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English Version 49
Tuesday 20.05.08
Chengdu
I sleep from 23 to 5.50. It`s been a long time since that happened.
Laura is still not there, but when I`ve checked out and sent her my love
and asked them to tell her that "she was right - I couldn`t go" she
comes through the door with a bag of fruits "from my hometown" and I get
a hug and some fruits and told her goodbye.
On my way to the bus station in bus no.33 I see that it`s not only at
the river people are camping. On every green spot in Chengdu is some
kind of tent. Even between two cars there can be an iglo. I wouldn`t
have thought there were that many tents in the whole of China.. Also The
peoples Park is changed to a camping site.
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| Tents all over Chengdu | Goodbye to Laura - she was right |
But have many come to Chengdu from the area, the same number are on
their move out of town, I see at the bus station. 20 m of que and 8
ticket offices. At last I manage to get to the right bus, by the help of
a Chinese girl. She tries to have us sitting together but doesn`t
succeed, so even for a Chinese there are limits to what is possible. But
she`s sitting right behind me and we talk most of the time. Her family
comes from Dujiangyan but has been living in Shanghai for some years.
Now she goes to school in Chengdu, but the threat of another earthquake
has made the school offer the pupils one week leave and she`s now being
"evacuated" to her auntie in Chongqing. She`s been to Tibet and in
Jiuzhaigou National park too, where her mother is dreaming of having a
hotel. Her father has entered kiwi selling as a farmer. Jackie which is
her English name is dreaming of studying at an American university.
At the earthquake 5 students at her school were injured during the panic
to get out.
In this way I get to Chungqing "quick". It`s quite different from the
other cities I`ve seen. It`s situated on the "hills" where the Yangtze
and the Jialing rivers meet.
It`s almost like in an old Donald Duck story about Rip van Winkle who
slept for... One minute I look out at my green Sichuan the next I`m
between skyscrapers of all sizes and on all levels. But they`re not
swaying as they did for Donald Duck.
Auntie has come to pick her up and she gets my e-mail address and they
stop a taxi to take me to Qiao Tian Men from where the boat is leaving
tomorrow. Always good to be prepared.
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| Jackie and her auntie | Chongqing in the sky |
Is Chengdu the Paris of China, Chingqing is New York. Except it`s
been built on the mountains. It`s not easy to find your way here. None
of the usual north-south and east-west streets. And on foot it`s quite
impossible. But after walking by the Jialing River for a while I find a
shop to buy a bottle of Great Wall Chinese red wine. You have to bring
something first time you visit a Chinese home I`ve been taught. It`s
probably undrinkable.
I take a taxi to Metropolitan Tower, where I enter by a wrong door, so I
end up going by the freight lift to floor 31. There`s a computer I can
use and I answer a couple of e-mails but then the programme is changed.
Hans has to have dinner with 2 Danish guys from a Danish firm who`s here
to find business associates, so I find a place to eat myself.
It`s true what Jackie said: it`s more spicy here than in Chengdu!
Afterwards we go to their home. The area is packed with Audi, BMW, Volvo
and just one Bentley. It`s a nice area and a nice home. His wife is from
Taiwan and they`ve lived many years in Denmark so we mostly speak
Danish! I sleep in a soft bed. Beds in Chinese hotels are HARD except
maybe Plaza? Is this the way to live every day? No, if so I could have
stayed in Denmark. But it`s nice for a change.