Tuesday, July 25, 2006
at
11:18 p.m.
|
Oh, what a crazy trip this has been.
It's hard to believe that Catherine and I are now in the final stretch. We've taken so many planes, trains, buses, taxis and everything else that it's hard to believe we'll be back in Canada on Saturday.
Part of me is ready to come back. The part that enjoys NOT being stared at, cheated, or smelling the horribly polluted air is ready for english signs and a variety of television programming.
Another part doesn't want to. This has been such a fascinating experience that you don't ever want it to end. Within a day or so, I"m sure I'll settle back into old routines and I just don't want to do that. There's something about expanding your horizons that the prospect of limiting them again kind of hurts deep inside.
Will it be that bad? Well, if I was going back to my job for an indefinite amount of time, then yes, it possibly would. But I have teacher's college, more time with friends, and hell, even a new Nintendo system coming out. This has been an incredible year and it's far from over.
But for now I'm in China. I've been really enjoying it despite the pace that is threatening to push me over the edge towards exhaustion.
We were in Shanghai just a couple of days ago. I was accosted by a child beggar there who would kneel at my feet and bow to me to try to get me to give him money. I kept saying no and trying to walk away, but he would headbut my stomach or ram me and try to push me with his head. A few times when he charged, I'd step out of his way and he'd fall down. It was just crazy. I kept saying 'boo' to him, which means 'no', and he'd shout 'yes'! David and Catherine just kept walking ahead of me. Loads of help, they were.
Still, Shanghai is China's answer to New York. Old architecture mixed with neon that gives it a seedy yet hi-tech glow. So far it's been my favorite city. We were in Nanjing before that, and that place is a shit hole.
We were trying to conserve money this week which meant having to change our plans of sleeping on the Great Wall. We called the guy who arranges the trips who told us it would be 400 rmb per person, which is around $60. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but it adds up. We'd have to take a train out of Beijing to the village and back, putting the total much closer to 600 or 800 per person.
Then the most unlikely thing happened.
I had dinner with my Uncle Paul last night, an overall nice man but not someone that I think anyone could really feel close to. He has a factory here which means he's well off, but exactly how well off is not something I would ever ask.
Before we met for dinner, he told me he was looking into the Great Wall thing for us which was nice, but I wrote him yesterday or the day before and said that it was just looking to be too much so we were going to do a day tour or something similar instead.
At dinner, which also cost more than any of us were prepared for, yet he paid the bill as though it were nothing, he then handed us an envelope of money and said that he was treating our trip. Not only that, he was providing us with our own driver to take us to the village and that the driver was going to stay there over night and take us back whenever we wanted.
Floored is too minor a word to describe my reaction. There was enough for David, Catherine, myself, and THEN SOME. I just didn't know how to react. I'm quite pleased that we had at least bought some flowers for his girlfriend before we arrived and gave her a Canadian pin. Even then, I think we should have bought her a ton more.
So, that's what we're doing tonight. Our own driver will show up in about three hours and take us out there. Then it's sleeping on the Great Wall for us.
Not a bad way to wind down the trip. Not bad at all.
My Uncle kicks ass. I don't know of a way to thank him adequately enough.
It's hard to believe that Catherine and I are now in the final stretch. We've taken so many planes, trains, buses, taxis and everything else that it's hard to believe we'll be back in Canada on Saturday.
Part of me is ready to come back. The part that enjoys NOT being stared at, cheated, or smelling the horribly polluted air is ready for english signs and a variety of television programming.
Another part doesn't want to. This has been such a fascinating experience that you don't ever want it to end. Within a day or so, I"m sure I'll settle back into old routines and I just don't want to do that. There's something about expanding your horizons that the prospect of limiting them again kind of hurts deep inside.
Will it be that bad? Well, if I was going back to my job for an indefinite amount of time, then yes, it possibly would. But I have teacher's college, more time with friends, and hell, even a new Nintendo system coming out. This has been an incredible year and it's far from over.
But for now I'm in China. I've been really enjoying it despite the pace that is threatening to push me over the edge towards exhaustion.
We were in Shanghai just a couple of days ago. I was accosted by a child beggar there who would kneel at my feet and bow to me to try to get me to give him money. I kept saying no and trying to walk away, but he would headbut my stomach or ram me and try to push me with his head. A few times when he charged, I'd step out of his way and he'd fall down. It was just crazy. I kept saying 'boo' to him, which means 'no', and he'd shout 'yes'! David and Catherine just kept walking ahead of me. Loads of help, they were.
Still, Shanghai is China's answer to New York. Old architecture mixed with neon that gives it a seedy yet hi-tech glow. So far it's been my favorite city. We were in Nanjing before that, and that place is a shit hole.
We were trying to conserve money this week which meant having to change our plans of sleeping on the Great Wall. We called the guy who arranges the trips who told us it would be 400 rmb per person, which is around $60. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but it adds up. We'd have to take a train out of Beijing to the village and back, putting the total much closer to 600 or 800 per person.
Then the most unlikely thing happened.
I had dinner with my Uncle Paul last night, an overall nice man but not someone that I think anyone could really feel close to. He has a factory here which means he's well off, but exactly how well off is not something I would ever ask.
Before we met for dinner, he told me he was looking into the Great Wall thing for us which was nice, but I wrote him yesterday or the day before and said that it was just looking to be too much so we were going to do a day tour or something similar instead.
At dinner, which also cost more than any of us were prepared for, yet he paid the bill as though it were nothing, he then handed us an envelope of money and said that he was treating our trip. Not only that, he was providing us with our own driver to take us to the village and that the driver was going to stay there over night and take us back whenever we wanted.
Floored is too minor a word to describe my reaction. There was enough for David, Catherine, myself, and THEN SOME. I just didn't know how to react. I'm quite pleased that we had at least bought some flowers for his girlfriend before we arrived and gave her a Canadian pin. Even then, I think we should have bought her a ton more.
So, that's what we're doing tonight. Our own driver will show up in about three hours and take us out there. Then it's sleeping on the Great Wall for us.
Not a bad way to wind down the trip. Not bad at all.
My Uncle kicks ass. I don't know of a way to thank him adequately enough.
Posted by
Parallel
0 comments:
Post a Comment