September 20 - China: Suzhou

Jon and I had peanut butter and banana sandwiches for breakfast.  Today is the day we got to go to the police station to report our camera.  We felt somewhat prepared for a huge trauma: when we were in Tibet Gabrielle lost some money and had to spend many hours in the police station.  It seems that the police in China have quotas of crimes they can report, and exceeding that quota is very bad.  So they will do anything to avoid filing reports - including asking for proof that you actually own what you say you do.

Public Service Bureau

So we went to the PSB - Public Service Bureau - and stood in line for 30 minutes behind various people who were doing something related to their passports.  We had to contend with people cutting in line (as Chinese culture allows) and remember to keep our frustration in line.  When we finally made it to the front of the line and Jon told the policeman that our camera had been stolen, he asked to see Jon's passport.  He didn't say anything to us at all, but continued to flip through Jon's passport as if he were looking for some inconsistency.  Then he went into a back room for a few minutes, and then came back to flip through the passport some more.

After a few more minutes, a plain-clothed policeman came out and asked us what happened.  Jon explained it and the man said that he would give us a piece of paper to fill out.  He took us into his office in the back.  Well, long story short: he wouldn't give us an official report because we didn't have the "list from customs" on which he said we should have declared the camera.  This was a load of crap because there was no "list from customs".  The only form that customs gave us was the entry form, which asked for our name, address, and visa number.  The only "list" we saw was the one that listed various items that were allowed in the country: cameras, laptops, video cameras, cell phones, etc.  So this requirement of a "customs list" was a distraction to keep him from having to complete the official form.  We tried reasoning, we tried logic, we tried to wear him down, we even produced the battery charger and laptop connections.  But after 45 minutes he wasn't backing down.  He said that we could write the incident on a piece of paper and he would stamp it with an official police station stamp.  We were so tired of arguing and recognized that we were getting nowhere, so we conceded.  Jon filled out the paper in a way that looked like a form, and 20 minutes later he was done.  He handed it to our police officer guy who then said, "Now you have to go the police station near the Administrator's Garden to have it stamped".  Needless to say, we were furious.  He had told us he would stamp it, and we knew that if we went to the other police station it would be more of the same idiotic run-around - if they even spoke English.  But he promised us that it would be OK and that he had already spoken to them.  When we asked who he had spoken to, he replied "Mr Lee".  Obviously, we had no choice because he wasn't going to budge and we definitely weren't willing to get into an argument with the Chinese police.  So we took our things and took a taxi to the other PSB.

PSB #2

This PSB was obviously brand new and ironically had absolutely no one in it - including policemen.  There were maybe three of them and they all looked like rent-a-cops.  And - of course - they had no idea what we were talking about.  They took our handwritten "report" and the card for the police officer in the first office and tried to call him.  After 20 minutes, he finally called back and they stamped our "report".  I have no idea if our insurance company will take any of this, but at least we did our best.  We can send them the card of the police officer and they can call him if they'd like.

The Rest of the Afternoon

We went to McDonald's for lunch because we had all the culture we could take today.  We sat on the 2nd story window and looked out at the street below, trying to unwind.  There was a huge "parking lot" for bikes below us, and we couldn't help but laugh at the fact that they had the equivalent of "windshield-wiper flyers" in their baskets.  They also seemed to all have license plates, too.  I suppose you have to in a city like this.

After McDonald's, we went back to the hotel, packed up our stuff, and went to the Internet Cafe for a few quick emails.  We also bought fruit and food for our train trip this evening.

Train to Luoyang

At 4:30, we all hopped on a bus to go to the train station.  Tonight's 5:30 overnight train ride would be 15-hour trip in a soft sleeper.  We shared a cabin with Ted and Ivy, who are my role-models for what I want for Jon and me when we are grandparents.  I want to be married for 46 years and continue to travel extensively.  I want to be like them - holding hands where ever they go and always wanting to be near each other.  It's the most precious thing.

Anyway, after we got settled into our cabins we all sat and chatted for a while.  Then we broke out dinner.  Grant, Jon and I split servings of broccoli, rice, and sweet-and-sour chicken that we'd picked up earlier in the day from last night's dinner restaurant.  It was very good - even if it was cold!

Mah Jong with Help from the Train Staff

Ken, Mel, Jon and I went to the dining car to take advantage of their big tables for our Mah Jong tiles. We played for a while but certainly attracted attention.  In no time, we had much of the train staff crowded around us helping each of us play.  Ken and I were next to the window, so we didn't get helped quite as much, but we were definitely entertaining the staff.  At one point, we had a question about a particular play and - through pointing - one of the women answered our question.  But she also lectured us about something-or-other and we all just looked at each other, smiled at her and nodded.  It seems that everyone in China knows how to play this (but us).  We're sure they were a bit confused as to why we weren't gambling or keeping score.

Later in one of the rounds, a man was sitting next to Jon helping him by pointing at certain tiles and another man was sitting next to Mel doing the same.  At her turn, she was debating which tile to discard and was motioning to her "helper" to give her advice.  So Jon's "helper" leaned over to offer his opinion, which she took and discarded the tile he pointed to.  Of course, this was a tile that Jon needed and immediately picked up and won the game, and the entire dining car shouted with laughter.  It was so funny!

Around 11:30, we started to get tired and turned in.  Ivy and Ted were already asleep, so Jon and I quietly crept into our beds and fell asleep.