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Published: October 12th 2008
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The Bus
The bus could hold 30 passangers when the center seats are folded down. Fortunately we didn't need them for this trip. Not sure what the BC Highways Minister would think of these buses but they worked for us. This rather belated entry in the blog describes our first foray into the Chinese countryside away from the school. The entry was delayed partly because I have had more than a few problems since my PC packed it in, the most recent being trouble moving files around on a PC running Vista. Sigh…
The Chinese wife of one of the teachers runs a travel agency, massage centre and computer repair shop (sounds like something out of M*A*S*H). She organized a weekend bus trip to PanJin about two hours north of here. Twenty or so hardy souls loaded onto the bus early Saturday morning and headed off.
As this was our first trip, even a stop at a roadside service centre seemed like an adventure. Figuring out how to access the washrooms (“You’ve got to love the ‘Chinese’ toilets!”, says Dianne) and buying drinks and snacks when all the labels are in Chinese was indeed an adventure. Everyone bought too much and bags of things got passed around the bus so everyone could try everything. In some cases it was so people could get rid of something they didn’t like!
The bus pulled into the hotel parking lot and
Highways and Byways
The highways around here are incredible. Most of the route to Panjin was four lane divided and was certainly designed for future use because the volume of highway traffic certainly didn't warrant the number of lanes. Traffic in the city is a different story! we noticed the name was something like the Volkswagen Friendship Hotel. Very nice and the lunch was appreciated even if, like so many meals since we have been here, we aren’t sure what we were eating. Back in the bus and off to the next stop. There was much driving around with the driver stopping to ask directions several times. All part of the adventure. We ended up at a place with many other people. It turned out to be the place we were supposed to be the next day! So back in the bus and off we go again. More asking for directions and we finally got to the right place. We all piled into a bunch of small boats and set off through the reeds. These reed beds extend for miles in both directions. Once we landed we were handed long poles with fishing line attached to one end. A piece of what looked like bacon was attached to the other end and we “fished” for little crabs which hide out in holes in the mud. Most people managed to ‘catch’ one or two (actually the crabs catch your bacon in their claws and are themselves caught because
Rest area
Amazing how good a rest area can look when have been on the road for a while. There aren't many gas stops along the road but the ones that are there are usually pretty nice. they won’t let go!) but with my eyesight I was glad to just get the piece of bacon into one of the holes. Quite a production. We stopped on the way back to the hotel to pick reeds. More on that later.
After dinner, most of us went to the baths. Dianne said they were similar to the baths she saw in Japan. Separate men’s and women’s sections with a lot of lying around in the pools then scrubbing down and showering. Massages and assorted treatments were also available but for an additional charge. They provide everyone with a pair of pyjamas and we men rejoined the ladies upstairs for a stage show. You relax in padded recliner rockers and watch a stage show done in Chinese. Well, the child acrobats didn’t talk much but were unbelievably talented. The singers and the M.C. spoke nothing but Chinese. Strangely enough you knew when the punch line to the jokes came. It sure felt good to fall into bed that night.
The next morning after breakfast, we gathered in a large room and some women came in to show us what to do with the reeds. They (the reeds) had
Can you get there from here?
And they say men don't ask for directions! Our driver must have stopped at least 6 times... and we finally got to the wrong place. OK, so it was the right place, just the wrong day. But at least we were entertained by the many roadside stands selling all kinds of merchandise. been soaking all night and were quite pliable. The women showed us how to fold three reeds into little baskets that we filled with rice then wrapped them into little balls and tied with reed slivers. We each made two or three of them and were supposed to take them home to cook and eat. We forgot to pick up the packages of ‘stuff’ to cook them in and by the time we got home there wasn’t much left of them. But it was fun making them.
After packing up and checking out of the hotel, we headed out in the bus to the Red Beach. We had quite the discussions about why they were called the Red Beach (this is Red China) and what we were likely to see. We were very surprised to find out the beach itself isn’t red, it’s the plants growing on the beach which is covered at high tide. The plants extend quite a way out from shore and go for a long way down the beach. One thing we find amazing is the Chinese love for statues, especially of animals. They are everywhere and the Red Beach is no exception.
Lunch
Anchors Aweigh!
SO we are off to tour the reeds. The main reason for this photo is to show that, if you really look carefully, you will see that I am not wearing my "Deep in Denial" t-shirt that I seem to be in so many other pictures. And that Dianne looks great regardless of what she is wearing! was served in a restaurant in a building that formerly was used as part of a re-education centre during the Cultural Revolution. Our tour guide said she and her mother had spent eight years in a similar centre while her father worked in their original city. She only saw him on Sundays. Like so many of our meals, the food was tasty (for the most part) even if unidentifiable. There were many pictures and posters on the walls dating from the 60s and 70s when the Cultural Revolution was in full swing. Some of them had “after” pictures as well where the groups obviously had reunions. Hard to imagine what some of them went through.
The atmosphere on the bus trip home was a bit more subdued and it was a tired but happy bunch that piled out of the bus on our return to Jinshitan.
The trip was followed by Test Week. Hard to believe it was the end of the first half of the first term. Once tests were over we went on a week’s holiday as this was ‘National Holiday Week’ when most of China is on holidays! I have never had to make up
Team Two
The other team left first. While not a race, we did exchange places several times along the way. It felt a bit like bumper cars on the midway. tests before so it was a bit of a challenge to not only make up the questions (and the answers), but to figure out how to evaluate the students’ speaking abilities.
The adventure continues….
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