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Published: August 22nd 2009
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The airport was pretty unspectacular and immediately I am confronted with a change in plans which is very exciting. Instead of staying at hotel near her friend's Wang Jian's parents house where Wang Jian is living with her aging parents, we are to be staying in Wang Jian's house instead. Wang Jian greets us at the airport and she has a friend driving us to her house so she can give us the key and show us around.
In the first block I am confronted with the free for all that is driving in China. There is nothing in America that can prepare you for this adventure. People cross streets everywhere and they are fair game...unlike California where drivers must stop for pedestrians. Bicycles and scooters are everywhere and everyone asserts themselves and horns are beeping and amazingly, no one seems to get hurt. Very few traffic signals and stop signs or even yield signs...if they exist, I just don't see them and no one pays attention to them. If that is not enough to frighten any American, the most incredible traffic adventure is the fact that passing on the other side of the road is abundant...and it seems that
it is to be expected. I don't have a movie camera and a still camera cannot possibly capture the adventure on Chinese main streets but it is like a James Bond movie but most people are only driving 30 m/ph so at least it is a slow enough speed that I am not going completely crazy. So it went with the ride from the airport to her apartment. If there are police doing traffic rule enforcement they must be in unmarked cars because my first day, I did not see any.
Leaving Chengdu airport, it seems that the area is very old and much urban renewal taking place. The only buildings still standing seem very old but there is much reconstruction going on and many buildings have also apparently been recently demolished and only some rubble remains. There seems to be infrastructure improvements everywhere because new pipes and new poles, holes and trenches line the street and fences surround the empty lots. Then we arrive at Wang Jian's apartment...and the construction just has me completely baffled. I am estimating that this building was built in the 1930's as it is strange, the handrails on the stairwell are almost completely
devoid of paint, the lights blink on and off, the landing seems to have evidence of cat urine and then we enter her apartment. It was obvious much improvement has been done inside. So I am now asking many questions but Lisa is engaged in a conversation with Wang Jian so it is hard to get all my questions answered but I do find out that the building was built in the early 1980's and she bought the apartment for about $350 which was next to nothing but spent the equivalent of several thousand dollars fixing up the inside. It is a single bedroom, very small, perhaps only 650 or 700 square feet and a bathroom with toilet and shower in a 4x4 room which makes means that when you take a shower, you are also cleaning the toilet but there is a lot of hot water and pressure which was very welcome after a long day of flying. I am told that many of these apartments are empty because the owners use them for infrequent trips to Chengdu or for guests and it appears that there is little interest in maintaining the stairwells or common areas but I almost
suspect that inside of many of them, they are fixed up nicely like this apartment. I am not provided enough information and I don't think Lisa knows much about this apartment but I am of the belief that these grounds were constructed by the Chinese airlines group and many of the people who live here were employees at one time or are still employed by one of the various airlines.
So we head out to dinner...the first thing we get is a taxi from man who apparently waits at the edge of this apartment complex and he charges us a whopping 7 yuan (about a dollar) to take us into town (probably 2 miles). Wang Jian and Lisa immediately negotiate with this taxi driver to take us everywhere for 100 yuan a day (less than $16) and decide that we should stay at her apartment instead of getting a hotel room which is just fine with me. The only thing that the hotel will give us Internet access which I cannot get from this apartment. I have tried to find a free wireless router in the neighborhood but there isn't a single wireless router to be found, restricted or
not. I think that these apartments are so small that there isn't any need for multiple computer access. So I will have to hunt down Internet access at some point. But this taxi driver is much more aggressive than Wang Jian's friend and the drive to dinner is elevated to high class form of chicken where every car, scooter, bicycle, motorcycle driver assumes that you will let them through just in time. Pedestrians know that they cannot win and are the only ones who show caution.
We arrived at the restaurant area but there is some hesitation. Lisa translates Wang Jian's concerns...this is the restaurant she likes which like virtually all shops and restaurants on the street is open to the street. Wang Jian is worried that I will think it is too dirty and if so, we can eat in restaurant across the street which she thinks is cleaner. I can't tell the difference but I tell her that if it is clean enough for her, it is clean enough for me. This is Chinese hotpot Chengdu style which means that they have endless shelves of meat and vegetables already skewered and you grab a tray and toss
the skewers in the tray and bring to your table. The hotpot cooker is a split system, one side seems to be a slightly oiled stock and the other is the same but filled with various red peppers and other spiced. Since I have seen this in Chinese restaurants in America this is not altogether surprising to me and the only thing that is much different is the dipping oil which I gather is a flower saturated oil that we have put in a lot of cilantro and what I believe is hoisin sauce and there is some dried peppers which you can also roll which is clearly where the Sichuan heat is.
该机场是非常正常的,并立即我面临着改变原来的计划是非常激动人心的。而不是住在酒店附近的她朋友的汪其厂的父母房子汪机暗是老化的生活与她的父母,我们要住在汪期安的房子代替。汪其氨迎接我们在机场和她的朋友驾驶我们到她家,让她可以给我们的关键,并显示我们周围。
在第一个块,我面对的免费提供给所有的驾驶在中国。没有什么能够在美国准备你这个冒险。两岸人民和世界各地的街道,他们是公平的游戏...不像加州司机必须停止在那里的行人。自行车和滑板车到处都是,每个人都声称自己和喇叭的响闹和令人惊讶的是,似乎没有人会受到伤害。极少数交通信号和停止的迹象,甚至屈服的迹象...如果它们存在的话,我只是不想看到它们,没有人注意他们。如果这是不够的,吓唬任何美国,是最不可思议的交通冒险的事实是,通过的另一边是丰富的道路...看来,这是预料之中。我没有电影摄影机和照相机捕捉不可能的冒险对我国主要街道,但它就像一个詹姆斯邦德的电影,但大多数人只是驾驶30米/ pH值,使至少它是一个缓慢的速度不够,我我并不打算完全疯了。所以,去与该机从机场到她的公寓。如果有警察做交通执法规则,他们必须在没有标记的汽车,因为我的第一天,我没有看到任何。
离开成都机场,似乎是非常古老的地区和大部分市区重建正在进行。唯一的建筑物依然屹立似乎非常古老但仍然有很多重建工作正在进行,许多建筑物也显然被拆毁,只有最近的一些废墟仍然存在。似乎有基础设施的改进,因为世界各地的新管道和新的电线杆,洞和壕沟行街及围栏环绕的空地。然后,我们来到汪其岸公寓建设...和我刚才已经完全困惑。我估计,这个大楼建于20世纪30年代的,因为它很奇怪,在楼梯扶手上,几乎完全没有油漆,闪烁的灯光和关闭,着陆似乎已经证明了猫尿,然后我们进入她的公寓。显然大大改善内已经做了。所以我现在要求的许多问题,但丽莎从事与汪其按所以很难得到所有我回答的问题,但我发现,该大楼建于20世纪80年代初,她买的公寓大约在350美元左右的旁边的是什么,但花了相当于几千美元的内固定。这是一个单一的卧室,非常小,也许只有650或七○○平方英尺和浴室,厕所和淋浴室在4 × 4这使得意味着,当你拿着一个澡,你也清洁厕所,但有很多热点水和压力,这是非常可喜的经过漫长的一天的飞行。据我所知,许多这些公寓是空的,因为用户使用他们经常去成都或为嘉宾,似乎没有什么兴趣,保持楼梯或共同领域,但我几乎怀疑里面很多人,他们修复了这样漂亮的公寓。我没有提供足够的信息,我不认为丽莎知道对这个公寓,但我认为,这些理由建造了中国航空集团和许多人是谁住在这里的员工在同一时间或仍在受聘于一个不同的航空公司。
因此,我们把头伸出去吃饭...的第一件事,我们是一个出租车从男子显然等待谁的边缘此公寓复杂和他的指控我们高达七元(约1美元),以把我们带入镇(大概2英里) 。王建和丽莎立即进行谈判,这个出租车司机把我们都为100元一天(不到16美元),并决定,我们应该留在家里而不是让一间酒店房间,这是我刚才罚款。唯一的酒店将为我们提供互联网接入,我不能从这个公寓。我试图找到一个免费的无线路由器在附近,但不存在一个单一的无线路由器,可以找到,限制或没有。我认为,这些公寓是如此之小,不存在任何需要多个计算机访问。因此,我将不得不追捕互联网在某一点。但是,这是出租车司机更加积极比汪机揞的朋友和干劲,晚餐是提升到高级形式的鸡每车,摩托车,自行车,摩托车司机假定您将让他们通过正是时候。行人知道他们不能取胜,是唯一谁查看谨慎。
我们来到餐厅领域,但有一些犹豫。丽莎转化汪机厂的关切...这是她喜欢的餐馆一样,几乎所有的商店和餐馆的街道开放街。汪其氨担心,我会认为这是太肮脏,如果是这样,我们可以吃的餐厅街对面,她认为是清洁的。我不能告诉差异,但我告诉她,如果她足够的清洁,这是对我来说不够干净。这是中国火锅成都的风格,这意味着他们有无穷无尽的货架的肉类和蔬菜已经串,你抓住一个盘子和扔在托盘串并把您的表。电饭煲的火锅是一个分裂系统,一方似乎是一个稍微油库存和其他是一样的,但充满了各种红辣椒和其他香料。因为我已经看到了这一点在中餐馆,这是在美国并不完全令人吃惊,我的唯一的事情是非常不同的是浸油是我收集的花饱和油,我们已经付出了很大的胡荽叶,什么,我相信是hoisin酱油和有一些干辣椒,您还可以推出这显然是在四川的热量。
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Holly
non-member comment
Nice Day!!
Hey!! Your pictures are very nice, it looks like a fun city! Good thing you guys have a perma-driver, sounds crazy! Mmmmm, Food looks good too. Glad to see you happy and cozy! But no internet? That's unexpected