At Shamrock in Chengdu.
Left- Me, Center- JoJo, Right- Chen Bin (JoJo's Cousin) © David Lee
After meeting Vivinia and JoJo, I made the requisite phone call telling Vivinia how nice it was to meet them the previous night. Vivinia would be returning to Australia in a few weeks, so I had my sights set more on JoJo with her near zero English. There was little expectation on my part I would see either of them again, until two days later when my phone rang.
“Hello Daiwed, this is Vivinia. Meet me my cousin Hooter’s 7:30 tonight.”
OK, I thought, I’m game.
“OK, see you at 7:30.” I said.
I reserved Table 16 at Hooter’s and arrived early. At 7:45pm, I was still waiting and made a call to Vivinia.
“Sorry, my cousin is late, see you thirty minutes.” They finally walked in the door after 8:30pm, but, what the hell, they were here at least.
Vivinia sat directly across from me with JoJo sitting next to me. Like most Chinese girls or women, they opted for juice instead of any alcohol. JoJo had a car, so she certainly wasn’t going to drink and drive.
I’ve found most females driving in China are very good about not drinking and driving while intoxicated or under the influence, and even Chinese men are slowly getting the message about this risky behavior.
It was not some epiphany that changed this, but a horrible event when a drunken Chengdu Chinese man killed four members of a family in the car he collided with about two years ago. He subsequently received the DEATH penalty, but was ultimately reduced to LIFE in prison. This was a shocking first in China (the death penalty for vehicular homicide) and went a long way to raising awareness in China about the danger of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) or Driving Under the Influence (DUI).
The evening was pleasant and I learned several things. JoJo was married, but separated, and had a fourteen year old daughter. Communication was somewhat difficult since Vivinia’s English was only so-so and JoJo had none, but pleasant nonetheless.
Both were fun women, however, once again, they had to leave relatively early since it was a weeknight and JoJo was working the next day. I was beginning to get the idea they just wanted someone to buy a few rounds of drinks. However, I was wrong.
Vivinia called within a few days and invited me to dinner and said they would pick me up at my home, however after being an hour late, they cancelled. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper since I had been waiting to eat and now it was going on 9pm.
To make-up for standing-me-up for dinner, they invited me to a nice BBQ fish restaurant a few days later and introduced me to some of their Chinese friends who were most hospitable. I took them all to Shamrock later for a few drinks and tea.
A few days after this, they and invited me to go to Dujiangyan, the famous historical tourist river city about an hour or 56km west of Chengdu. I accepted their invitation and the next weekend, after being an hour late of course, they arrived with a Chinese man I had not previously met in the backseat of JoJo’s car.
Mr. Zhou (same name as JoJo) was very nice, but had no English. So in effect, I was not part of the conversation except for the occasional broken translation by Vivinia. It didn’t matter, since it was a pleasant spring day with the sun shining and, more importantly, thankful I was leaving Chengdu on what promised to be a nice day trip. I had been to Dujiangyan two times previously with KeKe in 2009 and 2010, but both times were too cold to enjoy the sights, other than her.
Dujiangyan’s (Chinese: 都江堰; pinyin: Dūjiāngyàn) famous ancient irrigation system was constructed in 256 BC during the Warring States Period (406-221 B.C.) of China by the Kingdom of Qin. It is located in Sichuan Province on the Min River (Chinese: 岷江; pinyin: Mínjiāng) which suffered annual flooding.
This ancient engineering marvel is admired by scientists and tourists alike from around the world, because unlike contemporary dams where the water is blocked with a huge wall, Dujiangyan still lets water go through naturally. Modern dams do not let fish easily pass through and, maybe more importantly, cause silt to back-up sometimes contributing to enormous environmental damage in future decades.
Qin Governor Lǐ Bīng investigated the problem and determined fast flowing spring melt-water from the local mountains swelled the river that burst the banks when it reached the slow moving and heavily silted stretch below at present day Dujiangyan City. One solution would have been to build a dam, but Li Bing had also been charged with keeping the waterway open for military vessels to supply troops on the frontier, so instead he proposed to construct an artificial levee to redirect a portion of the river's flow, by channeling and dividing the river. It splits the Min into an inner flow for irrigation and an outer channel for flood control.Then he cut a channel through Mount Yulei, taking eight years, to discharge the excess water upon the dry Chengdu Plain beyond.
After the system was finished, no more floods occurred, thereby contributing to Sichuan being considered the most productive agricultural places in China also known as “The Land of Abundance”. On the east side of Dujiangyan, people built a shrine in remembrance of Li Bing. His construction is also credited with giving the people of the region their famous relaxed and laid-back attitude to life by usually eliminating large-scale flooding disasters and insuring a regular and bountiful harvest, thus leaving them with more free time.
Even more amazing, it is still in use today to irrigate over 5,300 square kilometers of land in the region. The Dujiangyan along with the Zhengguo Canal in Shaanxi Province and the Lingqu Canal in Guangxi Province are known as “The three great hydraulic engineering projects of the Qin Dynasty”. In 2000, Dujiangyan became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Shortly before noon, we made our way through Dujiangyan City and started the steep, windy and narrow road up Mount Qingcheng. Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System are two separate sites, but interconnected. Mount Qingcheng is the intellectual and spiritual center of Taoism and as early as the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), and was recognized as one of the eighteen sacred mountains and rivers used for sacrificial purposes. The eleven Qingcheng Taoist temples can be compared to the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains, but the former have a simpler style using the traditional architecture of western Sichuan and are considerably older.
We were about a third of the way up the mountain in about five minutes when we reached the entrance to the Taoist temple and shrine park. After paying the 90 RMB entrance fee, we started the long trek back down the mountain passing temples, shrines, statues and other assorted objects of interest.
After reaching the east side of the river, we had to cross the three meter wide Anlan suspension bridge to get to Fish Island. I’ll be honest and simply say, this scared the living shit out of me! To make matters worse, young Chinese children and people older than me were scampering across the raging river below seemingly without any worries.
We made the trek back-up the mountain to our car and back to Chengdu for a long awaited dinner. I was also eagerly awaiting an appointment with my bed since I was worn-out from the long day, however they had other plans.
“You want foot massage Daiwed?” inquired Vivian.
“Uh, not really” I replied. “I’m just ready for some sleep.
I was out-voted 3:1 so we stopped for a foot massage, much to my chagrin.
I had been to a foot massage in Thailand in 2001, but it was nothing like this place. It was quite expansive with three floors containing private massage rooms, refreshment area, billiard tables, Internet, table tennis, etc. all for 96 RMB each person.
We were led to a small private room after some pool and table tennis. Four beds were lined-up and four attendants gave us a great foot massage while watching television. Oh yes, television.
You cannot go anywhere in the larger cities without TV’s or monitors of all shapes and sizes glaring and/or screaming at you. Like a virus, they’re plastered everywhere on the buildings, elevators, subway stations, airports, private dining rooms in restaurants, hospital IV rooms, etc.
There have been times when trying to have some dinner conversation, I’ve insisted the TV be turned off, or at least the sound muted when in small private dining rooms. The room attendants would look at me like I had committed some blasphemy against the “Great God of Chinese TV”.
Anyway, the massage was finished and soon I was home for some much anticipated sleep, especially after the relaxing foot massage.
I saw JoJo and Vivinia one more time before Vivinia returned to Australia when they invited me to join them at Hooter’s to say bye to Vivinia. I did not really expect to see them again since it appeared JoJo had no plans for a divorce and this situation did not appeal to me since I was looking for a long-term relationship with someone not attached or in a complicated marriage.
