Students in one of my English Major classes asked if I would like to join them on a Saturday field trip. It sounded way better than watching my laundry dry so I went. I was told to pack a lunch and bring water. I packed the typical American meal of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, and a couple of small peppermint patties. A couple of the kids expressed surprise not about the peanut butter and jelly sandwich but that I made my own lunch. It was a 90 minute bus ride to the mountain, caves and park but most of it was along the Qiantang River so it was very pleasant. Lots of high-rise apartments are being built around the city of Hangzhou and it would definitely be a place to invest if you willing to tangle with the Chinese Red Tape.
We arrived at the park and began our downward descent and tour of the cave. It was a normal kind of cave tour, colored lights, tour guide pointing out the animals that the drippings sort of resembled. The students translated some of the guides dialogue for me so I could visualize some of the animals. Granted, there were a couple of differences, you can actually touch the stalagmites and stalagmites in these caves and the steps and stairs were not very well lit. But don’t worry, with a month’s experience of dealing with the traffic, people, bikes, uneven sidewalks, non-level entrances and other hazards, I have learned very quickly to pay attention to my surroundings and steps. Since Paula’s and my first trip to China where the Chinese guides were constantly telling us to, “watch your step, watch your step”, we figured they must have concluded that Westerners are the biggest klutzes in the world. I have decided that Americans, coming from our ‘preventing litigation’, safety conscious world, are not as aware of their steps and environment because they don’t have to be. So if you come to China, pick up your feet and pay attention, cause nothing is predictable!
The cave descent was easy but the ascent with the 460 NARROW steps going up were really hard. The students took really good care of me telling me to ‘be careful’ and waiting for me while I huffed and puffed and rested. There always seemed to be a couple of kids that had the job of making sure the LaoWai (slang for foreigner) didn’t expire on their watch. A major disadvantage (besides being overweight and 57) was having size 10 feet because I had a really hard time getting a secure footing on the narrow stairs (some with no hand railings). After the many stairs we visited the local smiling Buddha statue for the obligatory tourist photo opportunity. Finally I got to rest and get my heart rate and breathing back to normal and have a little lunch. Then the group decided to go down into a hole, which ended up being another cave. They kindly gave me the option of staying behind and resting but I figured that since I was there and would probably never return, I needed to experience as much as possible. Also I assumed that it couldn’t be as difficult as the main attraction cave. There is that word ‘assume’ again. There was no guide this time to tell us how many steps up it was after we finally got down to the bottom but it had to be more than the previous 460. The descending stairs were so steep I had to go backwards - again my big feet just wouldn’t fit on the stairs. Stairs going up were better, but there were just sooooooo many of them.
There were lots of aging giant musical instruments sprinkled around the park. I am not sure of their significance but we stopped for a while by the giant flute in the middle of a large bamboo forest. The bamboo is about 12-15 inches in diameter and not at all like our wimpy Georgia Bamboo. It was really neat seeing the kids in a non-classroom situation. In some ways they are a lot like American students, mp3 players on the bus, sleeping on the bus, eating on the bus, singing on the bus (thank goodness it wasn’t the “99 bottles of beer on the wall” ditty), and cell phones. One of the big differences I noticed was that their snacks/lunches are a lot healthier than Americans students snacks/lunches. Lots of fruit, dried fruit, water, juice, crackers, dried fish (I sampled a lot of their snacks but I didn’t try that last one- cause I couldn’t get past the smell). I saw very few sodas, and sweets. During our free time we took lots of pictures (students took most of them with their phones) and the kids played cards and sang. As we were going to the bus another young Chinese tour group were cooking their food over a hibachi type of cooker positioned in the center of each table. I am not sure if the stall owners rented them the cookers or sold the meat and stuff to cook over them, but it sort of looked like a neat way to have lunch with your friends. Reminded me a little of Neptune park at the Pier but here everybody does their own cooking.
In addition to making my calves and thighs ‘rock hard’, this trip was a great way to spend a Saturday in China. Many thanks (xie xie) to all the students that invited me and cared for me!
Side Note: I ordered my water in Chinese and it was delivered to the correct apartment! I can finally count to ten! (The students helped me practice on the trip)
