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Nantong by night
TV Tower across the canal Photos:
…..it's the Labour Day weekend & the East Bus Station in Yangzhou is pretty busy. However in Nantong, less than 200km to the east, it's insane, a seething mass of people inside & outside, on the forecourt, where six extra temporary ticket offices have been erected to cope with the load. When you see the sheer numbers of people in China moving around the country on public holidays, at bus & train stations it seems incredible that, despite all the pushing, shoving & waiting, people usually, eventually, get to where they want to go. I've seen South Australia's Adelaide bus & train stations when they were allegedly flat out but thinking back, it only meant that NEARLY all the seats were occupied for a short while in the waiting room.....
…..I remember being told, soon after arriving in Sydney in the early 1980s, that it would be worthwhile going to visit some of the harbour beaches. Beaches & harbour didn't, at the time, seem comfortable in the same sentence but I remember being pleasantly amazed at the clear water, clean sand & general summery ambience. My friend from Yangzhou, Shen Yue tells me her sister in Nantong
has a friend who has some spare time offered transport to to a beachside park on the shores of the Yangze river in Nantong. Maybe I'll be amazed again.....
…...after a half an hour wait with Shen Yue & her sister, Shen Bin in the foyer of the Long Ting Hotel, very reasonably priced at ¥160 per night, (currently around Au$23), a new, black, (they're always black), car arrives. Mr. Li, in the steel construction business, first takes us to a restaurant, the Meilin Spring, immaculately dressed girls at the door welcoming guests, chandeliers, hundreds of wine glasses decorating the ceiling. It's obviously very upmarket I notice as I nervously wonder what's going to be ordered & what the bill might be.....
…..the food is, even more so than usual, stunningly presented & all delicious, in a refined, subtle way. The biggest crab I have ever seen delivered to a table, river fish, etc. I thought we were just going for a snack! Shen Bin follows Mr. Li upstairs when he goes to pay the bill. She reports back, after he drops us off at the park, that the bill was ¥800, or about Au$125 for four people,
Yangze River shore, Nantong
An incredibly busy waterway a huge bill by our normal standards in Yangzhou. I assume Mr. Li's business is flourishing.....
…..the park unfotunately bears no resemblance to Sydney Harbour. Some rockeries, some tacky fairground rides & dodgem cars, lots of cars on display to interested potential buyers, a fair amount of litter & a newly constructed timber platform at the water's edge overlooking an aquatic highway where a never ending procession of barges, boats & container ships are arriving or departing from Nantong. No golden sand, clear water or beachside showers. Some of Shen Bin's young workmates turn up to try out the speedboat ride & the “reverse bungee”, where you are sprung skywards on elasticated ropes, rather than jumping from a height.....
…..on Sunday my guide(s) are busy with a family gathering so I am left to my own devices I think I'll take a look at Langshan Temple, which I visited on a previous trip. Take the number 5 bus. I am given directions to the bus stop, near that museum... yes, I remember. I forget to ask which side of the road I have to wait. I ask a waiting passenger. He tells me , “This side”, but doesn't
Sisters, Nantong
Bin Yue and Shen Yue, my guides for the day look too sure. I decide to get a second opinion. Two girls tell me to go to the stop on the opposite side. I glance awkwardly at my first advisor & walk across the road. Luckily my original adviser has taken off on the number 5 before the two girls run across to apologise for giving me wrong information & all but dragging me back to the original stop.....
…..after all that there can't be any point in asking the driver if the bus really does go to Langshan Temple. I finally do though, after the bus has travelled a few kilometres then, at a seemingly random point in the road, performed a U-turn & stopped for everyone to get off. The loose translation is, “Sorry mate, no Langshan temple on this side of town”.....
…..I decide to just wander around, have some noodles at one of the Moslem La Mian (“pulled noodles”) restaurants, those hole in the wall places that are always a reliable source of tasty, cheap & nourishing fast food. “Wo neng yong kuadzi”, (“I can use chopsticks”). With a grin the young man who has been making the noodles takes the spoon back to
Nantong by day
TV Tower across the canal the kitchen. I go to have a look at the huge cloverleaf intersection under construction that we passed in the bus then chat with the staff in a very expensive looking Italian furniture showroom. They're so happy to have some diversion on what appears to be a very tedious afternoon.....
…..I watch TV, unusual for me. I even watch parts of the Royal Wedding on the Chinese news. I listen carefully to see if I can understand any of it. Unfortunately most of it is still Chinese to me but the name for prince William has a certain ring to it; it sounds like “Willie Wongzer”.....
…..you've probably never seen the “Biggest Loser” overdubbed in Chinese. It strikes me forcibly that, in nearly two years among the vast numbers of people I've seen all over eastern & central China, I don't think I've seen enough people as big as the ones on the TV show to make even one Chinese version of the series. I might be a US version of the programme, as the weights could be in pounds, but the people are so big they could just as well be in kilograms. Maybe it's just an
Bridge, Nantong
Foreign tourist takes random photo indication of how environment determines what an individual perceives as “normal”. I suspect the same might be true for “clear sky”, “busy street”, “high density accommodation” & “unusual food” & ......
…..I'm still fighting off the worst cough I've ever had, almost certainly a result of breathing during the half marathon last week. Have you ever had a coughing fit that almost makes you throw up, nearly pops your eyes out of their sockets & leaves you with a splitting headache? I got help to buy some cough medicine in Nantong but now I have some.....(quickly consult the box), Azithromycin, (sounds like a pest killer), provided by the school clinic, along with some cough syrup. I hate taking medicines & pills but it does leave me more able to concentrate at night on zapping this season's first crop of mosquitoes.....
…..the DVD shop near the electronics market is open again. The people who sell DVDs from cardboard boxes on rickety tables in the street are selling them from beneath a cloth cover. The police have been on one of their periodic round ups of pirate copies of latest release DVDs. It's not always easy to know what's legitimate
TV Tower, Nantong
Typically hazy Chinese day & what's not.....
…..the Communist Party is about to ban sit-coms, police dramas, thrillers etc. on Chinese TV in the lead up to a celebration to commemorate the founding of the party in China. The masses must be wondering why the word “party” in English has two such apparently disparate meanings.....
…..recommendations from recent DVDs; Trade, with Kevin Kline, a gripping thriller about people trafficking & Kill the Irishman, based on the story of gangster Danny Green in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1970s. Also a compelling story it's hard to escape the conclusion that the most awful crimes were left unpunished. I'm referring to 70's fashion, that colossal affront to aesthetics to which, yes, I admit, I was a part. I hereby publicly apologise to my children who have to live with the shame whenever a 1970's photo surfaces......
…..the cough is easing, a great dinner at Ming Ming, & an invitation from Kevin for George & I to visit his apartment round off the week. The apartment turns out to be a very spacious 3 storeys with 4 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms & generous living areas & balconies. No garden admittedly but certainly not what we
Rainy, at La Mian
Rainy, Admin whiz and Miss Helpful, 2009, 2010 and 2011 envisaged as high density living.....
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