"I'm sorry... I don't understand."
Amy wanted to see the WHOLE park. Stunning as it was, I was willing to postpone the beauty until around 9 the next morning. We could get up around 8, eat breakfast, and be out before nine. Nope. Amy wanted to leave early so we could be finished with the park early. I don't want to make this an "I-TOLD-you-so" moment, but just because I don't say it doesn't mean it isn't true. Keep in mind that we're three young foreigners illegally staying inside the park overnight. And we're supposed to get up right when the park opens and head on our merry way? I don't think so.
And this is what I told the crew. I voiced my opinion arguing that we would have to wait a while so as to not attract attention and be able to hop on a very crowded bus where the tour guide wouldn't ask questions. "It'll be fine" they say. Two against one.
Can you guess? We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, and walked straight outdoors, confident yet observant. Not one minute later a patrol car pulls up along side us and asks us where we were going and what we were doing. He wants to see our tickets.
Our mistake: we left too early
To our credit: we had checked our tickets the night before to see which of the two didn't have a date on it. Obviously, we knew to hand that one out to anyone who asked.
Our mistake: we were descending during the time of day when any other tourist would have been ascending. Oops.
To our credit: we had learned the system--we would play the race card as I had done the night before. Is it moral? Maybe not so much. Is it helpful? Definitely. Do I recommend it? Well, our success rate is 100%.
So when the officer rolled down our window we spoke English. He spoke clear, basic Chinese that the three of us understood perfectly. He asked for our tickets, but we "didn't understand." Then he tried again. We then found out this man's two word English vocabulary "Bus Ticket". So, naturally, we handed them over...that is, the one without the dates. He then proceeded to try to tell us that the tickets were from the day before (which they were) and that the date said yesterday (which it didn't as there was no date). But, being fluent in no language but English, the three of us stood perplexed, wondering, staring and not understanding. "I'm sorry... I don't understand. What is it that you mean?" Eventually he wrote the dates down on a separate piece of paper, which no fool could ignore, so we had to shake our heads in comprehension. However, what now? We asked each other as well as the officer, well, what next? What do we do? The answer to that was to leave the park. But, that wasn't in our vocabulary...
Eventually the poor man gave up. He couldn't bear to suffer over the question of what to do with three dumb foreigners. So, he waived his hands in defeat and drove away.
Victorious, we headed on, this time smart enough to go upwards. We had all of our stuff, though, so hiking was both tiring and hot in the sun. Eventually we found a path and took that instead over the pavement of the bus route. Although the area we hiked through and the scenery we saw were on the map, they were not included on the bus stops. And as we quickly found out, the trail abruptly ended, so we had to return to the road. So, we actually ended up seeing a lot of great stuff that no one else would have seen. I'm sure Robert Frost would have been very proud of us.
We saw some stunning foliage:
We also passed a lagoon blue lake that seemed to be drying up before our eyes, and some high mountains towering over the changing leaves. It was a good hike in the end. An enjoyable part for myself and Amy was when Tim decided the trail (which had started back up again) would lead us to the next stop quicker than walking along the road. Amy and I disagreed so we decided to continue without him. About 15 minutes later we hear a cry from across the lake: "The path ended!!! I'm stuck!!" It seems as though Tim experienced a shortage of stable footing, one very rickety bridge, and a long walk back after realizing he'd been wrong. But we laughed anyway.
The rest is scenery. We did eventually make it onto a crowded bus, and we did see the rest of the park with no trouble. I wont trivialize it; it's too beautiful. It's just that I probably wont remember the names of the lakes or rivers we saw, but I will remember duping an officer, sneaking a hike along the road, and Tim getting stuck. That's probably what made Jiuzhai gou for me.
This story may not appear morally sound, but it does have a definite moral: In China, it is always a benefit to know Chinese, but it is NOT always a benefit to let others know that you know it.
And this is what I told the crew. I voiced my opinion arguing that we would have to wait a while so as to not attract attention and be able to hop on a very crowded bus where the tour guide wouldn't ask questions. "It'll be fine" they say. Two against one.
Can you guess? We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, and walked straight outdoors, confident yet observant. Not one minute later a patrol car pulls up along side us and asks us where we were going and what we were doing. He wants to see our tickets.
Our mistake: we left too early
To our credit: we had checked our tickets the night before to see which of the two didn't have a date on it. Obviously, we knew to hand that one out to anyone who asked.
Our mistake: we were descending during the time of day when any other tourist would have been ascending. Oops.
To our credit: we had learned the system--we would play the race card as I had done the night before. Is it moral? Maybe not so much. Is it helpful? Definitely. Do I recommend it? Well, our success rate is 100%.
So when the officer rolled down our window we spoke English. He spoke clear, basic Chinese that the three of us understood perfectly. He asked for our tickets, but we "didn't understand." Then he tried again. We then found out this man's two word English vocabulary "Bus Ticket". So, naturally, we handed them over...that is, the one without the dates. He then proceeded to try to tell us that the tickets were from the day before (which they were) and that the date said yesterday (which it didn't as there was no date). But, being fluent in no language but English, the three of us stood perplexed, wondering, staring and not understanding. "I'm sorry... I don't understand. What is it that you mean?" Eventually he wrote the dates down on a separate piece of paper, which no fool could ignore, so we had to shake our heads in comprehension. However, what now? We asked each other as well as the officer, well, what next? What do we do? The answer to that was to leave the park. But, that wasn't in our vocabulary...
Eventually the poor man gave up. He couldn't bear to suffer over the question of what to do with three dumb foreigners. So, he waived his hands in defeat and drove away.
Victorious, we headed on, this time smart enough to go upwards. We had all of our stuff, though, so hiking was both tiring and hot in the sun. Eventually we found a path and took that instead over the pavement of the bus route. Although the area we hiked through and the scenery we saw were on the map, they were not included on the bus stops. And as we quickly found out, the trail abruptly ended, so we had to return to the road. So, we actually ended up seeing a lot of great stuff that no one else would have seen. I'm sure Robert Frost would have been very proud of us.
We saw some stunning foliage:
We also passed a lagoon blue lake that seemed to be drying up before our eyes, and some high mountains towering over the changing leaves. It was a good hike in the end. An enjoyable part for myself and Amy was when Tim decided the trail (which had started back up again) would lead us to the next stop quicker than walking along the road. Amy and I disagreed so we decided to continue without him. About 15 minutes later we hear a cry from across the lake: "The path ended!!! I'm stuck!!" It seems as though Tim experienced a shortage of stable footing, one very rickety bridge, and a long walk back after realizing he'd been wrong. But we laughed anyway.
The rest is scenery. We did eventually make it onto a crowded bus, and we did see the rest of the park with no trouble. I wont trivialize it; it's too beautiful. It's just that I probably wont remember the names of the lakes or rivers we saw, but I will remember duping an officer, sneaking a hike along the road, and Tim getting stuck. That's probably what made Jiuzhai gou for me.
This story may not appear morally sound, but it does have a definite moral: In China, it is always a benefit to know Chinese, but it is NOT always a benefit to let others know that you know it.
Great adventure
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