Day 7 - Chen Zhou

Wednesday November 28, 2007


The drive to Chen Zhou was exciting. Our first task was to exit the city of Changsha, but it seemed that every road leading out of the city was blocked or closed. After an hour of fruitless attempts and driving through the mind numbing turtle pace of the crowded city streets our driver went back to the first road that exited the city and, fortunately, the blockade had been moved. We made it out on our way to what should have been a four hour trip. I had been told that this drive was lovely as it would wend its way through the countryside. I looked and looked for lovely but instead saw the depressing evidence of man’s folly. The impact of overpopulation and pollution was everywhere. The countryside was crowded with old rectangular brick buildings with broken or non existent windows, ruined roofs and the look of emptiness. But, on closer inspection, it was clear that people were living in these buildings as there were clothes lines hanging from the remnants of the balconies and fires burning outside.

There were farmed fields, rice paddies and terraced agriculture. I did see the odd Ox and a few people working the fields. Mostly the fields were being burnt, the acrid smoke adding to the imposing smog that stretched from city to city. I kept waiting as the hours stretched by for the pretty vision that had been described to me. The fields themselves were tiny, no more than a large back yard in a wealthy Toronto neighbourhood. They were neat and well irrigated and green things were growing in them. But countryside? It must have been pretty in the past.

Driving on the highways from Chang Sha, through Zhu Zhou and to Chang Zhou is an exercise in vehicular chicken. Our driver must have nerves of steel as he bullied his way along the two lane highway three abreast with heavy trucks. We passed trucks carrying pigs, goats, donkeys and one with tiny cages packed ten high and about twenty long. At first I couldn’t figure out what the furry things were in these cages, assuming they were some exotic variety of goats. When we later passed a similar stock truck, I took a closer look and realized that eachcage contained a dog destined for the dinner table. We also passed buses that had beds instead of seats. Some of these buses drive for nineteen hours or more. The buses were packed with mothers and children sharing the tiny beds as well as laborers and other travelers. They looked curiously at us in our bus as we tried to get a picture of this unfamiliar sight. What a good idea! We need sleeping busses in Canada.

Before we began our journey this morning we started the day at a popular park and pavilion. It was really fun to see all the people enjoying themselves. Some people were practicing their ballroom dancing, others playing checkers, some performing in musical groups and children were playing with a variety of neat toys that the girls all had an opportunity to try. There were also men making water calligraphy on the sidewalk and they were keen to teach the girls. The people there were as curious about us as we were about them and soon we had crowds of people laughing and smiling as we all tried each other’s activity. After the park it was off to the temple to burn Joss sticks and make a wish. There were 500 Buddhas there and lots of people. I loved the ponds full of Koi and turtles. I can imagine that it is quite pretty in the spring. As it is December the leaves are looking a bit limp and there are few flowers blooming in the single digit weather.

We did make it to Chen Zhou after five and half hours. The city itself is full of lights and seems much more modern and tidy than the other cities we have been to. It is late now so exploring will have to wait until tomorrow. Good night from Chen Zhou.