Chengdu

Excerpt from my travel journal 8/26-8/29 2006:

Yesterday started out poorly but by the end I had had one of the most memorable days ever in my travels. After I woke up in my hostel in Chengdu, I headed downstairs to the front desk to buy a plane ticket to Lhasa.

[A plane ticket from Chengdu to Lhasa required purchase of a "permit." This "permit" is never printed, or shown to the purchaser of the ticket, but since the reservation can only be made in China, it is necessary to buy it. It is more of a phantom cost. Lets hear it for Chinese bureaucracy.]

I only had Y222 left and I put Y200 deposit down for the ticket and went to get cash (the ticket costs Y1850) to pay the rest. I was given directions to the bank- I immediately took a wrong turn- and when I made it to the bank my card couldn't withdraw cash from any of the three machines. I got worried that my bank had put a hold on the card as it said I was "not allowed to withdraw from the account." I attempted to get cash at two more ATMs on the walk back to my hostel with the same result.

Now I only had Y22 left in my pocket-which is less than $3 US- a credit card maxed out, a useless debit card, and no American cash and no travelers checks. Images of me sleeping on the street while my parents are out backpacking for 2 days and therefore unable to contact me flashed in my head. I decided I could make it a few days in the hostel if I could get the Y200 deposit back.But of course I couldn't. The ticket had already been ordered and waiting for me to pay the rest. I am screwed.

Why didnt I tell my bank I was leaving for Asia? Why didn't I bring travelers checks and US cash? Why did Washington Mutual change their debit cards from Visa to Mastercard?

The nice young woman at the hostel desk doesn't seem to grasp the severity of the problem- maybe because I hide my worry well and am remaining calm. She suggest trying another bank- but I protest, saying I've tried three already. I waited a few minutes to use the free internet to email my parents and I tried to think of anyone else who maybe able to help. But I decide to try one more bank first.

I locate another Bank of China on my map and head out. When I arrive, the ATM looks newer and there is a Mastercard sticker- promising. I attempt to withdraw Y2000... and it is slow... and finally it works!! I am beyond relieved! As I walk away I think that if I spend Y1850, I will only have Y150 left, without any guarantee that my card will work in Lhasa, since by my experience it only works in 1 of 4 banks. So I walk back and take out an additional Y1000. I should be set for the rest of my stay in the PRC.

So what started out as a stressful and scary day for me got better after I decided to spend the rest of my day doing what I love to do when I travel. Ignoring museums, galleries and tourist traps, I resolve to spend my day in a park- reading relaxing and people watching.

The nearest park to the hostel costs money to enter- which I am not excited about- so I decide to make the long walk to the more famous, larger Renmin Park. Right before I cross over the Nan River entering the city center, I stop to read a chapter in a small park with a decorated pond and rock formation fully equipped with grandparents and babies playing in teh water and in large cauldrons near where I sat.

After I take a few picture, I head on again to the People's Park. When I arrive, I take a little stroll in the gardens, breathing deeply the sweet air, and sit to watch and photograph families feeding large numbers of colorful carp in a pond. When I decide to move on, I wander some more until I hear some chinese music being played nearby. Feeling very bold, I follow my ears to a corner of a long covered walkway and sit down near some old men and begin reading while listening to the soft sounds of their tall chinese fiddle. There are many musicians in the immediate area, and I watch 2 young boys being given a music lesson from an old veteran while their mothers look on with pride.

Soon more musicians show up toting a violin, accordians, and bamboo flutes with a microphone and amplifier. Band practice begins. I continually meet passing stares with a smile, and eventually I feel that some of the musicians and onlookers don't mind my presence. I continue to read while they warm up when a man surprises me by walking straight up to me and asks in understanding English what country I am from.

"England? Germany? Netherland?" His pronunciations are far off but I understand and reply, "America." This seems a surprise and he sits down next to me seemingly delighted and begins digging into his old single strap bag. He pulls out a small map of the US with the states labeled with postal abbreviations and Chinese characters. He asks me which state and I point to Washington on his map. "Ohhhhh, Washington. Seattle?" "Yes! Seattle!" And a new friendship was forged.

For the next two hours we went over topics of the US vs. China in terms of size, population, weather and more. We talked (mostly he talked) about famous places in Europe and what they are famous for. France has great frangrances and wine and The Netherlands has flowers, tulips and windmills. He asked me questions starting, "In your country..." and anytime he said something I didnt understand, he wrote down the word or sentence in very passable handwriting and better spelling than many highschoolers in America. He even did this when I did understand, seemingly just for practice.

He told me about meeting other "foreign friends" in the park and showed me a page of pleasantries in French, German, Spanish and Thai. His pronunciations of these words were far worse than his English. He shows pictures of himself playing flute at festivals with many people watching [one was a woman festival?] and had an excerpt from an article on BBC in which he was quoted as an old man who told the reporter he "liked Roger Moore."

During our dialogue, other locals came up to us and stared at me and asked him questions about me to which he seemed annoyed. But it wasnt until I pulled out my stack of post cards of Seattle [which I learned is a great way as an ice breaker and also to write down your name and email for people you meet when traveling] that I became a real star. All of a sudden Iwas surrounded by smiling Chinese looking at me and my pictures of Seattle, and my friend was almost overjoyed with them and he declared Seattle was "very pretty" and then spelled it out for me.

Now that I was accepted into this small group, my friend began to play his bamboo flutes with the other musicians who were beginning to play full songs while a couple singers took turns adding thier lovely voices to teh soft, melodic rhythms.

This encounter alone would have been one of my best ever but just when I thought my day had reached a climax, it soared to new heights. Another man, this one much younger and wearing a rarely seen outfit of tanktop and shorts walks by, sees me, smiles and asks what country I am from.

It turns out this man is an English teacher in a nearby city and he owns his own school. His wife who is with him speaks a little English as well. I find out that it's her sister playing the accordian and her brother on the two-string fiddle that I have been listening to. The man asks me questions on and off for about a half hour and then asks me if I like Chinese music. I reply that I do because it is very relaxing and beautiful in the garden setting. This pleases him a lot and one of his next questions is if I will come with his family to eat dinner when the park closes in half an hour. I say, "I'd love to!" which he doesnt understand, so I just say "yes, I will come." I am very excited for the next half hour and when the band stops, I meet the family and another woman who was singing takes pictures of me on her phone.

As we walk out of the garden, we chitchat a little and I ask and he explains the significance of a giant monument. It has something to do with people sacrificing to save a train.

We walk right outside the park and across the street for dinner. There are six of us and the small restaurant has not room inside, so we sit on tiny stools at twon low square tables just outside. The man and his wife order food and soon we are all joking and having a great time [the man translates for the entire table]. Large bottles of beer appear and I am asked by the man's wife's brother sitting to me left if I would like beer. I enthusiastically accept and soon my glass is continuously being refilled by the brother. The food arrives a couple dishes at a time and we each have a small bowl and chopstives with which we scoop food off the plates into the bowl and usually then quickly into our mouths. They are impressed I can use chopsticks and I try to explain that many Americans do when eating asian food.

I am continually pressured to eat more, "don't be shy," and by the end I have eaten maybe twice as much as the next person. Spinach and scallops, spicy beef and onions, "chinese eggs," chicken and veggies and some sort of soup all accompany bowl fulls of rice, endless flowing beer and about four cigarette supplied by the quieter, older man whose relationship is unclear to me.

During the meal I am encouraged to chug my small glass of beer with the brother and old man- I always win- and am told I am very handsome by the wife. I even think they tried to set me up with the cute young waitress.

After the food is gone, the wife gets up and pays inside before I can protest that I chip in. And suddenly the meal and encounter is over. They say a short goodbye and head down the street. I luckily catch the old man, sister and brother for a quick photo but will hope the man contacts me using the postcard I gave him earlier.

I am a little buzzed and get a bit lost as I try to get back to the hotel. But nothing can wash away the contentment and satisfaction I feel after the best encounter I've had while traveling.



[I apologize for changing tenses and sometimes out of sequence thoughts. I just type out what I write and I write what I remember as I remember it. If I had time I could start and end the post better as well. Also apologies for the length- it was a great day. Future posts- Tibet and Mt. Everest!]

My First American Moment

When transfering planes in Beijing, I nearly missed my flight to Chengdu. My flight from San Francisco came in about 40 minutes late and I had 30 minutes before my second flight began boarding. After hurrying to wait in the passport check line, I had to pick up my bag and check it out again. While I was heading upstairs to check in for the next flight, an airport worker asked where I was going and I was more than willing to allow him to escort me to the proper counter.

"Quickly. Quickly. No time." I was well aware of this. The helpful man got me checked in quickly and led me to the security line [a mere 10 meters away]. Before we got to the checker, he told me he'd get me through quickly but I had to pay him. I looked at him slightly shocked. He repeated that I must pay him. So I pulled out my wallet and offered him a 100Y ($16) bill- the only size I had- but he said,

"Too little... three is OK."

I repeated, "Three?" slightly incredulous.

I do the math in my head- almost $50 US, but hand it over anyway rather than risk angering him and missing my flight as a result. I paid him, got through security and hustled to the gate where I was the last one on the plane.

Only a few minutes later do I realize what has happened. I was not generously helped by a kind soul who noticed the face of a lost foreigner. I was taken advantage of by an opportunistic man who saw a white face and wanted to make a quick buck. I realized all he did was show me the correct counter to check in- something I could have found a few minutes slower. There was no one in line before me to check in, and all he did was get the attention of the woman at the counter. Again at security, he actually did nothing, just handed my ticket to the checker who had just done the exact thing with 5 people ahead of me. And yet I paid him 300Y. This is no small amount of money, certainly more than any tip I'd ever given before- ever. I'm upset.

But I dont feel as used as I maybe should. I was tired and in a hurry and I made a mistake- the first of many to be sure. Its a long trip ahead and I have to start learning from my mistakes. I will definitely be more weary in the future of someone offering what turned out to be very little help, and be much more resistant to paying someone for services for which I didn't ask. However, I find solice in the fact that other chinese people seem to be very polite to me (on the second flight, an attendant- they are all female- seemed to be delighted to hand me a newspaper in English that I had not even asked for) and I choose not to let a small issue like this delusion me from the people or places I visit.

- Excerpt from my travel journal Aug 23 2006

Pinocchio

By hugging and saying goodbye to my dad at the security line in the San Francisco airport, I take my last step towards total commitment to my adventure. The line is short and soon I am walking towards my gate. After reconfirming the time, I spend my last twenty minutes in a bar drinking a hefty Irish whiskey and a glass of water. I stare blankly at the little league world series being played on the television, but my mind is elsewhere. The alcohol begins to slow it down and I reflect on my calmness. I am ready. At least significantly more read than any moment up to this. With each goodbye to my friends and family, another string is cut until the final one is severed outside this security point. I am no longer the puppet, but the real boy.
I still stew, at this moment, in not knowing what to expect from the adventure as a whole or even its next step. The adventure ahead is both the cause and effect of my freedom. I planned the trip in order to feel free and I will only feel so by undertaking it. And now I sit, eight hours out of San Francisco and still four hours from my first stop- Beijing, China.

-Excerpt from my travel journal August 22 2006

Preface

Hey everyone. I've never blogged before, and only gave in to trying it today. Lets see how this goes, and if I can keep it going enough to make it worth while.

Beginning in 9 days, I will spend nearly 7 months in Asia. I will divide my first month between Chendgu, China, Tibet and Nepal. Then beginning September 21, I will study the fall quarter near Nainital, India in the state of Uttaranchal (purple region near Nepal and China). After the quarter is over, on December 15, I will be backpacking alone through the Indian subcontinent. I want to see all the major cities, as well as trek in the Himalaya, go on a camel safari, and see wildlife in national parks. I will attempt to keep this blog updated on where I am, where I've been and how I am doing on my South Asian Journey.

Post a message on my message board, view some pics from my trip, and keep up to date on info on the locations I've been by visiting my website at

http://students.washington.edu/evanm/evanm.html

Wish me luck.