BAODING LIFE 4

A wet season descends on the city,and the temperature drops dramatically in a few days. The approach of winter seems to have come much sooner than last year, when I had only been here a week by this time and the temperature was still quite warm. I spend my time teaching, planning and working on my own projects: (when I am not in meetings and engaged in office tasks) such as planning excursions, finding materials for arts projects and struggling with the sporadic Internet access we have! These include new paintings, some more photography such as you see here and getting to know the local people a little better.

On Scrap Street I have the odd beer and take a few photos, but I am beginning to feel I should perhaps do a little drawing as I seem to have neglected my sketchbook. On the other hand things seem to move at a slow pace even though I spend so much energy getting things done: I feel I'm often running to stand still.

Days of heavy rain shut down many of the street stalls.

I find this very small one run by a Chinese family (most of these are family concerns) where I am able to hide when I feel like being by myself!

 I seem to eat at home more often and hope to have some more dinner guests soon!

BAODING LIFE AGAIN

I've brought  a new Nikon SLR with me from England this year so have decided to try it out. To be honest I do have to be careful how I upload the pictures. I have to load  some Nikon software on to my PC to convert the images to JPGs. It's not all that user friendly, also I have to remind myself to copy the files to my PC before converting them otherwise my camera battery will die! I do like using it but in  most cases my little compact is just as good: it does have a smaller memory though! You feel better having a good SLR for some unusual photography however.

I'm at home one day and I hear music coming from somewhere, so I look out of the window and see these groups of ladies doing some kind of dance class. Many Chinese do this, it's very popular, although not always in costume like this!

I sometimes relax with a beer in some of the street shacks near the campus. I feel I have developed quite a cordial relationship with the Chinese who run these stalls even though I can hardly speak a word of Chinese. They tend to live elsewhere as they disappear at night in small electric trucks. I sometimes wonder where they live.

They are all very friendly and do not seem to mind me taking their photos!

This lady has all the street sweepers in her stall for a chat.

I am trying to develop a good Sunday lunch routine since my favourite stall closed down. This week I had chicken hotpot: bit expensive though as it's meant for about 4 people, so too big for me really! Tasty however!

And I keep Sarah by my side on the desk!

DAY THREE: RETURN

In the morning I remember that I have to call Iris to explain to the hotel lady that I need a receipt. I should add that she has fussed over me like something of a mother hen while I've been here and nothing seems to have been too much trouble for her. I send a message to a friend but it will not send and I try a few more times. I become worried as I have a signal and I have power, so the only thing that this could possibly mean is I've run out of credit. At a loss what to do I try calling Iris from the room but I cannot seem to get a line. Finally I mange to ask the lady to call Iris for me and she explains about the receipt. For my phone, the lady at the hotel generously offers to find out why it isn't working and calls the phone supplier in China. It seems I am out of credit as I feared so she offers to top it up for me for RMB100. I am pleased to agree so she and her husband try to top up my phone. Iris asks me to call her when it works: we are both worried that I might have an accident on he way back and have no means of contacting anyone in the event of an emergency. I try a number of times to send my friend's message to test my phone without success. In the end the hotel lady's husband offers to drive me to the China Unicom shop in Mancheng to get it sorted out: so we drive off and just as we arrive it works! So I explain to the gentleman and we return to the hotel.

I must say I'm very grateful to them both for their help and hospitality. I take a photograph and set off back to Baoding.

I have to say I'm pleased to be leaving Mancheng. I look forward to getting back to Baoding. I plod slowly back, passing a number of factories that look like something out of a nightmare post-industrial revolution era, all convoluted pipes, rusty metal frameworks, gantries and huge chimneys, probably responsible for the polluted air in the district. The only thing that happens on the way back is that hundreds of market traders have set up street stalls occupying the cycle lane in a huge street market that seems to go on for miles. I cannot go any further unless I use the road itself so I decide to cross over  and cycle on the “wrong” side for the rest of the journey home which takes about one and three-quarter hours. I have lunch locally and a couple of beers. I've been invited out for the evening but I'm so tired I eventually decline, electing to stay indoors and have beans on toast for tea!

DAY TWO: HAN DYNASTY TOMBS

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/35History218.html

I sleep well and wake up to what is unfortunately a dismal morning. It is grey, foggy and threatens rain so I'm glad I brought a light coat with me. I need to have breakfast and decide to try and find something to eat. I suppose I can always fall back on fruit if nothing else offers. I wear my coat as it does start to rain and the hotel lady dashes out and gives me some packets of tissues, presumably to wipe the rain off me. These come in handy later. Near the park there are phone shops (which are everywhere in China) and these seem to be staging rival karaoke contests outside as adverts, trying to drown one another out with genuinely ear-splitting volumes injurious to the ears: mine hurt as I cycle past. Eventually I find a roadside stall selling baozi, a Northern Chinese snack which is a steamed bun with a spicy filling, usually pork. The lady there seems bemused that I only want one: apparently it's normal to buy a basket of about 7 buns, this is because the Chinese normally eat in groups. She seems to feel it's too little to sell but eventually I buy one for RMB 1, (probably enough for 3) This is enough for me at present. I wander around a dismal market and the gloomy weather has dampened my spirits. There exists the persistent feeling that I've had enough of China for now and need to go home: I hope this is just homesickness and will pass. Finally I finish my bun and set off toward the Han Dynasty Tombs on the edge of the town.

This takes me to the west of Mancheng, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for. Ahead I can see the mountains looming out of the mist and drizzle, and I feel a sense of discovery., after all this is the first time I've visited a different kind of landscape. Eventually I come to a large complex on the edge of the mountains (they are really just big hills) where there are a number of coaches, plus there is a brown sign pointing to it, and since these tend to mark heritage sites in my experience, this looks promising.

There is a kind of village of shops and restaurants which is mainly uninhabited at present, but intriguing to wander around. 

There are bridges and water-wheels near the entrance, so I explore a bit and manage to find the entrance to the tombs and visitor centre.

I can see a knot of people at the window of the ticket office which does not seem to be dispersing, I guess there is some confusion or argument taking place so I wait for a few minutes and go to the window. You always have to be on your guard at such places as the Chinese will try to push in front of you, it's their way: liberating in many ways but occasionally a nuisance. It's a game I've learned to play. Anyway I get my ticket for RMB 75 which gives access to the grounds and tombs.

There is a cable car which you can ride up the mountain and I debate with myself whether to try it as it may be better to walk. However in the end I summon up the courage to take the cable and get a return ticket for RMB 35. When a car comes along a marshal will ask you to step forward, the car doesn't stop, you have to jump on and the marshal closes the door.

I ride up the mountainside, wondering how safe I am and trying to stop my imagination from inventing tragic scenarios like being trapped or falling off.

There are only 3 towers in what must be over a mile of cable, with a huge tract hundreds of yards long up the mountainside between two them, and I must admit I do feel a little apprehensive every time the car bumps gently over the pulleys in the tower. Reaching the top I decide I'll probably walk down. And believe it or not, there is also a giant slide down the side of the mountain all the way to the bottom!

The giant Buddha you can see marks the bottom of the slide. You can see the slide, which is covered, rising from the Buddha to the top.

I need to visit the toilet as I get to the top, and feel frustrated as I know Chinese public loos have no paper: eventually I remember the tissues I have so they save me from walking around in discomfort.

The view from the top of the mountain would have been spectacular if the weather had been clear, but as it is it's foggy and dull so you cannot see much.

I go into the tombs and they are quite fascinating, large chambers hewn out of the mountain, with tunnels which are low and quite eerie to walk along. There are numerous clay pots and bronze artifacts, plus ersatz reconstructions of horses and chariots which really do not add to the experience! I don't take flash photos as I have the distinct impression it's forbidden. There is also, in one of the tombs, a casket containing a burial suit like a suit of armour or sarcophagus, which encases the entire human form and is made entirely from pieces of jade held together by some sort of wire. (see link for more information and images)

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/35History218.html

I walk back down the side of the mountain and decide to try one of the restaurants in the village at the bottom. It's quite good and has a picture menu, so I order some prawns and bean sprouts, making a mental note maybe to come back later.

That afternoon, I go back to the hotel and have a doze as I'm quite tired. Then later I try to find a different place to eat, I decide not to go all the way back out to the tombs as it's a fair distance and the place may not be open. I cycle out in search of something and explore the hutong, where I find a fascinating food market, with fish, meat, vegetables and more or less everything you can imagine, in a kind of souk-like bazaar which of course is utterly devoid of hygiene, with sludge everywhere.

Many Chinese come up to me and say “Hello” as I pass and I take a few photos but do not want to push my camera in people's faces. Following this I have a beer or two in my favoured shack and think about dinner. I try the hotel where I could not stay before, but cannot make myself understood in the restaurant which is a shame as it looks good. Finally I find a place like Jack's place in Baoding, and one of the waitresses speaks a little English. So I settle for hot-pot once more, and the selection is quite good with clams, prawns, meat and vegetables. After dinner I have one last beer and turn in for the night. I'm looking forward to going back.

MANCHENG AND HAN DYNASTY TOMBS: DAY ONE

As I cannot check into the hotel until 2pm I take my time packing. I really should have done it yesterday but ran out of time. I have decided to cycle to Mancheng and explore the area, also to visit the Han Dynasty Tombs if possible. The weather is fine, I have breakfast, shower, pack, and tidy up. I'm travelling light as I'm on my bike, so I have a small rucksack for the trip. I make a careful list of everything I need, but time gets away from me a little and I leave at about 12 pm. I decide to have lunch locally before setting off properly as I do not know to what extent I can rely on the food in Mancheng, so I eat at Jack's hot-pot restaurant although to be honest, I'm becoming jaded with this sort of food. I eat as much as I need and set off just after 12.30.

I take my time on the roads and hope nothing goes wrong with my bike. I've had the tyres pumped up and everything seems to be working OK. One thing I don't need is a flat tyre as this would mean abandoning my bike and travelling by taxi until I can get it fixed. I've printed maps of the area and directions, copies of the booking in English and Chinese, photos of the hotel and a map of the tombs so I don't expect to get lost. I stop occasionally for a drink of water from a bottle I'm carrying on my bike, and wear a face mask as it is rather smoggy today

After an hour or so I stop for a break near what seems to be a farm as I have passed outside the boundaries of the city into a semi-rural belt, and I see a shepherd crossing the road with a flock of sheep. We smile and wave at each other as he passes by.

Eventually I arrive at the edge of Mancheng itself, marked by a giant strawberry at a junction. (Maybe there are some strawberry farms nearby) so I cycle on and keep looking at the maps to find the hotel. After one or two moments of confusion I pull up outside, checking my photograph to make sure I'm at the right place. It's taken me about two hours.

I've anticipated some language difficulties on checking in, however in my experience these are easily overcome especially when you have everything written down in Chinese. I go to the reception desk and show them the booking. The two ladies in front of me become agitated and confused, speaking in rapid-fire Chinese, looking at the printout with puzzled expressions on their faces, and I begin to realise that something's wrong. I'm not altogether surprised but I do tend to plan travel carefully and usually have a back-up plan. I show the photograph of the hotel to check that it's right, but the confusing scene goes on and it's clear by now that they have no knowledge of my booking.

Finally I call Iris at home and amid apologies for the disturbance I explain what's happening and ask her to speak to the receptionist, passing my phone over the desk.

It turns out that the hotel is refusing to honour bookings from my chosen website, and is only taking pre-paid bookings from Chinese websites so the hotel is full. As I have a confirmed booking in my hand I'm unhappy about this and Iris offers to speak to the online booking service for me as at present I cannot get online. So I wait in the hotel foyer for about 10 minutes and she calls me back saying they will contact the hotel. In the meantime would I like Iris to try and find me another hotel nearby? Not expecting success I agree as the alternative is cycling back to Baoding. Iris calls me back a few minutes later and says she has found a hotel just opposite the one I'm in now and I can have a room for 2 nights, at RMB 100 a night which Iris thinks is suspiciously cheap and may be poor quality. I explain that I'm not willing to pay a cancellation charge for the first hotel owing to the circumstances and Iris agrees with me that they have failed to honour the contract.

Looking outside the hotel I can only see a filling station in front of me so I am not sure where to go. There is a building a little further down the road with yellow writing on it that may be a hotel but I'm not sure and am reluctant to trudge up and down looking for it as I'm somewhat tired from my journey. I'm asking Iris what to do when a smiling Chinese lady walks in and waves at me, so she is clearly here to collect me. We walk across the road to the building with the yellow signs. The room I am shown is a twin room,spotlessly clean and I'm happy to take it for two nights. This is a small, family-run Chinese hotel and the lady there seems very friendly. I guess the low price is due to the hotel having no restaurant so not being able to offer meals.

I can't thank Iris enough for this: I have a shower and relax, and following this Iris calls me back to say that I need to get a receipt for the hotel I'm staying in as the booking service may refund it as compensation for my misfortune. She also says the hotel will be taken off the website. I thank Iris and go out to explore the area in search of  something to eat.

I ride around Mancheng, which is not an attractive town. It's dirty, chaotic and seems to have virtually nothing in the way of good restaurants. I bumble around a few hutong and manage to stumble across a version of “Scrap Street” (near the university in Baoding) where I can have a cold beer and as it happens they actually give you a jar to drink out of!

This street vendor has traditional Chinese woks made of cast iron, instead of the flat-bottomed things I see everywhere!

Vegetable market in the hutong.

This vendor sells household goods.

The bar where I have my first beer!

This helps to restore my spirits but I begin to feel hungry eventually. So I cycle off in search of dinner and find a little hole-in-the wall hotpot restaurant where I see some Chinese sitting outside around a big brass Mongolian-style pot. I stop and manage to order some meat and vegetables, by gesturing, farmyard noises, pointing at other diners' food, pidgin Chinese etc. So I sit outside with my own brass pot. It's quite good and I have more than I can eat although the meat is a bit tough.

As it's still quite early I find my way back to the beer shack I've found and have another drink. I get talking to a couple of young people who work there although this is done through an app on their phone.

  Finally I head back to the hotel and go past a park where there are many Chinese dancing to cheesy music. It is probably about 10 pm by the time I go to bed.

NATIONAL WEEK 1st-8th October

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/festival/national.htm

This is the only national holiday which is not a “traditional” one as it celebrates the foundation of the Republic. Therefore it is the only one in which the Chinese do not seem to feel obliged to return to the place of their birth and eat dumplings with their parents, electing to go on holiday somewhere. Last year all my friends maintained the utter pointlessness of trying to travel anywhere at this time owing to the vast crowds that apparently will be everywhere! So in casting around for ideas regarding how to spend this week I'm advised that if I feel I must travel, it would be best to go to a little-known area which is not beset by tourists.

The Chinese themselves when I asked what they intend to do, reply with “No particular plan” or “nothing to do, just be lazy”: what I suppose I expected was something like “Celebrate the Republic”: “watch the processions” or “visit the Great Wall” etc. There are vast processions in Tiananmen Square and military demonstrations, so I imagine many Chinese do watch these. I see some of them in the shacks round the campus watching it on TV.

Taking my friends' advice I decide to plan a trip to Mancheng, a “small” town about 16 miles from Baoding centre, where there is a mountainous region and some Han Dynasty tombs. I book a hotel online for 2 nights and look into travel options which are: bus (apparently 3 hours, which seems improbable) taxi (expensive but possible) or cycle (potentially hazardous but achievable). In the end I decide to try to travel by bike as it will be easier to get around when I am there.

FRIENDSHIP

To the Chinese, the concept of “friendship” seems fundamental to their culture and civilisation, but its meaning is often unclear. Sometimes it seems to mean “partnership” or “agreement”, and at times the generosity of the Chinese can be overwhelming.

However, this time I see another aspect of the Chinese notion of friendship: it appears to be transient. I notice a subtle change in my Chinese friends, former students and local acquaintances, following my absence over the summer. I extend invitations to them to find that they will respond in the following fashions:

“Yes, I'd love to....!” especially in person, which is then followed up with a text or email saying: “Actually I've just realised I'm too busy with...... so I can't come. Sorry!”

Or:

“I'm very busy at the moment, perhaps later, I'll let you know....” which of course never happens.

There is also a shift in their demeanour from friendly and open to cordial and slightly distant. It is clear to me that for many of them, I seem to have exhausted my usefulness or appeal and therefore will have to form new friendships, which is a disappointing prospect. I speak to a Western friend about this, and ask is it my imagination? She is absolutely convinced that it's not, they really do behave like this and she's experienced it a number of times.

Although I enjoy the company of some of the other foreign teachers, I don't want to rely completely on any one group for social contact. It's much more healthy in my view to have about three or more circles to move around in, which I had previously: foreign colleagues, Chinese friends, and expat teachers who worked elsewhere. This keeps friendships lively and fresh. The expression “familiarity breeds contempt” is absolutely true and for this reason I have learned to be very cautious in building friendships. The one person in the world who is there just for me alone at any time or place, is on the other side of the world! If I could find a friend like that out here, I would be very happy because it would give the kind of emotional support that only a very close friend can provide. However that seems unlikely at the moment and in any case can be exhausting for both parties at times. So I will have to be patient and work at it. Sarah believes I'm good at forging friendships, I don't know if she's right or not, but I always try to be honest, open, available, empathic and willing to help if asked. What more can a friend offer?

AUTUMN

On returning to Baoding I decide to relax and ease myself into things as there is a little time before we start teaching. Sadly this is not altogether possible: there are many things wrong, no internet access in the apartments, and various administrative issues to deal with means that the new term is looking both uncertain and difficult. This of course is the wrong place to go into such things, but a cloud of gloom slowly descends over me as I begin to feel even lonelier than I did the first time I came. I miss Sarah more than ever and feel the pull of home very powerfully. I hope this will pass, as I cannot bear the thought of a year feeling like this. I get in touch with the various friends I made last year, but seem to meet with a lukewarm response: requests to meet up tend to be greeted with friendly, but firm assertions of limited availability owing to other commitments like family, home and work, at least from the Chinese, whilst my Western associates all seem to be ill!

I develop a routine of sitting in the huts near the campus for lunch and dinner, and going to the restaurants/shacks I am familiar with so I begin to exist on a diet of noodles and local hot-pot, not exactly the healthiest way to eat. My fridge freezer needs defrosting so I decide to run it down first: it contains some chicken, seafood and frozen milk, so I buy some vegetables and make a few dishes at home, like seafood paella, chicken curry, salad and simple Chinese dishes like noodles and egg, egg fried rice, omelettes and pancakes. I do have a little Marmite left so can make toast for breakfast. I also manage battered  calamari and a prawn curry with the spices Sarah sent.

I see my friends Seven and Christine for dinner after they get back from their holidays, about a week after I arrive. The internet problem drags on and I have to go into the University with my laptop PC to gain access. But not being able to speak to Sarah and my family on Skype is intolerable. I pester all and sundry about this, and of course I am not on my own. Among threats to leave for the UK and a raft of emails sent by various people the web access is finally restored something like three weeks after I arrive. By this time I have become somewhat desperate and what makes it worse is a series of assurances that it's been restored when it hasn't!

It is almost a relief when I start teaching again, the students are very pleasant and the planning/teaching is fairly straightforward. I teach some reading/writing/speaking/listening and create some lively and engaging lessons: at least they seem that way! We do need some new equipment so I ask some of my previous students from the last year to help me get some quotes. Additionally, I price up some canvas stretchers for the paintings I want to try and make. Eventually I order four frames, which can be made up for a price which is so cheap I doubt I could save any money if I built them myself! It certainly is easier than trying to get tools etc and taking the time to make them! This helps to ease the depression which sits on the edge of my consciousness all the time.

Unfortunately however,  I develop laryngitis and am unable to speak for several days. This means I can't go out and I have to teach without using my voice, which is a novel experience. I have to use the projector, blackboard and chalk, and mime to communicate with the students! It works however and I learn a bit about how to maintain their attention without using my voice: it comes in useful. Gradually it comes back as I go on antibiotics and drink gallons of water, plus hot lemon with honey.

There are new members of staff arriving and it will take time to get to know them. I don't like to rush this process, it's a mistake to do so in my experience. I take to cycling everywhere wherever possible, although I do have to buy a number of items from the supermarket which means a bus trip: actually I make two trips , the second one in a taxi as I need some bulky items including a new inflatable mattress as mine has burst the seams inside. This makes it slowly morph from a comfortable mattress into a giant sausage which is useless to lie on. I also get some new pillow cases, bin liners, fresh milk and some toiletries which are hard to find locally.

I have some pot plants which Iris has been looking after for me, once I get these back I decide to visit a garden centre by cycle where I get some bigger pots and earth as they have become pot-bound and will start to die otherwise. So I have half an hour in the kitchen re-potting these plants.

Someone tells me about an export supermarket nearby so I go and explore it. It sells some marvellously rare Western items like BBQ and tex-mex sauces, pasta sauce, whole brown crab,olive oil and Western-style baked beans! I buy a few items and treat myself to a dish of home-dressed crab and salad, plus beans on toast, making a mental note to stock upon other essentials! It's a bit expensive for China, but as it's imported food I am not surprised. Some good wine though although you can easily pay over £100 for a bottle! But you can get Spanish wine for a tenner.

In an attempt to escape the lethargy and boredom of being around the campus all the time I cycle out to Route 66, the American diner to the north-west of the campus, where I can eat some Western-style food. It's owned and run by a Chinese guy called Andrew Zhang who has spent some time in America and does good salads, ribs and wings, also some decent pizza and draught beer so I can relax a bit and enjoy the food. One evening I go out and come across a group of expat teachers who I am introduced to and have a good time talking to. I have a game of pool and afterwards develop an occasional routine of socialising there. I do find this a little difficult at times though: the more time you spend by yourself, the more difficult it is to be a social creature! I need an easy social routine and am sure it will come to pass eventually, but I gradually realise I will have to build this all over again from the beginning, which will take months and is hard work.