Hey, remember we said the flip flops were invented in China, and there are over a billion people here! Well, the only people wearing flip flops are the backpackers!! Chinese all wear the more comfortable, plastic slip on slippers. Haaaa, smart people.
Some other funny differences here:
1. You have no space in crowds. At an ATM, the next guy in line was literally on my back!
2. No diapers here. Little kids wear pants with a split in the back. They just stop along the curb and pee or crap. Hmmmm
3. In the middle of China, people are not used to seeing western foreigners. You get stared at a lot. Deep stares.
4. Tourist systems are very good. Its easy to travel here, and some very good bargains.
5. When its hot, the men like to roll their clothes up. They roll their pants up and roll their T shirts up above the nipples. Hilarious
6. Women want to keep their skin white. They even use whiteners for their skin. You see many sun umbrellas all over the city. If you get tan, it makes you look like a country peasant, so they like to stay white.
7. Just about the time you think the Chinese are rude, or don’t care about foreigners, someone does you a big favor. If you do a little favor, like take a picture of people together for them, later you seem to get so many offers for help. The people here are basically wonderful, but sometimes this is hidden under shyness.
Got off the Yangzi cruise boat in the rain, only time I’ve had to use the rain gear so far, been lucky.
Got on a bus to Wuhan, another large river city on the east end of the normal river cruise area around the 3 gorges. Off and running on the bus to Wuhan, and as we approach the city, a big verbal yelling match breaks out on the bus. It turns out many of the Chinese on the bus learn that the bus drops us off outside of town, not in the center. No way to convince the driver so we all loose. We must get cabs to the center of town.
Now you might be wondering how I found all this out, no I don’t know that much Chinese yet. On the bus I met a couple from England. Neil, retired from the paper business, and his native Chinese wife Fen. Boy Fen was really hollering at the driver she was doing the best she could to get him to change the route. She learned English when she was 20 years old, some 25 years ago at the University in Wuhan as a student there.
I decided to just get a cab with Fen and Neil, since I had no fixed place to stay yet. The hotel they had booked was lovely, sort of on the outskirts of town, in a wooded area. The Wuhan Guest house. My single room was good price, so I’m set. I tour the town and the next morning Neil and Fen invite me to breakfast with them, then invite me to join them on a prearranged city tour with two of Fens old school mates. This is the first time she has been back here since a student at 20 years old.
This turned out to be a fantastic memorable experience. Its amazing how little adventures show up on these trips. Besides touring East Lake in Wuhan, we walked the University of Wuhan, thru Fens old dormitory and library. Little had changed, same desks, same walls.
It was an awesome experience to watch Fen relive her childhood, see her old dorm. Now remember in 1975 when she went to school here it was the Mao era. She h ad to work hard for 4 years in the farm, and since she had a good attitude and worked hard, she was selected to go to the university, with her whole program being selected for her. She had no say in it at all. Since she was good with speaking, they picked English studies for her. She remembers sitting on the steps, reading and memorizing the works of Chairman Mao. Her first English words were the works of chairman Mao translated into English!! And all other books were poison!! She and her friend sneaked into the back room of the library back then and found the works of Dickens and she can remember reading them in secret.
Wow, and here we are almost 30 years later, with the new China.
This was an incredible experience to watch her relive those days.
I say good bye to Neil and Fen, exchange emails and hope to get in touch again. Now I’m off to Guilin and Yangshuo
Catch you later,
Yours in travel
Bill
This is my blog for my trip to Taiwan. I'll be posting my journal here from November 1 to November 17, 2017 so check back and join me on the trip ! - Bill Wilson
