西安

So this week I have been spending my time in Xian living my my American friend’s Chinese roommate’s Uncle’s house (too complicated).  We have spent the week visiting cool tourist spots, museums, and other places in and around Xian. Xian is a nice change of pace from the relaxed stress-free lifestyle of the people of Chengdu and the hyper commercialized fast-pace of Shanghai. Coming to this city was an amazing opportunity to live with a Chinese family and learn more about modern Chinese culture and life while taking time to visit some significant historical sites.

Xian is a city brimming with history as it is the current capital of the Shanxi province and the past capital of 13 dynasties. Those 13 dynasties span over 3000 years. That is a really long time! It is difficult to comprehend and understand such a rich and old history but we jumped right in by exploring some very significant Qin (221-206 BC) and Tang (618-907 AD) dynasty sites.

The most interesting site we visited this week was definitely the 兵马俑 (Terracotta Warriors). The Terracotta Warriors are part of 秦始皇 (The first emperor of China) elaborate tomb. He unified China and ended the Warring States period and therefore deserved a really awesome tomb (and he got it!). The English guide we hired told us all about the perfect Feng Shui of the tomb’s location (jade and mountains on one side, water and gold on the other) and the huge amount of work that went into making the tomb (over 700,000 workers). We sat transfixed on the elaborate story she told us as we waited in line, but as we entered pit one and saw this amazing sight our jaws completely dropped.

We walked into a hulking aircraft sized building housing pit 1 which houses 6000 warriors and horses (only 1000 have been unearthed) and saw the motionless assembly of soldiers below me.

The Terracotta warriors were an amazing site and I am so so so so fortunate to be able to see one of the world’s coolest places. Xian was a great way to finish out my travelling and had such interesting things to do and see.

在成都骑自行车 biking around chengdu

For our last day in Chengdu we decided it would be best to explore the city on bike and we spent the day “随便开车” (randomly driving around) in order to discover the true Chengdu. We were able to borrow bikes from the hostel (4oo kuai deposit and 15 yuan fee for 24 hours) and take our time riding all over the streets and sights of Chengdu. We started off in the morning with the idea to just drive north and explore parts of the city we had not yet seen. Most of the parks, restaurants, bars, and tourist sights are located in more southern districts so we decided we needed to complete our tour of Chengdu by randomly pedaling north.

With such an illogical, unthought out plan and me involved there was bound to be some difficulty in safely cycling around Chengdu. The first problem that we ran into was my pedal was constantly slipping off and falling to the ground while I was pedaling. It always happened at the most inopportune moment, when I was exerting my full power to pedal out of the way of incoming traffic. It was extremely annoying. However, the pedal met an early demise when I quickly pedaled across the highway. The pedal fell onto the ground and I watched a speeding taxi strike it and smoosh it into the ground.

The man I was standing beside looked at me and started telling me that it was broken. I began uncontrollably laughing and reassuring him that the quality of the pedal was great and it could totally withstand the blow it had just received. My confidence was shaken, however, when one of the street cleaning ladies (after the light had changed) practically sprinted to sweep my little pedal into her trash collecting bin. Luckily, my friend was able to beat her to the pedal, pick it up, and safety bike over to me. The pedal was ruined but I was able to force it back onto the bike’s peg and had a (sort of) functioning pedal for the rest of the day.

my friend Susan beating the cleaning lady to the pedal

During this early adventure I decided I would lead us around the city. I decided that because we were just randomly driving around it really didn’t matter where we went. Of course, that led us to become lost in the city very quickly. We also pedaled so far north that we were no longer on the map that the hostel provided us with. This led me to have to ask some people under a police station sign for directions.

It led to a pretty cool experience though, as we were led back to the correct road by a woman on a motorscooter, chatting to us the entire time. I was surprised that this woman took 20 minutes out of her day to lead a pack of strangers back to the highway, but I was really grateful for her assistance as I had led my companions hopelessly astray.

After the morning adventure we headed back to the hostel to eat some lunch. We wanted to walk around the hostel and find a restaurant that we had not been to. However, we were trying to eat at a really awkward time (around 3pm) so all the restaurants that we checked out were closed and busy cleaning and preparing for the dinner service. We all thought it was sort of strange that everything was closed and returned to the hostel to eat in the hostel’s restaurant.

They serve Western and Chinese food there and we decided to try some of their Chinese food. We ended up lounging around in the lobby, eating our food for over an hour, just hanging out, chatting and having a great time. It was the perfect respite in the middle of our biking adventure.

After that, we headed back out to bike. This ended up being one of the top 5 things I have done in China so far. It was the perfect temperature, the sun was actually out (a rarity in China) and we ended up in a beautuful public park in the middle of town. I don’t know if it was the endorphins from biking for a solid six hours but it was an amazingly enjoyable experience.

Finally here is a video I made showing how crazy of an experience biking is in China. Sorry it is really shaking but I was trying to survive. Many times there is no bike lane so you are sort of forced to ride on the side of cars randomly dodging bikes, pedestrians, and other things. It is a real adventure and I think I will have no problem driving or biking in American traffic when I return home.

Enjoy!

熊猫 Pandas!

Pandas!

Yesterday I experienced arguably the cutest 3 hours of my life when we explored Chengdu’s Panda Base research center. This is Chengdu’s main tourist attraction and our visit to the city would not complete with out seeing the giant bear-cats.

We woke up bright and early to meet the van in front of the hostel. This trip was arranged by our hostel so they provided transportation and the entry ticket for a relatively cheap price. After a 30 minute ride from the city (traffic doesn’t scare me so much anymore) we arrived at the panda place.

After a 15 minute walk on really nice carved out stone paths with overhanging bamboo shoots blocking the sunlight we made it to our first panda pen. There cuteness was undeniably infectious. Within a minute every man, woman, and child was pointing, giggling, and making little coos (baby talk even) at these pandas. People could not control themselves. A panda eating bamboo elicited laughs from the crowd while a panda climbing a tree made people jump up and down almost screaming because the cuteness was too much for our brains to process.

After seeing pandas for a bit we got to watch a video in a little cafe (they wanted us to order food) about panda births. It was a little strange to watch pandas giving birth on a big screen in a little tea cafe (only in China?). It was like health class all over again but with pandas. But it was sort of interesting even if a little too weird for my tastes. The British guy narrating the documentary was pretty into it though.

After that we got to go to the panda museum where I saw interesting and historically accurate exhibits like this (what does this have to do with pandas?):

After that we were ushered into a little room and urged to buy and send panda postcards (the little panda stamps were too much, I bit). Overall this was a very enjoyable little trip. Pandas are really cute (especially the babies that we couldn’t photograph) and we had a good time chatting with the tour guide and other tourists and sharing our love for the panda.

Look!

Here is a video of a panda doing something foolish.

坐黑色的出租车 Riding a Black Taxi

And now for some of the more harrowing stress filled moments I have had since arriving in China. So I arrived in Chengdu around 11PM. I was tired and just wanted to get out of the crowd forcing itself through the airport exits as soon as possible. I walked outside and was determined to find a taxi and finally get to my hostel.  However, I happened to walk out of the exit that did not have the police run taxi stand.  I was walking away from the official taxi stand: if I wanted a smooth and comfortable taxi ride I was walking in the WRONG direction.

I somehow missed the line of about 30 cabs behind me and proceeded to walk into the unassuming darkness in front of me. I saw a woman jump into a cab and as it quickly whisked her away I decided that was an how people grabbed taxis in this town. I didn’t have to try to hard as a taxi driver waved me over and I entered his cap pretty quickly.

Once inside, I could not find the text on my phone where I saved the pinyin translation of my hostel. I started freaking out a little because I didn’t know how I was going to get to my hostel. It ended up being no problem as I could use my Lonely Planet guidebook (the things is a lifesaver) to find the correct address.

After giving him the address we began moving in what I initially believed was the correct direction. He then strangely passed his cellphone back with the numbers 160 on it. I thought maybe he was having trouble communicating with my whimpering and stressed out Chinese accent. It might of been a number to the central taxi HQ where I could talk to someone who knows English.

I was wrong, the 160 was actually the price that he wanted to charge me to get me to my destination. That is WAY expensive as the hotel already told me that taxis should cost around 50 kuai. We had a problem, he was trying to rip me off.

However, contrary to popular belief, I am not just another stupid foreigner. I told him firmly 50 kuai. He wouldn’t take it. He insisted on 120. I told him rather frankly that  I would get out right here (on the side of the road). I was practically yelling at him to let me out. At this point communication wasn’t his strong suit and I really had no idea where we were headed or what price he was expecting me to pay.

We circled back around the airport and went back to the passenger pickup, he rudely grabbed my little side bag and threw it in the front seat telling me to sit up front. I obliged not truly understanding why I was moving up front. He continued to swing back through the pickup lane looking for more people to shove into the back of his illegal taxi. Finally I had enough. I told him to let me out, grabbed my stuff, and walked away. I stumbled upon the actual taxi line and waited for 10 minutes and finally got into a real taxi that quickly whisked me away to the hotel.

Fun times! Do not randomly jump into cabs in China. If you do hilarity will ensue.

在上海 In Shanghai

My time in Shanghai has firmly solidified this place as completely different kind of China. Think commercialism and tourism completely out of control. Think people everywhere (especially crowded because of the world fair here this summer). Think super expensive global brands tucked away in mall after mall . All in all Shanghai is a new hip, super expensive city in China that I had some interesting experiences in. Get ready for my jumbled somewhat incoherent journey through Shanghai.

We arrived in Shanghai in the long distance train station after taking a train from Longyou to Shanghai. We arrived in the afternoon and quickly jumped on the subway to take us to the financial district where my roommate had to open up a bank account in Belgium where he is studying next year. The best thing about Shanghai is the clean and efficient (albeit crowded) metro system. There are about 10 lines crisscrossing all over town and they can take you pretty much any spot in town in under an hour. They have airconditioning and for the most part are underground which can make for a quick and cheap escape from the sweltering heat.

We arrived in the financial district (which looks like this):

After dealing with all the money business we made our way to Wang Su’s friend’s apartment where we would be staying (for free) for our time in Shanghai. After that we headed out to the shopping district of Nanjing Lu and to see the French Architecture of the bund. It was pretty cool stuff but I was initially overwhelmed because of the vast number of people everywhere. People were hawking fake dvds’ purses, and shoes all over the place. A woman at one point attempted to seduce me (well, she wanted my money) asking me in broken english, “why are you sitting here why not with me in bar?”. It’s a scam even my lonely planet guidebook warned me about. She wants to take me to a bar and make me foot the bill of some outrageous drink prices. I kindly told her no thank you and she proceeded to move and start working on a guy across the street from me.

Here’s Nanjing Lu!

and here is some cool architecture of the bund!

Other than shopping and walking around people watching there really isn’t that much to do in Shanghai. I checked out the free Shanghai museum where there was a cool exhibit on religion in India among other things. It’s all about shopping and buying expensive things in Shanghai none of which I was interested in (as I have both no money and no room in my backpack to carry newly bought merchandise). I decided not to go to the world fair as I had heard it was horribly hot and the pavilions were boring anyways, the crowds were horrible too!

I definenelty had a lack of companionship during my time in Shanghai. The first few days were great as I got to hang out and explore the city with my roommate from Hangzhou. However, after two days y roommate had to return home. The kids I was living with both had internships and didn’t have time to just hang out with me. Therefore I was flying solo most of the time and had to rely on meeting new people to make my time better.

But of course I didn’t need to try to make friends…they just sort of found me. I was sitting on the side of a pond waiting for my friends to get back from work to let me into the apartment when a 21 year old guy came over and started talking English to me. He was a pretty interesting guy too and we talked for about an hour about the differences between English and Chinese, my travelling plans (I was going to his hometown soon) and lots of other things. We decided it would be fun to hang out the next day so I went over to his apartment for dinner where we talked about a lot more things and ended the night teaching each other sayings and idioms in our respective languages. Was it sort of sketchy to go to his apartment while only knowing him for 24 hours…yes. But, I don’t think experiences can be truly interesting without a little risk involved.

I knew I was going to be leaving Shanghai soon…partly because everything is so freaking expensive so I decided that I needed to buy a train ticket to travel to Chengdu and meet up with my 2 American friends in order to travel. However, all the train tickets were sold out for a good week (thanks world expo). So with no other options I was forced to buy a plane ticket to Chengdu.

My flight was for Tuesday night at 9PM so I headed to the airport around 4 (2 hour subway ride involved) and arrived at the airport around 6. I had 3 hours before my flight and erroneously believed I had sufficient time to  manage any mishaps or delays. When I went to get my ticket the clerk told me in broken English that my 9PM plane was broken or delayed or something. Then he asked me if I could speak Chinese to which I replied yes. He then unleashed a torrent of incomprehensible Mandarin that ended in him handing me a ticket for a 5:55 flight that started boarding 5 minutes ago. I ran, flip-flopless, through the airport sprinting through security (they took my shaving cream) and then to my gate attracting the strange looks of all I passed. I made it finally and grabbed a spot in the back of the line and boarded the plane. The plane was great, comfortable, and I even had extra space as I was sitting in the emergency row. After a quick dinner service we touched down in Chengdu ready to start the next leg of my journey.

Overall, Shanghai wasn’t the most exciting place in China for me at this point. Would it be great to work in the city as a young adult? Sure. But it wasn’t exactly the right fit for me, someone trying to learn more about Chinese culture, immerse themselves in a new language, and find out exactly what the Chinese people think and believe. Shanghai is a China corrupted by expensive Western influences… it isn’t really an authentic China.

三青山 Sanqing Mountain

After spending one night at YuYang’s house in Longyou and doing a little whitewater rafting on the side (fun but nothing to write home about) we headed off under the cover of twilight to a nearby town to check out Sanqing mountain, the area’s most famous tourist spot. We arrived in the town of 玉山 at around 1 AM and quickly had to find our hostel. We asked our taxi driver to take us to hostel we already booked a room at but he proceeded to drive us to the KTV place of the same name. After that brief misunderstanding we were whisked away to our new room, a double with two separate beds and private bathroom (no toilet seat though) which cost us about 3 dollars per person.

We both quickly fell asleep and woke up at around 8:30 to grab the bus to the mountain. The town of 玉山 itself was pretty sketchy. The roads were bad, a million people were hawking useless stuff or trying to force us into their cab or onto the back of their motorcycle, and it was impossible to find a good restaurant. Wang Su and I both agreed that it was reminiscent of last century China and really hadn’t been hit by the economic prosperity that is currently gushing into certain parts of China.

Once we arrived at the mountain, however, there were no problems. This was probably one of the best kept parks or tourist destinations I have ever been to. The visitor’s center was glistening with fresh paint and the bathroom might have been the nicest I have seen since coming to China. Most places and people don’t pay much attention to the cleanliness of their bathrooms… I have become accustomed to a certain pungent odor flowing from all bathrooms… bus station bathrooms are the WORST.

Anyways, after buying our tickets we headed to the cable car to ride up the side of the mountain. That’s right CABLE CAR. The Chinese idea of climbing a mountain is much different from what I have experienced hiking up Katahdin or any other mountains in Maine. Instead, we got to use this to quickly wisk us up the mountain:

So it was a really convenient and Air-Conditioned ride that brought us about half-way up the mountain. We would have to walk the rest. But even walking here was not that difficult as the place had tons of man made paths and stairs to make things easier.

After walking for most of the afternoon we arrived at our camping spot around 6 PM and phoned the camping gear guy so that he could bring us our tent. We pitched our tent and even some of the other tents, ate our instant noodles that we brought (using the hot water that they provided. After that we waited till nightfall, watched the stars, did some sudoku and then fell asleep. This is our tenting spot!

I was hastily woken up at 5am the next day by the shouts and hollers of a family preparing to climb up this big rock to a clearing in order to see the sunrise. I really wanted to go back to sleep but we decided it was best if we also went to see the sunrise. What a good decision that was. The sunset was ridiculously beautful…

So yeah waking up at 5am was totally worth the minor inconvenience….after that we set off around 6 and leisurely descended the mountain. We stopped and bought some rock carvings that were pretty cool to give to Yuyang and her nephew in order to thank them for letting us stay in their house. It was a pretty nice stroll down and relatively cool as the sun wasn’t hitting us yet.

It was an awesome trip and experience to be in such a big and beautiful place. After we descended the mountain we grabbed the bus to the next town over where we switched busses and returned to Yuyang’s town of LongYou. The bus unexpectedly had a flat tire so we were forced to walk the last half mile or so in the wrenchingly hot weather. I kept telling Wang Su that I am really looking forward to the winter here as the temperatures will finally reach bearable levels. I’m so done with this horribly sticky summer stuff.

Well that’s about it… we finally arrived in Longyou and the next day we took off on a bullet train for Shanghai which is a completely different kind of Chinese experience.

路游 Traveling

CET is OVER, and I have finally left Hangzhou. Thus begins my crazy 3 weeks of dealing with Chinese trains and busses, scrambling trying to find places to live,and (hopefully) visiting some really cool places. It is nice to finally not have tests or classes to attend but on the other hand the freedom of being in another country with nothing pressing to do is sort of scary and awesome. We will see how all this turns out.

I have already sent my two big pieces of lugggage to Beijing and am only travelling with my backpack and a smaller bag around my waist. I’ve got about 3 days worth of clothes, my laptop and other electronics, shower supplies, and a guidebook. I’m trying to travel pretty lightly.

My first stop this weekend is my friend Yuyang’s house in Longyou. It is a more rural town a little South of Hangzhou. To get here…we had to ride a train for about 3 hours. Very quickly I learned that Chinese trains are not the same as trains in America. This is not your Portland to Boston Amtrak Downeaster!

We arrived to the station around 8:30 in the morning after reluctantly rolling out of bed and taking care of some last minute thigns at the dorm (handing in keys and id cards to our Ayis). After that we got in a taxi for a little bit and arrived at the train station.

There were a million people at the train station…and after making it through security, grabbing a quick bite to eat at a fast food joint, we made our way to our train. After walking alongside the train to the 16th cabin I saw that there were people literally pouring out of the cabin we were trying to get on. It was literally impossible to make our way onto the train for a while and after some pushing and shoving we forced our way onto the train.

In China, trains sell way more tickets than there are seats so in addition to every seat being filled, there are tons of people standing in the aisle, leaning on you, s[ractically sitting in the overhead compartmentsl, it is pure chaos. We finally located our seats but of course someone was already sitting in them. After a heated confrontation with one man who REALLY wanted to sit in that seat, the train security people made him get up and we finally took our seats.

The train ride was uneventful, I read a lot of the guidebook, trying to figure exactly how I want to try and make my way North to Beijing. Cute little kids keep trying to play with me and this one little boy throughly enjoyed touching my arms and pulling my arm hair.

Finally we made it te 3.5 hours to Longyyou and after dodging taxi drivers trying to usher us into their vehicles, we met Yuyang’s father and he drove us to her house in his own car.

So we made it, travelling was not that difficult and I am getting really excited for the next steps. Tomorrow we are going whitewater rafting at a nearby place, then Wang Su and I are embracing the citylife and making our way to Shanghai, China’s biggest city. After that, I plan on being on my own for a bit, slowly making my way north for a bit stopping in Nanjing, Qingdao, maybe even the mountain of Huangshan.I’m flexible and can really do whatever I want (as long as I don’t spend too much money ).

I’m really hoping money won’t be too much of an issue as I have signed up for the couchsurfing website and am actively sending out emails to people so I can sleep on their couches and not pay for a hostel. Even if I have to use hostels though it shouldn’t be too expensive (about 8- 15 usd). It is a really exciting experience to do this on my own to see what might happen!

夏天的CET 结束了吗？ Summer CET is Finished?

These 6 or 7 weeks in Hangzhou have absolutely flown by as I only have 3 more days of classes left and then my final. I seriously think that this time here in Hangzhou has gone by too quickly but I am satisfied with the progress and growth (both personally and with my Chinese skills) that I have had in this place.

I already have so many unforgettable memories: the stress-infused wonderment of my arrival in Hangzhou, meeting and creating an awesome friendship with my roommate, traveling to 舟山 (Zhoushan), getting accustomed to small daily rituals that make life in China so different than in America (food!), riding busses around late at night and just seeing and taking in the city, going out to bars with my friends and having to dodge the (sometimes agressive) advances of Asian women, seeing the 西湖 (West Lake)  for the first time, getting stuck in huge thunderstorms, getting up at 5:30AM to go to my karate course and even some good times I’ve had in the classroom or staying up really late writing characters over and over (and over) again frantically trying to remember them for the next day’s test.

There is so much that I have done and learned already in China, I can’t even begin to put it all down in writing. And just like any sort of change or transition in life, I am both apprehensive and excited for this program to be over. It’s a little sad because there is so much more to do and explore in Hangzhou that I probably won’t be able to. There are a million parks, restaurants, people, shops, I really want to have time to take in and explore.

However, the worst thing about Hangzhou CET ending will be leaving the people behind. It is really going to difficult to watch most of the American students get on their planes to return to America. These are people I have shared the experience of getting plopped down down in a foreign country and being forced to adjust with. It’s a different type of relationship than I have had with any other people and I’m going to miss most of these people who have made my daily life so much fun.

Equally difficult will be leaving theChinese students behind too. I can’t tell you how warm and patient (and so much freaking fun) these kids are. They sat there everyday, listening to our fumbled Chinese, explaining everything about their lives in China, answering a million questions, translating restaurant menus, taking us out into the city, and even opening their homes up to us. All the American students are so lucky as they are such a useful resource but more importantly really great friends. It makes we want to open my home/life up to a foreign student/person at some point in my life. It is such a wonderful. unique experience.

Accompanying these sort of blah feelings is pure excitement for my future in China.After Hangzhou CET I have 3 weeks before classes in Beijing start. I have already got some preliminary (but flexible) plans. Basically as soon as CET ends a bunch of us are racing to Shanghai to see the world fair. I think it will be a really awesome experience as a lot of other students have said the pavilions are super cool (even though the lines are horrendous). After that Wang Su and I will be doing a little traveling and stuff for a while (as he has some time before he is heading to attend school in Belgium this year). We are probably going to check out some different cities or climb some mountains or something. After that he has invited to his house in Wenzhou for a while. That will be a nice change a pace from frantic travelling to relax and explore one place for a while. After that I will start traveling to Beijing. I plan on taking a train and stopping 3 to 4 times to explore cities and spend the night by myself in these different places. Traveling on my own will be an exciting experience and I really don’t think it will be that difficult.

As exciting as those plans are… I still have a test, a final performance, and 3 lessons to memorize before any of that can happen. I just can’t believe my time in Hangzhou is going to be over so quickly.

I’m going to miss you Hangzhou!!!