5.22.2009
Today we went to the village of TengTou (a supposedly “environmental”)
village that was constructed more recently than yesterday’s village.
The area we visited did have some solar and wind-powered public
lighting, but other than that, it was more like a theme park than a
village. We saw many newer homes that were perhaps more ecologically
friendly than others, but had no way of knowing.
The difference here was that we didn’t have anyone to tell us about
the village or how things were put together like we did yesterday. We
stopped at a ticket office and had to purchase tickets to see the
ecological village which makes us think that it was more of a “show”
than anything. Perhaps it was a trial village which they want to show
others in the country.
We had lunch there in a restaurant that was going to be full of other
tourists stopping at the village. The owner had us go upstairs to the
individual rooms area and as we walked down the hall, we noticed that
all of the rooms had all ready been eaten in and messed up – not
cleaned at all. Things were thrown around and dropped on the floor,
etc. It actually looked like yesterday’s meal. He had someone come
up and clean one of the rooms for us and then we had some good Chinese
food – eggplant, beef and peppers, rice, chicken and potatoes, and a
couple other dishes.
We left the village and went on from NingBo (where the village was
near) toward Shanghai and we took the new bridge (the longest open
water bridge in the world, just completed last year in April. We also
got to stop at the rest area and the driver coaxed the construction
workers to allow us to stop and take photos of the bridge from there.
We had 10 minutes to take some photos and then we went across the rest
of the way.
The bridge is built over the Hangzhou bay and over the tidal flats.
The tide was going out when we were stopped and the water was running
out to sea. It was pretty neat.
On the way back, Difei told us that the hotel is making us take our
temperatures and record them every day and mark any symptoms that we
have. This is AFTER having the same thing done on the plane, and
nevermind the fact that H1N1 would have shown up within a week of us
being here. Dick and Denise had already been tested again in Dali at
the University as well. The question is, how would they tell H1N1
from sickness caused by the bad air pollution?
This is a bit ridiculous and the security here is very bad anyway. If
anything should be done, the country should put a moratorium on
spitting in public, make sure people wash their hands (which they
don’t) and make sure people cover their mouth when they sneeze (just
this morning a gentlemen sneezed all over the breakfast plates going
through the buffet). Sigh, it’s just frustrating.
After taking a short break at the hotel, some of us went to watch some
of the students get haircuts. Three of the women students got their
hair cut at a very nice salon which included a little massage again.
It was quite an experience and we got many looks as the “foreigners”.
It was good fun and everyone stares at us out of curiosity. Much of
the time they also add a, “hello” to see how we respond. When we also
respond, “hello” we usually get laughs as if they think what they say
won’t work and then suddenly does. It’s great.
Tomorrow we meet the students from Zhejiang University and go to the
new campus. That will be a great opportunity and can’t wait to see
how that all works out.