July 22, the Day of the Eclipse

This morning, I awoke early and tried to get to Qiantang River, but took the wrong one, went the wrong way, and arrived at Hangzhou High instead. There, I received a booklet in Chinese with the exact timing of the eclipse, so I watched the astronomical phenomenon there. Despite being already cloudy, I could see both the Corona and Venus for the six minutes of totality. I must say, it was more beautiful than I can possibly describe. I must be an astronomy geek, but it brought tears to my eyes. If I have the chance, I want to see the next eclipse with the proper gear.

Immediately after totality, I rushed to the Qiantang with the assistance of a kind lady who traveled two stops with me, and arrived at the river in time to see the tidal bore. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, a Tidal Bore (or tidal wave in the true sense), is a phenomenon where the tide rises at the mouth of a river and creates a massive, sustained wave down the river. The Qiantang has one, and the Amazon has another. I was told the wave would occur about 1 hour after the eclipse. It turns out I was not only hours early, but in entirely the wrong spot. Keep that in mind.

I met Matt at the concrete embankment and we walked for miles/kilometers (he’s British from Northampton, I think) waiting for the Bore. We had been given a variety of estimates, and at various times in the day, including between 10 and 11, 11 and 12, 12 and 2, 11 and 3, etc. So we walked in the 100 degree heat, despite being both dehydrated and very hungry (no breakfast/lunch) but march on we did. I expect we went a total of 2-3 miles before we stopped for water at a nice café (we left a nice tip), and another mile or two before it started raining. Yes, rain, although prior to the weather change we were dehydrated beyond belief.

We walked and walked chatting about the English language, school, his life in Malaysia and mine in Hong Kong, and so on. One expression he used frequently that I especially enjoyed with “Ideal!” for whenever he approved of a situation, or its circumstances.

At about 3:00 PM, we saw the tide in the river rise suddenly and realized that this was probably the Bore, or the remnants of it from farther downstream. So, starving, we stopped at a lovely tea shop which provided nuts and candies along with my Chrysanthemum tea (apparently it’s not my favorite). After our snack, we wandered in the direction of civilization. Hangzhou north of the river is extraordinary like a bustling metropolis waiting to happen. I must have counted at least 30 buildings under construction just north of the river, and along one single block, I counted twelve. The infrastructure is also mostly there for a few important looking buildings, but almost nobody anywhere. Even this at a lovely park where “raptor pens” looked down onto cars on a highway, there was nobody there.

A little farther north and people reappeared. At a bus stop, a nice girl guided us to a stop near Xihu where we alighted and wandered in search of real food (i.e. not munchies). We found our goal at a wonderful (and huge inside) restaurant with a menu that looked Babelfish.com-ish. Some dishes included Salive Chicken, “big lobster,” and others I can’t remember. I wanted a copy of the menu just for the Chinglish. Alas, I didn’t take photographs.

We ate enormous amounts together, and finished every dish but “Unify the Rivers and Mountains” which contained shimp, eel, chicken, vegetables, and some sort of veggie dumplings, from the rivers and the mountains. We tried to unify it as best week could, taking the title of the dish as an imperative, but couldn’t quite manage it. We also ate a delicious mango pudding in the shape of a fish.

Finally, Matt and I went to the “night market” and after some searching I shopped and haggled. Shopkeepers kept calculators for the purpose of haggling with gaijin. On the whole I did quite well, and made a few owners unhappy with their bargains. I now have a number of gifts and my very own PRC Propaganda Poster from the Cultural Revolution, with the slogan “Powerty comes from Gun.” I imagined Gaius Baltar when I bought it.

Finally (for real this time) it was farewell for us (he returns to Malaysia on Friday, tomorrow as I write this) and I returned to the Shimoga Hotel, where I fell asleep almost immediately.