03.08.09
Quick Update from Linan, Zhejiang
Well, I had an excellent 3 days in Suzhou, and have now continued on the next leg of my brief Yangtze River Delta excursion. I’m writing this from a smokey internet bar in Linan, a 县及市 (county-level city) about an hour outside of Hangzhou. An old friend of mine who I met while living in Fuzhou is living here now, and I decided to drop in and pay her a visit for a few days. On the 10th, my old buddy Tex (also met in Fuzhou) and I are going to meet up for the final leg of the trip, which will go through Nanjing and Anhui province.
Since this trip in China is a relatively short one (I go back home on the 19th), I’ve decided not to spend too much time blogging from the road, and instead will document most of my travels when I get back to Chicago. I have been taking a lot of pictures, which I will post when I get back home, and also have been Twittering daily (@BenRoss) which can be done much quicker than blogging I am rapidly figuring out.
So as for Linan, I am actually quite stoked to be here. Thus far, my entire trip has consisted of 2 weeks in Shanghai (huge city, tons of foreign influence), and 3 days in Suzhou (relatively large city, lots of foreign influence as well). Linan, on the other hand, is reminding me a lot of Fuqing, where I spent my first year and a half in the Middle Kingdom. It’s a small city (probably a couple hundred thousand people) easily transversed on foot, or by cab for 5 RMB to virtually any location, I’m able to walk the streets without having watches, handbags, and prostitutes solicited to me, and the locals have a rural innocense to them that is typically lost in big city life.
I’m going to save most of my elaboration (I could go on for pages about Chinese small towns like this) until I get back to Chicago, but just wanted to give everybody a quick update of the trip so far. Next post will probably be coming to you from Anhui, home of Yellow Mouintain, excellent tea, and point of origination for most of Shanghai’s migrant labor force.
