In the mountains... and train
Sunday, May 16.
Saturday morning in the mountains-- we climbed some of the pathways in the mountains. I took some pictures but nothing out of the ordinary. It was rainy and foggy so the quality of pictures didn't turn out too great. Luckily I purchased some postcards (most of which I sent out to friends...) so I photos of what many poets and artists in the past have captured in the past. My mom bought a tape of the mountains so we can watch it at our convenience as well. We would spend two days in the mountains so we stayed in a different hotel Saturday night. This room was at par with the other hotel at the base of the mountain. However, there was no A/C in the room-- we were up in the mountains so it got cold at night. I fell asleep at 9:30 since I did a whole lotta climbing that day. Watched some badminton on TV beforehand.
Sunday was more of the same. We took a different path on the same mountain. Climbing in the morning-- we left the place at 2. Something worth noting was one of the sales representatives at a store. My mom bought a tape capturing the mountains on clear days from her. During her presentation, my dad dropped his cane and the girl couldn't stop giggling from then on. (probably the only reason why I mention this is that she was really good looking...)
The afternoon had us travel by bus to the train station. Along the way, we went to several state run shops. Of course my mom was inspired to purchase small trinkets for herself and her friends. She bought some tea leaves that are supposed to be famous for calming the spirit. (Teas from this area have some extra-special medicinal "powers") I was not too impressed with the goods so I stayed out of trouble and sat down, relaxed, and tried to catch up on lost sleep while the tour memebers shopped. Lunch was particularly good-- they served Chinese-style pork rinds! (It was a restaurant where we had a private room to eat.) Before dinner, we had to visit another store. Before the tour guide left to purchase our train tickets, we had to take our necessary things from out suitcases and store them into our carry-ons. For a moment, we looked like a bunch of gypies on the side of the road trying to figure out what the bare minimum to carry onto the train-- our suitcases would be stored in the storage car of the train; we would have zero-access to them. I got my needed stuff out quickly and helped people get their bags back onto the bus.
Since it was cool outside I opted to sit outside and enjoy the view instead of shop. I watched people driving their farm equipment with the occasional beast of burden hauling some wagon carrying his master's wares. Anna decided to hang out outside as well and we caught up on where we and our common friends are (remember, she's out in California-- she hardly hears any gossip any more...) Our discussions covered a broad spectrum of topics-- in fact, it was quite a bit of discovery on my part. I thought Anna was one of the more conservative persons I knew in high school (a little excentric but nothing out of the ordinary) but things have certainly changed since high school! Not going into details but let me say she lives a lifestyle much more liberal than mine...
Dinner that night was held in a restaurant/store. Believe it or not, some of the state-run art stores serve meals. While you sit at your table and eat, you can admire works of art for sale covering all the walls. You will see the occasional sales rep walk by (if they see you looking) and ask to see if you like it. They push their spiel on you and the artist who drew it-- some are pretty slick. Although my Mandarin knowledge is close to non-existant, I knew enough to hear that some of those guys are really good at what they do (and who says a free market system doesn't exist in mainland China?) Other than that, I have to say that the service at this place was really good-- we had one waitress serve our table. Ms. Wu (not our local tourguide) did all the standard fare things you'd come to expect at one of those fancy European restaurants in North America. Unlike the atmosphere at such an establishment, we were quite the opposite-- loud, rambunctious group. (you could say we were almost 'Cantonese-like')
After dinner we attended this government store selling tea. They showed us the very formal Chinese tea-ceremony. It was strange to learn how high- society people in the past prepared and drank their tea. I couldn't believe how much tea we drank that night (a sample of each one). And I did I pay the penalty having so much tea later that night...
After tea, we rushed to the train station and got to the sleeper car. The conditions in the car were absolutely awful-- I was afraid to touch anything around that hole (you read right-- a hole in the floor of the car). At least they had the decency to house the hole in a room (albeit the lock didn't work!). The sinks were made of stainless steel (on the opposite end of the car) and it looked so dirty. There was no available drinking water on the train-- you had to bring it with you! The room where my dad and a couple other tour members slept in did not have A/C and there were plenty of bugs around. To keep our room somewhat cool (since the place was an inferno) we had to open the window slightly. That allowed more bugs to come in (mainly moths). We shut off the lights, got cleaned up for bed (since there was nothing else to do on board), and went to sleep. My dad is one of the most sensitive sleepers when it comes to temperature so he stripped down to his shorts. I wore the standard boxers / t-shirt but was afraid to use the sheets provided (I reluctantly did so afterwards fearing that I would be eaten alive by the bugs) The other guys wore their day clothes to sleep (jeans to bed???)
Rest that night was poor. At least I could say I got 4 hours of sleep. However, I was interrupted on the hour, every hour since I got stuck in the room with the snorers and having to go the hole to pee three times after drinking all that damn tea earlier in the evening. (Thank goodness for the advent of Purelle, the waterless topical antibacterial.)
Near morning, I was nearly freezing my balls off since the window was open and I was only covered in a thin sheet. I got up 6:30am to get ready to detrain for Nanking.
