I end this journey where I started it: inside some imagination of Jiangnan, the culture of rivers and lakes, which first entranced me in Shanghai eight years ago.

Bridges

Having a powerful imaginative relationship with an adopted home is the key to happiness, strength and longevity. Most people never get beyond a sexual imagination, but, for me, Jiangnan is literary world that bridges who I was and who I am, where I was and where I am now. And this bridge is not the massive 沪宁bridge set to open May 1, it’s a little stone bridge that spans a canal in which water the color of the deepest jade sluices and splashes. Over the centuries, this little bridge has beecome overgrown with weeds and green vines and leaves and in the springtime, which it most definitely is now, yellow blossoms bloom. It’s rutted, pitted, used and made from blocks of stone cut and shaped long, long ago. It tells the story of history, my history, and I am the only one who can decipher it.

China

Living in Beijing, living in Shanghai, you risk shutting down to all the decent things which made China wonderful in that first magical month. Chance meetings, the sense of discovery and most importantly, the sense that there is so much more to learn. China isn’t some riddle to be solved; it is as deep and complicated as you are.

Near

Why do people travel? Who knows. Maybe to get away. This journey was quite the opposite: it was a chance to draw nearer. To Shanghai, for one, a city that I will always love, much more than Beijing. But also to develop into the person I want to be: open, interested, adventurous, alive.

Regrets

On every trip, people compile a list of things they’ll see “next time.” All travel should be undertaken under the premise that there won’t be any next time. The Big Buddha of Xinchang, the Tuha Hotel on the shores of Taihu, Yu Yanwen…all opportunities regretfully missed. But in that quirky inverse way humans have of articulating experience to themselves, I DID them all. I woke, blinking, to the sound of Taihu waves crashing on the shore; I saw the big stone Buddha, 20 meters tall, 20 meters wide, in a cool grotto blessed with prayers; I carried Yu Yanwen to the ends of the earth and set her body on fire and she mine. Let us not be so quick to rob ourselves of the imaginative experience.

Guidebooks

Travel requires preparation. There isn’t much of any worth written on Jiangnan in English, so I turned to Chinese books. I started a month or more beforehand, scanning them, making notes, consulting a map, creating sketchy but workable itineraries knowing that everything, ultimately, would be decided on the spot. The guidebooks provided important guidance and background information, but that’s about it. They got me as far as the Taihu Boat Food Street, but it was some sixth sense (as well as permitting myself the time) that pushed me further on where I found the village that makes Buddhas, the monks who play pool and the best hotel ever for a Taihu sunset. I have become a good traveler. When I first left America 10 years ago, I was a terrible at it. But at least I was eager. I’m still eager.

Hotels

I cannot afford to stay at five star hotels most of the time: Le Meridien Sheshan was a special treat. Most of the time I stayed at 如家 hotels (Home Inn in English). It’s a nationwide chain of mid level hotels (2 star) which are clean, ma-sa-gee free, easily booked online (they confirm via text message and you just show them the message when you arrive) and hover around RMB200 a night. Most importantly, they all have FREE in room internet. Here’s a contrast for you. Le Meridien Sheshan, DID have free wireless, but if you want super sexy broadband, it costs RMB2 per minute. WHAT? In Suzhou at the Renaissance, there was no free internet at all. Many five star hotels, in fact, don’t offer free internet. I have asked several hotel PR people about this but have never gotten a satisfactory answer. I now conclude it is to drive traffic to their business centers. Anyway, Home Inn is a solid choice and popular with middle class Chinese. GreenTree Hotel is another chain, foreign invested, which amounts to about the same thing. I often stay there when I’m in Shanghai. But I highly recommend splurging on a five star every now and again. Throw it in the middle of a trip to recharge the batteries with a fantastic nights sleep, beautiful scents, service with a smile, peace and quiet, PLUS you can steal all the mini bottles of boutique shampoos and soaps to use further on in the trip!

The Individual Journey

It is the most difficult thing, but there is simply no substitute for it. Your path, your journey, your memories and experiences are yours and yours alone, especially because you share them with strangers along the way.

Chinese

Speaking and reading Chinese makes for a very different trip. It becomes richer, much much richer. Not to mention cheaper, much much cheaper. Really, nothing is off limits. Now that I think about it, this was my first time traveling China while being able to manage the language easily. I went to Qingdao in 2006 for two weeks, but that was for a reality TV show. Yes, the last time I traveled in China was a trip to Sichuan in late 2001 to see Chengdu, the Himalayan foothills and the Big Buddha at Leshan. Traveling in Chinese makes for a real sense of exploration. You get the sense that not every foreigner has been this way a hundred times. I feel as if I pioneered the route from Suzhou to the Tuha Hotel on Taihu (cheapest route: Dongchezu train from Shanghai to Suzhou, then take the 游4 bus to Mudu, then change to the 64 bus to Guangfu, then take the 651 to the Taihu Boat Food Street, then hoof it to Chongshan village—five hours total travel time, RMB46 total transportation fee). I also know the way to Xinchang from Shaoxing (taxi to the 东站, then bus to Xinchang for RMB33). Shaoxing native Lu Xun wrote in one of his stories about how paths are made by people’s feet tramping over and over again. Other people have gone where I went, but I feel like my footprints are there and will be visible for years to come. I truly hope that other people will read these accounts and be inspired to travel the same route, but by a completely different path.

People

Some of their names I remember, some not.

The guy who watches over the teahouse at Guangfu Temple. He gave me free boiled water and told me not to bother with 香雪海 because the plum blossoms had already come and gone.

Tony Wang and Yvonne at Le Meridien Sheshan, they have both become friends, people I respect greatly.

Khosravi and Jawad, the two Iranian guys I partied with my first night in Shaoxing. Khosravi is an amazing dancer. I believe our friendship somehow someway will change the course of U.S.-Iranian relations forever for the better.

Jack, the Shaoxing textile dealer who had a surfeit of energy and really liked me, maybe too much.

Kang Lili, Chen Jianglun, Zhao Liang and the rest of the gang at the Zuiyue Restaurant. Lili’s dream is to save up money and go to Hainan. She’s from Shaolin (Luoyang), all of 20 years old and on her own in Shaoxing. Chen Jianglun knows how to mix and match clothes and wants to open a boutique in Nanjing someday. Zhao Liang served me a cup of rare tea and invited me to come back anytime for a real Shaoxing feast.

The guy from Harbin who spat and smoked and talked all the way down Kuaiji Mountain and his friend who said nothing that made the least bit of sense to me.

Sam, the Kiwi, who is a teacher at the Foreign Languages Institute. He’s not a creepy old sex predator after all, just an affable guy who happens to think that young Chinese girls are very beautiful and sexy. I totally agree with him.

Samantha, a student from the Foreign Languages Institute who is an impeccable example of why Hangzhou women rule the universe without even trying. Another time, another place, another life.

Lily, Samantha’s roommate. I called her Hu Jintao because she wore glasses and was so serious about everything. She confided in us that she wanted to change.

Charlotte from Changchun, a teacher at the Foreign Languages Institute. Married, but on her own in Shaoxing.

They have weird stories, murky pasts, complicated and uncertain futures. Not at all passing shadows, but rather passing mirrors which reflect the light which is always hidden over our shoulders, out of sight. They are more than just random names in my mobile phone which I will probably erase in two months in a fit of amnesia.

Shaoxing

I spent four nights and three full days in Shaoxing. If I were to write this all up into a larger travel story, the headline would be “Welcome to Wine Country” and it would probably open something like: “Fifteen minutes is why few Shanghailanders ever get to Shaoxing. That’s how long the train stops at the Hangzhou station on its swing south of the bay and it seems an eternity. But spare the fifteen minutes of life and be rewarded with the best wine, women and song Jiangnan has to offer.” I probably won’t write anything so complicated, just keep feeding these experiences into the Weekender column. Better to keep Shaoxing a little under the radar. The coming of the沪宁bridge wont change things that much, it’s more for the Ningbo dakuans. Once again, Shaoxing gets a pass.

Shaoxing Women

One of the first things I noticed here was the quality of women across the board. They dress well, have good skin, great hair and excellent bodies (Jesus, I know, I sound like a professional appraiser of cattle). They’re trendy and care about their appearance. They wear high heel shoes and tight jeans rolled up at the calf. They are a lot like Shanghai women, but without the cold calculation. They score high marks on the 温柔 scale. I asked a few people and someone told me that it’s the water. Personally, I think the trendiness comes from the fact Shaoxing is a huge textile producer, known worldwide, so there is a burgeoning fashion scene here. As for the good health I attribute it to the decent air, reasonable traffic and overall ecological balance. I don’t see so many people smoking here. Good environment=healthy people=babes! Simple! Rest of China, please take note. There is also a historical element. Xi Shi was a Shaoxing girl and became one of the 四大美女 (four beauties). Hangzhou women still top the charts but Shaoxing babes are close up there. The only drawback is that, unlike Shanghai women, they aren’t used to foreigners. I would go so far as to say they aren’t that interested in foreigners, but I haven’t been here long enough to know. Anyway, guys, Shaoxing, tally ho!

Shaoxing Wine

There is a lot of wine floating around town and you’re bound to drink a bunch here. There is even a museum devoted to Shaoxing’s famous 黄酒. Didn’t have time to go, much to my dismay. Two additional things to mention in connection with wine. First, buy your souvenir wine at a supermarket, even Carrefour. You won’t get a nice, hand painted bottle, but it’ll be cheaper with arguably better quality control. Second, the 咸亨酒店 (Xianheng Jiudian), which is Shaoxing’s most famous wine shop, is currently under renovation. You can still get a cup there or at any of the other dozen shops on the same street, but the ambiance is pretty much shot: the entire south side of the street has been chai’d. It looks like it’ll be a year or more before it’s rehabbed back to form.

Final Thought

Eight days have gone by quickly, but it feels a long, long time. I’ve overlooked many things in these accounts, but only temporarily. They’ll come back in fragments when I last expect it.

Sunshine in my eyes, bamboo breeze

Taihu yawns before me

Whither home?

醉越

雁雨茶馆, March 29, 2008