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.
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