Streams of Life (29)
Finally finished leading a group of Canadian women around Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou. It was fun in certain circumstances. They were all very nice people and didn’t treat me merely as their translator. During the three days that we had been together, we were more like friends. They trusted me, and in return I strived to be trustworthy.
From this experience I actually learned a lot about the tourist industry. It wasfunny the first time when people tried to persuade me to take my group to either their shops or restaurants. Some even said directly to me how much I could getfrom the deal. I got pissed off at first, but then gradually just turned a deafear towards those harassments. I am glad till this moment I still believe that
I did the right thing.
Anyway, after been engaged with my business appointments, my friend and I finally took a day out together. We went to the forest park that we had meant to go tofor a long time. The weather grows chilly after so many rainy days. We took light railway first, and, after failing to spot our bus, headed for the forest parkon foot. It would have been a tedious journey if we didn’t have each other as
company I suppose. The forest park was just not so impressive. It has become toocommercial and touristy long since.
Though it was interesting to see how people prefer to places that you have to pay to get in. When I was in Zhouzhuang with those women from Canada, I found thatpeople were actually more interested in those spots on the map than those lovely free ones. The small stony lanes, tenuous water canals, and those distinctive
local houses are seldom paid due attention. Also, when I went to a small city near Shanghai last month, I went to two spots, which seemed interesting, marked onthe map respectively. It turned out one was free to get in, the other one not.
I would say that without man-made artificial works, the scenery looked much better and natural. But strange enough, the free place was wont for people, whereas
the other one, with lots of commercial things going on was literally packed withtourists.
I wonder what all this was about. I understand that when you go to a new place,
you expect to see something new and different. Nevertheless, it in no way means
that you have to go to those touristy places. Was it because of the theory “People attract people?” The other thing that I do not understand was that why you
need to join travel agencies in order to travel and that why you need a tour guide to stay beside you nagging at you all day long. With the cost, you would havehad a lovely time yourself.
Today when my friend and I planned the trip, I went on the Internet and actuallyfound that Shanghai got several tourist bus stations run by the government. I
has almost chosen the easy way, hadn’t they highlighted the bus cost included the cost for a tour guide. Personally I would have been willing to pay more with
a bus without any tour guide. It just sounded ridiculous. When I went to Beijinglast time, on the bus to the Great Wall, the bus conductor & tour guide had bitched us all the way through. She said that how hard it would be to get onto the
Great wall if you didn’t use cable car. Many people actually bought that, and bought tickets for cable car. But then when I got there, I didn’t find anything
forbidding at all. The whole thing was just a hilarious joke.
After all this, now I really despise the so-called touring service, and wouldn’
t mind taking a piss out of those guides if I had a chance. But then about those people who choose that service, I really don’t know what to say. Basically you got what you paid for. If you want to sacrifice real going-on-the-road experiences for trouble-free, but bland and generic, travelling experiences, that is fine. Same with life I believe. It is really a personal choice, as someone said once, that what kind of life that you have in this one-way life journey.
