The Old Codger's Guide to Living in China and Asia

 
 

A Road Trip to Changsha

5 May 2008

Spring has sprung, for the most part and for all intensive purposes, and The Old Codger, not much unlike a big old bear, has emerged from hibernation.  It is time to go back out into the world and discover new things.  Since there really isn't all that much to see in Nantong, The Old Codger decided that it was time for a road trip.  A trip to Tibet was ruled out, for some reason that seems to be highly censored here in China, so the destination of Changsha was decided upon.  Actually, The Old Codger had been invited to Changsha for the Spring Festival, but the extreme winter weather prohibited that trip. 

Capital of Hunan Province in south central China, Changsha is at the center of a rich agricultural region amid the Hunan plains and bordering the Xiang River. The site has a 3,000-year history of occupation, and was an important center of the southern Chu State culture in the Warring States period (5th-3rd c. BC). The lacquer ware and silk textiles recovered from a Western Han (2nd century BC) tomb at Changsha are an indication of the richness of local craft traditions. In 1904 Changsha was opened to foreign trade, and large numbers of Europeans and Americans settled there. Mao Zedong was born in nearby Shaoshan, and he studied and taught at Changsha. Today Changsha is an important commercial center and river port, with abundant light industrial production.  Population is 1,750,000.

The decision to take a road trip is extremely easy to do.  Deciding how to get to the final destination from Nantong is one that requires careful planning always remembering that This Is China (TIC) and that Murphy's Laws are the prevailing controlling factors. 

The Old Codger has three and a half day weekends, which makes a bit of travel possible from time to time.  Unfortunately, living in Nantong makes travel a tad bit difficult when one must rely on trains, planes and buses.  For air travel, about the only thing the airport in Nantong is good for is to go to Beijing.  It has limited other destinations available.  None of those destinations are Changsha. 

That leaves trains and buses. 

Nantong has a train station.  The train only runs from Nantong to Nanjing, which is about 125 miles / 200 km to the  west.  The train does not run to Shanghai, which is about 70 miles / 120 km to the south east.  This is actually logical given geographical concerns.  In short - and try to stay with The Old Codger here - Nantong is on the north side of the Yangtze River and at this time there is not a bridge crossing the bay / river.  The only way across is by an auto / truck ferry.  That trip takes about a half an hour.

Brief map of Jiangsu and Shanghai area

Nanjing, on the other hand, is on the south side of the river, so it has a direct shot into Shanghai. 

Buses do run from Nantong to Shanghai - but they have to use the ferry to get across the bay.  A bus to any other part of China must go through Nanjing first, as that is the transportation hub for Jiangsu Province.

Knowing the travel options, one then must look at appropriate timing to ensure that one can meet

The Old Codger decided to fly out of Shanghai.  The first flight at 8:00 AM on Saturday was fully booked, so he had to settle for the afternoon flight at 1:00 PM.  Not too bad.  Next, look at the bus schedule.  A Saturday morning bus leaves at 8:00 AM and one would presume that it would get to Shanghai by about 10:30 AM or so, leaving plenty of time to get to the Shanghai International Airport.  That is what a gambling person would do.  The Old Codger does not gamble unless the odds are much better than 50-50.  This is China.  The odds are seldom, if ever, better than 50-50. 

Being wise, The Old Codger decided to go to Shanghai on Friday evening, planning on getting a hotel there for the evening.  He figured that way he would be able to get a decent meal and see a bit of Shanghai at night.  He might even be able to get together with another ex-pat who is now living in Shanghai that is a friend of a friend from Texas. 

Friday evening at 5:00 PM, The Old Codger boarded a luxury bus to Shanghai.  This was the first bus trip that he had taken since about 1970 - 38 years ago.  The cost was cheap - 68 Yuan (USD $9.63) and taking off, the bus seemed to be comfortable.  He figured that he would be in Shanghai by about 8:00 - just in time to enjoy things a bit. 

At 5:30 PM - just barely out of Nantong the bus came to a grinding halt.  Broke down. Dead on the road.  Ain't going no place.  Kaput. 

In normal situations, when a bus breaks down, everyone stays on the bus and the driver will tell everyone what is going on.  China is not a normal place.  It wasn't long before half the people were off the bus and standing around jabbering away and standing out in the traffic lane watching oncoming traffic for the replacement bus that was being sent out.  Fortunately, there had been a couple of people on the bus - now in the middle of the road - who spoke enough English to enlighten The Old Codger on what was going on and what could be expected.  (Not much was going on and nothing concrete could be expected.)  About 2 hours later a replacement bus finally arrived.  The journey resumed.

Buses have priority at the ferry.  Traffic can be backed up, as it was, for a couple, three kilometers waiting to get on one of the four ferries providing services.  Since buses have priority then, apparently, there is absolutely nothing wrong with driving down the oncoming traffic lanes, swerving every once in a while to miss someone that seems hell bent on having a head on collision.  When The Old Codger was a kid, we called stunts like that "playing chicken."  Here in China that is called offensive driving.  One of the drivers will invariably "chicken out" with only a few inches to spare.  Chinese drivers don't seem to have embraced the "one finger salute."  That could be attributed to the fact that they are too busy blowing their horns. 

Rocketing to the front of the traffic lanes the bus driver, knowing that the bus was way off schedule decided to try to force his way onto a ferry that was loading.  This called for another game of "chicken" as a bunch of Chinese came running out of the toll booth shack, shouting and hollering, and getting in front of the moving bus.  The bus driver ultimately "chickened out" thus saving countless lives in the process. 

We finally got onto the ferry and crossed the bay.  Then on into Shanghai, finally arriving at 10:00 PM on a trip that should take only 3 hours.  It was time for dinner - or a semblance thereof.  The Old Codger found a KFC and was pleasantly surprised to find that the chicken wasn't spicy at all, like in Nantong.  It was just like back home.  Plump and greasy. 

Having eaten, the next task was to find a hotel that was reasonable yet clean and having such amenities as a semi soft bed, a western style toilet as opposed to a 'squat pan' and hot water.  Add to the search requirements that Shanghai has two airport - the one that is now officially the "old one" and a new one that is primarily for international flights.  All one must do is find a taxi driver that speaks English and everything can work out fine.  The latter requirement - finding a taxi driver that spoke English was impossible.  Time to regroup and find someone that can speak English.   That is not all that easy to do at 10:30 at night.  Fortunately, there was what looked like a 5 Star Hotel close by.  Logic would seemingly dictate that someone on the staff there would speak English.  The Old Codger finally ferreted out someone that spoke passable English and got him to write down instructions in Chinese.  He even recommended a couple of hotels that would meet the basic requirements.  The Old Codger asked him how much the average taxi fare would be to the airport, and was told it would be about 80 Yuan. 

Find a taxi, give the driver the instructions and hope and pray that everything is going to work out.  Driving along, The Old Codger can see the signs for the airport, and he felt a bit relieved.  Things were working out quite well.  The taxi driver starts to pull off the freeway on an exit and The Old Codger notices that the meter is showing only 20 Yuan.  That means that the hotel is going to be quite a ways from the airport.  The driver is told to keep going toward the airport.  10 more Yuan on the meter and The Old Codger finds himself at the gates to the airport.  So much for an 80 Yuan cab fare to the airport.  Fortunately, there was a hotel there and The Old Codger, having traveled enough for one decided that staying at that hotel would suffice.  Price be damned.  In reality, The Old Codger had missed his daily afternoon nap and could envision himself becoming a bit cranky if faced with any more challenges.  Becoming cranky with any Asian is not a good idea. 

Haggling over the price of the room was basically uneventful.  Once the desk clerk understood that The Old Codger didn't want a suite and didn't want to buy a room - only rent it for one night - 420 Yuan (US $60.00) was agreed upon. The room was adequate, but hot as hell.  No way to control the air conditioning and of course, no way to open the window short of throwing a chair through it. 

Off to the airport to catch a flight the next day was uneventful, as was the flight itself.  Going through security was a breeze - so unlike the security procedures that I remember back in the States.  No need to practically get undressed here in Asia.  Everyone is very perfunctory, showing no emotion at all about anything.  But, one goes through quickly. 

One of the reasons for going to Changsha was to check out the Universities there.  The Old Codger, after freezing all winter in Nantong, is wanting to get further south in China for the warmer weather.  After four years of being totally free from arthritis while living in Thailand, the cold weather in Nantong brought it back with a vengeance. Changsha is reported to have milder winters as well as being the hottest place in China in the summer. 

Another reason was to visit a girl that had invited The Old Codger to Changsha over the Chinese New Year - a trip that was put off until the weather improved.  Upon arriving in Changsha, the weather was much better than it had been in Shanghai.  That was a plus.  The negative factor of Changsha, from The Old Codger's perspective is the size of the city.  It is huge.  The Old Codger is a bit allergic to big cities, so teaching in Changsha is pretty much out of the question.  To its credit though, Changsha is cheaper than Nantong and the food is 100% better. 

Apparently The Old Codger's host in Changsha was laboring under the illusion that all foreigners are rich, as he was initially taken to a 4 Star hotel.  Vetoed that idea quickly and finally found a lower class hotel that was more in my price range and met my basic bathroom requirements.  Still a bit pricey though at 300 Yuan (US $42.00).  He did have a couple of second thoughts upon discovering that standard issue in the hotel was a gas mask.  Oh well, whatever it takes to be safe.

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking a walking tour of sorts along the river which was a few blocks from the hotel.  One interesting sight was the Monkey House (jail) along the river which was complete with the "hanging bars."  Nothing fancy, and not exactly a quick death is afforded from the looks of things.  No one seemed to want to give a lot of information about this "landmark." 

Everything around the "Monkey House" was a well maintained park.  As the weather was warm, there were a lot of people out.  Old men were playing checkers and cards.  Younger men and kids were flying kites.  The park areas were clearly places for people to gather and meet each other.  In a way it was very idyllic.  Dogs were all on leashes.  Kids were all well behaved.  No one was in a hurry to get anyplace or do anything special. 

The next day, we took another walk, this time down what is called "Walking Street."  Stores and shops galore as well as restaurants.  There were also numerous bronze sculptures depicting life and times in the 1800's in China at various locations throughout the street.  A small sign outside one of the restaurants did catch my eye - showing a dog with an "X".  I was unable to ascertain if that sign meant that people couldn't bring a dog into the restaurant, or if it meant that they did not have dog on the menu. 

Changsha is the birthplace of Chairman Mao Zedong - who is considered to be a hero for all Chinese people.  At the far end of Walking Street is a temple honoring him with a statue.  Apparently the "faithful" come to the temple every morning for traditional Buddhist rituals, and there are a number of incense pots scattered around the grounds.  There is also the Chairman's restaurant which appeared to be doing a very brisk business.  Getting a table in a reasonable amount of time was impossible so we moved on.

After a leisurely lunch it was decided that we just "had" to visit the Changsha Museum.  Given that it was a Sunday and the weather was warm, the appeared to be the destination of choice for everyone and their cousins.  Upon arriving at the museum, we were turned away, along with dozens of others, because the capacity limits had been met.

Close by was Martyr Park which was a combination historical site with pictures of martyrs for the country and a theme or amusement park.  The picture on the right is of Chairman Mao's first (of three) wife, who died in one of the battles or wars.  Unfortunately, my host was good at showing me things, but very weak on telling me much about what I was looking at.  While the language barrier could be part to blame, I believe that it is also part of the Chinese attitude about things.  "I know about it, so therefore, you should already know about it all too."

One thing that was strikingly different from Nantong was the number of young children that come up to The Old Codger wanting to have a conversation in English.  Their English skills ranged from moderate to excellent.  Nothing shy about them when it came to wanting to demonstrate and practice their English skills.  The most amazing one was a young girl of about 13 that was in a restaurant we had dinner in.  She very politely initiated the conversation with The Old Codger - and her English and pronunciation skills were absolutely exceptional.  She could easily discuss any subject clearly and competently. 

 

In case of fire...

The Gallows in Changsha

A park in Changsha

No dogs allowed or no dogs on the menu in Changsha?

Chairman Mao Zedung in Changsha

Chairman Mao's first wife

Young Sylvia - an excellent English speaker in Changsha

More Photos Here

All in all, it was a fairly enjoyable trip - a nice change of pace from Nantong.  A nice place to visit - but The Old Codger wouldn't want to live there.  Too big and in some respects, very impersonal.  Granted, he wasn't there long enough to get a real feel for the city, but first impressions can be lasting impressions. 

This letter has been late in getting sent out due to Internet hosting changeovers.  A special thanks to all who have contributed both time and money for their efforts to keep things going.  Everyone is appreciated. 

The Old Codger


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