Chinese Confession - Travels, Monsoons, and Typhoons Oh My!

Time goes on, and Wipha fades from my memory amongst everything that I have been experiencing lately. As I prepared for a week-long trip to Southern China and Hong Kong, I was thrilled to hear that the weather was expected to be more-or-less pleasant. And for the most part, that’s exactly what the weather was – beautiful.

As fascinated as I am with big storms, I certainly did not want a much anticipated opportunity to travel be shattered amongst a torrential storm. The monsoon South of China pressed its way to Vietnam, where it unleashed its fury. When we arrived in Shenzhen on October 1^st – the Chinese national holiday – the storm made its raw fury manifest despite it being so far away. It wasn’t devastating for us; instead, it brought massive, powerful waves to the beach that provided hours of entertainment.

We spent that night in a hotel on the beach, and decided to make the most of our time by going out on the beach. It didn’t matter to us that it was 11:00pm. In hindsight, it was actually probably better that way because it kept us from being able to see just how dirty the ocean is around China. Our attention was too focused on the activity of the water and the thousands of people around us to spare any thought for cleanliness. I am not exaggerating when I say that there were literally thousands of people on the beach. Most people would likely estimate this particular beach as being able to accommodate about 400 people. This one was so crowded that there was hardly any room to walk. Family and friends would come in groups, find a place in the sand, and mark their territory by building a big sand wall around their bamboo mats, belongings, and baskets. It was so Chinese. Amongst all of these micro walled territories, there was also an area of the beach that was roped off for people to come in, set up tents, and stay there for the night as they enjoyed vacation. They most likely didn’t have hotel rooms. Others merely ventured off from the beach and found places in the grass of a nearby park where they could sleep.

I unfortunately do not have any pictures of this crazy beach experience, but I did get a shot of the crowd in Shenzhen during the daytime. Hopefully this will act at least as an indication of just how crazy it was.

I tried to meander my way through these groups that were so tightly bunched together, each on their own little plot of beach. Of course, we drew many curious looks as we headed toward the water. We were, after all, the only westerners out of the thousands of people there. I still couldn’t get over just how many people would be out so late at night. Even in the afternoon of the 4^th of July with perfect weather conditions, you would not see this concentration of people on a beach in San Diego or anywhere in the US. Perhaps it was because Chinese people are so averse to the effects of the sun. Perhaps it was because of a holiday. Perhaps it was the 6-foot waves that came crashing in against the beach every 10 seconds.

It was probably for all of these reasons that so many people had come. We certainly made the most of it in any case. We ran into the water Kamikaze style, well past the line of the most courageous Chinese kids in ankle deep water. We got to the point where the water was about waste deep, then slowed down and looked up. It was coming. It was huge. Soon enough it was rising up to bear all of its weight and force down upon us. We were thrown back like rag dolls as the wave crashed up against the beach. For a brief moment, it stopped as the crowded cautiously stepped backward. Then it began to retreat and pulled us with it, exercising nearly the same force as it brought when it made landfall. Finally it retreated fully, only to be pulled beneath another raging wall that advanced fearlessly toward us.

We were grinning ear to ear. I was especially excited because this was my first real time in the ocean, and it was a very memorable first experience. There I was, a skinny white guy with two other friends: one an average height, toned white guy, the other an incredibly muscular, tall, black guy. I could tell you which was more entertaining for the thousands of Chinese people around us: the crazy, relentless waves, or us three being thrown around as we made sure to have as much fun as possible. If we lost our footing, we would find ourselves at the mercy of the waves around us. My really muscular friend would practically act like a human bowling ball, being thrown by the crashing wave into the feet of the crowd, causing entire groups of Chinese kids to come crashing down around him.

We certainly weren’t without our wounds. I got a few scrapes on my left shin. I’m sure they will leave some scars, but those are true souvenirs. In fact, they are almost like war trophies, as they represent the battle we fought against nature’s fury. Actually, it was more like our battle that we waged against a tiny little miniscule side-effect of a side-effect of nature’s true fury that was being unleashed thousands of miles away in Vietnam. It is certainly a moment we will never forget.

And this brings me up to the present moment. I will fast forward through Hong Kong and the rest of Shenzhen, as there is entirely too much to write for just one blog. We left Hong Kong amidst beautiful weather and touched down in Shanghai late this afternoon. Apparently we made it just in time, because there is another typhoon that had been raging not far from here in the Pacific. This one is called Krosa.

I don’t actually know as much about Krosa as I did about Wipha. That’s probably because I barely even learned of her existence after she made landfall South of Shanghai. Since we arrived back at our residence in Shanghai, the airport has been preparing to close down to incoming flights. She already had her way with Taiwan, and now she appears to be enjoying the coast of China and is quite content to just spin around South of us. Of course, she is sending big cells of heavy rain our way just for kicks. I haven’t ventured out, especially since it is nearly midnight, but I imagine things will be nice and soggy in the morning. I have class all day tomorrow, so I don’t know when I will be able to post pictures from this trip, but I did a count and I have about 1,000. Needless to say, I will need to do some sorting and pick out the better ones.