My final flight was also the shortest, at around 1 hour and 40 minutes. But, like subsequent flights, I was fed a whole meal. This meal consisted of beef and noodles, along with a few Chinese stacks: Apple chips, a bread roll, and something called "Tremella & Pear & Medlar in Apple Drinks."
Tremella & Pear & Medlar in Apple Drinks. The packaging seems harmless enough.
I asked the couple sitting next to me "这是什么？" ("What is this?") to which they replied "银耳" ("Tremella"). I then asked "银耳是什么？" ("What is tremella?"). Their response? "银耳." Haha, this wasn't getting me anywhere, I thought, may as well eat it and stop asking questions.
Tremella. Up close, and very personal.
The texture was a bit like a jellyfish. It had virtually no flavor, but was sitting in unsweetened apple juice. I ate the whole thing so as not to embarrass myself. The couple found me quite amusing. I later found out exactly what tremella is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tremella. Yep, it was tree fungus. In apple juice. Still, it didn't taste bad.
The couple next to me and I had tried with varying degrees of success to have a conversation. They spoken very little English, and my small knowledge of Chinese extends only to greeting people and asking and answering simple questions. They smiled every time I tried to articulate an answer to their queries. The wife tried to tell me that her sister's daughter lived in America. Unfortunately, instead of saying "daughter" she kept saying "doctor." I opened my laptop, turned on my Chinese translation program and resolved the problem, teaching the woman the word "niece" in the process.
They asked if we could exchange numbers and emails. They said they would like to take me to dinner sometime so that I could have a real Xi'an experience. They were very nice and I hope to see them again soon.
At the airport in Xi'an, I shook the hands of my new friends and said goodbye. Waiting for me just beyond the baggage area were two young girls with a sign that said "Sean Hayden Drewery" in bold arial. They ushered me onto a waiting car.
This is the first, of what I assume will be MANY, MANY times I'll talk about Chinese driving habits. The man who drove, whose name I never got (he didn't say anything for the entire ride), was an aggressive driver, to put it mildly. In and out of traffic, blinking his lights and honking his horn furiously. He laughed when I slammed on my invisible passenger break. One of the girls, Xiao Liu (小刘）, later informed me to be cautious of cars and motorbikes while in China. "They NEVER stop," she told me.
I finally arrived at my new home, the Qi Xia Yuan Hotel (启夏苑旅馆). It is literally a hotel, not exactly what I had been expecting based on the brochure. Still, the room is nice, the bed is firm, the internet works, and the maids are helping me with my pronunciation. Now, if only there were more than one English language TV channel. Oh, well.
Qi Xia Yuan Hotel (启夏苑旅馆, qǐxiǎyuàn lǚguǎn lit. "Open Summer Garden Hotel"). My home in China.
Upon arrival, I informed American that I had arrived, laid my head down on a pillow, and slept for 12 hours.
Hayden
Oh man...I can just picture you as a passenger over there! Korean drivers are pretty crazy, too, so I have an idea of what the trip was like. And I remember you and your invisible passenger brake :) I haven't traveled much by car since I've been here, so maybe you'll get to avoid it, too?
ReplyDeleteAlso, comment on the entry after this: my hotel had the same keycard electricity thing. Took me a bit to figure it out, too! However, the awesome part was that I never lost my key in my room!!