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January 31, 2006
Supersize Me?
I got up early once again to the sound of firecrackers in the near distance. Great. David and I chowed down on noodles yet again and took off soon after to Liu Yang, the capital city of some district or other about 40 minutes away. We hopped on a bus with a bunch of his other extended family members and settled in for a smooth ride. As usual, everyone on the bus was staring at me like I was some sort of alien. I was expecting it by this point but it didn't change the fact that it still feels a bit odd.
As I stared out at the beautiful countryside, I began to think about how I am the first foreigner that almost everyone in David's town had ever met. The crazy thing is not only that I'm the first, but that I will most likely be the *only* one as well. It's rare for anyone to move more than one town away and there are very very few foreigners that venture out to this area of Hunan--there's simply no reason to.
At first I began to feel quite a bit of self-imposed pressure because of this. I knew I was under the microscope and I wanted to make sure that I made a good impression and was a good embassador of the west, of the U.S., of Jews, of foreign teachers, and of the greater non-Han-Chinese world. I worried a bit about what I looked like, what I said, and how I acted. However, even only 5 or 6 days into it, I began to lose this feeling. I started to care less and to not worry about it, especially for those strangers who just stared at me quizzically for minutes at a time. I can't help it--it just got old.
We arrived in Liu Yang and I was pleased. It was a relatively clean city and the lack of garbage strewn everywhere was a welcome change. We hopped in a couple cabs to get to his cousin's apartment for lunch, who happens to be a geography teacher in the local high school. He must have been doing quite well for himself because the apartment was beautiful. It was there that I had my first meal in days that was eaten in a place with a floor and lighting that went beyond a single bulb hanging uncovered from the ceiling. They even had a computer!
We walked around for a while and went along the river that cuts the city in half. It was quite nice and I was excited about strolling around for a while longer but the rest of the crew wanted to go back and watch TV. This seemed ridiculous to me until I realized that most of them work so many hours that they rarely have time to sit around a veg around the boob-tube. I guess when you have such a long period of downtime, watching TV on the couch is like going to a resort. I had to rmeind myself--it's all relative. I tried to make the most of it though and learn some more Chinese characters. Almost every tv show has a transcription on the bottom of the screen of all text so if you have someone around who can help you, it's a good way to learn.
Meanwhile, I realized that I was starting to feel a bit like Morgan Spurlock from "Super Size Me." In a weird sort of way, I was putting my body through ridiculous and unnecessary conditions simply to see what would happen. Well, in rural Hunan, what happened is that I began to cough up flem on a regular basis, had black boogers coming out of my nose, had a minor soar throat every morning, and hadn't washed my body in almost a week. Interesting, but yet I did not have the option of ending this experiment early like Morgan did.
On a similar note, I realized that I was beginning to gravitate towards vegetables during every meal which is bizarre, given my track record as a meat-lover. The inner monologue thought process went something like this: "Hmmm, is that pig intestines? Tough call. Looks a heckuva lot like the smoked duck's feet but slightly smaller. It looks like that one might be another dog dish but I think I've had more than enough of that in the last week. Well that right there is definitely a carrot. Yeah, definitely a carrot. I guess I'll go with that." As it is, people save up lots of money in order to cook/eat meat during Spring Festival so they see eating vegetables as a sign of poverty or of being cheap. All I know is that I probably would have shelled out some serious cash for a whole dish of qing cai (green vegetables).
We headed back and went to bed on the early side, with plans to get up and head out to Chairman Mao's hometown. Excellent.
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January 30, 2006
Smoking Ducks
"Get up! Breakfast!!"
Not quite a rude awakening, but my body had not quite adjusted to the early morning schedule of being awake consistently before 9am. I'm spoiled, I admit it. After the same quick bowl of spicy noodles as yesterday, we were off yet again to visit another slew of aunts and uncles. Transportation was a new experience for this one--we didn't take a cab, nor we did we hop on a bus or motorcycle. Instead we hired a tricycle-like motorbike that had a covered back where we all huddled in. Not exactly high class, but it got the job done.
The first home we walked into felt like a trip back in time. The family was dressed in old ragged clothes. The house only had three rooms including the kitchen. The window-less walls were constructed of very thin wood that had multiple cracks and holes. The place was freezing and they burnt huge pieces of dried wood in the middle of the room... without any ventilation. The fire was thus a crucial source of light, heat, and incidentally a ton of smoke. The only electricity in the entire house was a single lightbulb hanging precariously in the main room.
I was loving my hot tea as I took in the scene around me. At one point I turned around and looked inside the kitchen. I thought it was wild/impressive that most other houses cooked without electricity or gas, but made use of charcoal. This place was not even that advanced! No, they were cooking over an open fire. In other words, when the flame got low, one of the guys had to go grab more wood or we weren't going to eat. Wow.
There were two fellows sitting around the fire with us that were completely baffled at David and I turning down their offer of cigarettes. Apparently they were smoking the best stuff available for the holiday season and couldn't fathom why we would not want to take advantage. Different strokes, ya know? Anyhow, they brought out the food and we chowed down. Lunch was good but even I ate quickly because I needed to get out of there. The smoke from the fire was starting to burn my eyes a bit and, despite the cold rain outside, I needed some fresh air. It worked out just fine though because we were off to visit another uncle's house at the completion of the meal.
The next house we went to was a bit more "modern," so to speak, but was still a far cry from the western world. Everything is relative though. I remember distinctly thinking that the "toilet" at David's aunt and uncle's house was gross but I started to yearn for it's pseudo privacy and luxury. I needed to go at this place and they directly me outside to a semi covered but completely door-less hole in the ground. I suppose this would be okay on some days, but when there is cold rain blowing in your face, the last thing you want to do is squat down and do your business. Just sayin'.
Inside was rather interesting though because not only were we using a roaring fire to warm ourselves, but the smoke was actually smoking a couple of ducks hanging from the ceiling. Again, I am just not in Kansas anymore. After about six cups of tea and a dozen youzi's, we were off once again. This time, we headed to David's sister's home for dinner. It was rather uneventful except for the fact that her kids' friends all came by to see me which was funny. They asked me (in English) how old I was and when I told them 25, they were shocked. Apparently they all figured me for 17 or 18. Geez--17 or 18? That puts me back in high school! I hope I've progressed at least a little past that.
The other notable thing from dinner was that we drank homemade baijiu at a healthy clip, regardless of the 75% alcohol content. Now THAT stuff was harsh. We walked outside to catch a couple motorcycles home and I told David I was going to take a leak around the corner (out of sight) in some random field. He was very surprised at this announcement and asked me why I would do that. Umm, well, I had to go, we were no longer by the house, and we were outside--didn't seem to be a big deal to me, especially given the amount of filth and garbage already on the ground. It didn't seem like a little urine in a field was going to hurt anyone but I guess I was wrong. I got the official denial on that request which definitely surprised me. Along the same lines, when we got home I tried to circumvent the bedtime washing rituals and everyone was horrified. How could I possibly go to bed without washing my feet?! Inconceivable!! I guess there are certain things that you just don't do (or have to do, as the case may be) even if they seem a bit illogical.
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January 29, 2006
Spring Festival
I woke up at around 7am to firecrackers going off right outside my window. Necessary? I think not. Sure they were fun last night but at 7 in the morning I would much rather be sleeping. Call me old fashioned. Anyhow, I rolled over and went back to bed for as long as I could (about an hour) until David woke me up for breakfast. After some tasty jiaozi, I witnessed a very interesting spectactle.
David's aunt brought out a small gong and began to sing some old chants. I was informed that she was performing a traditional operetta, of sorts, that was done in order to bring the family good luck in the new year. Apparently every family in the village was doing something similar at some point in the morning of the first day of the lunar year. I didn't understand a word but it was very interesting to listen to.
After she finished we went off with David's brother's whole family to pay respects to their grandfather. This time there was a marked grave, though it was hardly located in a cemetary. There were a handful of marked graves scattered all around a hill but it was also still functioning as farmland. I guess when space is at such a premium in the country, they wouldn't bother wasting a whole field simply for the deceased. After they finished the rituals of the incense, candles, burnt faked money, and firecrackers, we took off to one of his many uncles' house.
We had another feast equal to the one from the previous night and once again everyone ate in about 20 minutes. Wow! David and I remained at the table and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. I mean, the food is there for a reason, right? The master of the house (a former Communist Party village secretary, a.k.a. VIP) attemoted to drown me in beer but he didn't quite know what he was getting himself into. We were 4 bottles in when he cut himself off and shook my hand. I thought it was pretty funny.
After the meal and some shmoozing, we took off to visit David's sister's husband's aunt. I'm not quite sure why she made the cut for David's family but I guess that's how it works out here. The lasy was very old but extremely spry and incredibly welcoming. After visiting so many houses in such a short time, I knew exactly what would happen when we arrived to the house. First, we would be given seats. Next, they would bring out hot tea. David and I would stand and receive the cup with two hands, thanking them profusely. There would be peanuts in shells, small clementine-like oranges, watermelon and/or sunflower seeds, and a fruit called a youzi (sort of like a grapefruit). We would drink our tea, they would refill our glass unnecessarily, and we would eat the snacks. At any point we would toss all shells, wrappers, and rinds directly on to the floor. In addition, there would always be some sort of pot in the middle of the floor with either embers or charcoal, covered by a wooden cage-like item. This allowed you to rest your feet or hands right on top of the clay pot, especially with an old stained blanket keeping the heat in. All in all, it was pretty comfortable!
As we walked back towards the town, I chatted with David a bit about his family. It became clear to me that he was the golden boy of the family and lauded as such. David was giving every single family member at least 100 kuai for "lucky money." Everyone else gave twenty or fifty. His brother was stuck in a dead-end farming job and he may or may not have a slight drinking problem. His sister is doing decently well in a factory job, but she won't see her incarcerated husband for another 15-20. I have no idea what happened there and certainly didn't pry. And then there's David who rose up out of the village to go to the best educational university in the country, located in the nation's capital. Wow.
We motorcycled back to the house and both napped for a while. I have to admit--I don't know what I'm going to do whenever I have to adjust back to a non-nap day. I love that aspect of Chinese culture! I woke up right as they were setting the table for dinner. There was a ridiculous amount of food yet again and almost all of it looked familiar. Yup--the exact dishes as last night. Well, at least they were good. Minus the dog. I wasn't crazy about that. There were two new cousins at the meal who were intent on cheers-ing me as many times as possible with the harsh-tasting baijiu. I almost brought down the house when I announced in Chinese, "In America we don't like this--it's difficult to drink--but we do like to drink beer!"
After dinner there was the exact same CCTV special on television (I had some serious deja vu) and the obligatory card playing. While it wasn't quite as ubiquitous as the previous night, there was another round of fireworks which were fun. The only problem is that I was beginning to lose some of my hearing. The kids loved setting off the firecrackers which I found to be simply annoying. The noise from the fireworks is understandable but just a loud noise? Ugh.
As I layed in bed listening to more fireworks, I thought a bit about how it can be draining being under the microscope at all times. I stopped caring about personal appearances given the complete lack of shower or running water, but I had the feeling that every person I met was assessing my general fashion and presentation. I guess I can't blame them. If I had only ever known white Jews my entire life, I suppose I'd be staring at the first latino I met. It's human nature.
Spoiler alert! I am going to post a link to my pictures from the trip, but if you want to be surprised about the rest of the trip, hold off on accessing them. If you don't care about that, enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03
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January 28, 2006
Xin Nian Hao!
I woke up cold (but not freezing). Reluctantly, I crawled out of my sleeping bag and put on my boots and jacket--the only articles of clothing I did not sleep in. David cheerfully called out that it was breakfast time and I tried to shake the sleepiness out of my eyes. On my way to the kitchen I made a quick pit stop out the back door to the outhouse once again. It looked just as I remembered it from last night, except during the day the chickens were very much awake and clucking away as I did my business. As I walked back inside I had to step over three chickens. Interesting way to start the day.
I walked into the kitchen and tried not to think about how it was a germ's heaven. There was a big ol' fish flopping around on the uneven concrete floor, waiting to become part of dinner. Wow. David informed me that his Aunt and Uncle both had been preparing food for days to make the night's festival dinner a huge feast. He wasn't kidding--I looked around and saw various meat, fish, and vegetable dishes all sitting around on various counters, waiting to be heated up again for the evening meal.
Most dishes were "covered" by a sort of plastic cage to prevent any (bigger) bugs from hanging out on the food. Of course this doesn't prevent any bacteria from hanging out. I wondered--how long had that chicken dish been sitting out on the table, completely exposed to the elements? Of course, that was the least of my concerns. I was worried a bit more about potentially embarassing moments at dinner a la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. There is a scene at the very beginning where the female lead doesn't want to eat the bowl of mush in front of her. Jones turns to her and says like, "That's more than these people eat in a week. Eat it." I knew that I would just have to eat everything they put in my bowl in order to save face.
As we chatted over a bowl of noodles with mushrooms, the subject of money came up and they asked me (through David) about my salary. Now I am on the low end of westerner's salaries here in China (some people make ten times what I do per month) but I am not hurting by any means. Given what they make out in the countryside (maybe a tenth of what I do), I felt thoroughly embarassed telling them. I mentioned this to David and he told me that I should not feel that way because a) the subject of money and salary is very common in China and b) they expect an American to making serious money here. That's all well and good but I still felt bad.
After breakfast, David and I took a walk around the town. It was more or less one main street with a couple of sidestreets, all surrounded by sprawling countryside--a far cry from GZ. As we ambled over to his old high school, we chatted about education in the China. I'm not sure how I didn't really know this, but every student starting after primary school has to pay for their schooling. It costs between 3000-4000 kuai a year (upwards of $500) which is an absolute fortune to most, especially those outside the cities. It is a double-edged sword as well because if you can't afford school, it is absolutely impossible to get a good job, which means your kids will also not be able to go to school. A vicious cycle, no? It made me appreciate the American educational system, at least to the point that all kids are entitled to some form of free education. That is an asset that a great deal of Americans overlook.
The Chinese education shortcomings may come in a distant second to the issue of waste management. Walking around the town, I was shocked by the sheer volume of garbage that was everywhere. There were a couple of public wastebaskets, but I don't think anyone would ever use it unless they were standing directly next to it at a time of need. People take their rubbish and simply toss it to the ground. Everyone does it and no one comes around cleaning it up. This is incredible to me--how do people accept living under such conditions? I guess I must be wrong, but it doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to organize *some* system of trash collection or removal. I don't know.
On a more entertaining note, virtually every third store as we walked along sold fireworks. Apparently China goes nuts on New Year's Eve with fireworks and at midnight every single house sends up a huge display. I was getting quite excited! As we reached the high school we found the gates were closed, but David finagled our way in with a little sweet talking to the guard. I think the dude was just mesmerized by the presence of a foreigner, but who knows. David gave me the dime tour and it was interesting. There were mostly new buildings and fields, but he managed to point out a few relics from the past, including the old bronze class bell that still hangs from a tree in the center of campus. Very cool.
We went back to the house and entertained a number of extended family members who were coming over. They seem surprised by me but not entirely overwhelmed. David also told me that to show my respect to the family, I should give an envelope of "lucky money" to his aunt and uncle. I was planning on giving enveloped to all of the children (as is Chinese tradition), but David said it was unnecessary. Okay, I wasn't going to argue.
Once David's brother came over, we all set out to visit the graves of his parents. They loved in a small village, of sorts, right near the town, but it was too far to walk. We flagged a taxi and were off to the middle of the countryside, about 15 minutes away. The village itself consisted of about 80 people who had lived in the same place for about 4 generations. I was looking for a cemetary, but that was foolish of me. We walked along through the fields and eventually came upon two unmarked mounds of earth, covered in wild grass. The two of them lit a bunch of incense and two candles. They stood in silence for a moment and then set fire to a pile of fake money, an old custom that supposedly offers up the currency for use by the deceased in the afterlife. They also lit a whole bunch of firecrackers, both to let their parents know they were there and also to ward off any evil spirits. I was dying to take a picture but I knew that just wouldn't be appropriate.
Next we walked down to the house where David was born.It had been abandoned for several years and was clearly falling apart, but it was still quite a sight. There were three large rooms and a small kitchen, all on the banks of a small stream and endless fields. He pointed out where he used to farm in the summer and where he took his first girlfriend. I was amazed to see the history of his family, but more to note how far he'd come. David was born in a small village of 50 people (at the time), went to high school in the neighboring town, failed the college entrance exam once, aced it the second time 'round, went to Beijing Normal University (his first time leaving Hunan), and graduated to a job at one of the best high schools in the entire country. Incredible.
There were no cabs around so to get back, David hired two motorcycles. I was a little reticent about this but I didn't have much of a choice (don't worry, Anastasia--we only popped a wheelie twice.... mom, that was a joke). Given the economy of the region, motorcycle is easily the most popular form of transportation, with cars and buses a very distant second. I have to admit--it was pretty cool to buzz around the country roads on a bike like that.
After a short nap, I woke up to a house full of people. There were about 20 people crowded into the main room that was set up with two large tables. The big feast began as soon as I got out of bed and it was game on. I was getting all comfortable for a long, Jewish-style feast of magificent proportions. I expected long stories, jokes, political chatter, and general family banter. I was sorely mistaken. I figured for about 3 hours of eating but everyone but David and I was done in about 15-20 minutes. Wow. The food was quite good though which more than made up for the awful baijiu (liuyang he) that I was forced to imbibe.
After the quick dinner, it was back to sitting around playing cards and watching television. CCTV, the national network, does a huge new year's TV special and apparently everyone looks forward to this for months. I thought it was needlessly gaudy and over the top, but waddaya gonna do. Around 11pm we went out and bought some more fireworks to set off. I felt that I should contribute so for 100 kuai (around $12) I purchased one of the largest ones available. Excellent. Midnight rolled around and I was not disappointed. There were fireworks *everywhere*, 360 degrees around. It was wild! The factory down the road put up the best effort and after we finished ours, we stood in awe at the volume of fireworks lighting up the night sky.
After the big display we had a midnight snack of noodles and dumplings. Yum! People began to go to bed though so once again I went through the bedtime rituals. As I sat waiting for my feet to dry I could only think of one thing-- it had been almost 4 days since I showered. Usually this would bother me but no one else had either so it just didn't seem like a problem. I drifted off to bed listening to fireworks off in the distance.
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January 27, 2006
On the Road (Yet) Again
David and I woke up relatively late and packed up. We had some last minute errands to do before finally heading to his hometown on the eastern side of Hunan Province. We bought some red envelopes (crucial for giving "lucky money" to friends and relatives for the holiday), got our boots shined (crucial for getting rid of annoying oil stains), got some breakfast (crucial for keeping me happy), and walked to the train station (crucial for... catching our train).
The ride itself was pretty non-descript. At this point I am getting accustomed to long, uncomfortable train rides filled with smoke on the inside and beautiful scenery on the outside. The only thing of note happened in the Jishou train station before we left. As we sat in the waiting room for our train, and older man and his (presumed) grandson were sitting right across from us. Apparently the little kid needed to relieve his bladder and the grandfather decided that the floor of the waiting room was a good spot for that. This, I simply do not understand. There was a nice new W.C. about 30 meters across the room for free. Why cover the floor in urine?! And more to the point, why right across from me?! This makes me wonder--when did public urination cease to be acceptable in the United States? Was it back in the 19th century or much later? Anybody with insight?
We arrived in Zhuzhou, a large city about 1 hour east of Changsha at around 10pm. The city functions at the main rail and bus hub of Hunan so I was surprised to find the train station in such a run-down state. Perhaps they are constructing a brand new one? I don't know. Anyhow, it was here that David's older brother and his brother's friends met us with a minivan. I knew it was going to happen but I still thought it was odd to see David meet his brother. They hadn't seen each other in a little over two years and not only was there no embrace, there wasn't even a handshake! I couldn't help thinking that I must seem bizarre to them when I hug a friend hello or goodbye that I will see the next day.
As we walked out of the train station to the van, I couldn't help noticing that everyone stared and that there was not a single English letter to be seen--surprising to me for such a large city. Anyhow, we hopped into the vehicle and started off on the last leg of the journey. David guessed it would take about an hour on the road to reach his uncle's hometown, where we would be staying for the next 7 or 8 days. I wished I could see the scenery outside but the second we left the city limits it was virtually pitch black. I'm glad that the driver seemed to know the road because otherwise I could picture us driving straight into a ravine.
Though I couldn't make much out, I could tell that we were most definitely in farmland. There were open fields for miles in every direction, broken up only by the faded lights of small towns off in the distance. We passed through a number of small towns, each punctuated by one small strip functioning as "main street," with a few shops and a couple people milling about. David informed me we were about to arrive in Zhentou, our destination. His brother's friend let us off on the street and David led us through to the actual house. It was dark and there were no lights, but I could feel that we had left pavement and that we were traversing a rather muddy path. Good thing I shined my boots up before I left? Anyhow, my eyes began to adjust right as David pointed out the wooden house in front of us--home.
The house itself was of a decent size, situated between two slightly newer-looking houses that all seemed to have been built due to their proximity to a small pond. I walked in and was slightly taken aback. I'm not sure what I expected to find, heading out into rural Hunan, but "real" China is what I found. The two-level house was built by David's uncle's hands (incredibly impressive!). It had dirty stone and concrete floors, thin walls that allowed the wind in, only two rooms with electricity, three single light bulbs hanging precariously from the ceiling in three of the rooms, clay pots with charcoal used for heating, various smoked meats and fish hanging from the ceiling, and a complete lack of indoor plumbing or running water. Wow.
We were welcomed into the living room and given hot tea right away as well as some basic snacks like peanuts. Again, there were no embraces but they were clearly excited to see David and completely befuddled by my presence. Two things struck me about the house as I sat listening to them all chatter away in the local dialect-- one, there was a very old faded picture of Mao on the wall. It's one of those pictures that clearly deifies the guy and makes him seem like an absolute saint. Two, despite having only a bare minimum of electricity or modern converniences, they somehow managed to hook up a small tv with digital cable. I couldn't help thinking that maybe they should have invested that money in some insulation for the walls or perhaps an indoor toilet, but I guess these ideas were a bit too progressive.
I was exhausted and David could see it, so he showed me where we'd be sleeping. David and I were to share a small single "bed" in a storage room attached to his Aunt & Uncle's room. The bed itself was more or less a thin mattress placed on top of some wood but it was better than the floor, so be it. I was getting ready to just crawl into my sleeping bag right then and there but David informed me that there were a few things to do that were mandatory before turning in:
1. Wash your face. Apparently it is considered not only rude but extremely unhealthy to go to bed without at least running some water over your face with a washcloth. Umm, okay.
2. Take a leak. David took me out the back door and showed me the facilities, a full on outhouse connected to the barn-like structure where the chickens hang out. I couldn't help thinking that this might just be the grossest toilet I'd ever used but I tried to let the thought pass.
3. Wash your foot. This one was new to me. Apparently during the winter months, people in rural Hunan soak their feet in hot water before going to sleep, in order to get the body as warm as possible. Where could we get hot water? Well it turns out that all you have to do is get water from the well, pour it into a holding area built into the kitchen counter, and wait for the charcoal underneath to boil it. Then you take a ladle and fill up a smaller bucket to soak with. Of course after you soak your feet you have to dry them so you put your feet on top of the cover of the clay pot warming-devicein the living room and wait for nature to work it's dehydrating magic.
All in all, going to sleep takes a long time! I completed the tasks and went to sleep, listening to David and his family catch up in the near distance.
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January 26, 2006
Huang Si Chiou
The early bird gets the worm... or a bowl of hot noodles, in this case. We were up and at 'em bright and early to get in a day trip which seemed interesting. Huang Si Chiou is about an hour away from Feng Huang and is the former capital of the entire Feng Huang district. Although it has not been an important place for some time, it holds quite a bit of historical interest which appealed to both David and me.
Off we went, on a very small minibus to the ancient city. In order to get to the old section we had to go through the newer section which happened to be holding its county fair. David explained that in rural areas of Hunan, every town holds a county fair about twice a month which basically entails an enormous live market, a few token rides for the kids, and people hawking every good imaginable. When you don't have a local "Park & Shop" supermarket, this is apparently the next best thing. It was impossible for the bus to get through the hordes of people so we had to walk through the mass. My first thought was it was an H5N1 extravaganza just waiting to happen. Everywhere I looked there were people holding multiple chickens, ducks, and geese. Oh boy.
I asked David if they were aware of bird flu and he said that they most likely knew about it but were unconcerned. I could see his point--if your entire livelihood is based around selling chickens or eggs, you are going to be unlikely to get rid of your stock. Obviously this can have dramatic consequences but for these people it's the only option if they want to survive. Sad, but true.
As we approached the ancient city, I could see immediately that it was extremely rundown. There was a ton of garbage everywhere in the new town and it continued right up to the old section. We payed for our tickets and an old man took us in as tourguide. I was surprised to see that there were actually people living inside. It would be like people living inside Monticello--it would never happen in America. David asked the tourguide for me and he actually told us that the government had planned to have everyone out by 2004 in order to make the place more of a tourist attraction but that resistence from the residents had made it difficult. I suppose I'd be a little annoyed about being told to leave my home as well. I don't know if the government has given up but the relocation and refurbishment plans still appear to be years away from completion.
All I can say about the old town is that it was dirty. Extremely dirty. Chickens, dogs, and goats all roam the old streets doing their business wherever they see fit. People blatantly toss their garbage out their front doorway and the wind creates garbage drifts. We passed by a kid about 7 or 8 who was urinating in the middle of the street, apparently unaffected by the presence of tourists or a foreigner. Gross.
The garden outside the west gate was quite nice, but apparently used to be one of the best in all of Hunan Province. What happened, you might ask. Well, during the Great Leap Forward of '59-'61, residents were forced to chop down all of the 1000+ year old trees to create fuel for the fires that were burning all of the local metal down to fit quotas. These deposits proved to be useless in the end so the trees were destroyed for nothing. Tragic. There were some very interesting rock formations though that all had stories, some about dragons, some about old magistrates, and some about rival clans which were very cool.
After the tour we walked back into the new section to find a restaurant and toilet. The fair was dying down but there were still hundreds and hundreds of people around. After about fifteen minutes of searching, we finally found one restaurant. As we walked in though you could see that everything in the place was covered in some sort of grime. The chairs, tables, dishes, and walls all had some sort of grossness on it and I decided that I needed to put my foot down on this one. As I gently vetoed the place David responded that he was very glad, that it seemed too dirty. Thank god.
So we hopped on a minibus to head back to the comforts of Feng Huang. On the bus there was a woman with her child who was carrying an enormous vat of cooking oil. I didn't think too much of it until we went around a sharp turn and the oversized jug spilled everywhere. It spread so fast that despite my being six rows away, it still got all over one of my boots. That was the least of my concerns, though. The two-inch pool of oil on the bus was creating the most awful stench that was unescapable. We opened up all the windows but there was nothing that could overshadow the smell. The woman herself was covered all the way up to her waist as she tried to salvage what was left and soon began dry-heaving. Before I knew it she had both her head and her child's head out the window so that both of them could vomit. This lasted for another 10 minutes until we pulled into the bus station. Gross.
As I slid off the bus back on to solid ground, I was struck by the thought that I never imagined I would miss the cleanliness of Guangzhou. Though I consider GZ a pretty dirty city, it now seemed like the complete opposite. Compared to Huang Si Chiou I'd eat off the GZ sidewalk! It was nice to get back to the old city in Feng Huang for the afternoon. We ate a huge lunch at the same place we had dinner the night previous and then wandered around for a bit by the old city walls. One thing that was starting to bother me was the incessant horn-honking. Everywhere we went there were cars, buses, and trucks all blasting their horns at all times. Even when there was nobody on the road except for a single pedestrian 50 meters away, a driver would lean on the horn until he passed the guy. Such noise pollution!
We decided to head back to Jishou for the night so we went back to the bus station yet again. I shook my head at the huge oil stain on the ground from our other bus and got on to a much cleaner minibus. I thought it would be smooth sailing until a man got on to the bus with two live chickens... and a goat. I thought it might have been a big joke or something but no--this was not the twilight zone, the guy was actually transporting these things back to Jishou. And lucky me! I got to sit next to him. He was the last one on and the only available seat was across the aisle, so I got to share leg room with a goat. Hey, at least it didn' t spill oil on me or throw up. It was actually pretty quiet for the entire ride!
Jishou was a welcome sight and I was glad to have a home to return to. We dropped our stuff off at Lisa's apartment, walked back downtown, found a restaurant, and ordered up a feast. Midway through the meal some random girl came over and asked in English if she could join us. Sure! David and I sort of ended up telling a lot of inside jokes as this girl practiced her English with us, but we were exhausted from a long day and just needed to unwind a bit. She seemed entertained by us and wasn't put off by our ridiculousness at all. Good for her! After a long meal replete with good conversation and about dozen pots of tea, we retired back to the apartment and went to bed.
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January 25, 2006
Feng Huang
I woke up at around 8:30am as I tried to bury myself under as many blankets as possible. Hunan was cold; Not exactly Boston-cold, but it was enough to make me want some indoor heat. Alas, it was not meant to be. After some piping-hot noodles, we began to explore the old town. It was somewhat reminiscent of my trip to Wu Zhen during the October break, but this was much nicer. I suppose the lack of people really helped in that regard. Wu Zhen was overflowing with people and simply stifling, but Feng Huang had a total of about 8 tourists, including David and me.
We checked out the big temple inside the old section and it was pretty interesting. It was a Buddhist temple but it was a bit unlike any of the others that I have seen. Who did it differ? I suppose the flashing neon lights around the Buddha are a good place to start. There was also a stage area for some sort of performance, though we were not lucky enough to see anything live. I'm not sure why it was so different but the place definitely had a weird vibe to it.
The temple was right next to one of the old fortress walls, which was very cool to climb. I guess the city used to be plagued by bandits coming down from the mountains so the wall was necessary for protection. After climbing down from the wall we made out way to the river and hired a small boat for a ride. The water was calm though quite shallow in areas, which created some bumps over rocks. David tried talking to our "driver" but apparently his accent was too thick to understand. I told David, "Welcome to my world."
On our way to a small island down stream, we passed by women doing laundry, men and women cleaning carrots and radishes, and other boats being used for basic transportation. I somehow can't imagine using my little gondola-like boat to get to work in the morning. What a different world!
Once on the island we were invited into one of the small houses (read- shack) for some snacks. David said this was very common and that we should sit down around the fire and enjoy whatever they gave us. We had a bunch of oranges and then got to have some sort of rice pancake concoction that got cooked right in front of us on the fire. They were extremely curious about how I ended up on a small island in the middle of rural Western Hunan and David was quite happy to explain for me. I'm glad that he was there because otherwise I would have been completely frustrated to not get beyond "I am an English teacher from America." The whole experience felt very primal due to the surroundings and conditions, which was pretty cool.
Speaking of primal, I decided that it was time to get in touch with my Cro-Magnon roots and let my facial hair grow. The weather, conditions, and lack of razer meant that it was time to see just how silly I would look with a beard. And besides, people were staring at me anyway so a little scruff wouldn't change that.
After the boat ride we did a little hike around the surrounding area and came across the grave of Shen Congwen, a famous Chinese author. There happened to be a very old man walking through the area who explained to David the significance of the poem on the head stone. Though mystified by the presence of a white guy, the man described that the story tells of puzzle in the poem. Apparently anybody who can write (appropriate) additional lines to the poem would be entitled to a high level position in the government, commensurate with the number of lines. He boasted that he could come up with three new lines but that he was too old to up and move to the provincial capital. I got a chuckle out of that one.
Hiking back to the main part of the old city, we passed by a number of families on the outskirts who all stared at me without blinking. The older folks just looked but the younger kids all yelled out "Laowai" (literally, 'old-outsider') and "Hello" incessantly. I can't say I was all that psyched about their response to a newcomer.
After dinner (a super cheap, yet delicious meal) David decided that he wanted to get a foot massage. This seemed a bit out of the blue, but he explained that his feet hurt after walking around all day and that it seemed like a nice way to spend the evening. Well, who am I to argue? So off we went, in search of a foot massage parlor.
Eventually we stumbled across a combination hairdresser/massage place that had what David wanted. Now I'm not crazy about getting any sort of massage from a total stranger but I certainly wasn't going to kill the party. I got my first (and only other) foot massage in Shanghai over the National Day holiday and I was pleasantly surprised so I figured this would be enjoyable. It was sort of funny right off the bat because they thought that David was my interpreter and that I was Russian. Russian?! I think not. A guy in Changsha thought I was Italian and that David was my tourguide. Ha!
We started off by soaking our feet in really hot water. In Shanghai the water had a bunch of flowers and herbs in it but I'm pretty sure this bucket had straight-up H2O. Hmmm. Next our two masseuses came in to start up. They seemed a bit shocked by my presence and their response was to giggle uncontrollably. I guess white skin and a recently-trimmed jewfro must be cause for laughter in this country. David was trying to figure out what they were saying to each other but I guess they also had a very thick local dialect that was unintelligible. We did figure out that they were laughing about the hair on my legs but I wasn't about to shave my legs for these women so whatever.
Once they really started going, it hurt. Not the good kind of hurt that you know will feel really nice later, but just a regular ol' hurt. I asked David what I should say to them to tell them I was in pain and he said, "Owww!" was always useful. Thanks--very helpful. Eventually he did say to them in Mandarin that she was hurting me to which she responded, "Wo zhi dao," or "I know." I laughed at that but couldn't help thinking, "Is she just trying to damage the foreigner for kicks?" Eventually she finished on my feet and the pain subsided. I went to grab my jacket but she grabbed it from me before I could put my arms in the sleeves. Apparently we were not quite finished.
Both masseuses went to work on a back rub, arm massage, and full leg massage. This was nice at first but then it started to get increasingly uncomfortable. She started at my ankles but then started going up to my calves, my knees, and then my quads. Ummm, okay, what kind of massage is this?! I was starting to think that we had gotten ourselves into quite a predicament but just when she was about to really cross the line, she went back giving a back rub. All I can say is, I was about half a second and five centimeters away from grabbing my stuff and getting the hell out of there. That was enough excitement for me so we paid and ran out in search of safer company. The bar down the street was a much better way to pass the time and before we knew it it was time to head back and go to bed.
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January 24, 2006
A REAL Foreigner's Discount
We woke up late which was just fine by me. To me vacation is generally about waking up late. David and I seem to differ in this respect, at least in our definitions of late. I had a chuckle to myself as we discussed what time to get up. I said something along the lines of, "Well we might as well get up a little late tomorrow since we don't need to catch the bus until the afternoon." David responded, "I agree. How about 8:30am?" Hmm. I guess 8:30am is late if you're used to getting up at 6:00am, but 8:30am is most decidedly NOT early in the world of Ari these days.
After a lazy morning exploring the city, we went to a Sichuan restaurant for lunch. For a measly 35 kuai (not per person--total!) we had all you can hot pot and stuffed ourselves. For those of you unfamiliar with hot pot, it's just what it sounds like. You get a big pot of broth that gets heated (usually by a gas burner) and then you put in a bunch of raw meat and vegetables that gets cooked right there. It's messy, it's spicy, and it's delicious. The place I like to go to in Guangzhou is really good and generally costs between 50-70 kuai a person depending on how much you order. I was like a kid in a candy store at this place because you could just keep getting more plates of raw stuff to throw in the pot. I can't say it's the most sanitary thing around (raw meat just sitting out all day?) but it sure tasted good!
After lunch we accompanied Li Can to a local hairdresser so she could get her hair done. Apparently she goes to one of the few upscale places in town and she is definitely known there. We walked in and they did not seem surprised to see foreigners at all. I guess Lisa and Megan also frequent this establishment, both because it's good and because they get a ridiculous discount for being outsiders. The owners immediately sat us down, offered us hot tea, and had a couple of employees give us back massages. I figured that since I was there, I might as well take advantage so I gave them the go-ahead to give me a haircut. My 'fro needed a reduction and I had no idea when I'd see a barber again so I put myself at the mercy of some dude with long dyed hair. Eh, why not.
Well this guy was a pro. He spent a good 20 minutes just washing my hair, which seemed pretty excessive to me, but what do I know. Then he went to work on cutting it... with scissors! I didn't even know men could get a haircut without clippers! I felt like royalty but I also felt a little lazy. I mean, I am perfectly capable of washing my own hair. And my hair certainly does not warrant more than 30 minutes attention. It's a jewfro. It's not rocket science. I couldn't help thinking, shouldn't they save their energy for something else? Anyhow, since I have white skin, I also got the big discount and my 40-kuai haircut cost only 5. I'll take it. Back in GZ I joke about the foreigner's discount when people jack up the prices for foreigners, but this was just the opposite. Excellent!
After a couple more errands and a few snacks, David and I caught a bus to Feng Huang, a town about an hour away. I slept for the whole ride there so when I stepped off the minibus at around 7:30pm, I took a look around and was pleased. First impressions: Feng Huang is cleaner, smaller, quieter, older, and cozier than Jishou. We walked right to the old section of the town and wandered the narrow cobblestone streets to find a hostel. Lucky for us, it was still a few days before Spring Festival so the place was absolutely empty. We got a nice hostel with a room overlooking the river for only 50 kuai. We dropped our stuff and found a restaurant on one of the bridges that also overlooked the river. It was beautiful and the food was incredible. It's amazing how good some beef and veggies can be, especially when you're hungry. I also sampled Chang Ching, one of the local beers, which wasn't half bad. It's no Zhujiang (my local brew in GZ) but it was tasty enough. After looking around a bit more, it was back to the hostel to sleep.
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January 23, 2006
Jiggity Jishou
Up and at 'em! We woke up bright and early and packed up right away. Before heading to the bus station, David's cousin took us to a local noodle place for breakfast that is supposed to be one of the best around. My first impression of Changsha in the light is that it seemed like a colder version of GZ somewhere on the outskirts. It was dirty, crowded, and undergoing a ton of construction... yet still had some sort of charm to it. Maybe I'm just getting used to this sort of thing and it felt like home.
The one thing that differed was that people were staring at me left and right. While I suppose this does still occur in Guangzhou, I think it's becoming rare. That, or I'm just so accustomed to it at home that I don't notice it. Either way, people were rubbernecking all over the place to get a glance of the foreigner in their haunt and I felt a bit odd. Trying my best to be unphased, I wolfed down the bowl of noodles and we hopped on a local bus to catch our long-distance bus to Jishou, an eight hour ride from the provincial capital.
The bus station was absolute chaos. This was one situation where I was ecstatic to be with a native speaker because I can only imagine how difficult it would have been for me to figure out just where to go and how hard to shove back. Upon entering the main waiting room of the station everyone had to put their bags through a safety check x-ray machine. It was a bit ridiculous though because the conveyor belt was going at about 95 miles per hour so I can't imagine they were actually looking at the contents of the bags. Sure enough, once I pushed and elbowed my way through to the other side, I saw that the monitor wasn't even on. Regardless, they still stopped David and made him unpack all his stuff. I don't for this to seem narcissistic but I think it was because they saw us together and wanted me to hang around the office longer to examine me.
Once we figured out what to doorway to crowd around, we waited for the announcement and then fought our way out with a bunch of other people. Once again, the actual ticket reservation went out the window and we weren't on the type of bus we paid for, nor did we get to sit in the better seats that we had reserved. Whatever--as long as we get there on time, I was going to be happy. The ride itself was smooth and traffic-less which was great... minus the fact that the driver was honking at any vehicle that came within 50 meters of us. It seemed pretty excessive, but who am I to judge?
We stopped for lunch at some random spot in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I was wondering why we had gone so far off the highway to this place and David informed me that they probably had a deal with the owners. Ahhh, of course. Somehow I should have seen that one coming a kilometer away. I was a bit skeptical about the kitchen that probably hadn't been cleaned since it was built but it was the only game in town so I was a go. It turns out that the food was really really good. So cheap too! We got a beef dish, a pork, a tofu, a vegetable, and rice all for the low low price of 20 kuai--ten per person. Not too shabby at all.
We got back on the bus and went through a toll to get back on the highway where we were stopped by the police. I'm not sure why but I immediately became nervous. I think I have an irrational fear anytime I'm in a vehicle that gets stopped by the authorities. David told me that it was s.o.p. to make sure the driver had the right license and certification to carry passengers (and wasn't overloaded). I asked what would happen if he wasn't legit and David said he would probably just buy the guy off. I wonder how often that happens in the states. Somehow I can't see any staties in the U.S. accepting bribes but that's probably naive.
We were fine though and drove off back onto the highway. The road headed west into the mountains of the edge of the province and I stared out at the scenery for the next couple of hours, drifting in and out of sleep. We finally arrived in Jishou around 5pm and proceeded to track down Li Can, friend of Lisa and Megan--the two PiA-ers holding it down there at Jishou Teacher's College. Though both girls were out of town, Lisa managed to hook it up and let us stay at her place.
First impressions of Jishou: It's a small, dirty Chinese city surrounded by incredible natural beauty. The mountains bordering on Hunan and two other provinces are stunning and Jishou has a front row seat for them. The city is also majority non-Han Chinese making it majority minority (heh). The Tujia people are extremely visible with their trademark bright colored clothes and woven baskets on their backs. The Miao people are also very common making Jishou a much more diverse city than anywhere I've been so far except for maybe Kunming. The city is also on the poorer side which can you can see by the dirty streets and charcoal burning for heat. All in all, the city screams of "real" China.
Li Can, friend of the PiA-ers and student in the city, was extremely friendly and excited to show us her city. She was extremely inquisitive and bubbly which made for a very welcoming reception. We did our introductions sipping tea and warming our hands and feet by Lisa's mahjong table. As is common in the area, Lisa put a four-way heater in the center of the floor under the table and draped a long clothe over the surface of the table to keep the heat in. I didn't think it would work very well, but I warmed up right away! I marveled at the size of Lisa's apartment (am I the only PiA-er sharing an apartment?!) as we discussed dinner options. David and I both eat quite a bit so we suggested any establishment known for the size of their portions.
Li Can took us the "pointing place," a restaurant they nicknamed by the fact that you order by pointing to any number of small dishes sitting out waiting to be eaten. It's nice because since the dishes aren't very big, they are constantly making more and the food never gets cold. Plus you can get a huge variety of dishes which is just fine by me. I think we selected about a dozen of them and sat down to feast. The food was great and did not disappoint. Real Hunan food is not only NOTHING like going to a Hunan restaurant in the U.S., but it's even quite different from the Hunan restaurants I've been to in Guangzhou. It's spicy as all hell and I love it.
Walking around after dinner, Li Can pointed out a number of advertisements with a couple of foreigners modeling. Who was it? None other than Megan Cox, PiA-er extraordinaire! I was psyched to see that Megan (who I've actually never even met!) had become such a celebrity. Next stop was a wholesale liquor store that doubles as a private bar for friends. The PiA girls have made friends with a certain Mr. Tian, the owner and proprietor, who enjoys selling liquor and talking with foreigners. Apparently he is quite a V.I.P. in the city and kept feeding us free drinks (imported beer and gin and tonics--brilliant!) while talking about his business and life. It was here that I found out there are a grand total of 5 foreigners in the entire city of Jishou (pop. ~2,000,000)... and that Mr. Tian is buddies with all of them. Very cool.
He then took us to the public bar he owns and instructed the bartenders to "take care" of us. It sure pays to know people in high places! The bar was a pretty fun place, though sadly empty being a weeknight and all. At some point after throwing darts for a while (which I really missed), I was invited up to dance behind the bar. Perhaps I should clarify that--I was dragged by several bartenders and told that it was my turn to dance on the ministage (with a pole and everything--umm, sketchy?) behind the bar. I wasn't going alone though so I grabbed Li Can and her friend to join me. I had no qualms about making a fool of myself here because I was never going to see these people again. So basically, it was really fun!
Mr. Tian then proceeded to drive us home in his pimped out Chrysler 4x4. I thought we'd go right to bed but Li Can came over and we chatted into the wee hours of the morning. I really enjoy hearing the Chinese perspective on things and Li Can was super excited to talk about education, love, and the meaning of life. Excellent! I also got to know David even better through this which was a bonus. I can say with complete confidence that David breaks the mold for most Chinese. He is unmarried by choice, constantly questions the status quo, and enjoys considering western philosophy right along with the eastern. I went to bed at about 3:30am thinking about how amazing it is to travel and meet fascinating new people.
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January 22, 2006
Off we go, into the wild blue yonder
It was time. I had been thinking about this Spring Festival trip for quite a long time and I was excited to get it started. I met David, my friend and coworker, outside by the back gate at 6:30pm for a quick dinner before heading to the bus station. We had a 9pm bus so there was no rush, but for some reason I ate quickly anyway. I wasn't quite sure what to expect with a sleeper bus. How exactly do they fit people in? Would it be comfortable? Would I be too tall??
The answer would arrive in an unexpected way. We waited around at the bus station (which was crowded but not quite as bad as the train station last break) and at 8:45pm they announced that there was a delay. Apparently there was some sort of traffic accident and there would be a minor delay. No surprise there. I figured 45 minutes should do it, right? Not so much. At 11:45pm some random guy yells out in Chinese, "Anybody who wants to go to Changsha, follow me!"
With an invitation like that, who could resist? We grabbed our stuff and followed the guy. We moved to a different part of the station and proceeded to sit down and wait a while longer. Midnight rolls around and a bus arrives. In true unorganized-China fashion, tickets went out the window and it was a free for all. Everyone pushed and shoved to get on to the vehicle in order to secure a seat. We were supposed to be in the beds right up front but instead we ended up in the very last seats at the back of the bus. I guess I will have to wait for my first sleeper bus experience because this was just a regular coach bus.
We were slightly miffed, but whatever. We had to get to Changsha by 4pm the next day in order to catch our bus to Jishou so we'd take any mode of transportation that worked. I was exhausted by the time we set off so I tried to sleep immediately. This proved to be more difficult than I thought because of the lack of legroom. Sitting straight up, I had to put my knees off to the side and they cramped up pretty quickly. Eventually I drifted off with the hopes that I'd wake up in Changsha.
I woke up sporadically throughout the night but never enough to really see where we were or what was going on. When I finally opened my eyes and let in the clouded sunlight, I saw that we were at a standstill. What was happening? Bumper to bumper traffic was happening. For as far as the eye could see in both directions, there was bumper to bumper traffic of cars, vans, trucks, and buses. Oy. I knew the ride should have taken about 11 hours so I was trying to gauge what the delay would be.
My estimate kept getting thrown off by the fact that we moved along in stop and go traffic for the next *twelve* hours. I could not believe how many people were on the road. Incredible! Of course I was no only restless but I was also hungry and with a distinct need to empty bladder. At one point David turned to me and asked if I need to go to the bathroom. I answered in the affirmative but unsure of what we'd do (there was no toilet on the bus). He told me to get up and we walked up to the front and the driver opened the door for us.
I was unsure of where this was going but I figured I'd follow David's lead. We walked right around the the side of the bus and he proceeded to unzip his fly right then and there. I guess there's no place better! So went ahead and did our business right there and the bus driver even waited for us to get back on before proceeding ahead. This didn't solve the hunger issue but we found our savior a few hours later in the instant noodle lady walking down the highway.
What a brilliant businesswoman! She knew that there would be tons of hungry people stuck in the middle of nowhere so this woman bought cases and cases of instant noodles and had hot water as well. Sure they were overpriced but you determine the going rate when you're the only game in town. They sure tasted good too. Then again, I'm sure anything would have tasted good at that point.
Around 3pm it became clear that there was no chance that we'd make our connecting bus to Jishou. Hmmm. David got on the horn to his cousin and told him to switch the tickets if possible. Luckily he was able to do some finagling and we only had to pay a small fee to switch them to the next day. I was wondered that we were going to be in serious trouble but I guess this sort of thing is common for this time of year when there are literally billions of people traveling.
I was starting to get incredibly restless but we finally finally finally made it to the capital of the province at around 9pm, about 13 hours later than we should have and about 21 hours since we left Guangzhou. Wow. I was ready for food and a bed immediately if not sooner. We took a taxi to David's cousin (the first of many I'd meet) and we were greeted with a huge dinner. David told me in the cab about how he's such a good cook and I was not disappointed. Our first meal off the bus was a veritable feast and I ate it up like I had never seen food before.
After I had finished everything, I asked what we had just eaten. Sure enough, I just ate some dog meat. Huh. Was I mildly disturbed about this? You betcha. But having never had a snoopy or lassie of my own, I guess I took it in stride. David told me it wouldn't be the last time either as dog is a very common dish, in rural Hunan especially. And honestly, it tasted like a tougher version of lamb. If I hadn't known, I would have had it again in a second.
After I got over the shock of my dinner, I took in the scene that was the apartment around me. David's cousin ran a plastic works factory outside Changsha and was doing quite well for himself. Yet despite his success, there were still common western conveniences that were decidedly missing. Hot showers for one--apparently there is only hot water in the apartment for a couple hours at a time, something very common all around China. It made me realize how nice my bathroom is back in GZ. I almost never run out of hot water! And then there is the issue of heat. Nobody has heat south of the Yangtze River and this was no exception. In GZ that's not a big issue because it doesn't get too cold.
Changsha is a completely different story though. It was cold there and reminded me of Boston. It had even snowed a few days previous to our arrival! I discovered right away that everyone keeps their coats on at all times during the day--inside, outside, during meals, in the bathroom, in the kitchen... you name it. I kept mine on until the very second I slipped into my sleeping bag. I had considered leaving it behind but it became my saving grace. David and I shared the bed in the guestroom and we fell asleep quickly, knowing we had to get up early to catch our 8am make-up bus to Jishou.
Posted by awolfe at 3:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 21, 2006
Hunan or Bust
I have weeks worth of stuff to write about but about 5 minutes to do it. In the words of Inigo Montoya, "let me explain.
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January 20, 2006
Off to the factory
The night before my departure for Hunan, I planned to have dinner with my friend Meggie. She called me in haste at about 5 o'clock and told me that we were heading out to the leather factory for dinner. At first I thought this was the name of some hip new restaurant, but no, no--we were heading out to a real leather factory. How, or, why, you might ask. Good question.
About two months ago Meggie had a bunch of friends over for dinner and along with the usual suspects was a woman named Alice. I enjoyed chatting with Alice that night because, though born in China, she did her undergraduate and graduate work in the Boston area. We reminisced about Italian food from the North End, the inefficiency of the T, and about pleasant baseball-filled autumn days. When I asked what she did, she responded dispassionately that she ran a sweatshop. I thought that this was her dry sense of humor talking but I was wrong.
Alice does indeed work supervising a leather goods sweatshop, preparing to take over completely for her father when he retires in the near future. Seriously. The factory was having a big New Year's festival dinner before all the workers left to go home for the holiday. She invited Meggie, who in turn invited me. Dinner in a sweatshop? Why not.
While the factory may technically be in Guangzhou, it was hardly city proper. We took one of the subway lines to the end where we met up with two other friends of Alice who were heading out as well. We shared a cab out to the grounds and it was a solid 100 kuai. That is A LOT of money. I don't think I've ever paid more than 30, to put that in perspective. The road by the factory even had a major ditch in the middle and the cabbie did not seem all too pleased to be trekking out this far.
I didn't really care all that much though because I was engaged in a very stimulating conversation with Alice's friend who was born in Hong Kong but educated at Stanford and Cornell (he's no dummie). He told me about his business of exporting and I told him about the mission of the Princeton-in-Asia program. If this was any indication of the rest of the night, I was pretty excited!
I thought I would be the only Caucasian in attendance though and was not crazy about the inevitable stares, but I was wrong. Though all the employees certainly did stare as I walked down the floor to the V.I.P. table up front, I sat down next to two older white gentlemen who had already started the obligatory drinking of baijiu. Ugh. One was a businessman in GZ and the other was a factory manager outside of Shenzhen.
Meggie seemed to know one of them and did not look too excited to renew acquaintances. I consider Meggie a good judge of character so I was starting to lose my vigor for this experience. Regardless, we were there and the night was rolling on. Before any food even reached the table, the entertainment commenced.
I guess I use the term "entertainment" loosely though, since this consisted primarily of employees performing crap karaoke of outdated Chinese pop songs. Now that's rough--not even current Chinese pop? They must have gotten the bargain edition of the karaoke machine. I tried to make polite conversation above the cacophonous din but I was having a tough time as the speaker was right near me left ear.
The food started to arrive though and that put the singing on hiatus, which was excellent. It seemed a bit bizarre to be served nice-looking festive dishes in a dingy employee's cafeteria, but hey--this is China; things are different. The food was pretty good, mostly because it was spicy. I certainly wasn't going to complain but I was very surprised about them serving very un-Cantonese food.
The night progressed with the obligatory toasting and gorging on tasty food. Things started to get more exciting though as they started the raffle. Alice's father was following the tradition of giving away some new year's presents and had a massive raffle that all employees participated in. As the V.I.P. guests, we were not left out of the fray. And wouljda know it, they called my number!
I got pretty excited... until Meggie informed me that every single person there was going to "win." Huh. And here I thought my luck was coming through in shining colors. I got even less excited when I saw my prize--a leather handbag and a leather vest. Ummm, just what I always wanted? Meggie lucked out though and won a full leather jacket that fit her perfectly. What a score!
Eventually the festivities began to wind down and I figured we'd head back to the big bad city. Not so fast, though. Alice proceeded to take us on a tour of the facilities, showing us the showroom, the offices, the factory store, and a view of the workrooms. Wow. I got to see leather jackets that would be shipped out to companies like Timberland and that will be sold in stores like Macy's. We also had a field day in the show room as we played around trying on all the ridiculous things hanging up. I mostly watched, but we forced Meggie and the other ladies to model some of the jackets and skirts which was entertaining.
Inside the factory store, Meggie almost convinced me to buy a leather jacket but I just wasn't quite sure I could pull it off. I don't exactly scream Harley rider, ya know? It was fun to imagine for a little while though. And hey--if I ever decide to change my mind, Alice can hook it up for super cheap. It was pretty interesting though as she told us to watch out for rats as we went into various rooms. This was the real deal--a true factory, similar to those that millions of Chinese work in everyday.
On the ride home Meggie crunched some of the numbers and figured out that the workers are getting paid roughly 1.5 kuai an hour. That works out to about 20 cents an hour. And the thing is, that's a pretty good job to have for a lot of people. If an employee decided to quit due to poor conditions or benefits, his or her job would be snatched up in a heartbeat. I think that's one of the problems here in China--there is such a surplus of human resources that there's always someone ready to work any job. I don't know what the solution is to that but I think it has to start from the government.
Anyhow, I got home late, threw some stuff together for my big trip, and went to bed dreaming of spicy Hunan food...
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January 10, 2006
Madness!
It's madness here! 360 exams to give! 360 exams to correct! 4 PiA-ers coming to town over the next week! Hot weather one day! Cold weather the next! Five days to make a decision about next year! It's madness I tell you!!
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January 6, 2006
The Wolfe Family Invades, Part Deux
Hi everyone, Ari here once again. So far it seems like everyone immensely enjoyed my sister's guest blog so, back by popular demand, here is the last few days as observed by one Ilana Wolfe. I want to thank my sister for taking this task on, especially since I am now buried in pre-exam madness with my kiddies. I'll write more when I get a chance, but my brief take on the family vacation is that Hong Kong is far too "civilized" to be a Chinese city, that Chenjiaci here in GZ is awesome for ridiculous pictures, and that Lantau Island is absolutely gorgeous. Until next time...
After eating some delicious latkes with the Yale kids and David, a friend of Ari's who teaches English at his school, we all went out for Hunan food. David, who is originally from Hunan Province, did the honors and ordered not only our food but also a private room at the restaurant. What was the number of the room you might ask? Well, it wasn't 18 or 7 or any other lucky number in Judaism or the West. No ladies and gentlemen, the number was 666! [editor's note: 6 and 8 are lucky numbers for the Chinese. Avoid 4 at all costs though...] This caused a little too much laughter and hopefully David was not insulted by our reaction. The dinner was delicious and the spice (as Hunan food is traditionally very spicy) did not cause too much harm. The greater commotion was actually caused by the duck head sitting on the platter in the middle of the table and the discussion about Komodo Dragons. Better watch out . . . Anyway, after dinner the Wolfe parents went back to the hotel to pack for the big trip back to Hong Kong the next day and the Wolfe children, along with the Yale kids, went out for a little K-TV. What's that you might ask? It's genius, that's what it is. K-TV is karaoke in China and we sang very well, even considering the alcohol that we just HAD to consume in the process. [ed. note: the best part of KTV is the videos they play during the songs. It's basically stock footage from 1970's B movies that have nothing to do with the songs. Brilliant.]
The next day the Wolfe clan hit the Gunagzhou east train station and boarded a train headed back to the SAR. Mysteriously, our train tickets cost less to travel to Hong Kong than they did from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. Well, that's China for you. As the train pulled out of the station, I wondered if Hong Kong would seem different to me. I had now seen "real" China, with its busy streets, high rise buildings, and total lack of English and the west (except for Starbucks). We had been basically the only white people in town for a week, so would I feel overwhelmed by the handful of westerners walking around the city now? Hmmm . . . After checking back into the hotel on Kowloon Island, we decided to take a walk to Kowloon Park. "Oh my god, white people. How am I going to handle this?" This was Ari's joke as we continued to explore Hong Kong. [ed. note: I also wondered aloud if they knew how to use chopsticks] Although the walk to the park took only ten minutes at the most, I swear there were at least ten white people, as opposed to the two or three that we saw earlier in the week. But more importantly, I finally got to see some Kung Fu in the Kung Fu corner of the park. A week earlier Ari and I had explored the area and found some "dangerous" art in the sculpture garden, but there was a blatant lack of Kung Fu in the so-called Kung Fu corner. There really IS truth in advertising in Hong Kong! Our outing had to be cut short though because it was Saturday and New Year's Eve. The trip back from the mainland had tired us out, so we all rested before a delicious meal at Fat Angelo's, a fun Italian restaurant right in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui. Much like Christmas Eve, we hit the streets after dinner and followed the hordes of people milling around. I had never seen so many people peacefully obeying traffic laws or wandering with no destination in mind. People were out just to be seen and see the lights of the islands. How odd. But when in Rome . . . well, you know. So, the Wolfes wandered the streets too and then finally settled into an Irish Pub where we would ring in the New Year. I mean, where else would you go in Hong Kong, but an Irish pub? As we enjoyed some drinks, a Celtic band played, and we counted down to 2006. [ed. note: I randomly ran into PiA-er Heather Gilmartin at this pub. It's a small PiA world! What are the odds? I guess just about as good as running into your R.A. from freshmen year atop Victoria Peak, which happened one week earlier...]
We were up bright and early the next morning because we were heading to Macau. Macau! Because Hong Kong and the mainland are not exciting enough, we had to throw Macau into the mix. Unfortunately though, the ferries were all booked and the trip was not in the cards for that day. As it was the family's last day in the far east, we wanted to do it right. Museums were out and shopping did not sound so exciting. Instead, we jumped onto another ferry and headed for Lantau Island and the world's largest, seated bronze Buddha. Why a giant buddha? Why not, is a better question. As we pulled up to the Po Lin Monastery, the buddha greeted us up on a hill and I was blown away by the enormity of the statute. As we climbed the steps to explore, I was more and more amazed. The buddha was huge but peaceful, and seemed to be watching over everyone and everything. It was definitely one of the more amazing sights of my travels. We also walked around the monastery and enjoyed a fine, vegetarian meal in the restaurant. Before leaving the island, we felt compelled to follow the signs that pointed to the "Path of Wisdom." I could use some wisdom, so why not take a stroll. As we cracked jokes about not feeling any smarter, we suddenly came upon the real Wisdom Path. It consists of 38 wooden beams in the shape of the symbol for infinity. The Buddhist Heart Sutra is carved on the 38 beams which sit on the side of the mountain. This site was just completed and was not in any of our guide books, so we were both surprised and amazed when we happened upon it. Ari and I were also amazed by the views on the Lantau Peak trail that we began to hike. If there had been more time Ari for sure would have hiked the trail in its entirety and if I had been more prepared for a real hike, I would have been right behind him. Sad to leave such a beautiful place, we had to head back to the hotel and get ready for our long journey back to Connecticut.
Before leaving though, what is the most important thing that we did? Eat peking duck, of course! We had ourselves a real Chinese meal and had a waiter who knew eactly how much food (and beer) to order us. Delicious! While the food was great, I think we were all thinking about how it was the last meal that the 4 Wolfes would eat together for a long time. Ari was staying behind and returning to his adventures in Guangzhou while the rest of us had to get back to work and school. It was a great trip though and I know that Joel, Bonnie, and I were happy to have made the trip east.
Our final goodbyes were sad, but we had to begin our 30 hour journey back to New England. And, after a five hour stop over in the world's quietest airport (Incheon in Seoul, Korea) and a four hour layover in Atlanta, we made it back to Connecticut. In my mind, it seems that we were never even in China because it is so incredibly different from here. I can easily see though, why Ari is so happy in Guangzhou. People are friendly (aside from the staring), the food is great, and it is an exciting time to live in a booming country. Every passover we say, "Next year in Jerusalem." Maybe during the holidays we should now say, "Next year in Guangzhou."
Stay tuned for more of Ari's adventures, as I'm sure there will be plenty. Although we miss him over here, we know he's happy and doing it up right in Guangzhou. Holla!
[ed. note: thanks much to my family for making the trek out. It's not exactly a quick trip but they were troopers and made the most of it. I hope it is a vacation they will not soon forget. And I hope that Mao statue is currently being prominently displayed in my sister's room. On a separate note, Happy New Years to all! I hope everyone experiences nothing but health and happiness in 2006. I haven't quite finished compiling pictures from the adventure, but here is a taste...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03 (click on Wolfe Invasion)
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