Just one in a billion

Now that Shanghai is behind me, and Steph seems a million miles away already, I figured I'd get a couple more thoughts on-line. First thought: the madness that exists in Shanghai, in terms of traffic- and other behavior, exists elsewhere too. Second thought: the Lonely Planet is a fine guide, but don't think you can rely on it. Third: it is warm out, and beautiful, and I'm very happy. Let me elaborate.

My last full day in Shanghai, Stephanie and I took a river cruise. We figured, it sounds cute, and came highly recommended (by Frommer's guide, not the Lonely Planet... to be fair...), so I'm sure we'll see some pretty sights. Well, not so much. I mean, the first half hour was great, with river-views of both coastlines in Shanghai (the historic Bund on the one side and Pudong New area on the other with the Pearl Tower), but after that, we pretty much sailed through industrial districts. It was fine but not beautiful as we had hoped. Unfortunately I was starting to feel sick, and by the time we got through with another massage (delightful!), and had our dose of sushi (we're both addicted), I realized, I was actually sick. Fever, sniffling, coughing, and every muscle in my body hurting, despite the massage... I think that just about covers all symptoms, right? Oh well, to bed early, a busy day of travel lay ahead.

Friday morning I felt a little better (sleep always helps!), so that was the good news. The bad news was that I would be leaving Steph that day, so I pretty much took as long as I possibly could to get packed. I figured, once I leave Shanghai, I leave America for real... which doesn't make sense, but Steph was my last friend I saw from my "American Period" ('01-'07), and so that seemed to make things doubly sad. But, I'm a big boy, and the road was calling me, so on I went, to Hangzhou.

Hangzhou was billed as one of the prettiest cities in China, and having been there now, I can see why. The beautiful West Lake was a mere 10-minute walk from my hotel, so I spent a lot of time there. Granted, my first day I didn't do much, just hanging around my hotel room, getting a little bit of sleep here and there, trying to get better. But by Friday I decided I was done being sick, so I ended up walking all around West Lake (took me pretty much all day... not a small lake!). On the road there were so many beautiful sights, mostly just across the lake, but I also went up the Pagoda on the south side of the lake (the name eludes me at the moment), getting an even better view. Yes, the same haze still hung over Hangzhou that also hangs over Shanghai, but it's still a city of over 6 million people (half the size of Shanghai), so they were forgiven.

I'm glad (for lack of a better word) that I got to see my first baby pooping on the sidewalk in Hangzhou. Yes. Human baby. Steph and her Shanghai friends had already told me about this, and it seemed to ridiculous (or funny) to be true. But, the little kids wear pants without a butt in them (yes, there's a hole in the pants right at the butt!), so they will just crouch down, and poop on the sidewalk. I guess, they don't really like diapers in China. And the mom, she was so proud: look at my baby, pooping on the sidewalk! So weird... Another thing that I personally did NOT see in Shanghai (that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, just that I may have been able to avoid it) is cars driving on the sidewalk. Sure, they drive pretty much everywhere, but I hadn't seen any on the sidewalk in Shanghai. In Hangzhou, this is pretty much the norm! Like I said, it's a city with 6 million residents, but I don't recall seeing a single, actual parking space. So people park, and drive, on the sidewalks all the time. Seriously, you have to look around constantly, or you'll fear for your life the whole time!

My first full day in Hangzhou (Friday) it was quite cold, surprisingly cold actually... so it's a good thing I walked so much. I'm proud to say that I ended up eating at all but one of the restaurants listed in the Lonely Planet as the best in Hangzhou... that is, of the ones that actually still existed (many of them had apparently vanished). What's difficult, coming back to my opening paragraph, is that not only do the taxi-drivers not speak a word of English (I knew that from Shanghai), many others working in tourism also don't. Including pretty much everybody at the hotel I stayed at. That doesn't make anything any easier, I'm afraid. And perhaps it's me being spoiled little tourist, expecting others to all speak my language, but seriously... English? Yes, No, Don't Speak... I don't know how you can drive a taxi, drive tourists every day, and not know this. And the problem is, I will always try to say what I need to say in Chinese. But because it is such a difficult language, it usually takes for me to say it about 10 times, with increasing frustration in my voice, before they understand me.

I lived in the United States for 5.5 years, but it took for me to be in Hangzhou, China before I would go and visit a Hooters restaurant. Yes, I admit it, I went to Hooters in China. After I had exhausted all my Chinese places to visit in Hangzhou, I was really craving a beer and some wings. What's funny is, it was a great experience! No, not just because of the servers, though they were all beautiful and extremely kind (and they all spoke English!). What I enjoyed in chatting with the people there was that you really can find out a lot about a local culture by talking to the people that work there. I had a great time with Linda, Selina, Cindy, and Kelly; and girls if you read this: Happy year of the Pig!

Another "home" thing I tried to do is see a movie. The Lonely planet said that West Lake Theater shows English movies all the time. Although the ticket sales lady didn't understand a word of English (surprise surprise!), she managed to point out "007" to me, so I figured, I'd love to see the new Bond movie. Well, it was the Bond movie... but (1) completely in black-and-white (at least the first 10 minutes), which makes me think it was an illegal copy of some sort (the previews were all in color!), and (2) dubbed in Chinese. The previews, again, were in English with Chinese subtitles. But the movie itself, nope, all in Chinese. I sat there for about 10 minutes when I figured: this isn't going to get any better! So, I got out, and to their credit, they gave me my money back, so in my desperate attempts for a feeling of "home", I got a coffee at Starbucks, and walked home through what I can only describe as the red light district of Hangzhou, amidst many euphemistic pleas for me to come in for "nice massage".

Now, the hard part was getting out of Hangzhou. After spending several hours trying to book train tickets out to Guangzhou, I was getting quite frustrated, and felt at risk of freaking out. When I was at the train station on the 9th, they told me the first ticket down south was on February 17 to Hong Kong, and to Guangzhou would be even later. Nothing before then. Except standing room, which quite frankly I didn't want to do for a 23-hour train ride. Take the bus? Also not an option, all sold out for at least a week also. Luckily, my last resort (take a plane) worked out fairly well. I booked a ticket on the 10th, and because it was last minute, it was half-priced. OK, still more than I wanted to spend, but at $80, not the end of the world.

So, today I arrived in Guangzhou (yes, that's almost the same word), which is the old Canton. My cab driver wouldn't use his meter, which is something Nadine (who has lived here previously) had already warned me for. So, I had hidden most of my money in my pocket, and told him, all I have is this 140Y (about $17.50), so he reluctantly agreed. When I got to the Youth Hostel, the girls at the front desk (also speaking English, and quite well!) said I paid pretty much what you should pay for that trip, so lucky me. My first order of business was to try and get on-line and pay a few bills / see some e-mail, but the Internet cafe indicated around the corner from the Youth Hostel also seemed to have gone up in smoke (with no one in the area ever having heard of it). Luckily, at least in Guangzhou they indicated a few Internet cafes on the map (in Hangzhou they simply said "they're all over", but I did not find a single one, even when I looked for them!), so I took a cab, and here I am writing to you all now.

It is still fairly warm outside, and the forecast for tomorrow is quite decent again (24C / 74F), so the overcast skies that I'm seeing here, well, they can't dampen my spirits. Tomorrow I will explore Guangzhou, read all about it in my next report here. I continue to post pretty much all my pictures on my picture site, so those of you who can't read or simply prefer pictures, feel free to browse around there. --Voor de Nederlanders: ik hoop dat het allemaal redelijk te volgen is in het Engels. Nogmaals mijn verontschuldigingen voor het niet vertalen, maarja, je begrijpt dat alles twee keer typen gewoon veeeel te veel werk zou zijn. Ik probeer niet al te ingewikkelde taal te gebruiken zonder al te kleuterschool-achtig te klinken voor de Amerikaanse lezers, maarja, mocht je nou echt ergens helemaal vastlopen qua vertaling, kun je me gerust een mailtje sturen en dan help ik je zo gauw ik kan.--

Wo Ai Ni!