Channeling China

My flight was delayed, so it was night when I arrived at my destination: Hangzhou, China! Even more exciting was who greeted me at the airport... my dad! I hadn't seen in him in almost 3 months (or anyone from home, for that matter). It was the longest I’ve ever gone in my life without seeing my family. In the car he re-introduced me to his colleague John, and John's wife, Cheryl. They had been living in China for nearly two years. John manages a factory in Hangzhou that is a joint venture with the US company and my dad was on his first of many visits to work on a project there. Because he already knew about some of the crazier things that had happened to me thus far on my journey, he immediately began eliciting me to relate these stories. Cheryl promised she would show me around the city the next day.

I was ecstatically looking forward to our first stop: a tea house! As you probably understand, I am a tea fanatic and was overjoyed at the prospect of going to a country that shares a high appreciation for this wonderful beverage, particularly in terms of its having such a prevalent place in the history and culture of the local area as well: Hangzhou is famous for producing Long Jing green tea, one of the 5 Famous China teas and sometimes referred to as the national drink. As it turned out, the tea house was practically a tea mansion- there was space to accommodate a few hundred tea drinkers! At the same time, the intimate atmosphere was not compromised as the trickling of water in small decorative pools could be heard all around and little rooms offered privacy and calm. I also got my first taste of Chinese cuisine from the huge buffet that came free with the tea. Overall it was exactly my kind of place!

Hangzhou was a nice city, although if it wasn't for signs being written in Chinese and the fact that almost everyone I laid eyes on was Chinese, I might have thought I was in some city in America that I hadn't been to yet. Compared to the other cities I had by now visited in Asia, Hangzhou was incredibly "modern" and "developed" (of course, these terms are both relative and loaded). Indeed, I had actually had a bizarre kind of reverse culture-shock upon entering the four-star hotel with my giant backpack and travel clothes! Cheryl and I walked around near the famous West Lake, and watched large groups of people exercising and listening to karaoke. We visited a vast silk market which exposed me to more of this fabric than I had ever seen in my life (even in Thailand). We also quickly walked through the wet market to see what kinds of live swimming, scuttling, and crawling things were on offer; it was interesting to see that many more creatures than I could have imagined are apparently edible.

The next day we took off for Shanghai. I had expected to see long stretches of countryside, but what I got were more like glimpses. All along the highway, houses and apartments and stores and gas stations and factories clumped together; the presence of the green mountainous terrain in the background was one of the only reminders that I was not driving through the Flatlander suburbs of Chicago. When we arrived, we unloaded our luggage at the nicest hotel I’ve ever seen! In fact, it is ranked on a list of the top 100 hotels in the world (quite a big difference from staying in window-less concrete quarters with shared bathrooms in Bangkok). We woke up early the next morning to meet my dad’s other colleagues and got on the subway to go to the Science and Technology Museum. Only we weren’t going to the museum at all; we were going to the underground knock-off market. All of the fab designer items I never wanted in America were available here! Coach, Prada, Dolce and Gabana- I hardly knew the difference between the brands, but within two hours I would become an expert in haggling- under the tutelage of my dad’s colleague, Neil.

Neil was familiar with all of the different shopkeepers, the newest fashions, and the best deals. Even though he is not able to enjoy the purses for himself (he buys them for family members), the thrill of the bargain is enough to draw him back over and over again! Even more impressive were the saleswomen’s skills; each spoke 3 or 4 languages besides Chinese- I even overheard Spanish! The fact that these women were younger than me and didn’t have the same access to education I had had renewed my hope that I could still achieve my goal of learning 3 more languages before I’m 30. At night, we ate in a fancy rooftop restaurant overlooking the river and the Bund district (again, a far cry from my recent culinary habits, ie. eating food with my hands in the Himalayan foothills). I marveled at the skyline, which combined European-style architecture with Asian technology- traditional yellow city lights were intermingled with giant techno-color screens broadcasting serene shots of butterflies and flowers. On our walk back to our hotel, we were able to make out its glowing peak in the shape of a lotus flower crown- of course, we stopped to take an obligatory tourist photo with it framed on my head =)

Shanghai is a vast and sprawling metropolitan city; luckily, my dad knew his way around by metro, so I got to see many beautiful things in the city. We went to the Pudong area on the east side of the river, where many famous buildings are located, including the Shanghai World Financial Center, the Oriental Pearl Tower, and the Jin Mao Tower. We walked through the massive decorative gardens at the People’s Square, where citizens were glimpsing super-imposed photos in a walk-through display of personal ads. We ate in Xin Tian Di, an area with upscale restaurants situated on cobbled pedestrian streets. We took a round through a district filled with art galleries and restaurants serving many different types of cuisine from around the world (there was even an American 1950’s diner!)

Sunday was John’s birthday, so we joined him and Cheryl and headed to the Old City. We reached an area that looked like a scene from an epic martial arts movie, yet another of the many different faces of China. Red buildings with sloping roofs surrounded a square where hundreds of pedestrians milled about visiting ceramics shops, waiting in long lines for dumplings, or even getting their fix at Starbucks. We meandered over into the YuYuan Gardens. We roamed around the peaceful grounds, pausing to take pictures of the scenic koi-filled ponds intermingled with reproductions of old Chinese buildings, bridges, and stone archways from dynasties past. Crowds pressed in all around, but the tranquility was maintained as the beauty of the surroundings sent breezy vibrations of calmness to the passersby.

Suddenly, it happened. We all had been eyeing the path nervously the entire time, footholds worn well into the rocks, shiny as if water flowed regularly past. Once or twice I had slipped already. But unfortunately it was Cheryl who would feel the full impact of our dubious shuffle over such well-trodden trails. Her foot slid off one of the steps and her ankle immediately popped out of the socket (we all thought it had actually broken!) She was in a great deal of pain and we tried to make her comfortable as we considered how to transport her to a nearby hospital. First things first, I went on several hurried excursions to find a few items- the ice necessitated an explanation to a guard who didn’t speak English about why I should be allowed to exit and re-enter the garden; the Ibuprofen required reassurance to a Dutch woman that I was not using the drugs recreationally. After a short time, my dad and John were able to support Cheryl out of the garden and out to the street to hail a cab.

It turned out that Cheryl’s foot was sprained, so she would only have to use crutches for a short time. Ever the good hostess, she insisted that we all still carry out our plan of having a Packer Party at her house. So, the next day, we dutifully watched our team’s defeat more than 12 hours after it had aired back home.