through the looking glass

on the train we met a student returning home to wuhan who filled us in on the local uni hotels and steered us to the best one, on the campus of the electrical science school, supposedly one of the top ten most beautiful campuses in china. sold. outside the window the scenery again left little impression, in the rain and cold my initial impression of the city wasn’t much better. we insisted on helping her off the train with her innumerable large bags and she insisted back on escorting us to our hotel after dropping off her things. we shivered in a guard shack at the gate to the uni where her parents teach, she returned with warm milk. we cabbed it to the university hotel to a lovely room with an excellent view. after piling on almost every article of clothing I had, looking somewhat like an overstuffed yellow bear with a funny hat ,we set off for lunch.

the famous wuhan fish was unavailable until 6pm so we ended up across the street in the basement of a superstore to sample the traditional chicken, chain cafeteria style. parting company we headed to china post to finally mail postcards, only to get a phone call from the girl saying she’d found a train ticket office. we headed over and picked up two tickets home for two days later. not a long time in the city, but the next day was new year’s eve, it would become increasingly difficult to find food, and the 9th, chinese new year, promised a near empty train. went back to the hotel for a shower, as we were already two hours away from the famous fish.

the city grew on me. I’ve realized I descended into daily minutia, my exertion at this memory recall beginning I’m afraid to show. I’ll stop now. we ate, we explored, I went off on my own for some more of both. pictures were taken, amusing people met and laughed with, shopping shopped, growing packs lugged, good coffee procured. got lost in a trust mart, avoid a wal-mart. the riverfront was a park and dock, prettier at night. being a premao city the arcitecture was stupendous. we took busses and got off where most of the people did, this is how one finds the city center before one buys a map. ate mcdonalds. yes the food tastes exactly the same, which I found refreshing and disconcerting all at the same time while sitting in my identical american purple plastic chair sipping my milkshake. hair color’s popular in this city, bicycles in the cold rare. nice busses. friendly folk.

the train home was indeed empty. I’ve always enjoyed train travel, but perhaps never so much as this particular trip. no snores to keep me up, freedom to keep my little light on reading after the lights dissapear at 10, no rustling at 7am or fighting for a seat. a clean bathroom. (did I mention the train to kaili (or was it wuhan…) had quite possibly the most beautiful chinese bathroom I’d ever seen? the entire thing was stainless steel.). a pleasant way to pass some quiet time remembering the trip and relaxing, knowing home is only a few easy hours away.

and that’s about it. bus took me downtown, cab took me to school, I walked to my door. I came home to a clean and somewhat surprisingly unmusty apartment. an amazing trip, good company, new friends, photos shot, chinese improved, understanding perhaps a bit too. so then I did what any rational human being would do, I took a shot of johhnie walker, dumped my clothes in the hamper, and went for a walk downtown to check out the new year’s celebrations ;-)