It was light at 0900 this morning. What?
It was still light at 2000 this evening. What?
I didn't feel my legs turning to ice as I walked outside. Eh?!
Clearly, changes are afoot.
PS yes I am aware this happens every year. Thank you.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Chinese Driving License
I wish I knew what they had to do to get a license in China - from the looks of things on the road, not a lot besides rudimentary grasp of what pedal does what and how to turn the steering wheel. Being quick on the brake helps avoid jail, ergo most of them are quite good at that. A lot of people have automatic gearboxes which makes me think they don't actually know much about their cars (for the record, I don't know about how a gearbox really works but I do enjoy the control I have when I drive a manual car over how the engine performs in a given situation) ... the buses are manual-drive and some of the drivers clearly don't know what they're doing, feels like they are taking off in 4th gear sometimes (they may be).
But what gets me the most, and it could just be Urumqi drivers, is reversing. They have not got a clue about going backwards (which is funny considering everything else I say about China and Urumqi is basically saying they are very good at being backwards). Bay parking? Not a clue how to line up. Reversing round a corner? Inch by sodding inch. Part of the reason is they don't think the rear window is very important and it's often blacked out, blocked off, with lots of luggage on it, etc. The other part is, well I'm throwing a wild guess out here, they simply don't get taught about it.
So please, anyone, information on driving licenses in China?
But what gets me the most, and it could just be Urumqi drivers, is reversing. They have not got a clue about going backwards (which is funny considering everything else I say about China and Urumqi is basically saying they are very good at being backwards). Bay parking? Not a clue how to line up. Reversing round a corner? Inch by sodding inch. Part of the reason is they don't think the rear window is very important and it's often blacked out, blocked off, with lots of luggage on it, etc. The other part is, well I'm throwing a wild guess out here, they simply don't get taught about it.
So please, anyone, information on driving licenses in China?
Saturday, 28 February 2009
A What A Beautiful Morning
I love waking up. For a few minutes (or however long I spend in my room / house really) I can be not in China. I can use the internet and be someplace else. I can read a book in English. I can think in English or French or just not Chinese for a bit, before I have to go out and face the world.
Well I would be able to if it wasn't for that bleeding idiot on his damn horn again. Seriously, unless you are dead and slumped over the horn, get out of the damn car already.
Days until I am back on British soil: 144 and counting.
Well I would be able to if it wasn't for that bleeding idiot on his damn horn again. Seriously, unless you are dead and slumped over the horn, get out of the damn car already.
Days until I am back on British soil: 144 and counting.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
My Holiday Part Four - Shanghai Again
While the weather continued its assault against China we took a 5 hour bus back to the big smoke, Shanghai, where we'd decided our last night in China together was going to be spent somewhere really nice.
* To look at from the outside, the Shanghai Hilton really isn't that elegant. Fortunately, appearances are deceptive and one should never judge a book by its cover.
* When you are a numpty and book a room for the wrong bloody night, it helps to be apologetic and offer to pay any changing fee they may have, but it also helps to have booked the Executive Room and thus appear somewhat above your actual status ;)
* To anyone wondering, yes it was a little expensive. No, it was nowhere near as expensive as you'd pay to stay in the New York, London, Paris or any-other-Western Hilton. Score.
* I don't really know what to say about this bit of the holiday - it was an indulgence in luxury for us both. Staying in the Hilton with a good view of the city, working A/C, windows that opened, 33 floors up, eating out first at Jin Mao tower (the world's highest bar is still Cloud 9 on the 87th floor, a dizzying height which that night put us ABOVE the clouds that hovered low over Shanghai), and then again in Windows Too (a much more down-to-earth establishment both physically and where price is concerned) before coming back to the hotel and crashing out on the bed that (and I quote, almost verbatim I am sure), "can sleep 3 adults" with its multiple pillows and thick soft mattress before having to get up early and make the most of the Executive Lounge breakfast (om nom nom, this was a most satisfying venture).
* Our last day together was just yesterday, but it feels like months ago already. I won't go into grand detail but there were tears and despite the fact we're over halfway through this academic year, my year abroad, the next four and a half months still stretches on into forever. I'm back in Urumqi now and really I'm wishing I wasn't. But I am, and that's how it has to be for the next 140ish days, so I had better crack on with some work and in the words of Lucy, "Learn the Chinese. Learn it good."
* To look at from the outside, the Shanghai Hilton really isn't that elegant. Fortunately, appearances are deceptive and one should never judge a book by its cover.
* When you are a numpty and book a room for the wrong bloody night, it helps to be apologetic and offer to pay any changing fee they may have, but it also helps to have booked the Executive Room and thus appear somewhat above your actual status ;)
* To anyone wondering, yes it was a little expensive. No, it was nowhere near as expensive as you'd pay to stay in the New York, London, Paris or any-other-Western Hilton. Score.
* I don't really know what to say about this bit of the holiday - it was an indulgence in luxury for us both. Staying in the Hilton with a good view of the city, working A/C, windows that opened, 33 floors up, eating out first at Jin Mao tower (the world's highest bar is still Cloud 9 on the 87th floor, a dizzying height which that night put us ABOVE the clouds that hovered low over Shanghai), and then again in Windows Too (a much more down-to-earth establishment both physically and where price is concerned) before coming back to the hotel and crashing out on the bed that (and I quote, almost verbatim I am sure), "can sleep 3 adults" with its multiple pillows and thick soft mattress before having to get up early and make the most of the Executive Lounge breakfast (om nom nom, this was a most satisfying venture).
* Our last day together was just yesterday, but it feels like months ago already. I won't go into grand detail but there were tears and despite the fact we're over halfway through this academic year, my year abroad, the next four and a half months still stretches on into forever. I'm back in Urumqi now and really I'm wishing I wasn't. But I am, and that's how it has to be for the next 140ish days, so I had better crack on with some work and in the words of Lucy, "Learn the Chinese. Learn it good."
My Holiday Part Three - Anhui [Tunxi, Huangshan]
The weather forecast did not look good - rain, rain, a bit of thunder perhaps, and then more goddamn rain. But we had a hostel booked, and Huangshan is supposed to be one of the most beautiful sights in China, so I was determined Lucy and I should at least TRY to see it.
* We moved out to Anhui Province, to a town called Tunxi about 100km from Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), which is what we wanted to see. The bus to Tunxi was about 3 hours, during which time we took in the changing views, as more mountains appeared, and the changing weather, clouds greying up the skyline until we were among them and the beginnings of rain. Architecture changed as well, bringing with it some of the local Hui style buildings, tall and white with black edging and flat roofing which made me comment that you can tell what the climate is like in most places by observing buildings - sloping roofs often mean rainfall, flat roofs often mean drier climes. How wrong was I.
* Arriving in Tunxi we made the discovery that the taxi drivers immediately within the bus station were a) stupid and b) thieving bastards. Having been informed by the hostel that the ride should be no more than 7 rmb, these guys were determined not to use their meters and instead wanted 35 rmb. We haggled for a while, me telling them they had meters and if they were taking us they would damn well use them, them saying it was up to us to haggle. Enough. "Jog on", said we, and followed their directions to the entrance of the complex where taxi drivers were taking people using the meter. The first bloke we met took us and it cost just 5 rmb. Shame he plonked us down at the wrong end of the street, and we had a nice little 10 minute walk with all our luggage along cobbles (the aptly named "Old Street") before reaching our hostel for the next three days.
* The first thing to mention about this hostel - it was FREEZING. They couldnt give us the room I'd booked either, a double-bedded-thing, so instead we had two twin beds in this gigantic room with an A/C unit that failed miserably to raise the temperature even a little. I am by nature quite warm-blooded, and even I found this chilly. Lucy is a cold little creature, if the temperature dips below 10C she gets goosebumps (or so it seems to me) and the room must have been getting close to zero. Brr! But the bed was quite comfortable, the shower worked nicely, the toilet was western and it was clean enough. They had a bar (a little expensive but hey) and some wonderful swallow-you-whole sofas; you could drown in them they were that comfortable.
* Local cuisine was, simply put, oily. We found just one dish that wasn't too thick with oil, and that was because it was a hotpot of soup - better than most I might add. Still, c'est la vie. We made bookings for the next day to go to Huangshan despite the threat of crap weather, and then shivered ourselves into bed. At some point (I forget exactly when) I put a wash on, and then had to deal with the ultimately crap A/C unit that didn't heat nor dry my clothes, and the lack of a tumble drier. By our third day in this hostel, just before leaving, some of my clothes were dry enough to be packed and possibly worn.
* Our trip to Huangshan was a washout. Literally. The skies opened and torrents of rain poured down upon us. The bus ride to Huangshan was about 1 hour, and having bought some provisions (thinking we'd be there a few hours in some reasonable weather) we took a minicab to a destination that was not Huangshan itself but some scenic rivery type place. Ah well, they said we'd not see anything in Huangshan that day anyway what with all the rain and mist. We lasted an hour. After this time we were soaking wet and wanted little else than to be back in the hostel despite the rubbish air temperature back there, and so we just took another bus back and holed up for the rest of the day while I waited for my shoes to dry out and Lucy napped. To anyone who is unaware - Lucy is an awesome napper.
Aside: waiting for the bus back, a bloke pulls up in his car and asks, in Chinese, "to where?" ... I tell him Tunxi and he says, "OK, 150, get in" ... I counter, "Yeah the bus is 15 each, we'll wait" ... "85", he says, "There are no buses now" ... "Oh yeah? Well they [I gesture to the Chinese behind me] say there are, and I know there are, and we'll wait thanks" ... At that moment a bus shows itself and indeed the going rate is just 15. In one way I can't blame them for trying, but I wish to hell they'd just piss off and leave me alone, simply because I have white skin I really don't need their hawking like I'm just some other foreigner who wandered into China without Chinese or local knowledge.
On the plus side we DID get to see part of where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed, something that definitely got Lucy's interest, so I suppose it was a win!
* We moved out to Anhui Province, to a town called Tunxi about 100km from Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), which is what we wanted to see. The bus to Tunxi was about 3 hours, during which time we took in the changing views, as more mountains appeared, and the changing weather, clouds greying up the skyline until we were among them and the beginnings of rain. Architecture changed as well, bringing with it some of the local Hui style buildings, tall and white with black edging and flat roofing which made me comment that you can tell what the climate is like in most places by observing buildings - sloping roofs often mean rainfall, flat roofs often mean drier climes. How wrong was I.
* Arriving in Tunxi we made the discovery that the taxi drivers immediately within the bus station were a) stupid and b) thieving bastards. Having been informed by the hostel that the ride should be no more than 7 rmb, these guys were determined not to use their meters and instead wanted 35 rmb. We haggled for a while, me telling them they had meters and if they were taking us they would damn well use them, them saying it was up to us to haggle. Enough. "Jog on", said we, and followed their directions to the entrance of the complex where taxi drivers were taking people using the meter. The first bloke we met took us and it cost just 5 rmb. Shame he plonked us down at the wrong end of the street, and we had a nice little 10 minute walk with all our luggage along cobbles (the aptly named "Old Street") before reaching our hostel for the next three days.
* The first thing to mention about this hostel - it was FREEZING. They couldnt give us the room I'd booked either, a double-bedded-thing, so instead we had two twin beds in this gigantic room with an A/C unit that failed miserably to raise the temperature even a little. I am by nature quite warm-blooded, and even I found this chilly. Lucy is a cold little creature, if the temperature dips below 10C she gets goosebumps (or so it seems to me) and the room must have been getting close to zero. Brr! But the bed was quite comfortable, the shower worked nicely, the toilet was western and it was clean enough. They had a bar (a little expensive but hey) and some wonderful swallow-you-whole sofas; you could drown in them they were that comfortable.
* Local cuisine was, simply put, oily. We found just one dish that wasn't too thick with oil, and that was because it was a hotpot of soup - better than most I might add. Still, c'est la vie. We made bookings for the next day to go to Huangshan despite the threat of crap weather, and then shivered ourselves into bed. At some point (I forget exactly when) I put a wash on, and then had to deal with the ultimately crap A/C unit that didn't heat nor dry my clothes, and the lack of a tumble drier. By our third day in this hostel, just before leaving, some of my clothes were dry enough to be packed and possibly worn.
* Our trip to Huangshan was a washout. Literally. The skies opened and torrents of rain poured down upon us. The bus ride to Huangshan was about 1 hour, and having bought some provisions (thinking we'd be there a few hours in some reasonable weather) we took a minicab to a destination that was not Huangshan itself but some scenic rivery type place. Ah well, they said we'd not see anything in Huangshan that day anyway what with all the rain and mist. We lasted an hour. After this time we were soaking wet and wanted little else than to be back in the hostel despite the rubbish air temperature back there, and so we just took another bus back and holed up for the rest of the day while I waited for my shoes to dry out and Lucy napped. To anyone who is unaware - Lucy is an awesome napper.
Aside: waiting for the bus back, a bloke pulls up in his car and asks, in Chinese, "to where?" ... I tell him Tunxi and he says, "OK, 150, get in" ... I counter, "Yeah the bus is 15 each, we'll wait" ... "85", he says, "There are no buses now" ... "Oh yeah? Well they [I gesture to the Chinese behind me] say there are, and I know there are, and we'll wait thanks" ... At that moment a bus shows itself and indeed the going rate is just 15. In one way I can't blame them for trying, but I wish to hell they'd just piss off and leave me alone, simply because I have white skin I really don't need their hawking like I'm just some other foreigner who wandered into China without Chinese or local knowledge.
On the plus side we DID get to see part of where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed, something that definitely got Lucy's interest, so I suppose it was a win!
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