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Asian Adventures: China Part I
(10.18.03)
So I'm sitting in an internet cafe at 8pm waiting for my 1am train to Beijing (gotta love traveling) so I decided to write AA: China Part I.
I thought I would start it off with a little song I wrote that has summed up my experience since walking into this lovely country. Sung to the tune of that "I Love Paris" song. Here goes...
I HATE China in the spring time.
I HATE China in the fall.
I HATE China. Oh, why oh why do I HATE China?
Because the food is gross!!
The Delectable Food
In nice restaurants in America you can go to a fish tank and pick whatever fish or lobster you would like to eat. The Chinese have taken this one step further. In addition to the fish tanks there are animal cages with LIVE animals inside, plump and ready for slaughter. And since China eats anything that moves, this doesn't stop at chickens and ducks! You've got guinea pigs, pheasants, pigeons, rats, nutria... This list goes on and on prompting us to walk right past all of this and straight under the golden arches where I'm pretty sure (please do not tell me if I am wrong) the mystery meat in my Big Mac is not dog or nutria. So many of the interesting stories I have accumulated so far have occurred at McDonald's. I will share one of them with you.
The Birthday Party
So Katie and I are in Nanning, minding our own business, eating our french fries when these three high school boys scare us half to death and start speaking English. We eagerly spoke back, since Katie and I were sick of talking only to each other for the past 3 days. It turns out they were having a birthday party for one of their friends and invited us to join them. Since we hadn't seen any foreigners in days and didn't have anything better to do on this lovely Saturday night in Nanning, we joined them. We spent the evening playing cheesy games that the McDonald's staff had organized like holding a cup in your teeth and passing a ping pong ball all the way down the line. We sang Happy Birthday in English and had a grand time at the 15-year-old's party. They invited us to go to karaoke with them but we declined and went back to our hotel.
The People
Let me also say how incredibly friendly the people here are. We went hiking up a mountain one day. A lady at the bottom asked me if I wanted to buy water. I politely said "No, thank you." She asked again and I said no thank you in Chinese to her. After about 4
more times I started to not be so polite (sorry mom! I tried to be lady-like!). By the time she started following me up the mountain I had progressed to saying "later later." This seemed to appease her. She followed me almost to the top of the mountain and then on my way back down she was waiting for me. I told her again that I wasn't going to buy any water and boy did she get mad. She stomped off (literally) and proceeded to pull every branch she could find down into the path so I would have to move them or hurdle them. Since she was rather small it was actually quite funny to watch her swinging like Tarzan from some of the branches trying with all of her weight to pull it down enough
so it would be in my way. She did this for half of the trip down the mountain while muttering under her breath the whole time. Then she gave up and ran ahead.
Another night Katie and I were minding our own business sitting in a restaurant trying to order. A woman comes up and asks if we want to buy oranges. I politely said no thanks in Chinese but she still stands there. Katie and I both turn the other direction and say no thanks again. Then the woman scrunches up her face, rolls her eyes and starts tsk-ing at us. She too walks off muttering under her breath.
This is in addition to all the people yelling hello to us in the same tone as one would yell a bad word. I told Katie that I wished I knew how to say "GO AWAY!" in Chinese but she felt, based on our previous encounters that this would not be a wise phrase and
suggested I try to remain polite.
Great Scenery
Now, it hasn't been all bad. We saw some really cool mountains/hills that looked like someone had made a meringue pie with the ground. And when the sun hits the yellow rice paddies at sunset it is a beautiful sight. We spent a great day mountain biking through some old villages. Aside from scary, branch lady it was a really fun day. We've done some awesome hiking and in the words of Mike McDaniel, I believe Katie, Chantelle and I may actually be becoming a little more "rugged". Mike, as far as the Eco-challenge goes though, I think we're still a ways off. Our Belgian hiking companions in Sapa can attest to that.
So it is now 8:33 and I still have 4.5 hours until my train leaves for it's 27 hour trip to Beijing. We'll see if I survive to write AA:China Part II. Katie and I are looking to escape China a few weeks early. Don't get too excited. This does not mean we are coming home. There are still many countries in SE Asia that we can explore. So, until next time...
Asian Adventures: China Part IIè