not. The suggestion is, as expected, to take that train and try to get tickets when I get to the next town.

Part of the problem is the ticketing system. It is a holdover from the pre-computer days. Each city is permitted to sell a certain number of tickets for each train. If they sell those tickets, then the train is sold out. This is another part of the problem that leads to people being told that there are no tickets on a train that is running practically empty. It made sense in the mail pouch days when stations were mailed tickets. However, now that they all use terminals that are tied into the same ticketing computer, it makes no sense.

The D train, being an entirely new system, does not use this method of ticketing; they use a unified ticket management instead of a city based ticket management system. As such, it is easy to get a ticket on that train. However, the D train only takes us as far as Zhengzhou and does not get us back.

The new plan is to go during the October holiday instead. We are still trying to work out the tickets and to be sure we can get them. To add to the confusion, tickets can only be sold ten days in advance. While this does help prevent unexpected problems from throwing the entire system out of whack, it makes it hard to travel for people who insist on planning

I got my class schedule last night, about nine p.m. on the Friday before classes are scheduled to start on Monday. I still do not have my books. I am told that they will be delivered later today.

Last Wednesday we had a meeting to discuss what we will be teaching. By this, I mean the pedagogy, or the method of teaching. We had some proponents of teaching through films. Others wanted to use the dialog book. It appears that the dialog book people won.

One difference this year is that all of the foreign teachers will be teaching freshmen. There are about 2000 new freshmen at Haurai College, which is a small art of Xinyang Normal University, and it is where I, and four other foreign teachers, teach. The plan is that all new freshmen will have a foreign teacher for their English class. Some of the teachers still have a couple of classes of sophomores; however, I have, as expected, all freshmen.

Coming and going

As stated, Gao Jing had assisted us by securing tickets before we arrived in Xinyang. There was some concern because she had no gotten a ticket to Qingdao. The reason for this was that the Qingdao train station was being remodeled for the 2008 Olympics. However, the Hostel that she planed to stay in had also posted directions fro the alternate station.

Her reason for wanting to go to Qingdao was to take a boat to South Korea in order to visit her sister, Victoria, who is there in the US Army. I needed to go to Xian to meet Zeneta, who was flying in from the States.

This was basically a relax and do some laundry stop. In addition to that it made it synchronize schedules and to insure that all was on schedule. We borrowed one of Collins bicycles and went on a ride. She removed a lot of stuff from her pack in order to lighten her load as she went to Korea and the next day we set off for our respective trains.

The trip to Xian was entirely uneventful and I sat around the lounge until it was time to check in and got a double (160Y) instead of staying in the dorms (40Y). Later that night I walked over to the Melody Hotel and got the airport shuttle bus (25Y).

It was a bit of an irritation, at the airport, in the receiving area, there was only one bench that would hold about four people for all of the people that were waiting for arrivals. This is something I have noticed about China and even Debra has commented on, the lack of public seating. In this case the majority of the seating, sufficient for about 100, was on the inside of the exit area. As a result they were generally unused. The only people I saw using them were airport employees, to sleep on.

In addition to that, Zeneta's plane was extremely late. She was scheduled to arrive at 9:30pm and her plane did not arrive until 2:30am. We then took a bus back to the Melody and, from there, walked to our hostel.

I had already purchased return tickets (soft sleeper) to Xinyang for the next day. So, after a bit of shopping, we hopped on the train and spent most of the return journey sleeping.

That next Saturday I went on another 100k ride, that I had scheduled to go on, with the activity group. The result was that Zeneta and Gao needed to go to the train station to pick up Debra on her return.

The ride went pretty well, except that it was hot. We stopped a few times to rest and the like, and then in the middle of the ride we stopped for lunch. It was shortly before this that the mechanic caught up with us. He was not able to leave when we did so the mechanic riding with us on this trip was on a scooter and stayed with us until the lunch stop. Then he went back to the shop.

Before lunch we went swimming. This is the first time I have been swimming in China. In fact, this is the first time I have been immersed in China. The water in this river was about chest deep and I could easily see the bottom. It was a great opportunity to cool off.

Lunch was a collection of soups. I later discovered that there was a lot of concern that I was not eating much. I did eat a lot of the vegetables in the spicy soup and several bowls of rice.

After lunch, the doctor came out to where we were and talked to all of us for a while. Then we waited for a van to come and take two of the riders back. At that point a third rider chose to also ride back in the van, which left eleven of us.

As has happened to me before, after lunch I bonked. First, this was a group of strong riders. The weaker riders simply chose not to make this ride. On the way out I was running in the middle of the pack. Then I was near the back. Then, after about ten or fifteen kilometers, I was in back. The mechanic fell back to ride with me (he always rides in back) and gave me some foul concoction. It is a brown drink, about two tablespoons, in a sealed single use bottle. I have seen several using these as energy drinks and he had a box of them in his pack. I drank two of them, one at one stop and one at the next. Then, I was back in the middle (actually, toward the front).

In all, it was a good ride. As many of you have determined, I enjoy these rides. I see places that a regular tourist would not, I get to work on my Chinese, and it is an opportunity to get out and be social. Often the westerners in these small town tend to get very insular and unadventurous. This is the opposite of that.

When I returned Zeneta and Gao had already picked up Debra. It was now time to begin preparing for her trip to Xian.

I had already obtained the tickets to Xian for both of us. They were middle bunk sleeper tickets. However, that was all that was available.

The plan was that I would travel to Xian with Debra and see her off. Then, I would do a bit of shopping in Xian and return.

The problems started when we were waiting and the train was late. Then the attendant came and took our tickets and gave us our money back. That was a real bad sign.

At that point I called Gao and asked her to talk to the attendant at the train station (I am glad that we wait in soft seating, at least there are attendants). It turns out that due to flooding near Xian there would be no trains running from this station to Xian.

Seeing as Debra had a flight to catch, this was not a simple case of waiting until the trains would be running again. So, I purchased three tickets to Zhengzhou on a D train. The D train is the new high speed train service that is running on limited routes in China. It runs about 250kph.

The reason for three tickets was simple; one of the tickets was for Gao. That way when we got to Zhengzhou she would be able to help us.

The reason for hurrying to Zhengzhou was that I felt that we would have more options when we got there. It is a major rail hub and approaches Xian from a different direction. Thus, even though the tracks from Xinyang were closed, I expected the tracks from Zhengzhou to still be open.

We got to Zhengzhou and Gao purchased two tickets to Xain for us and a ticket back to Xinyang for herself. This was the beginning of the failure of this plan; her train left first.

Unaware of the impending problems, she and Debra went and watched some street performers. They were performing in the middle of the night because it was too hot in the day time.

Finally it came time for her to leave and off she went as we continued to wait for our 3:30am train. At 3:30am the train switched from being listed as arriving to "delayed indefinitely."

At about six am we discovered that all of the Xian trains, from this station, were also being stopped. These tracks were also washed out. We then went looking for a flight to Xian and were informed that there were no flights from Zhengzhou to Xian. The next thing we tried was to see if she could catch her flight in Beijing. The flight had a transfer there and it would be possible to put her on another D train and get her there in time.

It turned out that doing that was not an option either. We then went and got her a bus ticket to Xian. Once she had the bus ticket I then went and got a D ticket back to Xinyang (ooh… first class). I had planned to accompany her all of the way to the airport in Xian. However, I just did not want to go through all of this again in getting back.

I waited until I saw her get on the bus, then I went to lunch (yes, it was already approaching lunch time) then I went back and waited for my train.

As far as the ride back, I hesitate to recommend the first class of the D train. The only reason that I would recommend it is you have a long stop and want to wait in the first class waiting room.

The first class cars did have wider and more comfortable seats. There was definitely more leg room. However, the reason I hesitate to recommend it is because of the carpet. The first class cars are carpeted. You must understand that the Chinese do not, generally, diaper their infants. The result is that the car smelt of urine.

I am now back in Xinyang, Debra is in the States Gao Jing has returned to her home town of Niawan and Zeneta is here watching a Harry Potter movie.

October national holiday

This was a week of national holiday (as I write this I am hearing constant fireworks in the background). As such, we seized the opportunity and played tourist. On paper we only had three days off; so, the school schedule went a little odd. Last Saturday I held my Wednesday classes (Class 3), and on Sunday I will hold my Friday classes (Class 3 and 5). This left us with Sunday through Saturday to go.

Because the class held on Saturday was out of schedule, with the other classes, I did not want to do a real lesson. So, I showed a movie. The movie was Serenity, the answer to, " did they like it?" is that it depended on the student. It was a bit intense for some of them. The college also gave me a gift of a tin of moon cakes, which are a sort of pastry; they were very good.

On Sunday morning Kennie and Suzanne (two Chinese girls who work at the came college as I do) made sure that we were ready to go and we all went off looking for a couple of cabs. This is the only time that we have had any trouble at all in finding a cab at the college. Being that this is the beginning of a national holiday, all of the cabs were taken. So, we started walking in the direction that the cabs were coming from, which also happened to be the direction of the train station.

In reasonably short order we contacted a couple of cabs that were not spoken for and piled in to the pair. The ride to the station was, yet another, suicide taxi race. On this day that cabbies knew that there were as many fare paying passengers as they could get to. For them it was only a matter of going faster.

The traffic here has few rules. A couple of them seem to be to stop and look for traffic police before running a red light and that you are not allowed to hit anything or, more importantly, any one; brushing their clothing is okay. That was pretty much it. The biggest thing to get used to is the constant playing chicken with opposing traffic while passing, which is also constant, and the near total lack of lane control. The drivers only look straight forward, as they are only responsible for what they see; therefore, the less one sees, the faster they can go.

At the train station we quickly and easily boarded our train even though we had to ask people to move from the seats that we had purchased. Many people get a ticket with no seat assignment, as it is slightly cheaper. However, they are left trying to find an empty seat; or, on a busy travel day, like this one was, standing for the duration of the trip. This was one of the busiest days I have seen on the train and, I expect, that about half of the passengers, in the car, were left standing.

The cars themselves are reminiscent of what I would have expected in the nineteen fifties. One thing I did notice was that the generators for the cars (for onboard power and air conditioners, when present) are driven by a belt that goes to a pulley that is connected to the outside of one of the road wheels. It is an odd looking arrangement, however, it seems to work. The other thing I noticed was the brakes on the cars. They operate by friction pads that directly contact the rolling surface of the road wheels.

Taken from my window on the train

The car that we left Xinyang for Zhengzhou on did not have air conditioning so I promptly opened the window. The fact that I opened the window should provide some idea of the relative age and technology level of the car. I opened the window a crack when we were moving and all the way at the many stops that the train made along the way. Colin was on the other side of the rail car and spent about the first hour and a half trying to get the window to move. When it finally did move, it went further than he wanted. However, it did supply him with air, which is what he wanted.

After we arrived in Zhengzhou we went to the hotel, in the Yingbin Building, where we were planning to stay for that night. This hotel turned out to be the most stressful part of the trip. I can say with some candor that the behavior of the hotel staff almost caused us to cut our vacation short. However, the point that the problems developed with the hotel had not yet occurred.

After leaving the luggage, we went to dinner with the entire party, which consisted of Colin, Bronee, Michelle, Suzanne, and Kennie. We also met up with Julia, the person that had accompanied us to the medical examination. She also brought along her younger brother.

Clockwise from bottom:Michelle, Kennie, Colin, Julia, Clever (Julia's brother), Bronee, Zeneta, Suzanne.

At that point, Colin and I returned to our rooms, on the opposite ends of the hotel, while most of the women went shopping. Zeneta was told that the place that she was taken for shopping was a small mall. She felt that if she was shown a small mall, that she had no desire to see a large one. It was four floors high, as bright as sunshine, and very crowded. It had both escalators and circular staircases for traveling between the floors.

The mall in Zhengzhou

While they were shopping, we, at the hotel, began to receive troublesome news. When we checked in we were told that the rooms would not be the 180 Y that we had been quoted, we were told that the rooms would be 220 Y. This difference we were willing to pay.

However, we were then, that evening, told that the 220 Y rate was only available through the tour company and that we would have to book a one-day tour of the Shao Lin Temple and the Long Man Grottos with the tour company in order to get that rate. If we did not want to book the rooms through the tour company then we would have to pay the regular rate of 440 Y per room.

It was at this point that Colin and I decided to call the women back from shopping. Our reasoning was that no matter what decision we made, it would be considered wrong when they returned. We looked at the numbers and realized that it was about the same no matter how we did it; so, cost wise, it was about even. However, we wanted to spend more time at each of the sites than to try to do them both in one day.

We decided that the best course of action was to go on the tour, and then, if we saw something that we wanted to see more of, we could return over the next couple of days. We then went to the tour company office, which was on the hotel grounds, fully intending to book the tour. However, the attitude of the tour operator was very rude and abrasive. He insisted on behaving in a manner that indicated that he felt that we had no option other than paying him. The idea that a person was expecting to charge us 400 Y per person and did not even offer us chairs and tea (or even water) was, in a phrase, flat offensive.

What a tour operator sells is a pleasurable experience throughout the entire process. This tour operator clearly did not know what he was selling, or did not care. We were beginning to question, to ourselves, if this operator was able to deliver a pleasurable experience when he was behaving so rudely, prior to being paid; However, we decided to continue with the process, primarily to avoid being, ourselves, seen as rude. The final deciding factor was that the tour operator refused to make change for us and said that we would have to work exact the payment out amongst ourselves. This last bit of insolence and insult combined with his, overall belligerent, demeanor finally pushed us.

In mass we walked out of the tour office in order to pay the 440 Y per room that the hotel had quoted to us, over the phone, while we had been waiting for the women to return from shopping. We all agreed that paying more than we had expected and, we felt, agreed to would be preferable to dealing with a rude tour operator.

We then went to the front desk of the hotel in order to pay. It was at that point that we were told that the 440 Y prices that we had been given were not for the rooms we were in, but for rooms that had been sold out. We were informed that the price for the rooms that we were in was 680 Y each.

We had initially agreed, before we left for Zhengzhou, to 180 Y, when we arrived, we agreed to the increase to 220 Y, we were then informed, by phone that the price was 440 Y and we were prepared to pay that. However, when the price then increased to 680 Y we were incensed. We believed, and still believe, that there was an attempt being made to take advantage of us. Again, we walked out in mass.

It turned out that Kennie was able to call a friend that found us three rooms right next to each other, not spread across several floors. As it turned out, these were the only three rooms on the floor so we were able to use the floor foyer as a common space. This was a hotel that expected payment, of a reasonable rate, in cash, in advance, and did not ask for identification. The hotel was in the university section of town; a section of town that resembled what we were familiar and comfortable with. We then went a did a small bit of shopping for our trip to the Shao Lin Temple, the next day, and returned to our rooms. I took a couple of pictures from the balconies, on our floor, at the hotel that night and the next morning. Both Zeneta and myself took the pictures in this installment; of course, the photos with both of us in them were taken, by yet, a third party.

View from the balcony

The next morning we got up and headed off to the Shao Lin Temple with Kennie and her friend Po Po. To get to the temple we took another long distance bus. This bus ride took us off the main paths and we saw many of the small terraced farms that one associates with China. We saw fields being plowed in every conceivable way: with hoes, with cattle and horse drawn plows, with plows drawn by people, and with plows drawn by small tractors. The country became very uneven and hilly but remained green.

The route took us past several large Kung Fu schools with hundreds of students outside engaged in morning practice drills. We also passed roads with signage indicating that they led to, even more, temples.

As we approached the Shao Lin Temple, I had no real idea what to expect. As many readers have seen, I have intentionally tried to force expectations from my mind and allow myself to experience everything as it is instead of how it compared to what I expected it to be. There is a small Buddhist monastery and temple in Hilt, CA, near my USA home. So, no matter how hard I try to combat expectations, I expected serenity.

The first thing that I noticed, when I got off the bus, was the crowds and an entrance that I would expect to find at a theme park. Before entering the temple grounds was a large plaza that had a number of shops on both sides. It was at one of these shops that we purchased space to leave our bags. The shops were not the normal Chinese shops but the kind of tourist concession shops that one finds at any major attraction. The presence of these shops did not bother me in any way as they were outside of the temple grounds.

Entrance to the Sho Lin Temple

We then took an electric cart up to the Pagoda Forest. The Pagoda Forest is actually a graveyard for past Buddhist Masters whose ashes are buried beneath the Pagodas. There are 228 of them here, making this the largest Pagoda Forest in the world. They date from 791 AD to the 1930s. As you can see, several of them are being propped up to prevent them from falling over. Here in the Pagoda Forest several people selling souvenirs approached us. None of us even considered purchasing them as we all considered it improper to be buying and selling trinkets in a graveyard, it showed a lack of respect (Of course, acting like a bunch of tourists isn't exactly the most respectful thing that could be done. However, we, and all of the others there were exactly that, a bunch of tourists).

From there we proceeded to the training house. This is where the students were taught Kung Fu. There were also a number of statue displays depicting, and commemorating, famous battles that the students from Shao Lin took part in.

From the training house to the temple there was a passage. This saved us a lot of steps. Both of these buildings were built on the side of a hill. As a result, there are steady upward climbs on multiple flights of stairs.

The temple itself was a disappointment after the training hall; it was larger but less serene. First, have no doubt that the temple was a beautiful place. However, the temple was more crowded and it was a gross example of capitalism run amuck. The general reaction that most of us had was that this was probably similar to what The Christ saw when he entered the temple in Jerusalem. For those who forget, he entered the temple and was appalled. He then sat on the steps and wove a whip. When he was finished weaving this whip he then took it to the vendors whose very presence defiled the holy place and, with that whip, beat them out of the temple.

The temple is a walled enclosure on a hill with several shrines. The shrines were in buildings that were shagged as one walks up the hill. The shrines were almost all containing large amounts of burning incense. Unfortunately, the shrines also often contained a monk at a trinket counter, note, they were in the shrines, not outside, or, preferably, outside of the temple. One of the greatest in-congruency was a shrine that had a large, cheap, plastic kitchen clock. It was propped against a Buddha and the monk kept looking at it as if he was waiting for his shift to end.

On the way down the hill

We then continued down the hill to the Kung Fu (correctly pronounced 'gong fu') demonstration. We did get a laugh out of the, "Keep off the grass signs," they said, "I will cry if trampled," and, "green means hope." It was a polite way of saying the same thing. The demonstration was not fighting as much as it was demonstration of proper form and movements. There was a demonstration of the various traditional weapons. In all, the show was good; I just would like it to have been more than thirty minuets.

After the show we continued down the hill and out toward the entrance. We stopped at the store where we had left our bags to retrieve them and to purchase some souvenirs. Some of the items that we purchased were the very items that we had refused to purchase while we were in the temple grounds. In all, we all enjoyed the Shao Lin Temple, there were just things we would have liked to have seen done differently and more respectfully.

We then found a bus going back to Zhengzhou and from there we caught another bus that took us to Jaio Zou. Jaio Zou was Kennie's hometown and was where we had planned to spend the next three nights.

The route that we used to go to Jaio Zou took us over the Yellow River just as we left Zhengzhou. However, when we crossed it was already too dark for us to see the river as more than an outline. The rest of the trip was also entirely in the dark; there were very few towns along this route to provide variation.

When we arrived in Jaio Zou we had trouble finding two cabs to take us to the dinner that had been arranged with Kennie's family. Instead of taking cabs we ended up riding in the motorized rickshaws that we see in common use. The main reason that we have not made use of these before was that all prices need to be negotiated, and, of course, they are slower than cabs. Kennie negotiated the price and, after sitting in various buses for several hours, it felt wonderful to be in the open air.

These rickshaws are three wheeled conveyances with the two wheels in the back, under the passenger area. The front is clearly off of a motorcycle. They are generally open air. However, they do often, in poor weather, sport removable cabins to keep the passengers and driver dry. They seem to cost a bit less than regular cabs; however, as I commented, they do not have meters and the prices are negotiated.

We arrived at the restaurant where Kennie's family was waiting for us. We were not expecting a crowd of the size that was there. I estimate that there were about twenty five to thirty five people. Her family was making full use of two dining rooms and had reserved a third for us to use. We took turns greeting all of the members of her family and then after returning to our dining room her uncle joined us. Kennie also introduced us to her sister and her two younger brothers. If I understood her uncle correctly, and I believe that I did, he is a doctor at a hospital in Jaio Zou and has seven children, several of them are adopted.

This dinner was another of those affairs where if you do not want more then the only polite thing to do is to leave the plate, or glass, full so that no more can be added to it. As both Zeneta and Michelle did not want beer I drank theirs in order to keep them from appearing rude. The challenge was to keep people from then refilling the glasses. Near the end of dinner, I had a slice of cake. Then another slice was promptly put before me. After two slices I ended up leaving the third slice sitting on the plate so that another could not be added. I also tried other foods that had been ordered for us. In all, it was an excellent dinner to finish a day that had been pretty good.

After dinner we took a group of cabs to our hotel. The hotel was a very nice one; I can safely say that it is one of the nicest hotels that I have stayed in. It was interesting that it was only rated as a two star hotel, I suspect that it is on a different rating system than the one that rates any hotel in the US with five stars. The hotel was clearly not used to dealing with foreigners. This is the first time that I have been required to show my passport and fill out the proper paperwork (in Chinese) in order to check in to a hotel. Because I was not able to write, "Zeneta," in Chinese, or to even come close; she was registered as, "Mrs. Robert Crawford." (Really, if Kennie had not helped me, it would have said, "woman Robert Crawford." I still am not clear on how to write, "Mrs.")

The next day we had all decided on a slow day, in large part, to recuperate from all of the walking at the temple. However, Kennie had another plan.

We were entirely unaware of the palace in Jaio Zou. It was to this palace that Kennie wanted to take us and we wanted to obtain our return tickets so that we would be assured of seats on the return train to Xinyang. So, after breakfast at the hotel, which was a buffet of traditional Chinese breakfast selections and was included in the cost of the rooms, we started making the bus connections that were necessary to take us to the railway ticket office.

The ticket office was on the edge of one of the large plazas in town. These plazas served as a combination of parks and places to hold large dances. They also served as public outdoor theaters and cinemas. In each was a very large, theater size, screen that was used to show movies. The movies were supported by advertising breaks. Yes, it was very much like watching a movie on a large television; only it is a very large television and is a much more social activity.

From the ticket office we took a couple of more buses that eventually took us to the palace. Along the way, at one of the transfer points, we went in a small shop and purchased some water before continuing on our way.

Kennie, intentionally, did not tell us anything about the palace and I did not recall seeing anything about a palace in Jaio Zou. So, the first sight, as I got off the bus was not what I expected. What I saw was a large, traditional palace; much larger than should have been in a town that was relatively new and was not listed as having any historical landmarks.

Our walk to the palace, from the bus stop, was interrupted by a group of motorcyclists who had come here from several hundred kilometers away. In fact, they came from a town that was described as being close to Xinyang, where we live. They were the first motorcyclists that I have seen in China that were wearing modern, western style, safety gear. They were also on much larger bikes than I had, previously, seen in China. Most of the bikes that I have seen, up to this point, have been 125cc single cylinder motorcycles. Even the police ride these small bikes, or scooters. However, their bikes were much larger, I identified a couple of them as being 400cc twin cylinder motorcycles. I was told that they are available in china, they are just not popular due to their being much more expensive.

After being stopped by the motorcyclists to have their pictures taken with some of us, we continued to the entrance of the palace. At the entrance we were invited, by a group of dancers, to come closer to take photographs and to take part in their dance.

When we entered the palace I was then able to read the signage. It seems that this was not just a single palace, but also a complex of palaces and other structures. It was built as a permanent movie set. It has been used in a large number of Chinese and American movies and the palaces are very permanent structures. We hiked to the many different buildings, representing palaces from the different stages of the Chinese empire and several, representative, town and temple districts.

Colin and Bronee took the opportunity to dress as the emperor and empress of China in order to have their photo taken and several of us played at the small archery ranges. We also saw several shows that were put on in the various buildings. The snacks that we purchased were sweet potatoes, one of which I shared with Michelle.

It was surprising how un-crowded, by the standards of China, the place was. Zeneta and I were, of course, stopped several times, as we were at the temple and even on campus, by people who wanted to have their pictures taken with a real live westerner. It was a very reasonable thing. It would be similar to visiting paramount studios and seeing a real live Klingon, of course you would want to have your picture taken with him.

The questions that one asks often reveal a great amount about both the questioner and their culture. We stopped at a toilet and when I came back out I informed Colin that in the handicapped stall was a western style toilet, seeing as I knew he was looking for one. Colin was delighted and darted inside. The young man that was accompanying us asked me what I meant by a western style toilet and I told him one that you sit on. He then asked me if those were common in the west. Sometimes questions tell more than the answers…

From the palace we rode the city bus to a place that we were able to get lunch. It was a typical noodle and vegetable plate. At that point the others wanted to go shopping so Zeneta and I rode a rickshaw back to the hotel, as she wanted to rest a while. We still had the Long Man Grottos scheduled for the next day.

The next morning we got up and had another large breakfast provided by the hotel. We then met, at the hotel, one of Colin's students, Rita. She lived in Jaio Zou and her father had offered to drive us to the Long Man Grottos. He was waiting outside with his Nissan Pathfinder SUV.

Before we left Colin and Bronee had discovered that they were out of memory in their digital camera. So, I went with them as they went to a couple of stores in search of an SD card for their camera. We were unable to find one so I loaned them the SD card out of my PDA, which was mostly empty.

At that point the five of us, Rita, and her farther all piled into the auto and we headed for the Grottos. He was not entirely clear as to the way there and we stopped several times in order to ask for directions. The route took us very close, and through, the small farming communities that we, until now, had only seen from the highway.

Colin tried to ask Rita if the farms were communal or owned by the individual farmers. However, she was not able to give a clear answer. It is possible that she just did not understand his question, even though he tried to phrase it in several different ways. It was also possible that this was another case of a failure of words across cultures. Words have meanings and to understand the meaning of words it is necessary to understand and accept the underlying premises. In this case, it is possible that the words were not usable to communicate the concept because the very concept, ownership of land, was inconceivable (of course, it is also possible that she, just plain, didn't understand what we were saying).

When we arrived at the Grottos Rita went with us in order to find a English speaking guide to show us around. The first thing one walks by, at the Grottos, is a large stone bridge. At one time this was the largest stone bridge in China. There are several fresh water springs that remain at a constant temperature year round. However, the key feature of the Grottos is the niches and carvings.

There are over 20,000 representations of the Buddha that reflect the changing images of the Buddha throughout the centuries. The largest Buddha, over 17 meters tall, is made with the face of a female emperor of china; the ear alone, of this sitting Buddha, is 1.9 meters tall. Other statues are as small as two cm. All of these caves are carved into the side of the mountain; they are not natural caves and depressions. Many of them are carved as religious public works; others have been carved, or commissioned by wealthy families.

As we reached the end of the Grottos, we met our guide's, Nancy's, sister. Her sister is also a guide at the Grottos. She walked back with us through the Grottos and to the cab area. We also spoke to a few other westerners while we were there. It is interesting how people so well fit their national stereotype.

When we got to the cab area we discovered that there was only one cab available, the ubiquitous Citron. These are small cabs. However all of us fitting in was the only option. So, with the biggest member of out party, Colin, in front with the driver, the other four of us tried to fit in back. We ended up with me sitting between Bronee and Michelle, with Zeneta sitting on my lap.

We rode like this through several alleyways and through the town to the bus station. At the bus station the cabbie completed the instructions that Nancy had given him by taking us to the bus that was to carry us to Jaio Zou and having the bus stewardess go and get us our tickets, thus saving us any problems at the ticket window.

This bus was in poor repair and I was hearing a clunk each time the bus went over even the smallest bump. Near the end of the trip, we were in the outskirts of Jaio Zou, the driver accidentally shifted into reverse, while moving. The result of this was that we made the rest of the trip in second and third. There was no longer a first, or a way for him to shift into the top three gears. I noticed how this mistake was possible. On this bus the shift pattern was reversed. First was to the top right, instead of on the left, and the gear pattern worked up to the left instead of up to the right. A vehicle with non-standard controls seems to be just the kind of accident that we experienced, waiting to happen.

When we arrived at the bus station in Jaio Zou we instantly attracted a large crowd. This is a town that seldom sees westerners and here were five of us. Kennie was late and about twenty people, none of whom spoke English were trying to help us. I finally managed to tell some of them that a friend was coming to meet us in about seven minuets. This caused most of them to disperse.

When Kennie did finally arrive one of the people at the bus station, rather obviously, scolded her for leaving us without a keeper. It was funny, however, she was embarrassed.

That evening we all met again and went to Mc Donald's for dinner. I was not too excited about the idea. However, the others wanted a taste of western food. Quite simply, I do not feel that I traveled all of the way to China in order to eat at a Mc Donald's.

After dinner we went and looked for a winter jacket that would fit me. We found one that was reasonable in price and looked decent. I got a generic down jacket. Zeneta decided that she wanted to wait and see if she was going to need one. She also indicated that if she did need one, that she could use the one we got for me.

After going to the department store I wandered by myself for a while in an attempt to find a bookstore that was both open at that hour of the night and stocked English books. I did not find any. It is not that big of an issue, I was able to download the entire Ender's Game series to read on my PDA, I, mostly, just wanted to see what was available. Most of the fiction that I want, I can find in e-book format.

I then returned to the hotel. Even walking by myself, at night, I still stood out like one of Art Bells, "Grays." Many people greeted me. I think I exhausted many of their English vocabularies with the simple greeting of, "hello," that they gave me. "Hello," and, "I love you," seem to be the most commonly known, and used, phrases.

The next morning Kennie took us back to the bus station where we met a student that was in route to Zhengzhou. He agreed to stay with us until we met our contact in Zhengzhou that would assist us in getting on the train to Xinyang. We were reasonably confident in our ability to get on the correct train. However, Kennie did not want a repeat of the previous night (We were reasonably sure of our ability to reach the hotel the previous night, we had the name of the hotel on the door passkeys. However, Kennie's family was very concerned about any mishaps while we were their guests in the city).

When we got to Zhengzhou we met up with Po Po and the person who was escorting us wandered off to his own affairs (the payment to him was in the form of us paying his bus ticket for him). From there Po Po took us over to KFC where we rested for a while and got a drink. We then left for the train that would take us back to Xinyang. Once we were safely on the train Po Po left us to return to whatever he was doing in Zhengzhou.

The train ride was uneventful and not nearly as crowded as the ride, from Xinyang, on Sunday had been. While our tickets had several of us spread through the car, people moved, and traded tickets, so that we were able to sit together.

When we arrived at Xinyang Zeneta and I went looking for a cab and Michelle, Colin, and Bronee went looking for another cab. Even thought this cab driver appeared sane, we still beat them back.