June 27th: exit Haimen
[ posted by mcdeviltoast ]
Day 284
Woke at 7:15am, blogged, readied everything, then went with Heather to exchange money at 8. Despite our having been there on multiple occasions, the same girl insisted on checking our paperwork and photocopying our passports yet again. And this was after she made snother chap fill out four copies of a withdrawl form. Two things frustrated me about this:
-she could have used carbon paper
-while dude was finishing that and she was sitting IDLE, she could have started our procedure. C'mon, China! Multitask!
The whole ordeal took about 45 minutes and they took their sweet time giving our passports back, sweet time we didn't have. I pedaled Heather back to the middle school on the back of my bike, becoming a sweaty bastard in the already cleggy morning heat. We said bye to Mickey (who bestowed a Chinese tassle ornament on me) and Mr. Yeah who somehow roused himself out of his apocalyptic drunken stupor from the previous night to see us off. I had a few things to do at my place so I rode off, calling "Zai jian, peng you" over my shoulder to Mr. Yeah. I rechecked my room for the hundredth time thenran my stereo receiver up to Rose.
"This is for you," I told her and explained what it was.
"Oh, I think you can take it back to America."
"No, I want you to have it. You've been very kind to me in China and I wanted to say thank you."
She cringed and grinned. "Mmmm, I think it is too expensive."
"May guan xi de (It's nothing)" I said.
Rose is very cute. I popped in on classes 7 and 8, my favorites, since they were adjacent to the teacher's office. I just put my head in the door and said "Goodbye class, I am going to America. I will miss you and I love you all very much." Some of them meekly said "Goodbye," more waved. I was interrupting their lesson so i imagine they were hesitant to break out of class-mode. then I dashed off, checked everything again, and Heather arrived, laden with her belongings.
Nigel stopped me in the hall, asked for the key, tried a last ditch effort to exert some kind of authority or connection in my life. "I already gave it to Rose," I told him, utterly disgusted at his transparent attempts at distracting from his own lost life by trying to meddle in mine, absorb some of my joys vicariously and then subvert them attempting to take credit for them under "his tutelage." I will not miss interacting with him every day to receive the school-sanctioned snack that I didn't even FUCKING WANT!
Luckily the shuttle showed and spared us further social torture. I said goodbye to Rose who said, "A year goes by very quickly, mmmmm." I wanted to hug her, but it's culturally unacceptable unless I was having relations with her, so I gave her a heartfelt handshake. We met Rhys and jeni at the gate, rearranged some luggae to make room, and took our places in the minivan bound for Shanghai.
Rolling by the familiar sites; the front gate, the hotel, it didn't seem like the final time, but then what is a final time supposed to feel like? Should there have been a memory flood, a montage of happiest moments set to an orchestrated Hans Zimmer crescendo? I ride a quiltwork of immediates and sadness and nostalgia don't hit me until much later. I was excited at the prospect of the new transition. At the ferry I got out with Rhys and chatted about Cambodia while he smoked until the thick humid sludge drove me back into the air conditioned confines of the shuttle.
When we arrived in Shanghai we checked into the Amersino hotel, scheduled an airport shuttle so as not to be China'd by either the Metro or Mag-Lev. Peace of mind was worth 180 kuai. Heather told the girl 6:30, confirmed a few times to make sure and the girl snapped, "Ok, ok, I understand.' One less worry.
We opted for lunch at the ma la tong place, in hindsight a bloody stupid thing to do considering t was unbearably hot and moist day, and we were eating steaming spicy brothy business in a crowded, poorly ventilated area. Two chun guo ren were screaming at each other with less than a foot distance between them. I'm sure it did Rhys's hangover no favors.
He went for a nap whilst Heather, Jeni and I returned yet again to Old Town and perused the tiny wooden figurine section. We pressed through the different levels of the market, then on down the road where I kept acquiring things despite the fact that my bags were filled to bursting already. Among other things I secured some Chinese tank commander goggles which are now the official McDeviltoast specs.
We took a cab back, roused the Constable. Heather and I sought an internet cafe to check about lodging with Liz in Los Angeles, but still no word (Nervous!) Then back to the hotel to get Rhys and Jeni, then on to a curry place for some non-Chinese cuisine. Our party grew exponentially and we had to keep moving tables and private rooms as us, Llinos, Phoenix and Nin (Chinese), an Australian named Krish, a Canadian named Claire, and about eight French people joined the madness.
A buffet with yogurt curry, veggie kababs, chicken vindaloo and other delights were there for the taking. I played it safe except for the curry and ate my weight in naan. I had much travelling ahead and my bowels needed to be in a good mood. The beer poured freely and much laughter (tinged with a looming expiration date) emanated from our hot, busy room.
Afterwards we went to Barbarossa, one of the most amazing coctail lounges ever created. It had all the elements of an ideal brainstorm I had: low lighting, Moroccan-themed furnishings, pillows and such, trip-hop/exotica on the hi-fi and of course hookahs. We ordered peach and they had none, so opted for apple. It took a long time for them to get it to us and longer still to light it, but it was decent smoke. I was fading in energy and could have slept there it was so comfortable. Outside, phoenix, declaring she was drunk on one glass of champagne said "I intend to steal a boat!" The rim of Barbarossa was a moat with little paddleboats, lotus garden and such. To even get to the place, you had to negotiate your way through Shanghai's main park, "discovering" the magic oasis inside.
We hugged Llinos goodbye, hopped a cab back to Amersino as the hours rapidly shot away towards dawn.
Woke at 7:15am, blogged, readied everything, then went with Heather to exchange money at 8. Despite our having been there on multiple occasions, the same girl insisted on checking our paperwork and photocopying our passports yet again. And this was after she made snother chap fill out four copies of a withdrawl form. Two things frustrated me about this:
-she could have used carbon paper
-while dude was finishing that and she was sitting IDLE, she could have started our procedure. C'mon, China! Multitask!
The whole ordeal took about 45 minutes and they took their sweet time giving our passports back, sweet time we didn't have. I pedaled Heather back to the middle school on the back of my bike, becoming a sweaty bastard in the already cleggy morning heat. We said bye to Mickey (who bestowed a Chinese tassle ornament on me) and Mr. Yeah who somehow roused himself out of his apocalyptic drunken stupor from the previous night to see us off. I had a few things to do at my place so I rode off, calling "Zai jian, peng you" over my shoulder to Mr. Yeah. I rechecked my room for the hundredth time thenran my stereo receiver up to Rose.
"This is for you," I told her and explained what it was.
"Oh, I think you can take it back to America."
"No, I want you to have it. You've been very kind to me in China and I wanted to say thank you."
She cringed and grinned. "Mmmm, I think it is too expensive."
"May guan xi de (It's nothing)" I said.
Rose is very cute. I popped in on classes 7 and 8, my favorites, since they were adjacent to the teacher's office. I just put my head in the door and said "Goodbye class, I am going to America. I will miss you and I love you all very much." Some of them meekly said "Goodbye," more waved. I was interrupting their lesson so i imagine they were hesitant to break out of class-mode. then I dashed off, checked everything again, and Heather arrived, laden with her belongings.
Nigel stopped me in the hall, asked for the key, tried a last ditch effort to exert some kind of authority or connection in my life. "I already gave it to Rose," I told him, utterly disgusted at his transparent attempts at distracting from his own lost life by trying to meddle in mine, absorb some of my joys vicariously and then subvert them attempting to take credit for them under "his tutelage." I will not miss interacting with him every day to receive the school-sanctioned snack that I didn't even FUCKING WANT!
Luckily the shuttle showed and spared us further social torture. I said goodbye to Rose who said, "A year goes by very quickly, mmmmm." I wanted to hug her, but it's culturally unacceptable unless I was having relations with her, so I gave her a heartfelt handshake. We met Rhys and jeni at the gate, rearranged some luggae to make room, and took our places in the minivan bound for Shanghai.
Rolling by the familiar sites; the front gate, the hotel, it didn't seem like the final time, but then what is a final time supposed to feel like? Should there have been a memory flood, a montage of happiest moments set to an orchestrated Hans Zimmer crescendo? I ride a quiltwork of immediates and sadness and nostalgia don't hit me until much later. I was excited at the prospect of the new transition. At the ferry I got out with Rhys and chatted about Cambodia while he smoked until the thick humid sludge drove me back into the air conditioned confines of the shuttle.
When we arrived in Shanghai we checked into the Amersino hotel, scheduled an airport shuttle so as not to be China'd by either the Metro or Mag-Lev. Peace of mind was worth 180 kuai. Heather told the girl 6:30, confirmed a few times to make sure and the girl snapped, "Ok, ok, I understand.' One less worry.
We opted for lunch at the ma la tong place, in hindsight a bloody stupid thing to do considering t was unbearably hot and moist day, and we were eating steaming spicy brothy business in a crowded, poorly ventilated area. Two chun guo ren were screaming at each other with less than a foot distance between them. I'm sure it did Rhys's hangover no favors.
He went for a nap whilst Heather, Jeni and I returned yet again to Old Town and perused the tiny wooden figurine section. We pressed through the different levels of the market, then on down the road where I kept acquiring things despite the fact that my bags were filled to bursting already. Among other things I secured some Chinese tank commander goggles which are now the official McDeviltoast specs.
We took a cab back, roused the Constable. Heather and I sought an internet cafe to check about lodging with Liz in Los Angeles, but still no word (Nervous!) Then back to the hotel to get Rhys and Jeni, then on to a curry place for some non-Chinese cuisine. Our party grew exponentially and we had to keep moving tables and private rooms as us, Llinos, Phoenix and Nin (Chinese), an Australian named Krish, a Canadian named Claire, and about eight French people joined the madness.
A buffet with yogurt curry, veggie kababs, chicken vindaloo and other delights were there for the taking. I played it safe except for the curry and ate my weight in naan. I had much travelling ahead and my bowels needed to be in a good mood. The beer poured freely and much laughter (tinged with a looming expiration date) emanated from our hot, busy room.
Afterwards we went to Barbarossa, one of the most amazing coctail lounges ever created. It had all the elements of an ideal brainstorm I had: low lighting, Moroccan-themed furnishings, pillows and such, trip-hop/exotica on the hi-fi and of course hookahs. We ordered peach and they had none, so opted for apple. It took a long time for them to get it to us and longer still to light it, but it was decent smoke. I was fading in energy and could have slept there it was so comfortable. Outside, phoenix, declaring she was drunk on one glass of champagne said "I intend to steal a boat!" The rim of Barbarossa was a moat with little paddleboats, lotus garden and such. To even get to the place, you had to negotiate your way through Shanghai's main park, "discovering" the magic oasis inside.
We hugged Llinos goodbye, hopped a cab back to Amersino as the hours rapidly shot away towards dawn.
---
[ posted by mcdeviltoast @ 6/27/2005 11:59:00 PM ]
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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!