The Chinese sure know how to move stuff! The lack of load size restrictions makes things a lot easier. Whatever you can fit on the back of your little truck is fair game. Really amusing sometimes! I wish I could have snapped this image a few seconds earlier, it was great.
In the evening we tried to find a camping spot in a corn field (they leave the corn stalks in place to dry so it would have been a perfect hiding spot) but it smelled strange so we got worried about what chemicals may be lurking in the dust around us. So we continued on and later stopped beside the road across from a little village. As we weighed our options a girl and her father, who were out for an evening walk, approached us. She spoke good English and asked if there is any way she could help. We told her we were looking for a camping spot and she and her father offered to go ask around in the village for us. They came back with the mayor who invited us to stay in the small building next to a worship site.
As usual, everybody thought we were freezing cold because they were not used to our thin, thermal clothing. We tried to explain that we were just fine but the mayor still took off his jacket and put it over my shoulders. Very sweet indeed.
The girl, Sophia, and her father told us they were going home to prepare a Chinese meal for us and then bring it back. Wow, thanks! A little while later, a few men showed up, one of them spoke a bit of English and said they were police officers. (O no). They kept going on about how it would be too cold for us here, that we would not be comfortable and that we should go to a hotel. Luckily we had Sophia's phone number so she came and helped with translating. We insisted that we would be perfectly comfortable and since it was already dark we did not want to locate to a hotel, which was most likely in the next town over because this little village was too small to have a hotel. We also said that we do not want to go to a hotel because we do not want to pay so the officers said they would pay for us. We still refused so finally they left. They had been very nice but we still have a bad feeling. In China, foreigners need to be registered if they stay somewhere so we were pretty sure the officers would come back again and perhaps force us to go stay at a hotel where we could be registered.
In the meantime, Sophia and her father returned with a big pot of noodles, a vegetable stew, two pancake like things and a back full of snacks and oranges. It was delicious and they seemed to be delighted to do this for us. What an honor! They were such kind people and her father had the most caring eyes! We enjoyed every bite in the light of the candle which the kind mayor had brought over earlier.
We were about to go to sleep when we heard foot steps outside and the police officers arrived again. The guy who spoke a bit of English really seemed to mean well and again urged us to go to the hotel. We were able to explain how inconvenient it would be for us to relocate to the hotel at this time of the night, in the dark. The final solution for the problem was that James went to the police station with the guys where they photocopied our passports and I guess registered us. All went well and we had a good nights sleep.
Next morning, the mayor waved us over into his office to sit by the wood stove for a while. We wanted to return his jacket to him but he insisted that James keep it because it fit him perfectly.
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP, SOPHIA, SOPHIA'S FATHER, MAYOR AND THE KIND POLICE OFFICERS!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment