Thursday, 10/19, YICHUN –
NANCHANG - HANGZHOU
Bus 4 hours back to Nanchang.
Si: We are halfway through our trip. Some of us have had intestinal upsets, but nothing serious considering the variety of what we’ve eaten. This is a long bus ride on a two-lane road. Some personal tensions have arisen. For example, anything I say seems to elicit a reaction from my son. Lillian got mad at me because I joked that she was secretly a lesbian. Nanci accused Jon of being sexist because he joked about filming “Babes of China.” Jon accused her of being a whiner because she complained about the bus and food that made her sick. After 5 days in the humble sanatorium we will welcome the 4 star hotels again.
Gordon left us at the hotel after distributing “male brandy” to the
men. When the women complained about
his sexism he told them that the liquor would make them grow mustaches. His attitude doesn’t bother most of us for
we enjoy his spirit and energy. He is
off to meet his girlfriend.
Fly Nanchang to Hangzhou
At the airport Karen and Gordon’s bags lit up the metal detector. Packed inside were 2 swords. Though they would have been stowed in the belly of the plane, the airport inspector refused to let them pass. He indicated that we could leave the swords with him or he could call the police and arrest us. Much arguing ensued. Finally we said, “OK, we’ll give the swords as gifts to our bus driver, Mr. Wu. The inspector refused this, saying we must leave the swords with him. It became clear that he intended to sell the swords for his personal profit. Up stepped Mr. Wu who asked for the inspector’s name and badge number. He claimed to be friends with the airport supervisor. The inspector backed down, and we were allowed to board with our souvenirs. Three cheers for ballsy Mr. Wu and Gordon. Kat was a little afraid we might end up in prison with the Falon Gong.
Friday, 10/20, HANGZHOU
Arriving in Hangzhou where West Lake here is said to be one of the most
beautiful spots in China. Boat on West Lake, covered with mist, tour
the Souls Retreat Temple, and see Six Harmonies Tower.
Kat: This is the loveliest city yet – lots of trees. So far we’ve seen just a glimpse of the West
Lake, the most beautiful lake in China.
Already we’re missing the friendliness of the 3 little maids in our
Yichun hotel and the kids and grownups that would “Ni hao” us. We’re even
missing obnoxious guide, Bruce, and his redneck grin. Our new guide, Mr. Dai, seems overly conscientious. Let’s see if Jon can find his funny
bone. Whoops! Our 4-star hotel is
really a 3-star hotel. There is no gym
or pool, and the food is not good.
Fortunately, the toilets are not holes in the floor. A
new discovery brought great excitement. Our hotel did laundry for the
first time in two weeks. My happy
mantra was, “Clean undies, clean undies.”
Si: Nanci got sick from the food. While others tell her to drink herbal tea and try some of our strange foods, she has been eating only pure rice and a little tea. As we get fatter she is looking better.
Dr. Nanci: I’m writing about this trip. Maybe I’ll call it Diary-Ah of China.
Arch: We’ve eaten a lot of rare foods here. I had this feeling in my stomach, and wondered if I was going to be sick again. Then I realized it was hunger.
Professor: I enjoyed the duck’s beaks and the rodent.
Arch: No one would call you chicken.
The government is behind the scene here in charge of the Chinese people. There is construction everywhere, with large public buildings in every city, lots of bridges and roads going up. Cars are now competing with bicycles and motorbikes, so the traffic is a mess. I would never consider driving here. It takes good eyesight, constant horn blowing, and a lot of luck. In every city we have seen big sports stadiums, often 2 or 3.
On TV every morning they show aerobics with pretty girls in tight outfits, just like we do. There are also motorbike racing, Chinese soap operas, business reports, and Chinese news. The set in this hotel has 33 channels with lots of cartoons, pop singers, historical dramas, and violent martial arts. My favorite was a TV station devoted to fashion. Beautiful French, Chinese, and Italian tall anorexic models wore the latest Haute Couture. Last night I found an Italian station with the Pope, a German station talking about the new Macho Man, Chinese sports, a few dubbed popular programs, and for the first time, English CNN. The Mideast news and the stock market were so depressing I turned the TV off.
We toured the silk factory and numerous Buddhist statues and temples. The Soul’s Retreat Temple awed Kat with its larger than life statues of 152 sages. All expressions represented: anger, fear, love, contemplation, laughter, smiling, all body types, each in different postures, some playing with birds or kittens or monkeys – it felt like the faces and souls of all mankind (not womankind!). Built as a peace offering to the Gods to protect the city from flooding, the Six Harmony Pagoda loomed over the landscape. We climbed a charming hill studded with greenery and “100 pagodas” of various configurations. We stopped to admire our favorites, and Kat and I paid 20 Yuen to ring a 10-foot Iron bell with a huge mallet suspended on two chains (photo-op). Together in harmony we pushed the mallet, letting it swing back for six resonant gongs. We saw Arch doing the same, aligning his swing to his breath in a Tai Chi manner.
After 50 years of atheistic Communism,
I suspect that religion has been virtually eliminated outside the countryside. It feels like commerce is the religion here.
Everyone wants to work and improve his or her lot. I expected utter
poverty, yet we have traveled unrestricted through the country and found the
people shod and often well dressed.
Guide: We have instituted freedom
of religion, but these temples are mainly a curiosity. I believe in NOTHING. Some people think if you give money to the
statues then your dead parents go to heaven.
I think they are stupid.
In the area with West Lake as its center the natural sceneries of lakes, rivers, brooks, springs, hills, caves, etc. and the artificial sceneries of temples, pavilions, and gardens are beautifully and harmoniously integrated.
Most of the skies, unfortunately, have been gray and the fog so intense that we could barely see the lake banks let alone the decorative landscape. Our guide tried to enliven the gap by proclaiming the lakes beauty in other season. The beauty of West Lake shall remain a mystery to us. What happened to Golden Autumn?
Saturday, 10/21, HANGZHOU
This morning we will visit a farmer of Chinese tea.
Picking Tea Leaves
Tea Selection
Kat: We visited the tea farm where we saw lush tea bushes and were informed that the finest tea came from early spring new growth. Later our tea hostess, the daughter of the family, spread these tiny dried leaves out on the table and proceeded to pack them competently into tins with a masterful thump. Her spiel (“a marketing marvel,” said Archie) almost convinced us that green tea was an anti-oxidant that could cure disease, dissolve cholesterol, and make us “slim like me.” Her promotion was effective. Charmed, most of us bought one or even three 6-ounce tins of early spring tea for the exorbitant amount of $30 each. Si thought the expensive green tea tasted like grass in dishwater.
Gordon taps the table 3 times with two fingers when tea is served. Legend had it that an emperor exchanged clothes with his guard to visit the populace incognito. Each time he was served tea by his master, the guard tapped his fingers thus on the table. When the emperor queried him, he said, “Since I am not allowed to alert the commoners by kowtowing, this represents knocking my head on the ground 3 times.” In modern times it is a common form of wordlessly saying “Thank you” for tea.
The afternoon is free to shop for silk shirts, Hangzhou fans, scissors, cloisonné enamel, Chinese calligraphy and traditional paintings, and Chairman Mao memorabilia. Silk should feel smooth and soft between your fingers and thumb, else it could be polyester.
Kat: Tired of shopping, Nanci and I explored gardens outside the factory and found an old style bamboo bridge with a walkway of thin resilient bamboo slats that bounced with our rhythm as we walked on them. The feathery plumes of vegetation, swaying bamboo stalks, water irises, and aged gardeners in blue work clothes with peaked straw hats spoke for a moment of an ancient era.
Si: Most of the pagodas we saw were built before our country was even discovered.
Housing is very expensive here. An apartment is leased from the government for a man’s working life (70 years), after which it is returned to the government. Since there are no bank loans available, people start building their homes and each year add more bricks or windows as they earn money. Throughout the countryside there are many unfinished buildings. In this expensive town an apartment may cost $100,000. Other towns had apartments for half of that.
CLICK HERE FOR THE
PLAN, MAP, AND CITIES VISITED
CLICK HERE FOR THE
INTRODUCTION
CLICK HERE FOR
TRIP PREPARATIONS