Sixth day in China

[aadler]

Up a little earlier than usual. Somewhat after 9:00, Kevin showed up with breakfast for us (Chinese this time), and after we’d eaten we went down to where Mrs Yin was waiting. She drove us to join the others: Mr Yin, Mei-li, Jack, and a cousin (Yezai) we’d met a couple of times before, plus another family (father, mother, little girl, we were introduced but I didn’t catch the name). We divided up, Mei-li and Susan to Mrs Yin in one car, me and Kevin and the Yin males in another, and the third family in their own vehicle, and started off together.

We drove for a long time, along the way passing through Guangzhou, where Kevin worked when he first moved to China. (The parts of Guangzhou that I could see from the highway were clearly older than Shenzhen, and more run-down; they reminded me of Newark, or even places I’ve seen in Iraqi cities.) We got lost several times; I don’t think anyone knew the precise route. Given our originally quoted travel-time, I had expected we might arrive by 2:00PM, but in the end it was nearer 4:30. I’m not sure precisely when we started, but we’re talking nearly six hours in total.

That meant we were far enough along in the day to have an early dinner. This was at a restaurant inside a garden, and Kevin translated a comment from the others for us: “You can always tell when you’re in Guangdong, because they have rat on the menu.” (We didn’t eat rat.) The food … I’ll have to say that the quality of our meals has been gradually declining, but that’s basically a matter of timing: we started off at a high level (really high), so that today’s meal — quite respectable, on its own merits — suffers from an unrealistic comparison.

(The little girl I mentioned, of the third family coming along? She was seated next to Susan, and driving her crazy. China’s overall one-child policy has made most people hyper-indulgent of their small children, minimal discipline or correction till they reach a certain age. This little girl, even sitting, was in constant erratic motion, tipping her chair forward, flipping her braids into Susan’s food, … I wound up switching seats with Susan, and then shifting my dishes to put them a bit more out of the little monster’s range.)

After the meal, we went to a place across the street, which turned out to be the hotel where we’d be staying the night. Susan and I were given a room to ourselves, and had no more than laid down our suitcase than it was time to leave, for the hot springs that were the entire reason for the lengthy trip to get here.

The establishment we visited had things divided up into different specialty pools, of varying depth and temperature and composition and ambience. After the third, Susan and I were led to a long marble slab, heated from underneath; we lay down there, with smooth carved wooden headrests and towels over us, and let the heat soak in. After ten or fifteen minutes of that, the others moved on, but not before arranging foot massages for Susan and me.

She loved it. Mine? wasted. In fact, quite a bit of it hurt quite a lot, and I couldn’t tell that I got any particular benefit from the pain. Maybe it works better on someone who’s been conditioned to massage, or maybe I’m just not suited to such things. Either way, not an experience I want to repeat.

We finished up in a sauna, then returned to the changing rooms to shower and dress. Then we stopped on the way out … no, it hadn’t been an early dinner before, but a late lunch. Dinner was now, sitting outside and watching occasional fireworks. Mei-li’s father produced the customary two small bottles of baijiu, but I didn’t even try this time, I waved it off and stuck to beer. (Okay, the beer came in 24-ounce bottles, but still.)

Back to the hotel, straight to bed. Good day, all things considered.

Next Day