Special Nit-Picking Note: This part actually started on the 15th, but I dated it the 16th since most of it, and the best parts happened after midnight. The trip began not long before sundown on the 15th.
Finally, it was time for us to load up with food and water, and head up the mountain. The sun hadn't even set yet, but I enjoyed their company, and Tai'An certainly has nothing else to do, so I gladly accompanied them. This way, I got to see quite a few of the earlier sights and take pictures before dark, when I had to rely only upon the flash of my camera.
Some of the trip starts outside of the actual ticket gate, so we saw a few sights before I even had to pay. I impressed my Chinese friends by managing to scam a student price out of it as well. I'm clearly not a Chinese student, but I show my ISIC card everywhere I go, and sometimes they get so confused that they give me the cheaper price anyway. In this case, it saved me a ton. The original price was 120, and I paid 62 yuan. That precious ISIC card I got for free has saved me about 200 yuan (about 30 bucks CAD). For a country full of people known and sometimes ridiculed for their cheapness, that's not bad at all.
Once the sun went down, it quickly got very dark, and I realized the Lonely Planet's description was useless. First off, the book claimed that the whole way was lit. Bullshit. I saw several people who attempted it with no flashlight limping up and down the mountain. There were also people making a fortune by waiting around with makeshift stretchers, made from branches and some kind of canvas. They just waited around until someone limped up to them and they'd take them down the mountain. One old lady was a trooper and had them carry her UP the mountain. She entertained me.
Rather than stumble around in the dark, assuming there were stairs somewhere or not, I bought a flashlight shortly after it got dark. Fortunately, I haggled a good price thanks to the Chinese people around me. Even though they didn't haggle for me, the guy would have jacked up the price much higher. Their mere presence kept his asking price low. I bought the "high quality" flashlight, which genuinely did let off more light. I use quotations because not long after, it started to flicker and fail due to bad connections to the batteries inside. I managed to get him to put new batteries in it before I bought it too, rather than buy it with the batteries he had been using to show everyone for who knows how long how good the "quality" is.
The second reason I say the Lonely Planet was useless here was because the map proved useless. The Lonely Planet's map is confusing, and the mountain's paths are well laid out. There was no need for the Lonely Planet for navigation either. Its information on the gates was somewhat useful, although none of the Chinese characters on the gates corresponded to what the translated name was in the book. It also failed to mention a few of the cooler parts of the mountain.
The last reason as to why it was useless is small, but irritating enough that I have to mention it. The Lonely Planet claims that "some" Chinese attempt to climb the mountain at night. I think I saw half of Tai'An's population that night. EVERYONE climbs it at night. Some people climbed it during the day, but most people were going down, not up. For good reason too, because climbing it at night was well worth the reward.
Once at the halfway mark, I stopped and waited for the Chinese people to catch up. Honestly, the majority of China could really use some strength training. They insisted I go ahead, because each set of steps consisted of me bounding up it two steps at a time, then waiting and providing them light with my flashlight, as they slowly took on the difficulties of a set of around 20 steps. I heard at four different times from random shocked Chinese people "Oh, you are so strong!" just for being able to climb stairs. Before the halfway mark, the slopes are gradual, and steps rarely exceed sets of twenty. It really wasn't hard. For a people who consider mountain climbing (in the sense of walking up stairs) a sport, they're really bad at it.
Reaching the halfway mark is supposed to take two hours. We had left before sundown (around 6 PM), and they didn't get there until 11 PM. On my own, I would have made it to the peak by then. Regardless, they finally caught up, and they all wanted to be at the peak right away. I knew the peak wouldn't take more than two hours, and it was finally starting to get cold, so I suggested we stay. The halfway mark has a few restaurants and a lounge where you can pay to rest in the semi-heated area. It's mainly only warm because of all the people there. We haggled it down from a whopping 8 yuan, which they claimed to be expensive, to 6 yuan for each of us to rest.
Inside, I warmed up, and shocked them by suggesting we play Da Di Hua, the common Chinese game. It closely resembles Asshole, with some minor differences that make the game much more difficult. They were amazed I knew how to play, so we managed to kill quite a bit of time. We then napped until 2 AM, and set out. They suggested we leave at 3 AM, but I knew if they left later, they probably wouldn't make it.
Not long after we set out, the stairs became much steeper, and the sets of steps became much longer before a break occured. They insisted I set off on my own again, and after checking that they were sure it was ok, and getting their phone number so we could find each other on the peak, I took off. Granted, this was much harder than before, but I'm glad I went off on my own. Waiting for them would have been excrutiatingly boring. I made it to the top in under an hour and a half.
Some memories I have of that second half, I will always look back on and smile. One Chinese girl tried reading the English portion of one of the plaques that describe the history of a certain sight along the way. While reading out loud, I joined in as a joke, since thanks to the pitch black of the night, she couldn't see my face, and hadn't realized I was a foreigner. Once my voice joined in with hers, reading it outloud, she stopped, stood straight like a deer in headlights, and hid behind her boyfriend. I had actually scared her to the point where she instinctively hid, just by being a foreigner.
Another fun memory I have was nearer to the peak. The lady I said was a trooper, taking the stretcher to the top, instead of down... she passed me. Several times. I was passing tons of Chinese people, one after another, as they gawked at the sheer, massive power of an average white guy. But that lady, I just couldn't stay in front of. The two guys carrying her were hot on my tail the whole way, and she was how I kept motivated and kept my pace up. I kept thinking surely, if two guys can carry another person up, I can go up faster only burdened by two days worth of clothing! These guys weren't even big, either. Just typical, skinny Chinese guys, probably weighing about 150 pounds each. It wasn't until the next morning, when I saw how they restocked all the food and other inventory they have at the top for sale, that I realized why it was so challenging. These guys are monsters, unstoppable forces of nature, when you see them in action. They put tons of weight on each end of a pole, and carry up maybe 6 or 8 cases of beer at a time. Basically, if the pole can support the weight, they can.
Once at the top, I had what I thought was an hour left (it turned out to be an hour and a half) before sunrise, and I was getting cold fast. I packed a sweater, thinking I was clever, but I only had shorts on. I had to keep walking, and finding more steps up in order to keep warm. Thanks to this walking, I ended up getting horribly lost in the paths on the peak. I found several maps, but they were useless as I didn't know where north was. I tried asking others where north was, but couldn't seem to communicate what I wanted. I later realized I had mixed up the words for north, pronounced in English like 'Bay', and white, pronounced in English like 'Buy'. I had been asking everyone where the white was.
Finally, I half signed, half asked in Chinese where the sunrise would be, and had someone point it out to me. I followed them there, and happened accidentally to end up at Sun-Watching peak. That's honestly the literal translation. It's the eastern most part of the mountain's peak, and is actually a huge cliff with a great view. It's also the most popular place to watch the sunrise.
While waiting, it got brighter and brighter out, until it felt like daytime. It was still very cold, and I kept trying to walk around to keep warm. Finally, about half an hour after I thought the sunrise was supposed to happen, I gave up, thinking I wasn't going to get to see the sunrise. I assumed that it was too cloudy out, as the mountain was full of mist and China's skies are often obscured by pollution. I set off, and left my vantage point to get a good picture of all the other people watching for it. Just as I was about to take the picture, I heard a ton of Chinese people Ooh, and Aah at once, and turned towards the east. I saw the sun just poking out from the horizon. It was gorgeous, as I'd never watched a sunrise before, and certainly never on a mountain peak. My camera definitely did not do it justice, as for some reason, it picks up the sun as a tiny dot, no matter what settings I had on. I watched it come up until it was fully shining, in all its power, and I went off to see the mountain, which was now fully exposed.
Now that the sun was out, and starting to heat everything back up, the mist was quickly disappearing to reveal what I had climbed the whole night. It was breathtaking, and I feel that even the pictures I took don't do it any justice. This was the defining moment of the whole trip, and I was ecstatic I had made it. There were no clouds out, it was a clear day, and made all the racism and long hours standing on the train and climbing the 6660 steps so worthwhile.
I did nothing but gawk at the many sights for quite a long time, while seeing the different tourist attractions along the paths I had accidentally wandered (Confucious' temple, Jade Emperor temple, etc) at the same time. By the time the Chinese people's text messages got to me - they were long delayed thanks to being on top of a mountain - I had seen everything and was waiting to meet up with them at the South Gate to the Heavens, where the long path to the top ends. They had barely made it to see the sunrise, and definitely didn't make it to where I was for the event, so they set off and looked at everything I had just come from.
I messaged them, letting them know I'd be waiting for them there when they were ready, and as it was still very cold out, haggled for some coffee. I could only get instant coffee at the top, but I found a place that would sell it for 10 yuan, which isn't bad, considering 2 - 3 yuan beer cost 20 at the peak. While sipping my coffee, a bird flew in through the door, as it was wide open, and started flying around everywhere in the restaurant. The entire staff came out of the kitchen and started batting the air trying to hit the bird, and finally, it hit the window and the cook grabbed it (with his bare hands, I might add) and pinned its wings back. Here's the part that makes this story worth adding to the blog: Instead of releasing it, he took it into the kitchen! I kid you not! There are rumors that barbeque in Wuxi (or anywhere) uses stray dogs and cats instead of legitimate beef, because it's cheaper. This only adds to the potential legitimacy of the story. Suffice to say, I was glad I only had a coffee, although I'm certain that their "Chicken" fried rice is now quite fresh.
Once I finally met up with my Chinese friends, I chatted with them a bit, thanked them profusely, and finally made my way down. I took a bus from the halfway point, as I was far enough down that most of the sights to see were either not nearly as impressive as they were from the peak, or I had already gotten pictures of them while the sun was still out. The bus ride offered some nice new scenery. Unfortunately, most of the pictures didn't turn out as I was extremely low on battery power, and a lot of it was obscured by a treeline along the road.
I ended the trip by waiting over three hours in the train station, as there really wasn't anything to do in Tai'An during that time, even by admission of the natives. While in there, I came across the most unsanitary washroom I've ever seen. Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to know. It was just a long, approximately foot-deep, foot wide trough in the floor, with no drain. I assume all the waste was shoveled out at some late hour of the night. It was filled with the crap of others who had passed by, and there was certainly no toilet paper available. To top it all off, the sinks had no running water. One was filled with water because it was clogged with something, and the majority of the Chinese were rinsing off their hands with that. It was... disgusting.
The train ride back was extremely similar to the train ride to Tai'An in the first place, and pissed me off all over again. I even had someone make fun of me because I bought a beer. Apparently, beer is only supposed to be drank with supper. I didn't care, I just wanted a beer. The Chinese are so closed minded sometimes. I regained my sanity by finally finding a group of people from Shanghai who were more used to foreigners, and I chatted mostly with the young boy with them. He found my lack of mastery of the tones the Chinese use for their words hilarious, and I teased him right back by teaching him English and listening to all the Chinese people around him laugh at his horrible attempts to mimic the sounds. All in all, the Shanghai people made the last leg of the trip somewhat tolerable, despite the many interruptions of the idiots who wanted to see the foreigner, and his "failing Chinese". I regained my confidence in my Chinese when I got back to Wuxi, when within 15 minutes of being in a city that knew foreigners weren't fluent, where people typically spoke more clearly and slowly to foreigners, I had two separate full conversations with people, without misunderstanding. One of the conversations was with the taxi driver taking me home, and granted, she corrected my horrible use of the tones, but there were no misunderstandings or laughing "Hahaha, he doesn't understand! What a stupid foreigner!" No more travelling to ass-backwards cities for me.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Tai'An: The Shithole with a View
This trip began poorly, and it didn't let up easily. Once I finally got there, I could see signs of the sun rising, and I was very unimpressed. First off, I quickly realized I had not calculated my financial status properly, and realized I wasn't going to be able to see Qufu, the birthplace and deathplace of Confucious, the famous Chinese philosopher, and butt of many jokes about China. I was pissed off about that, but I could live with it.
However, I was still very bitter about the train ride, and what's worse is the whole time I was in the train station, I was being attacked by the same four "taxi drivers". Unlicensed random guys trying to drive you around and imposing a jacked up price on you. They'd come at me in shifts, so I was never alone, just always walking around or standing with one guy or another, hounding me saying "Taxi! Taxi! Tai Shan, taxi!" despite my telling them I didn't want a taxi. In China, apparently, if someone says they don't want something, it just means you should tell them again about what rip off you're offering... 18 times. Finally, I was so frustrated that I stopped ignoring the guy, looked up from my Lonely Planet guide, and yelled loud enough for the train station to echo "I don't want a fucking taxi!". Rather than leave, they all just shut up and stood near and watched me.
Finally, I just bought a ticket for the next day (in the afternoon) for a "quick" train. The quick train they were offering was 9 hours back, and they jacked up the price by almost double. I paid for it anyway, and realized there was definitely no way to afford Qufu, so I pushed it out of my mind. I gave the cab drivers another glare to make sure they stayed in their place, and walked to the door of the ticket office to figure out which way was north to get my bearings on the map.
Unfortunately, it was raining, so there was no sun out, and worse yet, that also indicated I would see no sunrise the next day. My plan was falling apart, and I was becoming darker and darker shades of red from anger and frustration. Finally, a man my age came up to me and asked in English if they could help - a common question from those who want to practice English for free, and also from those who want to make friends with you before they sell you something. I warily told him "Well, most of all, I don't want a taxi" very firmly. He smiled, and started a short conversation with me about the typical things, where I'm from, why am I in China, etc. I started to decide he only wanted to practice English, but I continued to talk to him, mainly because he was the first person in over 14 hours who was nice to me.
Soon after, his friends showed up, who also knew English quite well, and they all smiled and listened in. I told them briefly of my problems on the train as part of my apology for being abrasive in the beginning of the conversation. Suddenly, they all started chatting in Chinese, and one of them turned to me and said "We are excited to see you. We'd like it if you came with us to see our university, and you can come sleep in our dorm room". I immediately smelled scam, so I asked them how much it would cost, and they looked confused and said "No, for free." I was still skeptical, but eventually followed them anyway. It proved to eventually have saved the trip.
The campus was very nice, and they bought breakfast for me, despite that I insisted that I'd pay. Chinese are very good at somehow paying the bill for you. I eventually started taking pictures of the campus, as it was nicely set up, despite the fact that the rest of Tai'An looked like an average city in Canada, sunken about a foot in mud (because it was raining), after everyone decided to take a simultaneous dump on the city. It was just seriously underdeveloped, and even the residents admitted that. I had gone here knowing that Jessica's friend used to live here, but I didn't find out until after the trip that apparently, she also got the fuck out as soon as she could, because it sucked.
Afterwards, they took me to another campus, where the dorms were, and as I expected, they wouldn't let a foreigner in the dorms. Surprise, surprise, a university with no foreign students had no accomodations for a foreigner. My new friends clearly did not know the laws surrounding foreigners, and that some areas are closed to us. I wasn't worried, and expected that to be where we parted, but oh, I was so wrong.
They insisted they knew of a place I could stay for only 10 yuan. That's not even two dollars Canadian. I laughed and told them there was no way a place that cheap could take a foreigner, and they said it could be done. So I humoured them, and walked with them to the hotel. However, once at the hotel, one of them grabbed my shoulder, and held me back from going in. The other two walked in, and I looked in confusion at the one who grabbed me. We chatted for a bit, until the other two came out and waved us into the hotel after arrangements had been made. Once again, they had paid. The one who grabbed me said "Walk fast." and I realized what was happening. I was being smuggled into a real Chinese hotel.
I walked in, walking briskly to the stairs up to my room, and the receptionist froze with a look of undefinable emotion on her face. It was a mix of wonder at the new foreigner and fear and surprise of the possibility they'd be shut down. If a place takes a foreigner without being licensed for it, they can face quite a horrible fine, or worse. This place clearly was not licensed. I had walked inside a building to the lobby, if you can call it that. The roof ended suddenly towards the back, and the stairs leading up also had the roof end suddenly. From then, it was just an open concrete floor with rooms sort of thrown together out of nowhere. The doors were shabby, and the walls, despite being exposed directly to the outdoors, were made of drywall. This "building" was actually just a shack, converted to some rooms of some sort of improvised make.
There was a window into another room, and I could see a man with a lady in his room. It was quite clear to me that she was a prostitute, and kept walking. I later heard the two of them together in the washroom, despite the fact that they were clearly not showering or using the (squat) toilet. We entered my room, and the Chinese people immediately locked the door each time they came and went, which unnerved me. At this point, they had easily earned my trust, but the fact that police could come by and kick me out of the city at any time was making me quite nervous, to say the least.
I slept, despite the rock hard bed and "pillow", with my backpack beside me against the wall, just in case. After about 4 or 5 hours, we set out, and one of the Chinese people got his deposit back. It was 5 yuan. I have never paid a deposit less than 100 yuan. I was thankful I didn't get arrested or kicked out, and happily went on my way. They took me for lunch, which was much nicer. Again, they managed to pay the bill, despite my protest.
We still had a lot of time to kill, as some of them were going to climb Tai Shan as well to see the sunrise, so we went to a temple that was a common stop before attempting the climb called Dai Miao. The temple was nice, although fairly typical. I saw a lady mopping carpet in one of the temples, but didn't manage to sneak a good picture, and they were quite angry after, as they thought I was taking pictures of the inside of the temple itself. I wish I had, as the inside walls of that temple were very beautiful, and actually real history for a change.
A common problem I have with China's temples is that sometimes, the temples' insides are quite interesting, but they won't let you take pictures because of the religiousness. I could understand that, if the temples were holy in the least. However, I've been to many temples. The statues and the temples' decor are all pirated, as they look identical, right down to the paintjob the outside of the temple has. Seriously, they're factory made. Some temples even admit in the plaques that the temple was rebuilt or "restored" in the 1980's. Furthermore, it's common for it to suddenly become ok for me to take pictures after paying money at the altar. If it were really for religious reasons, I'd have no problem not taking pictures. My problem is that it's only bad form to take pictures until money makes their religious spirit disappear. I've even seen monks light up a cigarette inside a temple before. Hardly a religious act, or a sacred grounds.
However, I was still very bitter about the train ride, and what's worse is the whole time I was in the train station, I was being attacked by the same four "taxi drivers". Unlicensed random guys trying to drive you around and imposing a jacked up price on you. They'd come at me in shifts, so I was never alone, just always walking around or standing with one guy or another, hounding me saying "Taxi! Taxi! Tai Shan, taxi!" despite my telling them I didn't want a taxi. In China, apparently, if someone says they don't want something, it just means you should tell them again about what rip off you're offering... 18 times. Finally, I was so frustrated that I stopped ignoring the guy, looked up from my Lonely Planet guide, and yelled loud enough for the train station to echo "I don't want a fucking taxi!". Rather than leave, they all just shut up and stood near and watched me.
Finally, I just bought a ticket for the next day (in the afternoon) for a "quick" train. The quick train they were offering was 9 hours back, and they jacked up the price by almost double. I paid for it anyway, and realized there was definitely no way to afford Qufu, so I pushed it out of my mind. I gave the cab drivers another glare to make sure they stayed in their place, and walked to the door of the ticket office to figure out which way was north to get my bearings on the map.
Unfortunately, it was raining, so there was no sun out, and worse yet, that also indicated I would see no sunrise the next day. My plan was falling apart, and I was becoming darker and darker shades of red from anger and frustration. Finally, a man my age came up to me and asked in English if they could help - a common question from those who want to practice English for free, and also from those who want to make friends with you before they sell you something. I warily told him "Well, most of all, I don't want a taxi" very firmly. He smiled, and started a short conversation with me about the typical things, where I'm from, why am I in China, etc. I started to decide he only wanted to practice English, but I continued to talk to him, mainly because he was the first person in over 14 hours who was nice to me.
Soon after, his friends showed up, who also knew English quite well, and they all smiled and listened in. I told them briefly of my problems on the train as part of my apology for being abrasive in the beginning of the conversation. Suddenly, they all started chatting in Chinese, and one of them turned to me and said "We are excited to see you. We'd like it if you came with us to see our university, and you can come sleep in our dorm room". I immediately smelled scam, so I asked them how much it would cost, and they looked confused and said "No, for free." I was still skeptical, but eventually followed them anyway. It proved to eventually have saved the trip.
The campus was very nice, and they bought breakfast for me, despite that I insisted that I'd pay. Chinese are very good at somehow paying the bill for you. I eventually started taking pictures of the campus, as it was nicely set up, despite the fact that the rest of Tai'An looked like an average city in Canada, sunken about a foot in mud (because it was raining), after everyone decided to take a simultaneous dump on the city. It was just seriously underdeveloped, and even the residents admitted that. I had gone here knowing that Jessica's friend used to live here, but I didn't find out until after the trip that apparently, she also got the fuck out as soon as she could, because it sucked.
Afterwards, they took me to another campus, where the dorms were, and as I expected, they wouldn't let a foreigner in the dorms. Surprise, surprise, a university with no foreign students had no accomodations for a foreigner. My new friends clearly did not know the laws surrounding foreigners, and that some areas are closed to us. I wasn't worried, and expected that to be where we parted, but oh, I was so wrong.
They insisted they knew of a place I could stay for only 10 yuan. That's not even two dollars Canadian. I laughed and told them there was no way a place that cheap could take a foreigner, and they said it could be done. So I humoured them, and walked with them to the hotel. However, once at the hotel, one of them grabbed my shoulder, and held me back from going in. The other two walked in, and I looked in confusion at the one who grabbed me. We chatted for a bit, until the other two came out and waved us into the hotel after arrangements had been made. Once again, they had paid. The one who grabbed me said "Walk fast." and I realized what was happening. I was being smuggled into a real Chinese hotel.
I walked in, walking briskly to the stairs up to my room, and the receptionist froze with a look of undefinable emotion on her face. It was a mix of wonder at the new foreigner and fear and surprise of the possibility they'd be shut down. If a place takes a foreigner without being licensed for it, they can face quite a horrible fine, or worse. This place clearly was not licensed. I had walked inside a building to the lobby, if you can call it that. The roof ended suddenly towards the back, and the stairs leading up also had the roof end suddenly. From then, it was just an open concrete floor with rooms sort of thrown together out of nowhere. The doors were shabby, and the walls, despite being exposed directly to the outdoors, were made of drywall. This "building" was actually just a shack, converted to some rooms of some sort of improvised make.
There was a window into another room, and I could see a man with a lady in his room. It was quite clear to me that she was a prostitute, and kept walking. I later heard the two of them together in the washroom, despite the fact that they were clearly not showering or using the (squat) toilet. We entered my room, and the Chinese people immediately locked the door each time they came and went, which unnerved me. At this point, they had easily earned my trust, but the fact that police could come by and kick me out of the city at any time was making me quite nervous, to say the least.
I slept, despite the rock hard bed and "pillow", with my backpack beside me against the wall, just in case. After about 4 or 5 hours, we set out, and one of the Chinese people got his deposit back. It was 5 yuan. I have never paid a deposit less than 100 yuan. I was thankful I didn't get arrested or kicked out, and happily went on my way. They took me for lunch, which was much nicer. Again, they managed to pay the bill, despite my protest.
We still had a lot of time to kill, as some of them were going to climb Tai Shan as well to see the sunrise, so we went to a temple that was a common stop before attempting the climb called Dai Miao. The temple was nice, although fairly typical. I saw a lady mopping carpet in one of the temples, but didn't manage to sneak a good picture, and they were quite angry after, as they thought I was taking pictures of the inside of the temple itself. I wish I had, as the inside walls of that temple were very beautiful, and actually real history for a change.
A common problem I have with China's temples is that sometimes, the temples' insides are quite interesting, but they won't let you take pictures because of the religiousness. I could understand that, if the temples were holy in the least. However, I've been to many temples. The statues and the temples' decor are all pirated, as they look identical, right down to the paintjob the outside of the temple has. Seriously, they're factory made. Some temples even admit in the plaques that the temple was rebuilt or "restored" in the 1980's. Furthermore, it's common for it to suddenly become ok for me to take pictures after paying money at the altar. If it were really for religious reasons, I'd have no problem not taking pictures. My problem is that it's only bad form to take pictures until money makes their religious spirit disappear. I've even seen monks light up a cigarette inside a temple before. Hardly a religious act, or a sacred grounds.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Tai'An: The train ride there
This was my last trip in China. I leave for Canada on the 21st, but I wanted to cram in one last sight, as China has some really nice mountainous areas. I've noticed during many of my trips that I tended to try and take pictures of natural things, not the touristy crap I complain about so often, so a mountain was right up my alley. Shandong province is north of Jiangsu province (where Wuxi is), so it was a close enough place with a famous mountain I was interested in seeing.
Tai Shan (The mountain I wanted to see) is in Tai'An, and out of the 5 Taoist Mountains in China, this is supposed to be the best. Unfortunately, I had to go to Tai'An to get there. I did not know what I was getting myself into. Tai'An has 5 million people in it, so I figured it'd be ok, despite the fact that the Lonely Planet literally has zero sights listed in Tai'An's section, except for Tai Shan itself. The city is so crappy and undeveloped, the people living there don't even know there's 5 million of them. I had native Chinese people telling me that there were maybe a few hundred thousand living there... More than a little off.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. First off, the train ride from Wuxi to Tai'An. It sucked. It turned out my train had no letter in front of its name, which means it's the slowest of its kind. For a trip that should have taken 8 hours, at most, I ended up on a 14 hour train ride... standing. That's right, I had a standing ticket on a really crappy train. This train was also the lowest of the low I've been on. It brought a new meaning to hard seat. All the other trains I've taken had individual seats, with decent cushioning. This one looked like inside a school bus, if they took all the cushion out of the seats. Long, green boards made up the train seats, and they had mounted fans, mostly broken, along the ceiling, rather than air condition it.
I was planning to go climb the mountain at night, as many Chinese people do, since the sunrise is supposed to be spectacular from the peak. So my plan was to get to Tai'An at around 1 to 2 AM, maybe even as early as midnight, then head straight to the mountain, and climb it as quick as I could to make it there just in time for the sunrise (around 4 to 5 AM). However, the train I got on at 2:30 PM didn't make it to Tai'An until... that's right. Sunrise. I was not impressed.
Another really irritating part was that Shandong is full of people with horrible accents, and none of them are used to foreigners. For a long time on the trip, I had lost all confidence in my Chinese, because I couldn't understand any of the people in Shandong province. I thought my listening ability had gone in the shitter. The problem was none of them had any experience speaking to someone who's native tongue isn't Chinese, so they all spoke quickly, and with no enunciation at all. Just good old thick Shandong accent. They had no concept, despite my insistence, of speaking slowly or clearly. As soon as I couldn't understand someone saying a single phrase, they'd laugh at me, and announce to the entire train car that the stupid foreigner doesn't speak Chinese. They'd even go so far as to tell other people who wanted to try and chat with me not to bother, because "the foreigner doesn't know any Chinese".
This was extremely frustrating, for two reasons. First off, I know enough Chinese to understand the general subject of most conversations Chinese people are having without me in it, but none of the specifics. Second, trains are noisy, so often, I just couldn't hear the person over a passing train, or other people's chatter. Rather than repeat themselves, or speak clearly, they just decided I was an idiot. Then they'd talk about me for 10 minutes, and make fun of how I spoke, or that I was stupid and couldn't understand them... in front of me. So not only did I suffer through the frustrations of not knowing enough vocabulary to understand everything, which is a common enough feeling normally, but I had to sit and listen to them make fun of me for 10 minutes.
By the time the train had finally made it to Tai'An, I was happy to get off, and felt like punching half the car's passengers in the face. Shandong's accent is somewhere between Beijing dialect, which I understand because Beijing people see a lot of foreigners, so they speak clearly, and Southern dialect, which is close to Wuxi dialect. However, it's a horrible mishmash of both, and they spoke very quickly, so it was near impossible to understand. Most of them weren't even speaking Mandarin, they were speaking their native dialect, which is specific down to the city, not even a province. Thanks to this train ride, I was exposed to the famed racism China's foreign visitors know oh so well, for far far too long. I had experienced it many times, but never to this degree.
Tai Shan (The mountain I wanted to see) is in Tai'An, and out of the 5 Taoist Mountains in China, this is supposed to be the best. Unfortunately, I had to go to Tai'An to get there. I did not know what I was getting myself into. Tai'An has 5 million people in it, so I figured it'd be ok, despite the fact that the Lonely Planet literally has zero sights listed in Tai'An's section, except for Tai Shan itself. The city is so crappy and undeveloped, the people living there don't even know there's 5 million of them. I had native Chinese people telling me that there were maybe a few hundred thousand living there... More than a little off.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. First off, the train ride from Wuxi to Tai'An. It sucked. It turned out my train had no letter in front of its name, which means it's the slowest of its kind. For a trip that should have taken 8 hours, at most, I ended up on a 14 hour train ride... standing. That's right, I had a standing ticket on a really crappy train. This train was also the lowest of the low I've been on. It brought a new meaning to hard seat. All the other trains I've taken had individual seats, with decent cushioning. This one looked like inside a school bus, if they took all the cushion out of the seats. Long, green boards made up the train seats, and they had mounted fans, mostly broken, along the ceiling, rather than air condition it.
I was planning to go climb the mountain at night, as many Chinese people do, since the sunrise is supposed to be spectacular from the peak. So my plan was to get to Tai'An at around 1 to 2 AM, maybe even as early as midnight, then head straight to the mountain, and climb it as quick as I could to make it there just in time for the sunrise (around 4 to 5 AM). However, the train I got on at 2:30 PM didn't make it to Tai'An until... that's right. Sunrise. I was not impressed.
Another really irritating part was that Shandong is full of people with horrible accents, and none of them are used to foreigners. For a long time on the trip, I had lost all confidence in my Chinese, because I couldn't understand any of the people in Shandong province. I thought my listening ability had gone in the shitter. The problem was none of them had any experience speaking to someone who's native tongue isn't Chinese, so they all spoke quickly, and with no enunciation at all. Just good old thick Shandong accent. They had no concept, despite my insistence, of speaking slowly or clearly. As soon as I couldn't understand someone saying a single phrase, they'd laugh at me, and announce to the entire train car that the stupid foreigner doesn't speak Chinese. They'd even go so far as to tell other people who wanted to try and chat with me not to bother, because "the foreigner doesn't know any Chinese".
This was extremely frustrating, for two reasons. First off, I know enough Chinese to understand the general subject of most conversations Chinese people are having without me in it, but none of the specifics. Second, trains are noisy, so often, I just couldn't hear the person over a passing train, or other people's chatter. Rather than repeat themselves, or speak clearly, they just decided I was an idiot. Then they'd talk about me for 10 minutes, and make fun of how I spoke, or that I was stupid and couldn't understand them... in front of me. So not only did I suffer through the frustrations of not knowing enough vocabulary to understand everything, which is a common enough feeling normally, but I had to sit and listen to them make fun of me for 10 minutes.
By the time the train had finally made it to Tai'An, I was happy to get off, and felt like punching half the car's passengers in the face. Shandong's accent is somewhere between Beijing dialect, which I understand because Beijing people see a lot of foreigners, so they speak clearly, and Southern dialect, which is close to Wuxi dialect. However, it's a horrible mishmash of both, and they spoke very quickly, so it was near impossible to understand. Most of them weren't even speaking Mandarin, they were speaking their native dialect, which is specific down to the city, not even a province. Thanks to this train ride, I was exposed to the famed racism China's foreign visitors know oh so well, for far far too long. I had experienced it many times, but never to this degree.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The most aggravating conversation I've had in China
The following conversation occured on the street. It's common for the Chinese to yell "Hello! Laowhi! Hello!" (Laowhi = old outsider, foreigner) and expect us to respond kindly and even let them talk to us and practice their English (usually atrocious). Today, I was not in a tolerant mood, and this put me in a much angrier mood when it was all said and done:
Chinese Moron: "Hello!"
*I turn and glare at him*
*He assumes that means he can come up to me and talk to me, and does so*
~In English~
CM: "Where you from?"
~In Chinese~
Me: I'm from Canada
CM: Ah, I see. What country are you from?
Me: Canada
CM: I know, I know Canada. But what COUNTRY are you from?
~In English~
Me: CANADA!
CM: Yes, but where you from? America? Australia? Germany? France?
Me: ... Ca-Na-Da.
~In Chinese~
Me: I am not American, I am Canadian.
CM: I know! I know! But what country? America? Australia? Germany? France? Where?
Me: ... Do you know where Canada is?
*CM hesitates*
Me: Here is America...
*I show with my hand in the air*
Me: Here is Canada.
*I point above it*
*CM hesitates a bit more*
~In English~
CM: Yes, I know. North.
Me: Yes.
CM: But...
Me: Canada.
CM: Yes, Toronto.
*I sigh, thinking I've finally gotten through to him*
Me: Yes, I live very close to Toronto.
CM: See? I know! But what country...
*I make a very angry face*
CM: Did you know? This is free!
*CM points to my coffee, from McDonalds*
Me: It's free?
CM: Not free, but free.
~In Chinese~
CM: McDonalds will give you more coffee for no money.
~In English~
Me: Oh, free refills. Yes, I know.
CM: One day, I drink 60 of them for free. Manager not happy.
*CM laughs*
I just walked away from him. The guy was a fucking moron. Apparently, he is not aware that Canada is a country. I still have no fucking clue what he thinks it is. He knows Toronto, but I'm not sure he knows what Canada is. It's my best guess that he thinks Canada is called Toronto. I tried in two languages, and he still has no fucking clue where I'm from. I really have to stop instinctively looking every time someone yells Hello. I'm getting too many stupid fuckers trying to talk to me.
Chinese Moron: "Hello!"
*I turn and glare at him*
*He assumes that means he can come up to me and talk to me, and does so*
~In English~
CM: "Where you from?"
~In Chinese~
Me: I'm from Canada
CM: Ah, I see. What country are you from?
Me: Canada
CM: I know, I know Canada. But what COUNTRY are you from?
~In English~
Me: CANADA!
CM: Yes, but where you from? America? Australia? Germany? France?
Me: ... Ca-Na-Da.
~In Chinese~
Me: I am not American, I am Canadian.
CM: I know! I know! But what country? America? Australia? Germany? France? Where?
Me: ... Do you know where Canada is?
*CM hesitates*
Me: Here is America...
*I show with my hand in the air*
Me: Here is Canada.
*I point above it*
*CM hesitates a bit more*
~In English~
CM: Yes, I know. North.
Me: Yes.
CM: But...
Me: Canada.
CM: Yes, Toronto.
*I sigh, thinking I've finally gotten through to him*
Me: Yes, I live very close to Toronto.
CM: See? I know! But what country...
*I make a very angry face*
CM: Did you know? This is free!
*CM points to my coffee, from McDonalds*
Me: It's free?
CM: Not free, but free.
~In Chinese~
CM: McDonalds will give you more coffee for no money.
~In English~
Me: Oh, free refills. Yes, I know.
CM: One day, I drink 60 of them for free. Manager not happy.
*CM laughs*
I just walked away from him. The guy was a fucking moron. Apparently, he is not aware that Canada is a country. I still have no fucking clue what he thinks it is. He knows Toronto, but I'm not sure he knows what Canada is. It's my best guess that he thinks Canada is called Toronto. I tried in two languages, and he still has no fucking clue where I'm from. I really have to stop instinctively looking every time someone yells Hello. I'm getting too many stupid fuckers trying to talk to me.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tailoring Suits
Finally, I had the opportunity to take a Chinese person to what we call Fabric Land (a pun, based on the Canadian company). Hou Xixi, a street not far from where I live, is dedicated to clothing, and the end of the street is made up of several shops that will sell cloth or tailor clothing for you. Since coming to China, I knew I wanted to have some suits made, but I never had a Chinese friend with the time to come with me and help me buy some. I probably could have muddled through it, but I would have paid a lot more, and probably not have known how much cloth to buy.
We had Alex's friend, Apple, who is a student at Hy-Lite (Jessica's job - the English School) come with us. She was great, because not only did she help interpret, but when the tailoring work turned out to be a lot more expensive than I expected, she called her mother. Apple's only 18, so she didn't know quite how much it should cost, but we were getting prices of about 250-300 yuan per suit! I expected around 100 yuan! Apple, now armed with the knowledge her mom gave her, managed to talk it down so I was paying total 560 yuan for all three suits, including the pants, and all adjustments. Basically, when all is said and done, I've gotten each suit for around 35 bucks Canadian. However, now, I'm quite broke, and these last few days in China are going to be tight.
Afterwards, I had Apple pick out a bunch of popular Chinese movies for me, as I've become quite discouraged with buying Western movies here. I can burn American movies on my own back home, and they'd be better quality, but Chinese movies are not something I have realistic access to. Not to mention, these will have subtitles, so I can continue to listen and learn Mandarin, and if I don't understand, I can read the subtitles.
Apple also came back to our apartment and taught me the basics of Majiang, the popular Chinese gambling game. I still don't know how to play, but she explained all the types and meanings of the pieces. Apparently, I'm going to have to learn some more Chinese characters. Hopefully, Tommy will teach me when I get back to Canada.
We had Alex's friend, Apple, who is a student at Hy-Lite (Jessica's job - the English School) come with us. She was great, because not only did she help interpret, but when the tailoring work turned out to be a lot more expensive than I expected, she called her mother. Apple's only 18, so she didn't know quite how much it should cost, but we were getting prices of about 250-300 yuan per suit! I expected around 100 yuan! Apple, now armed with the knowledge her mom gave her, managed to talk it down so I was paying total 560 yuan for all three suits, including the pants, and all adjustments. Basically, when all is said and done, I've gotten each suit for around 35 bucks Canadian. However, now, I'm quite broke, and these last few days in China are going to be tight.
Afterwards, I had Apple pick out a bunch of popular Chinese movies for me, as I've become quite discouraged with buying Western movies here. I can burn American movies on my own back home, and they'd be better quality, but Chinese movies are not something I have realistic access to. Not to mention, these will have subtitles, so I can continue to listen and learn Mandarin, and if I don't understand, I can read the subtitles.
Apple also came back to our apartment and taught me the basics of Majiang, the popular Chinese gambling game. I still don't know how to play, but she explained all the types and meanings of the pieces. Apparently, I'm going to have to learn some more Chinese characters. Hopefully, Tommy will teach me when I get back to Canada.
Fire Car!
Huo Che, the Chinese for train, translates literally as a fire car. This is just meant to be a blurb on the types of train cars you can get tickets for, and my impressions of them all now that I've taken all of the different types.
Cars can be of 4 different qualities: Hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper. The prices increase respectively.
Hard seat:
This is the main staple of trains. They're the cheapest seats you can buy, and for foreigners, the ticket booths will often assume you want a more expensive seat. They'll usually try to upgrade you to a soft seat. I suggest if you know Chinese (even just a little bit), don't upgrade! The people in these cars are SO friendly, and because there's so many of them, at least some will know a decent amount of English. I love travelling in hard seats because the first 10 minutes, they do nothing but stare at you, and then someone reveals they know some English, and you get to chat with them. This has been one of the ways I've learned a lot of Chinese. If their English fails, they often fall back on Chinese, and this is how I learn. They also enjoy teaching you basic Chinese, so if your Chinese is really poor, they'll teach you some simple stuff. Some of the most interesting people I've met in China have been in hard seat. Not only is it cheap, but it's fun!
Soft seat:
I've taken these only on bullet/really fast trains. They're generally skipped over unless the trip is under a few hours long. The seats are more comfortable, as implied by the name, and there's often a table tray in the seat in front of you that folds out. If you get the opportunity to take it long distance, don't bother. Save the money, take soft seat on quick trips. I tend to have these seats when I go to Shanghai (under an hour train ride), or Suzhou (15 minute train ride). Generally, you won't strike up a conversation in here, since most people are business men who don't give a shit about you, but it has been done.
Hard Sleeper:
For a long time, this was my preferred car for long distance trains. It's cheaper than soft sleeper, and the beds really aren't that different. However, there are 6 beds in each section. There's a bottom bunk, middle bunk, and top bunk on the left and right of each section, and not much head clearance for any of them. I've read that top bunk is cheaper, and bottom bunk is most expensive, but I haven't actually noticed a price difference. However, the idea would make sense. Top bunk has almost no head clearance at all, as the ceiling is maybe 2 feet above the bed, and the light and speakers are right in your face. Bottom bunk is nice, but you may have to wait for the others to go to bed, as it is common for everyone to chill out on the bottom bunk until they go to bed. Middle bunk seems to be the best choice, but if you're really tall, over 6 feet, you may have people walking by bumping into your overhanging feet. I have no issues with any of them, and generally get "stuck" with top bunk.
Soft Sleeper:
This is the luxury. Each section has four beds, not six, and the beds are a bit softer, although not enough to make a difference for me. Each section also has a door, which you can shut for privacy when everyone wants to sleep, and there is a plug available just outside each section, on the opposing wall. Most of the time, you'll see rich Chinese and some foreigners here. If you want to meet someone to chat with, like another foreigner, or a friendly Chinese guy, don't bother trying the people in these cars. Go to the diner car. People are far more social there (possibly because they serve beer). The diner car usually separates the sleepers from the seats. Most foreigners seem to like to get these if they can, especially for really long trips. I don't like them anymore, because they're too expensive, and no one's social.
Standing Tickets:
Couldn't get a seat? The train may be sold out, but they'll sell you a ticket anyway. You just have to stand for the whole way... kind of. Standing tickets are cool, because you get thrown in hard seat, you'll lean up against the side of the aisle seats, and everyone will stare. Foreigners are supposed to have a lot of money, and most standing tickets are sold to poor Chinese people, so a foreigner... standing?! You get a lot of people chatting with you, a lot of nice people, and on long trips, where you'd assume a standing ticket would be brutal, is no problem. People will be more likely to get up and stretch their legs, and so they will offer you their seat in the meantime. In fact, some people will give you the seat and stand for a few hours themselves, just to be nice. I've had standing tickets a few times, and it's changed how I viewed China. They are really hospitable, and while someone sitting in your seat in Canada would be cause for confrontation, it's just a fact of life here, and they have no problem with it. I now offer my seat to the Chinese people with standing tickets routinely, because I like to stand anyway.
There is one problem though. If your train goes through the night, beyond 3 AM, you're going to run into trouble, because even the night owls will drift off around then. If you haven't found an empty seat by then, standing is BORING. Maybe bring newspaper to sit on or even lie down on (the Chinese do it) in the aisle, or try to get a seat at the diner car after they've stopped serving food. Often, for an extra fee (around 30 yuan), they'll let you stay in there from 11 PM to 5 or 6 AM. Rest your weary head on the table, and watch out for cockroaches.
Cars can be of 4 different qualities: Hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper. The prices increase respectively.
Hard seat:
This is the main staple of trains. They're the cheapest seats you can buy, and for foreigners, the ticket booths will often assume you want a more expensive seat. They'll usually try to upgrade you to a soft seat. I suggest if you know Chinese (even just a little bit), don't upgrade! The people in these cars are SO friendly, and because there's so many of them, at least some will know a decent amount of English. I love travelling in hard seats because the first 10 minutes, they do nothing but stare at you, and then someone reveals they know some English, and you get to chat with them. This has been one of the ways I've learned a lot of Chinese. If their English fails, they often fall back on Chinese, and this is how I learn. They also enjoy teaching you basic Chinese, so if your Chinese is really poor, they'll teach you some simple stuff. Some of the most interesting people I've met in China have been in hard seat. Not only is it cheap, but it's fun!
Soft seat:
I've taken these only on bullet/really fast trains. They're generally skipped over unless the trip is under a few hours long. The seats are more comfortable, as implied by the name, and there's often a table tray in the seat in front of you that folds out. If you get the opportunity to take it long distance, don't bother. Save the money, take soft seat on quick trips. I tend to have these seats when I go to Shanghai (under an hour train ride), or Suzhou (15 minute train ride). Generally, you won't strike up a conversation in here, since most people are business men who don't give a shit about you, but it has been done.
Hard Sleeper:
For a long time, this was my preferred car for long distance trains. It's cheaper than soft sleeper, and the beds really aren't that different. However, there are 6 beds in each section. There's a bottom bunk, middle bunk, and top bunk on the left and right of each section, and not much head clearance for any of them. I've read that top bunk is cheaper, and bottom bunk is most expensive, but I haven't actually noticed a price difference. However, the idea would make sense. Top bunk has almost no head clearance at all, as the ceiling is maybe 2 feet above the bed, and the light and speakers are right in your face. Bottom bunk is nice, but you may have to wait for the others to go to bed, as it is common for everyone to chill out on the bottom bunk until they go to bed. Middle bunk seems to be the best choice, but if you're really tall, over 6 feet, you may have people walking by bumping into your overhanging feet. I have no issues with any of them, and generally get "stuck" with top bunk.
Soft Sleeper:
This is the luxury. Each section has four beds, not six, and the beds are a bit softer, although not enough to make a difference for me. Each section also has a door, which you can shut for privacy when everyone wants to sleep, and there is a plug available just outside each section, on the opposing wall. Most of the time, you'll see rich Chinese and some foreigners here. If you want to meet someone to chat with, like another foreigner, or a friendly Chinese guy, don't bother trying the people in these cars. Go to the diner car. People are far more social there (possibly because they serve beer). The diner car usually separates the sleepers from the seats. Most foreigners seem to like to get these if they can, especially for really long trips. I don't like them anymore, because they're too expensive, and no one's social.
Standing Tickets:
Couldn't get a seat? The train may be sold out, but they'll sell you a ticket anyway. You just have to stand for the whole way... kind of. Standing tickets are cool, because you get thrown in hard seat, you'll lean up against the side of the aisle seats, and everyone will stare. Foreigners are supposed to have a lot of money, and most standing tickets are sold to poor Chinese people, so a foreigner... standing?! You get a lot of people chatting with you, a lot of nice people, and on long trips, where you'd assume a standing ticket would be brutal, is no problem. People will be more likely to get up and stretch their legs, and so they will offer you their seat in the meantime. In fact, some people will give you the seat and stand for a few hours themselves, just to be nice. I've had standing tickets a few times, and it's changed how I viewed China. They are really hospitable, and while someone sitting in your seat in Canada would be cause for confrontation, it's just a fact of life here, and they have no problem with it. I now offer my seat to the Chinese people with standing tickets routinely, because I like to stand anyway.
There is one problem though. If your train goes through the night, beyond 3 AM, you're going to run into trouble, because even the night owls will drift off around then. If you haven't found an empty seat by then, standing is BORING. Maybe bring newspaper to sit on or even lie down on (the Chinese do it) in the aisle, or try to get a seat at the diner car after they've stopped serving food. Often, for an extra fee (around 30 yuan), they'll let you stay in there from 11 PM to 5 or 6 AM. Rest your weary head on the table, and watch out for cockroaches.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Drunk Cops
Jessica took Alex and I out today for dinner after she finished work. She had learned of a "famous" Sichuan restaurant in Wuxi. It was supposed to be the best one of its kind here, which is a bit of a laughable claim, since there's probably only about 3 or 4 to begin with.
The food was fairly decent, although I find myself quickly getting tired of Chinese food. I'm quite happy I'll be back in Canada soon, where the food varies beyond "Do you want rice, or noodles?". The waitress was mildly useless, as she was one of the types to immediately assume foreigners can't speak Chinese, and so I must not know what I'm saying. It took several tries just to find out how much a beer cost, and she never actually answered me, someone else piped in and told me.
This was also the first restaurant to give us a bell if we want service. This was nice, because often, service is a bitch to get in restaurants. You typically have to yell "Ai! Fu yan!" quite loud to get anything. Jessica wouldn't ring the bell though, so I had to give it a shake when we needed something. Canadian manners really have to get thrown out the door here, you can't get away with the quiet "Um... excuse me".
The reason I chose to write about this little experience was not for the restaurant, or the food. They were fairly average. Why it became an event to write about was because of a group of guys in a private booth. We could see some of them, and they were clearly quite drunk, but they hadn't noticed us until they started swearing at each other in English (I told you, they were drunk) and I burst out laughing. I have a fairly loud laugh, so they all poked their heads out, saw foreigners, and immediately came over to talk to us and apologize for swearing in our language.
I thought it was funny, and I didn't care at all, but they kept apologizing, and poured us all some beer for Ganbei (Chinese cheers, you chug the glass - the word means literally "Bottoms Up"). They stuck around and chatted with us drunkenly for a long, long time. We found out they were all cops, and I believe the restaurant owner was hosting them to get some brownie points with the police. The owner was frequently with them, and always providing more beer.
They asked us what we did, and we answered teachers, although I let it drop that I'm actually a private tutor. Jessica turned her head and snapped that I shouldn't have said that, as apparently, it's illegal for me to be tutoring. The cops either didn't care, or they were too drunk to realize what I had said or implied. Regardless, I'm not tutoring anymore. I had quit before I went to Beijing and Xi'an.
We had fun, but once they finally left our table, we called the fu yan over as quickly as possible and told her to hurry and bring us our bill so we could get out of there. We paid, and they showed up again, chatting with us for a little while longer, and we had one last encounter as we left, saying good bye. It's always funny to see the cops here, because they're either so relaxed while on duty, or they're abusing their own powers. I'd hate to know the number of cops that are drunk on duty here, but it's a well known reality.
One of the highlights of the night for me was when Jessica turned to me and told me one of the cops offered her a kind of "protection". The other cops had been telling him to shut up, while he told Jessica they should exchange phone numbers, and if she ever needs a hand with anything, just give him a call. The way I interpreted it, it reeked of mild police corruption, but I'm likely reading too much into it.
Going to a restaurant just isn't going to be the same without drunken police officers yelling "Fuck you!" in a horrible, slurred Chinese accent.
The food was fairly decent, although I find myself quickly getting tired of Chinese food. I'm quite happy I'll be back in Canada soon, where the food varies beyond "Do you want rice, or noodles?". The waitress was mildly useless, as she was one of the types to immediately assume foreigners can't speak Chinese, and so I must not know what I'm saying. It took several tries just to find out how much a beer cost, and she never actually answered me, someone else piped in and told me.
This was also the first restaurant to give us a bell if we want service. This was nice, because often, service is a bitch to get in restaurants. You typically have to yell "Ai! Fu yan!" quite loud to get anything. Jessica wouldn't ring the bell though, so I had to give it a shake when we needed something. Canadian manners really have to get thrown out the door here, you can't get away with the quiet "Um... excuse me".
The reason I chose to write about this little experience was not for the restaurant, or the food. They were fairly average. Why it became an event to write about was because of a group of guys in a private booth. We could see some of them, and they were clearly quite drunk, but they hadn't noticed us until they started swearing at each other in English (I told you, they were drunk) and I burst out laughing. I have a fairly loud laugh, so they all poked their heads out, saw foreigners, and immediately came over to talk to us and apologize for swearing in our language.
I thought it was funny, and I didn't care at all, but they kept apologizing, and poured us all some beer for Ganbei (Chinese cheers, you chug the glass - the word means literally "Bottoms Up"). They stuck around and chatted with us drunkenly for a long, long time. We found out they were all cops, and I believe the restaurant owner was hosting them to get some brownie points with the police. The owner was frequently with them, and always providing more beer.
They asked us what we did, and we answered teachers, although I let it drop that I'm actually a private tutor. Jessica turned her head and snapped that I shouldn't have said that, as apparently, it's illegal for me to be tutoring. The cops either didn't care, or they were too drunk to realize what I had said or implied. Regardless, I'm not tutoring anymore. I had quit before I went to Beijing and Xi'an.
We had fun, but once they finally left our table, we called the fu yan over as quickly as possible and told her to hurry and bring us our bill so we could get out of there. We paid, and they showed up again, chatting with us for a little while longer, and we had one last encounter as we left, saying good bye. It's always funny to see the cops here, because they're either so relaxed while on duty, or they're abusing their own powers. I'd hate to know the number of cops that are drunk on duty here, but it's a well known reality.
One of the highlights of the night for me was when Jessica turned to me and told me one of the cops offered her a kind of "protection". The other cops had been telling him to shut up, while he told Jessica they should exchange phone numbers, and if she ever needs a hand with anything, just give him a call. The way I interpreted it, it reeked of mild police corruption, but I'm likely reading too much into it.
Going to a restaurant just isn't going to be the same without drunken police officers yelling "Fuck you!" in a horrible, slurred Chinese accent.
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