Early departure from Shanhaiguan

I'm back now, after my visit to Shanhaiguan -- regarded as the "head" of the Great Wall, where it meets the Bohai Bay. I had intended to be there for four days, or maybe five, but I ended up being there for only two. It was a sublime experience, in the full meaning of that word. I learned several things:

1) It is not the case that one can find English speakers in every tourist destination in China.

1b) My Chinese language skills are way short of adequate for any basic survival needs.

2) The Chinese people in smaller towns are not your friends. They will rob you silly when it comes time for you to pay your bill for anything, if they can get away with it.

2b) They can always get away with it.

3) I really wish I'd had my backpacking gear, so I could have struck out on my own and not been at the mercy of everyone who thought she could extract some money from me.

4) Surprisingly, I do have the capacity to feel fear. I mean, real terror that I am helpless and alone and unable to get home.

Here is one quick anecdote, before I launch in to the full story: My driver all through ShanHaiGuan (SHG) was a very smiley, friendly Chinese guy who spoke exactly one word of English: "Hello!" 

Here is a picture of Driver, standing next to the three-wheeled taxi he drives. The passenger-side front door does not have a door handle. 

When I first tried to get into his cab, after arriving in SHG, he issued me into the front seat, where I barely fit. I'm not that tall, but I'm a Westerner. It felt as if the cab might flop over to the front-right when I sat down — it definitely lurched that way. My knee changed the radio station and the volume, both at the same time. My backpack hit my chin, until he very helpfully pointed to the back seat, and I moved it there. On our second drive of the night, he invited me to sit in the back seat.

I never learned a name for him, so I can only call him "Driver." 

I must say that he was very helpful to me, taking me to the two sites that I especially cared about: Qinghuangdao (The Dragon's Head), where the Great Wall of China meets the ocean, and Jiaoshan Mountain, which is the first major mountain pass on the Wall.

However... the man knew nothing by means of which we could communicate verbally. 

He did not even know the English numerals. And by that, I don't mean that he didn't know "one, two, three..." I mean, he did not know "1, 2, 3." He did not know that "1" is "yi," "2" is "er," etc. He only knows how to write and read the numbers in Hanzi, not in Western characters. 

This is bizarre to me, especially having lived in Dalian where everyone knows at least THAT much. It took several experiences of my thinking he understood what I meant — accompanied by bobbing head gestures of "yes" — before I realized that he didn't know what I was writing down for a time, or a street number, or a calendar date...

... such as, for example, the date when I wanted to book my train ticket back to Dalian...

I told him very clearly, in English and in my version of spoken Chinese -- and I wrote down the date in English numerals -- that I wanted to come home on May 1 or 2, and no later. By this time I hadn't tasted true fear, but I knew that I wasn't comfortable here being massively overcharged. I wanted to get home, and soon. He nodded, smiled eagerly, and then ran up to the window. He ordered in sharp-toned Chinese phrases, and came back with a ticket.

I thought I was going to lose my lunch when I saw that the date on the ticket was May 18! I can't stay here till then! I'm supposed to be teaching on May 5!

And when I called out, pathetically, "Does anyone speak English?!" with as little fear in my voice as I could manage, it took two or three entreaties before two teen Chinese tourists who spoke VERY little English were able to come forth and get my ticket changed for me. Somehow, though, it worked: I got home.

My driver was much abashed -- but he still managed to extract from me a little more than 30 dollars for 8 hours' work. He's doing well for himself, at that rate.

Heading for the Wall!

I told my students in class today that I will be hiking along the Great Wall this holiday weekend. They burst into laughter and applause. (Chinese students are SO sweet!) One young lady from Beijing gave me her phone number, in case I find myself in any trouble. I had her write "I want to go to the train station" on a slip of paper I can give to a taxi driver, because I don't know what to say.

So now I will close down my computer, sling my pack over my shoulder, and depart for my biggest Chinese adventure so far. I will try to find internet cafes along the way, but I can't promise anything. I need to be back at night on Tuesday, May 5 (which, to quote Ronald Reagan, will be morning in America).

The great hall from the back side

When Marcy first came to Dalian, she complained. "It's not Chinese enough." She was right — Dalian is basically a European-style city. If not for the Chinese people and the squiggly characters all over the place, it could just easily be in a former Soviet republic.

Shenyang, on the other hand... now THIS is China!

More architectural painting

Everywhere we looked, there was interesting hand-painted woodwork.

Ticket to ride

I found out only last weekend that this weekend is a strange sort of holiday (for an American). We have Friday, May Day, off outright. It's a communist country, after all. But then Monday and Tuesday are borrowed days — not outright holidays, because we must pay them back by working the following weekend. This sort of thing would never happen in the States, but I kind of like it. I'd rather get my days off all in a row, so that I can spend them traveling.

So, as you may know, I decided to take a trip to Shanhaiguan, where the Great Wall dips its head into the Bohai Sea.

This is the easternmost part of the Wall, so it's known as the Dragon's Head. And actually, it kind of resembles a dragon's head. Shanhaiguan itself is a smallish, walled village with a handful of hotels and hostels of varying levels. There is reportedly a small Great Wall museum, and one can hike the wall for many miles from there. This is my plan.

I don't have a proper backpack, yet. Hopefully I can get mine from America before I start my big adventure this summer, but for now I've bought a fairly comfortable day-pack. I'll take enough clothing and equipment to last a couple of days, I'll throw in my super-powered water filter in case I can't find bottled water for sale — and of course, there will be a camera. Expect some fun stories and pictures!

It was not an easy thing to get a ticket for the train to Shanhaiguan. Everyone travels when there is a holiday like this. Serena, the foreign faculty "handler" for my Department, tried several options before she finally got me a sleeper on the 12:45 train Thursday afternoon. It cost twice what I would have paid for a simple seat on the same train, and it's going to be tough to get to the station in time for that early train (class ends at noon). But I'm lucky to have a ticket at all.

On the plus side, this is a high-speed train, so it will only take about six and a half hours to travel almost 400 miles.

Downspouts

I know I'm going on and on about the architectural details in Shenyang, but I really found them fascinating. I'm usually not a big fan of over-detailed ornamentation in architecture: I tend toward the Chicago School of American architecture. But Chinese design seems to be somehow both ornate and integrated, and I think that's a crucial virtue. It's the tendency of minute details to overwhelm the grand structure that, I think, makes me dislike it. When it fits the overall structure, an attention to details is lovely.

I was especially impressed by the details on the rain spouts, which I thought were very cool. It's not great art, perhaps, but every piece seemed to be hand-crafted.

More of Shenyang

I know some people are ready to be done with Shenyang, but there's a ton left to show off. This plaque was in the back reaches of the palace museum.

Here is some more detail. I can't help but be amazed by this image.