27th July 2007 Yilan – Harbin – Beijing
What a sucky night. C almost coughed her lungs up.
At 2.30am we had to get up and stop C’s cough. I made some hot water that she breathed a bit of steam from, and also she drank a bit to soothe her worn throat. Sitting in the couch for 30 min helped. The pressure on her lungs from lying down is a classic at disrupting sleep when you have pneumonia. Finally she could sleep again. I had a hard time falling asleep. It was extremely hot in the apartment, even though the windows were open. It’s that warm here.
At 6.00am we both woke up again, and decided to get up. Couldn’t sleep much more anyway. We went to the nearby public bath to get a good last wash before the last stretch towards home later. The public bath had run out of clean towels, so I had to dry myself up using my old shorts. Better than nothing I guess.
Back at the apartment C’s younger sister arrived and started tutoring her students in drawing. She gave us a fan that she had written some Chinese signs on. C couldn’t translate completely, but it was something with our names and the strength of being from too different worlds far apart or something. It was simple and very beautiful. A great gift. Speaking of gifts. The other day I got a necklace made of stone from C’s other sister. It Is supposed to be some sort of fable animal. A “Pee Shou” (not sure how that is spelled in correct pinyin). It’s some sort of fantasy animal made by parts of many other animals. It is beautiful and I like it a lot.
We grabbed a taxi to C’s parent’s home where I wrote a bit, while C chatted with her family.
The time moved slowly towards 12.00. The very same time as we would leave. I anticipated some sort of big cry scene, but it never came. However, C’s father did make a short speech over the early lunch. It was the longest consecutive speech/talk I ever heard him do. C couldn’t translate it that well, but it was well-wishings and positive stuff. I was a bit moved by this, as it was minded for me. C cried a bit, so I knew it was a heartfelt speech.
It was 12.00 o’clock and our taxi arrived. We dragged our luggage (2 huge suitcases, 2 knapsacks and my laptop bag) outside and placed it on our taxi girlfriend’s electrical motorcycle taxi. As we headed of to the bus station, I saw C’s family grab taxis of their own and follow us to say be bye there.
Heaven started crying as we put our bags into the bus. We had to pay extra to get it onboard, since it was against policy to do this before departure. Stupid bureaucratic rules. Funny how money open doors to the stupid rules. In China money rules everything. That just so typical that a Chinese bus driver insists on following such rules when the rain is pouring down. On the other hand that may be the only rule he followed the next 4 hours. This is the same guy who change lane like Nigel Mansell and eagerly picks up farmers on the highway to cash in on some extra doe. He is also the very same guy who honks his horn for no good reason all the way to Harbin. Ignorance is bliss. Unfortunately I’m not ignorant.
As we pulled away from the station I could see C’s father, mother, 2 sisters and her stepbrother waving to us. No doubt they were teary-eyed and I have to admit that so was I. Here is a family that has little compared to us. Nevertheless they gave without hesitation and asked for nothing. They wouldn’t accept when I wanted to pay for anything. I can not repay them for their welcome and their friendliness during my time in Yilan. It’s like getting a new family only to leave them again after short time. At the same moment also dragged their daughter with me to Denmark. Almost couldn’t be farther away from them. Even though I know they don’t blame me, I still feel a bit ashamed. At least now I hope that they know me well enough to feel C is safe with me in Denmark. I know she is, but I never had a chance to convince them before now.
The bus ride was acceptable judged with the others I had here. It was still not comfortable, but almost comparable to regular Danish ones. At the Harbin bus station we found a cap. The only one of 7 who insisted that they weren’t on lunch break (didn’t see anyone of the eating at all, but just talking and smoking). We were driven to the train station where we bought some locker time to put our suitcases and knapsacks inside until departure later at 20.20pm. We wanted to go and get some dinner, so all our luggage was a surplus. The guy who ran the joint had a sign saying “Reasonable prices”, but still demanded 40rmb for 4 hours worth of storage. Offensive pricing, but in our case there were no alternative and we had to accept. I told C to let him know him that he should take down his sign or change it to a more fitting phrase like “Welcome foreigners – We’ll screw you over and leave your pockets lighter”, but somehow she didn’t want to. I getting a bit more cynical after some time here in China and wish I could speak Chinese to give a little back.
After getting rid off some luggage and cash we walked to get some dinner. C wanted to go to Mr. Lee’s California Beef Noodle. A name that reeks of possible Chinglish surprises inside and McDonald’s rip-off. It was. The interior was a copy of McDonalds, KFC, Burger King or you name it and on the wall there were a huge picture of the (famous?) Mr. Lee giving a speech in American surroundings. Could be anywhere is you put some 70’s clad westerners and an American flag. The noodles were good though. C says these are some of the best here, but I’m not so sure. They were good, but I believe I’ve had better.
Then back to the train station where we could relax. We bought soft sleeper seats (beds) some weeks before, so we were entitled to stay at the soft sleeper lounge. Here I could pull out my laptop and write up a bit on the day without worrying someone would try to steal it. Even though this was a close to VIP seats, the idiots still wouldn’t turn on air-condition. It was 30 degrees and everyone in the room was sweating, but apparently it was not enough to start those. Guess it would take 40degrees + to get them going.
C’s friend from Harbin and her husband arrived. She had wanted to give us some Chinese style decorations that her mother made. They looked like the others I’ve seen here, but means something when her mother made especially for us. I like this stuff a lot, so I was very happy to receive them. C has such nice friends. They were only stopping by for a short visit and soon we were back at waiting for the train.
When the train finally came we stormed out so we could secure the best beds. More importantly a chance to place our suitcases sensible in the coupe. Remembering the last time, I knew this would be a challenge as we now had 1 big suitcase and another knapsack more. When we came out we were at wagon 3-4. Our car was number 10 according to C. We walked and walked carrying the heavy luggage and finally reached the car. When I stood in line C said: “Its car number 16, not 10”. Disgruntled I asked her why she said 10 when I asked her earlier, and she told me it was room number 10 and that she had mixed it up. Back to walking and carrying. At car nr 16, the conductor told us our tickets were for car number 2 and not 16. C had managed to mix it up again. Back to walking. My shoulders felt like they were falling off and I sweated a swimming pool. I was getting increasingly cranky. See, this is why I look forward to going to a western country where I’m the boss of these things again. I may have a lacking memory, but I make up by double-checking things over and over again, when it’s important stuff like this. Argh!
We settled in our room with another couple. After rearranging their suitcases we finally made room for ours. The air-condition seemed to work and I pretty fast decided to get some sleep. This time I felt ready to sleep in this driving disaster that the Chinese call a luxury train. Still, I’m happy we have soft sleeper and not normal seats.