Wenzhou Part 1 (7-21)

Saturday was a relaxing travel day from Yandangshan to Wenzhou. I had a 2.5 hour wait at the train station; so that became reading time. Upon arriving at the Wenzhou station, I noticed the sign pointing to buses and decided to try one. I showed my hotel address to a driver, and he told me which bus to take. I showed the address to the driver on that bus, and, after an hour, he told me to get off and pointed a direction for me to go. I decided to ask for assistance and chose a woman standing with her friend. Her friend left, and she indicated for me to go with her. She asked a few people and called the hotel. Then she pointed for me to go ahead and turned onto another street. After a few minutes, it was clear that the hotel was not where she had pointed. So I went into a building with men in uniform and asked them. One man called the hotel and then walked me to it. He wrote his phone number and name (in Chinese) on my paper in case I want to call him to show me around. He hung around at the desk until I told him in Chinese that it was OK. I guess he was just making sure all was well.

The young people at the front desk spoke no English but were quite good with their phone translators and really tried to communicate. I enjoyed interacting with them. My favorite was when I asked how to open the safe in the room and typed “safe” in my dictionary. Her response on her translator was “Do you feel safe?” Sweet, but not what I wanted. I moved on to “safe box” and she sent the “waitress” to help me.

After researching on the Internet about stuck camera lenses, I learned that there is a place in the U.S. where people have sent cameras to have that problem repaired successfully. That gave me the idea that maybe there is a camera repair shop in Wenzhou. When I asked at the desk, another guest was there and he told me where to go. He said he could take me, but I think his wife vetoed that, as he drew the directions on the map I had just gotten and wrote the street and “camera repair store” in Chinese for me. Armed with these, off I went. Unfortunately, his directions weren’t accurate. I asked someone about the street and he pointed the other way; so I walked that way, knowing that it was a main street. When I decided that I’d gone too far, I asked a man in a store and he pointed back the way I’d come. So I went the direction the man had drawn even though the street name had changed. After a while I went into a store and asked. The man there said there weren’t any such stores in that area and it was the wrong street. He got onto his phone map app and showed me where to go. I had him draw it on my paper. It was good that I’d walked the other way on the main street because I knew exactly where he was talking about. I found the store he was talking about, but it was closed.

On the way back I stopped for a drink, and the young man spoke English. I was happy to be able to choose a drink that wasn’t one of the pictures.

Sunday morning after breakfast, which was one of the best buffet breakfasts I’ve had, I set off for the camera repair store. It was right where the man in the store said it would be. In the process, I realized that the area the man at the hotel had directed me to was just past the store. I had mistaken the small roundabout near the hotel for the big one on the map. That area is full of mobile phone stores but no stores with cameras. Inside the store, I showed my note to a young woman who didn’t know about a place for camera repair. A minute later, she came to me and directed me to the Canon counter. When I showed the man there my camera and it became clear that we couldn’t communicate further, he brought over a young woman who speaks English. She explained that it takes two or three days to repair a camera, not counting the first day. Since I was leaving early Wednesday, I could leave it for two days but not for three. The problem was that there is only one repair shop in Wenzhou. I’m sure the repair itself probably takes about twenty minutes; it’s the waiting in line that needs two or three days. I was nicely persistent about two days. Then she said to leave it and return around four in the afternoon and they would tell me whether my camera could be repaired or not. So off I went. At 3:30 she called to tell me that I could pick up my camera on Monday. Good news. And the cost was only 200 RMB/$35.

When I returned to the hotel to pick up my hat and umbrella which I had neglected to move to my handbag after traveling, I realized that what I really wanted to do was stay there and rest. So I did. This was one of the better/more expensive hotels I stayed in, and it was nice to have such a lovely room to relax in. My head was a bit warm and my nose was dripping a lot. At 2:00, I felt well again. So, fortified with rest, tea, and a waffle sandwich (two waffles with jam between them), off I went to explore the area a bit. This is the hot time of day, but I was ready to be out of the room. 

Near the hotel is a pedestrian shopping area that is European in feeling and decoration. It’s two rings of shops. 

Outside the rings is a Walmart, the first I’ve seen. (There is one in Chengdu, but I haven’t been there.) 

When the woman and I walked through that area briefly on Monday, I noticed several pools with children playing in the water. These were mostly empty, probably because it was too early. When I returned in the evening, there were a number of children playing in each pool, and the whole area was lively, as is usual in China.

I wanted to walk along the river and find the places to get ferries across to the other side and to the island. I was glad I had my umbrella, as the sun was bright and hot. This river is not beautiful, at least not here and not now. It’s wide and brown. 

Later I came across a sign pointing to an ancient street. 

It has a lot of small shops but was interesting to walk down. 

I returned to the main street on a parallel residential street. I always enjoy exploring these streets.

Using the map, I headed toward the hotel area. On the way I came across Huagai Park and decided to walk through it, as it was now cooler and being among the trees was appealing. The paths go up a hill. (I wouldn’t call it a mountain as the description does.) At the top there is a Taoist temple.

When I exited the park and headed back to where I’d entered, I was surprised to see the cactus sculpture that is my landmark for going to the hotel. 

On that side of the street there is a canal with a park where many people were sitting, walking, and playing on the lawn. This was the first such designated lawn I have seen.

Before returning to the hotel, I walked around the shopping mall to find a place to eat. Eventually, I found a place with food on skewers. You pick the skewers you want and pay per item.

Monday morning I picked up my camera. When I tried to delete a photo I had taken to check the camera lens, the choices came up in Chinese. The repairman had changed the language. I know how to change the language, but when all the menu choices are in Chinese, that’s a problem for me. I was glad I’d found out in the store so the man there could change it back to English.

My destination for the day was Jiangxinlu Island, which is a small island in the middle of the river. One site describes it as one of China’s four best islands. Not having seen any islands in China, I can’t compare it to others, but it is a lovely respite from the city. You get there by ferry. 

Historical features are two pagodas 

and a temple. 

The island has a big lake and a couple smaller ones. 

I especially enjoyed walking through the tree-lined path 

and an area with palm trees. 

Another special area is the bonsai garden. Like the park I’d visited on Sunday, it has a designated lawn area. I’ve realized that this is a treat for the apartment-living people, but I haven’t seen it anywhere else.

Since the island is quite small, it’s easy to walk around, but there is also a shuttle available. I, of course, chose to walk, stopping several times to sit and relax. In the afternoon when I had walked just about everywhere, I sat on a bench to rest for a bit before returning to the hotel to relax and get out of the heat. It was so beautiful there and there was a gentle breeze; so I ended out staying there, reading and nodding off for over an hour. It was a perfect place to relax.

After taking a taxi to the area near the hotel, I decided to look for a place to eat. It was only 4:30, but I was hungry, not having eaten much since breakfast. I entered a small restaurant that has a statue of a big fish in the window, as I was thinking about fish. The food display case had big pieces of fish. Using my dictionary, I requested a small fish. I got one of the big pieces in the case, which turned out to be OK since it was only one side of the fish and most of it was head. So the amount of actual meat was what I wanted. While I was waiting, the man, who I think is the cook, gave me a plate of watermelon with the rind cut and looped decoratively and an orchid in the loop. Beautiful and refreshing. 

When the fish was presented, he took a photo of the woman and me with my food. After I finished, he had her take a photo of him with me and my finished meal. I think they don’t get many—if any—foreign customers. It was fun to provide so much pleasure to them.

Before returning to my room, I made a brief trip through Walmart—just because. It’s a basic store with no food products.