Ted's Blog - 我不知道

 October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established.  Every October 1st the founding of the nation is celebrated and Chinese people from all over the country take vacation during the "Golden Week" and travel all over China.  With over 1.3 billion people, there are bound to be some log jams and interesting stories along the way.  The following is an e-mail I got from a fellow classmate.  He's been living in China for 5 years and speaks fluent mandarin, yet even he can get caught in the whirlwind of the National Day Holiday.

"6 am backpack deadlift and out the door. elbowing my way past the pack of chivying highwaymen, i spotted a proper cab and shot out my arm. BAM !&^#@  the speeding red cab had cut hard righ to meet me, careening into a bicylist. bounce skid thud went the the mid-aged woman, leaving her crumpled electric bike 3 yards behind her, her flabby back smacking the ground one final time right in front of my feet. as if in a dream, i squatted down to catch her parting words. her moaning was drowned out by the gathering crowd.

'look what the foreigner did just for a cab' grumbled one of the rubber-necking blackcab (illegal) drivers. the gathering crowd pushed inward, sucking the air up with their saucer round eyes. a miracle!  the woman sat up with a zombie grunt. the red rum waves of blood receded into suppressed childhood memories and my wits returned. the bicycle looked like it hit a brick wall at 60 mph. thought: 'i'm in big trouble and kurt russel is no where in sight.' the driver quickly picked up the mantra of the chain-smoking desperado cabbies and insisted i was partly at fault for hailing the cab! 2000 kuai! 1000 kuai! these people wanted blood! however, there was dissension in the crowd: a purple beehive of hair with polarized disney fun glasses emitted a guttural RRRR in my defense. rearing her head back she rrroarrred 'what kind of logic is that? how can one be blamed for hailing a cab?' having found my voice i shouldered up with big beijing mama. common everyone, lets all scream at once! holiday pandemonium, you gotta love it. shoving hard, i broke through the crowd and scampered off. thank god, an empty cab to take refuge in. only after diving in did i realize the cab was not going anywhere anytime soon. there seemed to be some sort of ruckus up ahead, probably the result off some negligent lǎowài [derogatory term for foreigner]. 

off to the races. jostling my way across the airport, i felt confident i would make  my flight. at the check-in counter i grabed the line attendant and demanded attention. following instructions i flew to the manager station. 7:18 [am], she wrote on my ticket, and launched into a nicely mouthed explanation that i couldn't hear a word of because of the apoplectic screaming local guy next to me. 'this is absurd!' howled the man. while watching the manager's pretty red lips the insane man's screams about the 30 min preflight check in requirement clattered about my head.

my flight is at 7:45. her lips are plump. she wrote 7:18 on my ticket. why is she making an i'm so sorry faces at me?

hovering above my body, i was struck by how ugly i am when in the midst of a fit of screaming rage. 'the plane is still here!' says the big nose. 'the gate is right down that hall way. there's still  25 minutes for me to scoot down that hall! you call this service? what kind of a manger are you?  and yeahh...listen to all these good arguments that the crazy man next to me is making...ditto what he said!'

in the end i only have to kill 6 plus hours at the luxurious [Beijing] airport.

rejoice! the glorious national day holiday is upon us! adventure is certain to find you. when it does, pretend you don't understand.

cheers

trevor"

As you can see, traveling during the Golden Week can become absurd for even the most seasoned traveler.  As for me, I had planned to take a 3 hour ferry on October 1st from Yantai to Dalian across the Bohai Sea.  However, when we asked the hotel desk about arranging for our tickets, they told us that travel on Oct. 1 would be impossible.  You see a tropical storm was predicted to hit Hong Kong on October 1, so the ferry would not be running.  This is like saying ferries will not be leaving New York because of a tropical storm hitting Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.  However, we were at the Hotel Desk's mercy and we agreed to go a day early, which threw a wrench into our hotel reservations.  But I've learned that traveling in China means being flexible. 

Our trip started out with a three hour bus ride from Qingdao to Yantai where we would meet the ferry.

We had to get up at 5:30am to make it to the bus stop for the 6:20 bus.  But of course, all of China is travelling and the 6:20 bus is sold out, so we wait in the luxurious bus stop for the 7:10 bus.

Riding in style.

On the 3 hour ride to Yantai, we watched the SciFi original movie "Mansquito" and "Fun with Dick and Jane." Both dubbed into Mandarin of course.  I really think both of these movies were seriously overlooked by the Academy.

The view was mostly of fields and run-down buildings.

When we finally arrived in Yantai, we had to hurry to catch the city bus to the docks.  Then we waited another hour to board the ship.  We also found out that our Hotel put us on the slower 6-7 hour ferry rather than the 3 hour ferry.  Looking back we think that the tropical storm meant there was a slim possibility that the fast ferry, and only the fast ferry wouldn't travel on Oct. 1.  So to avoid dealing with us if the ferry was cancelled, they "suggested" that we go a day early so that we would be out of their hair.

The HuLuDao ship carries quite a bit of cargo in addition to its many passengers.  It's called the Sea train of nothern China.

When we boarded the sign on the door read "3rd class."  This made my gut tighten for a second as I wasn't sure I wanted to know what 3rd class in China meant.  But we were pleasantly surprised that we had a private cabin with 6 bunks that we shared with two older couples.

The couple on the right shared our cabin.  They also decided to buy a tour package that the girl on the left was selling.  I was so envious of the matching blue hats that came with their tour purchase.  You get to wear them wherever you go in Dalian!

According to our cabin mates, there is also a 4th and 5th class whose quarters are below water.  But the air quality is so bad that everyone comes up to the mess hall level and finds any place to plop down for the 7 hour ride.

We also went topside and I saw the sun for the first and only time on my trip thus far.

Sunset on the Bohai Sea.

The sun quickly disappeared behind this mountain range.

Then it was time for delicious Chinese SPAM.

All in all, we made it to Dalian safe and sound.  But it was a long day of travel.  Note to self: next trip during National Holiday, pack less underwear and more reading materials.

Next update: The Dalian zoo and feeding live chickens to the tigers for only $7 US!