An unwelcome adventure

Last Wednesday morning I didn't have to go into work right away so I went for a walk in a park in the hills above our apartment instead. Mary and I had run into the park the first morning we were in Dinghai and found steps leading up through the forest to small shelters overlooking the city where people did morning exercises. This time I followed the same path up the hills, enjoying the lush forest that's a change from the city below. It had been pouring, and then sprinkling earlier and the ground was still wet. I tried a new trail that went off to the right and found myself in a high area with small farm fields and amazing views out over Dinghai. For the first time I could see the entire city, including the university, other parks, and the port with ships moving around. At this point I wished I'd brought my camera.

I walked further up the trail through the fields and came to an open gate with a sign next to it, and some farm plots on the other side. Looking up the hill I saw a chicken coop, some low buildings, and a hilltop that I thought would have views out to the east. I walked through the gate and up the hill. As I walked up I got more and more concerned that this might be an army base. There was a larger building with characters on it, and a clothes line with a pair of blue pants and a jacket on it ... a military uniform I'd seen before. The place was deserted, and I was already in the middle of the place so I decided to go look at the view. Sure enough I could see out far to the east, tracing the highway that goes past our house out towards the bridge to an adjacent island Zhu Jia Jian that has great beaches apparently. Right then a man in camoflage pants walked around the corner of a building, looked surprised, spoke to me in Chinese, and then went away. I look at the view again briefly and then started walking slowly back the way I'd come in. As I walked I heard people coming up behind me. I turned around and some men were there, some half dressed and some in full blue uniforms with caps. One man spoke English and asked me why I was there. I said I was on a walk to look at the views. I looked the part in my khakis shorts and sweaty undershirt, with a hat and raincoat in hand. Thank goodness I didn't have my camera with me. He then asked me where I was from. I replied, "I'm an American and an English teacher at Zhoushan Middle School," then said, "this is a military base, isn't it? I will leave now." Then he said, "Yes, you need to leave. You can go now." It was amazing how nice and non-confrontational he was. The other soldiers looked serious but amused. I turned, and walked back out the gate and down the path.

This illustrates a few things about Dinghai. First, people are really nice here. What are the chances of running into a nice, understanding soldier when wandering on a Chinese army base? Second, I've been really lucky to meet people who speak English. It would have been a lot harder to explain my way out of that situation in Chinese ... though I suppose it would have been obvious that I was an American who didn't know what he was doing. Third, army bases are EVERYWHERE in Dinghai. For example, I was looking absent mindedly out the window of a building at the school and realized I was looking into an army base. They're all over the place and they're just buildings with gates, much like many apartment buildings and companies here ... until you see people in army uniforms. I'm going to have to be really careful to avoid taking pictures of anything military here, and I guess I'll try to never walk through a gate when I can't read the sign.