Today was one of the most frustrating travel days that I've had in China. It all started with going down to Tiananmen Square to check out the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. I knew they closed at noon so I got up a little earlier than usual and actually made it down there by 9:30 am. By this time, however, there was already probably a hundred or more people lined up to get inside. I got in line and began to wait. Then this security guard came up and started pointing at me saying, "nobeg, nobeg!"
"What?" I replied.
"Nobeg, nobeg...go, go!!" he kept saying pointing off into the distance.
I finally realized he was telling me I had to store my bag in a storage place just off the square (at a 9 yuan fee, by the way). So I got out of my place in line and walked all the way off the square to store my bag. I then got into that line and began to wait. For those of you who have not been to China, Chinese people do not know how to properly stand in line. Apparently, it just is not part of their culture, how that is escapes me. Even though there are 15 people waiting in this line, people try to just cut to the front and store their bag while the attendants yell at them to go back and get in line. And if you are not aggressive in maintaining your place in line, the person behind you will just simply cut right ahead of you. So it causes all kinds of pushing and having to be extremely close to the person in front of you to keep all the others at bay. It is really ridiculous
(On a side note, it is the same in basically every place where lines form. Buying train tickets, at the metro, even at Mcdonalds, people will always just push their way to the front no matter how many people are waiting in front of them. It really makes me wonder what is going on in their minds. The stupidest of all is getting on and off the metro. Common sense would lead you to wait 2 seconds for people to get off the subway and then for you to get on. But Chinese people, as soon as the train comes, just start pushing their way in as the people getting off are pushing their way off. So you have this equal mass of forces pushing in opposite directions. What are these people thinking?)
Anyway, after the side trip to store my bag (not allowed to have any bags or cameras inside Chairman Mao Hall for whatever reason) I then walked all the back to stand in line. And there was still a ton of people waiting and everyone resorting to being the first one in. Im standing there waiting and there are all these little old ladies who, if you just blink or leave a centimeter of space between the person in front of you, will swipe your place in line. And people are just pushing each other and elbowing for position. It is truly incredible.
Finally after making it inside, it was amazing how the mood changes from pushing and shoving outside, to complete quiet and reverance inside. The first hall is a statue of Mao surrounded by all kinds of plants. They have 3 yuan flowers for sale that the vast majority of the people buy to lay on the ground, and as the people come in, they are completely silent, face full of gratitude, lay their flower down, clasp their hands and bow a few times to Chairman Mao. I walked a little way up and was just watching the throngs of people come in and all pay their respects to the late chairman. It was more quiet and referential than all the buddhist and taoist temples that I had visited.
Apparently, I was lingering too long and one of the white gloved security guards told me to keep a move on. These guards were all pretty intense. If anyone made a sound, they were quick to tell them to stop talking. They were also very particular and stern about getting people in and out. You were not allowed to stand around at all.
The next room was supposed to be Mao's body but it definitely looked fake to me. I dont know what an embalmed body should look like, but Mao's definitely looked like it was made of wax. He was lying there in his casket with his face glowing a strange, eerie orange color. Again the guards made sure everyone kept coming in and out. And of course, no talking.
The best part of this was simply observing the Chinese people. It was amazing how much respect and awe they all still felt for the late chairman. Even though he has been dead for over 30 years and most of his policies have been obviously abandoned, there is a big soft spot in the Chinese heart for Mao.
Next I went to the Forbidden City. What was cool about this place was just how big it was. You could easily spend a whole day walking the grounds and visiting all the former residences and office buildings of previous Chinese Emperors. The only downside was despite the fact that it was so large, the coolest things to see are actually quite small. For example, there are various thrones of the emperor, each with a different function (this throne he did his official business, this throne he listened to opera, this throne he studied, this throne he accepted tribute, this throne he played his video games, etc). So the little viewing area would be jammed packed with Chinese people, all shoving their way to the front to get a good look as well as a take a picture. And for the vast majority of them, the concept of waiting for the people in front of them to leave and then fill in their spot escapes them. Instead, its a shove contest to get the front. I also wanted to get some good looks at this stuff, but after awhile it just is not worth practically fighting with old Chinese people to get to where you want to go. Luckily Im a little on the tall side here for so I rarely have obscured views.
Besides just the vastness of the place and the cool architecture, the coolest exhibition I saw was the antique clock room. This room had on display hundreds of clocks that had been either been manufactured in China during the last several hundred years or had been giving to the Emperor by foreign dignataries such as England, France, Japan, Switzerland, etc. They had quite an eclectic collection. From huge water powered clocks to small tiny pocket watches, anything you can imagine was pretty much there. I was also lucky enough to be in the exhibition hall right before they were going to do a demonstration of some select clocks. They would wind up these clocks and then all the bells and whistles would go off on it. Hard to explain but definitley worth it to see.
Well, Im about nearing the end of my two month vacation. It two more days I am meeting up with the rest of my American classmates to begin the new semester in Harbin. This break has not only been a lot of fun but I feel like my Chinese has improved quite a lot as well. In Harbin, I did not use my Chinese very much outside of people I was very comfortable with such as my teachers and roommates. Traveling, though I have had to use it everyday with people from different parts of the country. I have also made an effort, especially in the last few weeks to just sit and talk with Chinese people. So Im hoping that this upcoming semester I will make even more progress than the previous one. I am definitely going to study and use my Chinese a lot more than I did previously. I am looking forward to it.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Chinese New Year and Xi'An
The week of Chinese New Year for me was not the most exciting week in the world. I did not realize that all the small shops, including restaraunts, all close for about 7 days. The only places to eat were the more expensive places, street food and, of course, McDonalds. I wish I could have spent the day with a real family because it is really a family holiday. Everyone in the entire country goes back to their homes and spend time with the family. They eat special dinners together, play mah-jiang, visit other friends and relatives, launch fireworks and watch this special television program on CCTV1. All the children receive what are called hong bao, or red envelopes. These are simply fancy red envelopes that are filled with money. Gift giving is a little easier in China than in the US. From what I have heard, you rarely buy someone something you think they want. All you have to do is give the kids a wad of dough and forget about it. Actually doesnt sound like a bad idea.
On New Years Eve everyone watches the special New Years Eve tv program on CCTV1. I watched a little bit of it and it was very interesting. All kinds of Chinese celebreties are on it, singing songs and things like that. They have all the famous Chinese musicians as well. The show also has SNL type comedy sketches, artistic dances, etc. Its quite the show.
Another thing the Chinese are crazy about is fireworks. When I was walking around on the evening of New Years Eve, it was like a war zone. Fireworks everywhere, from big explosions way in the distance to local people in alleys shooting off all kinds of different ones. The explosions also triggered all kinds of car alarms to go off to add to the noise. One thing about China is that they have entirely different views of safety standards. Walking back to my hostel, there were these two little kids just chucking fireworks into alleys where all kinds of people are walking and exploding right next to them, I could not believe it. Then when I got back to the hostel, the staff were shooting off fireworks in the lobby right next to my room! This whole building was made of wood and there is smoke and sparks flying everywhere, it was pretty crazy.
That about sums up my Chinese New Years experience. After I left Chengdu I headed to north Xi'An, one of the ancient capitals of China. Two of the coolest things I have done here are see the teraccota warriors and the biking along the original city walls. For those of you who may not know, the Terracotta warriors are clay replicas of the army of the first emperor of a unified China, some 200o years ago. He expected to rule in death as he did in life and decided he needed some clay life size figurines to take with him to his grave. Amazingly, these statues were not uncovered until the 1970's and have been on display ever since. Its one of those things that you have to see in China and I have to admit it was pretty cool. This emperor had thousands of these warriors created and no two are alike. But when I really think about it, all it is is some pscyopathic emperor thinking he is going to need an army of clay soldiers to help him fight some sort of battle in the afterlife. When you think about it that way it is sounds a little crazy.
The other cool thing I did was bike along the original city walls of Xi'An. These walls are some 500 years old and have protected the city from outside invaders, with varying success, many times. The width of the walls was at least 20 ft. or so leavin tons of room to ride a bike and take a better look at the city. It took me a little over an hour to complete it and it was incredible. Its similar to how I felt on the Great Wall. Being on something so old and that at one time was really important is pretty cool. The only downside was that it was freezing cold and really foggy, so the view was not the best in the world. But I still had a good time.
Anyway, Im heading to Beijing tomorrow and will stay there until I meet up with my program on February 11th. Staying in Beijing for about 4 days will give me a chance to see the things that I missed the last time I was there like the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Mao's embalmed corpse. Im looking forward to it.
On New Years Eve everyone watches the special New Years Eve tv program on CCTV1. I watched a little bit of it and it was very interesting. All kinds of Chinese celebreties are on it, singing songs and things like that. They have all the famous Chinese musicians as well. The show also has SNL type comedy sketches, artistic dances, etc. Its quite the show.
Another thing the Chinese are crazy about is fireworks. When I was walking around on the evening of New Years Eve, it was like a war zone. Fireworks everywhere, from big explosions way in the distance to local people in alleys shooting off all kinds of different ones. The explosions also triggered all kinds of car alarms to go off to add to the noise. One thing about China is that they have entirely different views of safety standards. Walking back to my hostel, there were these two little kids just chucking fireworks into alleys where all kinds of people are walking and exploding right next to them, I could not believe it. Then when I got back to the hostel, the staff were shooting off fireworks in the lobby right next to my room! This whole building was made of wood and there is smoke and sparks flying everywhere, it was pretty crazy.
That about sums up my Chinese New Years experience. After I left Chengdu I headed to north Xi'An, one of the ancient capitals of China. Two of the coolest things I have done here are see the teraccota warriors and the biking along the original city walls. For those of you who may not know, the Terracotta warriors are clay replicas of the army of the first emperor of a unified China, some 200o years ago. He expected to rule in death as he did in life and decided he needed some clay life size figurines to take with him to his grave. Amazingly, these statues were not uncovered until the 1970's and have been on display ever since. Its one of those things that you have to see in China and I have to admit it was pretty cool. This emperor had thousands of these warriors created and no two are alike. But when I really think about it, all it is is some pscyopathic emperor thinking he is going to need an army of clay soldiers to help him fight some sort of battle in the afterlife. When you think about it that way it is sounds a little crazy.
The other cool thing I did was bike along the original city walls of Xi'An. These walls are some 500 years old and have protected the city from outside invaders, with varying success, many times. The width of the walls was at least 20 ft. or so leavin tons of room to ride a bike and take a better look at the city. It took me a little over an hour to complete it and it was incredible. Its similar to how I felt on the Great Wall. Being on something so old and that at one time was really important is pretty cool. The only downside was that it was freezing cold and really foggy, so the view was not the best in the world. But I still had a good time.
Anyway, Im heading to Beijing tomorrow and will stay there until I meet up with my program on February 11th. Staying in Beijing for about 4 days will give me a chance to see the things that I missed the last time I was there like the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Mao's embalmed corpse. Im looking forward to it.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Back in Chengdu
I just got back to Chendgu and will be hanging out here for a few days I think. My last couple days in Guilin were a lot of fun. I got to meet some really interesting people and feel like my Chinese was able to improve a lot just from the week I spent there by myself. One benefit of being a foreigner in China is I do not have to worry about offending people or asking too personal of questions. I just ask them anything I want and Chinese people do not seem to mind. There are so many stories I could tell right now. Like about one of the Chinese guys living in my hostel who was in Guilin interviewing for a job at Pepsi and really needed the job so he could convince his girlfriend that he was reliable so she would be willing to marry him, or the 4 girls from Nanning who wanted me to come visit their hometown because they have the best food in china. But the most interesting person I met was a girl who works in the city of Shenzhen.
First I should say a little about the city of Shenzhen. It is located in the south east of China and is right across the water from the island of Hong Kong. Today Shenzhen is one of the most developed and prosperous cities in China but that was not the case just 30 years ago. Before, it was simply a poor fishing village when it won the lottery of the century by being selected as the first Special Economic Zone as part of the Reforms of 1979. Deng Xiaoping, the leader of China after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, wanted to introduce market economic reforms in China but wanted to experiment in a few cities first before bringing the reforms to the country at large. Shenzhen proved a tremendous success and today attracts a lot of professionals from China.
So, this is where my friend worked. She actually spoke English quite well (definitely better than my Chinese). What was so interesting about her was the fact that she had such an independent and open mind. She was a Christian and talked about how her faith in Christ gave her a better sense of morality to treat other people better. She said that a lot of people in China will not think twice about cheating you if it will benefit them. She thought that Chinese people could learn from the example of Christ to treat people as you would yourself. She even had many negative things to say about the government, and how they constantly lie to the people rather than tell them the truth. She was the first Chinese person I had met who actually held these kind of views. Most others either did not think this is the case or simply have no opinions whatsoever.
But the most interesting part of talking to her over a few days was her thoughts on America and Taiwan. She greatly despised American foreign policy in the world and saw the country as looking down on everyone else. When I asked for some examples, she pointed to our immigration policy and how it is very difficult, time consuming, and expensive for Chinese people to live or visit the US. She said we think we are just so good that we want to keep everyone else out. Later, she went on to say that with China becoming stronger and stronger they might just do the same thing to Americans and keep all of us out.
It was pretty crazy how our conversation turned so quickly from a lively one to a fairly antagonistic one. It then got worse when she brought up the question of Taiwan. She wanted to know why America wants to divide the Chinese people by selling sophisticated weapons to Taiwan. In her mind, America is trying to control China by using Taiwan. When I told her that the US does not support Taiwan independence and hopes to eventually have a peaceful reunification, she did not seemed too convinced. She then made a very interesting point by referring to how Hong Kong was re-integrated with the mainland in 1997. At that time, there were a lot of fears that Mainland China would restrict the relative freedom that Hong Kong enjoyed under nominal British rule for so long. But China agreed to allow Hong Kong to have their own independent press as well as local government and enjoy relative autonomy for the next 50 years. This policy, from my understanding, seems to be fairly succsessful. My friend said that this proves that Taiwan should be reintegrated by the same kind of policy. It also shows that China really does not have bad intentions, but just wants a united country.
Granted, we obviously do not see completely eye to eye on this issue but it was very interesting hearing what she had to say. I try to do my best to avoid political discussions because it usually does not lead to anywhere constructive and a lot of times becomes a bit testy. But I really enjoyed getting to know this lady over the last few days I was in Guilin.
Today is the Chinese New Years Eve and I do not have any plans as of now. I think I am going to go to a local bar and watch the New Year festivites on tv. Apparently, everyone from around the country will be watching so I am curious what it is all about. I have been traveling now for over a month and still have about 3 weeks left before I have to head back to Harbin. I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity where I can just travel anywhere in China that I feel like. In fact, I think on this trip, I will have seen more of China that most Chinese. Im pretty lucky.
First I should say a little about the city of Shenzhen. It is located in the south east of China and is right across the water from the island of Hong Kong. Today Shenzhen is one of the most developed and prosperous cities in China but that was not the case just 30 years ago. Before, it was simply a poor fishing village when it won the lottery of the century by being selected as the first Special Economic Zone as part of the Reforms of 1979. Deng Xiaoping, the leader of China after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, wanted to introduce market economic reforms in China but wanted to experiment in a few cities first before bringing the reforms to the country at large. Shenzhen proved a tremendous success and today attracts a lot of professionals from China.
So, this is where my friend worked. She actually spoke English quite well (definitely better than my Chinese). What was so interesting about her was the fact that she had such an independent and open mind. She was a Christian and talked about how her faith in Christ gave her a better sense of morality to treat other people better. She said that a lot of people in China will not think twice about cheating you if it will benefit them. She thought that Chinese people could learn from the example of Christ to treat people as you would yourself. She even had many negative things to say about the government, and how they constantly lie to the people rather than tell them the truth. She was the first Chinese person I had met who actually held these kind of views. Most others either did not think this is the case or simply have no opinions whatsoever.
But the most interesting part of talking to her over a few days was her thoughts on America and Taiwan. She greatly despised American foreign policy in the world and saw the country as looking down on everyone else. When I asked for some examples, she pointed to our immigration policy and how it is very difficult, time consuming, and expensive for Chinese people to live or visit the US. She said we think we are just so good that we want to keep everyone else out. Later, she went on to say that with China becoming stronger and stronger they might just do the same thing to Americans and keep all of us out.
It was pretty crazy how our conversation turned so quickly from a lively one to a fairly antagonistic one. It then got worse when she brought up the question of Taiwan. She wanted to know why America wants to divide the Chinese people by selling sophisticated weapons to Taiwan. In her mind, America is trying to control China by using Taiwan. When I told her that the US does not support Taiwan independence and hopes to eventually have a peaceful reunification, she did not seemed too convinced. She then made a very interesting point by referring to how Hong Kong was re-integrated with the mainland in 1997. At that time, there were a lot of fears that Mainland China would restrict the relative freedom that Hong Kong enjoyed under nominal British rule for so long. But China agreed to allow Hong Kong to have their own independent press as well as local government and enjoy relative autonomy for the next 50 years. This policy, from my understanding, seems to be fairly succsessful. My friend said that this proves that Taiwan should be reintegrated by the same kind of policy. It also shows that China really does not have bad intentions, but just wants a united country.
Granted, we obviously do not see completely eye to eye on this issue but it was very interesting hearing what she had to say. I try to do my best to avoid political discussions because it usually does not lead to anywhere constructive and a lot of times becomes a bit testy. But I really enjoyed getting to know this lady over the last few days I was in Guilin.
Today is the Chinese New Years Eve and I do not have any plans as of now. I think I am going to go to a local bar and watch the New Year festivites on tv. Apparently, everyone from around the country will be watching so I am curious what it is all about. I have been traveling now for over a month and still have about 3 weeks left before I have to head back to Harbin. I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity where I can just travel anywhere in China that I feel like. In fact, I think on this trip, I will have seen more of China that most Chinese. Im pretty lucky.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Still In Guilin
Right now I am in Guilin waiting on a train back to Chengdu. I have decided to take it pretty easy for the next three weeks before I head back to Beijing for the start of the new semester. I leave for Chengdu in a few days and then plan on going to Xi'An, Tianjin and then finally Beijing. In Beijing I am meeting up with the other Americans in my language program for the upcoming semester and then we will all take a train over to Harbin.
My traveling companion, Andrew, left Guilin a few days ago to go to Hainan where he will spend the Chinese New Year. I decided not to go because it sounded like it would be a expensive and I also wanted to travel on my own for a change. Now my goal is to spend my days studying Chinese and talking to people I come across in my hostel and throughout the cities that I visit.
For example, today has been a good day so far. I woke up late, took a long hot shower, ordered a western breakfast the hostel and hung out in the lobby for awhile reading my Chinese book. I had planned on taking a walk along the Li River in the afternoon but two Chinese students from Shanghai were also hanging out in the lobby. They came and sat with me and we spent the next several hours talking, mostly Chinese but they also spoke some English as well. These girls were very interesting, they are both currently studying French and want to travel there with their school in two years. But they told me they have to be selected to go and the selections are based on how good their French is in two years. So if they study and work hard they will have a chance to go abroad, if not, they wont.
Im going to walk around the city square this evening and eat some Guilin rice noodles at this really cheap place that I found. Some locals also told me about a local bar that is popular for young people so tonight I plan on checking that out. One of the cool things about being a foreigner in China and having an OK grasp of the language is that it is not too hard to meet other Chinese people. If you can speak a little Chinese they really want to talk to you and are really excited. Im already pretty good and the general first encounter conversation with Chinese people (like where I am from, whats my major, why I am in China) etc., and working on having more in depth conversations. That is still a work in progress but will improve with time and hard work.
Im getting hungry so Im going to grab some of those noodles I mentioned. Thanks for all of you who read this thing, especially you who leave me some comments. I really appreciate it.
My traveling companion, Andrew, left Guilin a few days ago to go to Hainan where he will spend the Chinese New Year. I decided not to go because it sounded like it would be a expensive and I also wanted to travel on my own for a change. Now my goal is to spend my days studying Chinese and talking to people I come across in my hostel and throughout the cities that I visit.
For example, today has been a good day so far. I woke up late, took a long hot shower, ordered a western breakfast the hostel and hung out in the lobby for awhile reading my Chinese book. I had planned on taking a walk along the Li River in the afternoon but two Chinese students from Shanghai were also hanging out in the lobby. They came and sat with me and we spent the next several hours talking, mostly Chinese but they also spoke some English as well. These girls were very interesting, they are both currently studying French and want to travel there with their school in two years. But they told me they have to be selected to go and the selections are based on how good their French is in two years. So if they study and work hard they will have a chance to go abroad, if not, they wont.
Im going to walk around the city square this evening and eat some Guilin rice noodles at this really cheap place that I found. Some locals also told me about a local bar that is popular for young people so tonight I plan on checking that out. One of the cool things about being a foreigner in China and having an OK grasp of the language is that it is not too hard to meet other Chinese people. If you can speak a little Chinese they really want to talk to you and are really excited. Im already pretty good and the general first encounter conversation with Chinese people (like where I am from, whats my major, why I am in China) etc., and working on having more in depth conversations. That is still a work in progress but will improve with time and hard work.
Im getting hungry so Im going to grab some of those noodles I mentioned. Thanks for all of you who read this thing, especially you who leave me some comments. I really appreciate it.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
In Guilin
Right now I am in the city of Yangshuo in Guangxi province. This city is amazingly beautiful and one of the best places I have been to so far in China. The city is very flat but has these large, steep mountains popping up all over the place. They come out of nowhere and are really hard to explain. When I get back to Harbin and settled in I will start putting my photos onto here for everyone to see. The view is really breathtaking, definitely the most beautitful city in China that I have ever seen.
I will give a recap of what I have been up to since I was in Wuhan a few weeks ago. My companion, Andrew, and I took a train from Wuhan to Shanghai a few days before New Years and spent about 4 nights there. Shanghai is an incredible city. It is developing new skyscrapers everyday and as you walk around you cannot help but keep staring up at the sky. But for some reason I was not too keen on Shanghai. Shanghai has a lot of foreigners and does not feel like China. It is also does not feel like it has a whole lot of culture. And it is a lot more expensive than "real China" so I was pretty happy to get going from Shanghai.
We spent New Years there and it was also a little disappointing. Chinese people dont really celebrate real New Years at all, they have Chinese New Years or the Spring Festival that is coming up at the end of the month. It is based on the lunar calendar and so is on a different day every year. Anyway, we went down to the Bund, which is a popular place along the Huangpu River, that houses a lot of European architecture. It also across the way from the Pudong area where the tallest skyscraper in China and second tallest in the world is located. Anyway, there were thousands of people congregated down there around midnight and I was expecting a pretty spectacular fire work display, seeing as it is one of the biggest cities in the world. But the when the clock struck 12, they began a pretty pathetic show. It reminded me of the displays we would do in AK out in the woods during New Years eve, not the stuff of a major international city. Afterwards we went to McDonalds and pretty much called it a night.
After a few days in Shanghai we got on a train to Nanjing, which only took about 2 hours. In Nanjing our main goal was to relax for awhile and not spend money. We found a hostel that had dorm beds starting at 30 yuan a night, pretty cheap and for the first two days just hung out at the hostel in the day, eat cheap jiaozi for lunch and dinner, and maybe go to starbucks in evening, come back to the hostel and watch a movie and then go to bed. I felt we had just been going and going so much it was nice to relax for awhile.
In Nanjing we also hung out with two of the hostel workers a few nights which was a lot of fun. One of the girls could speak English incredibly well so it was cool to have some lucid conversations for change with Chinese people. We toured some of the lakes as well as old city walls from the Ming dynasty and also checked out some of the muesums. The most impactful one was the Rape of Nanjing musuem. It chronicled Japan's occupation of Nanjing from 1937 to 1945 when an estimated 300,000 people were slaughtered by the Japanese. Some of the worst atrocities of WWII were commited in Nanjing but do not get a whole lot of attention for some reason. A lot of historians refer to it as the forgotten holocaust. The pictures and images from that museum were incredibly disturbing and it really got you thinking how massacres like this can possibly happen.
After Nanjing, we took a 24 hour train to the city of Guilin in Guangxi province. The train ride was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. We had a hard sleeper where you have these little room like holes where three beds are stacked on top of each other on both sides. I was concerned that it was going to be an awful trip but Andrew and I slept for about half the way and the rest of our time was taken up by eating, talking, reading and looking at the scenery. So it was not so bad. As soon as we got into Guilin we hopped on a bus to Yangshuo and that is where we currently are. On the bus, we were also lucky enough to meet two other Chinese travelers and we hung out with them in Yanghsuo on our first day. We rented some bikes and ride about 8 km down to whats called Yueliang Shan, or Moon Mountain, and had a fantastic dinner of hot doufu, this pork and vegetable dish called huiguorou, and the Yangshuo speciality pijiu yu, or beer fish. It was one of the best meals I had had in a long time and it was relatively cheap.
I have also discovered our travels are a lot more fun when we make some Chinese friends to hang out with. The ones we met in Yangshuo were also good because they could not speak any english so we had to use Chinese the whole time. So it is good to continue practicing and improving your Chinese. Life is also a little easier with other Chinese people because people dont try to cheat them as much as all the foreigners. For example, we were in this chinese painting store where they had these scenic drawings on Chinese scrolls. I was not seriously thinking about buying some but I asked how much and the guy told me 80 yuan. I knew this was way to expensive so I said how about 30 yuan and after a few minutes he actually met my price. 30 yuan is less than 5 US dollars, not very much money at all, but my Chinese friend said I should pay no more than 15 yuan, about 2 dollars. And later I actually saw him offer roughly this price to other Chinese tourists. But I would not be surprised if other foreigners are paying incredibly high prices for stuff Chinese people are paying pennies for.
This morning we slept in and later rented bikes again and toured the countryside a little bit as well as hiked up a mountain. Yangshuo is quite the tourist town and everywhere you go people are trying to sell you some kind of trincket or touristy item. It reminds me a lot of being in Mexico this summer, I dont really like it. I think we will spend a few days here and then head back to Guilin for a few days and after that I am not sure where I will go . Andrew is planning on going to Hainan, apparently the Hawaii of China but I think I will either go to Yunnan or perhaps Chengdu again. Not sure at the moment. The Spring Festival is coming up and I have heard things get pretty crazy in China during that time, especially hotels and trains. So I really just want to settle down some place and not have to deal with the craziness.
I will give a recap of what I have been up to since I was in Wuhan a few weeks ago. My companion, Andrew, and I took a train from Wuhan to Shanghai a few days before New Years and spent about 4 nights there. Shanghai is an incredible city. It is developing new skyscrapers everyday and as you walk around you cannot help but keep staring up at the sky. But for some reason I was not too keen on Shanghai. Shanghai has a lot of foreigners and does not feel like China. It is also does not feel like it has a whole lot of culture. And it is a lot more expensive than "real China" so I was pretty happy to get going from Shanghai.
We spent New Years there and it was also a little disappointing. Chinese people dont really celebrate real New Years at all, they have Chinese New Years or the Spring Festival that is coming up at the end of the month. It is based on the lunar calendar and so is on a different day every year. Anyway, we went down to the Bund, which is a popular place along the Huangpu River, that houses a lot of European architecture. It also across the way from the Pudong area where the tallest skyscraper in China and second tallest in the world is located. Anyway, there were thousands of people congregated down there around midnight and I was expecting a pretty spectacular fire work display, seeing as it is one of the biggest cities in the world. But the when the clock struck 12, they began a pretty pathetic show. It reminded me of the displays we would do in AK out in the woods during New Years eve, not the stuff of a major international city. Afterwards we went to McDonalds and pretty much called it a night.
After a few days in Shanghai we got on a train to Nanjing, which only took about 2 hours. In Nanjing our main goal was to relax for awhile and not spend money. We found a hostel that had dorm beds starting at 30 yuan a night, pretty cheap and for the first two days just hung out at the hostel in the day, eat cheap jiaozi for lunch and dinner, and maybe go to starbucks in evening, come back to the hostel and watch a movie and then go to bed. I felt we had just been going and going so much it was nice to relax for awhile.
In Nanjing we also hung out with two of the hostel workers a few nights which was a lot of fun. One of the girls could speak English incredibly well so it was cool to have some lucid conversations for change with Chinese people. We toured some of the lakes as well as old city walls from the Ming dynasty and also checked out some of the muesums. The most impactful one was the Rape of Nanjing musuem. It chronicled Japan's occupation of Nanjing from 1937 to 1945 when an estimated 300,000 people were slaughtered by the Japanese. Some of the worst atrocities of WWII were commited in Nanjing but do not get a whole lot of attention for some reason. A lot of historians refer to it as the forgotten holocaust. The pictures and images from that museum were incredibly disturbing and it really got you thinking how massacres like this can possibly happen.
After Nanjing, we took a 24 hour train to the city of Guilin in Guangxi province. The train ride was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. We had a hard sleeper where you have these little room like holes where three beds are stacked on top of each other on both sides. I was concerned that it was going to be an awful trip but Andrew and I slept for about half the way and the rest of our time was taken up by eating, talking, reading and looking at the scenery. So it was not so bad. As soon as we got into Guilin we hopped on a bus to Yangshuo and that is where we currently are. On the bus, we were also lucky enough to meet two other Chinese travelers and we hung out with them in Yanghsuo on our first day. We rented some bikes and ride about 8 km down to whats called Yueliang Shan, or Moon Mountain, and had a fantastic dinner of hot doufu, this pork and vegetable dish called huiguorou, and the Yangshuo speciality pijiu yu, or beer fish. It was one of the best meals I had had in a long time and it was relatively cheap.
I have also discovered our travels are a lot more fun when we make some Chinese friends to hang out with. The ones we met in Yangshuo were also good because they could not speak any english so we had to use Chinese the whole time. So it is good to continue practicing and improving your Chinese. Life is also a little easier with other Chinese people because people dont try to cheat them as much as all the foreigners. For example, we were in this chinese painting store where they had these scenic drawings on Chinese scrolls. I was not seriously thinking about buying some but I asked how much and the guy told me 80 yuan. I knew this was way to expensive so I said how about 30 yuan and after a few minutes he actually met my price. 30 yuan is less than 5 US dollars, not very much money at all, but my Chinese friend said I should pay no more than 15 yuan, about 2 dollars. And later I actually saw him offer roughly this price to other Chinese tourists. But I would not be surprised if other foreigners are paying incredibly high prices for stuff Chinese people are paying pennies for.
This morning we slept in and later rented bikes again and toured the countryside a little bit as well as hiked up a mountain. Yangshuo is quite the tourist town and everywhere you go people are trying to sell you some kind of trincket or touristy item. It reminds me a lot of being in Mexico this summer, I dont really like it. I think we will spend a few days here and then head back to Guilin for a few days and after that I am not sure where I will go . Andrew is planning on going to Hainan, apparently the Hawaii of China but I think I will either go to Yunnan or perhaps Chengdu again. Not sure at the moment. The Spring Festival is coming up and I have heard things get pretty crazy in China during that time, especially hotels and trains. So I really just want to settle down some place and not have to deal with the craziness.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Christmas Break!
So I am already two weeks into my Christmas vacation and things are going pretty well so far. I finished up the semester at Harbin well and I am looking forward to returning there in the spring. I feel like I will make a lot of progress with my Chinese next semester because I have established a pretty good foundation already. I have also decided I really want to immerse myself in the language, including not listening to english music and movies. Total immersion will probably really pay off in the end so I am going to give it a try.
I will do a little recap of what I have been up to the last few weeks. We took a train from Harbin to Beijing and the next day everyone from our program went back to America except for six of us who are returning next spring. Me and two others, Luke and Andrew, hopped on a plane to Chengdu in Sichuan province. Chengdu is a pretty cool place and we stayed there about 4 nights. The two biggest highlights included seeing the Giant Pandas in the Panda Zoo and the worlds largest Buddha statue engraved alongside a mountain in a small town called Leshan. The Pandas were pretty much what I expected, cute little animals and all that. The giant Buddha was amazing though. Built in the 8th century AD it was intended to calm the raging river. Ironically, because of all the rock that was carved out of the cliff, it did have a calming affect on the river and made it safer for shipping vessels. The carving is 233 ft. tall and is really an awesome sight, definitely one of the coolest things I have seen in China.
From Chengdu, the three of us took a train to Chongqing and spent about 4 nights there as well. A Chinese friend we had met in Chengdu recommended a place for us to stay that was really cheap and near the city center. The placed turned out not to be a hotel but an apartment building with an extra room. It was a little sketch and at first we did not want to stay more than one night. But it was only $20 a night for the 3 of us to share and it was in a really good location so we put up with it for the duration of our stay. I did not like Chongqing very much. For some reason I felt like everyone there was trying to cheat us all the time. The worst thing was when we took a bus to find some museum a little outside the city. We got off the bus too early and thought the musuem was still pretty far away. This lady told us she would drive us in her van to the museum for 20 kuai, or about 3 dollars. Since we thought it was pretty far and we were not thinking at the time, we agreed. The van driver then literally drove us for about half a kilometer and drop us off at the museum we wanted. That ride would have cost about 5 kuai in a taxi! So that really upset.
After a few days in Chongqing, Luke flew to Shanghai to visit his girlfriend there and Andrew and I stayed another night in Chongqing. We wanted to see the 3 Gorges Dam and started visiting some travel agencies to see if we could take a river cruise on the Yangtze to see the dam. It turned out to be a lot more expensive than I had envisioned. The attendant finally told us that we would have to take a bus to a city called Wanzhou, hop on a fast boat to Yichang where the actual three gorges dam is. She said she would also arrange a hotel and bus to our next destination of Wuhan. All of this for a total of 600 kuai a person, a little shy of $100. But I was very hesitant because we did not have any guarantee that all of this would work out. She did not give us any travel itinerary or confirmation that everything was as she said. Also, since I had felt that people in Chongqing were trying to cheat us all the time, I did not want to spend that much money on something and have it be a disappointing experience. But we decided to give it a shot and see what happens, at least it would be an adventure.
So we paid the lady and she told us to show up the same spot at 6:30 the next morning for our bus. We arrived the next morning and no one else was there. We wanted a little while and finally this guy out of the shadows appears, smoking a cigarette and tells us to follow him. We start to but again I have this bad feeling. After telling him we are not very comfortable about this situation, he just keeps repeating, dont worry, dont worry. So we hop on a bus for a few hours and arrive in Wanzhou and then get on the boat. The boat ride was about 5 hours long and had some pretty amazing views of the Yangtze River. I wasnt paying much attention because I was really engaged in the is books called "The Snowball Effect" by Alice Schroeder. It is basically a biography on Warren Buffet and was a very interesting read. Anyway, after a few stops we arrived in Yichang, site of the Three Gorges. When we got off the boat, another person was hurrying us into another bus to take us who knows where, we were assuming our hotel. This is the disappointing part. Our whole purpose of this trip was to see the dam and it was at the location where our boat docked at Yichang. As we were driving, we saw the dam pass by and were assuming we would be staying someplace near town where we could easily come back and get a better look at the dam. But our bus ride was over an hour long and when they dropped us off, another guy with a van was waiting for us to take us to our hotel. On the way we were asking him when we were going to see the dam and he said, "oh no problem, I can take you tomorrow for 150 kuai a person." We were not very happy. We told him our purpose of coming here was to see the dam and we had already spent 1200 kuai total. But this jerk would not budge on the price so we agreed. He then dropped us off at this crappy hotel that was freezing cold and told us to be ready at 7:15 am. That night Andrew and I would both upset and frustrated. It also sucked that it was so cold! We both wore our winter jackets and other winter stuff to bed and still was not comfortable.
The next morning, we were just too tired, and decided we did want to spend the extra money to see this stupid dam. We just wanted to get the crap out of this hell hole and hope Wuhan, our next city was better than this place. So we got our bus ticket and went on to Wuhan.
This trip was actually a good learning experience. I wont ever agree and pay a lot of money for something where the details are unclear. I also did not have a good feeling from the start and should have trusted my instincts from the start not to go along with it. But thats all in the past.
So now I am in Wuhan staying in a really nice hostel. The rooms are really nice and cheap and when we got here there was a bunch of other Americans sitting around watching a movie in the lobby. We hung out with them the next day before they left and it was cool to be around some other Americans for a change.
We leave Wuhan tomorrow for Shanghai. Our plan is to spend New Years Eve there and then move on to Nanjing. Im really looking forward to Nanjing because they have a lot of historical attractions that I am looking forward to seeing. Im also reading a book about the Taiping Rebellion in the 19th century and the rebels had made Nanjing their capital. So it will be cool to be in the actual place I am reading a history book about.
I will do a little recap of what I have been up to the last few weeks. We took a train from Harbin to Beijing and the next day everyone from our program went back to America except for six of us who are returning next spring. Me and two others, Luke and Andrew, hopped on a plane to Chengdu in Sichuan province. Chengdu is a pretty cool place and we stayed there about 4 nights. The two biggest highlights included seeing the Giant Pandas in the Panda Zoo and the worlds largest Buddha statue engraved alongside a mountain in a small town called Leshan. The Pandas were pretty much what I expected, cute little animals and all that. The giant Buddha was amazing though. Built in the 8th century AD it was intended to calm the raging river. Ironically, because of all the rock that was carved out of the cliff, it did have a calming affect on the river and made it safer for shipping vessels. The carving is 233 ft. tall and is really an awesome sight, definitely one of the coolest things I have seen in China.
From Chengdu, the three of us took a train to Chongqing and spent about 4 nights there as well. A Chinese friend we had met in Chengdu recommended a place for us to stay that was really cheap and near the city center. The placed turned out not to be a hotel but an apartment building with an extra room. It was a little sketch and at first we did not want to stay more than one night. But it was only $20 a night for the 3 of us to share and it was in a really good location so we put up with it for the duration of our stay. I did not like Chongqing very much. For some reason I felt like everyone there was trying to cheat us all the time. The worst thing was when we took a bus to find some museum a little outside the city. We got off the bus too early and thought the musuem was still pretty far away. This lady told us she would drive us in her van to the museum for 20 kuai, or about 3 dollars. Since we thought it was pretty far and we were not thinking at the time, we agreed. The van driver then literally drove us for about half a kilometer and drop us off at the museum we wanted. That ride would have cost about 5 kuai in a taxi! So that really upset.
After a few days in Chongqing, Luke flew to Shanghai to visit his girlfriend there and Andrew and I stayed another night in Chongqing. We wanted to see the 3 Gorges Dam and started visiting some travel agencies to see if we could take a river cruise on the Yangtze to see the dam. It turned out to be a lot more expensive than I had envisioned. The attendant finally told us that we would have to take a bus to a city called Wanzhou, hop on a fast boat to Yichang where the actual three gorges dam is. She said she would also arrange a hotel and bus to our next destination of Wuhan. All of this for a total of 600 kuai a person, a little shy of $100. But I was very hesitant because we did not have any guarantee that all of this would work out. She did not give us any travel itinerary or confirmation that everything was as she said. Also, since I had felt that people in Chongqing were trying to cheat us all the time, I did not want to spend that much money on something and have it be a disappointing experience. But we decided to give it a shot and see what happens, at least it would be an adventure.
So we paid the lady and she told us to show up the same spot at 6:30 the next morning for our bus. We arrived the next morning and no one else was there. We wanted a little while and finally this guy out of the shadows appears, smoking a cigarette and tells us to follow him. We start to but again I have this bad feeling. After telling him we are not very comfortable about this situation, he just keeps repeating, dont worry, dont worry. So we hop on a bus for a few hours and arrive in Wanzhou and then get on the boat. The boat ride was about 5 hours long and had some pretty amazing views of the Yangtze River. I wasnt paying much attention because I was really engaged in the is books called "The Snowball Effect" by Alice Schroeder. It is basically a biography on Warren Buffet and was a very interesting read. Anyway, after a few stops we arrived in Yichang, site of the Three Gorges. When we got off the boat, another person was hurrying us into another bus to take us who knows where, we were assuming our hotel. This is the disappointing part. Our whole purpose of this trip was to see the dam and it was at the location where our boat docked at Yichang. As we were driving, we saw the dam pass by and were assuming we would be staying someplace near town where we could easily come back and get a better look at the dam. But our bus ride was over an hour long and when they dropped us off, another guy with a van was waiting for us to take us to our hotel. On the way we were asking him when we were going to see the dam and he said, "oh no problem, I can take you tomorrow for 150 kuai a person." We were not very happy. We told him our purpose of coming here was to see the dam and we had already spent 1200 kuai total. But this jerk would not budge on the price so we agreed. He then dropped us off at this crappy hotel that was freezing cold and told us to be ready at 7:15 am. That night Andrew and I would both upset and frustrated. It also sucked that it was so cold! We both wore our winter jackets and other winter stuff to bed and still was not comfortable.
The next morning, we were just too tired, and decided we did want to spend the extra money to see this stupid dam. We just wanted to get the crap out of this hell hole and hope Wuhan, our next city was better than this place. So we got our bus ticket and went on to Wuhan.
This trip was actually a good learning experience. I wont ever agree and pay a lot of money for something where the details are unclear. I also did not have a good feeling from the start and should have trusted my instincts from the start not to go along with it. But thats all in the past.
So now I am in Wuhan staying in a really nice hostel. The rooms are really nice and cheap and when we got here there was a bunch of other Americans sitting around watching a movie in the lobby. We hung out with them the next day before they left and it was cool to be around some other Americans for a change.
We leave Wuhan tomorrow for Shanghai. Our plan is to spend New Years Eve there and then move on to Nanjing. Im really looking forward to Nanjing because they have a lot of historical attractions that I am looking forward to seeing. Im also reading a book about the Taiping Rebellion in the 19th century and the rebels had made Nanjing their capital. So it will be cool to be in the actual place I am reading a history book about.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Stomach issues
I had my first experience with stomach problems this last week and it was not fun. Last Sunday two of my friends and I went to this Korean restaurant. The food was actually really good, especially this dish called haixian bing, which translates to something like seafood pancake or seafood cake, take your pick. I think I ate at least half of this dish myself because it was really good. This turned out to be a big mistake.
The next day I woke up and just felt awful. My head hurt, I was super tired and my stomach was incredibly uncomfortable. I got up to do some hw like I usually do and was planning on going to class but a few mintues before I was planning to leave I just started puking. Afterwards I began feeling even worse. I took some pepto bismol and drank a lot of water and went back to bed. But about 15 min. later I had to get up and puke the medicine and water I just ate and drank. That is basically how my morning and afternoon went. Drinking water and taking medicine and then throwing it back up. Not a whole lot of fun.
Luckily, that night I started feeling better and was able to go to class the next day. My roommate was very concerned for me when he found out about my 24 hr. illness and thought it might be a good idea to go to the hospital. I thought that was a little excessive. He also about died when I told him I had been drinking normal, room temperature water all day instead of hot water. Chinese people have a fear of cold water, they think it will make you sick and is bad for your health. He also recommended I eat this traditional Chinese porridge called zhou. Most Chinese people at the cafeteria eat this stuff every morning. It is basically hot water mixed with like slimy rice. It is not bad but it just does not have any taste so it is very difficult to eat. My teachers the next day also recommended I eat some zhou to get back on my feet.
Another interesting thing is China's view on medicine. You can get Western medicine here but I think Chinese view western medicine as a little risky. Yes, it works a lot faster than Chinese medicine and cures whats ailing you but also can harm other parts of the body. So if you have a headache and take some tylenol, your head will stop hurting but a couple months later you may have some kidney problems or something. So they do not like to take it. They say their medicine takes into account your entire body as a whole rather than treating specific places. I dont know a whole lot about Chinese medicine but it seems like it is mostly herbs, tea and other natural supplements. All the Chinese people I have talked to say it works and is good for you but Im pretty skeptical. Im not sure how much it is based on science than old wives tales.
Anyway, this was my first experience with illness in China and Im actually pretty fortunate because I have not had any other stomach or health problems. I just not going to back to that Korean place and will be wary of any more haixian bing.
The next day I woke up and just felt awful. My head hurt, I was super tired and my stomach was incredibly uncomfortable. I got up to do some hw like I usually do and was planning on going to class but a few mintues before I was planning to leave I just started puking. Afterwards I began feeling even worse. I took some pepto bismol and drank a lot of water and went back to bed. But about 15 min. later I had to get up and puke the medicine and water I just ate and drank. That is basically how my morning and afternoon went. Drinking water and taking medicine and then throwing it back up. Not a whole lot of fun.
Luckily, that night I started feeling better and was able to go to class the next day. My roommate was very concerned for me when he found out about my 24 hr. illness and thought it might be a good idea to go to the hospital. I thought that was a little excessive. He also about died when I told him I had been drinking normal, room temperature water all day instead of hot water. Chinese people have a fear of cold water, they think it will make you sick and is bad for your health. He also recommended I eat this traditional Chinese porridge called zhou. Most Chinese people at the cafeteria eat this stuff every morning. It is basically hot water mixed with like slimy rice. It is not bad but it just does not have any taste so it is very difficult to eat. My teachers the next day also recommended I eat some zhou to get back on my feet.
Another interesting thing is China's view on medicine. You can get Western medicine here but I think Chinese view western medicine as a little risky. Yes, it works a lot faster than Chinese medicine and cures whats ailing you but also can harm other parts of the body. So if you have a headache and take some tylenol, your head will stop hurting but a couple months later you may have some kidney problems or something. So they do not like to take it. They say their medicine takes into account your entire body as a whole rather than treating specific places. I dont know a whole lot about Chinese medicine but it seems like it is mostly herbs, tea and other natural supplements. All the Chinese people I have talked to say it works and is good for you but Im pretty skeptical. Im not sure how much it is based on science than old wives tales.
Anyway, this was my first experience with illness in China and Im actually pretty fortunate because I have not had any other stomach or health problems. I just not going to back to that Korean place and will be wary of any more haixian bing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)