English Trip to China 2011

15

Excursion to the Yellow River


November 5th

Meeting my good friends in Luoyang and visiting the power
plant
The train from Beijing to Luoyang runs almost noiselessly. I do not even notice when it stops in the night. Only the lights outside do not move. No loudspeakers announce the names of the stations. However when the train crosses the Yellow River I cannot see anything as it is still dark, but I can hear the different sound caused by the bridge´s metal construction. I can see the full moon, but only rather blurred. Slowly the new day is dawning. Fog is covering the plains. I do not know the exact arrival time. So I am surprised when the guard hands me back my ticket and tells me that we are about to arrive in about twenty minutes. Hopefully my friend Wendy is waiting for me. She had promised to meet me at the station and she had a big surprise in store for me. But it is still so very early. Only 7:20. Much too early, I think. I expected the train to reach Luoyang at about 9am. So I persuade a friendy and helpful man to dial Wendy´s number and to let me talk to her over his mobile. I have the impression that Wendy is still in bed and not very happy to get up immediately and so fast. Anyway this is the first contact with her after two years.

Many people are getting off the train. It takes some time to walk to the exit where the tickets are chequed and collected. Outside there is lovely sunshine. However it is rather chilly. I am wearing my coat. My spirits are high. I am so happy when I see Wendy. She is not alone. She is accompanied by Mr Zhu, a handsome young man. They welcome me and lead me to Wendy´s car. I remember it is a Citroen. They put my backpack in the hold. Then they drive to the tiny Luoyang airport where Wendy is working and has got something to do. She parks in a sidestreet, then shows me the airfield across the fence. The airport is also a training field for jet plane pilots. They are training on small planes. Wendy tells Mr Zhu to show me round, go to the airport cafeteria and have breakfast, while she is working and arranging something for us. As two years ago she took me to visit the world-famous Longmen grottoes, the white horse temple Baima Si, and the well-known Shaolin Temple and Kung Fu training place, I think she has the idea of taking me to the Yellow River this time. She gives us a bag of milk, which Mr Zhu takes up the stairs of the little airport waiting hall, up to the restaurant, where I can see lots of big round tables but no customers having breakfast. However lots of young assistants are there, eager to serve. Mr Zhu motions me to sit down at one of the big tables. Then he hands the little bag of milk to one of the assistants. He tells her to bring a bowl of very hot water, where the bag of milk will be submerged to warm up. I am a little puzzled but don´t say anything. I would prefer to drink the milk cold, the colder the better. Mr Zhu is lighting a cigarette, which apparently is his breakfast.

HI Udo
I am sure that nature is advanced im Ticino. They do have mostly a warmer clima there.
As there are not too many Cherry blossom trees there a hanami festival  is not known to me..
Now I am going to read your next article ..Looking forward to it.
Greetings fronm Yoli
 

16



After the milk and toilet Mr Zhu takes me around, showing me the houses where the trainees are accommodated. This is a special area which we can only get into by special permit and getting past a security guard who notes our names and time of entry. I can see some yucca plants in full bloom. I love to see those big whitish flowers. There are also some colourful birds that attract my attention. But I am too slow with my camera to take a picture, the birds are too lively, just sitting behind leaves or hopping out of sight. After a long time Mr Zhu´s mobile is ringing. It´s Wendy. She is telling us that everything will be ready in about half an hour. We should be waiting for her at the airport parking. The airport parking is so small. Just big enough for about twenty or thirty cars. When we are there, a black minibus is arriving. There is a driver, a military officer having a higher rank, an airport security man, an elderly couple. When Wendy comes she introduces Mr Zhu and me to them. They are all very nice. Then we all get into the minibus and off we go, on our way to the Yellow River, the second biggest river in China. The officer is wearing a brand-new uniform. His way of talking and his movements show his perfect manners. Wendy is very pretty with her long hair. Her fingernails are very special. They are so sexy with a beautiful floral design on each fingernail. If there is a chance I want to take a picture.Wendy is wearing jeans and a leather jacket. Mr Zhu is a policeman, handsome and young. Three times a week he is on night duty. He wants to improve his knowledge of English and asks me many questions. This is good, so we have lots to talk about. But he is also very much interested in recent Chinese history and in the history of Europe. So he asks a lot about the dark chapters of German history, which are difficult to explain. The airport security man is obviously not busy this morning, although he is wearing his pretty darkblue uniform with an interesting design on the left upper sleeve. Very few Chinese cities are connected by air traffic with Luoyang.

Wendy seems to be very popular. Obviously she has talked to all these people and been able to arrange a trip to the Yellow River, the Huang He, to please me and to show me a place which otherwise I would never have had a chance to visit. All of the group seem to be very happy that they can go on this morning excursion. Their faces show how relaxed they are. The road to the Yellow River is narrow, fortunately with little traffic.The driver is a subordinate military. On the way towards the Yellow River he drives safely but fast, however always ready to break whenever he sees someone walking , or small motorized carts used for working in the fields, and he is always aware of agricultural vehicles that might get from the sideroads onto the main country road without stopping or looking. So he hoots a lot. After about half an hour we get off the main road and onto a steep hill. Near the top we alight from the minibus. This is countryside. The soil is red. Obviously it hasn´t rained for many weeks, so the plants are very dry. The air is pure. Breathing in deeply is a pleasure. From the hill we have a fantastic panoramic view of the Yellow River valley, although I cannot see it too clearly. There is still the morning mist. However what I see is a huge hydroelectric power plant. Wendy tells me this is new. It is the biggest power plant in modern China. Only the most recent maps show it. It cost a lot of money to build. It produces an enormous amount of electricity, at the same time stopping the wild flow of the river, which used to carry with it millions of tons of yellowish sediments annually. At the lower side of the power plant, the river is not yellow, but clean. A little later we enjoy looking at the Yellow River from a bridge. I can see how wide the river is here, after it squeezed through a narrow valley forming dangerous rapids. The steep sides of the valley are formations of hard red rock. I can see some wild ducks near the bank, and a certain number of cormorants on a tiny island in the middle. Not far from the bridge, at a crossroads, there is a monument where the driver stops for us to get out and take some pictures. The big monument is painted white, representing a caring mother and her baby. In the countries where communism is the main ideology, this style of monuments can often be seen. The Chinese are moved when looking at the monument. They explain to me that the mother represents the big river, the Huang He, and the baby is China, the child which is nurtured by the constant supply of water and is growing bigger by the rich sediments which the river transports to vast areas fertilizing the fields in the eastern parts of the country.

Hi Udo
I just read that the yucca plant takes 10 years before it blooms.
I have never seen one blooming.
I will look up the yellow river to see why he is yellow.
IT just tells me that it is the slik in the river a sort of sediment he carries.
Did you manage to take a photo of the Wendys nails?
Take care
Love Yoli

Hi Udo
That river is fascinating. As is all you show us here.
Maybe you could wait a bit with more stories as I am not sure what the internet is like there. I would not like to miss anything of it :-)
At the moment I am getting ready to pack the camper. It is only for 12 days and it is in the same country. But still I do not want to buy things because I have forgotten them. 
The camping place is called Riarena and the village is named Cugnasco. That is near to Locarno or Ascona!
It has a swimming pool. If it is warm enough to go into???
I do love it a bit warm.
We will be able to have nice little walks along the country side there.
Also my youngest brother lives not far away.
If possible I will look into  here once  I a while. Take care all of you.
Love Yoli.

Hello Jacare and Yoli,
What a beautiful foto: two kids standing bravely before a gigantical background. One can see from far the exactly cultivated areas on top of steep hills. Imagine, how the people have to work there - they must be quite tough!
Our farmers all have big and effective machines that do almost all the hard duty. Apart from similar steep hills, where they - too - have to do it all manually. I've seen and adored it in Switzerland.