Daoist Priest, White Cloud Temple, Lanzhou (Photo: M. Griffiths)
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 2, The Great Wall here.
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 3, The Forbidden City here.
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 4-5, Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors here.
My Crazy China Trip
Day 6
Lost and Found
This morning I slept in and then checked out
of the hotel and went to the train station. I put my luggage in the left luggage
office and set off to see some more sights in the city and have a look for some
shirts for my sister.
First I decided I wanted to go to a Daoist Temple.
Getting there was difficult. I thought a bus would be the cheapest way but everyone
I asked told me a different bus number. Eventually I got tired of walking around
looking for the right one and took a taxi.
The temple was very interesting. Lots of old
buildings and statues. As I wandered around the temple I met one of the Daoist
priests. I chatted with him for a while. He asked me how many people there were
in my home town. When I told him he laughed. Very small he said. He thought it
was very funny. He kept laughing as we talked. I suppose China has lots of
people and they have to put them all somewhere.
After that I walked out to the street and saw
a bus stop. It went right back to the city centre. Now I know which one to catch!
I walked down a street for a while
and came across some major road works. I think it was being done by migrant
workers from the country. They lived in big rectangular tents
pitched on the side of the road. They had cooking stoves and washing hanging on
a line strung between two trees. I couldn’t see any people. The workers must
have gone somewhere else further up the road. I stopped to take some photos. An
old worker who was doing something inside came out of one of the tents. I said
‘Ni hao. Hello.’ He waved and posed for a photo. Then he pulled out a smart
phone and took a photo of me. We both laughed.
After
that I went to see a Buddhist pagoda. It was very tall. Nearby in a park
there were lots of fountains. Lots of people were posing for photos around, and
kids were playing in it, and peeing in it. Kids are so cute. I needed to go too
but eventually I found a public toilet and paid my 1 yuan.
I saw some people
with signs outside a big building. They were just sitting there chatting.
Someone came up and said hello to me and said it was a protest about some
corruption. Some big black cars came out and the protesters stood up and waved
their signs. ‘High officials’ said the person next to me. The cars didn’t stop.
Maybe this was what Mao meant by contradictions among the people. I can
understand how he felt. People contradict me all the time.
My sister’s friend told me Lanzhou
food is nice. I’m not going there so I looked around for a Lanzhou restaurant
and eventually found one. I wasn’t sure what to order. I heard they had nice
noodles. I asked the waiter for the special Lanzhou food. He waiter looked a
bit confused, maybe because of my accent. He talked with the chef and said to
wait.
On
the table there was a round container with tissue paper
coming out of a round hole at the top. I realised it was a toilet roll in the
middle. China must be the only place where they have toilet paper on the
tables, but not in the toilets!
It took a long time but then they brought out
a sheep’s head. They showed me how to eat the meat off the skull and then the brains
and the eye balls. The brains were kind of mushy and tasted funny and the
eyeballs were really chewy. The meat was ok. Next time I’ll ask for noodles.
After lunch I walked around the big old city
walls for a while. The wall is very big and very wide. In the old days they drove wagons around it. I reckon it would still
be a good idea, faster than trying to drive across the city in the traffic anyway.
I looked in some more shops to see if I could
find anything nice for my sister and then it was time to go back to the train
station for my overnight train to Guilin.
I went to the luggage office and waited in
the queue. Just when it was my turn I guy jumped in before me. It was just like
in Tian’anmen Square watching the flag ceremony. I was worried I would never
get to the front of the queue and maybe miss my train. I said I was here first
and stared at him. The lady behind the counter looked at me and him. He looked
at me and then at her. Then he stepped back.
I got my bag and then got on the
train. After we started moving a train conductor came and swapped my ticket for
a plastic card with my bed number and position on it. She put the tickets in special
folder. I think they keep them so they know when to wake people up to get off.
My bed was No. 9, Shang which means the top
bunk of the three in the ninth compartment. the top bunk is rather high and there is not a lot
of head room. Climbing up and down is good exercise though. The middle bunk is
the best I think. You can lie down and do your own thing and it’s easier to get
up and down. The bottom one becomes the seat for everyone in your compartment
during the day. There are single fold down seats along the aisle too. You have
to be quick to get them. After a while I spotted an opportunity and grabbed
one. I took some photos out the window of the passing villages: farmers in
their fields, towns and factories.
One thing I
noticed was that the passengers seemed to have a lot of food with them. From my
aisle seat I watched some students sitting together in the next compartment
with several bags of food. First they ate fried chicken feet. They asked me if
I wanted some but I wasn’t game. I had bought a few snacks to keep me going.
After that they ate some fruit. Then they had some packets of snacks, and some
bottles of drink.
A train attendant
rolled a trolley through the carriages with food on it to. Apart from some
expensive fruit it didn’t look very inviting so I didn’t buy any. There were
food stalls on the station platforms too. Some people went out to buy more when
we stopped. Later the students got up and went to the hot water tap to fill up
big containers of spicy instant noodles. I don’t know how they managed to fit
it all in.
Eventually I got
hungry watching all this. I asked the student in my compartment about the
dining car and she told me where to go. By the time I got there dinner was
nearly over. The staff were sitting around chatting. The chef asked what I
wanted. He gave me a menu. I couldn’t read it but I used my phrase book and some
things my sister’s neighbour taught me to get some rice with pork and
vegetables. The chef went away to cook and one of the waiters tried to talk to
me in Chinese. When I didn’t understand he turned to the others and made a
joke. They all laughed. We got on well.
When I finished
my meal I went back to my carriage. I passed queue at the hot water tap. The
other thing the locals do on trains is drink tea. Lots of it. There is a hot
water dispenser at the end of the carriage. It was at the opposite end to the
toilets which was probably a good idea, the toilets got a bit whiffy as the
trip wore on.
Eventually I got tired and climbed up into my bunk, bumped my head several
times and lay down to sleep.
********
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 1, Beijing here.
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 2, The Great Wall here.
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 3, The Forbidden City here.
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 4-5, Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors here.
Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 7-8, Guilin and the Pointy Hills, here.
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
********
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Tell him he's dreaming - An engineer has an environmental epiphany but things don't work out as planned.
Trial by Fire - When a woman in Tibet self-immolates two witnesses face a dangerous dilemma. (4 parts)
Arrested Development - A development consultant in China finds life getting out of control. [Rated R]
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Entries in the post-industrial / peak oil short story competition:
NEWS - My story 'Promised Land' has been selected for the forthcoming anthology "After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis". You can read the other entries here.
A previous set of stories was published in 2012 in a book entitled After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, available from Amazon (Amazon) or in Australia from Fishpond (Fishpond).
Stories set in China:
Winds of Change – In 2022 a migrant worker struggles to realise his dreams and fulfil his family obligations.
Outside In – It's 2050, the country and economy have changed. A recycler studies for an exam to improve his prospects, and an indentured servant plans her escape.
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Stories set in Australia: A North Queensland Trilogy
Robots on Mars – 2025. A space-mad city boy adjusts to life in the country and tries to solve a mystery. (Note: no actual robots or Martians involved)
Promised Land – (Sequel to Robots on Mars). It’s 2050 and development threatens the rural district. Is it what they really need and if not, how can they stop it?
Heart of Glass - (Sequel to Promised Land). The year is 2099, high school graduates prepare to step into adulthood and the community prepares to celebrate the turn of a new century.
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
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