Nen (2 page)

Howard Smith picked up his chopsticks and was reaching for the mouthwatering duck meat when his chopsticks accidentally brushed Mr. Tan’s spoon that was also going towards the same dish. He retracted his chop sticks and grinned like a child.

“After you, mister.” Howard said.

“Hee..hee, sorry about that, come, let’s eat!!” said Mr. Kevin Tan.

All the tourists started to dig in except for Henry and Gupta who remained absolutely still, both staring hard at the plate of chicken feet.

Mrs. Sarah Tan noticed that and she asked, “You guys ok? Do you need any forks or spoons?”

“It’s okay, we will use the chopsticks.” Gupta said.

“We’re fine, ma’am. This is great,” Henry said with his eyes glued to the dish of chicken feet with sweet sauce right in front of him, “I’m just not used to having chicken feet for lunch.”

Everyone at the table laughed.

CHAPTER 3

Mami and Kenso were the last to board the bus that was parked in a massive courtyard outside Fat Choi Restaurant.

“Excuse me, sir, you have taken our seats.” Kenso asked politely when he noticed that the seat that he previously sat on was occupied.

“No, first come, first sit. These are our seats now.” replied Mr. Park, the tall and lanky Korean tourist. His sister, Madam Kim was right beside him and she was pretending not to have heard their conversation.

Kenso couldn’t believe that was happening and he said to Mr. Park,
“
No,no, how can you do this? You should go to your seats at the back.”

“Mr. Park, could you return to your original seats? The bus is going to move soon.” Ying asked politely.

“No, I come here first. I like here. Why must I sit at the back?”

Nelson seemed to find this interesting and he turned to Paul, “It’s gonna be world war three…”

“Shhhh…quiet,” Paul muttered, giving Nelson a revolted look.

Time seemed to have frozen for the next five seconds before Sarah Tan stood up and said to Kenso and Mami, “Hey, you guys can take our seats here, honey, shall we move to the back?”

“Why not? Let’s go.” Kevin Tan said and he immediately pulled out some of his belongings underneath his seat and moved to the rear of the bus with his fiancée while the others looked on.

“Arigato kosaimas,” Mami said, nodding her head continuously in appreciation of Sarah’s kind gesture. Kenso and Mami sat down quickly and the bus started to move.

It was past midday and the clear blue sky was laced with wispy clouds. The tourist bus meandered along a winding freeway in the middle of a vast patch of grassland that extended far beyond the mountains that lined the horizon.

Sitting right behind the driver, Ying the tour guide was busy making phone calls while the majority of the passengers were asleep.

“What? All the roads are blocked?” Ying said in Mandarin, pressing her brand new cell phone tightly over her left ear and she continued, “Okay, I will inform them. Yes…Yes, alright. Thank you. Bye!”

Ying put down her cell phone and spoke briefly to the driver who nodded his head in agreement. He then swerved the steering wheel clockwise and the bus started to turn around. The bus swayed to the left a little and rocked gently while turning around. As a result, a few tourists were awakened from their ‘after lunch’ nap.

Ying picked up a microphone from a tool box beside the driver. She flipped the power switch on and tapped the microphone softly with her fingers. Her tapping on the microphone was amplified into loud booming thuds that resonate throughout the interior of the bus.

“Morning call! Hello everyone,” Ying said, holding the microphone close to her lips. “I have an announcement to make. According to my colleague, all the roads leading to The General’s Tomb are closed today because of bad weather and we have to turn back.”

There was a slight stir of movement among the group and most of them began to pay attention.

“The weather outside seems fine to me.” Howard said, looking curiously at the clear blue sky through the one-inch thick bus window.

“No sir, weather in this place changes quickly. The Tomb is closed for today and all the roads leading to it are not accessible. I am very sorry.” Ying said with a firm but sincere tone. Dissatisfactory remarks erupted from the tourists and many shook their heads in disappointment.

“How can you do this, we give you money already?” retorted Mr. Park who clenched his gigantic fist so hard that his sister sitting beside him thought that he was ready to throw a punch at Ying.

“Are we coming back tomorrow if the weather is good?” Gupta asked.

“No sir, our schedule for this package is really tight. Tomorrow we are going to Kunming early in the morning.”

“Hey, that’s bullshit, you must compensate us for our loss!” Nelson shouted.

“Are there any other options, Ying?” Mr. John Chan asked politely in Mandarin, “we came a long way to see nothing, even a camera shot of the Tomb will be better than nothing?”

There were some boos and jeers coming from the back of the bus and people started to talk among themselves.

“Everyone please quiet down, it is not safe to visit The General’s Tomb in bad weather,” Ying said, “my manager said a snow storm may be coming and we must not go any further.”

“I hope this is not one of your tricks to rip us off, YING? I just saw a couple of buses going that way.” Henry Parker said willfully. Ying was certainly uncomfortable managing a situation like that and very much displeased to hear such an insinuating remark from Henry but she tried not to offend anyone. She continued to put on a smile and said to Henry, “No sir, we are a good company. No ripping off customers. Our Company will compensate you later.” She looked back at the bus of fuming tourists and continued, “Those buses are not going to the General’s Tomb. We will all go back to the Hotel now.”

After saying that, Ying switched off her microphone and returned to her seat. The crowd was indeed frustrated by this change of events and faint jeering could still be heard. Paul shrugged his shoulders and turned to Henry and the people sitting near him. He had this cunning smile on his face when he tried to assure those around him, “No worries man, I got an idea. We can still visit the General’s Tomb later.”

“My oh my, what an expedition.” Howard mumbled to himself before falling back to sleep.

CHAPTER 4

It was late afternoon and razor-like streaks of sunlight were cutting through the tiny gaps between the hotel curtains, forming a unique pattern of golden flickering lights in the hotel lobby. A handful of tourists were chattering on the left side of the hotel lobby where there were numerous clusters of leather sofas and coffee tables.

Paul and his two buddies-Nelson and Johnny were talking to a local Chinese man in his fifties. Howard Smith, Henry Parker and Sanjay Gupta were standing nearby. Sitting on the leather sofas was the Chan Family from Singapore, the Japanese couple Kenso and Mami and the Koreans-Mr Park and Madam Kim. Kevin Tan and his fiancée Sarah were making some enquiries at the hotel front desk a few meters away from the rest.

Paul handed some cash to the scrawny middle-age Chinese man known as Wong and he asked Wong in Mandarin, “Here’s seven thousand yuan, is your driver here already? We have a large group, no problem right?”

“No problem mister, I am the driver. Come, follow me. ” Wong said in Mandarin as he led the group out of the hotel lobby.

On the way out, Mrs. Chan asked her husband discretely, “Do you think this is fine? This guy looks like a black market crook to me.”

“Don’t worry honey, there are so many of us,” Mr. Chan answered, “This is the last chance if we wanna see the General’s Tomb. Look, Pete and Pauline are so happy we can go.”

“Let’s go, come on man, move! We don’t have all day!” Paul cried as he ushered the Chan family out of the hotel.

At the hotel doorway, Paul turned around and he noticed that Kevin and Sarah Tan were still at the front desk. He shook his head slightly and let out a long sigh. In the next second, he managed to catch Mr. Tan’s attention by waving his hand wildly and signaling to him that it was time to leave. Realizing that they were holding up the group again, Kevin and Sarah quickly finished off whatever business they had at the front desk and followed Paul out of the hotel.

CHAPTER 5

The relatively smaller tour bus quavered non-stop and jolted repeatedly while it edged towards the General’s Tomb. It was almost 5 pm when the bus came to a make-shift road block. The bus slowed down and turned right, pulling away from the highway into a meandering dirt road.

After almost two hours of a stomach-churning journey, the classic tour bus finally arrived at a small clearing near the foot of a plateau. A continuous stretch of snowy mountains surrounded the entire area which was framed with elegant birch trees and shrubbery. Without doubt, the beautiful scenery around the small clearing was beyond what words could describe. Wong pulled the bus over under some elm and oak trees where there was a cobble stoned stairway leading uphill.

One after another, the group of tourists alighted from the tour bus. While they admired the magnificent scenery all around them, they hardly noticed that they were the only people in the entire area.

Tiny flakes of snow began to fall in the otherwise perfectly fine weather.

“Look! Peter! It’s snowing!” Pauline beamed and she started to dance on the spot. Both she and her brother Pete were awfully delighted to see soft snowflakes landing gently on their shoulders and hair.

Nelson took a step towards the children. He looked at the sky and turned to Johnny who was right behind him. “Hey, do you think a storm is coming, like what Ying said?”

“How would I know?” Johnny said, “The weather’s been really good so far.”

Wong, the driver cum tour guide for this trip switched off the rumbling bus engine, jumped off his seat and swiftly slammed the vehicle door shut. He maneuvered quickly to the spot where most tourists were busy taking photographs and said to the group in English, “Please follow me closely. I bring you to the famous General’s Tomb.”

“Hey man, this place ain’t look like the General’s Tomb at all,” Howard was scrutinizing some brochures he had obtained from the hotel front desk and he was doubtful, “Are you sure?”

“Not to worry Sir, no problem at all,” Wong managed a friendly smile for Howard. “We go by back door to the General’s Tomb. Everybody please follow me and be careful.”

Howard shrugged his shoulders while he watched Wong led the tour group up the cobble stoned stairway. He tucked the brochures into his jacket and followed the beeline of people walking up the stairs.

The journey to the hilltop was fast and smooth. Although some of the uneven cobbled steps were spattered with large cracks and overgrown mosses, the tourists seemed to have no difficulty at all skipping over some of the hazardous steps while they climbed up the stairs.

Facing the tourists at the hilltop was an old and dilapidated army bunker with rusty iron doors and sealed windows. Mrs. Chan abruptly stopped her husband and children from walking any further. She took a deep breath and said, “I think we shouldn’t go in, I don’t trust this guide at all.”

Henry, Gupta and the young Japanese couple Kenso and Mami also stood still and hesitated to even move an inch forward. Wong noticed this and he came over to them. “This is back door. No worries,” Wong said, “I bring people here every day. Come.”

Pauline threw a glance at her parents and she said to them willfully, “Are you serious? There’s nothing to be afraid of.” To the surprise of Mr. and Mrs. Chan, Pauline did not wait for a response from them before she dashed towards the army bunker, catching up with Howard and the rest of the group. “Pauline! Wait!” cried Mrs. Chan and she ran after Pauline. The rest of the Chan family followed suit.

Strong winds were blowing at the hilltop and the bitter coldness was like a bunch of tiny invisible razors slicing the human skin. Henry drew in a breath and said with a sigh. “Damn it. Come on guys.” Gupta, Mami and Kenso were reluctant to move at first but they decided to ‘follow the crowd’ instead of standing out alone in the chill.

CHAPTER 6

Wong took out a messy bunch of keys from his left pocket and unlocked the multiple chains of padlocks that secured the bunker iron door. The tourists were right behind him and they watched him push the heavy iron door aside using both his hands. Wong took a step into the old bunker and flipped a switch.

“Come in, I bring you to General’s Tomb now.” Wong moved one step to his right and said.

The group of tourists followed Wong into the old bunker and some of them started taking photographs with their cameras.

The rundown bunker was an abandoned army warehouse used by peasants from nearby villages to store their personal goods. Wong was actually from one of these villages and he was moonlighting as a tour guide in the city to make ends meet. Like a person who had been there for a thousand times, he swiftly led the group to the other end directly opposite the entrance where an old construction elevator was in place. He pressed a button and the elevator doors opened.