12-30-2011, 04:52 AM
Sal arrived promptly at 11am for our trip across the square to the bus station. When choosing a hotel in a foreign country, sometimes it is much better to be lucky than good.
Sal took our money to buy the tickets while I became acquainted with the other woman who was training with Sal and Patty. Her name is Natasha. She currently works in Dubai in the hotel industry. Her one year contract is up so while she waits to sign a new contract in Dubai, she is training here in Dengfeng.
Natasha also is a model. Sal hopes that she will bring some beauty to the little film endeavor. While we waited for Sal to return with the tickets, Natasha did gather a crowd of curious Chinese men. They really wanted to know what was behind the surgical mask Natasha wore.
The bus to Dengfeng was packed. My early dreams of sitting by myself, camera bag at my side were quickly replaced by a young Chinese woman who tried to converse with me, but that didn’t happen.
A Chinese soap opera played on the screen at the front of the bus. Some of the passengers found it highly amusing. The guy behind Natasha, who sat behind me, was attempting to break the snoring decibel record. Natasha volunteered to talk to him about sleep apnea.
The bus pulled from the station at 11:30. By noon we were still trying to make the turn in front of my hotel. I think it took forty five minutes until the bus approached something you could call progress. Basically, the 50 mile trip to Dengfeng took two hours. The majority of the travel time was getting out of Zhengzhou.
When we disembarked from the bus, our group immediately gathered a group of drivers who wanted to take us into town from the station. Sal’s plan of walking away from them got us a driver for twenty yuan.
If only the address where my hotel stood was accurate. Having the right name for the hotel would have helped, too. I was going under the assumption that the name of the place was Holiday Inn Rome Spirit. At least that was the name given on the Ctrip website. The address was 2 Dayu Lu. When we disembarked at what we thought was that address, there was no hotel by that name there.
The group wandered the sidewalks looking for something to clue us in. Eventually Sal went into another hotel to ask for help. I’m thinking the girls were a little cranky about this but they didn’t say a word.
We eventually got the right address and hailed a cab to the hotel. Turns out the name is the Roman Holiday Hotel. It’s a really big nice hotel at the east end of town. We probably could have walked there from the bus station.
The room was far nicer than my Tian Quan hotel room. Which is kind of like saying gold is better than dirt. Patty and Natasha spent a lot of time rubbing the furry wallpaper. I enjoyed inhaling and not smelling cigarette smoke. There is a big shower complete with window that looks into the bedroom. I can see lovely Dayu street out my window. Oddly, they have given me two tubes of bubble bath, but there is no tub. I have been supplied with two tooth brushes and one comb in individually wrapped packages. And like most American hotels, there is a shrine of overpriced food to tempt me.
Next stop was Sal’s school. The school lies closer to Shaolin passed all the other big schools. It lies off a little dirt path just beyond the last stop on the Dengfeng bus line.
The school was empty when we arrived. The dirt courtyard was bare. On the outside wall of the main workout hall were two basketball baskets. So, I guess it’s not all martial arts at the school.
Sal’s sifu was away for the day, but his mother and aunt were busy washing the linens for the beds.
Patty and Natasha had agreed to take care of two puppies for some fellow student. It might not be so much take care of as we are leaving, you can have the dogs. The dogs were locked up in their room while Sal and company came to Zhengzhou to pick me up. The dogs were locked up for twenty four hours.
The dogs had done what dogs will do when they have to go the bathroom. There were several minutes of clean up before I went into the room.
Their room made my hotel room in Zhengzhou look like a palace. It had two bunkbeds, lockers for valuables and a space heater. The walls were unpainted concrete as well as the floor. When they move out, it could probably make a good prison cell. The whole room is about a quarter the size of Dengfeng hotel room. It doesn’t have a window from the shower to the bedroom. The bathroom is next door. Their internet is stolen from unprotected neighbors wifi. I’m very glad I did not stay there.
As nice as the Roman Holiday Hotel is, they still wouldn’t take my credit card for the room. If I paid for the room in advance, I would have no money for the rest of the trip. The first order of business for me, because it is all about me, was to get to a bank and change some euros I had left over from the Irish trip.
We walked through a run down neighborhood behind the school. Some people were burning branches to keep warm. None of the houses looked finish. But all the entry ways looked really nice. The illusion was destroyed by the empty brick window openings you could see behind the doors.
The girls decided to bring their dogs with them rather than leave them behind to poop some more. The had some purses they put the dogs in and carried them.
The bus back to Dengfeng was a whopping one Yuan each. It dropped us in the main shopping district of town. We wandered through some back allies on the way to the bank. I saw a lot vendors making things on the streets. A lot of them had grinders and sewing machines. There was a lot for sale but nothing like Zhengzhou.
I had to fill out a bunch of forms and photocopy my passport in order to change my money. Although the cashier did have a button that said Thankyou when she pushed it.
We were going to have dinner in the night market but we were a bit too early for it. I did buy some nice mochi cakes and a cream puff from a street vendor.
We dined at some place where we picked out our food according to pictures in a book. As Sal kept pointing out our food was going to look nothing like the pictures. He was proven correct. Except in the case of the french fries. They looked like the picture. My pork and rice dish became a hot pepper and bell pepper extravaganza with a few pieces of sinew to add flavor. I gave most of this meat to the dogs who were still hiding in their bags.
I ordered Iced Tea as well. But I was rethinking this as I had been frequently warned to stay away from the water. Fortunately, the beverage came hot and tasted nothing like tea. it was this nasty lemony flavor. Not nearly as nice as the bottled green tea I bought from the next door.
Because I am insane, I decided to walk back to the hotel from downtown Dengfeng rather than get in a cab. Plus, I figured I knew the way. All I had to do was find the right street.
The walk back was an adventure for the eyes. I saw a medical clinic with patients visible through the front glass. Myriads of people were huddled around makeshift fires on the streets. A lot of the illumination for the stores came from dim flickering fluorescent bulbs.
I was figuring I would see the Zen hotel where we had started the day asking for directions. I didn’t. I did cross the river that I remembered. And I saw the German bar Hans when I was just about to give up. Then there it was across the street, the Roman Holiday Hotel. I just had to dare crossing the busy intersection to get there.
Sal took our money to buy the tickets while I became acquainted with the other woman who was training with Sal and Patty. Her name is Natasha. She currently works in Dubai in the hotel industry. Her one year contract is up so while she waits to sign a new contract in Dubai, she is training here in Dengfeng.
Natasha also is a model. Sal hopes that she will bring some beauty to the little film endeavor. While we waited for Sal to return with the tickets, Natasha did gather a crowd of curious Chinese men. They really wanted to know what was behind the surgical mask Natasha wore.
The bus to Dengfeng was packed. My early dreams of sitting by myself, camera bag at my side were quickly replaced by a young Chinese woman who tried to converse with me, but that didn’t happen.
A Chinese soap opera played on the screen at the front of the bus. Some of the passengers found it highly amusing. The guy behind Natasha, who sat behind me, was attempting to break the snoring decibel record. Natasha volunteered to talk to him about sleep apnea.
The bus pulled from the station at 11:30. By noon we were still trying to make the turn in front of my hotel. I think it took forty five minutes until the bus approached something you could call progress. Basically, the 50 mile trip to Dengfeng took two hours. The majority of the travel time was getting out of Zhengzhou.
When we disembarked from the bus, our group immediately gathered a group of drivers who wanted to take us into town from the station. Sal’s plan of walking away from them got us a driver for twenty yuan.
If only the address where my hotel stood was accurate. Having the right name for the hotel would have helped, too. I was going under the assumption that the name of the place was Holiday Inn Rome Spirit. At least that was the name given on the Ctrip website. The address was 2 Dayu Lu. When we disembarked at what we thought was that address, there was no hotel by that name there.
The group wandered the sidewalks looking for something to clue us in. Eventually Sal went into another hotel to ask for help. I’m thinking the girls were a little cranky about this but they didn’t say a word.
We eventually got the right address and hailed a cab to the hotel. Turns out the name is the Roman Holiday Hotel. It’s a really big nice hotel at the east end of town. We probably could have walked there from the bus station.
The room was far nicer than my Tian Quan hotel room. Which is kind of like saying gold is better than dirt. Patty and Natasha spent a lot of time rubbing the furry wallpaper. I enjoyed inhaling and not smelling cigarette smoke. There is a big shower complete with window that looks into the bedroom. I can see lovely Dayu street out my window. Oddly, they have given me two tubes of bubble bath, but there is no tub. I have been supplied with two tooth brushes and one comb in individually wrapped packages. And like most American hotels, there is a shrine of overpriced food to tempt me.
Next stop was Sal’s school. The school lies closer to Shaolin passed all the other big schools. It lies off a little dirt path just beyond the last stop on the Dengfeng bus line.
The school was empty when we arrived. The dirt courtyard was bare. On the outside wall of the main workout hall were two basketball baskets. So, I guess it’s not all martial arts at the school.
Sal’s sifu was away for the day, but his mother and aunt were busy washing the linens for the beds.
Patty and Natasha had agreed to take care of two puppies for some fellow student. It might not be so much take care of as we are leaving, you can have the dogs. The dogs were locked up in their room while Sal and company came to Zhengzhou to pick me up. The dogs were locked up for twenty four hours.
The dogs had done what dogs will do when they have to go the bathroom. There were several minutes of clean up before I went into the room.
Their room made my hotel room in Zhengzhou look like a palace. It had two bunkbeds, lockers for valuables and a space heater. The walls were unpainted concrete as well as the floor. When they move out, it could probably make a good prison cell. The whole room is about a quarter the size of Dengfeng hotel room. It doesn’t have a window from the shower to the bedroom. The bathroom is next door. Their internet is stolen from unprotected neighbors wifi. I’m very glad I did not stay there.
As nice as the Roman Holiday Hotel is, they still wouldn’t take my credit card for the room. If I paid for the room in advance, I would have no money for the rest of the trip. The first order of business for me, because it is all about me, was to get to a bank and change some euros I had left over from the Irish trip.
We walked through a run down neighborhood behind the school. Some people were burning branches to keep warm. None of the houses looked finish. But all the entry ways looked really nice. The illusion was destroyed by the empty brick window openings you could see behind the doors.
The girls decided to bring their dogs with them rather than leave them behind to poop some more. The had some purses they put the dogs in and carried them.
The bus back to Dengfeng was a whopping one Yuan each. It dropped us in the main shopping district of town. We wandered through some back allies on the way to the bank. I saw a lot vendors making things on the streets. A lot of them had grinders and sewing machines. There was a lot for sale but nothing like Zhengzhou.
I had to fill out a bunch of forms and photocopy my passport in order to change my money. Although the cashier did have a button that said Thankyou when she pushed it.
We were going to have dinner in the night market but we were a bit too early for it. I did buy some nice mochi cakes and a cream puff from a street vendor.
We dined at some place where we picked out our food according to pictures in a book. As Sal kept pointing out our food was going to look nothing like the pictures. He was proven correct. Except in the case of the french fries. They looked like the picture. My pork and rice dish became a hot pepper and bell pepper extravaganza with a few pieces of sinew to add flavor. I gave most of this meat to the dogs who were still hiding in their bags.
I ordered Iced Tea as well. But I was rethinking this as I had been frequently warned to stay away from the water. Fortunately, the beverage came hot and tasted nothing like tea. it was this nasty lemony flavor. Not nearly as nice as the bottled green tea I bought from the next door.
Because I am insane, I decided to walk back to the hotel from downtown Dengfeng rather than get in a cab. Plus, I figured I knew the way. All I had to do was find the right street.
The walk back was an adventure for the eyes. I saw a medical clinic with patients visible through the front glass. Myriads of people were huddled around makeshift fires on the streets. A lot of the illumination for the stores came from dim flickering fluorescent bulbs.
I was figuring I would see the Zen hotel where we had started the day asking for directions. I didn’t. I did cross the river that I remembered. And I saw the German bar Hans when I was just about to give up. Then there it was across the street, the Roman Holiday Hotel. I just had to dare crossing the busy intersection to get there.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit