The Plum Garden was interesting, and it was probably the first time I went all out on the tourist-y behaviour of taking a bajillion pictures of nothing. The end result was over 100 pictures of the place. I've dumped them all on my laptop, and I'll decide what to do with them later. There were a few high places in the garden, and I got some nice views of Wuxi and Tai Hu Lake. I also noticed that the mountain in Wuxi has a very nice view, and a Pagoda like thing at the top, for viewing the whole city. On a nice day, if I'm bored, I'll make the trek there while Jessica and Alex work, and check that out. I expect it'll be a good workout as well.
More interesting than the Garden itself was the ride to and from. It was an unnecessarily complicated ride, consisting of many circular paths, and offroads. The way there was entertaining because I found out where the electronics market is (definitely going there a few times), and because the bus had some sweet cartoons on it called "There she is!". Jessica thought they were Korean, and the first one had a very Pepe LePew feel to it. They were fun, and there was no voice, just music, so even we Laowhy could understand it.
The way back was way sketchier. There was a lady puking into a clear bag in the back, which was nasty. Also, it was way less direct than the way there, so we were going all over the place, and I heard quite a few "Uhhh, this is kinda the OPPOSITE way we want to go" comments from Jessica and Alex, who both know the area far better than I do.
For dinner, we stopped at McDonalds and picked up some coffee and Chris and I got fries out of curiosity. They suck. McDonalds advertises that they have the same taste all over the world... they don't. Not to mention there was no salt on the fries. We then headed over to Baoli (the mall close to our apt) and wanted Barbeque, but the nice security guard who suggested food to us last time came over, and when I asked, he said the guy wouldn't be around until tomorrow. We went to another nearby restaurant, and the food was still really good, but unless I find a new type of restaurant, I'm going to get mighty tired of these dishes. Ching tsai (Literal translation: Green vegetable), and tomato and egg are getting overdone. A lot of these dishes are almost identical, and are getting tiring. The biggest problem is that any non-traditional dish (especially Westernized dishes) are massively expensive in comparison.
Just before bed, I also downed a nice tetra bag of peanut milk. This stuff is cool. It's milk, but kept in a tetra pack (like those bags you'd stab with a straw and drink back home, the brand name escapes me) and it has a strong peanut taste to it. It sounds gross, but its so good. I like it so much, I just wanted to dedicate a paragraph to it.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Day 8: April 30th - Crappy Wiring
We made a fun discovery last night after I finished summarizing the day. The wiring in our house is designed to drive us insane. I went to turn off the light last night, but it only half shut off. The light dimmed, and was clearly not getting as much electricity as it needed, but enough to be disturbingly bright and strobelight-like. After some experimenting, Jessica and I discovered that if a different outlet is being used (her cell phone was plugged into that outlet), the light would not shut off. Here's the fun part though. If the outlet is being used, it won't get electric current unless the light has been shut off. So her cell phone was not being charged unless we turned off the light. Even more confusing, the light would not shut off completely (see Strobelight-like above) if something was plugged into that light. So, to use that outlet, the light had to be shut off, but it wouldn't turn off completely. The outlet would work, and the light would go wonky. In order to actually turn off the light, that outlet had to have nothing plugged in. Sigh, this apartment is so weird.
Jessica and Alex figured out how to make real coffee today, which was exciting. The end result was decent, but they didn't seem to like it, since it wasn't strong enough. I also had a banana and peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, which was exciting simply because I haven't had one since I was a child. Overall, a fairly boring morning.
Eventually, Chris called, and we all decided to venture out to the Plum Garden, which was one of the few attractions here in Wuxi. I've discovered recently that 4 million people constitutes a small town, and Wuxi is known as a cultural desert. The Lonely Planet book Jessica has about China describes only 4 attractions here in Wuxi. It's fortunate that Shanghai is only 37 quai away. It's like the Las Vegas of China. Hookers, gambling, and lots of excitement there.
Jessica and Alex figured out how to make real coffee today, which was exciting. The end result was decent, but they didn't seem to like it, since it wasn't strong enough. I also had a banana and peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, which was exciting simply because I haven't had one since I was a child. Overall, a fairly boring morning.
Eventually, Chris called, and we all decided to venture out to the Plum Garden, which was one of the few attractions here in Wuxi. I've discovered recently that 4 million people constitutes a small town, and Wuxi is known as a cultural desert. The Lonely Planet book Jessica has about China describes only 4 attractions here in Wuxi. It's fortunate that Shanghai is only 37 quai away. It's like the Las Vegas of China. Hookers, gambling, and lots of excitement there.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Day 7: April 29th - Rainy day, boring plans
Today was fairly mellow, since it rained all day. Acid rain does not live up to the hype, it was no big deal. You just don't want to drink the raindrops. We dropped the plan to go to the plum garden, and will likely go tomorrow. Instead, we went to Hylite and stole their Internet I made the exciting discovery that they have an unprotected wireless signal in the building, so I can come by and steal their interwebs from the lobby, which will be convenient. I may go to the electronics department later in the week and try to find a small key chain wireless finder. The lack of Internet is frustrating, but we don't know if we want to pay the large connection fee if we're only staying for three months, let alone if we can get a contract for Internet for three months. I think it will be many a trip to Hylite for me.
After Hylite, we stopped at McDonalds for coffee, where Alex got a picture of one of the worker's bum. Not because she liked his bum, but because in China, McDonalds has uniform Jeans, with the McDonalds logo on the bum. The uniforms there are very different, but I'd say more fashionable in an odd sense. McDonalds in China is actually a decent job, which is weird. They must know some English (which is surprising if you've ever tried to order anything, because they don't say a word to you, they just call the manager), and the pay is better than the average job on the street. I have to remember to get some Chinese McDonalds toys before I go. I promised the McDonalds girls in Guelph I'd get them some, and I wouldn't mind having one as a gag keepsake, not to mention they'd probably go for quite a bit on eBay.
Afterwards, we went through a park, which I plan on going back to when it's nicer out. I did get a few pictures, but there was much more interesting stuff there. I'm getting used to taking pictures and looking like a lame tourist. We also went back to the Carrefour, and saw some familiar faces. Two guys working the broom section were hilarious, since last time we went, we wanted the cheapest broom we could find, and they kept trying to upsell us to some really expensive brooms. I've never seen anyone so excited about cleaning supplies. Anyway, this time, they were very excited to see us again, and one of them snuck a picture of us. We just laughed, and kept shopping. I tried to get back into the store and sneak a picture of them as revenge, as well as taking a picture of some absolutely horrible Chinglish on the door into the warehouse, but a security guard snuck up on me and grilled me (in surprisingly good English) about taking pictures in her store. She shut me down, and I didn't even get to see the two guys again, let alone try to take their picture. I also missed out on the Chinglish. Alex said we'd try to sneak some "stealth pictures" in later. We'll see.
We returned to the house, and cleaned a little more. It seems there's always something else dirty in the house. Afterwards, Alex and I went out and walked a long scenic route until we finally found a restaurant open that wasn't super expensive (a lot of stores and restaurants close around 5PM), and got takeout to bring back home. It went over really well, and the restaurant was midpriced. The people working were really nice and helpful too, so I think I'll go back next time we aren't looking for a cheap meal. Towards the end of the meal, fireworks started going off, and we all rushed outside to see. Today marks the first day of one of the few holidays the Chinese celebrate. Rather than have short holidays every month or two, they have 3 or 4 different week-long holidays that they go all out on. They set off fireworks around 8 or 9 PM to mark the beginning of this one, right in the middle of the city. I got it on video, and it was quite entertaining, especially since the fireworks actually bounced off of the tall buildings around it. You can see it in the video if you watch the left apartment building. For the rest of the night, people have been playing some very Chinese music, and smashing cymbals. Jessica tells me the rest of the week will be chock full of fireworks and noise. I look forward to it.
After Hylite, we stopped at McDonalds for coffee, where Alex got a picture of one of the worker's bum. Not because she liked his bum, but because in China, McDonalds has uniform Jeans, with the McDonalds logo on the bum. The uniforms there are very different, but I'd say more fashionable in an odd sense. McDonalds in China is actually a decent job, which is weird. They must know some English (which is surprising if you've ever tried to order anything, because they don't say a word to you, they just call the manager), and the pay is better than the average job on the street. I have to remember to get some Chinese McDonalds toys before I go. I promised the McDonalds girls in Guelph I'd get them some, and I wouldn't mind having one as a gag keepsake, not to mention they'd probably go for quite a bit on eBay.
Afterwards, we went through a park, which I plan on going back to when it's nicer out. I did get a few pictures, but there was much more interesting stuff there. I'm getting used to taking pictures and looking like a lame tourist. We also went back to the Carrefour, and saw some familiar faces. Two guys working the broom section were hilarious, since last time we went, we wanted the cheapest broom we could find, and they kept trying to upsell us to some really expensive brooms. I've never seen anyone so excited about cleaning supplies. Anyway, this time, they were very excited to see us again, and one of them snuck a picture of us. We just laughed, and kept shopping. I tried to get back into the store and sneak a picture of them as revenge, as well as taking a picture of some absolutely horrible Chinglish on the door into the warehouse, but a security guard snuck up on me and grilled me (in surprisingly good English) about taking pictures in her store. She shut me down, and I didn't even get to see the two guys again, let alone try to take their picture. I also missed out on the Chinglish. Alex said we'd try to sneak some "stealth pictures" in later. We'll see.
We returned to the house, and cleaned a little more. It seems there's always something else dirty in the house. Afterwards, Alex and I went out and walked a long scenic route until we finally found a restaurant open that wasn't super expensive (a lot of stores and restaurants close around 5PM), and got takeout to bring back home. It went over really well, and the restaurant was midpriced. The people working were really nice and helpful too, so I think I'll go back next time we aren't looking for a cheap meal. Towards the end of the meal, fireworks started going off, and we all rushed outside to see. Today marks the first day of one of the few holidays the Chinese celebrate. Rather than have short holidays every month or two, they have 3 or 4 different week-long holidays that they go all out on. They set off fireworks around 8 or 9 PM to mark the beginning of this one, right in the middle of the city. I got it on video, and it was quite entertaining, especially since the fireworks actually bounced off of the tall buildings around it. You can see it in the video if you watch the left apartment building. For the rest of the night, people have been playing some very Chinese music, and smashing cymbals. Jessica tells me the rest of the week will be chock full of fireworks and noise. I look forward to it.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Day 6: April 28th - Screwing up my digestive tract
Went out walking with Alex while Jessica cleaned the apartment up a bit. We skipped one of the fruit stands, because according to Alex, the vendor is mean. We also stopped at the Kudi for some instant coffee. Instant coffee seems to be a necessary evil, since the coffee here is mediocre at best. We found some with creamer and sugar already in it (how, I don't know), which was specifically requested by Jessica.
Alex and I then went out hunting for a fruit stand, and finally found one after a nice circular walk. We got a few normal fruits (oranges, plums, and mango), and one unknown one for the hell of it. It's not bad, so we named it the "Whatisit fruit". We'll find out the real name later, but I doubt I'll ever get to know the English word for it. The fruit stand was expensive though, and wouldn't haggle. 39 quai for fruit. I complain, but I know compared to Canada, it's still cheap. It seems all the necessities of life are super cheap, but commodities are expensive (relatively speaking). This is why shampoo costs the same as 3 or 4 meals, or about 8 beers. Apparently, shampoo is optional, but beer is a necessity of life.
I also discovered today that the customers at Staples are (pardon the pun) full of shit. The airline food was the only thing that gave me anything close to diarrhea, and I've been fine since. I didn't even own up to my intention to keep dairy up, I've been too busy eating random unknown foods and maggots. Mom, you wouldn't last a day here.
We didn't do a whole lot today. Our original intention was to go have copies of the keys made, but upon realizing it's a Saturday, we gave up all hope. Hy-Lite is useless enough when it's a work day. The lack of concept of time has really started to dawn on me. I have no idea what time it is most of the day, nor do I know the date, or even the day. Writing this is the only thing giving me any concept of time at all.
So for most of the day, we chilled in the apartment, then headed out to wander the streets. We found a few DVD stores, and tried some random snacks. Sweet potato chips were OK, and the roasted chestnuts were pretty good as well. We had dumplings loaded with soup and beef in them, and they were awesome. A bit difficult to eat, but very good.
We also met Chris and Sabrina at a restaurant down in who knows where. It went beyond my memorized streets, and since I can barely pronounce the street names, let alone remember them, I have no idea where it was. It was pretty good, but the soup that we ordered kind of freaked me out. It was a yellow broth, with all sorts of seafood in it. Sounded good, but it's the whole animal. So you'd have to crack open a crab, or the entire shrimp, and suck out the meat. I'm sure it would've tasted good, but I couldn't get over the fact that you'd have to eat at least part of the stomach/intestines. Remembering the times I've eaten lobster, if you eat stomach/intestines, you can get parasites and random ungoodliness in you, which would be bad. So I just politely ate what I could without getting too close to the stomach, and hid the rest under napkins on my plate. Next time, two orders of the fish, no seafood medley soup.
Alex and I then went out hunting for a fruit stand, and finally found one after a nice circular walk. We got a few normal fruits (oranges, plums, and mango), and one unknown one for the hell of it. It's not bad, so we named it the "Whatisit fruit". We'll find out the real name later, but I doubt I'll ever get to know the English word for it. The fruit stand was expensive though, and wouldn't haggle. 39 quai for fruit. I complain, but I know compared to Canada, it's still cheap. It seems all the necessities of life are super cheap, but commodities are expensive (relatively speaking). This is why shampoo costs the same as 3 or 4 meals, or about 8 beers. Apparently, shampoo is optional, but beer is a necessity of life.
I also discovered today that the customers at Staples are (pardon the pun) full of shit. The airline food was the only thing that gave me anything close to diarrhea, and I've been fine since. I didn't even own up to my intention to keep dairy up, I've been too busy eating random unknown foods and maggots. Mom, you wouldn't last a day here.
We didn't do a whole lot today. Our original intention was to go have copies of the keys made, but upon realizing it's a Saturday, we gave up all hope. Hy-Lite is useless enough when it's a work day. The lack of concept of time has really started to dawn on me. I have no idea what time it is most of the day, nor do I know the date, or even the day. Writing this is the only thing giving me any concept of time at all.
So for most of the day, we chilled in the apartment, then headed out to wander the streets. We found a few DVD stores, and tried some random snacks. Sweet potato chips were OK, and the roasted chestnuts were pretty good as well. We had dumplings loaded with soup and beef in them, and they were awesome. A bit difficult to eat, but very good.
We also met Chris and Sabrina at a restaurant down in who knows where. It went beyond my memorized streets, and since I can barely pronounce the street names, let alone remember them, I have no idea where it was. It was pretty good, but the soup that we ordered kind of freaked me out. It was a yellow broth, with all sorts of seafood in it. Sounded good, but it's the whole animal. So you'd have to crack open a crab, or the entire shrimp, and suck out the meat. I'm sure it would've tasted good, but I couldn't get over the fact that you'd have to eat at least part of the stomach/intestines. Remembering the times I've eaten lobster, if you eat stomach/intestines, you can get parasites and random ungoodliness in you, which would be bad. So I just politely ate what I could without getting too close to the stomach, and hid the rest under napkins on my plate. Next time, two orders of the fish, no seafood medley soup.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Day 5: April 27th - Filling the house
Now that everything was settled, we went to what I call the Chinese Walmart, called the Carrefour. It's actually French, but it's a huge department store with everything. We filled up on everything we needed for the house, and I had to hail down a taxi to get us home, since there was so much stuff. It was actually cool, to see a Walmart-like environment, but hectic because of the huge number of people there. This place also put Walmart's "low low prices" to shame. Just about everything we picked up cost around 1 quai. Somehow, we managed to spend about 370 quai though. Some of the cleaning supplies were costly as well, as was my shampoo (which was necessary, because as you remember, I bought body lotion instead earlier).
We got back just before the landlady showed up again, this time to give us our washer. Jessica and I had to move it out from the other apartment on the same floor, and move it into our apartment. The problem, however, was that our washer wouldn't fit through the bathroom door. The landlady had to call her son and have him remove the door so we could move it in and install it. He showed up not long after, and also built our bed. The funny part is that I have a bad habit of assuming no one around me speaks English, so every once in a while, it catches me off guard. I was talking about how the son was by no means a handyman, and every time he and I have done some form of manual labour, he's been dripping in sweat and been extremely weak. He and I brought down the mattress for Jessica and my bed, and he could barely handle it, and also angled the mattress in bizarre ways to do it, so I was making fun of that, and how he's removing the door in a silly manner. Here's the funny part: When the washer was installed, they pulled Jessica over to show her how the washer worked, and he spoke English to her. Now, I don't THINK he understood any of what I said, because he probably wasn't actively listening, but if he did, I don't imagine they're terribly impressed with me.
Chris showed up out of nowhere. He called us, which was funny because we didn't even have a phone number the last time we saw him. He came over for a visit, and described his tutoring job at the kindergarten. We chatted, and had a few glasses of beer, then went out for barbeque, which is similar to the grill I described on the first day (street meat squared). This put the grill to shame. They had a bunch of food laid out on sticks, ready to be cooked, and it was all so cheap. I had chicken heart, a chicken wing, beans, and some spicy green peppers, all for about 6 quai. That's still under a buck Canadian.
I had a new beggar experience here as well. I have already gotten used to beggars, and know how to handle them, but this one trained a small child to approach us and say "Money" in English, relentlessly. The kid wouldn't give up, and I made the mistake of looking at the kid, so he kept following me, and grabbing at my leg, and Jessica yelled to be careful, as the kid will try to put his hands in my pockets to steal change. I walked around Chris, using him as an obstacle, and the kid moved on. I thought it was disgusting, and glared at the man, but he just smiled and asked me for money too. The sad part is, I bet it works all too often.
After barbeque, we all went back to the apartment, and had a drink and chatted some more. Alex discovered a maggot in her food, which was gross for me, but no one else cared, as the food is cooked at a really high temperature. I knew it was hygienic, it was just gross. It took a while to get over, because I ate from the same dish, and I know I probably had one or two of my own. Mmmm, maggot. Today was the first non-jet lagged day as well, I actually managed to stay up past midnight. Hopefully, tomorrow we can manage some Wuxi night life.
We got back just before the landlady showed up again, this time to give us our washer. Jessica and I had to move it out from the other apartment on the same floor, and move it into our apartment. The problem, however, was that our washer wouldn't fit through the bathroom door. The landlady had to call her son and have him remove the door so we could move it in and install it. He showed up not long after, and also built our bed. The funny part is that I have a bad habit of assuming no one around me speaks English, so every once in a while, it catches me off guard. I was talking about how the son was by no means a handyman, and every time he and I have done some form of manual labour, he's been dripping in sweat and been extremely weak. He and I brought down the mattress for Jessica and my bed, and he could barely handle it, and also angled the mattress in bizarre ways to do it, so I was making fun of that, and how he's removing the door in a silly manner. Here's the funny part: When the washer was installed, they pulled Jessica over to show her how the washer worked, and he spoke English to her. Now, I don't THINK he understood any of what I said, because he probably wasn't actively listening, but if he did, I don't imagine they're terribly impressed with me.
Chris showed up out of nowhere. He called us, which was funny because we didn't even have a phone number the last time we saw him. He came over for a visit, and described his tutoring job at the kindergarten. We chatted, and had a few glasses of beer, then went out for barbeque, which is similar to the grill I described on the first day (street meat squared). This put the grill to shame. They had a bunch of food laid out on sticks, ready to be cooked, and it was all so cheap. I had chicken heart, a chicken wing, beans, and some spicy green peppers, all for about 6 quai. That's still under a buck Canadian.
I had a new beggar experience here as well. I have already gotten used to beggars, and know how to handle them, but this one trained a small child to approach us and say "Money" in English, relentlessly. The kid wouldn't give up, and I made the mistake of looking at the kid, so he kept following me, and grabbing at my leg, and Jessica yelled to be careful, as the kid will try to put his hands in my pockets to steal change. I walked around Chris, using him as an obstacle, and the kid moved on. I thought it was disgusting, and glared at the man, but he just smiled and asked me for money too. The sad part is, I bet it works all too often.
After barbeque, we all went back to the apartment, and had a drink and chatted some more. Alex discovered a maggot in her food, which was gross for me, but no one else cared, as the food is cooked at a really high temperature. I knew it was hygienic, it was just gross. It took a while to get over, because I ate from the same dish, and I know I probably had one or two of my own. Mmmm, maggot. Today was the first non-jet lagged day as well, I actually managed to stay up past midnight. Hopefully, tomorrow we can manage some Wuxi night life.
Day 5: April 27th - Renting from Hell
We went back to the apartment, and laid out the cash in neat piles, ready to be counted and whisked away by the landlady. However, when everyone showed up, they tried to push a one year lease on us. Jessica stood firm, and the next few hours were incredibly stressful. It was horrible. They kept insisting that we were to sign a one year lease, and when we want to move out, it's on us to find a replacement. Well, this isn't how it went yesterday. Yesterday, we were told that the school would sign, and we'd be able to leave, and the school would find a replacement for the place, since they have foreigners come and go all the time. No problem. Now, they're pushing a one year lease, which we sign, and Hylite is disjoint from. I don't think so.
We kept telling the Hylite representative that we aren't signing a one year lease, because we know we'll only be here for 3 months. They promised to sign, and that was that. Well, according to Alma, who finally showed up today (not sick, by the way), the school would never promise that. They never do this kind of thing. We thought Alma was there to sign for the school, so this was quite a shocker.
The problem was simple to solve, and we offered them three firm choices. We can sign a three month lease with the landlady. She didn't want that, and wouldn't budge. Fine, that's her choice. Second, Hylite can sign a 1 year lease, and replace us when we leave in 3 months. As the final choice, we can leave, and either Hylite finds us a place with a 3 month lease, or we leave and the girls don't work for Hylite. There's tons of jobs in China for fluent English speaking people, especially white people, so there was no concern on our part.
As simple as the choices were, it took hours, and finally, they said they'd leave, and call us back when they'd found a solution. The problem, as I saw it, wasn't the signing of the lease. They spent most of the time arguing about who's fault it was. Stupid Chinese culture problem. In China, it's all about saving face, meaning preserving your honour. If someone fucked up and promised us something, fine, it's a miscommunication that needs to be fixed. But in their culture, it's not necessarily about fixing the problem, it's about finding out who did it, and shaming them. It was all so unnecessary.
Another problem was that the landlady was starting to think we were going to fall through, and starting talking about charging us for the night that we stayed. We were getting pissed off about that, because we cleaned this place top to bottom. As far as we were concerned, to hire three maids for the amount of time we spent cleaning would've cost way more than what she wanted from us, so we didn't owe her a dime. The place was filthy when we first saw it, with dust covering everything. We decided to deal with that only if we made the decision to leave, so we didn't burn any bridges if we stayed. We did end up packing everything up though, just in case we had to make a speedy leave in the next few hours.
What eventually happened was actually very quick. They called us back in about an hour, which surprised us. They came back and slapped down the lease again, which made us wary. What was added though, finally solved the problem (go figure, it only took them an hour to do). Essentially, they changed it so if we left early in the lease, Hylite would pay them 800 yuan as a penalty. It's my suspicion that 800 yuan is what a native would pay for rent, but that's beside the point. In short, foreigners pay way more for stuff like rent, because we're foreigners. It's just how it's done, and no one questions it. We finally made sure everything was fine, and Jessica signed the lease. We'd get our deposit back, and Hylite would pay the penalty for us leaving. No problem.
We kept telling the Hylite representative that we aren't signing a one year lease, because we know we'll only be here for 3 months. They promised to sign, and that was that. Well, according to Alma, who finally showed up today (not sick, by the way), the school would never promise that. They never do this kind of thing. We thought Alma was there to sign for the school, so this was quite a shocker.
The problem was simple to solve, and we offered them three firm choices. We can sign a three month lease with the landlady. She didn't want that, and wouldn't budge. Fine, that's her choice. Second, Hylite can sign a 1 year lease, and replace us when we leave in 3 months. As the final choice, we can leave, and either Hylite finds us a place with a 3 month lease, or we leave and the girls don't work for Hylite. There's tons of jobs in China for fluent English speaking people, especially white people, so there was no concern on our part.
As simple as the choices were, it took hours, and finally, they said they'd leave, and call us back when they'd found a solution. The problem, as I saw it, wasn't the signing of the lease. They spent most of the time arguing about who's fault it was. Stupid Chinese culture problem. In China, it's all about saving face, meaning preserving your honour. If someone fucked up and promised us something, fine, it's a miscommunication that needs to be fixed. But in their culture, it's not necessarily about fixing the problem, it's about finding out who did it, and shaming them. It was all so unnecessary.
Another problem was that the landlady was starting to think we were going to fall through, and starting talking about charging us for the night that we stayed. We were getting pissed off about that, because we cleaned this place top to bottom. As far as we were concerned, to hire three maids for the amount of time we spent cleaning would've cost way more than what she wanted from us, so we didn't owe her a dime. The place was filthy when we first saw it, with dust covering everything. We decided to deal with that only if we made the decision to leave, so we didn't burn any bridges if we stayed. We did end up packing everything up though, just in case we had to make a speedy leave in the next few hours.
What eventually happened was actually very quick. They called us back in about an hour, which surprised us. They came back and slapped down the lease again, which made us wary. What was added though, finally solved the problem (go figure, it only took them an hour to do). Essentially, they changed it so if we left early in the lease, Hylite would pay them 800 yuan as a penalty. It's my suspicion that 800 yuan is what a native would pay for rent, but that's beside the point. In short, foreigners pay way more for stuff like rent, because we're foreigners. It's just how it's done, and no one questions it. We finally made sure everything was fine, and Jessica signed the lease. We'd get our deposit back, and Hylite would pay the penalty for us leaving. No problem.
Day 5: April 27th
The sleep was rough, but for new reasons today. Up until last night, I was having impossible times sleeping because Chinese mattresses are equivalent to the floor. They're rock hard, no matter where you go. I still think sleeping on the bed instead of the floor is a simple matter of principle, not of practicality. Last night however, the hardness of the bed wasn't so much the issue. It was the lack of covers. We had one bed sheet for Jessica and I, and it was to serve as both the bed spread, and our covers. We had to lie on top of the sheet, and wrap it up and around both of us to cover us. It was a long and chilly night. Temperatures here change drastically from the day to the night.
Alex brought us food again today, although the breakfast was not as good as the fruit and sugar bread at the hotel. It was some form of egg pancake, which would have been good, but it was deep fried to be breaded. It was way too heavy for a decent breakfast. I ate the spicy one, and tried the others, but couldn't bring myself to eat much more of the very heavy breading.
Jessica and I then made our way to the Bank of China to put together the rest of the summer's rent. This was an adventure and a half. Jessica's cards weren't working in the international ATM, so we were buggered for cash. With rent due in a matter of hours, we were getting fairly worried. We went over to Hylite where she checked her bank account, but couldn't find a problem. We went back to the bank, and tried a different machine. We had some good luck, although inconvenient. She was able to pull out the money, but only in small installments, so by the time she got out the majority of the rent, she was getting killed by currency exchange fees. I ended up taking out the last of the cash, as well as some additional money to last us until Jessica and Alex come across some income. That day is a good 2 or 3 weeks away.
Once the money issue was solved, Jessica and I stopped at McDonalds for some much needed coffee. Coffee is a rare commodity here, so American franchises are the only places I know of where we can get coffee. Everyone drinks tea here. I got two coffees, and braced myself for a number of reasons. First off, back home, McDonalds coffee sucks. Second, the coffee had clearly been sitting, and was bound to be stale. Third, they didn't even understand what the difference between milk and cream was, so I was stuck with cream. Which I hate. Ah well, I took a sip, and surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. It competed well with the Starbucks coffee, and was about 1/4 of the price. For 6 quai, I have no problems making McDonalds coffee my daily staple. Starbucks coffee isn't much better, and costs somewhere around 18-24 quai. That's about 3-4 bucks, for regular everyday coffee, my North American friends.
Alex brought us food again today, although the breakfast was not as good as the fruit and sugar bread at the hotel. It was some form of egg pancake, which would have been good, but it was deep fried to be breaded. It was way too heavy for a decent breakfast. I ate the spicy one, and tried the others, but couldn't bring myself to eat much more of the very heavy breading.
Jessica and I then made our way to the Bank of China to put together the rest of the summer's rent. This was an adventure and a half. Jessica's cards weren't working in the international ATM, so we were buggered for cash. With rent due in a matter of hours, we were getting fairly worried. We went over to Hylite where she checked her bank account, but couldn't find a problem. We went back to the bank, and tried a different machine. We had some good luck, although inconvenient. She was able to pull out the money, but only in small installments, so by the time she got out the majority of the rent, she was getting killed by currency exchange fees. I ended up taking out the last of the cash, as well as some additional money to last us until Jessica and Alex come across some income. That day is a good 2 or 3 weeks away.
Once the money issue was solved, Jessica and I stopped at McDonalds for some much needed coffee. Coffee is a rare commodity here, so American franchises are the only places I know of where we can get coffee. Everyone drinks tea here. I got two coffees, and braced myself for a number of reasons. First off, back home, McDonalds coffee sucks. Second, the coffee had clearly been sitting, and was bound to be stale. Third, they didn't even understand what the difference between milk and cream was, so I was stuck with cream. Which I hate. Ah well, I took a sip, and surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. It competed well with the Starbucks coffee, and was about 1/4 of the price. For 6 quai, I have no problems making McDonalds coffee my daily staple. Starbucks coffee isn't much better, and costs somewhere around 18-24 quai. That's about 3-4 bucks, for regular everyday coffee, my North American friends.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Day 4: April 26th
I woke up around 4:30 AM, which sounds early, but we fell asleep around 6 or 7 PM, so not so bad. Jessica was also awake around the same time, so we watched Chinese infomercials for a while. Those things are impressive. I'm going to try and record some before I go back to Canada. I don't know how they can make such claims! One infomercial claimed by shining a light on you (their product), you'd get whiter (a common want in China). It was just a crappy light that changed colours!
Anyway, the day's true beginning was when Alex showed up around 7 or 8 with breakfast. Fresh fruit for all, and some kind of bread with sugar cooked right into the hollow inside of the bread. It was fantastic. Afterwards, we headed to Hylite and borrowed their Internet until we figured out when and what we were doing.
We finally went house hunting today, if it can be called that. Alma still wasn't in, but they sent us with two translators. Justin and Katie. Justin was cool, and had a fun accent, because he lived in New Zealand for 4 or 5 years, so despite being Chinese, his English had a very bizarre twist to it unlike other Chinese accents. Katie was a small Chinese girl who didn't spend so much time translating as she did haggling for us. It was funny, and she came off as adorable to me.
Justin had a hard time keeping up with the landlady, real estate agent, and Katie all wheeling and dealing at the same time, a mile a minute, but he did his best. The girls argued about everything that didn't matter, and ignored the important stuff. A good example is they spent maybe 15-20 minutes arguing about who was going to provide us with pillows (when we just wanted to buy our own), but the lease itself got no attention. What was finally decided at the end of the discussion was that the school would sign the apartment for a year (since 3 month leases are near impossible), and we'd pay rent for the first 3 months. We paid 1000 yuan deposit (about half the rent for a month), and would pay the other half (900 yuan) plus three months rent tomorrow, when we could get all the money put together. For some reason, in China, they want rent paid in three month installments, which sucks.
We moved in, and spent the day cleaning everything. The place was filthy. We asked the landlady if she'd be cleaning it before we moved in, and she replied "Why would I? It's clean." The place clearly hadn't been lived in for years, and we finally had an admission later that her relatives lived here for a while. No tenants as far as the eye could see. Cleaning took forever, and I made my second stupid purchase of the trip. I bought what I thought was bar soap, but turned out to be a bar of detergent for getting stubborn stains out of clothing before washing it. Oh well. Once again, Chinese characters get the best of me. We tried to go out that night, but ended up just having one drink at Blue Bar, and going home for a 9:30 bed time. Jet lag hasn't released us yet.
Anyway, the day's true beginning was when Alex showed up around 7 or 8 with breakfast. Fresh fruit for all, and some kind of bread with sugar cooked right into the hollow inside of the bread. It was fantastic. Afterwards, we headed to Hylite and borrowed their Internet until we figured out when and what we were doing.
We finally went house hunting today, if it can be called that. Alma still wasn't in, but they sent us with two translators. Justin and Katie. Justin was cool, and had a fun accent, because he lived in New Zealand for 4 or 5 years, so despite being Chinese, his English had a very bizarre twist to it unlike other Chinese accents. Katie was a small Chinese girl who didn't spend so much time translating as she did haggling for us. It was funny, and she came off as adorable to me.
Justin had a hard time keeping up with the landlady, real estate agent, and Katie all wheeling and dealing at the same time, a mile a minute, but he did his best. The girls argued about everything that didn't matter, and ignored the important stuff. A good example is they spent maybe 15-20 minutes arguing about who was going to provide us with pillows (when we just wanted to buy our own), but the lease itself got no attention. What was finally decided at the end of the discussion was that the school would sign the apartment for a year (since 3 month leases are near impossible), and we'd pay rent for the first 3 months. We paid 1000 yuan deposit (about half the rent for a month), and would pay the other half (900 yuan) plus three months rent tomorrow, when we could get all the money put together. For some reason, in China, they want rent paid in three month installments, which sucks.
We moved in, and spent the day cleaning everything. The place was filthy. We asked the landlady if she'd be cleaning it before we moved in, and she replied "Why would I? It's clean." The place clearly hadn't been lived in for years, and we finally had an admission later that her relatives lived here for a while. No tenants as far as the eye could see. Cleaning took forever, and I made my second stupid purchase of the trip. I bought what I thought was bar soap, but turned out to be a bar of detergent for getting stubborn stains out of clothing before washing it. Oh well. Once again, Chinese characters get the best of me. We tried to go out that night, but ended up just having one drink at Blue Bar, and going home for a 9:30 bed time. Jet lag hasn't released us yet.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Day 3: April 25th
Today, Jessica slept in, so Alex and I, still jet lagged and waking up at ungodly early hours of the day, went out for a walk. We checked out the small convenience store within the enclosure of the apartment building for breakfast, and a few things I forgot/didn't bother to pack. Breakfast went well, because an orange is an orange, even in China. My random small stuff however, less successful. I ended up buying body lotion instead of shampoo. Stupid Chinese characters, and misleading shelving. Head and Shoulders was right above the lotion I bought. Same display, two similar but different products. Boo-urns.
Alex and I then went off exploring outside of the enclosure. We stopped at another convenience store, this one a Kude (aka, Chinese Kwik-e-mart), to buy shaving cream, my last purchase needed for a much needed shave. However, we couldn't find the shaving cream, so I went up and acted it out to the lady at the cash register. It eventually got through, between Alex and I acting it out, but I don't think Chinese people should play charades. They suck at it.
We then went to a back road, which showed me my first taste of how quickly the income average fluctuates in China. We went from a nice, clean area, to a very dirty, poor area, all in a few steps. We got the typical stares and occasional "laowhy" comment, but didn't buy anything. I was too busy struggling with peeling my orange to deal with it. Eventually, we turned around and returned to the apartment, as we figured Jessica would be awake now.
We got back, and we all chilled and ate breakfast. Jordana showed up briefly during lunch and chatted with us before going back to work for the rest of the day. We had a hell of a time getting a hold of Dan, Jessica and Alex's soon-to-be boss at Hy-lite, to see when we'd be house hunting, and the eventual decision was to put us in a hotel for the night. Alma was still sick. However, they wouldn't give us the directions, or even the name of the hotel. Instead, we had to drag all our luggage to Hy-lite, and they'd direct us to the hotel. It was all so unnecessarily complicated, especially after Hy-lite left me behind, and took two cabs to the hotel. Why was it unnecessary? It was on the same street as Hy-lite, and only a 2 minute walk. Two cabs. This was warning number one to me that Hy-lite is going to be massively unorganized.
Once settled into the hotel, we crashed. Jet lag is a bitch.
Alex and I then went off exploring outside of the enclosure. We stopped at another convenience store, this one a Kude (aka, Chinese Kwik-e-mart), to buy shaving cream, my last purchase needed for a much needed shave. However, we couldn't find the shaving cream, so I went up and acted it out to the lady at the cash register. It eventually got through, between Alex and I acting it out, but I don't think Chinese people should play charades. They suck at it.
We then went to a back road, which showed me my first taste of how quickly the income average fluctuates in China. We went from a nice, clean area, to a very dirty, poor area, all in a few steps. We got the typical stares and occasional "laowhy" comment, but didn't buy anything. I was too busy struggling with peeling my orange to deal with it. Eventually, we turned around and returned to the apartment, as we figured Jessica would be awake now.
We got back, and we all chilled and ate breakfast. Jordana showed up briefly during lunch and chatted with us before going back to work for the rest of the day. We had a hell of a time getting a hold of Dan, Jessica and Alex's soon-to-be boss at Hy-lite, to see when we'd be house hunting, and the eventual decision was to put us in a hotel for the night. Alma was still sick. However, they wouldn't give us the directions, or even the name of the hotel. Instead, we had to drag all our luggage to Hy-lite, and they'd direct us to the hotel. It was all so unnecessarily complicated, especially after Hy-lite left me behind, and took two cabs to the hotel. Why was it unnecessary? It was on the same street as Hy-lite, and only a 2 minute walk. Two cabs. This was warning number one to me that Hy-lite is going to be massively unorganized.
Once settled into the hotel, we crashed. Jet lag is a bitch.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Day 2: April 24th cont...
We got money fine. There's several Bank of China's around, but only one would accept international cards. The main bank on a street I know only as "The one with McDonalds and Hylite on it". I know the streets have names, but I often wonder if I'll ever remember them. I can't even remember the name of our address. The worst part is, numbers aren't really used for addresses here. Buildings have them assigned, but they aren't visible, nor do the taxi drivers know the numbers. So destinations are all decided by best description, which is frustrating when you are still trying to remember the words for "I want", let alone "Driver, send me to the building along the store which sells this random crap, and another which sells pirated random crap". I'm glad Jessica is a lot more fluent, although I'm picking up a lot every day.
We also moved from Jenny's apartment to Jordana's upstairs. Jenny has a friend who is currently going through a bad break up, so he had to move out while the ex-girlfriend wasn't home so she wouldn't try anything crazy, and he moved into Jenny's for a while. Jordana's apartment is equally as pretty, although a very different decor. Same basic layout of the apartment though. I wish I had taken pictures to show what the apartments look like.
House hunting fell apart, thanks to Hy-Lite's lack of organization, and Alma (a Chinese girl working there, supposed to help us house hunt) calling in sick. So no apartment yet. We stayed overnight at Jordana's apartment, and watched Employee of the Month (Dane Cook, and a very Jessica Simpson role of minimal lines, maximum "look I'm hot").
We also moved from Jenny's apartment to Jordana's upstairs. Jenny has a friend who is currently going through a bad break up, so he had to move out while the ex-girlfriend wasn't home so she wouldn't try anything crazy, and he moved into Jenny's for a while. Jordana's apartment is equally as pretty, although a very different decor. Same basic layout of the apartment though. I wish I had taken pictures to show what the apartments look like.
House hunting fell apart, thanks to Hy-Lite's lack of organization, and Alma (a Chinese girl working there, supposed to help us house hunt) calling in sick. So no apartment yet. We stayed overnight at Jordana's apartment, and watched Employee of the Month (Dane Cook, and a very Jessica Simpson role of minimal lines, maximum "look I'm hot").
Day 2: April 24th
The morning:
And it begins. When the customer at Staples warned me I'd have low grade diarrhea while in China, I readied myself. But wow. I do not consider that "low grade". I'm going to have to work on getting as much dairy as possible if I can, because I've barely even eaten in China thus far, and "low grade" is not a correct description. I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it was just the crappy air line food, but we'll see. From here on in, my coffee's are going to have way more milk in them, and I'm going to have to find another source of dairy, since they don't like to use dairy products much.
I'm now all caught up with the events, and I'll keep adding to this as we go. Some of the stuff on our to do list today include:
- Getting money from the Bank of China.
- Helping Alex find a place.
- Meeting the rest of Jessica's friends.
I could really use some breakfast, but I've only got the 100 yuan Chris lent me, and that's got to last me until I find a form of exchange.
And it begins. When the customer at Staples warned me I'd have low grade diarrhea while in China, I readied myself. But wow. I do not consider that "low grade". I'm going to have to work on getting as much dairy as possible if I can, because I've barely even eaten in China thus far, and "low grade" is not a correct description. I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it was just the crappy air line food, but we'll see. From here on in, my coffee's are going to have way more milk in them, and I'm going to have to find another source of dairy, since they don't like to use dairy products much.
I'm now all caught up with the events, and I'll keep adding to this as we go. Some of the stuff on our to do list today include:
- Getting money from the Bank of China.
- Helping Alex find a place.
- Meeting the rest of Jessica's friends.
I could really use some breakfast, but I've only got the 100 yuan Chris lent me, and that's got to last me until I find a form of exchange.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Day One: April 22nd -23rd part quatre
Long story short, Sabrina called around trying to find us a hotel, and finally we contacted Chris' contacts at the school he's about to work at. They were supposed to pick us up at the airport, but they were no shows, so we figured we'd get a hold of them now, since we had no place to sleep. Finally, it all worked out, and someone was coming to get us and figure out the sleeping arrangements. I also had my first encounter with a squat toilet, and what I expect to be my last solid shit for the next three months.
Jessica, Chris and I went off to a side street and got what I can only explain as street meat squared. They had a large table laid out with ingredients of everything. You basically picked it all out, and told them what you wanted, and they started a propane frying system where they cooked it in front of you. This very act of cooking in front of you is why we deemed it to be edible. The lady wasn't even speaking Mandarin, she was speaking a dialect, and some other girls ordering from her ordered her to speak Mandarin in case she was ripping them off. I have a feeling this is going to happen to me a lot. Anyway, she finally ended up making our meals, and (I think) clearly overcharging us, as I saw someone else pay 2 yuan for a dish, and we paid 15 for our two dishes. A beggar showed up around the same time, and since I had no money, I turned her away quickly. However, Jessica was in the middle of paying, so I warned her, and the beggar kept pushing in towards Jessica, and holding out her collection tray, right next to the cash (literally not an inch away from the money the entire time). The worst part is that the cooking lady came around the table and handed the money to Jessica in a clearly visible manner to the beggar, to make sure the beggar was within reach. She was helping the beggar see, and access the money. Jessica brushed past the beggar and finally we got out of there with our food.
We got back to the hotel, and lo and behold! A white person! Her name is Jenny, and she works at the school Chris is going to be working at. She arranged everything, so we'd stay at her apartment, and her friends' apartments. The funniest part is that she stood out so much just for being white that I recognized her as someone who walked by Starbucks earlier. It turns out that her friend (Jordana) also walked by Starbucks and saw us as well. I'd say it's a small world, but white people stick out like a sore thumb here, so I wasn't surprised.
We got to Jenny's apartment, and finally got to put down all of our luggage. We all chatted and finally ate. At this point, I think the four of us had been up for about 30 hours, but we were wired. We met Jenny's friends, and all split up. Jessica and I stayed with Jenny, Alex went upstairs and slept in Jordana's apartment and Chris slept at Thomas' apartment. I got to plug in my laptop for the first time since before the plane ride (That's when I started this whole list of events). Still no Internet though, China has an astounding lack of wireless access points. And an odd smell I can't quite place. Somewhere between fish and burning oil, with a bit of Toronto air mixed in.
Jessica, Chris and I went off to a side street and got what I can only explain as street meat squared. They had a large table laid out with ingredients of everything. You basically picked it all out, and told them what you wanted, and they started a propane frying system where they cooked it in front of you. This very act of cooking in front of you is why we deemed it to be edible. The lady wasn't even speaking Mandarin, she was speaking a dialect, and some other girls ordering from her ordered her to speak Mandarin in case she was ripping them off. I have a feeling this is going to happen to me a lot. Anyway, she finally ended up making our meals, and (I think) clearly overcharging us, as I saw someone else pay 2 yuan for a dish, and we paid 15 for our two dishes. A beggar showed up around the same time, and since I had no money, I turned her away quickly. However, Jessica was in the middle of paying, so I warned her, and the beggar kept pushing in towards Jessica, and holding out her collection tray, right next to the cash (literally not an inch away from the money the entire time). The worst part is that the cooking lady came around the table and handed the money to Jessica in a clearly visible manner to the beggar, to make sure the beggar was within reach. She was helping the beggar see, and access the money. Jessica brushed past the beggar and finally we got out of there with our food.
We got back to the hotel, and lo and behold! A white person! Her name is Jenny, and she works at the school Chris is going to be working at. She arranged everything, so we'd stay at her apartment, and her friends' apartments. The funniest part is that she stood out so much just for being white that I recognized her as someone who walked by Starbucks earlier. It turns out that her friend (Jordana) also walked by Starbucks and saw us as well. I'd say it's a small world, but white people stick out like a sore thumb here, so I wasn't surprised.
We got to Jenny's apartment, and finally got to put down all of our luggage. We all chatted and finally ate. At this point, I think the four of us had been up for about 30 hours, but we were wired. We met Jenny's friends, and all split up. Jessica and I stayed with Jenny, Alex went upstairs and slept in Jordana's apartment and Chris slept at Thomas' apartment. I got to plug in my laptop for the first time since before the plane ride (That's when I started this whole list of events). Still no Internet though, China has an astounding lack of wireless access points. And an odd smell I can't quite place. Somewhere between fish and burning oil, with a bit of Toronto air mixed in.
Day One: April 22nd -23rd part trois
In Wuxi:
We got off the train and headed out into the train station. Beggars everywhere. The nice part is I legitimately did not have cash, so all I could say was "Mayo". They took it pretty well, I was warned beggars would be pushier. They probably smelled the poverty on me. All I had was a Canadian fiver, and change left over from my last Tim Hortons run in Canada.
As we approached the exit of the station, a lady approached me and said "Taxi?" showing a key to me. I was almost ready to go with her, but Jessica said "No, licensed taxis only!". The lady was just an average person looking to rip off foreigners by overcharging a ride to a hotel. These people essentially pick up clueless passengers, and drive them to a specific location (NOT determined by the passengers), and try to check them into a hotel without their knowledge, and overcharging the whole way through. The bad thing about being white in China is you make an easy target. The nice thing about being white is you can walk away from them rudely, because you don't speak the language, so there's no point in being polite and trying to tell them no. You just pretend you don't understand.
So we caught two REAL taxis, and made it to Baoli (a mall in Wuxi). We met Jessica's friend Sabrina at Starbucks (the only place in town with real, decent coffee), who was supposed to have gotten us a reservation at a hotel. Turns out once we got to the hotel that they weren't certified to take white people. Hotels have to keep a certain standard in order to serve foreigners, and this one didn't meet the government laid out standard, apparently. It looked fine, it was clean, but something about fire bylaws didn't work out for us. So now we had no place to sleep.
We got off the train and headed out into the train station. Beggars everywhere. The nice part is I legitimately did not have cash, so all I could say was "Mayo". They took it pretty well, I was warned beggars would be pushier. They probably smelled the poverty on me. All I had was a Canadian fiver, and change left over from my last Tim Hortons run in Canada.
As we approached the exit of the station, a lady approached me and said "Taxi?" showing a key to me. I was almost ready to go with her, but Jessica said "No, licensed taxis only!". The lady was just an average person looking to rip off foreigners by overcharging a ride to a hotel. These people essentially pick up clueless passengers, and drive them to a specific location (NOT determined by the passengers), and try to check them into a hotel without their knowledge, and overcharging the whole way through. The bad thing about being white in China is you make an easy target. The nice thing about being white is you can walk away from them rudely, because you don't speak the language, so there's no point in being polite and trying to tell them no. You just pretend you don't understand.
So we caught two REAL taxis, and made it to Baoli (a mall in Wuxi). We met Jessica's friend Sabrina at Starbucks (the only place in town with real, decent coffee), who was supposed to have gotten us a reservation at a hotel. Turns out once we got to the hotel that they weren't certified to take white people. Hotels have to keep a certain standard in order to serve foreigners, and this one didn't meet the government laid out standard, apparently. It looked fine, it was clean, but something about fire bylaws didn't work out for us. So now we had no place to sleep.
Day One: April 22nd -23rd Part deux
Getting to Wuxi:
So we arrived in China, and here's where the fun really began. We lined up for customs, health check (making sure we don't have avian flu), etc. There were lines specifically for "Foreigners". They didn't move in the least. We hardly moved, and little Chinese women kept gathering in front of us in line, making the wait even longer. All these 4 foot tall aunties with the same frigging hairdo. Anyway, we eventually got moved into the Chinese Nationals line, and were put through the system in no time, despite being white. (Or maybe because we were white?)
We then picked up luggage, and my favourite part of the day occurred. I was called a foreigner and pointed at for the first time. We're not even out of the airport, and some little Chinese school girls looked at me, exclaimed "Foreigner!" (Pronounced Lao-Why - I don't know pinyin yet) and pointed at me. One of them then looked at me hopefully and said "Hello!". By the end of the day, I was incredibly used to this, and being the center of attention just for being white... rules.
From here, we took the LONGEST, most indirect path ever. We took the Maglev (levitating train, it goes over 400 km/h) to the subway station, the subway (transferred along two subway trains) to the train station, the train station to WuXi, and finally cabbed it from the train station around to the mall (Bali). The Maglev, and long subway ordeal could have been avoided had we just gotten a shuttle bus from the airport, but Jessica somehow made me think that the Maglev would've been faster. It wasn't. We were lugging around several hundred pounds of luggage between the four of us, to the point where Chris just dragged his (ENORMOUS) bag along behind him. He also tried stacking everything on top of one single bag, and pushing it like a cart. He faceplanted right into the ground within a minute of trying that one. It was hilarious.
Getting on the subway was brutal. If we were just normal pedestrians, it would've been fine, but we had a shitload of luggage to worry about. The subway trains were packed enough as it is, and we had to squeeze all these bags onto the trains, and basically crushing everyone on the train. This was where I really started to notice the staring, and the "Wow, a white person" attitude. I'm going to be such an attention whore in three months.
So we finally got off the subway, and loaded all our luggage outside, in some form of square. Oh my god, the staring. We had random Chinese people approaching us, and trying to talk to us, despite their lack of English, and our lack of Mandarin. Jessica and Chris went off to get train tickets, since they had Chinese money. Alex and I stayed back and watched our mountain of luggage, and defended it from beggars and thieves. When they got back, Jess and I went to a store to buy a bunch of snacks, since we were starving, but the restaurants she remembered were all closed. Chips are TOTALLY different flavours there. No "Regular", "Salt and Vinegar", or anything. From what I remember, there were "Fried Tomato", "Chicken Flavour", and "Beef Fried" or something along those lines.
The train ride to Wuxi was fairly uneventful. We caught an express (thank God), and the train went over 200 km/h, so we were making good time. I think everyone fell asleep during this ride. We also had a fun chat with a Chinese guy, who didn't speak English, but Jessica and Alex managed a few lines of conversation with. An excerpt of what Jessica translated for us: "Janada, Janada! (Canada). They're Canadian and clueless. They don't understand in the least! Hahahaha"
So we arrived in China, and here's where the fun really began. We lined up for customs, health check (making sure we don't have avian flu), etc. There were lines specifically for "Foreigners". They didn't move in the least. We hardly moved, and little Chinese women kept gathering in front of us in line, making the wait even longer. All these 4 foot tall aunties with the same frigging hairdo. Anyway, we eventually got moved into the Chinese Nationals line, and were put through the system in no time, despite being white. (Or maybe because we were white?)
We then picked up luggage, and my favourite part of the day occurred. I was called a foreigner and pointed at for the first time. We're not even out of the airport, and some little Chinese school girls looked at me, exclaimed "Foreigner!" (Pronounced Lao-Why - I don't know pinyin yet) and pointed at me. One of them then looked at me hopefully and said "Hello!". By the end of the day, I was incredibly used to this, and being the center of attention just for being white... rules.
From here, we took the LONGEST, most indirect path ever. We took the Maglev (levitating train, it goes over 400 km/h) to the subway station, the subway (transferred along two subway trains) to the train station, the train station to WuXi, and finally cabbed it from the train station around to the mall (Bali). The Maglev, and long subway ordeal could have been avoided had we just gotten a shuttle bus from the airport, but Jessica somehow made me think that the Maglev would've been faster. It wasn't. We were lugging around several hundred pounds of luggage between the four of us, to the point where Chris just dragged his (ENORMOUS) bag along behind him. He also tried stacking everything on top of one single bag, and pushing it like a cart. He faceplanted right into the ground within a minute of trying that one. It was hilarious.
Getting on the subway was brutal. If we were just normal pedestrians, it would've been fine, but we had a shitload of luggage to worry about. The subway trains were packed enough as it is, and we had to squeeze all these bags onto the trains, and basically crushing everyone on the train. This was where I really started to notice the staring, and the "Wow, a white person" attitude. I'm going to be such an attention whore in three months.
So we finally got off the subway, and loaded all our luggage outside, in some form of square. Oh my god, the staring. We had random Chinese people approaching us, and trying to talk to us, despite their lack of English, and our lack of Mandarin. Jessica and Chris went off to get train tickets, since they had Chinese money. Alex and I stayed back and watched our mountain of luggage, and defended it from beggars and thieves. When they got back, Jess and I went to a store to buy a bunch of snacks, since we were starving, but the restaurants she remembered were all closed. Chips are TOTALLY different flavours there. No "Regular", "Salt and Vinegar", or anything. From what I remember, there were "Fried Tomato", "Chicken Flavour", and "Beef Fried" or something along those lines.
The train ride to Wuxi was fairly uneventful. We caught an express (thank God), and the train went over 200 km/h, so we were making good time. I think everyone fell asleep during this ride. We also had a fun chat with a Chinese guy, who didn't speak English, but Jessica and Alex managed a few lines of conversation with. An excerpt of what Jessica translated for us: "Janada, Janada! (Canada). They're Canadian and clueless. They don't understand in the least! Hahahaha"
Day One: April 22nd -23rd
The Flights:
Wow! China's friggin nuts! First off, I left Toronto around 7 AM. We had a 4 hour plane ride to Vancouver. Not a big deal, but I used up a decent amount of battery power on my laptop. I didn't think it'd be a problem, since I thought I'd be able to charge it when I was in Vancouver. Well, I didn't get as much charge time as I expected, so I only got about 2 hours on the battery for a 12 hour flight.
It was brutal. My knee cramped up time and time again, and I had to keep walking the aisles to relieve the pain. It didn't help that my girlfriend is evidently allergic to planes, and she was lying on my lap a good 2 or 3 hours at least, restricting what I could do to relieve the knee pain. My solution: Booze. It was over international waters, so alcohol was free, so 2 rye and cokes later, I was able to ignore the pain. Surprisingly though, I didn't see anyone abuse the free alcohol deal. Not one smashed person on the plane.
One of the flight attendants was awesome, as well. I don't know if he was just extra friendly because we were white, but he joked around with us all the time, the entire 12 hour flight. At one point, he told us basically that he hates China, which I thought was funny, since we were clearly going there for a visit. I wanted to throw this in here because I don't want to forget about him. He was hilarious. I don't even remember a specific joke, or story. He was just all around really impressive, and made the flight way more tolerable.
(Side note: Geekfest Warning) Something else I noticed on the plane was another guy with a Sony laptop as well. His was one of the 13 inch models (I'm guessing the 140, maybe even as new as the 240). This in itself wasn't terribly special, it's that he had battery power the entire flight! Finally, when I had the chance, I asked the guy towards the end of the flight how the hell he had over 10 hours of battery power. He was very friendly (thankfully), and showed me a battery underneath the laptop that was really skinny, and about the same dimensions as the laptop itself. It plugged into the laptop's AC plug, and gave him an additional 8-10 hours of battery life. The guy had several of these, and so he was able to screw around on his laptop the whole flight. I was uber jealous, and am now determined to get one of these before I go back to Canada (if only for the flight back). (End Geekfest).
Wow! China's friggin nuts! First off, I left Toronto around 7 AM. We had a 4 hour plane ride to Vancouver. Not a big deal, but I used up a decent amount of battery power on my laptop. I didn't think it'd be a problem, since I thought I'd be able to charge it when I was in Vancouver. Well, I didn't get as much charge time as I expected, so I only got about 2 hours on the battery for a 12 hour flight.
It was brutal. My knee cramped up time and time again, and I had to keep walking the aisles to relieve the pain. It didn't help that my girlfriend is evidently allergic to planes, and she was lying on my lap a good 2 or 3 hours at least, restricting what I could do to relieve the knee pain. My solution: Booze. It was over international waters, so alcohol was free, so 2 rye and cokes later, I was able to ignore the pain. Surprisingly though, I didn't see anyone abuse the free alcohol deal. Not one smashed person on the plane.
One of the flight attendants was awesome, as well. I don't know if he was just extra friendly because we were white, but he joked around with us all the time, the entire 12 hour flight. At one point, he told us basically that he hates China, which I thought was funny, since we were clearly going there for a visit. I wanted to throw this in here because I don't want to forget about him. He was hilarious. I don't even remember a specific joke, or story. He was just all around really impressive, and made the flight way more tolerable.
(Side note: Geekfest Warning) Something else I noticed on the plane was another guy with a Sony laptop as well. His was one of the 13 inch models (I'm guessing the 140, maybe even as new as the 240). This in itself wasn't terribly special, it's that he had battery power the entire flight! Finally, when I had the chance, I asked the guy towards the end of the flight how the hell he had over 10 hours of battery power. He was very friendly (thankfully), and showed me a battery underneath the laptop that was really skinny, and about the same dimensions as the laptop itself. It plugged into the laptop's AC plug, and gave him an additional 8-10 hours of battery life. The guy had several of these, and so he was able to screw around on his laptop the whole flight. I was uber jealous, and am now determined to get one of these before I go back to Canada (if only for the flight back). (End Geekfest).
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