To catch up on the past week or so....
From Tokyo I flew to the Guangzhou airport, where I spent a chilly night, that morning I journaled the following while waiting for the bus to Zhuhai:
They don't heat the Guangzhou airport. Thus, it’s cold inside, very cold. My flight arrived close to 10pm on the 13th; I wanted to catch the first bus to Zhuhai in the morning, as well as save some money, so I camped out at the airport instead of a hotel or hostel. At first the cold wasn’t too bad, I was able to fall asleep for short periods of time, my head resting on my backpack, one arm around my shoulder bag, and another holding onto my duffel. Finally at about 3am I couldn’t handle the cold anymore, I walked around for a few minutes to get my blood going, made a stop in the restroom - no more heated toilet seats (Oh how I was missing Tokyo at that moment)...or hot water...or toilet paper for that matter - and then returned to the cold hard seats. The walk must have done my brain some good as well, because I remembered that a) I had a sleeping bag in my duffel and b) I had little toes pads that heat up when they are exposed to air. Victory! I pulled them out, got situated, and was able to get two hours of warm, mostly undisturbed, sleep. At about 6am the airport began to wake up, by 6:30 I had forced myself to put the sleeping bag away and start my day. After brushing my teeth and washing my face in the restrooms I went on a short and sadly unfulfilled coffee hunt. Begrudgingly, I sat myself down in front of the bus ticket counter and waited for them to open while I practiced the phrases I would need to buy the ticket. But of course, this is an airport, so the ticket lady spoke to me in English. I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to practice the language, but I have this feeling that I will have plenty of opportunities in the very near future."
Getting to my destination in Macau was a bit of a pain in ones backside. The bus ride wasn't bad, other than the bus driver's incessant honking, it was customs that was the painful part. One should be advised not to travel right before, during, or right after the Chinese New Year. The crowds and lines are endless, especially when tugging a 55lb duffel - thank God for wheels.
I had a wonderful stay in Macau, though. I'll quote myself when I say: I'm surpised by how much I like this city. Plus I met some awesomely cool people. Definitely check out the pics, i think they tell a nice story! After a week in Macau I headed back to the Guangzhou airport to catch my flight to Chengdu.
Along the way I had a lovely encounter with a cab driver. It was probably about 1am when the bus arrived at the Guangzhou central station, and I needed a taxi to the airport. The first available driver didn’t understand me when I said the name of the airport, so I pulled out my handy dandy phrase book, found ‘airport,’ gave it to him to read the characters (since apparently my pronunciation is too poor to be understood), then we both made plane-taking-off gestures, nodded at one another and went about loading my luggage into the trunk.
“How much money?” I asked in Mandarin. No answer. No matter, I think, he must not have understood me, yet again. Once in the cab I ask again, he asks the same question back. We do this back and forth about eight times before I start pointing at the meter saying, “Meter, meter!! Is it on? Go by the meter!!!” “Two hundred.” “Two hundred?” “Yes, two hundred RMB.” “No, meter, is it on?” “Two hundred.” “I don’t have that,” I replied in Mandarin - we were using a mix of both languages. “You don’t have? How much money?” Not being quite sure what to do here, I started counting. “One hundred fifty.” “No. Two hundred.” “I don’t have it....ATM?” “Ah, ATM!! Yes, ATM!”
Ok that was a stupid thing to do, show the taxi driver who is clearly trying to rip you off that you can get more money for him. Think, Paloma, think. He quickly pulls up to an ATM and tells me to get more money. Deciding I didn’t want to deal with him anymore, nor did I want to pay some ridiculous sum for the ride I said, “How much? I’ll pay now, find a new taxi.” “New taxi?” “Yes, how much?” Not liking this new turn, he decided to lower the price. “One hundred fifty?” “That’s all I have.”
He drove on. I quickly pulled my phrase book back out to look ‘stupid’ up, wanting to say “I’m not stupid,” in an attempt to force some honesty out of him. He started asking me questions though, in a mix of chinese and english, and so I gave conversation a try, hoping to charm him into a higher conscience. We had established that I was American, so I wasn’t particularly surprised when he said, “You American, you have money.” “No, student, no money.” “Why?” “Student.” It wasn’t entirely a lie...at the time I thought I'd be taking an english course here at Sichuan Normal. He proceeded to tell me that I don’t speak Mandarin. Really? That’s very insightful of you. “I know, I want to learn.” I quickly found ‘learn’ in the phrase book and repeated “I want to learn,” in Mandarin. He laughed at me. “Why is that funny?” No response. “Why China?” “I’m interested.” More laughing.
The broken exchange continued from time to time; apparently my presence in his country was highly comical to him because he laughed at every answer I gave him, during breaks in the conversation he would look back from time to time in order to refresh his amusement . I remained impervious to this and continued studying my phrase book. “You go to America from airport?” “No, Chengdu.” “Chengdu?” “Yes, Chengdu.” More laughing. “Why there?” “Teach and study.” Continued laughing. “Why not back to America?” Responding with sincere excitement I replied, “I just got here!! Why would I go back?!?” He had turned around to look at me as I said this, and witnessed the excitement in my eyes. I don’t know how much he understood, as I said it all in English; but I think he may have realized my sincerity, as his laughing subsided. Maybe he was finally taking me seriously as well.
Once at the airport I checked the meter and gave him its listed amount: ¥88. He handed me a slip for an additional charge, which I tried to inquire about: an absolutely worthless pursuit. Realizing we were never going to get anywhere and uninterested in continuing the dispute, I handed him the cash, feeling that it was likely a legitimate charge anyway.
Together we removed my duffel from the trunk. I repeated ‘thank you’ in Mandarin several times, he turned to look at me, nodded, and was off.
Anyhow, I'm settling into my life in Chengdu these days, but more to come on that later...
Yours,
P.
