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Wednesday November 4, 2009

Happy trails

ZIYING'S BRUSH


Nothing beats travelling with like-minded friends. However, a companion with divergent interests can turn a journey into a bad dream.

ONE anecdote that guides in China never seem to tire of telling is that of a woman who left her false teeth in a hotel room. Deadpan or with different degrees of dramatisation, they would relate how this infamous tourist only realised she had forgotten her dentures when the group was well on their way to the next stop, and how they had to make special arrangements to have it delivered to her the next day.

Now, I don’t know if this story is true or something the guides just made up to remind travellers not to leave anything behind in their hotel rooms. A decade since I first heard it, the tale is still going around and having worked in the hospitality industry, I have no reason to doubt that the woman with the missing teeth was real.

Guides, tour leaders and even coach or cab drivers directly impact the quality of the travel experience, but the attitude and behaviour of companions can make a huge difference to one’s enjoyment. Many people choose to avoid mass market “cattle” tours for this reason. However, though individual travel has its benefits, namely, flexibility and the pleasure of exploring at your own pace, there are also many advantages to a group – ideally, a private group of people you get along with.

Historic: Yongding’s Unesco-listed tulou where Hakkas have lived for hundreds of years.

Besides bringing down the cost, some activities are available only if there are sufficient numbers. In Suzhou for example, our small group was the sole audience at a charming kunqu performance at the Zhongwangfu. Besides, when in remote areas, it is always good to have a friend. Most of all, travelling alone, you miss the camaraderie of like-minded companions.

And I stress “like-minded” because spending a week or two with people who leave their dentures all over the place or who hog the food at mealtimes or who have an “attitude” is definitely not fun.

It is unpleasant enough when a travel mate complains about the meals simply because “that is not the way we prepare it” or when people resent that the dialect they understand is not quite the lingua franca of the country, but how do you cope with someone bent on “saving” the world?

We were in Fujian’s Longyan county, home of the Hakkas and their tulou mud-fortresses. Perhaps there was something in the salt-baked chicken or the meicai pork but one night, as we were digesting our rich Hakka dinner, Leah (not her real name) suddenly left the table, gathered a half dozen restaurant staff and started to belt out a hymn, all the while exhorting them to accept salvation. Of course, the youngsters understood not a single word of English – a minor detail that seemed to have escaped her.

They stood there sheepishly and tolerated her antics with a frozen smile. I can only guess at the conversation as they went off duty.

For the entire duration of the trip, Leah badgered everyone to “believe” or to pray and perform our religious duties. Things came to a head when we arrived at Xiamen’s Nanputuo Temple, one of Fujian’s most renowned Buddhist edifices and a key seminary. As usual, there were throngs of worshippers and visitors. Two shaven-headed young nuns who looked like novices walked by. Leah pounced on them. My blood ran cold.

Kunqu actors getting ready for a performance at Suzhou’s Zhongwangfu.

Later she related how she just had to “set them right”. “I told them they had been deceived and to turn back to the right path before it is too late,” she said. I walked away as fast as I could.

As visitors we are guests of the country and regardless of how we feel or what we believe, the least we can do is to respect its laws, its people and culture. No one has to go there if they disagree. Telling local citizens what to believe is patronising, particularly in a country with the world’s oldest continuous civilisation and a history stretching back thousands of years.

To get the most out of any trip, it is necessary to surrender oneself to the experience. The idea is to leave behind the familiar and to see, learn and embrace something new.

Once, I was on a coach with a man who never left home although he was physically with us in the Hexi Corridor crossing deserts and mountains, and passing 2,000-year-old walls and ancient battlefields.

At regular intervals, he would get up at the front of the bus and babble on about Malaysia – his home town, his youth, the food, all the while lacing his stories with crude, cringe-inducing jokes. The coach became claustrophobic.

The region’s rich history, the inspired artworks, the exotic food and sweeping landscapes evidently all passed him by. He might just as well have stayed home.

As the saying goes, it takes all kinds of people to make up this world.

■ Ziying can be reached at ziyingster@gmail.com.

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