Jinan

We got into Jinan with our Chinese friend Gen and he called his parents to check in with them. His dad said that he would try to help us find a hotel room for the night and we were going to walk to his mom's fabric shop because it was so close to the bus station. His dad ended up saying that he was pretty sure there were no hotels to be had in Jinan... It didn't really make sense because no one else was on break for the autumn festival or National Day yet, but Gen's parents were insistent that we should just stay with them. I felt really bad because that seemed pretty ridiculous and unfair to Gen's family to host 4 extra people. But it seems like Chinese people are often excessively hospitable. We walked over to Gen's mother's shop and she offered to make us sheets for free which was again, overly generous. I didn't need any sheets but I looked at a lot of her really nice fabrics. Two of the other girls did take her up on the offer but were rebuked for every choice in fabric that they made. Apparently young people in China should choose cartoons and crazy bright patterns for sheets because solid colors and flowers are for boring old ladies. In the end they made some sort of compromise and agreed to pick up the sheets at the tail end of our travels.

We left our things at the shop so that we could walk around Jinan. Gen took us to a shopping area and we wandered in and out of stores and just walked around. Then we went to the center of Jinan which is a large square with some shops and a lot open grassy areas, sculptures and fountains. I would have liked to spend more time in Jinan actually being able to see the city but I think it will be better to do that on my own some weekend. We also stopped off at Wal-Mart because Jinan is a big city in China and has one. Still, even in China (especially in China?), I couldn't bring myself to go in. During our outings Gen got a call from his parents saying that they were going to stay at a hotel so that we could have their apartment to ourselves. I felt horrible. But there was no way to talk anyone out of it. It again didn't quite add up because we had been told there were no hotel rooms available. I understood what was happening but it just felt so frustrating and unfair to his parents.

So, we went to Gen's parents' apartment to spend the night. One person we were traveling with started to get sick. He had a fever and the China paranoia set in. Gen stayed home to take care of him and the rest of us went out to walk around to have dinner. We walked up and down a market and got a little bit ripped off at a Muslim noodle place but proceeded onward anyway. We bought a bunch of fruit to ward off any germs from our friend and started sampling some pastries on the street. Most were ok, but not really that good. There was one that looked like a puffy taco and tasted like sweet dough with some kind of chicken jelly and wispy salty bits on top. It was not delicious but pretty hilarious. We thought we found a restaurant that had waffles and hamburgers but as soon as we looked at the prices on the menu we new we were over our heads. We politely got up and ran across the street to a tea shop. We got suckered into staying there and having a tasting for which we felt obligated to buy something so we bought some small packets of one of their pricier oolong teas. After that we headed back to Gen's house.

Once there we got to talking about how glad we were we made it out of Qufu and how we felt so free like we could go anywhere. Then we made the connection that Jinan is essentially a hub to get to other places in China. We almost gave Gen an ulcer, but we made him help us look up trains and planes to Kunming which is in southwestern China. Some of us had originally wanted to try and go there but then with all of the fretting about the swine flu and possibly not having a break at all we thought it would be best to not make big plans and just be able to go somewhere close, like Jinan, if we got a break. I have no idea how, but we did find some decently priced flights to Kunming, but I was the only one who had my passport which is needed for a foreigner to fly in China so it was a no go.

Instead we got up early, picked up our belongings from the fabric shop, left our sick friend with Gen to be taken care of, and got on a bus to the coastal town of Penglai.