After returning from Hong Kong, I have been thinking all the time that I should tidy up and record the life of these few months, so as not to need to recall things desperately after a long time has passed, in order to piece together a semi-real event. My memory is getting worse. I wanted to give gifts to friends, but I lost them on the way to meet; I even lost my clothes and couldn't remember if I took them off at the restaurant or the movie theater. If it weren't for the cold making me shiver, I might not have realized I had lost my clothes? I fear that if this continues, I will lose even the ability to record. This inexplicable sense of urgency constantly assaults my brain!
September - Hangzhou
I still don't know how we started talking about going to Hangzhou. I only remember one day Liu Xiaomei told me online that the plane tickets were cheap, then I said let's go out and play, she asked where? I said wherever the tickets are cheap, let's fly there. Then we booked tickets to Wuxi. We left without any plan, taking a 7:30 am flight. After landing in Wuxi, we still didn't think about where to go or how to play. We randomly got on a bus outside the airport, not knowing where it was going, just thinking to leave the airport first. The bus went to Suzhou, so by 11:30 am, we mysteriously arrived in Suzhou. We wandered around aimlessly for a while, found a place to sit down, drank something, and used our phones to check where we could go. We decided to go to Hanshan Temple, but after waiting for half an hour, we couldn't get a car. Suddenly, we saw an advertisement for renting cars at the bus stop. Without hesitation, we said "Let's rent a car, forget Hanshan Temple, let's go to Wuzhen instead." So, with a sudden impulse, we rented a car, got a GPS, and headed towards Wuzhen. For us, the most headache-inducing part was getting on and off the highway. The GPS map wasn't updated, and we got lost countless times, eventually having to rely on ourselves. The two of us were extremely happy along the way, even if we took the wrong road or exited incorrectly, we didn't feel it mattered much. Anyway, we would end up somewhere. As we approached Wuzhen, we took the wrong road and drove into a lane similar to a market, unable to turn around, we had to slowly reverse out. At that moment, we completely had the idea of abandoning the car and leaving. While reversing, we scraped a human-powered tricycle, quite severely, and prepared to compensate when we returned the car. We reached Wuzhen at around 5 pm, parked the car, put our luggage in the room (what we called luggage was actually just a book, a camera, a charger, toiletries, a set of change of clothes, and my koala), and began wandering around aimlessly. I love those quiet alleys, and those large patches of green ivy, and the snacks... When we got tired, we randomly found a small bar to sit down, ordered a bottle of alcohol, drinking and chatting. A middle-aged man from the next table came over to chat, showing us the photos he took. He said he was from Chengdu, on a business trip to Wuxi for training, and since the training ended today, he came to Wuzhen. He asked us how we came here and how long we would stay? I told him we rented a car from Suzhou and would leave tomorrow afternoon to go to Hangzhou. The Chengdu man clearly had the intention to join us, which I firmly rejected. We continued drinking for a while, chatting idly, and then left, leaving him behind saying "Stay a bit longer, let me buy you another drink." I turned back and smiled at him, then left. By the time we left the bar, it was already late. I received a call from a female friend, who said she returned from North Korea and was now in Shanghai. I encouraged her to come to Hangzhou the next day to meet us, play for two more days, and then return together. Hahaha, but it didn't succeed... The next morning, we got up early again and wandered through various alleys; took photos in large fields of sunflowers; sent postcards to ourselves at the old post office, and the moment I walked out of the post office door, I suddenly thought of you... It was somewhat funny and somewhat sad. Thinking about it, when thoughts of someone or something shift from longing to mere recollection, it means they have evaporated from your life. Such is good!
At three in the afternoon, we departed from Wuzhen to Hangzhou, finally reaching the youth hostel near Sanyan Well before dark after several twists and turns. Although it was hard to find, I really liked it. It felt like living in a forest, incredibly refreshing. Joking with Liu Xiaomei, I said "Grant me a Hangzhou man, let me marry here." After putting down our luggage and washing our faces, too lazy to eat dinner, we urged Liu Xiaomei to drive the car to the West Lake, find a place to park, rent a bicycle, and ride around the lake. Before coming, Yaya told me I would definitely love riding a bike at night with headphones plugged in on Su Causeway or by the West Lake, indeed, you understand me. After circling the lake, two hours later, we were both exhausted. Returning the bike, refunding the deposit, retrieving the car, when we finished it was already eleven o'clock. Two people who played all day without eating dinner ended up going to KFC in Hangzhou. This was unexpected. The next morning, we got up early and went to Lingyin Temple, burned incense, worshipped Buddha, and ate vegetarian food. Then we went to Zhejiang University. Whenever I visit a city, there are two things I must do: send myself a postcard and visit the university of that city. Temporarily changed the car return location from the airport to near Zhejiang University. After touring the campus, we returned the car, chatted with the staff, and they didn't notice that we had scratched a large portion of the car... Ha ha, secretly relieved! Looking back now, this experience for two newbies, two women who hadn't driven on the highway since getting their licenses, and in a completely unfamiliar place, still feels very unreliable! It remains the deepest impression of my travels so far! Liu Xiaomei, looking forward to traveling with you again next time!
Early December - "July and Ansheng"
This play I had been eagerly anticipating for a long time didn't bring me much surprise, perhaps because my expectations were too high. Because this was once my favorite short story during my youth. Jiang Yan's portrayal of Ansheng was overly artificial, Jiaming didn't make my heart race when he appeared, only made me want to laugh. He didn't have bright eyes, he wasn't the Jiaming in my heart, nor the Jiaming in the original work. July, however, was decent enough. After watching, Mei Mom drove me home and suddenly said: If life could be like her Smart, only able to choose one passenger, everything would be simple.
December - Chengdu
This was already the third or fourth time I've been to Chengdu this year. In November, I read in the newspaper that Faye Wong would hold a concert in Chongqing in February 2012. Since I don't know what will happen in 2012, or where I will be, I booked tickets for the Chengdu station several months in advance. If I could only attend one person's concert in my lifetime, it would be hers. The moment she appeared on stage, I kept hearing people shout "Sister Three". The Chengdu station maintained her consistent style, speaking only four or five sentences of "thank you" throughout the entire concert. In the first two songs, I saw her continuously turning her head to cough, starting to stabilize from the third song onwards. Later, when she got excited, I saw her wave like a little girl, her strap slipping off her shoulder, sticking her tongue out playfully; there was also an extremely cool guitarist... When she held a big red trumpet and sang "Passenger", I reached for my phone to call the girl, letting her hear the live performance, telling her and the baby in her belly that I was watching the TFI we all loved, her solo karaoke song... only to realize my phone wasn't on me, so I gave up. Actually, at that moment, I missed you so much! After the concert ended, I discovered my voice was already hoarse.
The next day, I took some time to see a friend. This woman, whom I've known for over two years and have only met five times, sometimes makes me marvel at fate. During my most helpless and confused moments, this woman, who I hadn't yet met face-to-face, always complained about wanting to eat egg tarts, occasionally confiding her own confusion to me on QQ, saying "Some things, if you regard them as a hurdle, naturally, they will be a hurdle in front of you; if you consider them as a cloud of no importance, naturally, they become unimportant things, existence doesn't necessarily mean meaning." That one sentence made me remember her. Afterwards, in her city, we occasionally met, chatted; later she invited me to her wedding, I watched her get married; later she happily told me she became a mother, showed me her big belly on video calls; then later when the little one was born, I went to see them, helped name the baby; now the little one is six months old, teething, smiling at everyone. Time truly is an amazing thing...
December - Hong Kong
Talking about going to Hong Kong was also a sudden decision, and we didn't even consider celebrating Christmas. I never thought about joining in the festive rush! Around eight-thirty at night when I stepped out of Bao'an Airport, I was shocked - wasn't the weather forecast predicting temperatures in the teens? How cold can winter in the south be? Completely unexpected! The next day, I woke up naturally before going to queue for customs clearance, and seeing the massive crowd, I almost wanted to go back to the hotel multiple times... It took nearly two and a half hours to pass customs and board the subway. Upon exiting the subway station at Sha Tin, I received a call from Mei Mom, saying she was at a certain mall, urging me to quickly join her for lunch. Upon meeting, I learned that the restaurant was queued up to number 400+, and there were still over 200 tables ahead of us... I immediately wanted to die - just for a bowl of Mango Pomelo Sago dessert from Maxim's Palace, I flew two hours, waited two hours to clear customs, and now had to wait for over 200 tables due to impressions deeply embedded in my mind from years ago... Sister, this experience will leave an equally deep impression in my mind. After walking through the entire mall, I finally ate when I was almost starving to death. Perhaps because I was extremely hungry, it tasted surprisingly delicious! After being full, I went to Tsim Sha Tsui, seeing densely packed people, long queues in front of stores like LV and GUCCI, and occasionally hearing Chongqing dialect on the streets, I completely lost the strength and interest to shop or buy anything, feeling an intense headache. Due to the large crowd at customs clearance, the air quality in the hall was poor, causing nasal allergies, sneezing continuously, and my overall condition was at its worst... Damn, I secretly swore I would never blindly go to Hong Kong during holidays again! Lying in bed at night, I posted a Weibo tweet "My city never snows, but memories are filled with cold feelings..... Happy Holidays!" as a conclusion to spending Christmas in a foreign land!
The next day in Shenzhen, I originally planned to meet a friend for dinner, but after waking up and seeing the nice weather, I went to Hongshuwan, found a grassy area close to the sea, and basked in the sun. I took off the scarf around my neck, laid it on the grass, and slept soundly in the sun for the entire afternoon... The meeting time was set for the evening, and we briefly met at the airport, chatted casually for a while! Then I silently returned to Chongqing!
On the third day of the new year, I spent the whole day at Le Fu. This annoying weather made me drowsy, I curled up on the sofa reading a book until I fell asleep, dreaming a very long dream, and dreamed of tirelessly shopping in Hong Kong, with crowds everywhere, queuing for a long time just to eat Xu Liushan, feeling extremely joyful, when suddenly I remembered I would miss the plane, and woke up scared... After waking up, I realized this was probably the third time I had dreamed of missing the plane... Being someone who always misses trains and buses, I shouldn't... It's time for a thorough checkup. In the new year, I strive not to repeat YaYa's tragedy, even missing the plane!
Writing up to here, I realized I crammed all the events of the year into December, busy with real matters in the first half of the year! Fortunately, the two out of three goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year were smoothly achieved.
In the past few days, I've been telling my close friend, I can't wait to say goodbye to 2011, to say goodbye to those despicable things, those despicable people, those sorrowful times, those shattered promises, and those messy troubles, goodbye, all gone!