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| The Numbers Are In!
36, 143, 7560, 25, 3, 80/20
My summer 2005 Silk Road travel adventure is now complete. To reflect and put my travels into some perspective, I calculated some stats. Now, hang on a minute...before you roll your eyes and wonder what possessed me to calculate these numbers, read the second item and maybe it will make some sense!
36 days July 22 - August 26, 2005 calculates out to 36 days. My usual routine became: arrival (usually a little bleary-eyed from an overnight train or bus), find accommodation and get cleaned up, then walk and get a "feel" for the area and figure out how to leave! Seems a little ironic that departure was one of the first things on my list in every destination, but with buses and train travel quite booked up, this was prudent. Sometimes this item was a painless 15 minutes and other times it was several hours of getting lost, searching out so-called helpful travel agents (as recommended in my guidebook) who were super un-helpful and then being told "mei you" (no have) tickets anyway!
143 hours Yes, that's what you think it is. 143 HOURS travelling by train, bus or air. This is long distance travel only and does not include dozens more hours in minibuses on tours, in taxis or local city buses. For you real bean counters, here's the whole breakdown: 65 hours on trains (including 5 overnight trains), 73 hours on buses (including 3 uncomfortable sleepless nights on "sleeper buses"), 5 hours on one flight from Urumqi to Shanghai at the very end.
7560 km This is a really really rough estimate of the distances I travelled by road and rail (not air). The numbers really add up in Xinjiang where I went through the Taklimakan Desert once and then partially drove around the southern rim and then partially around the northern rim. The name of this desert (the second largest shifting sand desert in the world) apparently translates into "go in but do not come out". Luckily I can say I got out with no problems and I still have some sand in my shoes and backpack to prove it!
25% 25% underbudget! This is my largest budget surplus ever and I didn't pad my budget at all nor was I scrimping and saving. A few nights I had a private hotel room and I even saw the inside of the first class section of the trains a few times. When you can eat a basic but filling lunch for USD0.50 and a bed in a dorm room is USD4-7 then the savings add up. Although I rarely had my own private bathroom, I always had access to a shower with hot water even if I had to wait for the water heater to be fired up at a specific time.
3 - "Hey, I know you!" My sister asked me early in my travels if I was running into the same travellers in different cities. I thought it was a strange question, said no and didn't think much more about it...until I started running into people. 3 instances of "Hey, I know you" cropped up. Check these out:
1) I shared a taxi with 3 travellers from Hong Kong in Jiayuguan. 3 days later and nearly 500 km away, I ran into these same travellers at the top of a sand dune in the desert at Dunhuang!
2) I met up with William and Zoe in Lanzhou and we shared transport to Bingling Si. They had been teaching English in Korla, Xinjiang, and then 3 weeks later in Kashgar I met a girl named Carrie. Carrie and I went to Lake Karakul together and did a monster hike and we discovered that she worked with William and Zoe in Korla!
3) I was squished in the back of a minibus with a Korean traveller for 2 hours on the way to Dunhuang. 2 weeks later and literally over 1000 km away in Kashgar, I woke up beside him! That's not what you might think, it was yet another night in a co-ed dorm and since this one had about 50 cm between the beds, when I rolled over and opened my eyes, I thought "Hey, I know that guy!"
80% / 20% That's my overall assessment of solo independent travel in China - 80% great and 20% "character-building"! The great parts are really great like when I was invited to dinner at a local family's home in Xi'an or when Chinese people everywhere would try a quick chat. You have no idea how many times I said "Wo shi Jianada ren. Wo zhu zai Hangzhou, wo shi laoshi." (I am Canadian. I live in Hangzhou, I am a teacher.) If repetition is the key for learning vocabulary, those words are hardwired into my brain! I also met some interesting foreign travellers, one of whom completely inspired me to keep learning Chinese. The "character-building" bits were relatively rare, but sometimes everything just seemed completely difficult and complicated with no clear solution. This is when I would retreat from China and escape either into a book or onto the Internet. Thanks for just dropping a note to say "hi" or sending some news because it often gave me the uplift I needed to go out onto the street again.
Overall my travels were a brilliant experience and it has peaked my interest in all that lies further west of the borders of China. Right now, though, I don't want to see the inside of a train or bus (or a train or bus station toilet!) for a very long time!!! It felt so familiar to come back to Hangzhou and it really bugged me the first week when Chinese people would stare at me on the street - "I live here...why are you staring?!". But then I felt welcomed back when the lady at one of my favourite food haunts remembered me; she doesn't ask "what" I want to eat, just "how many"!
"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until [she]he comes home and rests [her]his head on [her]his old, familiar pillow." -- Lin Yutang
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| Xinjiang - Is it really part of China?
After a few weeks in Xinjiang Autonomous Region and working my way within 300 km of the Sino-Pakistan border, I am really continually amazed that this area is part of China. Hangzhou, Zhejiang, is so thoroughly Han Chinese and Xinjiang is so...well, so not!
Here are some of my observations regarding Xinjiang and its people that I have encountered:
1. No one says "Ni hen gao." (you very tall)! A typical conversation with a Han Chinese person includes asking my nationality and maybe what I am doing in China and then almost certainly finishing with a comment about my height. It is so refreshing to be in a place where I am not a head taller than every single other person! The Uigur people I have seen are a little shorter than me and considerably "thicker" than the Asian build. One Uigur older lady in a restaurant was nearly as tall as me and she went right ahead and squeezed my arm and, I am pretty sure, said something to the effect that I am skinny! That was a gigantic ego boost! I might even be able to fit into some ready-made clothes here although I wouldn't want to given the unique fashion trends that exist here at the moment!
2. High on the list of getting by in any place is food. My trusty list of Chinese food favourites (which has taken 9 months to compile) is completely useless in Xinjiang. It is true that I can seek out traditional Chinese food, but it sometimes requires quite a search involving a long walk, and like last night, a tiny alley way, or an expensive and mediocre hotel restaurant meal. The alternative is to eat "local" and the choices are simple: mutton with long noodles, mutton with chopped up noodles, mutton and fat BBQ sticks, mutton and mutton fat meat pies, mutton with saffron rice...well, you get the idea! EVERYTHING is mutton and although I like to eat lamb on special occassions, mutton has a completely different taste and is usually served with a healthy dose of bits of mutton fat as well. Being veggie significantly reduces my meal options, but at I have found a few tasty standbys. A great lunch snack is cold noodles served with slivered cucumbers and some vinegar and spices - yummy and a bargain at RMB1.5 ( USD0.18) a bowl. The pilaf (saffron rice with veggies and sometimes egg) without the meat is great at lunch too. They don't make it at night, though, so I am left with lahmian (noodles) and bread. The bread is quite delicious actually and they even make a sesame bagel-type imitation. Although I bought some "bagels" when I went to the mountains and ate them the next day for lunch when they had become nearly as hard as hockey pucks!
3. What time is it anyway???! Beijing shijian (time) versus Xinjiang shijian (time). Because Beijing is the centre of the Chinese universe, the entire country must officially be on the same time as Beijing. Look at a map and see how ridiculous this is, so the people in Xinjiang unofficially set their clocks back 2 hours. This is completely confusing as some clocks read Beijing time, some read Xinjiang time. Some people use Xinjiang time when saying when something starts or opens, some people use Beijing time. Ahhhh!
4. I had a great adventure last Sunday at the market in a small town called Hotan (Hetian in Chinese). This was a full-on market with everything imaginable for sale on streets crowded with people, motorbikes, bicycles, and donkey carts. After three hours, it hit me...no one has bumped into me or pushed rudely past me or even brushed by me accidently. Whereas waiting at a bus stop in Hangzhou where there are 3 other people waiting and when an empty bus pulls up, the 3 Chinese people would rudely push in front of me to get on the bus. Wow - what a difference! And then I really started to think about all the other little differences. Fewer men seem to smoke here, waiters will wipe off the tables and chairs for people at outdoor restaurants, there is always water available at public toilet facilities to wash your hands, and more often than not when I meet someone's eyes who is staring at me, they will turn away. Men still happily hoark away on the street, but it is a little more subtle with less accompanying sound effects at least!
5. My list would not be complete without a comment about facial hair. One Uigur man nearly grew a full beard during the 20 hour bus ride from Urumqi to Hotan! Most middle aged men have a classic moustache while the older men have quite impressive beards - today the "Holy Man" who checked my health by touching my wrist had a beard down to his belly! I was reflecting on this interesting fashion of moustaches and beards at the night market in Hotan. After eating dinner (yes, more lahmian), I went back to the hotel and wanted to ask the lady at reception some information. When she looked up from the counter at me, I was staring straight into the thickest lip hair I have ever seen on a women!! Ahhhh....what do I do? don't look at her mouth? look at her eyes...but she is speaking Chinese and it helps to look at her mouth...ahhhh...I could barely concentrate on what she was saying! Compared to Han Chinese men who "shave" using tweezers to pluck their 3 or 4 whiskers, the Uigur folks are very different to say the least.
Xinjiang is an area about the size of Alaska and only half of the population are Han Chinese so the diversity of geography and cultures is amazing! My adventure here is winding down though with only 6 more days to go... | | |
| Marathon Bus Ride Across the Taklamakan Desert
There's lots to say about the last fews days since entering Xinjiang Autonomous Region, but this blog will focus on my longest bus ride in China so far.
After some reading and travel advice from recent travellers, I decided to sample some of the Southern Silk Road as well as the Northern Silk Road. This sounds great until one looks at the map and realizes that between these ancient routes is a gigantic desert - the Taklamakan Desert! Check out this map for a visual: http://www.johncafe.net/chinese/kashgar-15.asp.
From Urumqi, I wanted to get to Hetian (also called Hotan or Khotan) on the Southern Silk Road for their Sunday market. I crunched the numbers backwards and forwards and convinced myself that I could justify flying this huge distance if I could find a discount air ticket. After hours of searching in Urumqi, it was apparent that due to "busy season", no discounts were available so my choices were take the bus or miss out on this event.
Some travellers who had just come from Hotan to Turpan offered their honest reviews. The sleeper bus was uncomfortable, loud Chinese movies and karaoke (KTV) played late into the night and every toilet stop was met with blaring music to wake everyone up. In total the trip was 20 hours and Turpan is 3.5 hours from Urumqi, so I was facing a 23.5 hour trip. This was confirmed at the bus station where I was told it would be 23-24 hours. Does this potential pain justify a savings of RMB1015 (USD125). On my budget - YES!
THE most helpful young guy at the hostel in Urumqi actually volunteered to come to the bus station with me to buy the bus ticket. After the whole train fiasco in Jiayuguan where I couldn't buy a ticket for a seat, I was a little gun shy and didn't want to mess up on this one. We went and clearly asked for the "zui hou de che" - the best bus! This worked as I found out when I saw the other buses at the station.
So what is a sleeper bus anyway? I have never seen the inside of one and didn't really know what to expect. It is quite ingenious really. 3 rows of bunks beds (2 levels) are arranged in a large Greyhound-type bus divided by 2 small aisles. Everyone has a bed with a blanket and pillow and, my favourite, a personal air con control. (I usually freeze on transport where the air con is centrally controlled). I asked for a "xia pu" - lower bunk which meant I could almost sit up without knocking my head on the ceiling! Key word there is almost - I learned by trial and error exactly how much to curve my back into a Pilates-style roll up to minimize the bruising on my brain!
So after packing up a ridiculous amount of sugary and savory snacks, fruit and drinks, I was ready to face this marathon ride. Here's the highlights:
4:00 pm - loaded up at Urumqi bus station (but, of course, didn't depart until 15 minutes later for no apparent reason.) First stop was 5 minutes down the street where sellers of newspapers and corn on the cob came on the bus to peddle their wares.
4:20 pm - we really set off and I started to think about the productive ways I could spend the next few hours. Maybe I should learn the Chinese words for all the things I can see inside the bus, maybe I should listen to my "Learn Chinese" MP3, maybe I should update my journal...maybe...and then I passed out cold for over an hour!
5:30 pm - Woke up for the first toilet stop. I knew the toilets would be rough and this first one confirmed it. Since I had no idea when the next stop would be, I just had to try and breathe in and out through my mouth - someone told me that means you don't smell what's around you but apparently it is a skill that I need to work on more. Thought of a Toilet Digusting Rating System and decided that on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is a basic level of cleanliness, this toilet was a 4/5!
5:40 pm - Set off again into scenery that looked like gravel laid and leveled on a construction site. Not a scenic sand desert or anything, but soon there were some hills to break up the scenery although it was like the world became greyscale as there was no colour around. Some guy in the bus started whistling and I was waiting for the loud Chinese KTV to start, but soon the whistling stopped and no KTV for now.
8:30 pm - After some reading and more napping, the driver stopped and shouted "chi fan" - eat food. This was obviously our dinner stop. A row of Muslim restaurants all serving the same lahmian (noodles with vegetables and mutton) lined the streets of this sad little travellers town and I ordered the only thing on offer. Before the food came, another toilet break but this toilet facility was totally off my scale. If the first toilet was a 4/5 on the disgusting level, then this second toilet was at least a 7! On the bright side, the noodles were quite tasty and after washing it down with some tea served in a bowl, we were off at 9:00 pm.
12:15 am - After one movie (sound was not too loud actually), everyone settled in to sleep and then next thing I new, there were city lights. We were obviously somewhere considerably big and the road was relatively busy with buses and transport trucks. Figured we would have a toilet break, but then we turned off the main street and onto this little alley and then again into a completely dark, completely empty gravel parking lot. Where are we? What is this? We stop and people get off, so I follow and watch when from this nondescript concrete building a lady emerges with a gasoline hose. There were literally no tanks or pumps or anything! The toilet facilities here seemed to be any dark corner you could find to do your business. Works better for guys, but the women did the same and truthfully it was 100 times better smelling than the last 2 toilets!
6:16 am - Was sleeping on and off and once I found a couple positions that were mildly comfortable, started to get some deeper sleep. No scenery - just blackness. Woke up once to an amazing star covered night sky, but that was gone the next time we stopped for a toilet break. It was still pitch black and we just pulled off on the side of the road. Looked like scrub brush and felt like soft sand along the sides of the roads, but I wasn't in the mood to go venturing too far for privacy's sake. Just be quick and back on the bus!
8:30 am - First morning light and the middle of nowhere stood this sand-coloured hotel with a toilet facility out back. (this one was a 3/5 and so quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth). Have noticed since in Xinjiang and especially on this bus ride, that near all the toilets there is always a little tank or kettle with water in it and people actually use it to wash their hands! I should qualify that usually only the Uigur people and foreigners (well, me!) use it and the Chinese people just ignore it as is their custom. Uigur is the name of the minority people that dominate in Xinjiang province; they speak a Turkish dialect and look decidedly un-Chinese - more Central Asian.
10 am - Scenery was now dramatically different with green fields, sunflowers and corn growing and a little town that had more donkey-pulled carts and motorbikes than cars. This must be some oasis area and I figured this would be our breakfast stop. No luck - just a quick toilet break and the bus was quickly on its way.
11:03 am - No more oasis - no more green. Just empty sand coloured desert, so time for another Chinese movie with lots of car chases, explosions and shoot outs! At a bus station, some people got off, but most stayed on. I figure that soon we will be making another "chi fan" stop, but I have lots of fruit and scooby snacks to tide me over. (I notice the other passengers have nothing to eat and just some tea or water to drink).
12:30 pm - Another stop at a larger bus station. THIS must be our food stop finally! I ask "zhe shi shenme difang?" - what is this place?. Am told this is Hetian. Hetian? But we are 3.5 hours early??? Can't be? I ask the driver and sure enough, this is Hetian/Hotan! This is it!!! What a surprise! It only took 20.5 hours to get here and I am actually feeling pretty good. Wow!
In the end, after I prepared for the worst, I was pleasantly surprised. For 20.5 hours, I was in an air con, non-smoking, relatively comfortable transport vehicle and safely arrived at my destination ahead of schedule. From what I have seen of this little city, it was worth the long trip here and am looking forward to the market tomorrow.
Safe travels to everyone on your journeys as well!
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| Camel Trekking...my way!
Arriving in Dunhuang, Gansu, and visiting 200-300m high sand dunes set against a clear blue desert sky was just too alluring. I remembered some of the comical and revealing stories from Bruce Kirkby when I heard him speak about his camel trek across the Arabian Desert (later, I read his book, called "Sand Dance" but the talk was more vivid and entertaining). I wanted to have a taste of a camel trek in the desert, so...
I signed up for a one night camel trek from Dunhuang. The plan was appealing in its simplicity. Wait until the heat of the day has passed, leave at 7pm and drive to the camel stable (is it called a stable? the place where camels are kept?). Anyway, ride for 2 hours, set up camp with tents and sleeping bags (all supplied by the tour) and watch the sunset over the sand dunes. View the brilliant night sky without any city lights, enjoy the quiet of the desert and wake up in the morning to a desert sunrise before heading back by camel.
Sounds amazing, doesn't it?! Well, honestly I wouldn't know because that was not at all my version of a camel trek experience! 
Things started out okay when I learned that I was going to be joined by only 2 other travellers- a young kid from England (still in highschool!) and a uni student from Norway. The group was not too small and not too big and the guide said that the wind usually dies down around 8:00pm. Hmmm, if the wind usually dies down at 8, then why did he ask me if I had my cellphone with me? Why would I need to call him anyway?
The weather had changed dramatically since the day before, so I had the interesting experience of camel trekking in a sandstorm! It probably wouldn't be classified as a storm compared to what can happen in the spring storm season, but let's just say that at the end, there was sand inside EVERYTHING! Sand inside my socks, sand inside the pocket of my wallet (which was in a special pocket in my backpack), sand seemingly glued to my sunglasses and of course, a sufficient amount of sand in my teeth, hair, and on my face regardless of wearing a hat, sunglasses and a bandana across my face!
The blowing sand didn't seem to bother the camels, so we lumbered along for an hour or so. Riding a camel is only remotely similar to riding a horse, in my opinion. Camels walk with their left front and left rear legs together and then the next step is right front and right rear. This means the rider is forced forward and backward in a jerking motion. Any small up or down hill increases the jerking around of the rider 10 fold, so nearly 48 hours later, I can still feel the saddle sores and I may have to break down and have a professional back massage to help ease the tension!
The guides found us a pretty cool "campsite" - a moderately sheltered dip at the base of a huge dune so they set up camp for us and then bid us goodnight. No guides, no camels, no cellphones, no other people around until 6:30 the next morning when they promised to come back. The wind was still howling and I was wearing 3 shirts and a light jacket as the temperature was dropping, but we chatted and snacked as the sunset and stars came out! Hah - scratch that last part as there were clouds the whole night until 1:00am when we finally turned in so no dramatic sunset photos and no star gazing.
Actually, the tents were quite satisfactory as a wind break and I was toasty warm inside my sleeping bag. Sleeping on desert sand is really not much different to a usual hard Chinese bed, so the night passed pretty quickly. I woke up around 3:00am and the wind has stopped and then I woke again around 6:30am and heard a camel bell in the distance. What a great way to wake up - fresh air, no sounds of modernization, and the knowledge that our guide and camels were on their way.
And then...what is that sound...more sand blowing...no, sounds like....couldn't be...what! it's raining!!! Yes, there was light rain on and off in the morning until we got back to town. How often does that happen in the desert! So much for the dramatic sunrise photo opportunities as well.
So, obviously, my camel trek was not like the tourist brochure, but you know what? It was awesome! I got a taste (literally and figuratively) of the power of the wind changing and moving a sand desert, an amazingly quiet and comfortable night out camping, some interesting and easy-flowing conversation with like-minded travellers, and I rode a camel! The experience was brilliant and perhaps somewhat unique - one to remember forever.
A few days before, my good friend Maureen sent an email with this poem at the end. I was thinking about it while riding out in the sandstorm. Now, I would like to extend these same wishes to everyone who reads this entry.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
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| Mayday Mayday Mayday...Temporary China Overload!
Recently I experienced my first bout of China overload. Actually, more specifically Chinese people overload. I have since recouperated and am back on track, but those of you who are curious about the non-glamourous part of travelling in China and dealing with Chinese culture and customs - keep reading.
The following 3 items things can be annoying and frustrating, but I have tried very hard to understand the underlying reasons for the behaviour which helps me intellectually deal with the frustration. To emotionally deal with it I can nearly always let the frustration roll off me or slowly count 10 breaths and just move on.
In no particular order, here goes:
1) Seemingly constant attempts at touristy areas to rip off foreigners
Example: I cycled 50 minutes from the town of Jiayuguan to the Overhanging Wall. Apparently this is where the Great Wall connects to the fort which is the western end of the Great Wall. I say "apparently" because the even though the ticket I bought had the correct Chinese characters on them for the Overhanging Wall and I asked the lady explicitly if I could go there, the ticket I bought let me see some empty brand new fort-like building that did NOT connect to the Great Wall. The correct place was another kilometre up the road, but, of course, she did not happen to mention that! Man, I was MAD! I looked up in my phrasebook for anything that could help me say "What a rip off!" "You lied!" "You cheated me!", but there wasn't any of these words. (if anyone knows what to say in this situation in Chinese, pleeease let me know!)
Really everything is negotiable as near as I can tell. I heard a man negotiating a price for a bottle of water on the train and when the shopkeeper tried to charge me double for my new favourite kind of popsicle, I just gave her the correct amount (i.e. half of what she said) and left - there was no argument from her. Two days ago, I had my first successful attempt at negotiating a price for hotel room. In the end, I paid 2/3 of the price posted at the front of the hotel (I suspect Chinese people would pay 1/2 but maybe not in high season) - I was pretty happy with this result anyway.
Comments: Truthfully, rip offs occur in many tourist areas, it's just that in China it is extended to include every other good and service as well. Maybe it is an example of the market setting the price - it is just on a transaction by transaction basis. That is, every seller will try to find the highest price that the market will bear at each and every transaction.
2) The "Disneyfication" of every tourist site
"Disneyfication" is my word to describe the appearance and approach of developing tourist attractions. Meaning = like Disneyland!
Example: A 20 minute cycle ride from the town of Dunhuang, Gansu, brings you to amazing 200-300m high sand dunes. They are so beautiful and quite unique in the area, so, of course, the government has designated the area a top tourist site and this amazing natural phenomenon now boasts the following: a required RMB80 ticket price to enter the area, minibuses zipping around roads that are built among the dunes and kept clear and wet by maintenance trucks, at least 100 or so camels for rent to take people the 15 minute walk from the gate to Crescent Moon Lake, a booming loud speaker talking about something nonstop in Chinese, sand tobogganing, paragliding, and convenient stairs built up the sides of the main dunes that you have to pay extra to use! Outside the gates, of course, are hoards of sellers hawking food and drinks and crappy souvenirs. Add bus loads of Chinese tour groups in matching hats and a guide with a flag to herd them along and you have a typical tourist development in China.
Comments: I am not really sure of the reasons for this, but group travel is by far how 90% (maybe more!) of Chinese tourists travel. I think they actually like to be together in groups and not have to do anything more strenuous than get out of the bus every so often to see something, take photos, get food and drinks, buy junk and move on! My Chinese language tutor was surprised, no nearly appalled that I would set off travelling on my own. Her worry was partly my language ability (or inability!), and partly "How will you know where to go and which bus to take? Where will you stay?" The idea of using a guidebook and just working things out was as bizarre as walking backwards and clapping hands is to me ( ha, ha, that's for Peter, Ritchie and Jane!).
3) Staring and a nearly unbelievable level of apathy towards others
Example 1: Chinese people stare at EVERYTHING! I happen to notice this quite a bit as usually I am the subject of their staring, but when I can hide in the shadows and observe, they will also stare at other Chinese people. Actually, I have become quite sophisticated dealing with the stares. For a truly curious stare, I will meet it with a smile and nod or ni hao. For a 'what can I sell her and rip her off' stare, I ignore the person. For a crude stare, I will meet the stare head on with an expression of disgust. It can all be a little tiring at which point I resort to looking at the ground!
Example 2: The level of apathy towards others is nearly unbelievable. Perhaps you would think that if people are staring, then they are concerned with what is happening and will be ready the jump in to help. Completely UNTRUE. While sitting on the floor of a crowded train (read on for more details), I saw the following unfold before me. There was an old and obviously very poor man sitting on the floor as well. His leg was injured and bandaged so that at one stop when the train attendant needed him to move a little, he had to scuffle along the floor - he could not stand up. He only had with him a tattered sports coat, a water bottle with tea, and a stick that was his walking cane. A few of the other men talked to him briefly, but never offered him one of their cigarettes even when he rolled his own with a tiny scrap of newspaper and some tobacco. When his eyes met mine a few times, I smiled. And then for no apparent reason, another train attendant came by and demanded to see his ticket. He did not have a ticket. She told him to get up and move further down the train. He didn't immediately understand the lady's Mandarin and she shouted at him "Ting bu dong?!" (don't understand?!) A friendly middle aged man helped translate for him (perhaps into local dialect) and then for the next 2 minutes the train attendant and 6 able-bodied men and myself watched the old man struggle in obvious agony to try and stand up to move. He tried to use his stick to brace himself, but the metal train floor was too slippery. I just didn't know what to do, if I tried to help and couldn't support his weight, he could be in even more pain. Finally, the train attendant made a lame attempt a tugging at his sweater to haul him up (completely ineffective, of course) and then I braced under his one arm and the friendly translator man took the other arm so that the old man could at least stand up. For the next half an hour I felt completely guilty that I didn't offer to buy a ticket for him. I wonder what the other men who watched this incident thought about it?
Comment: I can offer no explanation for the staring - if anyone has any insights here then I would love to hear them. On the subject of apathy I read an interesting bit of a book on Chinese culture. The author wrote that it is basically a survival instinct. After so many generations of living with fear, uncertainty, and "justice" at the whim of the current powers that be, the less you said, the less you got involved, the lower your profile, the better chance you had for survival. And this book was written before 1949! (that is, before the Communists came to power)
Like I said, these things can be annoying and frustrating. I pride myself on being open-minded and adaptable and try so hard not to pass judgment that I usually don't let these things get under my skin. There is one thing, though, one thing that I am struggling to deal with in China. I had 4.5 hours to reflect on this one thing while forced to sit on my suitcase on the floor of a dirty non-air conditioned train in a space of maybe 2m by 1m with a minimum of 6 other Chinese men. The best title I can think of is:
Attitude toward personal hygiene and behaviour.
Here's a few of my observations during the train ride:
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a man "blowing his nose" (i.e. without a tissue or hankie) onto the floor of the train
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a woman coughing and hoarking up some phlegm onto the floor of the train
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countless men coughing without covering their mouths and a little boy sneezing almost directly onto me
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a man wearing a new dress shirt that still had the creases from the package pick his nose and wipe it on his trousers
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the train attendant cleaning her ears with her keys - yes, I said cleaning her ears! I barely couldn't believe this one either until I snuck another glance and saw her really working on the other ear with her key.
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ALL the men smoking ALL the time ANYWHERE they want with no regard to anyone else. I used my fan to avoid some direct cigarette smoke. Some would toss their cigarettes into the ashtrays without extinguishing them, many just tossed them onto the train floor again without extinguishing them (remember, people are sitting on the floor!!) Cigarette ash would blow onto my bag and onto me and I would look at them with rude disgust and brush it off and they would literally be totally oblivious!
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A grandfather let a little boy (maybe 4-5 years old) pee out a tiny crack between the train cars (a 3-4 cm crack maybe, I am serious!). The toilet was less than 5 steps away but I don't think the little boy wanted to use the proper toilet.
I am not sure if you are completely grossed out or it just seemed the epitome of disgusting to me given the cramped quarters. These specific behaviours are in addition to generally men wearing dirty grubby clothes with hair that had not been washed in many days (maybe weeks) and teeth that perhaps have never even tasted Colgate. (while buying my train ticket, the entire ticket office area smelled like bad halitosis so I should have suspected something bad would be waiting for me on the train!).
To be fair, I have to qualify that this occurred on a "hard seat" section of a train (the cheapest seats possible) and maybe these people had been travelling for a day or so. But, on the other hand, a fellow teacher felt compelled to tell one of her male students not to come to her class again until he had showered. She just couldn't sit down and talk with him given the smell and this student was 20 years old and should be moderately interested in attracting someone of the female sex!
I cannot offer any explanations for this seemingly complete lack of awareness of what I consider basic personal hygiene and respect for oneself and others. I know that I am applying my own value system when making these statements and using a "Western" measuring stick to judge this behaviour as unusual and unacceptable. There are many things that I can adapt to, but on that ugly train ride I learned something valuable about myself. I learned that I value a basic level of personal cleanliness and this value is set deeply in my core. I honestly don't think there is anything I can do that will stop my stomach from flip flopping in gross disgust the next time I hear someone hoarking up a gob.
When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.
Clifton Fadiman
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