A birthday, a dinner, a large group of friends from all over the world. A full belly, some laughs, a bag of gifts, a journey home. Sleepy. Very sleepy...
And locked out. I arrived back to my hostel at 1:20am - rather respectable time I thought since I am now a grown up and firmly in my "late twenties". The hostel was locked - reception closes at 1am but guests are supposed to have access 24hrs. There's a doorbell so I pressed it and was rather embarrassed to hear that it played a whole tune rather than just a dingdong. After a few moments there were still no signs of life. I pressed the bell again less concerned about whether the little tinny tune woke up the whole street. It didn't! It didn't wake anyone. I pressed again and again, increasingly anxious and in need of the loo (acorn bladder + night time cold air). Around 10 minutes later, the situation got worse. A small group of rather drunk men were coming down the street, I started banging on the door. It wasn't like the men were doing anything threatening, I just didn't fancy being locked out in the street with them. As they approached I tried to make it look less like I was locked out (no more door thumping, no more bell ringing) and more like I was waiting for someone. I also focused on making myself as inconspicuous as possible, which was very effective until one of them stopped for a pee and noticed me on his quick look round to see if anyone was watching.
What he said was in Shanghainese, so I didn't understand it but it was clear that the basic gist was "Hey look! There's a foreign girl out here". The rest of his gang made their way back up the street to have a look at me. I was reminded of a book my very right on Mum used to read to me as a child about a white man who went to an island where everyone was blue and they put him in a cage to stare at him. My dark street on a dark night felt rather like a cage.
The situation got moderately worse when a second group of men met with the first. Now, before I worry you all too much, this situation would have been much more frightening in the UK than in China where, in general, men are far more respectful of woman and I wasn't scared of being assaulted. Robbed maybe! But worse was just the idea of being surrounded and not wanting to continue banging on the door with them watching.
After what felt like an age in this make shift zoo pen, I received a text message so took out my phone and read it. Of course it was from Sam reassuring me that it would all be OK. It gave me an idea. I made a fake phone call.
"Darling, it's me. I'm standing outside 394 Zhoushan Rd. You're late, where are you?" said with my perfected Chinese fishwife tone.
"Oh good, OK. So, I'll see you in a few minutes. Who is with you? Oh! That many? Well, I'd better cook something quickly, you boys will be hungry"
On hearing that another group of men would soon arrive, my audience departed in dribs and drabs.
Leaving me on the door step surrounded by my bags of lovely gifts and still locked out.
Ten more minutes of door banging and bell ringing and it became clear that this was not going to be an effective strategy. I wandered around the whole building looking for an open window or a light on in a room somewhere. Nothing. Ah well, I thought, I have money with me. I'll just go to another hotel round the corner and spend the night there.
Only when I got there did I find that my passport was, of course, in my other room and so I could not check in to another hotel. I called round some friends and no one was answering. I started to feel very alone in this big city. Thankfully China has 2 things that are very very useful in this situation - all night karaoke lounges and 24hr coffee shops. I made my way to the main drag near here to find such a place... I might even sing a song or two. At that moment, my friend Hector called back and on hearing his voice and therefore my ticket out of this situation, I burst into tears! I know, 'cry on your birthday and you'll cry all year' but it wasn't strictly my birthday in China anymore. He told me to come to his place and I set off in a cab and to see a very worried Hector and his sleepy girlfriend.
Relaying this whole thing to them sounded so silly. I think what shook me was the feeling of being alone. Even though I am blessed with a wonderful group of people here in Shanghai, I still felt by myself.
However, my misfortune has led to an even warmer welcome from my hosts who were mortified to have left me in the street. Once I find a job and an apartment, I shall be sad to leave my Sleeping Dragon. But I will tell other guests that the dragon sleeps very soundly so if you want to wake it up, you have to have lots of stamina!
No comments:
Post a Comment