Beach Expedition Day 2 – Afternoon Activities

As we distanced ourselves from the beach area, the scenery changed quite drastically. The beach and barren salt flats were soon replaced by immaculate asphalt, gleaming white street lamps and verdant boulevards as we drove into the city nearby. Though relatively quiet, the place was not lacking in any of the amenities of a modern city. We soon stopped at a Chinese restaurant where we were led upstairs to a private room with two large tables. The place was well decorated, spacious, air conditioned and comfortable. In our private room, we designated one table for the men and one for the women.

There was as much merriment to be had as there was food! I’ll try and list the foods we ate but as often is the case in China, the dishes consumed were to numerous for all to be remembered. We dined on fried corn, spicy fish, spicy bacon, agaric, roast duck, roast pig, vegetable assortment, spicy chicken and vegetable mix, mushroom soup and the list goes on. As usual, a sizeable amount of the food was left uneaten. However, the food that is left uneaten at dining establishments is seldom wasted. At the PPG cafeteria and the many restaurants I have visited, uneaten food is placed into a separate food collection bin and which is carted away daily to pig farms. This certainly puts my heart more at ease as there is nothing I find harder to stomach than wasted food. I find it incredibly unfortunate that, although good food such as this is put to use in China, back home, such food is destined only for landfills. Of course at the landfill, its only future is to become a sodden methane-emitting mess. There certainly is a lot we can learn from the most common practices in place here in the orient. The same goes for the CFL’s as noted in a previous entry, when one is pressed to save money and resources, they can often be very innovative in an unintentionally green way.

After our lavish lunch, we returned to the beachside resort. This time, I was able to see the surrounding sights that were covered by a cloak of darkness the night before. We passed a variety of restaurants with open aquariums out front which displayed a live menu of fresh seafood. We also passed countless beach shops which sold swimsuits, swimgear and beach toys. Upon reaching the parking lot, I was surprised to find the place significantly more crowded than it was when we had left that morning. We had to circle the area for a little while before finding parking spots. As we neared the beach, it appeared to my untrained eyes that large crowds of people had materialized out of the sea – the beach was positively packed! Fortunately, the crowd was confined primarily to the shade afforded by the umbrellas that were close to the water. Our tent encampment had been left abandoned since the morning, but it remained standing – untouched by the bustling crowds. All of the women retreated to their air conditioned bunkhouse, most likely to watch television or play with their handheld videogame systems. I was surprised that only one of them made use of the sea! Meanwhile, I went with the men to lounge in the sand once more.

Soon, I was invited to play a casual game of beach volleyball. Someone had found a ball somewhere and it was soon bouncing back and forward above one of the nets that was randomly on the beach for the enjoyment of beachgoers. None of us were any good at volleyball so I was thankful that there was no serious element of competition to the game at all. No score was kept as we laughed, tumbled and dived, doing our best to keep the ball from touching the heated sand. I was the only foreigner present at the crowded beach of at least 1 000 people, it was a good thing that I did not look fully foreign otherwise I certainly would have stood out like a sore thumb. I was relieved to note that the beach attire is significantly more conservative for women (since I’m just so conservative as you may know by now) than similarly sandy places back home. However, for men, I was the only one wearing baggy, western style swim shorts. The men present wore very tight, spandex speedos or shorts – most of which must have been purchased from the abundant beach supplies shops. There was a certain openness and tolerance at the beach which is absent in similar environments back home. No matter how unattractive one may be swimming clothing, they are not ridiculed, stared or jeered at ,nor discouraged from joining in with the fun. There are also very few if no people tanning as dark skin is considered less desirable than being paler skinned in China. Because of this cultural freedom, self-consciousness is almost absent. Although I am completely averse to beaches at home due to a different beach culture, my aversion to swimming faded and I too joined in being free from self-consciousness.

I joined my companions with gusto when invited to head into the deep. In the water, the waves were large and the swimming area was crowded, but there was still a great deal of fun to be had. The volleyball had made its way over into the surf as well and was soon flying high above the waves. In the water people splashed, chased each other and rode inflatable boats on waves that were large enough to knock one over. I think that this must have been the second time I’ve swam in the sea in my lifetime. I was soon disoriented and was stumbling as if drunk, unfamiliar with the buffeting effect of the waves. The sand under my feet was fine and smooth, sharp stones and shells were completely absent which made the experience a safe one as well!

After the swim, more volleyball was played until we were completely exhausted and famished. My group of male companions and I made our way to the women’s bunkhouse for another shower session. It was a luxury that we had a private washroom available. Outside the bunkhouse, a good number of people were lining up to use the toilet or to shower in facilities that were considerably less clean than our own. I waited at the end of the line once more, to enable the designated male cooks to get the barbeque ready as early as possible. I couldn’t complain though as some of the men took showers two at a time, while I was afforded the luxury of showering alone.

This time around, the barbequing party included the whole car club. Some of the members prepared chicken legs and shrimp in addition to the lamb kebabs which we enjoyed the night before. By the time I had showered, the food was cooked and ready for consumption. There were outdoor tables and chairs for our use that some of the members pulled out of one of the public storage sheds. The kebabs and other meats were passed around liberally in addition to Chinese beer. Midway through my meal, I was called by one of the women (please excuse my inability to name my Chinese friends, remembering Chinese names is still incredibly difficult for me) to ride the ATVs which were available for rent. She pulled me over with another man to the vendor and started haggling over the rental price. Soon, three ATVS appeared out of nowhere and I found myself seated on one while the vendor was pointing at the various levers and throttles. Though unfamiliar with the controls, his jabbing fingers soon gave me an idea of what was the brake and the gas – all I needed really! No money exchanged hands but I was off and away on the noisy ATV leaving the other two riders behind. I was the most adventurous driver that sailed the sands that day, with my throttle on full almost the entire time. My other two companions drove significantly slower and were less adventurous in their voyages away from the barbeque site. In fact, one of the members just drove in circles near our barbeque site over, and over and over again. I used this opportunity to drive to both ends of the beach. On one side, where there were no people camped, large, wet areas were present. As I drove here, countless swallows materialized. It was almost as if they emerged from the ground. I drove away from these wet areas as soon as this occurred, I was terrified that I was driving on precious swallow habitat. Fortunately, upon later inspection this was not the case as these wet areas were completely devoid of any visible life. I returned the ATV back to the barbeque site and allowed other members of our group give it a ride. I never saw any money exchange hands nor see when the vehicles were returned to the vendor, but in the end it was all taken care of somehow. Sometimes, things fail to make sense to foreign eyes but often, that is half the fun of it all!

After the ATV ride, I resumed my dinner, this time dining on shrimp with shells and barbequed chicken. Note that I had not washed my hands with soap for the entire day. I had to clean my hands with sand before riding the ATV as they were sticky from the barbeque. I copied the hygiene habits of the other ATV riders by dipping my hands into the sand and giving them a good rub with the coarse, and hopefully clean grains. After my ride, the sand became my washing sink once more. Note that I was a little bit nervous to be eating the shrimp using my bare hands after the ATV ride. However, I had no choice really and despite that I’m still fine after the fact! For those with weaker immune systems, or a deep fear of bacteria, as you can see, liquid hand sanitizers are a must have!

The barbeque lasted well into the night as a cloak of darkness fell. Soon, the women all headed back to the bunkhouse and only the men remained, sipping their beer while sitting around the barbeque and slapping away the mosquitoes. Soon, personal fireworks shows began as the groups of beach visitors showcased their pyrotechnic skills for everyone’s amusement. These fireworks were not like the small-scale legal substitutes we are used to back home – rather they were closer to professional pyrotechnics likes the ones witnessed at the Independence Day celebration back in Tianjin!

The fireworks used had many varieties. There were ones that exploded in multicoloured showers, some that existed only to make deafening explosions and generate a blinding white light, others which cast a glittering stream as they rose into the heavens and some ones which were simply beyond description. I headed to sleep earlier that night as the men played a game of cards by the dying embers of the barbeque.