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Published: July 12th 2009
We went back to the bamboo this weekend. I have stories to catch up on from the past couple weeks (including a visit from Uncle Matt and a trip to Beijing). However, this weekend's story is too good to be put on the shelf. Since Facebook is blocked in China, I'm unable to send updates via that medium, so I turned to my blog to feed my need to share.
This story is about today, July 12, 2009. Mark turned 40 today. Happy birthday to Mark! We went to Moganshan for a quick getaway and to show Mark's brother, Matt the bamboo forest and to breathe the fresh air. We did some hiking, some eating, some drinking (Moganshan local beer) and had a really nice time. I used my go-to-guy for Moganshan, Dan again to arrange our transportation and hotel. He's great and really came through, since we made our plans very late in the week. The driver that took us to Moganshan on Friday was super nice so we asked for him on our return trip. As an example of his kindness, when he picked us up to take us to Moganshan I asked him to stop at a grocery store to buy some things to eat (I said bread and fruit since I know those words)...he took us to a store, walked us in, showed me the bread section and was on standby in case I needed more help. I assured him I was fine and he went to wait in the van. Then, after the stop at the store, we drove through town and he did another stop. A woman came out from a building with a couple bags and off we went. I asked if the woman was the driver's wife and he confirmed that she was his Tai Tai (wife). Then he offered us all corn from one of the bags. Apparently, he called ahead and asked her to make us some corn for the road trip. So nice!
Okay, back to today. We are heading back to Hangzhou to get our train to Shanghai. Mark had to get a flight out of Shanghai tonight for work (on his birthday!) so we cut our time in Moganshan a bit short. We got in the taxi at 12:30pm for a 2:55pm train. We started off and all was fine. We got down from the mountain and were stopped by some police officers. The officers talked to the driver, asked to see his license and then we were off again. The driver said something under his breath and laughed it off and kept on zipping down the mountain. We came to another police car and the officer waved us down but this time the driver kept going. He gunned it. Mark and I agreed that it seemed like the police wanted us to stop and then seconds later we heard sirens. We were being chased by the police.
The driver didn't stop and when the police pulled in front of us, to try to cut us off, the driver turned a sharp left off of the main road we were on and started driving on these very small, very narrow back roads. At this point, I called Dan and alerted him that we were involved in a police chase situation. He was surprised (obviously) and assured me he'd help us if we did get stopped and ended up carless. He also advised us not to speak Chinese if stopped and questioned. Good tip. I would have thought trying to speak Chinese would be a show of respect, but I was glad to play the stupid tourist if that was a better tactic.
We ended up driving on these back roads for a good 15-20 minutes. As we finally approached the main road again, the driver slowed, peered out and saw that the police were stopped and waiting to catch us. So he turned around and went another long route through more back roads. It was very Dukes of Hazard. Matt, Mark and I all thought so. At one point there was a truck with bricks parked in the middle of the road and our diver honked and honked and got the driver to move. It was madness. We were laughing and the kids thought it was super cool. I tried to stay calm and not imagine us all in a Chinese prison. I knew we had not knowingly done anything wrong, and the driver was licensed to drive passengers. It was very odd.
Finally, we did make it out of the back roads, back on the main roads and ultimately to the highway where we drove safely to the train station. We did notice the driver weaved and avoided cameras at various spots on the journey. I have asked our friend to find out what the story was behind the chase. If I find out, I will be sure to post an update.
As I read over this description I realize how terrified I might have been if this happened in Chicago or even earlier in our time in China. The kids too. But the first thing anyone said was "this is so bloggable".
That's it for now. More soon.
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Geeze
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Happy Birthday Mark!
Intense stuff and glad you are all fine. Love and Big Hugs to all of you. Geeze