Traveling the World

You take the wine out and begin pouring it into the cups. It tastes great entering your mouth and going down your throat, but as the taste begins to fade, you look into the sky and fear the worst: rain. Even worse, you didn’t bring an umbrella and your hotel is on the other side of town! As the drizzle becomes a full-blown storm with lightning and thunder, you huddle with several other people underneath a vendor’s humongous umbrella.

You bide your time in boredom and angst, waiting for the rain to stop. A genius of a man approaches those of us who’ve become trapped like prey, and offers to sell us umbrellas for 10rmb. You are surprised by how fair he is being, as he obviously has the upper hand and could easily sell them for twice the price and you would pay it just to free yourself from the hell you’re enduring. You open the umbrella, grab your best gal’s arm, and run as fast as you can across the river and through the town, trying hard not to slip on the flooded cobblestone streets. After a rough time, you collapse on your bed, soaked to the bone. It’s something you realize you’ll never forget.

Having lived in the USA for most of my life, I became used to the idea of an indoor washer and dryer for cleaning clothes. Living in Austria wasn’t tough for me because my host mother insisted on doing the laundry, which was dried on a line outside! In Israel, we had enough clothes that we didn’t have to clean them at all! In China though, almost no one has a dryer like in the states. They exist, but they cost way too much money, more than two months average salary for a Chinese person.

As is life, we must adjust to the home environment, and that meant using a drying line in my room to clean my clothes. Because I have a washing machine like almost everyone else in my city, I didn’t have to resort to the old style of taking the sheets down to the river and beating them with a paddle like this woman! Fenghuang is still very traditional, and that means using the river to clean the sheets and clothing. It’s something I would hate having to do, but to see how much it sucked, I asked this woman to let me try it for myself.

She said, “sure, why not,” except it began to look as if it were going to rain kittens and puppies, and she almost yelled at me to hurry up and give her back her paddle because she needed to finish in time to get back to her house. It was a fun experience, but only because it’s not my reality!

This picture was taken during our private boat ride on the first morning we arrived in Fenghuang. Because the town is still not very modern, they have only a few methods for crossing the river. Such options are by wooden planks, stepping stones, boat, or the central brick bridge. I used all 4 methods and found them all quite enjoyable. The first set of stepping stones I came across got my feet soaking wet, whereas the others found further in the up town area were sure to keep your dry, that is unless it is raining! When walking on the first set of stepping stones with water running in between, make sure to take your shoes off or your shoes will be soaking wet!

Lily on the train

The two lane journey through the mountains took us passed small farming villages, giving us the chance to see beautiful rice paddies. We saw the sun rising in one of the most beautiful ways I’ve ever seen. I fell asleep listening to the sounds of the people fully active at 6 in the morning coupled with my iPod, something that should always be with you when traveling!

Children on their way to school

By this time, I had needed to use the bathroom since the day before, as I’ve never indulged in using the squat toilet to do my duty. It was until after I arrived at the final destination, that I realized the town was so ancient indeed that Western sitting toilets don’t exist here. Because of this, I was forced to teach myself how to properly use the Chinese traditional squat toilets. I don’t know whether to be proud of ashamed of not trying it until the one year anniversary of my arrival in this country! It was such an odd experience, and I realize now how strong Chinese legs must be! It takes perseverance and strength to hold your body up to go to the bathroom!

Hong qiao Bridge

Boat ride

After getting off the boat, we strolled along to try the stepping stones across the river. I highly recommend wearing sandals, as my shoes got soaking wet. It’s tricky, because it looks like you won’t get wet, but most of the steps closer to the center and further on to the other side don’t have any grass above water to block the water from pouring over the steps. When we finally reached the other side, I took off my shoes and socks, and walked back again, but this time to the hotel so I could put sandals on and explore more!

Later in the day, Lily and I grabbed the bottle of rice wine and went for a walk to the center of the new town situated along the river. I bought her a flower crown and we took some pictures and sat down and put our feet in the river and drank the wine. That lasted for only a few minutes, as it began pouring. Without an umbrella, we ran to safety underneath the large umbrellas of the vendors several feet away. I said what the hell, I won’t let some rain ruin my day. I pulled out the cups and poured us some more wine. We drank for the next 10 minutes, until finally a random man walked by selling umbrellas. We bought one and began our long return back to the hotel. Along the way, we had to cross the river on a different set of stepping stones, and walk through the now flooded streets. We were absolutely soaked.

Look for the next part, coming soon.

*For the number of the man who drove us in his private car to Fenghuang for 30rmb a person each way, dial 15115260757