Highlights from the last two weeks

Sorry for not writing. As an attempt to rectify this mistake, I'm posting some of the past two weeks' "greatest hits." I will elaborate on anything people ask in the comment section.

-Slept off my travel

-Learned to fabricate and use AgPDMS from Limu

-Was sick so missed a trip to Guangzhou

-Went to HK Island for Congee with Chih-kuan. Then I bought a pillow and lock for my door, which I installed after some hilarity.

-Started work on my own chips, and developed a high-tech solution to a problem using sandpaper

-Went to the University Choir O-Day (i.e. frosh camp for choir nerds) and bungled my way around with the help of a few handy translators who could tell me what all the cantonese was about

-Missed a choir practice due to a typhoon

-Successfully manufactured three chips (four more on the way), two of which have bad electrodes, and one has blocked channels so is unusable.

-Talked about the intricacies of the English language with Limu

-Gotten closer to a Caltech schedule, and not in a good way

-Drank 5 cartons of fruit juice in a week

-Watched way too much West Wing, and composed a letter to the President's (in RL) advisors, which I have not yet sent

I'm sure I missed something, but oh well

July 28: Mid pleasure's and palaces, there's no place like home

This is my account of the final day of travel, and because I am currently sitting in my room back in Hong Kong, I am eschewing the paper notebook for the faster, and somewhat less hand-tiring task of recording everything by hand.

I woke up at 8:00, and then took a really long time to get going. I chatted with the guy from ASU, packed, and then rewrote my postcards in pen. Then I had to get stamps and breakfast, not in that order. I was told that the nearby bookstoreish (just 4 doors down from the hostel) sold stamps, but opened at 11, so I waited and ate breakfast with Sophie and Anne (the breakfast was ostensibly the “British breakfast” but didn’t quite meet those standards). When I failed to find stamps at the bookstore, I grabbed my gear, said goodbye to all, and caught a cab to the post office. There, I mailed my cards and caught another cab, still laden with backpack, duffel (with attached scroll) and pipa, to the Suzhou train station. The train from Suzhou to Shanghai was a shinkansen, so the journey was quick, and on it I received helpful advice from a Chinese business woman sitting next to me.

Once in Shanghai, I did not have much time to waste. Following the woman’s advice, I caught the metro to People’s Square (Renmin Guanshang, I think) and from there to Longyang. In Longyang, I took the “Demonstration Maglev Train” (or something) to Shanghai-Pudong International Airport, and I must say, that thing was fast…The fifty kilometer journey was over in about 7 minutes, primarily because when we reached our top cruising speed, we were going at 432 km/h, or about 264 mph for those unacquainted with metric. The entire car shook from the air resistance. I know it was that, because the whole train is magnetic levitation, so it was hovering about 6 inches from the track. For the record, the train was impressively fast…

At the airport, I got checked in without much hassle, although I accidentally claimed the pipa was for her father, and not for my own when I tried to speak in Putonghua. I ate an extremely overpriced lunch/dinner at the airport where I performed a separation experiment on my glass of kiwi/sprite juice, and then caught the flight to Shenzhen. I was a little worried for the Pipa on the flight, but everything went fine due to the kindness of one attendant, (although another didn’t notice me wince when he shoved a bag on top of the pipa case).

At Shenzhen, I decided to make things easier for myself, if not a little pricier (it only costed about $10 than it would have otherwise) and took the airport-border-Hong Kong shuttle bus back home. The bus drove us to customs, where my bags were inspected, and I annoyed the agent a little when I didn’t have an “invoice” (it took me a while to figure out what he was saying through his accent, and even longer to realize he meant: did I keep the receipts for my gifts?), but all went smoothly. Then the bus finally dropped me off at Kowloon station. Turns out, Kowloon station is almost as you could possibly be away from HKUST by metro, and I had to take 13 stops to get back to Choi Hung station. Once there, I had NO idea where to go, because I was in an unfamiliar part of the station and couldn’t find the busses. Fortunately, I ran across two English speaking Chinese girls, who both turned out to live in the Bay Area and were on a cultural exchange for the summer with their university, and they showed me where to find the bus stop. I got to Tai Po Tsai safely after that, unpacked to the minimum extent, and then rushed to HKUST to say thank you and farewell to Xiao, who is going to Japan (he left this morning at 6:00 AM). I walked back to the village with Shuyu and Jinbo, and then watched a few episodes of “The West Wing,” showered, and got into the first REALLY clean clothes in a while, and went to sleep.

July 27: Suzhou

The next day (today), I awoke early and promptly fell back asleep. Getting up for real (some time later), I showered and took care of other personal matters. In Suzhou, toilet paper seems destined for the wastepaper basket after use, and not into the toilets. I went across the street for an accidental breakfast of Mochi, given that the other things I ordered were not being served, and the “Suzhou Special” is in fact, Mochi with some sort of paste in the middle.

Back at the hostel, I checked my mail by temporarily borrowing the computer from a traveler planning his next jaunt. When I saw the Input Method he was using, I realized he was Japanese, and so we chatted a bit in Japanese (he seemed pleased). With all the Chinese I’m learning, my Japanese took more thought than usual, and many natural expressions I know in both languages were in some sort of hybrid language. It doesn’t help that Chinese tends to be an SVO (subject-verb-object) language like English, so its syntax is a little more intuitive, and Japanese is SOV.

I also met Helen, a Vietnamese Englishwoman who had had a miserable experience at another hostel in Suzhou, and was currently she was afraid she had caught rabies from a cat’s scratch. I tried to console her, but failed epically at calming her. She had a lot going on, but was rather intense and angry, and irrationally fearful of the other hostel’s owner. Although I’m sure there’s a another side to her story, she did sound rather put upon. Nevertheless, I was glad to get away from her, at her urging, when she recommended I visit a garden on my own. I found the “Humble Administrator’s Garden” which was anything but “humble.” It’s a World Heritage Site, but I wasn’t terribly impressed; Japan has spoiled me. Even the interesting rock formations were disappointing: merely smaller rocks cemented together.

At the garden, two boys (probably about 6 and 9 years old) walked by and told me in big voices “hel-lo!” and when I “nihao’d” them back, they turned in their tracks and dumbfoundedly asked me “ni hui shuo zhong wen ma?” we shared introductions, shook hands, and they walked off, leaving me with a smile. Later, a young man asked me if he could take his picture with me. I of course accepted, and got a picture with him in turn.

So, I wandered off in search of a pipa for my dad. After wandering, I returned to the historic street, where my hostel was, and visited the guqin tea shop. There I watched a few Guqin players (the guqin is a Chinese non-bridged zither, so is not the same thing as a Koto, that’s the guzheng) show off, then asked for help finding a pipa. After a short wait during which a man came to help (with his own pipa in his arms), we (one of the shopkeepers, he, and I) headed downtown. There, I debated buying a beautiful, but obviously machine built pipa, and finally did so for 1600 kuai (the higher end model with cow horn frets and tuning pegs was 3500 kuai, more than I had on me and was willing to spend). I also had the opportunity to make a screeching noise on an Erhu, reminding me of my violin lessons, and watch the shopkeeper break a bow on the same instrument. Then we headed back with my new treasure, plus extra strings and plecktra.

Once back, I stored the pipa behind the desk and visited a coffee shop on the canal to write a few postcards, and headed to the hostel in the rain. Back inside I met the Danish duo Anne and Sophie, also veterans of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and I gave them some travelling hints, at least regarding Hangzhou and booking tickets. Then we went to dinner, heading for the same noodle shop I went to last night, getting lost, and finding another where a kind Irishman helped us order something tasty.

We walked back in the rain, discussing Danish and German, music and culture, and who was the butt of whose cultural jokes. I returned to the café where I currently am, to write these entries, and was later joined by Anne and Sophie. We chatted about school, home, and using Facebook, shared emails, and they went to bed (they will be followed soon by me).

Oh, I’ve spent a lot of time petting Chuxiang (spelling incorrect, but named after a famous Chinese beauty from history), the golden retriever, who is as unfriendly and vicious as you’d expect a golden to be (cue sarcasm). Actually she’s sweet and lazy most of the day, and rather larger than a passing Japanese couple expected. Plus she found my shoes fascinating.

Gute nacht.

Phrase of the day: Jag taler ike Dansk (I don’t speak Danish)

July 26: Crazy bus drivers in Suzhou

Here I’ll detail the final two full days of my journey:

On Sunday (July 26) I woke up early and explored Xitang for an hour, watching the people go through their morning routines (although most had been up for hours already, it seemed). The town was calm as villagers did their washing and prepared for the flood of tourists to arrive later. I was particularly amused by the ducks “farm” in the water, where the chicks were herded by a man in a boat. It was rather hilarious and adorable. Then I went back to bed and woke up after another hour and a half.

Returning to Xitang proper, I had to pay an entry fee. By this time (10:00 AM), the tourists were out in force, and there were many shops everywhere selling overpriced goods of various sorts. I mostly just wandered, trying to take a boat down the canal. Alas, I would have had to go alone and did not have the money to afford the trip, which was split among members of the party.

After a brief “breakfast” of fried tofu and some sort of sweet gelatin, I returned to the inn, gathered my gear, and wandered in a direction that I hoped would bring me to a bus station capable of taking me to Jiashan. I did find it after a great deal of searching, and a number of helpful pointers from rickshaw drivers. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but by this point, my bags have gotten quite heavy, especially after silk shopping in Hangzhou. So I got back to Jiashan safely (with a Spanish, Cantonese and Mandarin lesson all under my belt).

The bus from Jiashan to Suzhou was insane, or at least the driver was. Quite apart from the racket he and his wife were running where they picked up passengers on the road for a little personal cash (or so it appeared), he would honk at every car (with a piercing, horrible horn) he passed, whether on our side or on the opposite side of the road. Additionally, when on a one lane road, he’d pass in the oncoming lane, and honk furiously when an oncoming vehicle came too close. Regardless of whether it was his fault or not (it usually was), he would essentially drive the car legitimately in the lane off the road. This occurred too many times to count.

Once in Suzhou, the honking only intensified and didn’t stop. By the bus station, it felt like New York, only less polite and more civilized with the car traffic. I found the correct bus after trial and error, wound up at the correct bus stop, then utterly failed at finding the hostel using the map the hostel provided on the internet. It was only by frequently asking for directions, lucky wandering, and a pair of helpfully foreign (i.e. white) other hostelees who guided me to the hostel that I found it at all. The hostel is lovely, in a very Asian style, with open-air courtyards in various places, including by the door to go outside. So ironically, to get to the other half of the hostel, I have to wait by the sliding door in the rain, before I can walk outside into the covered walkway, then back inside into the rain. For it was raining much of the time in Suzhou.

I went out to dinner with the helpful pair I met earlier. Francesca is from Italy and Daniil is from Slovenia. After considerable wandering, we found a small noodle shop, where the cook kneaded the dough and pulled the noodles by hand, right in front of us. He literally folded and stretched the noodles until they were the correct length and thickness, and then cooked them. Apparently, these chefs are the lowest on the hierarchy or cooks in China, but his noodles were fantastic, and people in the US would pay a fortune to see the “show.” The only trouble with the dish was, serving it was next to impossible, given that the dish was essentially one giant noodle. We shared our bounty amid trying to serve the continuous noodle with chopsticks.

We wandered back to the Hostel and looked for a tea shop. Because most of them were closed, we settled for the one next door to the hostel. Francesca and I discussed the pair’s trip on the Trans-Siberian Railroad before traveling in China, linguistics, and the differences between sex-ed in Italy and the US. Then it was off to bed.

Word of the day: tiujian (recommend/recommendation)

July 25, delaying to Xitang

I woke up a bit late (9:00) and decided to visit Su Causeway. This was a walkway across Xihu ordered built by Su Dongpo, the great poet of the Song dynasty, when he was governor of Hangzhou. My plans for a quiet trek to view the lake in tranquility were thwarted by what seemed like every tour group ever visiting along with me. So, I gave up the chance for poetic reflection and returned my bicycle for the 300 yuan deposit. Then I shopped for a bit, ate lunch/breakfast, received directions to Xitang, and left for the East Bus station.

Once there, I misunderstood my instructions and bought a train (not bus) ticket, scheduled to leave at 6:50. Thus, I returned to the Hostel to kill a couple hours (I was tired and a bit upset from this schedule failure), learned that I could have taken a bus without a wait, and became mildly depressed. I finished Ender’s Shadow, returned to the station, and waited an extra 45 minutes for the train.

Onboard, I learned that the ticket lady’s claim that there were no seats onboard the train was nonsense. As in the train I was on was overfilled as well and I didn’t have a seat the entire ride. So, I stood in the aisle for the two hour journey, pseudo-composed my Colbert aria, wrote a cute poem about the people near me on the train (less truth and more of an exercise in rhyming, although the passengers did help me find the correct exit).

I arrived in Jiashan and was promptly “accosted” by a driver who would take me to Xitang. Although he overcharged, he got me to Xitang when I had been sure I would have to wait until morning for that very mission. He took me to an inn on the river, and was shown around town by the owner. My Mandarin was extremely weak, but I can tenuously hold simple conversations now. If I keep expectations low, I can get across half of what I try to say (as in, if I stick to what I’ve already learned, which isn’t much). The town is gorgeous and peaceful at night, and I am feeling much better about the world. Well, peaceful except for the Rap bar, where I was offered a drink, and refused due to my dislike of alcohol. I said something about needing to be 21 in the US, and could understand the innkeeper joking about it with her husband. On the other hand, I got a chance to pet the dog kept on a pitifully short leash. Poor thing is attention starved, I think. It leapt all over me and whined when I left. So different from the spoiled puppy at the hostel.

Goodnight, I’m waking up to see Xitang at dawn, then returning to bed. 6:00 is too early for anything other than sightseeing…

Oyasumi…

Tonight’s music: mu min xin ge (Shepherd’s Song, heard in Xitang)

Word of the day: zhaoxiang ji (camera) because I kept forgetting it…

Paizhao (to photograph)

July 24, back to Hangzhou

Morning Update: Turns out that not going to the Stone Forest was the right decision; it’s pouring right now, and Shan will accompany me to the bus station.

A bit more to update upon from two more days of travel. On Friday morning, as I mentioned, it was raining heavily, so I ate and went to the bus station in Qiandao City with Shan. Although she gave me her phone number, with me having no email with which to contact her, I feel that this parting will be for good. If I can get Skype working, I’ll try to call her during the summer.

The bus back to Hangzhou was uneventful, apart from my newfound knowledge that a number of Kung Fu movies are as ridiculous in original as they are dubbed. Or perhaps the sync was wrong precisely because they were dubbed, in Mandarin over a Cantonese track? It was also raining in Hangzhou by the time I arrived, and did so heavily as I looked for my hostel, the Hangzhou West Lake Youth Hostel. The place, incidentally, is lovely, clean, well kept, with a kind and helpful English speaking staff, a good menu, and an adorable German Shepherd puppy (named Renmeng, I think). The dog is spoiled, and I understand why; all these travelers (including me) miss their dogs at home. I was puppy starved and so let him “nibble” on me, with pain from puppy teeth, and eventually my water bottle.

As I headed out to go Silk shopping, I met James who had lost both his wallet and place to stay. We traveled across HZ together and then parted ways, he for his new hotel and me for the market. There, I spent far too much money, but I also have some excellent gifts to bring home, and even have something nice for myself. I can also guarantee that all will “love” my Halloween costume this coming year.

Returning to the hostel, I found a street (it’s existence had been previously unknown to me) with hundreds of small shops and explored a bit, buying Jiaozi (pot stickers) to tide me over. The next day I bought some Chinese/Pinyin/English children’s books, but this is out of order. I listened to a superb Chinese-Saxophone player, and then hiked up to a pagoda on a hill. The pagoda was depressingly non-traditional, with the slowest elevator I’ve ever ridden in. The hill itself was lovely; green and foresty, and if it were Japan, there’d have been shrines everywhere. On the way down, I took a different route, took a wrong turn, hopped on a bike, and rode miles in the wrong direction. I knew I was lost when I asked somebody where Xihu was, and got an “I don’t know” in response. In all, I spent about an hour very lost and very nervous in Hangzhou. And on the way back, I got soaked because it started raining yet again. I ran down Nanshan Road as fast as I could and arrived at the hostel drenched, thirsty and out of breath.

I chatted for a bit with a Yorkshire family on Holiday, found “Ender’s Shadow” and read it while I ate my first real sandwich in months, then chatted with other guests, including a Brit whose name I’ve forgotten, a couple from Oakland (who informed that my letter to Aanastad had been utterly ineffective, i.e. the state budget had been gutted), and Ellie Chang from Virginia, whose name I remember because I have her email. She was the only one I met who was also studying in China, although the subject was Chinese for her and physics for me. Then I stayed up far too late reading Ender’s Shadow.

July 23 and Qiandao Hu

Today was mostly uneventful, although the mostly will be qualified in a minute. In the morning, I woke, ate, and then broiled in the sun as I tried to find a bus that would take me to “West Station.” After about an hour on foot, I found one and journeyed across Hangzhou to a big bus station where I bought a ticket to Qiandao Hu (One Thousand Island Lake). The bus was comfortable, air conditioned, and about two hours long, so I slept and completed a Pimsleur lesson. Although there was a war movie airing on the TV, it was in Chinese so I wouldn’t have understood even if I could hear it.

At Qiandao City, I struggled to find my hotel which Xiao claimed was nearby the station. Turns out that the company booked was correct, but the hotel was incorrect, and was about a 15 minute taxi ride out of town. I was ripped off by my first driver who conveniently failed to switch on the meter.

I dropped off my bag and decided to try walking back to the city (underestimating the distance) as no bus was coming. I passed by four bus stops before a bus finally passed me. I must have gone two miles by the time I decided to take a taxi.

I had the option to leave Qiandao Hu by bus, if I had hurried back to the hotel and checked out early, but decided to wander instead. Qiandao Hu city has a busy center where the most prevalent shops seem to be fish and fruit markets. At every restaurant, we could see that night’s dinner swimming around. At one, I saw a chicken and a chick, wandering out front (a mother and child, I imagine).

Because it was late and I could not do any of what I wanted at Qiandao Hu. English is scarce here, especially on signs and maps. My Chinese is enough to get back to my hotel and to realize I’d be hopeless getting anywhere else (esp. to the Stone Forest, my ultimate goal). Qiandao Hu isn’t in Lonely Planet at all, as it turns out. I caught the correct bus back to the hotel on my own (I got complimented on this by the other passengers) and did my best to chat a bit, learning a few new words in the process.

I decided to eat at the somewhat (rather) dingy hotel restaurant, and there learned to never doubt my karma (to quote Julie Andres, “Somewhere in my youth, or childhood, I must have done something good). As I tried and failed to order, and because I was the only guest there, all six waitresses came to help me. All, it turns out, are 20, and all were beautiful/extremely cute (and were rather surprised that I was the same age, although I’m used to this from Japan). At dinner, I got to use my Kanji to communicate with the staff, with sometimes confusing consequences (Japanese is not simplified like mainland Chinese is).

The waitresses helped me pick dinner (one, named Shan, spoke English) and I chose a small fish. I apologized to his “friends” as I watched him pulled out of the tank. And the waitresses took care of me really well. I spend much of the evening chatting with Shan, and getting shy looks from the others. All of them just finished high school in the fall, and Shan was off to Hangzhou University in the fall.

The crew (men too) also help me plot a course to the Stone Forest, but I decided that the mission was probably too complicated for me to do on my own. On the bright side, it means I can wake up later than 6:30 tomorrow, and I get to see Shan again, who alas has no email.

Goodnight.