Funny story about that.
Maybe not so funny.
I came in to Beijing a couple of days ago, and just like a pro, I took the airport shuttle to the subway and the subway to the stop nearest my hotel, then I hoofed it off to a good night’s sleep.
Well, that was the plan anyway. I ended up getting off the subway at Wudaokou about 10pm or so. Maybe a little later. Anyway, I rolled my little luggage bag with me down the street. In the direction of my hotel. Which wasn’t there.
Now, in all actuality, it might be up there somewhere, but I didn’t find it. If I had to guess, it was a victim of the construction up there. There’s so much building going on, and most of the streets are called Xueyuan Lu or some variant, that I didn’t have much of a chance. What I did get was a nice couple of hours walking around Wudaokou late at night. It was kind of educational, really.
Wudaokou is kind of a student ghetto, with a really nice mix of local folks, foreigners and a general student/poverty grunge feel. I saw a few groups of people staggering home from bars – one poor sap being carried home in one group and another groups wavering uneasily around a passed-out compatriot. I saw more graffiti than I’d even seen in Shanghai. But in general, it was all about what I didn’t see.
That being my hotel.
So finally I circled back to the Wudaokou station where I knew there was a moderately passable hotel. I walked in (the indoor ATM alcove next door had two gentlemen curled up for a long winter’s nap) and got a room for what would end up being about 8 hours. No I don’t need breakfast.
Anyway, the next day I did find another hotel, a little further away from where I wanted to be, but the same chain as the one that disappeared on me (7 Days Hotel – no clue if they’re Adventists… that’s a joke, son), and the guy at the desk told me one of the ways they keep the cost down is by building in relatively out-of-the-way spots. This new hotel was no exception. Hidden away in a construction area, with snack restaurants that I’m too scared to try scattered around.
Funny/frightening story about the area- I was walking down one of the side roads, trying to get my bearings, well I say it’s a side road, but it’s really heavily trafficked, especially at 11 in the morning or so when I was there, and I saw a “leisure massage” place on the side of the road. Frankly, these are aaaaall over the place in Shanghai, on nearly every street except the main tourist drags. It’s funny because they almost all look the same, too. There’s a narrow glass storefront, inside of which on either side will be two couches. On the couches with be perched the prostitutes. Now usually, just out of the sheer gawp-worthiness, as I walk by, I’ll glance over, trying to look inconspicuous, and surely failing.
Usually, there are three of four very bored-looking women on the couches in really ridiculous outfits. They’ll be chatting or staring off into space. So I was a bit surprised to see a woman sitting on a chair in-between the couches and looking out to the road. I looked away and kept walking, but then there was an aggressive tapping on the window like with a coin or something. I kept walking, she kept tapping. The whole sex worker situation here is really difficult to come to terms with. I’m sure I’m adding in my own narrative here, but that tapping seemed desperate to me, and I remember it clearly.
A brief sequel to that story came yesterday. I took a wonderful long walk from my hotel at Dazhong Si down to Tiananmen Square through Houhai and the Forbidden City (which I forgot closes at 4:30, grrr.). So I was going to meet up with friends for dinner, but I had a few hours to kill. I went out near the square to check google maps and look for a café or something where I could get some reading done. Now, I have to admit, I do get a little kick out of scaring the touts who come up to foreigners and try to get them to buy something. All it takes is a little Chinese and most of them are pleasantly shaken up. So I stood there with my blackberry typing away and trying to catalogue all the people who were trying to sell me stuff. I didn’t actually take a count, but I should have. There were two women who wanted me to go see their art exposition (this is an old semi-scam I remember from years ago). There were plenty of very old women trying to sell me maps (they have Chinese flags too, but I guess they figure I don’t want one of those). There were plenty of people trying to get me to let them take me to the great wall. These last folks were the most persistent and I ended up chatting a little more with them, but the topic never strayed too far from what a wonderful trip I could have and how cheap it would be, no matter how many times I said I wasn’t going to go.
Anyway, I started to move away, still using the blackberry as a prop to look busy, and a couple of young women came up to me and said hello. By that point I was answering all “hello”s with “I’m not interested” in Chinese. That was usually enough to get them to move along, but these two would have none of it. Oh, your Chinese is good (although they corrected my grammar for me once, which I appreciated). How long are you staying in China? How long have you studying Chinese? All the standard questions. Finally I said, I really don’t know what you’re selling, but I’m just not interested. They were a bit miffed. I heard one say, Oh, he’s just too busy, but then they stood a little away from me for a few minutes. Finally one of them came back over and in a slightly saccharine tone, asked if I wanted to go get something to drink with them. It didn’t dawn on me at the time – those of you who know me are all probably aware how dense I am about these things – what she was probably actually saying. They eventually left to find a better mark, and I went off to find my café, embarrassed as I figured out that they probably weren't asking me to go look at their art exposition - come up and see my etchings, indeed.
I mention those two instances because those kinds of things just don’t happen to me, and I figure for my friends who haven’t come to China yet, maybe this will give you a little flavor of the place. That and I can’t figure out whether it’s all funny or sad.
Wow. This was supposed to be a quick update. No luck there.
I couple more days in Beijing, then I’m heading out to Chengdu on Thursday, anything I should see while I’m there?
