A Visit from Clay

In late June, Clay Padgett, a good friend from college, and my Kappa Sigma pledge dad came to visit me and visit China (I think mainly China). Clay has an interesting job, he’s an engineer for BP working on the North Slope of Alaska. Because living on the North Slope isn’t really sane of healthy, he works two weeks on with long hours and then has two weeks off. So with me as a free (if not qualified) travel guide, we headed around China. Below are a few of the more interesting occurrences from our travels.

On Clay’s second day here, we were checking out the People’s Park in central Shanghai. As we turned the corner into what we assumed would be another pleasant path, we encountered hordes of people, almost all of them old. Concurrently, we noticed pieces of paper everywhere, on the ground, taped to poles, pinned to trees, or attached to wires strung between the trees. I couldn’t quite make out much of what was written on the pieces of paper, but they seemed to be descriptions of people. Some of them even had pictures attached. My first impression was that they were missing persons forms, and these were parents trying to find missing children. This was because most of the descriptions were for people in their twenties or thirties. Luckily, a group of three young Chinese people asked me if I knew what was going on. I told them what I thought, but they informed me that no, these weren’t missing children, this was a live personal ad fair…or rather, more accurately, arranged marriage fair. I say this because the parents were advertising their children, and from what I later gathered, the children weren’t all aware of this. The three young Chinese weren’t there to find mates, but rather were visiting it as tourists, as they weren’t from Shanghai, but had Shanghai friends that had recommended they check out the spectacle.

And a spectacle it was. There were probably between 750 and 1,000 papers advertising potential wives or husbands. This may seem crazy, but understanding that Chinese people place large value on the family, and that with the one child policy being thirty years old, there are lots of Chinese people in their fifties and sixties waiting on the one daughter or son to produce the cherished grandchild. So, I had some fun with it, and talked to two different fathers about their daughters. After I walked up, one father busted a folder out of his bag and started showing me more pictures. Unfortunately, when he found out I was 22 he quickly rebuked my offer, as I was far too young (and they say love knows no age). As I talked with him, an entrepreneurial Cupid imitator came up and showed me a few different pictures on her cell phone. She was quite the businesswoman, with folders full of the advertising sheets, and digital photos to match on the cell phone. She offered me her sister, but I am hoping that she was using the term in the Chinese way (loosely, for affection) and wasn’t really going to give her sister’s hand to some foreign dude who speaks pre-school level Chinese.

More on the romantic and awkward front occurred in Beijing. On three different occasions, Clay and I were approached by pairs of young Chinese girls. It happened when we were heading to or out of popular tourist sites. They kind of sauntered up and asked where we were from or if we spoke English. Two of the three pairs said they wanted to practice English and talk with foreigners. This is absolutely normal and common. They seemed pretty believable when telling me where they were from or what they did. The desire to speak English is certainly normal, but coming up to foreigners, especially in a place like Beijing-where foreigners aren’t such a novelty, isn’t. Each time, they would suggest that we go join them for a cup of tea or bear or something similar. I have read somewhere to be careful for people in China who will invite foreigners to tea, and then the foreigners get stuck with a hefty bill (which is then kicked back to the inviters). So, Clay and I denied all the invitations, but did chat with them as far as we were walking. I’d like to think that they were being honest, but there’s definitely something inside of me that thinks they may be swindlers, or possibly even prostitutes (or hairdressers as they act as here).

My tour guide services almost failed big time when we were leaving Beijing. We bought the tickets at the main Beijing station upon our arrival. Before when the train leaves from another station, the ticket sellers have warned me of this. Not this time. I was a fool and never looked at the ticket. As we entered the station, I couldn’t find our train on the board, and Clay goes “It says Beijing South, does that mean anything?” I cursed to myself and said, “yep, it means we’re moving”. So we raced out of the station, into a taxi, and made our way across the city, and ran to our train with three minutes to spare. On an “I am an idiot” side note, I’d like to say I haven't done this again, but did it just three weeks later in Shanghai.

Last Day in Korea

The beginning of our last day in Korea was quite odorous. We decided to check out the biggest fish and seafood market in Seoul. The directions from the metro stop in the guidebook weren’t correct, so after getting some help from a street vendor, we were on our way. As we approached, the signs were all in Korean, but our noses led us there. And quite the fish market it was. There were huge octopi, all kinds of snails, a plethora of squid, giant crabs, and endless stalls of myriad fish. We then took the metro back to the world’s best airport; just having a metro there is a great sign for me. We enjoyed the Samsung lounge at the airport, which had laptops and PCs connected to the Internet and phone chargers (for Samsung phones), all free of charge. The sales ladies standing by the water cooler did not even once try to sell us anything. So we caught up on some emails and news. As we were making our way to the gate, I noticed a sign that said “Korean Traditional Culture-Free Event”. I of course wanted to check it out. We had plenty of time (Danthemanstan-not me-is very punctual), so we both made a traditional Korean desk out of balsa wood. They also had Korean fans, but they took longer (and weren’t as cool). I had a nice chat with the cute worker-who was wearing a traditional Korean dress. I will say that my craft skills are better than Danthemanstan’s, but he didn’t forget his craft on the plane like I did, so he wins in the end.

Our flight was uneventful and I had a nice chat with a Chinese girl who was coming back from a year studying Korean in a city near Seoul. But, after we landed, things got fun. We had had to fill out health questionnaires just like we had arriving in Korea. But, China takes the swine flu a little more seriously than other countries (as they should, as China has every ingredient for a fast spreading epidemic). On came a team of medical officials, in full body white suits, with facemasks and hairnets. They even had a metal briefcase with the thermometers on the inside. So, we all had our temperatures taken with a thermometer gun on the forehead. Then, those who didn’t pass the test had their temperatures taken with a normal thermometer. They were then escorted off the plane. What made this so fun was that Danthemanstan and I were joking the whole time about how funny it would be to be quarantined. Alas, neither of us had a fever, and we returned to Changzhou safe and sound.

Back in Seoul-DMZ

I was up early to go on the DMZ tour on the penultimate day of our trip. I wasn’t too happy, and not because of the early rise, but because the tour I was on wasn’t the one I wanted to be on. More or less, Internet confirmations meant nothing, and me not being at a computer at all times (to make an email confirmation because apparently the Internet one wasn’t valid) led me to not be on a tour that went through the Panmunjom joint security area, which is the coolest part of the DMZ. Danthemanstan was able to get his tour confirmed, so he was fortunate to be able to check it out. Nonetheless, it was a pretty cool experience. But, the Panmunjom area allows one to take lots of good pictures, whereas some of the places I went don't allow it.

Our first stop was the third tunnel (of the four discovered tunnels North Korea has dug under the DMZ). The highway there was heavily fortified, with armed stations every half kilometer or so. South Korea has two year compulsory service for males, so they’ve got plenty of soldiers to fill the outposts. The tour of the tunnel was okay, I kind of leeched onto the guided tour in front of me to learn more. The most interesting thing is that the entire tunnel was, and portions still are, covered in a black paint. As the North Koreans dug the tunnel, and as they retreated, they covered the walls with a black, coal paste, to disguise it as coal exploration. Of course, the South Koreans were smart enough to know there is no coal there, and that the tunnel was designed as a secret military passageway and not a coal mine. In the tunnel I was 170m away from North Korea, which is about as close as I really ever want to get.

Our next stop was Korean Army Base #1, which is located right outside the DMZ, but inside a five-mile military protection area. Telescopes provided views of Panmunjeon, the demarcation line/fence, and the Kaesong industrial park. Kaesong is a place where South Korean companies use North Korean workers to manufacture products. They do this because the North Koreans will work for considerably lower wages than the South Koreans, and many South Koreans see it as a way to reach out to North Korea (many value the idea of ‘one Korea’) because there’s not much political reaching out to be done. I was surprised at how big it was, having the size of a pretty sizable town.

The next stop was Dorasan railway station. It could be better described as a tourist attraction that could be a train station, (when Kim Jong-Il-or his son-decide so). It is built right to the border and connects with all the major lines coming out of Seoul and the rest of South Korea. The may on the inside shows how Korea, via China and then the Trans-Siberian line, could be connected with Paris or Rome, if only that pesky neighbor to the North would open up. There is even a big sign for departures direct to Pyongyang. In reality it’s only used once or twice a day for workers at the Kaesong complex. After this our tour took an annoying turn, and we headed to both a Korean amethyst and Korean ginseng stores. As any good tourist knows, you’re not getting your money worth on a tour if you don’t stop for handicrafts! But I had a good enough time making sarcastic remarks with a couple from San Francisco and a South African flight attendant (making the most of her stopover).

Danthemanstan and I met back up and had a great dinner of grilled pork with kimchi and other typical Korean side dishes. We then headed to the N’Seoul tower, a tower built on one of the taller hills in the city offering great views. Seoul is a huge, modernized city, and it looked like it from the top of the tower. Evidently, it is the ideal location for a romantic getaway in Seoul, as most of the other people in line and on the cable car were couples, some with flowers, cake, or stuffed animals. Don’t worry; I didn’t buy a Teddy bear or flowers for Danthemanstan. Back at the hostel, we caught some TV before bed, which provided for an intriguing look at one aspect of South Korean culture. The TV stations consist of a good share of American crime/drama shows, a large sampling of educational channels-from basic reading to calculus proofs, a couple channels of go (the Asian board game), two channels of Starcraft, the typical Korean news, drama, and soap opera channels, and a few channels with really bad Western movies-“Churchill: The Hollywood Years” for example.