[December 2019 Note: This entire entry has been migrated from my other blog. It is an old post (series of posts, actually) from 2012 and 2013. We thought that we were through with China and they with us – hence the title. But it turned out that we were fortunate to have a second, much longer stay in China, the second time near Dalian. I hope to write about that as well, but this article here is about our very first wide-eyed encounter with strange inscrutable China.]
If there would be one word for our initial experience in Jilin – in China for the first time – it would be “disoriented”.
First there is the jet lag. After being in a plane for what seems like a whole day we finally arrived in Jilin. The next few days we tried to get our sleep rhythm back.
But the greater disorientation comes from the absolute strangeness of everything. Signs everywhere, but totally incomprehensible.
Here are a few pictures from this first few weeks:
After we overcame jet lag things began to seem only moderately disorientating. We also saw aspects of Chinese life that were familiar.
For instance, there was Wal-Mart. And in some ways it was very much like the Wal-Marts at home. But there were also differences.
There were helpers in uniforms – lots of them. In every fourth or fifth aisle they were there to offer you a sample; a little paper cup of tea, or coffee, a tray with cubes of (I assume) meat. In the picture you see cubes of dragonfruit, the white flesh contrasting with the black seeds.
Almost invariably, when the servers saw us Westerners, they would do a double take. We were stranger to them than they were to us! Very few foreigners – certainly very few Americans – have ever been seen by most Jiliners.
And then we saw this fellow:
This is not the pet section. (We never saw one in a Chinese Wal-Mart). This is the seafood area. This eel managed to escape from his tank, writhing around quite energetically. Is the fish fresh? Yes. I would say so!
Although the temperatures were at the lowest I have ever experienced since my Air Force days in Minot, North Dakota, I would still have to say that our trip to Harbin was well worth it. Technically my teaching contract did not start, so we figured now would be a good time for a two-day side trip.
The side we chose was north. Way north. The northernmost province of Heilongjiang snuggles up, geographically if not always friendlily, against Russia’s Siberia. And Siberia is what it felt like this January.
We have our tickets and a soon-to-be well-worn dictionary, waiting in the Jilin Train Station. Our school coordinator was surprised that we dared to venture out on our own with our very sparse command of the language. But we did OK.
A village somewhere between Jilin City and Changchun. The ride on the high speed train was smooth and comfortable, allowing for many pictures of the countryside. (Links to other pictures of the entire trip are here. Note: For some reason, these pictures are in reverse chronological order. Not that it really matters.)
Yes, that really is ice. Blocks made of ice, some of them with wiring in and lights shining through. Very pretty at night.
Mei Mei poses amiably in front of frozen river, sporting her stunning bunny hat thingie.
When is a river not a river? When it is frozen solid. And that is what this river was – a huge ice cube which one can cross at your own risk. The risk, as I found out, was slipping. But I had no doubt that the ice was solid. We saw many people, occasional taxis, snowmobiles, and even horse-drawn troikas leading the way.
After about a half hour of careful walking we made it to the other side – Sun Island.
Here are some other pictures from our Winter visit to Harbin. (Later in the year we will visit it again. More pictures on that second trip later in this blog.)
What better way to warm up than to have a steaming bowl of noodles. I was surprised at how good noodles could be – and also at how one can learn to eat them with chopsticks. But I also learned – as I did when I took this picture – how hard it is to handle chopsticks when fingers are numb from bitter cold.
From NOwhere 2 nowHERE 