well, it’s been an odd few days. odd in a good way i’ll add. leaving Beijing, i did want to get out of the comfort zone that the olympic games had created, but i wasn’t sure what to expect. i spent my last day or two in Beijing going to the art district and the Tibetan monk’s Lama Temple. the art district had some amazing work, and the Lama Temple was a large and beautiful plot of land full of people paying respects. i didnt think the temple was going to be that big, but as with so many other places in Beijijng, it still managed to create a peaceful bubble in the middle of a busy capital city.
i got the train down to the Shandong province from Beijing on Sunday. the train journey was about 6 hours long, but it went pretty fast because i got chatting to some of the passengers. i was reading my book, ‘the man in the iron mask’ , and i spotted the guy opposite me if he spoke english (in chinese of course) and he said he spoke a little. i said i spoke a little chinese and we had a conversation about where i was going and stuff. then we played cards and i taught him and two others ‘Go Fish’, and he taught me a game, i can’t remember the name of, but it means something to do with what you call the people who rent land off the farmer. so i got his email and i’ll probably drop him a message when i get to Hangzhou.
when my train was supposed to be coming in to the station i get my bags and stood by the door. the train was late by about an hour (fair enough since it cost less than 8pounds to go the width of some countires), so i got into a convo with a girl by the door. with my basic Mandarin, and her remembering some English from school days, we got to me staying near her university. at first i was a bit wary, but definitely glad i went along with it. we got a taxi to her uni which has a little village kind of place next to it. she haggled for me to get a cheap room, and paid for me to eat that night. the room is pretty basic, but it was about 2pounds so, no complaints.
i’d mentioned i wanted to climb Tai’shan, so she picked me up the next morning and we headed off. it was raining. quite a bit. i wouldn’t have gone up the mountain in that weather, but im glad we did. the mist was something else. when we got to the top, you couldn’t see 5 feet in front of you. the temples and stone scriptures just appeared out of nowhere when you walked up to them. it took about five hours to get up, and three hours to get down, so its good training for the next mountain i want to tackle which is several hundred metres higher and harder to climb. i had some very warm calves.
the students i’ve met out here have been great. the boy who’s taking me around town today is called Shan Bin, and the girl is Yangfei. i’ve been literally shocked at how nice they’ve been. they’ve insisted on paying for the meals, the bus transportation, this internet, the beer, and yesterday Yangfei bought me a stone pendant from the mountain. it’s odd thinking that im chuffed if someone buys me a beer in england (even thought i do appreciate that, so dont stop by the way), when the only thing i’ve been allowed to open my wallet for here is the entry to the mountain.
im going to Nanjing tomorrow i think. i want to spend a good few days there since there is lots to see, and it’s supposed to be a nice city. i’ll write again some time soon. Shan Bin is going to show me around the uni campus and then we’re going into town i think.
inabit!x
Tags: Tai'an
