I’ve always been scared of men and always felt insecure by them, giving the fact, that nearly 30% of women in the world at least once were abused by a man (according to WHO statistic), as well as there are many domestic violence cases in Russia too. This story is different though. This story is about something that I had never done before and wouldn’t advise anyone to do unless you know the person very well or, at least, you can read people well.
I was invited by a Chinese man to his villa, which was placed in a tiny village in Zhejiang province. It was a beautiful place and a fantastic spot to escape the bustling Shanghai for a couple of days. However, we didn’t chat with that man much. We weren’t good friends. Moreover, he couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak even basic Chinese. Nevertheless, I had that voice, speaking in my mind: why not to try, what possibly terrible could happen? So, I packed my things, and one beautiful Saturday afternoon our trip had begun.
His villa is placed in Tiantai county of Zhejiang province, just around 300 km to the South from Shanghai. Zhejiang is a neighbor province to Shanghai, the smallest but yet one of the densest provinces in China (57 million people live there). Zhejiang is evenly developed: there you can find not only factories (textile, electromechanics, chemicals) and tech companies residences ( such as Alibaba), but also agricultural fields ( rice plantations, fishing companies and farms, tea terraces), picturesque places: Xihu (famous lake in Hangzhou), Monganshan (mountain passage, a resort for Shanghainese foreigners in the past), the Grand Canal (one of the greatest human-made waterways, 1764 km of which connect Hangzhou and Beijing), water towns (such as Xinshi, Nanxun, Wuzhen), many old temples and scenic views.
Though it’s a neighbor province to Shanghai, to get to the village wasn’t that easy as it might seem: the closest train station is 1 hour driving away from the village, and the connection isn’t that regular: there are no bullet trains yet, and the regular train (bus) stops there once (at most) twice a day. On our way to the village, we changed 3 cars, the last was my friend’s private jeep which was just perfect for driving around mountains, getting into some mud and crossing little creeks.
We arrived in the villa pretty late, the lights were shut down, the whole tiny village ( there live less than 100 people) was in a deep healthy sleep, and only three of us: Chinese man, his dog (beautiful golden retriever) and I seem to be aliens there, drinking tea at midnight, singing karaoke, playing with sparklers and rescuing turtles from the happiest creature in the world – Kele (the man’s dog).
It was magical! It was the first (and still the last) time after my arrival to Shanghai when I could actually hear the silence – it even seemed loud to me! For the first time since my Altai trekking, I was able to see the starry sky (not only the Big Dipper constellation) – the thing that I always been fascinated by and could stare at for hours. Excited by the adventure and (finally!) nature, I went to bed, wrapped myself up into 3 blankets, closed my eyes and dissolved in a deep sleep.
Next morning, when I woke up and glanced at the window, everything was covered with frost – the temperature had dropped to zero that night. However, this hadn’t spoiled our plans at all!
We had a solid breakfast, which was conducted with some local specials, which I hadn’t seen before – Chinese cuisine comparing to all others is very diverse, and even traveling just several dozens of kilometers from one place, you can experience absolutely different tastes, blends and fragrances, that often turn many people into foodies ( I’m halfway there too). I tried Jeubingtong (fried cesar roll with fillings of tofu, meat, glass noodles, mushrooms), mashed corn, which isn’t the regular dish for a Russian, but tasted almost the same as mashed potato. The other thing I tried there is cooked snails, which, as it turned out, not that easy to eat, you have to be very advanced at sucking (how weirdly this wouldn’t sound). The final breakfast dish for us was traditional Chinese wontons.
After the breakfast we jumped into the car and started our driving towards the wildness, which, as it turned out, is nearly impossible to find on the East coast of China. However, I was so happy to find a single location, where I didn’t have any data on my phone. That was such a marvelous moment! Nature and I, I and nature and nothing and no one could disturb our warm meeting anymore.
Later we started to hike. It wasn’t a big hill, it took us just 20-30 minutes to reach the top. On the way we had been passing by some gardens, traditional Chinese medicine hothouses, bird farm, and on the top we found a tiny wooden house with windows and doors open wide and two elders merely cooking lunch, washing the clothes and living a very simple, peaceful life! They invited us over for a bite, and there I tasted another dish, that I had never seen before: glutinous rice baozi with the filling of meat, mushrooms, sausages, and some veggies. It was very hearty and tasty, so Kele (our golden dog) was ought to help me to finish the dish.
We spent nearly all day outdoors, driving around and gazing at the lying in depths cities and villages from different hills and different sightseeing platforms. I was very surprised, how good local tourism developed in China: nearly every mount in that area is equipped with infrastructure: roads, hiking pathways, travel signs, toilets (the most important thing). At one moment I even felt sorry for people, who live in the big cities in the East coast. Probably, they have never seen wild nature, never experienced that high grass, mud, lack of comfort and such amazing things like sleeping in tents in a forest (not in the well-equipped safe parks).
Our day was finished with the local dinner, tea and deep talks about everything in the world. The language barrier for us – wasn’t a barrier anymore.
Next day we were visiting one of the oldest temples in China – Guoqing temple. It was built at the beginning of Sui Dynasty, approximately 598 year AD. Guoqing temple is famous for being the birthplace of Tiantai sect of Buddhism, which later also spread to Japan and Korea. Tiantai sect differs from other Buddism sects with its Lotus Sutra – the narrative of rules and aphorisms, based on 3 truths: depended reality (the essence is devoid of any permanent existence), phenomenal existence (existence is temporary and has its limitations) and middle truth (depended reality and phenomenal existence are the one). Another two interesting things about the temple are more than a thousand years old pagoda and the plum tree, that was planted in times of building that temple. It was a quite peaceful and beautiful place, but that day it got extremely busy: it was Dongzhi (winter solstice) festival. People were coming to the temple to worship their ancestors and pray. We didn’t pray, but successfully accomplished the food part of that festival – ate glutinous rice balls.
Later that day we went for a ride around the mountains: I wanted to meet a sunset there. It was such a narrow serpentine road with no fences. It was a bit scary for me, but same time I knew – I am safe. Science says that sunset gazing is good for adjusting our circadian rhythms and preparing the body and mind for sleep. For me both, sunset and sunrise are sacred times, that make me to stop, to take a little break and just stay in the moment enjoying the beauty of the world, which sometimes I miss, being busy with the everyday tasks.
When the sun went down, we were back to the villa, sharing our experiences and impression by the dinner and later – tea.
Next morning I was traveling back to Shanghai and crying (my first reaction to both good and bad strong feelings), because that weekend seemed to me miraculous, seemed to me as something, that could never happen to me. All the way back I had one single question in my mind: was it really possible? My mind, my perceptions of the world and of the men had been changed again.
This trip was another evidence for me, that world of men is not that dangerous and scary as I used to think. I spent nearly 3 days with a complete stranger to me in the place, where nobody could find me in case if something would’ve gone wrong – but it felt so safe!
I felt, how he cared for me, I felt that my childish happiness again, and it was such an empowering and inspiring thing for him as well! There I realized how it is important for a woman to be happy, because this way she nourishes and energizes not only herself, but a man by her, and how is it important for a man to provide a woman with the feeling of safety because reaching and sustaining happiness in this state is much easier.
Another thing that I experienced – how cool it is to connect with locals! Even though sometimes such connections might seem weird at the beginning (like this villa offer). I would’ve never experienced this, would’ve never visited that place, if I wouldn’t have said yes to that stranger Chinese. Now we’re friends.
Finally, I fell in love with China again, seeing the country from a slightly different angle. It was the first time for me here, traveling to the countryside, not a city (which are all the same). An amazing and remarkable experience for me. Now I even don’t crave much for traveling abroad: such a diverse country and culture, so many unique, fascinated places to see, and it even not needed to travel far. Looking forward to the new, mainland China trips!