Where you been? I've been missing you...

I fought the Beast and claimed the victory.

I've climbed structures built to prevent me.

I retreated to my hiding place.

I've communed with men older than time.

I've seen the news written on the wall.

Word cannot describe it.

quanzhou prt dos

Hindu spire at a Buddhist temple.

Wicked Muslim man hawking wares at the temple. Good as wares.

People long dead.

The shrine of the great man who started the cemetary.

Too lazy to bring flowers for your loved one's grave? Girl, all you gotta do is bring a cactus!

The second day in Quanzhou started off quite well. Our hotel rooms were fantastic, and the threat of dangerous “service” averted, I slept well on the large, plush mattress and the crisp white sheets. I looked over at Jon. He was still asleep, and he looked cuter when asleep than did Luke. Check below for a picture…just kidding.

We work up and went down stairs for breakfast. It was Chinese style: porridge, unknown meets, greasy bread and soy milk, but thank God they had coffee. I munched that down, and from there we headed out to what was supposed to be a museum… but we got lost en route, so our tour guide just randomly pulled over to the nearest tourist attraction: a cemetery. But to her credit, it wasn’t just any cemetery, but a Muslim one, and the grave stones and what not were particularly beautiful. The headstones had a mixture of Arabic and Chinese on them, and every once in a while there would be angels and other bits of religious paraphernalia. Moreover, a characteristic of cemeteries and graves in this area is that they are above ground, or at least there are a series of stone slabs that came up from the ground to denote that someone was below. The cemetery was nestled on a green hill after a series of stairs, and along the way we passed a rock that had been blown by the wind that it was precariously placed on the edge of a cliff. Who knows—a super-strong typhoon or a few more centuries and that rock will fall off and kill someone.

At the top of the cemetery was a worship alter for the Muslims there. Inside were stone tablets with inscriptions in Arabic and Chinese, but the must striking feature was the incense in the middle in front of a portrait of one of the most influential to the Islamic community during their years of exploration in the area. It was told to us that people, Christians and Muslims alike, would set up resident in wherever they landed after months at sea, and on that rock they would build a church so that the gates of Hell could not prevail against it. Or something of that nature. Either way, the incense is definitely not a Islamic ritual usually, but a Buddhist one, so seeing the two religions meld so nicely was good indeed.

After that, people started tripping the fuck out, so when we arrived at our next destination—a maritime museum—it turned out to be our last destination. I was really feeling the place—particularly the tombstones from the different religions that had settled in the area (including Hinduism), which had translations helpfully provided in English—but since people wanted to go home so badly, we left and went back after only an hour (I mean, really, an hour in a museum?!) and returned home.

A fact about China: convenience is not the top priority. When you’re on the interstate, and you have to use the bathroom, about how many gas stations, rest stops, convenience stores and exits do you pass that will allow you to stop? In China, this is not the case. If you’re going on a long ride, leave the fluids at home. One of us had to use the bathroom, and she gave full notice to the driver that she had to tinkle, and our driver, Zheng, looked for one. 20 minutes later and no bathroom, we pulled to the edge of the road, and our lady pulled down her trousers and did her business in the bushes. Gangsta, but a fact that people should know before coming to China. Always carry a packet of tissues or you’ll be screwed later on.

Quanzhou At-a-glance

Muslims are awesome. At the Cai compound.

At the Cai compound. Great architecture.

The temple we stood outside of. I'm sure it's even better inside.

This mosque is old as hell. And pretty as fuck.

Muslim's be wild'n'out in Quanzhou

Quanzhou Day 1

This past weekend, I went with the class to Quanzhou 泉州. It was better than I expected.

At first, I was scared since our professor told us that Quanzhou was known for its sexual tourism and neglected to mention other things. He talked about how you can go to most hotels and you'll get a call from downstairs asking would you like any special 服务 or "services." Of course what they're selling is not just the shoe shines and the massages, but a special massage...where you need it the most.

My feelings of dismay weren't relived when we got there, and all you see for the first 30 minutes into the city are rocks, quarries, more rocks, cranes, and the billboards of oil and mining companies that are in the city. What the fuck is the wasteland, i asked? We pulled over once to go potty, and stopped at some broke-neck gas station with dirty ass toilets that smelled suspiciously of propane. I smoked a cigarette and courted death.

And battled my stomach. Grace's birthday was the nice before, so we celebrated by going to a fantastic Indian restaurant called "Indiano Jones'". Great food, but not the food one should eat before going on a busride, without coffee, for a couple of hours.

We made it into the city, which at the time was unimpressive, and stopped at some old Muslim place where this guy explained to us about the Muslim communities and heritage of the area. Our tour guide kept getting the translation wrong, so the Chinese Americans in our program helped us get a richer understanding, and by richer I mean perfect. The building we saw allegedly built by the same man who's name is stamped on our building. Apparently, he was a somebody important. Neat stuff about the place: the roofs were flat and the houses built of stone. It was great learning about how Muslims built stuff as opposed to hearing about how people other than the whack-ass Europeans do shit.

We ate a whack ass lunch in a hotel where you could rent rooms for 2 hours for only 60 kuai. They had a western-style toilet, but no toilet paper. After that, we went to a temple, stood outside of it because we couldn't go outside, and then went to the city mosque. Amazing, and I believe it was build around 1089 or something, so it was probably the oldest structure I've been around after some of the classroom buildings at UNC. We bargained with a Muslim man for some glamourized birdseed, lost, but Chloe won when she bargained since she's ruthless...kind of a pitbull when it comes to negotiating.

We went to dinner, and then the hotel. At this point, seeing the rich history of the place along with urbanization had changed my opinion of Quanzhou drastically. Our hotel, the 明发酒店 was luxious, and put our hotel/dorm at Xiamen University to shame. Luke and I went swinging, so I stayed with Jon and he stayed with Paul. Jon and I as roommates--good times. In our search for coffee and also ways to pre-game for an eventual night out, we went in search of a convenience store. The one the hotel provided was whack, and the dead-eyed 14 year old girl behind the register, and her absolute fear of a bunch of foreigners speaking Chinese, made us search for another. We took a series of stinky underground stairwells to the main street near our hotel and Jon stopped for bao-zi. We went from there, went to a super market, and then bought some shit. Phebe, Megan, and Claire all hung out in our room, and we enjoyed coffee, 四特酒 (Four-specialities liquor), orange juice, and green tea. We ate mochi, and later on Phebe and I went shopping for fruit to get for Grace's official birthday on Sunday.

Our hotel had a dance club, karaoke rooms, and suspicious women all on the 3rd floor. We could hear the bass deep into the night, although Jon and I didn't sleep much since we were talking about everything under the sun. I'm glad I'm not his roommate because I'd never get any sleep, but our time together really helped me understand what sort of person he is. His intentions are good, almost admirable, even if he is a heathen. I don't think he reads this, although if he did, he should know I think fondly of him, even although I missed my roomie terribly.

tbc