(no subject)
It's a weird weather day. It's so clear here: in the middle of the day I walked around the place, almost sweating for the first time in ages. On campus, it's deserted. It feels like I'm the only one here: and I probably am. It's a complete turnaround as it's gone from a place with thousands of students to just me. I feel a lot more free to walk around, as any other time I get all the stares, which, although I'm accustomed to, means that on those common days where you can't be arsed to smile constantly at everyone saying hello, you just end up staying in.
Anyways:
XMAS
I waited and waited and waited to get out of Wangcheng. It wasn't that I don't enjoy it here. It's just that it had been a long term. Cementing my acceptance with Jenny's family, settling into a new place, the appendix issues, the funeral, and having a bit of a nutter teaching here didn't help either.
So, I counted down the days until my last lesson. It turned out to be around 2 weeks earlier than planned, which was a bit annoying as I'd already booked my flight. I did have one more lesson on Xmas eve anyway, so I did have to stay for that. After that, I got the bus to town. It was packed. So was my bag. I had loads of stuff for secret father christmas (I refuse to call it the American way). I'd got to town, I changed buses, and was just walking down the road to the airport express bus, when I got a call from the ticket agent. My plane that evening was cancelled.
Gutted.
Getting that plane meant getting there at 11pm on Xmas Eve. But, they said, I could get another plane the next morning for no extra cost. Boshank. So I got the bus back to Gao Ye Tang to go home, when they called and said that was impossible. I could get one at 2pm, and it would cost an extra 800RMB.
Pissed off.
So, after some indecision, I decided to go for it. I had a fair amount of pressure from Chris and the other in Xiamen to come, so I thought an extra 800 would be well spent.
So, I went home, to Jenny who luckily was going to stay the night in mine anyway, for the first time by herself. So I got home to her. Woke up the next morning, stuffed ourselves with various foodstuffs (bread, dumplings, baozi, shao mai, etc), in true Xmas fashion, and then I got the bus to town. Again, it was packed. But, it was Christmas! I was going to Xiamen! I got a taxi to the Airport Express cos the buses were too full, and for some reason had my first McDonald's by myself for about 15 years. It would have been forgettable if it wasn't so harrowing. But, I got on the bus, checked in, and got on the air side in Changsha airport.
Now, Changsha airport is the most, greatest, unbelievably, undeniably, the largest pile of poo excuse for an airport I've ever been to. And I've been to an internal Cuban one in Havana, and probably the smallest and most rural one in Yenan in the north. But these airports are, as the football song goes "shit and they know they are". While Changsha is an airport to somewhere with the population of the UK.
There's NOTHING there. OK, there's one or two shops selling some dried yak meat and a bust of Mao for around 8000 quid (not together, mind), and a place that sells a meal for 100 and coffee for 50RMB. So I usually have to grumble and pay 50 for a coffee purely because I'm always there early (due to me once being within 5 minutes of missing a plane, so I'll never let that happen again). So, I checked in around 1130. Flight at 2.
Airside, I buy a coffee and get my book out. On the display, it says my plane is delayed.
Bugger.
But only for an hour. OK, not bad. But as time goes on, it gets worse and worse. Delayed til 4. Then 5. By this time I've rang the operator, and they tell me it's delayed till 7.
No way.
I sit there gobsmacked. I feel like I want to cry. Here I am on Xmas day, in a shit airport, with a shit cup of coffee for a shit price, having to wait a shit amount of time. In short, I was having a shit time. Especially thinking that the others were in Xiamen.
I rang Jenny, who suggested that things were shit and that I gave in. I decided to do it. I'd had enough. I wasn't spending Xmas day like this. So I got my bags back, a refund on my ticket, and headed to town. I rang Chips and Mark. They kept trying to persuade. Constantly. Chris said I'd still get there on Xmas day. I pointed out that I wasn't spending 1000RMB for essentially 1 and a half days. He didn't quite get it, and kept trying to persuade. This pissed me off, as it was coming from the tightest guy I know (I say this despite him being one of my best friends), and would NEVER spend such a sum on a flight. Mark tried to be his calm self, telling me to get out of the aiport and have a coffee and chill out. I don't think he quite realises how shit Changsha is. To pacify them, I said I'd think about waiting a bit longer, getting on the bus back to town.
I met Jenny, and went to our usual buffet place. There they served turkey with stuffing (what was the latter? They were asking. And by they, I mean the server was asking me too), and red wine, although this was watered down with lemonade. As if they realised the shit day I was having, they gave me the undiluted stuff, i.e. some red wine, and I had about 5 glasses.
We then got a hotel in town and had a drink in town, walking around 太平街, the nice restored part of town. Where Jenny did however get accosted by a guy asking why she was going out with me.
All in all, it was a good day. Although I didn't get to Xiamen, and I wasn't going to see my British mates for ages, term had finished, I'd eaten well, I'd done something different, and I was with someone who I love for our first Xmas. So, rather successful.
We then stayed the night, and went to the antiques fair in the museum, where we looked for something for Ros and Ian, but to no avail. Nice place though. Changsha does have some decent places.
Later in the week, ShaSha, Jenny's friend, asked when we were going to see her in Shanghai. One look at flights later, and we were off.
Had two nights in Sha Sha's on the edge of Shanghai, where she lives in a new community. She lives on Wen Quan Dao, named after the earthquake zone in Sichuan, showing how new the place is. we went for sushi the day after we got there, went shopping in nanjing lu, and other places where I had been all those years ago (although not so many posts ago on here, where I derided getting back to 'civilisation'). We then went to Xitang, a small canal town nearby where nobody was due to it being winter. The most picturesque, amazing place I have been in China. Utterly amazing. Except it was freezing. By night, the lights had gone off, and the red lanterns had come on, shimmering on the water. I got us two candles on a boat, and made a wish. It will come true.
Went the next day to Suzhou, where we stayed in the greatest hostel room ever, with an amazing restaurant next door. Went to one of the gardens which was utterly amazing. A bit like the Alhambra. Didn't see much, but the feel of the city was amazing. One of the best I've been to. Got home with only a couple of days before heading back.
Anyways:
XMAS
I waited and waited and waited to get out of Wangcheng. It wasn't that I don't enjoy it here. It's just that it had been a long term. Cementing my acceptance with Jenny's family, settling into a new place, the appendix issues, the funeral, and having a bit of a nutter teaching here didn't help either.
So, I counted down the days until my last lesson. It turned out to be around 2 weeks earlier than planned, which was a bit annoying as I'd already booked my flight. I did have one more lesson on Xmas eve anyway, so I did have to stay for that. After that, I got the bus to town. It was packed. So was my bag. I had loads of stuff for secret father christmas (I refuse to call it the American way). I'd got to town, I changed buses, and was just walking down the road to the airport express bus, when I got a call from the ticket agent. My plane that evening was cancelled.
Gutted.
Getting that plane meant getting there at 11pm on Xmas Eve. But, they said, I could get another plane the next morning for no extra cost. Boshank. So I got the bus back to Gao Ye Tang to go home, when they called and said that was impossible. I could get one at 2pm, and it would cost an extra 800RMB.
Pissed off.
So, after some indecision, I decided to go for it. I had a fair amount of pressure from Chris and the other in Xiamen to come, so I thought an extra 800 would be well spent.
So, I went home, to Jenny who luckily was going to stay the night in mine anyway, for the first time by herself. So I got home to her. Woke up the next morning, stuffed ourselves with various foodstuffs (bread, dumplings, baozi, shao mai, etc), in true Xmas fashion, and then I got the bus to town. Again, it was packed. But, it was Christmas! I was going to Xiamen! I got a taxi to the Airport Express cos the buses were too full, and for some reason had my first McDonald's by myself for about 15 years. It would have been forgettable if it wasn't so harrowing. But, I got on the bus, checked in, and got on the air side in Changsha airport.
Now, Changsha airport is the most, greatest, unbelievably, undeniably, the largest pile of poo excuse for an airport I've ever been to. And I've been to an internal Cuban one in Havana, and probably the smallest and most rural one in Yenan in the north. But these airports are, as the football song goes "shit and they know they are". While Changsha is an airport to somewhere with the population of the UK.
There's NOTHING there. OK, there's one or two shops selling some dried yak meat and a bust of Mao for around 8000 quid (not together, mind), and a place that sells a meal for 100 and coffee for 50RMB. So I usually have to grumble and pay 50 for a coffee purely because I'm always there early (due to me once being within 5 minutes of missing a plane, so I'll never let that happen again). So, I checked in around 1130. Flight at 2.
Airside, I buy a coffee and get my book out. On the display, it says my plane is delayed.
Bugger.
But only for an hour. OK, not bad. But as time goes on, it gets worse and worse. Delayed til 4. Then 5. By this time I've rang the operator, and they tell me it's delayed till 7.
No way.
I sit there gobsmacked. I feel like I want to cry. Here I am on Xmas day, in a shit airport, with a shit cup of coffee for a shit price, having to wait a shit amount of time. In short, I was having a shit time. Especially thinking that the others were in Xiamen.
I rang Jenny, who suggested that things were shit and that I gave in. I decided to do it. I'd had enough. I wasn't spending Xmas day like this. So I got my bags back, a refund on my ticket, and headed to town. I rang Chips and Mark. They kept trying to persuade. Constantly. Chris said I'd still get there on Xmas day. I pointed out that I wasn't spending 1000RMB for essentially 1 and a half days. He didn't quite get it, and kept trying to persuade. This pissed me off, as it was coming from the tightest guy I know (I say this despite him being one of my best friends), and would NEVER spend such a sum on a flight. Mark tried to be his calm self, telling me to get out of the aiport and have a coffee and chill out. I don't think he quite realises how shit Changsha is. To pacify them, I said I'd think about waiting a bit longer, getting on the bus back to town.
I met Jenny, and went to our usual buffet place. There they served turkey with stuffing (what was the latter? They were asking. And by they, I mean the server was asking me too), and red wine, although this was watered down with lemonade. As if they realised the shit day I was having, they gave me the undiluted stuff, i.e. some red wine, and I had about 5 glasses.
We then got a hotel in town and had a drink in town, walking around 太平街, the nice restored part of town. Where Jenny did however get accosted by a guy asking why she was going out with me.
All in all, it was a good day. Although I didn't get to Xiamen, and I wasn't going to see my British mates for ages, term had finished, I'd eaten well, I'd done something different, and I was with someone who I love for our first Xmas. So, rather successful.
We then stayed the night, and went to the antiques fair in the museum, where we looked for something for Ros and Ian, but to no avail. Nice place though. Changsha does have some decent places.
Later in the week, ShaSha, Jenny's friend, asked when we were going to see her in Shanghai. One look at flights later, and we were off.
Had two nights in Sha Sha's on the edge of Shanghai, where she lives in a new community. She lives on Wen Quan Dao, named after the earthquake zone in Sichuan, showing how new the place is. we went for sushi the day after we got there, went shopping in nanjing lu, and other places where I had been all those years ago (although not so many posts ago on here, where I derided getting back to 'civilisation'). We then went to Xitang, a small canal town nearby where nobody was due to it being winter. The most picturesque, amazing place I have been in China. Utterly amazing. Except it was freezing. By night, the lights had gone off, and the red lanterns had come on, shimmering on the water. I got us two candles on a boat, and made a wish. It will come true.
Went the next day to Suzhou, where we stayed in the greatest hostel room ever, with an amazing restaurant next door. Went to one of the gardens which was utterly amazing. A bit like the Alhambra. Didn't see much, but the feel of the city was amazing. One of the best I've been to. Got home with only a couple of days before heading back.