Island WeekendAug 9, 2009
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Dinner with Friends
Beach on the Island
Fishing Village
Friday some of my friends gathered at Arturo and Marie’s house for a spaghetti dinner. They are from Arizona and we have spent time bonding since I have been here. It always is a treat to get a non-Chinese tasting meal every once in a while and the dinner did not disappoint. I woke up at 4am to head off on a camping trip to Gupai Island. My mental image going was of a deserted island that Intel was chartering a boat to, not sure why I thought that. I ended up getting quite a unique and memorable experience and was happy about every moment.
Gupai Island is in a group of 8 islands north east of Dalian about an hour and a half drive. There is a 30min ferry that took us to the island for our camping/beach/fishing trip. But before we made it I got to experience Chinese disorder at its best in the ferry terminal getting there. My friend Auturo vented out loud today that he is fed up with the lack of air conditioning and general mass confusion on the roads and chaotic lines of people basically anywhere people gather. I try to roll with flow but w/o AC and about 1000 people piled into a small ferry station for 3 hours I was close to my breaking point. But we finally made it on the crowded bus which took us to the crowed boat and made it to a beautiful island with sandy beaches, nice waves, and perfect weather.
The tour agency over committed and also the hotel and transportation. For 90 people they 2 flatbed pickup trucks which we piled on the back of standing up to get around the small island. The hotel had only one communal shower facility for a hotel with 200 rooms. The island was the home of a fishing village with a community living from farms and the sea and making a livelihood from the sea. We ate all you can eat seafood and vegetables for lunch and dinner both days. At night there was a beach party where we danced and people sang karaoke. It’s built into the culture to sing karaoke and it is just as funny as what we see on t.v. but I appreciate the fact people do not mind being silly and having fun, in a public group setting. Another local cultural habit is playing card games. At any moment young and old people carry packs of cards and play this card game that I have not learned yet. Every time I ask to learn I am told it is to complicated for me to understand.
I got in the water and enjoyed the beach. I also watch men and women often have their hats and huddle under umbrellas and tents. I learned people here do not want to get a tan and have dark skin because skin color is tied to social status. The darker you are people will assume you have a outdoor common laborer type job which is lower on the social class. So I discovered the way even in China skin color separates people.
I hopeful will get to return to the beach with Hannaiyah and Neema I think they will enjoy the nice sand and clear water.
