Danny's third trip to China

[Willy The Londoner]

There was a little game that she played at the end of the night. She said that she wished to have one of the hairs on my arms, and as she took it I had to promise to be "unchanged for a thousand years" and then she took one from the other arm, and made me promise again to be "unchanged for two thousand years", and then one from my chest, and I promised to be "unchanged for three thousand years". I thought that was so sweet.

I was waiting for you to get the 'unchanged for five thousand years' hair removal  then it is almost like waking up from a very nice dream before it come about.

Have a great time there Danny

Willy

[Arnold]

Danny , I know ... I was blessed with Qing , because I was alway's TRUE to my first Wife till she passed away . I think you deserve the same SWEET wife come into your Life too . This might not be true to some , but to the both of us ... it seems that way . Good thing's most alway's come from other good thing's .
May Ya-Ya be the blessing you wished/hoped for ... and more .

[Danny]

Things are going well, very well. It is strange however, you go through life always wishing for something more. For a long time it was: "if only I could see her face". Then for a day it was: "if only I could hold her hand". Then for another day it was: "if only I could kiss her". Now it is time for me to be patient and take a deep breath *laughs*

It is so easy to think that one's happiness depends on something else happening, or someone acting in a certain way. Of course there are happy and sad situations, but to be content and happy through life that's something you work out within yourself.

I don't have a whole lot to report apart from some curiousities of life here in Wuhan.

I was walking up the most impossibly crowded footpath yesterday. We were jostling each other on all sides as we walked along. Then I hear a tooting scooter horn. It was an amazing sight. This guy is riding his scooter, tooting his horn madly, just riding down the footpath. People didn't seem to mind and somehow or other he made his way along the footpath. It's one of the situations that impress me about Chinese people in general, that they didn't get in the least upset by this sort of thing happening.

In Australia, if there is the least bit of a misunderstanding on the road, it gets ugly really quickly. In an instant you can have people screaming and yelling furiously at each other. I am not saying that Chinese people do not yell and shout at each other from time to time. Just that (by comparison) it takes very little for Australians to become very angry, very quickly.

I can remember coming across two motorists who were travelling down a narrow street, in the suburb where I lived (in Melbourne) and there was not room for both of them to pass at the same time. They both refused to move back and so they stopped and yelled at each other for twenty minutes. I know it was that long because I stopped and watched in disbelief. It was going to end up in a fight until I told them that if one of them did not move back I was going to call the police to have them both arrested *laughs*

[ttwjr32]

any pics coming soon on your time spent there?
 would be nice to see

[Danny]

The pics will have to wait until I return. I don't have any way of uploading them. I promise I will post them when I am back in Melbourne.

[Martin]

Danny...I had similar thoughts when i saw mopeds driving down a crowded sidewalk in Changsha.  I was amazed at the patience of everyone.  Great trip updates.

[Willy The Londoner]

Patience is one thing they have - perhaps they have heard about the 24 hour rule!!!  But I have seen some horrendous driving in the past 6 months but not one incident of road rage in any form.  Now that takes patience.

Willy

[shaun]

Danny, Martin and Willy;

You speak of the patience the people in China have yet I hear the reports of how they drive there. Willy I have to ask what you consider road rage?

I remember JimB writing about at least one occasion of road rage.  It seems that others have talked about angry drivers yelling at others on the road.

I do remember one incident that made American news in that a man was on a bridge apparently contemplating jumping off.  Another man who had been stuck in traffic for hours because of the jumper, walked up and pushed him off the bridge.

There have been a couple of women on these sites that went off on me. I know I know, who would ever think that anyone could go off on me. :icon_cheesygrin: One went so crazy yelling and making accusations that I had to block her.

I know we are much more aggressive here in the US but as a whole I am not to sure the Chinese are that patient.  I think they are a little more covert in their response rather than we westerners who are more overt with our responses.

Shaun

[Willy The Londoner]

Road rage - that can range from blasting your horn to sticking up one finger in the US or two fingers in the UK  through to shouting at each other, getting out of the vehicle and verbally attacking as well as physically attacking either the person or his vehicle.  But I live right on a busy intersection and although I see some outlandish driving every day I have yet to witness actual road rage.

OK the horn blasting is just normal here even when there is nothing in front of you!!!  

Willy

[brett]

I saw a couple of taxi drivers exchanging blows (rather than insurance documents) in Wuhan, my taxi driver thought it was very funny :icon_cheesygrin:.

[Danny]

Things are still going wonderfully well. Yesterday we took some documents to the Wuhan Institute of Technology to be translated and we were acting like naughty school kids at the back of the bus *laughs*

Then we had dinner with her parents and played cards with them until late at night.

Today we are off to some hot springs today.

She has always said that I have a "sweet monkey smile" (this seems to be something that is complimentary). But today, when we go to the hot springs, she will know how much of a hairy monkey I really am. She was telling me that for Chinese women, Western men are very hairy and so if I receive a waxing kit for my Christmas present I will know that for her, I am indeed. It's a real problem. For some problems there is a solution. For example, with my fat stomach, I can try to suck it in when she is looking in my direction, or always choose to swim in the deep end of the pool. But how do you hide unwanted body hair? Maybe I could plait it? *laughs*

In Wuhan at the moment the maximum temperature each day is only a few degrees aboving freezing point. Each day I go shopping with my daughter (what else do daughters wish to do when they are away, apart from hang out at the shopping mall?). It is surprising that only a small percentage of the shops are heated. So all the shop assistants are dressed up in these thick, heavy jackets. It's very strange. This is the situation even in up-market boutiques. In Australia, in mid-winter all the shops are like saunas. But here in Wuhan the only respite from going into the shops, is getting away from the north wind.

As an aside, the price of authentic clothing and electronic devices from boutiques seems to me to be even more expensive than in Australia. It's no big deal. My daughter has an expenditure limit and the less she can afford to buy, the less I have to worry about carting home in our suitcases *laughs*

[David5o]

Danny,

Great to hear everything's going so well for you on this trip.

I don't know why others here, don't go to China with almost empty suitcases, and stock up on clothes to take back with them. Don't be crazy and go into these up-market stores, there there for the Chinese rich and famous. Go to the regular stores and markets, and pick-up some great deals. I've always found that what I've bought at these places are just as good and as durable as anywhere else!!

Danny, there are many Chinese ladies that like a mans body hair, Lucy being one of them ..lol!! So don't worry about it, she's not going to love you any less whether she has a preference to body hair or NOT!!  Oh, and to many of the traditional Chinese, ...men with a bit of a pot belly signifies that your a successful man and never goes hungry. ...hahaha!!

Enjoy the rest of your trip, you never know, you might just get your ''deep breath wish'' before you leave!! ... lol!!

David

[Danny]

I am posting the following little incident, not because anything dramatic happens, but to give some peace to people who do a trip in the future. There is not much to it: it boils down to the fact that it is inevitable that there are going to be misunderstandings along the way. How you work them out together will have a significant influence on determining whether your relationship works out or implodes.

Yesterday wasn't so good. YaYa suggested that we visit a hot springs resort, located a hundred or so kilometres from Wuhan.

As an aside to whoever visits Wuhan in the future, this is a great trip: 180 RMB for the day, including transport there and back. It's only recently been constructed and it looks beautiful. One of the highlights was sitting in a cool pool, having tiny little fish come and nibble on our skin. It's meant to cleanse the skin and it's very ticklish *laughs*

On the way there, she sits in the front of the minibus and talks to the driver for three hours and the way back, does the same thing. She doesn't say a word to me the whole way there and not a word on the whole way back. It seemed to me that I might have gone and slept in the luggage compartment for all it mattered to her. Then when we arrived at the springs, she spent most of the time away from me. By the time we got back to Wuhan I was feeling pretty grumpy about the day as a whole. But when we got out of the bus, I made a decision to act cheerfully, and get out of this bad mood, and so we decided to go out to dinner and the night ended happily enough.

Anyhow I had a talk about the day, last thing in the night, via mobile phone text messages. She said that relation to the time we spent at the hot springs, she said that she enjoys swimming on her own. She also said that she wanted to take good care of my daughter, making sure that my daughter was not annoyed by any men, so her focus at the springs was with my daughter, rather than me. I was really impressed by the seriousness with which she cared about my daughter. And in relation to the time in the bus, she thought I wanted to read my book and she did not know the driver and so she felt that she needed to talk to him, as she was sitting next to him.

I had a think about what happened and I realised that I was the only foreigner there amongst hundreds of locals enjoying the resort. Wheverer you go, you have people saying, "lao wei, hello!" My woman is a quiet and reserved person and so probably part of it was that she felt awkward being with me, swimming about in our bathers together. And, I, for my part, had to keep reminding myself, she is not ashamed of me, she is only shy.

It doesn't matter. I just felt a bit disappointed about how the day went. Well hopefully today will be better.

[Arnold]

That takes a lot of Caracter , to keep the COOL you did Danny . You and I know , you will be rewarded for that ... as Sarge Burke did , for the night he did keep himself under control ... being faced with ... what could have lead to Disaster ( if you remember that story ) . It takes quite a Man to pull this off and not loose it . GREAT Job !!!

[maxx]

Danny what Arnold said.You handled that real well.Most people would of lost there cool.You did good.