Walmart and National Day

What happens when you go to the world's busiest Wal-mart on its busiest day of the year? I got to find out today.

Today happens to be October 1st, which is China's national day. It is a celebration of the founding of the communist People's Republic in 1949. So it's a big deal. Well, we also happen to be in the city where the whole communist revolution began.

This morning Joelle, Rachael, and I decided to head downtown to the main square to go to the Bai Yi Walmart which is the world's busiest. We didn't think many people would be there. Actually it was the day everyone wants to go to Walmart.

We walked outside the school gates and found a bus stop. We had to wait for several buses before one finally stopped to pick us up, because they were so full the doors couldn't even open. So on one bus Joelle and Rachael dashed for the back door and I lunged in through the front door. I rode the 20 minute ride with my back plastered to the door and with my face inches from the windshield. I could better see how close our bus was to running over people and cars.

A couple minutes into the ride the bus driver started talking to me and I couldn't understand him so the 10 people around him, who were all smashed together tried to help him out. The whole front of the bus was urgently telling me something in Chinese. Then they gave up because I couldn't figure it out. A few minutes later they all tried again and I felt really dumb. Finally some kid said in English, "Your friends did not put money in the box!" Ohhhh, okayyy. So I found some money and chucked it into the box next to the driver. Then everyone was happy again. Or as happy as they could be all tangled up together on the stuffy bus.

We jumped off the bus close to the square and were swept along with thousands of other people to the square. The square was filled with Chinese sitting or standing by the monuments and red banners. Little kids carried Chinese flags. I sort of felt like I was intruding on their holiday. They seem very proud of their country.

We tried in vain to find some lunch. All the restaurants and shops were overflowing and it was impossible to get anything to eat. So we followed the wave of people to Wal-mart on one side of the square. Wal-marts in China have several levels and you have to get on escalators. Rachael, Joelle, and I hung on to each other like a train and just let the crowd take us as mobs of people fed into the escalator line.

The Wal-mart itself was also packed. Picture the worst possible day at an American Wal-mart and multiply it by at least 30. I couldn't really see anything in the aisles so I ended up with a couple of random things like spaghetti sauce, banana bread, and a hair dryer. Random Chinese shoppers went out of their way to make sure I had the perfect hair dryer. They pointed to the best ones and demonstrated. I ended up with a little Panasonic one.

To check out, we had to choose from 40 checkout lines, each one with at least 15 or 20 people in them. We finally got out of there and decided to take a taxi back. We managed to chose the craziest driver in Nanchang.

We got back to campus in record time and were miraculously safe. He drove most of the time on the opposite side of the road at 90 km/hr and would just swerve back to the right side when there were 3 lanes of buses and trucks barreling toward us. People on bikes had to jump off to avoid getting hit by him. It was better not to watch.

Even though the outing was crazy, I'm so glad I got to experience it. This was Chinese culture at its greatest. This afternoon has been much slower. We are going to eat dinner with some Chinese students. I know this sounds rushed, but I better get going. Thanks for your thoughts!