We picked up my father (who I call Baba) a few minutes later, hopped on a 10 RMB bus back to the city, and it was just like old times.
"So how did you end up making it in today? I thought you said you might have to take a flight tomorrow," I asked in Chinese.
"Things ended up working out," Baba responded, also in Chinese. By the way, how much did you ride from Gulangyu to the airport for?"
"You mean the dock across from Gulanyu, right?"
"Yes, obviously - Gulangyu is an island."
"100 RMB... but that was a special price."
"Ha! I paid 1 RMB... I could ride to or from the airport 100 times for your price!"
"Like I said, I paid a special price... anyways, what happened on your trip?"
"It was somewhat eventful... and even people trying to set up traps along the way..."
"Like at Shaoxing??" Larry joked.
"Haha, like at Shaoxing, but we evaded all those traps, just like I did at Xiamen."
"Well what happened?" I inquired again.
"So I took a plane from Taipei to Jinmen, and then arrived in Xiamen via boat around 3:30pm."
"Just as planned, right?" I asked.
"Yes. But once I got to Xiamen, I was greeted with hoards of travel agents all looking for business. One of them offered me a day trip for 80 RMB. I told them I don't have a full day anymore, but then they argued I could do the afternoon part first and the morning part the next day."
"But the tour group has already left," Larry interrupted.
"Yes, so they said that I can get a personal guide and a private car for 200 RMB.
"200 RMB??"
"Yes, that was my reaction too - so they agreed to drop to 120 RMB."
"Okay..."
"I agreed and so they sent me to Gulangyu where I had booked the hotel. Once there, a guide met us, a Ms. Zhang (张大姐). She introduced her business with, 'So on Gulangyu Island we have three tours, Program A, B, and C. Program A is 200 RMB, and shows you all the different sightseeing spots. Program B has everything except X, Y, and Z, and is priced at 150, while C is just 90 but only has A, B, and C. Which one do you want?'
'Well, I had already paid 120 RMB just to get here. I don't understand why the tours were not included. I have no intention of paying anything more!'
Ms. Zhang replied, 'Well the tours cover the cost of the entrance fees, which are outside the cost of the tour guide and transportation.'
So I told her, 'I would rather walk around the island for free and not pay any entrance fees at all!'
'But you can't do that! Come on, we won't have any money to buy food to eat...'
'What do you mean, I'm already paying 120...'
'We don't get paid by the travel agency. We are independent tour guides that get a cut from the entrance fees. If you don't go see the exhibits, we'll starve!'
'But why is that any of my business...?'
'Come on... have a heart... I know what we can do! Why don't we come up with a new program just for you. We'll show you around Xiamen University and Nanputou Temple, and tomorrow we'll see Gulangyu. All for 100 RMB.'
So I agreed and paid out another 100 RMB. Ms. Zhang took the money and ran, leaving me with a newly minted tour guide girl, fresh out of college, a Miss Zhuang (庄小姐)."
"Ah, so that's where the trap is laid!" exclaimed Larry.
"Haha, yes. Anyways, we went to Xiamen University first. While touring around I asked her how big Xiamen University was. She said there were 300,000 students! I didn't believe her for a second. The biggest university I know of doesn't have half that many!"
"Doesn't Ohio State have 100,000?" I checked.
"Maybe, and that's the biggest university I know of. Anyways, she went on to explain there were 2 campuses, with 150,000 each. Yeah right! 隨便說說﹐隨便聽聽."
"Uh huh."
"She also said that the campus is bigger than Gulangyu, which I doubted, but wasn't going to bother challenging her on that one. Anyhow, after going there and Nanputou Temple, we went back to Gulangyu where I dropped off my things and we went to dinner. I asked her where to go, and she recommended a very expensive seafood restaurant on the island."
"You treated her?" Larry asked.
"Of course."
"So she took advantage of you using her position as your tour guide!"
"Yeah but what can you do... anyhow, after dinner I went back to the hostel and tried to buy a ticket for tomorrow. Unfortunately, it wouldn't take my credit card."
"It doesn't take international credit cards for flights within 24 hours of purchase," I pointed out.
"Actually it must be something else, as I'll explain later. Anyways, after that, I called up Miss Zhuang and she said there's a place across the street from the travel agency that sells airplane tickets. So she drove back over and picked me up, but when we got there, we found the place was closed."
"Bad luck. You guys probably should've tried before going to dinner and touring around."
"Well I just didn't know any better before I tried going online. Anyhow, from there, I walked around Zhongshan Rd, the main pedestrian road in Xiamen. It was busy with lots of people, but the strange thing was that there was no activity. No one was buying anything; people were just walking around, resting, looking around. It's not like Ximending in Taipei. They just don't have enough street vendors with cheap but tasty foods to grab people's attention. So after Zhongshan Rd, I took the boat back to Xiamen, called you up, and when you explained how international credit cards can't be used for flights within 24 hours, I tried to book for the next day instead. However, that didn't work either, and I checked on a couple different sites."
"Really?"
"Yeah, so I called up Miss Zhuang late at night..."
"Is this the start of an affair?" jabbed Larry.
"No, I just told her that instead of touring Gulangyu tomorrow morning, we're going to go to the ticket office across the street from the travel agency.
"So you ended up not being able to see Gulangyu at all?"
"Well I ended up walking around the island by myself at night, though of course I didn't go to any of the exhibits with entrance fees."
"So you missed out the on the piano museums and everything?"
"Yeah it is nicknamed 'Piano Island'," Larry pointed out.
"Right, so anyhow, around 8am the next day, we went to the office. Prices have gone up from what they were online, but I had no choice, and ended up buying a ticket for the 11:45am flight. I finished at about 8:30am, and had plenty of time, but was really confused on how much time it takes to get to the airport. The front desk at the hostel had said it only takes 20 minutes, while the travel agency mentioned 20-45 minutes. But then I asked the bus driver, and he said anywhere from 1-2 hours! Finally I asked the airline booking office, and they said it takes at least an hour, but perhaps 90 minutes if the traffic is bad."
"It only takes 20 minutes - at least that's what it took me when I took it via taxi," I said.
"Well by bus it ended up taking a whole hour, though of course I only paid 1 RMB while you paid 100."
"Indeed..."
"Anyhow, I left my luggage at Gulangyu since I had not planned to go straight to the airport, and was hoping to tour Gulangyu at least a little, but there just wasn't time. So I went back to the island to get my luggage, and bought two tickets, one for myself and one for Miss Zhuang. However, pocketing the ticket, Miss Zhuang said she wasn't going back to Gulangyu right away, as she has another tour group to direct.
"She sure knows how to take advantage!" Larry exclaimed.
"Yeah, and not just her too. Actually, after I bought my plane ticket, I went to the travel agency and asked if I could get a refund or partial refund of my 100 RMB, since I didn't tour Gulangyu. The travel agency said no. It seems I got cheated out of 220 RMB.
"Even though I paid 100 RMB for the airport ride, at least I didn't throw money away on the Gulangyu tour!" I noted.
"So after I got my luggage, I got on the 1 RMB bus which surprisingly took a whole hour, thereby getting to the airport at 10am. With nothing to do, I waited around until 11:45am, and then came into Chengdu a couple hours later."
"I see."
"So what are we going to do now?"
"I think we're planning to go to Jiuzhaigou tomorrow, so we're going to go buy some bus tickets to ride up there in the morning," Larry said.
"How long does it take?"
"It's hard to say with the earthquake and everything, but it used to be if you left around 8am, you cold get there by 3-4pm. However, it could be longer now due to all the restoration work that needs to be done on the roads."
"Wow, that's a long ride! What's after Jiuzhaigou?"
"We'll slowly visit the other places of interest on the way, maybe hitchhiking or negotiating a price with a driver or something."
"Sounds like a plan."
And so, with that rough outline of a plan in mind, we were off on our glorious journey.
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