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English Version 38
Friday 09.05.08
Chengdu
Going nowhere. These words describes my day very well.
It rained the last part of the night and part of the morning and it was
nice and cool after the rain. Sent a lot of pictures back home early in
the day.
But when I talk to Laura, who`s the manager and is the most competent
one and tell her I`m going up north to Xining, she says I can`t. They
won`t let foreigners pass longer than to Songpan, the next is tibetan
area, which doesn`t mean that it`s Tibet, but it is tibetans who live
there. So that`s why.
Oh - that was bad news. What then? Well, if I can`t go through not even
in a bus, then the solution is to go around with the train. So I prepare
for that. This will mean that I get more time the last part of my trip
and that suits me fine. One and a half day in the train instead of 13
days on the road.
But I am still longing for the blue sky in the high mountain and to get
used to the high altitude little by little, so I seek a second opinion.
PSB that take care of visa and visa extensions must know? So I go there.
Before I get to the desk I`m "taken prisoner" by an Indian, who teaches
philosophy in Chengdu and, as far as I understand, has sent an
application to the Danish Ibis for a job. His wife standing at the
counter with a Chinese interpreter looks angrily at him several times,
because he`s not concentrating on the important things.
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| For a few coins someone is guarding your bicycle | A long word - each character represents a syllable |
At last I get to the counter and tell my problems. They don`t speak
much English but when they`ve seen my passport and understood that I`m
not there for visa extension, they`re ready for negotiations. Their
English goes as far as to say: You`re travelling China by bike? You CAN
go. They`re out somewhere behind to ask and I show on my map where I
want to go just to be sure. No problems!
And then I`ve really gotten nowhere, I just feel an unpleasant
uncertainty about what`s true.
When I tell Laura about it, she doesn`t understand because: "At the bus
station they don`t sell tickets to foreigners longer than to Songpan,
because it`s tibetan area", and that`s most likely true, but I`m not
going by bus.
So all considerations and requests about staying 2 days longer are
forgotten.
And then I use the day to find out, that the sun cream I bought in
Taiyuan is something for itching. I have to go to the shop twice,
because first time I show them my "sun cream" when they don`t understand
what I want, and that kind of stuff they don`t have. So I need Laura to
write: Fang shai shuang with Chinese characters to get the only one
they`ve got. Factor 30. Nice.
This way you can use a day doing almost nothing!