Day14/15 : 48 hour day
After a late sleep, we checked out of the hotel, had lunch at KFC (since we couldn't order anything else and didn't feel like being adventurous) and then went to the Kaifeng Museum. It was probably interesting but we couldn't understand anything so don't really know...but we did see some cool kites, arts and crafts, and engravings. The museum was in a near state of abandon which seems pretty consistent with what we'd seen so far - cultural heritage trashed for the sake of modernisation. Not that we are against modernisation, but the museum was in a really pitiful state.
We walked around towards the back of the museum vaguely looking at some sculptures and wondering what to do with the rest of the day when we heard:
-Do you speak Chinese?
-No.
-Please come with us to the Asian wall. We have a car.
Rebecca immediately assumed we would be kidnapped and left in a ditch if we went with them.
Jerome was more trusting but still reticent. When the man and woman who stopped us saw our hesitation, they triedto explain that they worked for the newspaper. In broken English, the woman said that the Asian wall would be broken and there was no protest in the city. We went with them in the car and checked that the doors were not locked being pulling away. They showed us their press cards and told us they worked for the Kaifeng Daily.
We got out at the south gate where they took our names and asked us to look at the wall while the man took pictures. What do you think they break the wall? Do you like the Asian wall? We finally understand that Asian was actually ancient. We were used as protest icons. Meanwhile, a crowd was gathering around. The woman asked what the French cities do with their ancient walls. Jerome explained in drawing that many French cities knocked them down and created ring roads in their place, saving only parts of the walls and city gates. Our picture was to appear in the paper the following Monday and they promised to send us a copy.
They dropped us off at our old hotel and once again we felt lost and too nervous to communicate. We went to the supermarket then absently wandered up the street before Jerome spotted the Capuccino Restaurant - plush chairs and coffee. It looked like an international bar in the asshole of the world, as the French expression goes. We settled in for 5 hours. At one point, a teenage girl came over to practice her English - she explained that she was very nervous because she had never spoken to a foreigner before, but it didn't show.
Rebecca practiced saying "whor cher jen" (train station) before going back to the hotel to get the bags and grab a taxi to the station. And the nightmare began...
The train arrived late, people were pushing and jumping over the barriers to get to the track. On the platform, a policeman tried to control the situation and made a single line with the hundreds of people who were waiting for the train. That's when we began to panic. We had "hard seats" (rigid, straight seats) ticket for the 15 hour train ride to Hangzhou. There was no air-conditioning in the very packed train, although it was extremely hot.
We took out a note Bo had kindly prepared for us asking in Chinese to find us sleepers but we had little hope. We looked around hoping to find the conductor. Meanwhile, Jerome saw a sign indicating the number of seats in the car : a total of 80. But there were at least 120 people in the car.
After a few minutes, Jerome went to the conductor with his note as I watched in angst and as 240 eyes stared at him. The conductor called over the policeman (each car has its own) and we understood that we should follow him but had no clue where we were going or why.
We walked from car 17 to car 1, walking through 10 cars packed with people in the aisles, in between the cars, sleeping under the seats, in the toilets, women with 2 babies on their knees...and all this with our huge backpacks on. It was so packed, that people were actually helping to push us through the aisle. We were trying to get through and hoping to get sleepers, but felt awful seeing the way everyone else was travelling.
We had a 3 minute break when the train stopped at a station, enough time to get out and run next to a couple cars. We got back on and everyone stared at us. As we stood there dripping with sweat, we took in the scene: it was like a giant dormitory in the dining car.
We finished our walk to the front of the train where a couple of conductors were sitting around smoking. We paid the supplement for what we believed would be sleeper seats. In the end, we had two beds. Even though we were in the only section of the car where the fan didn't work, we were happy and grateful, especially to Bo.
The trip finally got boring, but everything went well. We actually enjoyed the adventure and are able to laugh about it now. We arrived in Hangzhou at the tail end of a typhoon and we had never needed a shower so badly. But first, the hotel couldn't find our reservation. Bo had made the reservation but we suspect that they didn't want to honor the cheap rate he was quoted when they saw it was for Westerners. Rebecca was losing patience and Jerome was becoming delirious. We finally sorted it out after Bo called.
Two long showers later, we crossed the street to a hot pot restaurant - in the driving rain - and enjoyed a lot of beer and Chinese fondue (made with a lot of pepper and lemon grass).
After dinner, we were finally able to appreciate the beauty of the lake we would be staying on for the next 3 days.
We walked around towards the back of the museum vaguely looking at some sculptures and wondering what to do with the rest of the day when we heard:
-Do you speak Chinese?
-No.
-Please come with us to the Asian wall. We have a car.
Rebecca immediately assumed we would be kidnapped and left in a ditch if we went with them.
Jerome was more trusting but still reticent. When the man and woman who stopped us saw our hesitation, they triedto explain that they worked for the newspaper. In broken English, the woman said that the Asian wall would be broken and there was no protest in the city. We went with them in the car and checked that the doors were not locked being pulling away. They showed us their press cards and told us they worked for the Kaifeng Daily.
We got out at the south gate where they took our names and asked us to look at the wall while the man took pictures. What do you think they break the wall? Do you like the Asian wall? We finally understand that Asian was actually ancient. We were used as protest icons. Meanwhile, a crowd was gathering around. The woman asked what the French cities do with their ancient walls. Jerome explained in drawing that many French cities knocked them down and created ring roads in their place, saving only parts of the walls and city gates. Our picture was to appear in the paper the following Monday and they promised to send us a copy.
They dropped us off at our old hotel and once again we felt lost and too nervous to communicate. We went to the supermarket then absently wandered up the street before Jerome spotted the Capuccino Restaurant - plush chairs and coffee. It looked like an international bar in the asshole of the world, as the French expression goes. We settled in for 5 hours. At one point, a teenage girl came over to practice her English - she explained that she was very nervous because she had never spoken to a foreigner before, but it didn't show.
Rebecca practiced saying "whor cher jen" (train station) before going back to the hotel to get the bags and grab a taxi to the station. And the nightmare began...
The train arrived late, people were pushing and jumping over the barriers to get to the track. On the platform, a policeman tried to control the situation and made a single line with the hundreds of people who were waiting for the train. That's when we began to panic. We had "hard seats" (rigid, straight seats) ticket for the 15 hour train ride to Hangzhou. There was no air-conditioning in the very packed train, although it was extremely hot.
We took out a note Bo had kindly prepared for us asking in Chinese to find us sleepers but we had little hope. We looked around hoping to find the conductor. Meanwhile, Jerome saw a sign indicating the number of seats in the car : a total of 80. But there were at least 120 people in the car.
After a few minutes, Jerome went to the conductor with his note as I watched in angst and as 240 eyes stared at him. The conductor called over the policeman (each car has its own) and we understood that we should follow him but had no clue where we were going or why.
We walked from car 17 to car 1, walking through 10 cars packed with people in the aisles, in between the cars, sleeping under the seats, in the toilets, women with 2 babies on their knees...and all this with our huge backpacks on. It was so packed, that people were actually helping to push us through the aisle. We were trying to get through and hoping to get sleepers, but felt awful seeing the way everyone else was travelling.
We had a 3 minute break when the train stopped at a station, enough time to get out and run next to a couple cars. We got back on and everyone stared at us. As we stood there dripping with sweat, we took in the scene: it was like a giant dormitory in the dining car.
We finished our walk to the front of the train where a couple of conductors were sitting around smoking. We paid the supplement for what we believed would be sleeper seats. In the end, we had two beds. Even though we were in the only section of the car where the fan didn't work, we were happy and grateful, especially to Bo.
The trip finally got boring, but everything went well. We actually enjoyed the adventure and are able to laugh about it now. We arrived in Hangzhou at the tail end of a typhoon and we had never needed a shower so badly. But first, the hotel couldn't find our reservation. Bo had made the reservation but we suspect that they didn't want to honor the cheap rate he was quoted when they saw it was for Westerners. Rebecca was losing patience and Jerome was becoming delirious. We finally sorted it out after Bo called.
Two long showers later, we crossed the street to a hot pot restaurant - in the driving rain - and enjoyed a lot of beer and Chinese fondue (made with a lot of pepper and lemon grass).
After dinner, we were finally able to appreciate the beauty of the lake we would be staying on for the next 3 days.
posted by Gros Joe at
11:46 AM
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