| I’m at the Lanzhou airport now, and am waiting to board my
flight back to Shanghai. My trip is virtually over. Before I write anything
else, though, I want to put in some final thoughts about Lanzhou.
Shanghai is dirty. There’s so much construction constantly going
on, that dust and dirt have an omnipresent coat on the streets, people’s
shoes, and their bodies (if they go out for more than a few seconds at
a time). Lanzhou, however, is DIRTY. I know I’ve mentioned this
before, but it bears repeating. After a day of walking around, riding
buses, etc, if I take a wet white washcloth and wipe my face, the cloth
will instantly be brown/black. This may be in part due to the thick air
pollution, I don’t know. But I’m glad I can’t see the
inner surface of my lungs. I have a feeling I would be horrified.
 There are a large number of Hui Muslims in Lanzhou, just like most of
the cities I’ve been to on this trip. In the middle of the city,
there is a HUGE mosque – also like many of the cities I’ve
been to, like Xining. But this mosque is special in that it lights up
at night, making it look like a strange Islamic amusement park. The size
and elaborateness of this mosque indicates to me that a lot of money has
been put into building it. Its location is also quite central –
at the intersection of two major elevated highways. I have mentioned before
my concern for the future of some of the ethnic minorities, but perhaps
the Hui aren’t doing quite as bad as some of the others. Perhaps
their relative similarity in appearance to the Hans has allowed them more
opportunities than some of the other minorities. Or, maybe the Hui are
just especially generous when it comes to giving money and resources to
their mosques. I dunno.
The last thing that I want to mention about Lanzhou really has me puzzled.
I’ve noticed that on almost every city block, there’s a small
shop with a sign that says “Husband and Wife Products” or
“Husband and Wife Health” or “Planned Parenthood Products”
or even “Sexual Health Products”. I’ve *rarely* (read:
literally once) seen stores advertised in this blatant kind of fashion
here in China, but in Lanzhou, they’re EVERYWHERE – sometimes
even two or three of them on a block. In Shanghai, contraceptives are
available at most any convenience store, and there are thousands of those
scattered across the city, so I though that maybe since Lanzhou doesn’t
have convenience stores, there needed to be a place to sell contraceptives.
But upon taking a glance inside one of this little hole-in-the-wall establishments,
it became quite clear to me that the stuff they sell in there is WAY racier
and more risqué than just condoms. They have all sorts of products
from “virility booster” medicines and herbs to strange toys.
Their selection is really astounding. BUT WHY? What’s so unique
about Lanzhou that would make these stores SO very commonplace? Were they
having a lot of trouble enforcing the one-child policy here? Did the government
subsidize or sponsor stores that sold contraceptives, and it just got
out of hand? I can’t really see how virility boosters help control
the population… Or maybe there are just different attitudes toward
sex here? I would find it fairly surprising if this *one* city had such
unique (and progressive) views. In my experience, China manages to remain
fairly uniform in terms of things like conservatism. Anyway, this is a
mystery that I may never find an answer to, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
October 28th - 5:10pm
On the plane from Lanzhou to Shanghai
I’m still sick-feeling, but not quite as bad as yesterday, so
hopefully I’m on the mend. It’s funny to be taking such a
modern form of transportation again. People still seem to use the area
around them as a place to deposit garbage they don’t want, but to
a slightly lesser degree than on a bus or on the train. On the contrary,
there’s a Japanese guy in front of me who worked very hard to pick
up a rubber band he dropped on the floor, so that he could take all the
waste from his meal, and re-package it in the original plastic box. It
was fascinating to watch, especially after what I’ve been seeing
for the last two weeks. Nobody has spit on the floor, and then smeared
it with their shoe, either. Oh, and nobody seems to be carrying a pigeon
in their pocket.
I haven’t shaved since I left Shanghai. Originally, I didn’t
shave because my face got sun burnt at Heavenly Lake, and it took a while
before my skin went back to normal. I naturally didn’t want to shave
while my skin was irritated, but by the time it felt better, the hairs
on my face were too long to be caught and cut by my electric travel razor.
I look quite scruffy, but I figure that it goes along well with the whole
“Backpacker” style I’ve got going on. Fleece vest, beard,
North Face pants (real ones, not Xiangyang knockoffs), Columbia jacket,
and dirty hiking shoes (they were fairly new-looking when I started the
trip, but certainly not anymore).
My hands have definitely NOT healed completely. Some of the worst cracks
in my skin from the first few days at Heavenly Lake have mostly healed
- and more importantly, don’t bleed anymore - but there are still
some that remain. I have a couple that happened at the tips of my fingers.
These are especially slow to heal because the tips of your fingers get
the most use. Therefore they get bumped, rubbed, and poked far more often,
which really slows healing. Also because of this high use, keeping these
open wounds clean is FAR more difficult. I have to use my hands to do
all sorts of things causing my fingertips to come into contact with ALL
sorts of unsavory surfaces and objects, and since open wounds try their
best to stay moist, they end up picking up any dirt, dust, or whatever
that they come into contact with. I’m expecting to heal much faster
once I get back and can wash my hands freely, like a kid in a candy shop.
To tell the truth, my body has gone through quite the roller coaster
ride this trip. Sunburned face, then peeling face…. Dry hands that
crack and bleed, and then don’t heal… A Range of intestinal
issues from standard traveler’s diarrhea to food poising to garlic-induced
gas that was painful like I haven’t felt in years…. And last
but not least, this cold/flu that I’ve got right now. These things
have all been very annoying and certainly raised my frustration levels
at times, but when you’re out in the middle of nowhere northwest
China, it’s kind of just a matter of dealing with it, and moving
on.
We’re now descending toward Shanghai, and will land soon. I’ll
be interested to see how fast the seatbelts come off and the mobile phones
come on. Ahhh, there we are – it was IMMEDIATE. The Chinese may
have bad habits, but in the very least, they’re predictable.
Jeremy
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