China: Spring Break Part 2

The advantage to an overnight sleeper, assuming that it is a comfortable berth, is that you arrive at your destination refreshed and ready to face the day. This in theory should have made the task of finding my way to my hostel an easy one but in practice it hardly seemed to help at all. I wandered about outside the station , unable to even locate the taxi rank, and called Stephanie – the teacher who, with her husband, worked near to the city. She had booked the hostel and, crucially, could speak Chinese so that I would be able to just hand the phone over to the driver if it came to that. As I was doing that my friend from last night came past and with Stephanie on the phone and Elen helping I eventually managed to take a cab to my hostel. More accurately to the wrong hostel in an adjacent street but it was still not quite ten O'clock when, checked in, showered and changed into fresh clothes, I was able to get myself out onto the streets again for a walk around.

I had a map obtained from the hostel but had determined to leave it in my pocket as much as I could and simple stroll along a route that would, eventually leave me precisely where I started.

The streets of the city, the part within the city walls at least, all run either North-South or East-West so that getting lost is virtually impossible.

I started with a northward walk along the central street that leads – via the Bell Tower from the South Gate to the North Gate.

My hostel, the cheap and comfortable Xiangzimen, was very close to the ornate layer-cake structure of the south gate which was, for the festivities, surrounded by large red and gold decorations. I walked past the elaborate facades of the hotel on the street corner and turned onto South Avenue. Everywhere the ground was littered with the piles of red paper and ash that were the remnants of last nights New Year festivities. There was the constant acrid smell of the smoke still lingering and as I approached the Bell Tower it became obvious that the festivities would continue in their more noisome form throughout the day. The constant explosions from firecrackers filled the air and here and there clouds of dense smoke from the more intense fireworks rolled along the pavements. As was my intention I chose to eat not in a Chinese shop but in MacDonalds and as I munched on my MacBreakfast the loudest and longest series yet started just outside. The noise was amazing and the street was invisible from the smoke. I waited until it had finished and continued on my way.

My walk took me under the subways of the Bell Tower and down to the smaller Drun Tower where I turned off to head through the Muslim Quarter where the narrow streets are lined with a curious mixture of local food shops and tourist souvenir stalls. Side by side there are shops filled with ornaments and pictures and tea shirts with shops selling cuts of meat hanging on hooks, are flatbreads piled up on tables.

From there I wandered through the pleasant Lian Hu Park before continuing around the other two sides of my large square route and then turning to head back parallel to the South Wall to my starting point. Half way round I took my lunch in KFC and when I got back to the hostel I discovered, with some surprise that I had been out for almost seven hours.

I decided to eat in the hostel and take an early night. Sadly the food was the only negative thing about the place. It wasn't that it was bad but it was small and ordinary and, compared to anywhere I might have gone if I had gone out, rather overpriced.

Although I had slept reasonably well on the train I didn't feel completely rested and my long explorations had tired me so, though I briefly considered going out, I decided against it in favour of an early night.

China: A Day In The Life Part 1

I have been working for some time on a series of poems describing a typical day in my life here in Baiyin. Now I know that poems should stand on their own and that if I need to give explanations of what I've written then I haven't written well enough but, because I think people might find the background interesting, for this series I will be adding a few notes along with each poem.

So - here's the first one. It's called "All Through The Long Dark Night" and technically it isn't about my life in China at all. It's more of a scene setter; a kind of "previously on..." summary of the last season for those who missed it. It's also quite accurate in that I do dream a lot more than I used to and I do dream a lot about the past. Given the severity of the break I have made with that past, it's probably inevitable. I lived, for example, in the same house for forty five years and now it's nothing to do with me - sold and gone.
Hardly surprising that I dream.

All Through The Long Dark Night

All through the long dark night I dream my life anew.
I dream of gas-lit rooms and secret corners.
I dream of my grandfather standing in the garden.
I dream of remembered schools and forgotten school-friends.
I dream of hiding in the library.

I dream of standing at a window looking down.
I dream of the campus view and the clock tower.
I dream of the lecture halls and the lecturers.
I dream of leaving it all behind.

I dream of all the jobs I lived and all the jobs I hated
I dream of every time I turned the rudder of my life.
I dream of every new course I charted for myself.
I dream a drunkard's walk.

I dream a dark dream. a dream of death and dying.
I dream of fifty new lands and fifty kinds of forgetfulness.
I dream of standing cold and numb at a graveside.
I dream in silent sequence.

And I dream that all those days are gone; behind me.
I dream that when I wake it will be another time and place.
I dream that the past has no grip on the future.
And I dream my life anew.

China: Spring Break Part 1

My original intention had been to fly to Guilin for my Spring Break but when I decided to break my trip in Xi-An to visit some other teachers who work near there it seemed more sensible to take the train. Baiyin is not an easy place to get to and, equally important, not an easy place to get away from. Plane or train, first you have to take an hour's bus ride to Lanzhou. Erika was also travelling out on the day so we shared a cab to the bus station and in Lanzhou tried to get a cab from the stand outside the bus station to go to Pizza Hut for lunch - in my case because I had taken a vow that for the duration of my trip I would eat no Chinese food at all, having no choice but Chinese food in Baiyin*.
I say "tried" because with the help of a friendly fellow traveller we discovered that the drivers had decided that as it was Chinese New Year's Eve they would run unmetered and charge ten times the normal price. Our friend told us that if we just walked along to the corner we would easily find a metered cab and not get ripped off.
He was correct and soon we were happily having our large pizza lunches.
At the station we were on separate trains and sent to separate waiting rooms. I found myself a little bewildered by the total lack of signage that was even in pinyin, let alone English and the total lack of anyone who spoke any English to assist me. In a bizarrely random attempt to help a station guard enlisted another passenger - who also spoke no English - to help me through the process of catching my train.

My Chinese is rougly at the level of "Hello, Goodbye, One beer please" and her English was on a par with it. However she was young and pretty and friendly and somehow, in spite of the utter lack of each other's languages I managed to find out that her name was Elen; she worked as a TV presenter on the local TV station; she was visiting her family in Xi-An for New Year, she liked the pop star singing on the televised New Year TV show and she didn't like noisy fireworks but did like coloured ones. We even managed to exchange emails and phone numbers. I never have that much success with women who I share a language with. It was quite a pleasant interlude.
Had I been able to I would probably have talked more with her about that TV show. It was, as I said, Chinese New Year's Eve which is calculated by a set of rules far to arcane for my poor brain to cope with and which this year was 22nd January. As a result outside the giant glass windows there were fireworks and explosions that looked like an invasion from Mars, inside people were handing out traditional plates of New Year dumplings and on the TV was the Chinese equivalent of our Hogmany shows with all the traditional elements - singing, dancing, comedy sketches, interviews with high-ranking military officers - that kind of thing.
Finally the crowd started to shift and mumble. I had no idea what signal had caused this but evidently the train was there so I followed my new friend to the gate and once through she escorted me to my carriage and my berth and when she was sure I knew where I was going said goodbye.
I settled into my quite comfortable bottom berth and went to sleep.
Ten hours later I woke in Xi-AN.

(*Well, there is one single branch of KFC, but there is almost no western food in the city.)

I'm Back!!! Did ya miss me?

Well I'm back from my hoiliday and later there will be more about that than even my most dedicated fan could possibly be prepared to read.
Meanwhile the main points are

1. I had a great time.
2. John, who was visiting me, says he had a great time.
3. We did quite a lot of hiking in the beautiful Yangshuo area.
4. We drank far too much beer.
5. I ate almost exclusively western food. John went almost solely for Chinese (apart from breakfasts).
6. I took some nice pictures.
7. I wrote or completed a ton of poetry which will soon be appearing here as a whole new cycle documenting how I spend a typical day in Baiyin.

As for those breakfasts, here's an unsolicited testimonial.

If you are in Yangshuo try the Mimosa Cafe where the breakfasts are bloody marvelous. Real bacon and real sausage along with fried eggs, fried tomatoes, mushrooms for those who want them and - the real winner - baked beans!
They also serve proper English chips not wimpy little American fries and the most perfect apple crumble in town. You can, I am reliably informed, also count on their Chinese food to be tasty fare.

More later. Much more.