To the train!

And then we went to the railroad station. There seemed to be a big mess of people in the entrance, just where we had to put our luggage through the scanners, but when we stepped into the waiting hall, that seemed closer to a madhouse. Not too terrible though. The good part came when our train was announced.

Two queues were made to go through the ticket controllers and then I could finally savour the queueing style of China, which is, let's say, rather relaxed. If you don't jump the line is just because you did not really try. No shame at all, with all the calm you can imagine. There was a guy with a megaphone trying to establish some kind of order, shouting himsel hoarse, that for a moment looked as if he was about to jump onto somebody. And with good reason. But once we were past the gates, oh it got even better. It looked as one of those old movies about Asia where people are fleeing from the imminent invasion of some army. People everywhere, running, pushing, with bags here and there. A real assault of the platforms. We had a reseved place, bunks; I don't know if people ran to get a seat or if it's just their style.

A curious thing, in order to check the tickets, you get a card instead of your ticket when you go up to your car. When you must stop, they do the inverse change. The inspector had a big binder where she kept her "card collection". The bunk cars do not have compartments. This may provide even less privacy, but I think it's healthier than those were personal aromas tend to accumulate.

I got the bottom bed. Setting up our bags was also another story by itself, because you can imagine that there were many restless people inside the car. But we managed to get them right fairly well. I fell asleep very fast. I had woken up that day at 3:30 and was really tired. And I could sleep a lot, much more than when I used the spanish trains. Of course, there was that fraction of people that are always going up and down the aisle. And they are always the same. Ah, mankind!.

Lanzhou

Well, when I finished my post the other day, we were driving along the highway (it's not that I want to extend it too much). Suddenly, we could see between the barren hills the towers of some buildings and, almost immediately, we had in front of us an apparently very large city, and at its feet the Yellow river (Huang He): Lanzhou. I was told later that it has 3 million inhabitants.


And it really looks like it. In a few minutes, we went from the quiet and almost lonely driving of the highway to chaos. Cars, buses, motorcycles everywhere; bikes too; pedestrians crossing wherever they fancied (in part, because pedestrian crossings are few too), a concert of honks. I wasn't really surprised, but it was too sudden. Somebody told me that it was like that, or worse, all over China and most of Asia. Taiwan is a paradise in comparison. So, I spent a very good time laughing at what I was seeing and missing the precise and acid comments that would have been made if I had been with my brothers.

We arrived to the hotel that was our meeting point, we got the ticket for the night train, we left our luggage in a room, I was very positively impressed, and we left in order to have some of the typical and famous "beef noodles".

They were a little spicy and the soup was hot. But apart from the sweat I broke, adding the heat to the mix, they were really good. We could also see right there how fast they were made too.

An interesting detail was to see the cultural mix, I don't know if racial, of the city. The muslim comuntity was very visible.

We had some time to kill, so we took another taxi, another example of crazy driving, and went to see the Huang He. Wide as so many rivers, and with its particular brown color.

We ended up going upriver in two motorboats —we could see some nice buildings along the banks of the river, some mosques among them&mdash, but went back on a raft made from wood and inflated lamb skins, as in the old times. Very quiet and relaxing.


The truth is that the evening was perfect, specially if we were far from the deafening roar of the city traffic, with a very nice temperature and a fresh breeze. We even had a couple of beers next to the river. A very good beginning.

Good-byes

Time really goes by fast. It was a little over three months ago when I arrived here. In the process of being introduced to life in Taiwan, I had the invaluable help of Chian Chou, the student that was at my same office. Then, it seemed so far away that he was leaving to start his doctorate in Hawaii in August. Until July, when he finished his contract, he helped me a lot on how things work at ShiDa, he taught me many characters in order to be able to order some food, and he explained to me many things about Taiwan and the Chinese culture. He is also a very cool guy and we spent many funny times (and he is the only one I have ridden in a scooter with).

He was very few times in the office last month, and I already missed him. Now, it is difficult to talk to anybody while I am at work, because most of the students are in a different building.

And, so, August is here, we had a general farewell party yesterday, and I said good-bye to him today, because he has his flight to Honolulu next Monday. I wished him luck, because he has a long and difficult road ahead of him, but I am convinced that he will make it. It's hard to believe, after only two or three months, but it feels bad to say good-bye. He's striving for something better though, which is always a reason to be glad about.

First contact

It's true, I was at Hong Kong airport, but that is not really China yet, and at Chengdu, but airports don't show how is the exterior. So, my first contact with China was when we stepped out of the Lanzhou airport, which is about 60 or 80 km away from the city, in the proverbial middle of nowhere. The first feeling I had, already walking through the corridors of the airpot, was of dry weather. Humidity was no more. Moreover, there was a wonderful Sun in an absolutely blue sky that increased the feeling.

The next step was to take a taxi. As expected, with an 80s look and without any air conditioning. What hit me was the landscape I saw next. So much, that I felt really homesick for a while. The thing is that, apart from the distance and the colors of the earth, the surroundings, the landscape reminded me a lot about the dry lands near Tauste (my father's adoptive hometown) or the Monegros. Obviously, the buildings are very different (the roofs are really curious), but many had some kind of inner court and some building next to it where I am sure they keep a tractor or other tools. There are corn and sunflower fields and places were they were reforesting the trees.


We were rolling along some kind of highway built to service the airport. Very little traffic, but there were warnings about rear collisions. The air was dry and very hot sometimes, but not too much; I've felt much worse. For a while, I was seeing one thing, but remembering another, and I was watching everything with a smile on my face. Very familiar things on the other side of the world.

The Experiment

As I told you, I didn't bring my laptop in my trip to China. The reason was that I did not want to make it cross some borders that I did not trust, specially since it wasn't really necessary. I think I did the right thing. I had to open my bag a couple of times and I don't want to think what would have happened the first time if I had had my laptop there.

At the meeting, I also decided that I would not check my e-mail. If I had bad news, I probably could not do anything and good news can wait. In fact, I only touched a computer once, when I wanted to make sure I was giving the correct answer to a question. And I did not suffer at all. While many people were glued to their laptop during the talks, worrying about one thing or the other, saying that they were working, I was able to fully concentrate on the subject at hand; or to look around or to doodle in the meeting booklet if I started to feel bored, which did not happen often. I felt free from the self-imposed slavery of having to take care of that gadget.

And, as not having my laptop with me forced me to have my talk finished before leaving, I did not even had to worry about it. A pleasure. For almost nine days!.

Back

I am back. Last night, just after midnight, I arrived to my apartment. Very tired after the combination of train and planes, and more and more police controls. But there were not any major problems.

It have had some very intense days. The part of China that I have seen is, as I imagined, a different world. And people too. The meeting was much more interesting and attractive than I had expected and I was able to meet a group of young people very different culturally from me. This did not stop us from spending several very funny days (and nights), full of little and big anecdotes. We may never see each other again, but I am sure we will remember it with affection. And I, someone, with more than that. All topped by the the majestic and wonderful show of the total solar eclipse in the middle of the Gobi desert. If there are any things I will never forget, that will be one of them.

But I will tell you about that little by little. It's difficult for me to begin anywhere now. The return to "real life" is turning out to be not so easy. Not surprising.

Baseball

Some have asked me what are the more popular sports in Taiwan. Well, it could be ping-pong, or badminton, or basketball, or who knows what, but the main sport is baseball.


I think they are devout followers, and there are always many people playing baseball in the TaiDa and ShiDa campuses. You can hear people talk about baseball and it is very funny to see taiwanese and japanese (boys and girls) discuss about it. There is a taiwanese league, and there are taiwanese players in Japan and even in the US. Two, I think. So, it's very usual to see games of the taiwanese, japanese or american leagues on TV. I think that one of the owners of the NY Yankees is taiwanese, and they also have a taiwanese pitcher there, so there are always Yankees' games on TV. Strange obsessions.

Shoes

It was my second day in Taipei when I visited the first aparments in my search for a place to live. The first thing that surprised me, and not pleasantly, were the corridors packed with shoes. Not only those that people could have just worn, but all the shoes you might have.

That was an extreme case, but it is very usual to find something like this in my apartment's staircase


I read somewhere that taiwanese may have very dirty buildings on the outside, but they really want them very clean in the inside. That's why they leave shoes (an umbrellas) in the corridors. It's not a bad idea, taking into account how much it rains here.

I don't do it yet in my apartment, but I have a large shoe cabinet on the wall opposite to the main door. The thing is, I don't have enough shoes.