First things first: Dinner.
l went to E's room to find him for dinner, and it ended up being a little A-ban conference, at first in the hallway, and then in E's room as he packed. I think the language pledge has the effect of exaggerating our personalities. We become caricatures of ourselves.
So after some checking in, we finally got it into gear and went to get dinner. Our classmates recommended a restaurant, but didn't have time to eat with us, so E and I got a table against the wall. The waitress wanted to take our order right away, and it took some convincing to let us have five minutes to look at the menu. Look, lady, we are not strong readers.
We ordered baby celery, five spice beef, some greens with chicken, a dark beef stew with carrots and green onions, and a big plate of shoe string potatoes.
As we were eating, E noticed that it was already six o'clock, and our train leaves at seven. Sheesh! So we gave ourselves ten minutes to finish, and then E asks if I remembered my passport.
Dang it. Need the passport for the hotel.
Traffic
Since he forgot his as well, he volunteered to sprint back to the dorm in the rain while I took care of the restaurant. He knows that I'm big and slow. So I gave him my room key, paid the bill, and then waited for him under the viaduct.
We got a cab immediately, but after ten minutes in the cab, I noticed we were still at the university. Traffic. I told the driver that our train was at seven, and he said, it's 6:38, we will certainly not arrive on time. We already bought our tickets, what will we do?
The driver said something I didn't understand, and E acted relieved, which I assume meant we could exchange our tickets. We got to the train station around five minutes after seven.
Train Station Drama
Our train was no longer listed on the big board, so we went to the counter to exchange tickets. We noticed ticketed passengers giving the people behind the counter five kuai and getting a different kind of ticket in return. Is that what we're supposed to do? Also, there was a younger woman crying desperately; I think she was with other people, but the only comfort came from the uniformed lady behind the desk, who told her "no crying." As usual, people were pushing in front of us, but when we finally got to the front, the guy looked at our tickets, realized our situation, and told us we had to go "out there" to exchange our tickets.
So fine, we went "out there" and E found a line to wait in, and then was told by one of the (many) people trying to talk us out of the train and into their bus that we would have to go to the ticket window. This isn't the ticket window?
So we went to the ticket window, window number 12, actually, and waited and waited, and when we got to the front, the lady realized our situation and shouted to us "WINDOW NUMBER FIVE!" which we finally understood the fifth time she said it.
We got to window number five, where there was a long line that wasn't moving. So E said, it's just seven bucks, let's just buy new tickets for the next train.
Fine with me! So we went to window number 10 to buy new tickets. Window 11 lady noticed we were back and said something to 10 lady, probably about how pathetic and ignorant we are.
Window 10 lady told us there were no seats left on the next train, but that she could put us on the 9:30 train, leaving from Hangzhou East. We discussed it and finally decided, yes, we'll take the 9:30. So then the lady closed window 10, walked us over to window 5, and got us new tickets in front of all the people waiting in line. She even gave us change because the later train was cheaper.
So now we had over an hour to kill. I noticed that there was a China Mobile office in the lobby, so I went and added a bunch of money to my cell phone. That gave us the right to sit in the China Mobile VIP lounge, sweet. So we sat down and wondered how we were going to kill over an hour.
So E taught me a word game which he really enjoys, but I found very slightly tedious. I would have liked it more if I didn't keep screwing it up. We continued our custom of speaking Mandarin, and writing notes to each other when it got beyond the basics.
After about forty five minutes we were bored of that place, so we got up to go explore the train station, find a place to pee, etc. As we were leaving, the lady asked to see our tickets so she could tell us which waiting room and platform. She took one look at our tickets and said, Hey, you need to get in a cab right now and go to Hangzhou East!
What?
So we got in a cab, and asked for Hangzhou East Train Station, and we were on our way. E asked the driver, who really liked to lean on his horn, so how many train stations does Hangzhou have?
Oh, just the two, he answers, leaning on his horn.
More Train Station Drama
We got to the other train station, which had the vibe of a sad carnival, where lots of people showed up and they all hated it. The bathroom stunk, and as we made our way to the waiting area, we noticed a lady who had been taken into the security area yelling at a security guard. A crowd had gathered, and she was yelling at the guard and telling the crowd how he was responsible for the blood streaming down her face. She tried to go into the crowd, but the guards stayed on her. Everyone stood and watched.
Later, I saw two guards dragging the lady by the upper arm to an office. Don't know what happened to her after that.
We got to our train, and sat next to a couple playing cards. E and I played the word game again, and noticed that the AC had gone out. It was hot and humid, and everything seemed to be wet. The paper we were writing on seemed soggy. Later the AC came back on, and the paper went back to being crinkly.
By the time we got to Shanghai, the subway was closed, so we took a cab to our hotel. It's a three star hotel, lots of space. Nothing is free but the towels. We're on Nanjing Road, but it's West Nanjing, not to the glittering East Nanjing shopping district.
I went out and took a walk by myself after breakfast. I think this place is pretty hopping. The Jian Temple is across the street, there's a subway station on the corner, and plenty of restaurants, including western restaurants, including Burger King and McDonalds. Mmm. More later.
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