May 22nd: return to Haimen and a chevished cabbie
[ posted by mcdeviltoast ]
Day 248
Woke, collected my gear, went with Heather to get coffee, then on to dumplings. Rhys and Jeni, up drinking 'til god knows when, were still sleeping and would meet us in front of Llinos' hotel after checking out.
After eating, I bought some silks, nowhere near as plentiful or varied as October. We met our bedraggled mates and toured the Garden of the Blue Wave Pavilion. I saw the whole thing this time, as I got separated from Erin, Chuck and Meagan last time and stayed in one place until I rejoined them. I also had unlimited pictures to take, but I realized I had already taken most of them the first visit.
We killed time window shopping until the Pub Bar opened. We had been salivating for English breakfast since we saw it on the menu the day before. When it came, it didn't disappoint: eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, baked beans. The tomatoes were curiously absent, but everything else was spot-on. The coffee was incredible; Jane (the newly adopted Chinese mum) used an odd glass beaker with tube and candle apparatus and whatever magic it held, passed directly into the flavor.
We left Rhys and Llinos to nurse their beer and discuss all things Welsh while we shopped some more. I was able to find a batik emblazoned with the bodhisattva with a thousand hands, a hauting image I will The last bus to Nantong left around 6, so we had to clear out. We said goodbye to Llinos, caught a cab at a corner, which is apparently the only traffic law anyone will enforce. You can run red lights, not give right-of-way, drive the wrong way down a street in reverse and a cop will not bat an eye, but try to collect foreigners on a street corner and one will swoop out of nowhere and take the next eight minutes writing out a ticket, leaving the cab to block even more traffic. Smart.
Our cabbie got us to the station, but there were no buses to anywhere. Uh oh. We negotiated with some cabbies outside and eventually talked one down to 300 kuai. He got us to Nantong, then demanded more because it was longer than he had anticipated. We gave him another 10 kuai as hush money, told him to choke on it.
We met Erin and Matt at Captain's Bar. I had company sandwich but had that distended belly feeling like I was one meal ahead from the immense breakfast. I felt overly gluttonous and promised myself tomorrow I would get my gestation pattern realigned. We took separate cabs back to Haimen and our cabbie was the most inept driver in China. He drove us through some country roads where people stumbled zombie-like in the dark shoulder, walking towards the expansive nothing. We were all exhausted and cracked up at our cabbie's complete lack of skill and road sense.
The gate of the middle school never looked so inviting. The trek took twice as long as necessary, we poured ourselves out of the cab, relieved and giddy. Sleep had cloaked us for the past hour, now we were able to surrender to it.
Woke, collected my gear, went with Heather to get coffee, then on to dumplings. Rhys and Jeni, up drinking 'til god knows when, were still sleeping and would meet us in front of Llinos' hotel after checking out.
After eating, I bought some silks, nowhere near as plentiful or varied as October. We met our bedraggled mates and toured the Garden of the Blue Wave Pavilion. I saw the whole thing this time, as I got separated from Erin, Chuck and Meagan last time and stayed in one place until I rejoined them. I also had unlimited pictures to take, but I realized I had already taken most of them the first visit.
We killed time window shopping until the Pub Bar opened. We had been salivating for English breakfast since we saw it on the menu the day before. When it came, it didn't disappoint: eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, baked beans. The tomatoes were curiously absent, but everything else was spot-on. The coffee was incredible; Jane (the newly adopted Chinese mum) used an odd glass beaker with tube and candle apparatus and whatever magic it held, passed directly into the flavor.
We left Rhys and Llinos to nurse their beer and discuss all things Welsh while we shopped some more. I was able to find a batik emblazoned with the bodhisattva with a thousand hands, a hauting image I will The last bus to Nantong left around 6, so we had to clear out. We said goodbye to Llinos, caught a cab at a corner, which is apparently the only traffic law anyone will enforce. You can run red lights, not give right-of-way, drive the wrong way down a street in reverse and a cop will not bat an eye, but try to collect foreigners on a street corner and one will swoop out of nowhere and take the next eight minutes writing out a ticket, leaving the cab to block even more traffic. Smart.
Our cabbie got us to the station, but there were no buses to anywhere. Uh oh. We negotiated with some cabbies outside and eventually talked one down to 300 kuai. He got us to Nantong, then demanded more because it was longer than he had anticipated. We gave him another 10 kuai as hush money, told him to choke on it.
We met Erin and Matt at Captain's Bar. I had company sandwich but had that distended belly feeling like I was one meal ahead from the immense breakfast. I felt overly gluttonous and promised myself tomorrow I would get my gestation pattern realigned. We took separate cabs back to Haimen and our cabbie was the most inept driver in China. He drove us through some country roads where people stumbled zombie-like in the dark shoulder, walking towards the expansive nothing. We were all exhausted and cracked up at our cabbie's complete lack of skill and road sense.
The gate of the middle school never looked so inviting. The trek took twice as long as necessary, we poured ourselves out of the cab, relieved and giddy. Sleep had cloaked us for the past hour, now we were able to surrender to it.
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[ posted by mcdeviltoast @ 5/22/2005 02:08:00 AM ]
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The dumbtronica act Montana & McDeviltoast, along with their friends, keep each other updated on their activities. Much fun having by all, and Pockys fear for their lives!