TravelStream™ news feed for member 000007428 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/000007428 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:46:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/000007428/1/1239230700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/000007428/1/1239230700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/000007428/1/1239230700/tpod.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:46:41 -0400 I am in China?!

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Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China

Willie's Birthday Video
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Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong- January 12-18, 2009

We took a 2 hour train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong on January 12.  We arrived on the Kowloon side of HK where our hostel was located.  The hostel was in a "mansion" and by mansion I don't mean a beautiful, palatial, spacious residence... I mean a crowded, 30 story, dirty, scary, and noisy building where people hound you to buy fake Rolexes, curry, and suits.  Staying in a 5'x5' room on a rock hard bed while wearing ALL of my clothes was quite the experience and a great welcome to Hong Kong. So it isn't surprising that we spent the next morning at an internet cafe searching for a new place to stay. We were really lucky to find the YesInn on the Hong Kong side of the city.  It was a clean and amazing hostel that i would recommend to anyone!
 
To get acquainted with the city we decided to take a night cruise up and down Victoria Harbor which separates Hong Kong island from Kowloon and the other parts of HK that are attached to mainland China. This cruise provided us with a great night view of all of the buildings along HK island which were lit up.  It gave us information in English all about the sections of the island and the buildings, along with some ideas about what we could do throughout our long week in HK. And it also gave me the opportunity to act out the dramatic scene from Titanic were Leo and Kate stand on the bow!

Every night at 8pm there is the "Symphony of Lights." If you stand on the Kowloon side of HK and look toward HK island you can watch the lights of some of the tallest and most modern buildings in the words.  Each building has a special light "talent" where the lights might chase around the building, or some lazer lights might shine into the sky, or some lights might look like Chinese New Year decorations. Meanwhile some music is playing on Kowloon's "movie star strip."  It's fun free entertainment in HK that you can't experience any where else in the world.  

Victoria Harbor is kind of special.  No bridges can be built over the harbor because the governement wants to keep the amazing view in tack between HK island and Kowloon.  The only ways to cross the harbor are by ferry, which is only 2 RMB or by subway.
Our first full day in HK was spend just walking around and exploring.   We walked along the shore/harbor of HK island and gazed at tall builings and beautiful views. We explored the Exhibition Hall and the famous sculptural symbol of HK, the Golden Bauhinia.  We walked to the Wan Chai part of HK island which is the most expensive district and is also know as the financial district.  We also discovered the best and the cheapest way to explore HK island is by Tram.  The tram is only 2 RMB and literally goes from one end on the island to the other.  It is a better option that taking the subway because you get to see the city, it is less comfusing than a bus because you KNOW where the tram is going due to the tracks, and they are double deckers so if you are really lucky you get to sit at the top right in front and se EVERYTHING!  I think I sadly liked riding the tram too much.


Other adventures in the city included a trip to the botanical gardens which was also a small zoo.   It was a beautiful area at the top of a peak with a ton of nature to soak up.   We also sat and watched some monkeys in a cage for a good hour.  It's definently the small things in life that are the best!  We also discovered a huge market that was similar to our market in Shijiazhuang where they sell anything from strawberries to pig faces.  

Hong Kong also has the most popular and busy horse race track in the world.  It is pretty much like a small city inside!    And every Wednesday night there are races.  It is only 10 RMB to get in and you can use your Octopus card, which is the same top up card that you can use for the subway, tram, ferry, busses, McDonalds, and more. This card is pretty much the only currency you need in HK!  I met a friend who I went to grade school with named Camber Carpenter.  I haven't actually seen her since 5th grade, but through facebook I realized that she lived in HK.  We met at the race track and did a lot of catching up while standing right next to the grass track. There are sooo many museums in HK and all of them are free on Wednesdays... which we didn't know about until Wednesday afternoon.  We did get a chance to go to the Space and Art Museum.  Those are two seperate museums but it could be a cool concept to combine the two.  Anyway, I would compare the Space Museum to any other Space Museum in a big city; but the Art Museum was a uniquely Chinese experience.  It had a mix of Chinese modern art which was highly influenced by European art along with Chinese post modern art which was influenced by the backlash of Chinese art being influenced by European art! It also had a collection of traditianal Chinese caligraphy and water colors which were done by two cousins.  One was a trained professional who went to school at a presigious university at the time and trained in art and the other was his poor cousin.  The cousin actually worked as a servant in his rich families home and became interested in art by watching his cousin paint.  He began to simply copy the movements and techniques used by his trained cousin.  And from doing so he became just as good and is actually know today as the more creative and for having more naturaly talent of the two!   The Art Museum had a section for the children to create a picture for the new Chinese New Year... the year of the OX.  So I had to make a picture... and a stupid joke.... "Happy Moo Year!"  Ahh, that still makes me laugh.    

We took a couple of day trips to surrounding islands while we were in HK.  There are many islands within a short ferry ride away from HK city center.  We went to Lantau Island and Lamma Island.  Lantau Island is the biggest surrounding island with the least amount of people.  It is the island that has the HK airport, HK Disney Land, and the cable car ride to the big buddha. 
We set out for the island for the cable car ride and the big buddha.  We knew that it was the 3rd largest buddha in the world but did not realize that is was made in 1984 until we read the information UNDER the buddha.  It wasn't real or historic... it was only built because Japan and Taiwan are the two other places that have a large buddha and China felt left out, so it built one too.
Needless to say, I was a little disappointed and Willie could not stop laughing.  That's what happens when you don't do your research!  The cable care ride up to the buddha and back was really enjoyable. We got to see some beautiful scenery, the HK airport, and some STRUGGLING hikers below us... that was funny. And we fully took advantage of the Chinese New Year decorations where you put your face in a big cut out.    


Lamma Island is a much smaller island that has two very small villages.  The most popular thing to do on Lamma Island is to take a ferry to one of the villages and then hike 2 hours to the other village.   Each village is just a small place with a lot of seafood restaurants, shops, and bikes.  Cars or motarized vehicles are not allowed on Lamma Island so it is a cool sight to see bike after bike after bike lined up along the dock.  We set off to hike from one village to the other and stop at some scenic spots and beaches along the way. There was one moment where we looked down to the water and saw a beautiful small beach.  We decided to make our own trail and go down to the secluded beach.  Well, there was already a small trail but it was off the beaten path.  We got some of our first rays of the spring and Willie enjoyed the cold water... which I did not touch!  Instead I wrote messages and sculpted a man's face in the sand! Along the hiking trail we saw a small man made cave and a sign.  The sign read that the cave was actually made by the Japanese military during WW2 when they invaded Hong Kong and other parts of China.  The Japanese military used Lamma Island as a place to hide and store their boats and subs incase of an attack.  So this man made cave  was created to hide Japanese war crafts in case they needed to launch some sort of attack from Lamma Island.     Finally we made it to the 2nd village... which we ended up not liking... so we hiked back to the first village where we ate dinner and watched the island sunset before taking a ferry back to HK Island. Lamma Island was my favorite place in HK because of the beaches, the lack of cars, and the intamacy of the small villages.  Just remembering Lamma makes me want to go back!
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Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Guangzhou January 8-11, 2009
It's about time I wrote about the amazing month long trip that we had over the Chinese New Year holiday!  I will try to remember all of the interesting and funny stories from Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Vietnam!

Our first stop on our vacation was Guangzhou, China.  Some might ask, "What is in Guangzhou?" or "Why did you choose to go to Guangzhou?"  and here is why...  train tickets are REALLY difficult to come across in China during the Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival (same thing).  Many Chinese people travel to see family, students return to their homes, people search for jobs in different cities, and so on.  There is a lot of traveling.  In order to get a train ticket you have to know someone who works for the ticket office, wake up at midnight when they go on sale, or be really lucky.  There is no computer ordering system or easy way to go about getting these tickets.  We weren't lucky because we wanted tickets to go to Shanghai and then on to Hong Kong; but after trying for 3 days straight we just thought gave up.  We had heard of Guangzhou and knew it was really close to Hong Kong... so if worst came to worst we could take a bus or even rent a car to get from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.  

But Guangzhou was great.  It is a city of around 12 million people and was first founded in 214 BC.  It was a leader in the trade word becoming the 3rd largest city in the world at one point due to the trade with Portugal, India, Britain, and Philippines.  It was once ran by the Portuguese who were later moved to Macau, China.  Guangzhou was a key city in the revolution against the Qing Dynasty because Sun-Yet San lived in Guangzhou.  It was also taken over by the Japanese during WW2 and was rebuilt by the urban renewal projects set up by communist China.  It is now the largest city in Guangdong Province which is the wealthiest province in China.  

This is all from Wikipedia so if you want to know more, got there:)

We arrived in Guangzhou Thursday, January 8 after a 22 hour train trip the day and night before.  After a fall and winter in dirty Shijiazhuang it was a great feeling to see GREEN!  Green grass, trees, flowers...everything was green.    spent probably a day total just walking around Yuexiu Park which is the biggest park in Guangzhou just so we could soak up all the green-ness around us.  Being a farm girl it is hard to live without nature and the feeling of openness that you are so used to.  It was a refreshing experience.    We also took a lot of pictures of some funny signs that are supposed to be in English!   Also  in Yuexiu Park is a famous sculpture called "5 Rams" or "5 Goats" I have read both translations.  Each ram or goat has sheaves of rice in the mouth and is supposed to represent how blessed the city is and how rich it is in population and in growth.


We also went to Guangzhou Insurrectional Martyr Cemetery Park.   It  is basically a memorial to those who died in the insurrection led by the Communist Party of China in December 1927.   http://www.gzlsly.com/English/  The park had several statues of the young communists as well as huge memorials. The park was really lively for a cemetery and we enjoyed listening to some traditional Chinese singing and dancing.

Another highlight was the Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall.  He was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader who played a huge role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Fun fact: he was actually born in Hawaii (the territory of Hawaii!)  He was really influenced by the democracy of America and modeled some beliefs from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.   The memorial hall is simply a performance hall named after Sun-Yat Sen. It can hold thousands and is usually used for conferences and performances.  It is a beautiful traditional Chinese looking building whose roof was an architectural feet at the time.  

Guangzhou was a great city to walk around and explore.  There is a huge foreign population in Guangzhou and we stayed in a large muslim district of the city.  We enjoyed  our stay and wish we would have stayed more than 2 days.
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

January 27- Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)January 28- Cu Chi TunnelsJanuary 29-30- Mekong DeltaJanuary 31- February 3- Mui Ne
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Manila, Luzon, Philippines

Manila. Philippines January 20-22
Puerto Galera (Sabong, White Beach) January 23-27
Manila January 28
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Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China

I have added some photos and videos of the "Shijiazhuang English Language Talent Show."  I was an honorable judge at this even!  I really didn't do anything because the range of points was from 9.0- 10 and I gave just about everyone a 9.8!  There were 20 performances total and the age of people participating was from 4 years old to 78!  And I gave the 78 year olds group a 10!  The best shows: a skit of Little Red Riding Hood done by 5 year olds, "Adelvise" sung by a boy with little ballerina back-up dancers, "Heal the Word" sung by medical students, a university boy rapping "Lose yourself" by Eminem, and "Silent Night" sung by the group with the 78 year old man.  We really had a great time at the talent show and I got an award at the end...pretty much for being foreign! Anyway, if you have time, check out all of the photos and especially the videos!


On Saturday, December 20, we had a foreign Christmas party!  This party included wine, cheese, chocolate, and a White Elephant gift exchange!  The gifts ranged anywhere from chocolate, to coal, to beer, to socks, to hand puppets!  You can really buy a ton of weird things for 20 yuan.  In attendance were mostly the people who also graduated from Drake, but there were also others from and not from China.  I have included some pictures of us at the party!
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Datong, Shanxi, China

So, another long weekend rolled around because our students had 2 days straight of exams.  These exams happen 6 times a year where they are tested on every subject for the entire school day.  Bad for them... great for the foreign teachers because we get Thursday and Friday off!  So, Willie and I decided to take a trip during the 4 day weekend to somewhere somewhat near our city and Beijing so we could stop there on our way to fill up on some Western food to hold us over for a few months.  Our plan was to take a 10 hour train ride to a city called Datong (7:30 Thursday night- 6 am Friday morning), explore the city and the outskirts until our train left at 9:30 pm, ride the train from 9:30- 4:30am, arrive in Beijing... explore... sightsee...eat Western food, sleep, leave on a 2:00 pm train on Sunday back to Shijiazhuang.  We were really going to rough it.  We were going to sleep on trains so we didn't lose time or money in hostels.  We really didn't stop to think about the lack of sleep issue, the mood swings, or the lack of anything to do upon arrivals around 5 am!  But we survived and have a ton of great memories and great pictures to show for it.
Datong is a city that is popularly known for the coal production.  It is not a big city and it is not know for its beauty.  It has some older tamples inside the city, but what city doesn't'... So why go there?  Honestly, there were photos in my Fodor's China guide of some caves and of a temple hanging on the side of a cliff.  These photos, combined with the cheap train ticket were enough for us to want to try it.  About 10 miles outside of Datong are the Yungang Caves.  These are a string of caves, grottos, and niches that stretch for more than a half of mile that contain more than 50,000 Buddha images and other religious figures.  They were carved into the sandstone cliffs mainly during the 5th- century Wei Dynasty.  They are an overwhelming sight upon first arrival and become even more amazing and mind-boggling looking closer.  The carved statues, stone pagodas, and frescoes would be almost impossible to build, carve, and create now using modern technology and tools.  But thinking about the conditions, the lack of modern technology, and the types of tools used during the 5th century makes reality of the caves even more impressive.  
The caves were numbered from 1-40 something but there were hundreds of smaller caves in between and along another cliff that we could not reach.  The entrance leads to caves 4-6 which had fronts on them that looked like the wooden front of a temple.  These were the only caves that had wooden fronts.  Cave 6 had the largest Buddha.  To the right were caves 3-1, with cave 3 as the biggest cave.  To the left were the rest of the caves, caves 7-40 something.  One of the caves was known as the "Cave of Ten-thousand Buddhas" because it had 1,000's of Buddhas.  Big Buddhas, little Buddhas along the doorway, Buddhas hiding in niches, and frescos of Buddhas.  A very interesting finding was that some of the caves and ceilings had original paint and color.  Some of the red colors and blue colors were still really vibrant.  I just did not expect color like that to last! ( that sounded like a hair-color commercial... speaking of which, the top of my hair is red and the bottom is grayish blonde.  I would prefer a different look, but I just try to block it out of my mind.)  I have a ton of pictures of many of the caves, frescos, and the sculptures!
We got back in our rented car for the day (with a driver) and he took us about 40 more mile out of town to the Hanging Temple.  This temple was built by the Wei Dynasty again over 1,400 years ago.  It is a temple that was constructed on the side of a cliff.  The temple halls are carved in the rock face and are covered by wooden facades.  The facades are supported by very thin pillars balanced on ledges below.  And a series of bridges and walkways connect all of the different rooms and halls.  
I personally cannot believe this thing holds up because sometimes you look down and really just feel like you are being held up by this slender piece of wood below you.  But I calm myself by thinking logically about how long it has held up compared with the chances of it actually falling down on the day that I come to visit! I'm no math major (Willie) but the chances are slim.  The construction was interesting to discover because you would really see the wood foundation going into the side of the cliff in many places and it was difficult to tell if some of the rooms were in the side of the cave or outside.  It felt like the building was meshed with the cliff... like it was just stuck on there by a really big hand and has just stayed there for 100's of years.  
The most amusing and surprising thing, I thought, was the lack of safety measures.  There were no reinforced balconies, no railings in the steep and winding stairs, and no mesh fence on the open fronts.  I felt like I could back up just a little to far while taking a picture and fall right off the temple.  Wait, they did take some safety measures... they put up maybe 10 signs throughout the temple that stated "SAFTY FIRST" so I need to give them a little credit; not for their English, but for their attempt to create a sort of safe atmosphere!  In all reality, you just had to be really aware of where you were and where your next step would be.  We just thought of it as a challenge and were thankful to see the Hanging Temple more like its original construction.  
Our driver took us back to Datong where we spent a few hours killing time at a McDonalds and various department stores.  After dinner we experienced our first tea house.  It was a really nice and quiet place where you could have a 2 person room for one hour for 20 RMB ($3) and a pot of any kind of tea.  We don't know what exactly we had, but it was warm and that's all we cared about.  We headed to the train station to catch our 9:30 pm train.  Oh, I left out the part where we bought hard bed tickets for the train from Shijiazhuang to Datong which were really great.  We got to lay down and get some sleep over our 10 hour trip.  BUT I though I either got soft seat tickets or hard bed tickets for our train from Datong to Beijing..... but it turned out that I probably messed up and we ended up with HARD SEAT tickets.  Just the word heard seat doesn't really sound pleasant, but it doesn't give enough credit to exactly how hard and how awful they are.  Picture really hard school bus seats turned toward each other so that you would be facing the person across from you.  Your knees hit their knees; I am not tall and neither are most Chinese people and our knees touch.  So just take a second to picture Willie in this situation!  People are standing in the aisles because they over fill the hard seat cars.  Smoking is allowed so the people across from you who are intertwined in your legs are smoking and blowing it in your face.  The tickets are really cheap so the kind of people in these seats don't have much spare money to spend on good seats or an abundance of hygiene products.   So anyway, my answer to this situation is to take a dose of Nyquil (thank you sleeping pills).  Willie doesn't.   I'm am in a semi -sleeping, semi-dreaming, semi-unconscious  state; while Willie stays wide awake counting down the minutes.
We arrive in Beijing around 4:30 am.  No restaurants are open, we cannot check into our hostel, and there is no 24 hour malls... so we look up a 24 hour massage parlor and head there for a much needed body massage.  I have come to realize that nothing sounds sketchier than the phrase "24 hour massage parlor" in China.  But we try it anyway.  We walk in and the receptionist was asleep on a cot in front of the door.  He briefly awakes to say "massage?" and point in an obscure direction.  We buy 2 full body massage and are instantly given outfits that are made from the same thin doctor's office cover-ups and scrub nurse hats ( like the ones that my grandma used to use when mowing the grass!!!~ family joke).  We really don't even know how to work the clothes or which way they go so we have to ask.  We were lucky because we got two workers who were young and who knew a tiny bit of English.  It was a fun combination... our groggy Chinese and their basic English.  I finally realized how I sound when I ask people really basic and dumb questions in Chinese becasue the girl was asking me the same type of questions in her basic English.  Questions like "Do you like apples?" It was an amusing interaction.  The massage was alright too.
We decide to head to the hostel and pick up some Subway sandwiches on the way.  Shower finally, sleep, and head to Wangfujing Street.  This is a very famous street in Beijing that is know for its traditional Chinese foods and shopping.  Basically any creature that can fit on a kabob stick is fair game for this street.  Stalls sell foods on sticks such as scorpions, cicadas, sea horses, eel, grasshoppers, star fish, and other unknown creatures.  Some of the food, upon a closer look, was actually still moving!  I have included a video of a live scorpion on a stick.  I know I should have tried something but honestly I really already know that I won't like it!  It's called "Mind over matter" and my mind is set on never enjoying a nice pair of sea horses or scorpions.  Maybe next time... that is always a guilt-free excuse.  
The night continues at the Den where there is 5-10 pm happy hour which includes half price pizza and drinks.  A personal pizza and beer really is the ultimate reward for a tough day.  The next day couldn't have started any better because it started at a restaurant called "Grandma's Kitchen," when do those words ever NOT sound good together.  We ate a mixture of pancakes, omelets, fries, and Willie had a hamburger.  Its just that we never really get this food, so when the opportunity comes, we have to just have a little of everything!  We then explore the park around the Temple of Heaven or Tiantan.  This park is really great for people watching.  We watched Chinese people do just about every kind of activity from dancing, to playing with yoyo's, to exercising and more.  It was fun to watch the types of games they play that are different from games you can find in America.  I have included some pictures and a few videos of some of the games; my favorite being the video of the two grown me playing a game that involves one man throwing a large ring and the other catching it around his head!   I am almost done writing but I can't let you go without telling you that we had an amazing train ride home!  We had comfortable seats, plenty of leg room, and the option to use the restroom!  The only problem was that the ride was only 2 hours so it really didn't make up for the 7 hour one into Beijing...  We had a great trip and are even happier to be back to our Chinese home!  
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Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China

Autumn in the Shiz!  
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Beijing, China

This blog is about my trip to Beijing from Monday, September 29-   Saturday, October 4.  
It is Monday at 6:00 in the morning and we are groggy and grumpy at the train station... but we are excited about going to Beijing.  Why are we excited?  Well, I have always wanted to go to the Great Wall, we have heard so many great things about Beijing sights like Tiananmen Square and Beihai Park, and we and we have planned to meet up with some other Drake graduates that are teaching in other parts of China.  But MOST of all, we are excited about eating Western food.  Don't get me wrong; Chinese food has been good and exciting, but after living off of it for more than a month, nothing sounds as good as Mexican food and sandwiches.  So we have a plan.  Not a schedule of events and daily destinations; but a plan to eat NOTHING but Western food for an entire week.  And we reached our goal with flying colors.  Throughout the week we ate at Subway three times, ate at a Hooters once, ate pizza one time, at at a diner called Grandma's Kitchen, and had Tex-Mex once at a restaurant called Tex-Mex!  

The train ride was a long two hours from Shijiazhuang station.  And I think that it just seems long because even before you get on the train, you have to stand in a "line" that works more like a herd.  We were in the middle and pushing because someone told us that our seats were not guaranteed and that we might have to stand for the journey.  But apparently we cannot read our tickets because we had seat numbers and they were all together and everything was way less dramatic that we originally thought.  And also, a train ride seems long when the people around you keep getting up from their seats.  It seems like it is a cultural norm to eat noodles on a train ride.  We think of baseball and hotdogs, fairs and funnel cakes, cook outs and hamburgers... I really think that Chinese people associate train rides and noodles!  Almost everyone has a bowl of dry noodles when they get on the train.  Then, at some point during the journey, they get up and fill their noodle bowl with boiling water that is provided by the train.  There is like a small noodle making station in between every train car.  And the funny thing was that the ride was only two hours long, so it is not like you had to skip a meal while you were on the train.  It was quite the learning experience and I will know what snack food to bring on my next trip.
We made it to Beijing right on time at 8:30 in the morning.  We bussed it to our hostel which was a crazy, uncomfortable, and crowded ride...but we made it.  We stayed at the Sanlitun Hostel which is in the Sanlitun district that is famous for its restaurants and night life.  It is always referred to as the Sanlitun bar district.  We were surrounded by bars and clubs with funny names like Monkey Tree, People are Strange, Big Boat, Boys and Girls, The Den, R&B, Dream Color, Peppers, and Suzi Wongs.  We are in a 6 person room with only 5 people but they were nice enough to not put a random 6th person in our room with us.  The hostel workers spoke English well and helped us with everything we needed from figuring out the subway system, to getting directions, to writing things in Chinese for the cab drivers.  It was a great place and we will definitely stay there again.  We hit the road and found a sandwich place called The Olive where we each got a huge chicken and peppers sandwich with big bread.  Honestly, I will not take grilled chicken on bread for granted again.  And the best part was that it was covered in cheese!  We also knew that we wanted to book a trip to the Great Wall right away so that we could do it at the beginning of the week while we still had energy.  So we booked it with the Downtown Backpacker's Hostel that is in the Hutong District.  The Hutongs are old Chinese alleyways that are either originally old or refurbished to look like the old Hutong style.  It is a part of the city where the buildings are small and the streets are cobble stone.  The streets are also lined with tea shops and boutiques.  I would compare it to Des Moines east village...but that is a stretch.  
Tuesday at 6:30, we arrive at the Backpacker's Hostel where we are put on a van full of foreigners for 3 hours.  We among people from Belgium, Spain, America, and Germany.  We arrive at the Jingshanling section of the Great Wall around 9:30.  Here, we are given the option of taking a cable car to the top of the wall which would cost money and take about 15 minutes, or just walk to the top which is free and would only take 30 minutes.  We discussed the options and since I always feel like a challenge and brought up the points that we are young and it would only take 15 minutes longer than everyone else; we walked.  But I left out the part where I always feel like a challenge and then regret taking it on later... this was one of those moments.  We were pretty exhausted by the time we got to the top of the wall to "start" our hike.  This was the deal: We were dropped off at Jingshangling wall and were to hike for 8 km, about 5 miles and arrive at the Simatia section of the wall by 2pm where the bus would be and would leave from.  The only real directions we were given was to turn left when we got up to the wall and walk along the wall until 2pm.  It was fun and adventurous but we were in no way prepared for how intense the climbing would be.  We basically climbed rocks and steps that came up to my thighs and then skidded back down for 4 1/2 hours!  I really was a blast though.  Our group really did a great job.  We would stop at moments to really take in the beauty of the ancient world that we below us and all around us.  We would take breaks to rest and to take pictures even though the pictures do not do justice to the mountains and the wall.  We found ourselves more than halfway when we saw the sign for the Simatai portion of the wall and stopped to have lunch.  Surprise, surprise; I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while sitting on the Great Wall.  That was an unknown goal I think I had that I was excited to achieve!  
There are some things about the wall that I do not understand though.  I really don't know why the old emperors decided to build a wall on top of mountains.  I really don't think that soldiers want to walk over mountains in the first place.  The wall should have been built on flat ground as maybe a second line of defense after the mountains.  The enemy soldiers would be so tired from hiking through the mountains that the sight of a huge wall that they would have to also get past would make them WANT to surrender.  I know I don't have a background in military defense, but I really think it was common sense.  Also, so many workers died building the wall.  These workers could have built the wall safely on level ground and then served in the army against the troops that were climbing in the mountains!  And did you know that the workers who died during the construction of the wall were built right into it.  We thought of this fact while we were walking on the wall workers.  
So we are 3/4 of the way done with our hike when we see a suspension bridge over a river that we have to cross.  This was a great sign because after the bridge, we only had to walk to 2 more watchtowers and we were finished.  The bridge was very stable but it was still uncomfortable to feel people jump around...just to test it.  We all know those people.  While we were crossing the bridge we saw people zip lining from the top, over the river, to the bottom ground level.  We instantly decided that no matter how much it cost, we WOULD do that!  Turn out that zip lining only cost 40 RMB per person, which is equivalent to maybe $6-$7.  Willie went first while I video taped him screaming.  Then I went and recorded myself going all the way down.  Then we watched Alissa and Billie from the safety of the landing spot.  I will include the videos on this blog also so make sure to watch them all; but you can turn off the volume because we all sound terrible when were are jumping from great heights. The mix of adrenaline and the disbelief that you just hike the Great Wall made an amazing combination.  I would hike the terrible wall again just to have that feeling that you are really living!  It was really great.  We hopped on a boat, got back to the bus, and tried to sleep the rest of  the way back.  
That night we each treated ourselves to footlong subs at Subway.  They don't have the $5 footlong deal here, but I think I would have spent $50 on a sub that night.  We also spotted a Chinese Walmart across the street from Subway.  It was almost too much Wester culture to take in in one moment.
I think maybe I am writing to much, with too much detail so I will try to speed it up for those of you who obviously have a life of their own.  On Wednesday we all went to the Silk Market, which does not have silk.  or if it does, I just never saw it.  It is a huge building with more that 6 floors total and each floor is allotted a genre of item to sell.  The basement floor was all shoes and handbags, the first was women's clothing, and so on.  There was a floor full of jewelry and scarves, electronics and souvenirs, men's clothes and coats...  you get it.  And this market was full of little stalls of merchandise that was "brand name."  Each stall looked almost the same and had the same merchandise such as Nikes, Coach, D&G, Puma, Uggs, Northface, Abercrombie, and more.  These were obviously NOT those brands, but were fake look-a-likes.  I didn't mind at all though as long as the merchandise served its purpose.  I have needed tennis shoes badly and also wanted to buy some warm winter boots.  So I set out to get the best price.  You can barter and argue with these people until they basically give you the items for maybe 10% of their original price.  We were told to start out by stating 10% of their price because you can always go up from there.  I wanted Pumas that were originally 400 something RMB and I got the lady down to 60 RMB.  So my Pumas were less than $10.  I also go a pair of Uggs down from 450 RMB to 120 RMB.  So those were less than $20.  But is was so funny to barter with these people because they are basically all trained the same and trained to play the "You will make me poor" card.  They saw things about how they need to make a living, we will make them poor, they always say "Are you joking" when I would give them my original price.  But if you walk away or say no, they will almost instantly take 100 RMB off and give you the Chinese price, especially if you barter in Chinese.  And they don't understand that that is an insult in itself to give a Chinese price because that verifies the existence of a "foreigner's price!"  So they are basically trying to take your money.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the competitive nature of it, but the crowds, the pushing, the grabbing of your arm to come into their stalls all got to be a little too much after a few hours.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/000007428/1/1222233720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/000007428/1/1222233720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/000007428/1/1222233720/tpod.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:10:53 -0400 I am in China?!

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Shijiazhuang, China

After a week of teaching all of my classes how to play "Hangman," lets just say I was in need of a birthday weekend!  Actually, my classes have been going really great and I am really enjoying getting to know some of my students.  There are many students who listen really well, who try very hard, and who really want to get to know you.  Then there are the students who throw water bottles at their classmates, who do their Chinese homework during your class, and who answer your questions by stating that they "don't know English" even though they obviously do... hello!  So by Friday, there are a few too many of the latter that made the weekend, by contrast, great even before it began.  I was invited to dinner by an English teacher at my school who is Chinese and teaches the Junior 2 students.  Her daughter is a Junior 2 student as well but is taught by Willie.... excuse me, Teacher Willie.  So I brought Willie and Alissa with me to dinner with the teacher, her daughter, and her daughter's friend.  We went to a local restaurant where we had never been before.  It looked like a hot pot but we were told that is was not spicy.  The wait staff was bringing in dishes that looked like refried beans and tortilla chips.  You should have seen the looks on our faces.  We have only been talking for weeks about how much we miss Mexican food...beans, nachos, Chipolte, tacos, guacamole.....   Let's just say that were were excited and hungry.  THEN the bowl of boiling water comes in and is placed in the center of the table.  We were to boil all of the food and eat it out of the boiling water.  So we ask the teacher what the different dishes are because the whole Mexican food scenario is obviously too good to be true.  She informs us that the tortilla chips are actually fried tofu and that the refried beans are minced mutton.  So we are eating sheep and tofu now in boiling water.  I am including some pictures of this and a video of how they take a plate of minced mutton and turn it into hundreds of little sheep meat balls cooking in boiling water.  We have tried a lot of food and came to the conclusion that this was probably the worst meal so far.  
Jane, the final foreign teacher, from England arrived.  She is 27 and will be teaching mostly Senior 2 classes and a few of my Junior 2 classes.  So Jane, Alissa, Willie and I head to a university that is north of campus to see some friends who teach up there.  Jason, a Drake grad, told us to come to his campus bar and kinda convinced us by telling us it was like Peggys!  Willie thinks that he only told him that because Willie is a football player!  So stereotypical.  (Peggys always has a lot of football players in it).  Jason's campus bar is called the "Corona Bar" and has a large Corona beer sign out in the front.  So it has to be fun.  Inside is basically a foreign party...there are Americans, Sudanese, Brits, and Chinese.  Jason is very good friends with the bar owner who let him play his i pod at the bar.  So we spent the night listening to Nelly, Big and Rich (and actually showed off our new line dance to our friends!)    and more American favorites.  Later, we went into town to a club and were served watermelon and balloon animals.  It was amazing.  And then Alissa and i thought it would just be a good idea to walk around the entire place and cheers all of the Chinese people and take their pictures.  So I am including these pictures just so you can see the random crazies for your self.  I really don't know what most of these people are thinking!
Saturday was my birthday!  I called my family and went to lunch at a fast food place.  As Willie, Alissa, and I were leaving, Willie points to a bike and says something like "do you like that bike?"  I said yes and then he handed me my keys which he had secretly snuck the bike key on and said that it was mine.  During my minute of smiling confusion all I could say was "It's green!" ( my favorite color)  So Willie surprised me with a green bike...which is a huge deal in China.  You really need a bike to do just about anything.  It was a great gift.  Later that day, after a long bike ride, two of my students came over and gave me birthday presents.  Wendy gave me a traditional Chinese bow that is made from one continuous piece of string that is more that 50 meters long.  It is kind of like a Chinese knot but more elaborate.  It is very beautiful.  Pagy, the other student gave me Beijing Olympic commemorative stamps.  One sheet of stamps was created to celebrate the opening ceremonies, and the other was to celebrate this year's olympics in Beijing and the next Olympics in London.  This seemed a little full circle for me to be seeing pictures of the London Eye and the Tower of London, the place in which I had spent my last birthday!  Wendy's mother bought me a birthday cake and they taught me how to sing happy birthday in Chinese.  I had heard this song a few times from my friend Lindsey who taught here last year and would request to karaoke to it in Des Moines, Iowa!
Furthermore, we had small dinner plans for Jane, Alissa, Willie and myself to just go to our local place to eat since "all of the other teachers had banquets that evening."  Which was a lie that I believed.  I came downstairs to about 10 of our friends holding Happy Birthday signs.  Willie had tricked me again and had been spending time with his students making these signs and having them sign them.  I have many Chinese names on my signs but i have a few English names too that include Fergie, Mariah, and Lucifer.  I got told to have a happy birthday from Lucifer... that is a first.  We ate, we hung out at my apt, went to the bbq, and then to the club. It was a long and fun night! I really had a great birthday and everyone here really made it extra special. At least 3 people bought me chocolate and Megan got me peanut butter AND chocolate so I think I have the reputation of unhealthy eating down... but it is delicious! Alissa got me a card and instead of saying "For You" on the front it said "Ror You!" We saw a sign at a park that said "Wickets" instead of "Tickets!" But I'm sure we do that kind of thing all the time when we try to write Chinese symbols or even when we try to say something, we say the complete opposite due to the different tones and such. But is is still funny to see it done to English! Who doesn't love a mistake!

You can't have too much of a good thing because Sunday both Willie and I became sick. Willie had a fever and I probably had a fever I just never took my temp, but i was shivering and sweating and my skin hurt to touch. We all have been feeling terrible for about 3 days now. Between the stomach pains when you don't know if you are hungry or going to explode, the endless trips to the bathroom, and the turning the air conditioner on and off 20 times a night... we were miserable. We went to buy train tickets for the upcoming holiday and I thought I was going to pass out. It could have been the lack of food, lack of water, the heat or of the crowd... or the smell of 1,000s of Chinese people in one place. It has not been fun. And what I realized was that at these times is when I miss my family the most. I mean, I think about my family during the good times too... think about how much they would enjoy certain things or would laugh about funny situations... but it is when I realize how good it would feel to be with my family that I miss them the most. I just wanted to watch tv in our living room with Otis laying on the ground by the couch; or be at grandma's house and have her cover me up with that silly Jacksonville blanket; or have dad "take my temperature" by putting his lips on my forehead (does that really work?); or watch a Hallmark or girlie movie with my mom; or eat El Aguila with Liz (which cures everything) and watch MTV reality shows! I just went through a few days of being home sick, I guess. I really just want to take a second to tell you all that although I write on here about how much I am enjoying my life and experiences so far in China; I really do think about my family and my friends a lot and miss you all sooooo much. Drew, I miss you a ton too even though i just realized that I didn't include you in an example... maybe I have just never been sick around you! Maybe you would have gotten me a gas station fountain drink or coffee... that probably could have helped! Actually, just messaging you on skype the other day sent me into a crying state. But i do not want to depress you; I really only want you to know that I love you all and I really do think about you and miss you.

I am feeling better and still trying to catch up on my sleep. We have a 7 day holiday coming up. Monday, Sept 29- October 5 is Chinese National Day. I actually think October 1st is National Day, but we get all 7 days off. We originally wanted to go to Kunming, which is a beautiful city in the south. But all of the train tickets were sold out. It would have taken 35 hours to get there and 35 hours back and a total of 1,100 RMB so maybe it was best that we didn't go yet. So we decided just to book train tickets to Beijing and spend some quality time there. We will leave on Monday and will return whenever we want since it is only a 2 hour train ride. So I wll tell you all about it next time. Have a great rest of the week! Love, Kara
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