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Letter 44
Tuesday 25.05.10
I have to be at the Han Tang Inn at 9.30 and it won`t take me a quarter
of an hour. I check out and place my luggage. The one in the reception
is annoyed. Nothing to do with me - just generally. It`s a bad place.
Never again I promise myself - but the aircon was working!
I`m going with a canadian couple to the Hanyangling Mausoleum - it has
several names, a bit confusing.
We wait and it`s now 10.15. A Buick arrives and a man steps in, but
continues into the house. We go on waiting. The girl in the reception
excuses that the driver is in a traffic jam. Ten minutes later the man
from before appears again - he`s the driver all right and we`re going in
the Buick.
It the most obscure driving I`ve ever seen. He accelerates, brakes and -
shift one gear up. From time to time it`s like he`s going to stop in the
middle of the road, but he just lower the speed apparently to let
othersb pass. In this uneasy way we head on.
I haven`t been up here to the north before, they building as crazy. On a
vast area at least 25 skyscapers are under construction, each for 4.000
people,I guess - that`s 100.000.
When we reach the highway towards the airport we`re alone in the road -
a 4-lane motorway.
Different from the Terracotta Army where at least the first pit was a
covered excavation we here steps into a building and proceed down
underground. The light is VERY limited, it`s just a few photos I`m able
to take without flash, which I prefer.
These soldiers, a bit younger than the others, are of a different type.
They have had wooden arms, which are all rottened away and they are just
1/5 in size. It looks like a pile of dolls - you wonder where the bunch
of arms have gone? There are also pigs, dogs, cats, goats aso. They have
been dressed but also the dresses have gone through time.
After having seen all the rectangular excavations we end up at the
cinema. Next show will be in only 15 min. We have headphone on with
english speak.
This show to some extend saves the day. Up goes the curtain for a scene
with some of the excavated items and a tiny man in a light blue suit
enters and start to tell.
He`s moving in and out between the artifacts and is soon followed by
dancers and the emperor and his empress. It`s apparently a holografic
film, it looks amazing - extraordinary.
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| A glance down a tomb | Those without arms (the arms had been of wood) |
But there`s not enough action to keep me awake in this dim light in the long
run, so after the first 20 min I`m fighting the sleep. But it only takes 30 min
so I survive.
Then we go for short to the museum. It`s like the Terracotta Soldiers. It not
the same to look at them in the their montres, as when they`re standing down in
the ground. It says that the entire grave field covers 20 km2? I can hardly
believe it.
The driver has changed completely. He`s obviously on his way home for the day?
Or to earn more money? Racing like hell down the road. Luckily we`re alone for
the first long distance, but in town?
He`s driving in an uneasy way in and out he overtakes. Much too fast from time
to time. I have the honour to sit in front. I have tightened the safety belt!
When we stop for a red light, he`s out in front to look under the car. Did he
want to see if there was a pedestrian?
We get back safely. The promised cup of coffee we`re still waiting for, I asked
the driver: "no, coffee?", when we started going back. Now we agree to ask for
it in the reception. And we get it.
The canadians have been gone for 3 weeks and will soon be heading home. His
parents are from HongKong but living in Beijing. Their home is in Toronto. We`re
back already at 14, so there`s lots of time.
In "Global Times" I read that a transistor has been constructed with 7 atoms in
a silicium crystal. Another step into the super miniature world. Back in my
former hostel I have to replace the sandals with the boots, at least until I`ve
boarded the train.
I walk right across to get a 611 instantly. Just when I`m standing there
thinking that one of the younger persons ought to offer a seat for an elderly
gentleman with a big backpack a lady taps it. Another ladyb is getting ready to
get off and they seem to find me worthy this seat. It was just a gesture I
needed. I smile grateful to them when they get off. I am after all a kind of
retired.
So now I sit here writing. The rows for K1032 is long taken - and the departure
isn`t the first two hours, but I found a place to put my backpack up against the
wall - at least. Unfortunately this row is also the way to the toilets...
Here nobody leave their seats...
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| There wasn't much traffic | The inside of a chinese Buick |
Oh yes...
A lady with a megaphone comes along the row. My guess is that she tells
about a pay waiting room which is more comfortable. There was at least
in Guangyuan. Shortly after the man on my left side gets up and leave
and I`m quick to get down to sit on the floor.
A little later the entire group in front gets up, grandparents, mother
and child. We are a few that fight for their seats. That`s exactly what
the old man needed...
And here the air is, like a miracle, moving. On a day which is hot and
damp. The rain will probably start at night, but then I`m all gone...
It`s 20.20 and I`m in the train, where more of my fellow passengers
already have gone to bed. Darkness has come and we`re on our way south,
that much I know, while I sit eating "White rabbit", and inevitable come
to think of Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane on Surrealistic Pillow,
where she sings: "Go tell Alice, when she`s ten feet tall...". There`s
also some wonderland about this. Even I don`t think there`s more to
these mint sweets. Goodnight.