Bring on the Night

26th July 2007 Yilan
C woke me with some insane coughing and moving around in the apartment. She started munching down sunflower seeds and as always never closes the door to the bedroom. I later found out it was 5.30am, which to me is way too early. I was not to decide though, and soon I was awake.

Tomorrow is our last day here. Well, half day here. So we agreed on moving all our stuff to C’s parents and start packing everything today. After eating some meat/vegetable filled bread C’s sister brought, we called our taxi girlfriend and went to C’s parents. I would be relaxing and writing a bit on the laptop, while C decided to go hunting for a shop that could make digital pictures into hardcopy ones. I got this idea that C’s family would like some of ours, and C agreed.

I used most of the morning playing Football Manager 2007, as there weren’t much else to do. C went shopping with her mother and later returned in time for lunch.

The afternoon didn’t start off much different other than I fell asleep about 1 hour and woke up sweating like a pig. Also I could feel C’s nephew staring at me. He just arrived and may have thought I looked funny in my sleep. At 3pm we walked to the computer school where I hooked up with the Internet the last time here. Tried to call my parents, but they were unavailable. Instead I had a short time to post a few entries from the last days, so it wasn’t worthless. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, family, massage

25th July 2007 Yilan

This will be the last post from China, as we’ll be going home tomorrow.

Up at 6.30am. Not because I wanted to, but because C got the clean-crazy bug. She decided that this would be an excellent time to start sweeping the apartment and moving stuff around. Safe to say that my sleeping was over. All through the night C coughed, tossed and turned. At the same time it was lightening and thunder, so I didn’t sleep all that well.

I went and had a bath in the nearby public bath and returned just before children started invading the apartment. As always they came to learn how to draw and write from C’s sister.

We decided to go to C’s parents’ home where I could play around with the laptop, while C and her mother went shopping. I told C to go easy, since she is still ill with pneumonia, but that’s easier said than done. As we waited for the taxi I spotted a shop and asked C what that shop sold. C answered: “Massage”. I am always game for a good massage and especially now that I feel like I need one, so I asked C to check out how much it cost and was told 10rmb. Fair price and we entered. Turns out it was some kind of new age healing shop thingy. There was only a woman there and she checked out C pneumonia and gave her some sort of warmth/glow treatment. According to C it felt good and helped a bit. Faith moves mountains, right? Continue Reading »

Tags: China

24th July 2007 Yilan

Up at 6.00am. C still has a sore throat and coughed through the night. She also insisted on keeping the window in the bedroom closed, as it would prevent draft. Nothing to keep you ill like a night of freezing. Guess she’s right. I sweated a while lot instead though, but sure does beat freezing.

C went to her parent’s home to be nursed a bit, while I stayed at our temporary home (her sister’s apartment). Soon it will be swarming with youngsters that want to learn how to draw, but also they are slowly warming up to the weiguren. If drawing gets boring, there’s nothing like watching the giant Danish yeti walking from the bedroom to the bathroom. There always a chance to say a “hello”, right?

I used some time polishing some articles that I’ve already written, but not yet posted. They always come off different after a re-read than initially after you write them. Also I managed to fuck-up C’s sisters mp3-player so it lost all its songs. Not sure if it was my doing though. I think the player is a bit crappy. Yesterday I uploaded some tunes to it and today it somehow manages to tell me that it has no songs anymore. Neither the old ones nor the new ones. I checked it out using an USB cable and my laptop – and sure enough they were all gone. They are there sucking up space, but you can’t see them. I tried repairing using Windows Vistas built-in tools, but it was no use. I ended up formatting it and copied the new songs back. It’s now working but lacks the old songs including timeless classics such as “Celine Dion – All by Myself” (I’m making vomiting voices here, if you’re in doubt). Maybe it has an onboard taste chip and decided that there had to be more to life. Who knows? Continue Reading »

Tags: China, family, ill, mp3

23rd July 2007 Yilan

Another cool nights of sleep. I’m still dizzy, but it doesn’t feel as bad as before. Not quite sure yet though, as I had done nothing but go to the toilet and sit in bed and write up on the last days doings.

C went to eat breakfast at her parents and to do some shopping. She returned and I learned that tonight is the night where we invite all the family to a restaurant. I expect C to have known the date for a few days, but as usually I am not let in.

I had a little talk with C about her communicating plans and translations to me. She agrees to a certain point. Somehow she believes she translates everything fully most of the time, and if not, it’s because people interrupt her. I will agree to that. People interrupt constantly here and if they are not heard, they just start shouting. She does not translate much or let me in on plans though. Anyway, I told her that I’d rather stay in the apartment the rest of the days here, than to be dragged around not knowing what was going on or what the plan was. Not sure she believed me. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, china vs denmark, dinner, face, family, food, ill, restaurant

22th July 2007 Gao Leng

Woke up 30 minutes before C was ready to get up. I couldn’t sleep anymore, even though I badly needed the rest and didn’t sleep much or well that night.

I put my lappie under my arm and headed down the stairs of the computer school and plugged her in. Only C and I were in the building, so I had a chance to write up on the days gone by. It’s pretty tough – getting time to write here. There always seems to be some plan that C does not tell me about or maybe she is unaware of it herself. If I’m told anything the information is lacking or in worst case useless.

The problem is that C actually thinks she tells me stuff, but she only tells me 10% of what I really need to know or ask about. The rest is just circling in her mind and never get to me. I ask, but get no usable reply. I hear, but am told little that I can use. I see, but am never told what I see. It doesn’t matter if I ask follow-up questions as these are mostly ignored for something else she is doing or listening too. Her level of concentration is lacking here in China. These things are mostly when we are not alone. When we are alone she is a bit more responsive, but still she forgets to let me in on plans. She thinks she told me everything, because she has discussed it a long time with her family. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, china vs denmark, family, farm, ill, restaurant

21th July 2007 Yilan – Gao Leng

I slept ok again for the second night in a row. I’m still ill, so a good night’s sleep is essential. C had agreed to visit her sister’s house yet again today, so we had a bath and grabbed a taxi there. I had already turned down sightseeing since I wouldn’t risk my improving health on getting worse again. So instead we just relaxed. C talked with her sister while her brother-in-law watched some TV. I was laid down the bed and soon fell asleep. I think I was gone for 2 hours. Wouldn’t have thought I could sleep that much so soon after a long nights sleep, but it was no problem. I was in desperate need to catch up after the many days of miserable sleep and illness.

I was awoken at 12.00 to eat some ‘jaozi’. Excellent and I munched down a lot (still not much compared to when I’m healthy, but still cool to be back on track).

2.00am we would be off to C’s other sister’s second home in Gao Leng. A smaller city not that far from Yilan. Here we would meet C’s sister’s brother-in-law’s family (that was freaking long sentence, eh?). At 1.00pm I was still very dizzy. It was to the point where I expected that my blood pressure was too high as I’ve tried back in Denmark. So I asked C if we had time to go and get it checked out. We had, so before meeting at the highway to get the bus, we took a taxi to the hospital. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, dinner, family, hotpot, ill, restaurant

20th July 2007 Yilan

Slept like a baby for the first time in 3 days. Woke up and felt much better. The fever seemed to have gone, though C still thought I was a little too warm. I was dizzy as hell though and could feel that I had very little strength and endurance. I managed to shave myself, which was about time. I had almost grown a full beard since the 15th. It looked that way anyway. Somehow my beard has turned blacker here in Yilan, while it normally is more brown/red back in Denmark. Maybe I just remember wrong. I decided to try out a bath. I really needed one and a tiny walk would test my real condition.

The bath was excellent, but as I waited outside for C to finish I could feel that I was already getting tired in my legs. I was getting increasingly dizzier and needed a lie-down. Fortunately C wasn’t that long so soon I was back in bed. 20 minutes was all I needed to feel acceptable again. C convinced me to take a taxi to C’s parents. There would only be one child and not 10 making noise like in her sister’s apartment. If I needed sleep, it could be possible to fix. After arriving I was happy to see the bed. I didn’t feel very bad, but just dizzy. 10 minutes in the bed cured me and I was able to write a bit about the days gone. I was far behind on my writing. The days in ill-hell made it impossible to keep up. I simply hadn’t got the energy. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, ill, restaurant

19th July 2007 Yilan

I slept terrible. Fever dreams again but fortunately no overjoyed Ronaldinho. I dropped trying to sleep at 4.00am. I felt that bad. I was very warm, but couldn’t sweat. My head was spinning and I had an enormous headache. Now I had done my part to get some rest, and had finally had an opportunity to do so, but I felt the same. Now I was ready to go see a doctor. I woke C up at 4.40am and told her the “good news”. Did a quick tooth brushing and went down to the street and found a taxi.

At the hospital it was graveyard silent. I started wondering if it was abandoned. C followed some Chinese signs and ended up at a room which also didn’t have any people inside. Instead there was a tiny desk, 4 chairs and a bunk.

At the back of the room there was yet a door. C went to it and knocked politely on it (not like most Chinese do, which basically is very eager and impatient). After a second round of knocking some noise from inside the room was heard. After a short time the door was opened and out came what looked like a grumpy guy in blue uniform. C told him that I needed a doctor to look at me (I guessed, but really never know what is going on). The dude in blue then slowly strolled back to the room mumbling something. He was obviously annoyed at being woken up. How dared we ruin his scheduled sleep on the job. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, china vs denmark, doctor, hospital, ill

18th July 2007 Harbin/Yilan

7.00am and we were awake. Actually I’ve been awake a number of times. I had slept just as bad as the day before and had feverish dreams to booth. Some people dream about monsters, dragons, devils, the undead, but I dream about. Ronaldinho. Ok – he’s a cool soccer player, but I just can’t stand looking at him. It was horrible. He was overjoyed and followed me around a maze. Mix ‘overjoyed’ and ‘Ronaldinho’ and you’ll get lots of smiling and laughing. Those of you who have seen him close up and feel like me about him will get my point.

We spent 1½ hour getting up. I said goodbye to the husband who had to go to work. Nice guy and happy to have met him. C made up for the lost years of talking to her friend oldskool on the bed. Just like it was supposed to be. I, on the other hand, was feeling pretty bad. Not as bad as the day before, but definitely not well enough to do anything else but sleep. But sleep I couldn’t. My back, shoulders and hips were wasted from sleeping on the floor, and I was feeling very warm and couldn’t really sweat. Continue Reading »

Tags: busses, China, china vs denmark, ill, travel

17th July 2007 Harbin

Slept like a rock. Or on one. The last statement being the more accurate.

I felt like shit when I woke up. During the night and early morning I woke up many times and each time it felt like my back, neck, hips and shoulders were hit by a car. Sleeping on the floor didn’t help my already tired body much. Actually I felt worse than when I went to sleep. My head was spinning and I had an enormous headache. C felt ok but also had a slight headache. We both ate some painkillers, since we knew the day was already planned for us and we needed to feel fit.

We had some breakfast which was some steamed bread with some sweet stuff inside. Then there were fried eggs, some warm milk and leftovers from the restaurant the day before. Yet again I had to disappoint some Chinese hosts for my lack of appetite. All I could squeeze down was a bread and half a bottle of water. I wish I could eat and eat to make them feel like good hosts, but my stomach and body really wouldn’t help me. I fear that I leave Harbin looking like a picky weiguren instead of how I really feel: very very welcome and always surrounded by good food. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, harbin, ill, park

16th July 2007 Harbin

Up and about at 2.55am. Well, actually one Tour de France horny friend of mine woke us up earlier with some sms messages about some Dane being in the lead at the moment, but guess we had to get up and swat mosquitoes anyway.

That’s a daily deed in C’s sister’s apartment: killing small bloodsuckers. There’s no air-condition, so we have to open the windows at night to be able to breathe/sleep. This of course means free access to fat rich laowai blood and the little buggers take full advantage. The main problem with this is that it ruins our sleep. We have to get up at least 2 times a night, but this is not the only time the mosquitoes bother us. It takes a least 3 or 4 half asleep moments of annoyance before you realize that you better get up and do something about it. That means full lights on. I have never been good at falling asleep again after such a séance.

Since we already had been up twice because of mosquitoes/Tour de France horny friends, I was kind of busted when we woke up. At least there was a chance to catch some sleep in the bus to Harbin. I was wrong. Continue Reading »

Tags: bus, china vs denmark, harbin, rant

…. there have not been enough updates lately. I have some stuff, but not enough time to post or write. Busy traveling, eating, being ill and some other stuff. Hopefully I will get some time later this week.

Tags: silence

15th July 2007 Yilan

Felt better than yesterday, which may have something to do with my hangover the day before. We went to C’s parents to eat some breakfast and afterwards were on our way to a nun monastery. A cool spot right here in Yilan. As usually the houses and the area surrounding them were beautiful, and I did my best to fill my cameras memory.

It was time for lunch, so we went back to the center of Yilan, where C brother-in-law insisted that he bought us lunch. Great food as always even though I can’t eat much.

It was time to get a taxi and head off to a village 1½ hour away from Yilan. C had the day before prepped me that she and her family would go to some village doctor’s clinic to get their health checked out by this famous doctor guy. Cool enough with me. I told C that I wouldn’t mind going, but if there wasn’t room in the car, I would be just as happy to stay home with the computer. Turns out the taxi could manage all of us. Well, it couldn’t but I was still told it would be no problem. Me being the fattest biggest, I was placed next to the always talking and smoking chauffeur on the only good seat. The rest of C’s family was crammed together in the back. C’s brother-in-law even had to sit on a tiny foldaway chair on the floor. Nothing that can give you a bad conscious like this shit. I’m always getting the best of everything, while the rest of the family has to endure sucky seats and you name it. Continue Reading »

Tags: car, china vs denmark, doctor, medicine

14th July 2007 Yilan

Hellooooooo hangover. Long time no see? Back to catch up on old memories are we, eh?

I was wasted yesterday and it was my own fault. If I hadn’t been so set on getting C’s uncle’s respect at drinking, I could have faced another exciting day instead of spending the whole morning in bed feeling sorry for myself. Well, I had to do it. I had to prove that C didn’t marry a wuzz, didn’t I? I was way behind on the drinking part. My stomach issues had kept me from taking up the sword and rise to the challenge.

I’m an idiot. I didn’t have to prove anything, but my freaking pride was hurt by the many days of excusing myself from taking a real turn at the table. So instead of doing it sensible, I overdid it. Stupid is as stupid does. At least I came off well yesterday. Guess that only sticks until they hear I had a big hangover today.

C was up and about at 7.30. That’s the same time as we were woken up by someone knocking on the door. It was the first of C’s sister’s students who was ready for some teaching. I was not though. My mouth was dry and my stomach rumbling. I swallowed a pair of painkillers and chucked down some water and headed back to bed. I was done for. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, drinking, family, hang over, speech

13th July 2007 Yilan

Note: Pictures from this day can be found if you scroll down.

After having a quick toothbrush and wash we found ourselves at C’s parent’s home for some breakfast.

8.15am C’s stepbrother and his brother-in-law showed up in a taxi (this time a real car if you can say that about a Chinese one of course). We got our stuff inside and were off to go fishing. I don’t know what I’d imagined, but it certainly wasn’t a copy of how we do in Denmark.

The road took us over the “mountains” – a short trip of 15 minutes drive – and down towards 4 square put & take fishing lakes. The fishing gear brought by C’s brother was 4 telescope rods with no fishing wheels. I’ve never tried that kind before. The advantage to this is that you don’t hassle with the wheel, but the downside is lacking range. The line is of course always of a fixed length and this limits your fishing opportunities.

The bait was tiny pills of foul smelling material. They were cylindrically shaped with a small rubber band around them. The rubber band was there to attach the hook. I would have guessed that you needed to get the hook inside the bait or at least tie the bait hard to the hook, but no. You just put the hook under the rubber band one time and you’re set to go. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, drinking, fishing, restaurant

12th July 2007 Yilan

Note: Pictures from this day can be found if you scroll down.

Up and about at 7.30am. C wanted to go to the nearby mountains for a walk, which I found pretty interesting. I haven’t had much contact with Chinese nature yet and this was a great chance to do so.

I bought new shoes a few days ago, but as they were still looking new, so I wanted to take my old ones instead. Unfortunately they were at my parents-in-law. So after a breakfast consisting of noodles and tomato/eggs, we called our number one electrical motorcycle taxi chick who arrived short time after. After the brief detour we were finally on track and towards the mountains right outside Yilan. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, mountain, temple, walking

11th July 2007 Yilan

Note: Pictures from the market can be found by scrolling a bit down this page

Not sure what time we woke up. C decided it was time, so I just went with the flow. Turns out she had a plan. That’s how things work out here. Either there is a hidden agenda, or already prepared plans get pushed aside for something else. Most of the time I don’t care. It’s still an adventure to me.

We washed a bit and I was specifically ordered by C not to use cold water “as it is dangerous for your health”. I laughed a bit and went to wash in the cold water only sink in the bathroom while C boiled some water for her own wash. C was almost furious but on the other hand, what could she do?

I asked her a bit in details to why this was dangerous. The first answer was that you could easily become ill. After drilling a bit it was changed to “attracting insects”. Not sure what to think, but sure don’t wont to boil water to wash my face. I’ve washed more sensitive things in cold water recently, so I should be dead by now. If I dig too much into this subject, I’m pretty sure I’ll be told that the cold water is why my stomach has been upset, so better drop the subject. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, Gallery, gfw, market, taxi

Somehow I succeeded at updating the gallery with some shots here from China (1st of 2 galleries).

You can find the pictures in the gallery under 2007 China

Enjoy…

Tags: Gallery, gfw, pictures

10th July 2007 Yilan

Wrote a bit about yesterday in the morning. We got up at 7am and C saw an opportunity to go for breakfast at her parent’s home. This interrupted my plans for doing all of the writing about yesterday, but no sweat, I weren’t far behind anymore.

We walked to her parents and I had a steamed bread while C went at some soup and bread. I’m not big on breakfasts already, so my stomach issues haven’t exactly contributed to my eating powers. A bread and some cold water was enough for me.

After a brief sit-down and some talking, we decided to go hunting for some new shorts for me. The ones I were allowed to bring by C, needed washing, and since its 30 degrees here, long pants just wouldn’t do for an entire day. After visiting some shops we headed home again. I had bags with a new pair of sports shoes, while C had some shirts and some joggers pants. Better yet, I had finally found a jacket that I liked at a reasonable price. It’s pretty cool if I have to say it myself. All black with tiny stripes of orange on the side. Half the front in grey, while the other half is black with gold broidered dragon. Can’t buy this shit in Denmark. The quality seems top-notch and it’s not too colourful to be classy. It’s price was 300rmb, but C got it for 260, because she went there on our return trip home and left me out of view. That’s a freaking classic these days. Weiguren = full price or more. No weiguren = cut off the initial price. Continue Reading »

Tags: China, drinking, family, food, restaurant, shopping

9th July 2007 Yilan

7.30am and I’ve been awake for about 1 hour. Just too lazy to get up.

Stomach still not too well and not hungry. Yet I eat some noodles with egg and onion that C made yesterday. Gotta eat something right.

I’m back to writing again. I’m way behind. C thinks I use too much time for writing and that my ramblings are too long, while I feel the opposite. Well, my entries are too long, but that’s a choice I made. I want to keep one day in one post if possible. It may not be reader friendly, but in the end I don’t write for the readers. I could also have kept my writings here completely off the internet, but then again, I like to keep everything together. Then perhaps later when I’m back in Denmark, I’ll make some shorter entries more fitting with some stuff I’ve seen and photographed. Continue Reading »

Tags: bathing, China, china vs denmark, scary