From the Arch to the Great Wall 由拱門到長城

13. Yellow River

Yellow River

This morning, one of the breakfast attendants asked me for my room number before letting me into the eating area. Instead of saying the usual "ee" for "one", I said "yao", which is also one but in a different dialect. I had heard it before in the States and now I was unconsciously using it in China. The people here understand "ee" if I were to say it but it just makes more sense to say "yao".

The first stop of the morning was the hovercraft tour of the Yellow River (Huanghe) - the second longest river in China.. This was my first time seeing a hovercraft and I must say it was pretty cool looking. After the bottom tube was inflated it went over almost everything with ease. The Yellow River stays true to its name𡟙t is incredibly dirty and more of a brown than yellow. The hovercraft dropped us off on a small island in the middle of the river. We saw farmers with horses and some students paid a small fee to ride a horse on an island in the middle of the Yellow River. Before it was time to leave, everyone crowded around a small patch of land that looked firm but had a trampoline-like effect to it. We found out it could be expanded and soon everybody was jumping on it. Surprisingly, the ground did not cave in but rather pushed back. I guess it could be compared to a giant waterbed; the ground held up 24 students while maintaining a springy texture.

After the hovercraft landed back at the base station a lady came out to hand us wet towels so we could wipe our hands. I thought it was really nice to have such great unexpected service. Then we walked to a dam right above the Yellow River. I got to walk around, take a picture of a statue at the top, and sit on a hammock made of wood. Here was where I decided to stop having soda at each meal because I felt dehydrated and somewhat sluggish.

The next stop after lunch was the Henan Province museum. It was built by I.M. Pei and contained the history of the Henan Province along with artifacts and special exhibitions. I didn't know if we were going to Yue Fei's temple so I took a picture of a picture of his temple. Many of the students were getting restless so we did not spend much time at the museum.

Since everybody was restless, we all got a 2 hour break after the museum. I spent a good hour at the internet bar from last night typing out emails. Then the internet went down throughout the city so I left with Joe, Darryle, and Pete to go wait for the bus to pick us up. Haibo took our group to a location that was not on the itinerary㻡 date shop. It was a shop full of goods made from dates such as medicines and snacks. I looked around for a bit and then went to play cards with Michael, Matt, Ryan, Jason, and Darryl.

Dinner tonight was a little more special than other dinners, if only by personal opinion. I ate many of the things I would normally pass up like cucumber, doh chih (bean sprouts), noodle soup, and beef with dong gwa (a type of melon) just as small attempt to get my daily servings of vegetables. I also did not drink any soda in order to not be so sluggish. All in all, it was one of those dinners where you feel full but did not eat too much.

After dinner Haibo surprised us all by taking us to get massages. Tonight we were scheduled to ride the night train and since we had an hour or so to kill, everybody except two students opted for the massages. It cost 120 yuan and was worth that price. There was another option of getting a body massage but I felt that I put more strain on my feet than my body so I got the foot massage. The lady I had was a bit rough but I still enjoyed my first foot massage ever. She basically beat my left leg and foot until it was numb and then did the same to my right leg and foot. At the end I even got a new pair of socks to wear, though I chose to wear my original ones on the train.

The night train turned out to be an awesome experience. Each compartment was about the size of a bathroom but held four bunks, a small table, and more room than expected. Jason and I got top bunks while Henry and Dustin got bottom bunks. Each bunk had a soft mattress, two blankets, and one pillow, plus extra pillows in the storage bin in case you wanted more. I took out the pillows and threw my luggage in the storage bin, wrote a little in my journal, and fell asleep almost immediately after putting my journal away.

Inside the night train compartment

第十三章黃河

作者：岳群
翻譯：時報編譯組

今天早上吃早餐時，侍者問我房間號碼，我自然的說出「么」，而不是「壹」或「one」。我曾在美國聽到過「么」，現在派上用場，在中國，講「么」似乎比較合宜。

旅遊的第一個景點是到中國第二大河—黃河坐氣墊船。這是我第一次看到氣墊船，當船底氣墊充氣後，可以輕易的在河上航行。黃河真是名符其實，很髒而且是比黃色還黃的土黃棕色，氣墊船把我們送到河中央的一個小島上，島上有些帶著馬匹的農夫，同學們可以付些錢騎馬。在離開小島前，大家都聚集在一小塊土地旁，這塊地很奇怪，像彈簧床一樣，大家跳上去，不但地不會下陷，反而會隆上來，也可以說是一個大水床，我們試了又試，竟然能夠有二十四個同學踏上去仍有彈性。

上岸後，船公司遞上濕毛巾讓我們擦手，這是個意想不到的服務。接著我們到黃河上的一個大壩參觀和照相。這時，我感到有些脫水和行動遲緩，我想，每餐喝可樂的習慣該要戒掉了。

接下來是參觀河南博物館，裡面有河南省的歷史文物展示，因為不曉得我們會不會去真的岳王廟參觀，所以在館內，我先照了一張岳王廟相片的照片。一天下來，大家都累了。吃晚餐前，有一個小時自由時間，我先到「網吧」去送幾封電子郵件，然後導遊海寶帶我們到一家「約會店」去開眼界，那是一家專賣約會用物品的商店，從藥品到零食都有。

晚餐時，我吃了不少以前不吃的食物，包括黃瓜、豆子和冬瓜，以增加所需要的蔬菜量，同時不喝可樂。這餐晚餐吃得不多，但感覺很好。餐後，離搭火車到南京還有一個多小時，導遊海寶就帶我們去按摩，分全身按摩和腳部按摩，因為走的路太多了，所以我選擇腳部按摩，收費人民幣一百二十元，按摩得很不錯，還有一雙新襪子穿，但是上火車前，我還是換上了我原來的襪子。

坐夜車又是個驚奇的經驗。每節車廂像一般浴室一樣大小，有上下舖四個床，一張小桌子，房間比想像的大。我和Jason睡上舖，Henry和Dustin睡下舖，每一張床有柔軟的床墊，兩條毯子，一個枕頭，儲物櫃裡還有多的枕頭，我拿出枕頭，將行李丟進儲物櫃，匆匆寫下今天的遊記，就進入夢鄉了。