Went to the China Bank to convert some dollars. Man that is an experience. they made us wait at least 25 minutes, then took each bill, looked at the front then turned it over and looked at the back. One bill had about an 1/32nd piece torn from the outer edge. They would not accept it. One was too wrinkly and they would not take that. Ok, then they counted it by flipping through it, then turned it to the other side and counted it again, then they turned it over and counted it again then the same thing again. They did not like my passport, so they took my wife's ID. Made 3 copies of it and attached it to paperwork. Now i can truly understand the process of checking the money. If I were going to counterfeit money it might be a great place to do it, but the counting and the not taking the two bills was absolutely ridiculous. I wanted to call for the manger but of course my wife wouldnt have that. They are so accustomed to not making waves that they will take almost anything. It was only $3,000 US. (My new daughters tuition is due) Didnt know that until I got here. I would just as well let her go to school in Wuhan where she would not have to pay. In Beijing if you are born here your schooling is free, but if you moved here you must pay tuition of about $5,000.00 per year. This does include housing and meals. Up until now little brother has been paying it. (Now I know why he is so happy to have me marry her). Anyway getting back to the money exchange. They did give me the full 6.8 which is better than my own bank in the states did. This is just a heads up.
Now the train trip from Wuhan to Beijing. we get on board this nice new train. The interior is just like inside of an airplane. Except for the windows, very big. however, every third seat is placed on a wall with no window. Guess which seat we got? You are right. that was the reason for taking the train to begin with. So I could see the countryside. Now both the people in the seats in front of us rode the whole way with the shade down. I got to see maybe 20 minutes of an 8 hour ride. This train is fast, it ran about 80 to 100 mph in the open stretches but there really was not that much open. we stopped at one town , this young lady got on in the seat next to ours. Her husband came running in with one of the bags she forgot. He placed it in the overhead bin and started running out. The train started to move and in about 1 minute he came walking back. He missed getting out before the train took off. Now I could not understand the conversation but from the hand gestures and what few words I could pick up. She was giving him hell for being stupid enough to not get off the train. He started about her bag, she said she had left it intentionally for him. (This i got from my wife) His head just dropped. I had to start laughing. (I did it quietly of course) They are now counting money to see if they had enough to buy his ticket to the next station. They did not. Now the conductor gets involved. She had a sense of humor about her. Once she heard the story she started to laugh. I do not know how they worked out the ticket, but he had to stand for the next 5 hours. there was no other seat available. Every once in a while she would look up to him and slap her forehead like telling him how stupid he was. Every time, I cracked up.
Little kids here are attracted to me. A foreigner I guess. but one little boy on the train about 5 years old. Made a game of coming up to my seat,then touching me on the arm and run back to Mama just laughing as loud as he could. So of course I played along. I growled at him every time. This just made him do it more. After about an hour I was sort of tired of it but not him. he would quit for a little bit then tap on my arm and run laughing. the people around us thought it funny for a while then they started to get annoyed also. Finally someone must have said something to mama because he stopped until just before we arrived. a very comfortable trip but not being able to see the countryside made it boring.
As the others have said. The Chinese do not like lines. If you give them an inch in front of you they will line jump. I do not like this at all. A couple of times I have just put my arm out and pushed them away. It is just like their driving. No one gets upset with it, they just accept it.
