The Avid Reader (and enjoyer of all subjects)

Well, the day when we had to depart Shanghai for Jiangxi finally came–seemingly after such a short time, too!–so my mom, sister, and I packed our bags up.  On that day, it was raining quite hard (signs of Typhoon Morakot approaching!).  My grandpa called a taxi for us, and after my grandparents had hurried into their apartment again, the taxi set off for Shanghai South Railway Station.  Our taxi driver made a lot of twists and turns through the bustling city.  After a few minutes, we arrived at our destination. 

We first passed through the security checks.  Then, we hurried towards our waiting area.  We happened to be extremely early (90 minutes early).  During our wait, I watched a 5-year-old boy jump around the waiting area’s seats while his wai po nagged about his energy.  The boy attracted a lot of attention, both good and bad; a few women stared on admiringly while a few men, exasperated, moved to other seats where no one would climb right behind them.  After the boy had finished exercising, he opened a can of soymilk and gulped its contents down in five swallows.  Then, his wai po and wai gong began to ask him math questions.  I was astounded that the boy could do simple arithmetic.  He could calculate 100 + 800, 19 + 12 (where he had to carry a 1 to the tens place), and solve elapsed time problems (his wai po asked him how much time was left until the train departed).  The boy, who had not even attended preschool, could exceed in second or even third grade math in America; American students were that behind in academics.  To me, the 90 minute wait seemed like 30 minutes with his presence.

Half an hour before our train was to depart, we were called to board the train, which seemed like an everyday object; it wasn’t as fascinating as it had been many years ago, when I was a little child.  I was very nervous, and hoped that the person who would be sharing the compartment with us would not be a criminal.  Fortunately, this person turned out to be a father whose family was in a nearby compartment. 

At 9:00, the train began to move.  My mother and sister fell asleep a few minutes later.  Being my wary and cautious self, I fell asleep at around 10:00 after checking to see that nothing was awry.  At 1:15, I woke up.  Then I fell asleep again, waking up at 6:00.  Our train was to arrive at Nanchang (capital of Jiangxi province) about an hour later.

After my breakfast, I just stared out the window, observing the landscape.  What I saw bore 0% resemblance to Shanghai.  Outside was acre after acre of greenery.  Occasionally, I saw some farmers working in the fields or herding cattle.  I also saw many white birds.  I think they were cranes. 

At around 7:00, we arrived at Nanchang.  Shu shu, or my dad’s younger brother, was to pick us up, along with one of da bo’s, or my dad’s older brother, colleagues.  I was the first one to spot shu shu.  He was craning his neck in hopes of finding him.  When I waved my umbrella in front of him, he saw.  After exchanging greetings, we went on to the police car da bo owned (da bo is a policeman).  We quickly went to a restaurant to have some breakfast (even though I had fit in some bread my grandparents gave us, and gulped down 500 millileters of kiwi juice).  I tried to fit in everything we ordered, which included some rice soup, potatoes, and tons of dim sum, but found it impossible with my stomach refusing food.  After the breakfast, we set off again on a 3-hour drive to a country city called Nanfeng.  I wondered why shu shu took his brother’s car instead of his own car, a Volkswagen Passat.  I soon learned why.

While we were zipping through towards the highway, we passed through our first toll booth.  Da bo’s colleague, who was driving the car, went through a booth with a red “X” marked on a sign, and impatiently honked his horn.  We were given a green card and let through.  A few big trucks nervously changed lanes as our police car went through.  Policemen in China did not have to pay in toll booths.

We soon arrived on the highway.  I glanced out at the landscape.  There were many beautiful mountains (which I could NOT capture on camera, as we forgot it!!!).  I wondered what mountain range that was.  (I’ll have to do some googling on the topics I’m curious about.)

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I remember is seeing my mom, sister, and shu shu sleeping while we continued on our way.  After a few minutes, my mom and sister woke up, too.  We still had 45 minutes left on our trip. 

Soon, our driver veered off the highway.  Here, there was a lot of red dust, reminding me of the beginning scene in “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck.  On the two-way, two-lane  road, our driver steered through the streets recklessly, beeping his horn incessantly and passing slow cars and trucks, and normally staying on the opposite lane when no cars were coming on that lane, risking a head-on collision.  Fortunately, he was very experienced, and we didn’t crash. 

After what seemed like eons, we arrived at the city of Nanfeng.  Shu shu informed me that Nanfeng had grown from a rural town to a bustling city of over 100,000 people, not counting another area called Nongchun.  That’s even bigger than Cary!  To me, Nanfeng remained the same–dirty, smelly, clogged with pedicabs, and without any taxis.  But we had arrived at Nanfeng at last.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.