Adventures in Guangzhou!

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.