Time Travel through China穿越中国的时间之旅

In three days I travelled from the fossilized world of Xi’an to Shanghai’s busy streets to Hong Kong’s smoky alleyways. It is fair to say I felt better by the day.

It’s the little things in Hong Kong that make it more welcoming. As soon as I left the luggage collection area, there were maps of Hong Kong in simplified and traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, for collection. In Xi’an you had to purchase them, but not before peddlers of “black taxis” hounded you every which way.

At the airport lobby, the customer service pointed me to the bus that took me to my hostel in Mong Kok. I had become so used to customer attendants acting as nothing more than living signposts in China, passing the chain of responsibility to another person. I was a little shocked when my bus dropped me at the hostel doors.

The elevators were right there and clearly marked when I needed to lug around my suitcases. In Shanghai they were difficult to find; in Xi’an you stumble on them as collecting mushrooms in the Mario Brothers game – at random.

At 2 a.m. I walked out of my hostel hungry, wandering the Mongkok streets for food. I did not have to go far before finding rows of place to eat supper. The restaurants felt familiar even as stubborn Cantonese mystifies me. For a long time after I had finished my 牛什湯麵 (assorted beef organs noodles), I tried to work out why these cramped, small places felt better to eat at than in all of Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an. It might have been the colourful handwritten menus plastered across mirrors on the walls, adding vibrancy that faded yellow tiles and smudge stained walls could not muster. Was it the bright fluorescent lighting lining the roof edges that made the place look cleaner?

Finally, after eating with my friend at the chocker full 勝香園 (a restaurant), I realized it was the waiters who made me feel as if I was a part of something beyond a customer. Often middle aged or older, these sure hands looked more like grandmothers and uncles serving with a generation of experience, who looked at their job as more than a living but a way of living.

It feels like I’ve been time travelling these past days into different possibilities of China, shaped by vastly different forces. Tomorrow I leave for Taiwan. Excited!

三天之内，我从西安的化石世界到了上海的繁华街道随后又来到了香港烟雾缭绕的小巷。可以说我每天都感觉越来越好。 

是香港的那些小细节让它显得更热情好客。我一离开拿行李的区域就看到有着简体中文、繁体中文、英文、日文注释的香港地图供人们使用。而在西安人们就必须花钱买地图，并且是在被“黑车”的小贩用各种方式围追堵截之后。

在机场大厅，旅客服务将我指引到了把我送到我在旺角的青年旅社的巴士上。在中国我经历让我习惯性地认为客户服务生不过是行动的路牌，把责任直接推到下一个环节的负责人。于是当我的巴士把我送到青年旅社门口的时候我有点惊讶。

电梯就在那里并明确地标示着什么时候需要拖着我的行李箱。在上海这样的标志就很难找到；而在西安就要磕磕绊绊四处寻找，像在超级玛丽中收集蘑菇一样。

凌晨两点的时候我饿着肚子走出青年旅社，在旺角的街道上四处乱逛找食物。没走多久我就发现了一排排的吃饭的地方。尽管无处不在的粤语让我有些迷惑，这些餐馆仍然让我感觉很熟悉。在我吃完了牛什汤面（什锦牛内脏和面条）后，我花了很长时间想弄明白为什么在这些拥挤的小地方吃东西比在北京、上海和西安的任何地方吃感觉都好。可能是因为墙上的镜子上贴满的彩色手写菜单的缘故吧，它们带来的活力是褪色的黄色瓷砖和脏脏的墙面不能引发的。而那些沿着屋顶边布置的明亮的荧光灯是让这个地方看起来干净一点么？

最后，在我跟朋友在胜香园（一个餐馆）吃完饭之后，我意识到是服务生让我觉得是不仅仅是一个顾客，而是有一种归属于什么东西的感觉。他们大多是中年甚至年纪更大，这些老手看起来更像祖母和叔叔带着一代人的经验为人们提供服务，他们对待工作的方式不仅仅是谋生之道而是将之视为一种生活方式。 

这几天的经历让我觉得我好像是在进行时间旅行，穿越到中国的由不同的驱动力塑造的各种不同的场景中。而明天我就要出发去台湾了，坦白说，我有点兴奋。