TravelStream™ news feed for member cantreadchinese on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cantreadchinese en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:13:17 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1216561320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1216561320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1216561320/tpod.html Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:13:17 -0400 China '08

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Hangzhou, China

Last week I decided my hair was to long and I wanted to cut it, so last Thursday I finally did. I was afraid of going to a haircut place on my own because I didn't really know what places were good and I didn't know how to explain what I wanted in Chinese, so I went with 2 other American students (Katie and Andrew) and one of the Chinese roommates (Xiao Jun). It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision to go with them. If you know me well, you know I don't really like making quick decisions, but I guess in China I tend to do it more often. Anyway, Katie needed to fix her hair since the preavious week she tried dying it and the people ended up turning it white basically. Andrew wanted to dye his hair blue. I ended up really liking my haircut, and was surprised that I was able to basically explain what I wanted in Chinese. Katie and Andrew also liked their hair, so this past week I was thinking I've never really experimented with dying my hair so maybe this would be a good time to try since I kind of liked the salon.

I was invisioning strawberry blonde. Like blonde (my natural color) with lots of soft-red highlights. All week I was trying to make it back to the salon and kept not having enough time, so finally this morning I woke up and decided that I would go ahead and get it done. I was sort of feeling down/lonely after the trip to RuiAn (all of the students and teachers went for one night, we returned last night), so I thought it might be best for me to go alone to try to dye it without going in a group, as it's kind of discouraging always needing someone with me to help explain things. Sometimes in China, I find myself wanting to be overly dependent and forget that no matter how much I want to be alone, there's still some things I just can't do on my own. Dying my hair is probably one of them...

On the way to the salon Andrew texted me and said he wanted to go back today too since his blue hair had already faded and kind of made him look like an old man. I was already on the bus though, and he said he wouldn't get there for quite some time, so I was still going to do it alone. I found the salon (all by myself-a great feat for directionally-challenged persons!) and went in. It started off alright, they washed me hair and gave me a massage. But then the complicated part would come where I had to explain what color red I wanted. They showed me a book of different hair colors and I realized the soft-red I imagined wasn't there. So then I pointed to a kind of dark red and tried asking him if I could have that basic color but lighter. I don't know the words for dark and light. Or, I didn't 10 hours ago. So I didn't really know how to ask if he could make it lighter, and he didn't know what I was trying to say. There was lots of pointing at hair samples going on, and lots and lots of confusion. Eventually the lady (there was a lady and a guy) thought she understood and said something like "ni yao sheng hong se". I knew hong se was red, and I assumed she understood what I meant and that sheng meant light, so I just said that whatever she said was right. I usually carry my little dictionary with me but today I happened to forget it so I couldn't look "sheng" up. To be safe, I called Andrew and asked him to try to translate a little too, so he talked to the hair guy, the hair guy thought he understood, and then they started with the highlighting.

To make a long story not-so-long, I could tell it was going to be darker than I wanted, and I could also tell that the lady wasn't giving me as many highlights as I wanted. I knew at this point I couldn't change the color but I thought maybe she could put more hair into the foil. She brought her boss over and they chatted a bit and in the end he said it was enough highlights and she couldn't add more.

Jump ahead 50 minutes. They took the foil out of my hair and started to dry it when finally Andrew, Xiao Jun and her bf (another roommate) arrived. When it was dry, I felt like it basically looked the same as before, but with just a few streaks of dark red/purple in it, which I thought was a little strange. So they helped me explain to the hair people that they didn't dye enough of it and I wasn't so pleased. Eventually, they agreed to redo it. They told me they'd have to make it a little purple tho, apparently the purple will wash out in a few days and just leave red. By this point I didn't really care, so I let them cover my head in foil again. I told them I wanted approximately half of the hair to be red (purple) and half to be blonde.

90+ minutes later, they are drying it again. And yes, it's kind of a dark purplish-red with blonde streaks in it. Its sort of weird, but I think it may grow on me (as long as it doesn't turn grey like Andrew's blue hair did). I guess I don't really not like it, I just have to get used to it. It's definitely interesting seeing me with dark hair for a change. I can't wait to wash it, because they way they styled it makes it look flat, but they said I have to wait at least 2 days until I can wash it so the color won't fade. I'll try to attach some pictures.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1216128780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1216128780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1216128780/tpod.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:40:24 -0400 China '08

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Lijiang, Yunnan, China

Entry to come soon...
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Guiyang, Guizhou, China

Update to come...
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Zhaoxing, China

coming soon. trying to get the map updated first
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1213184100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1213184100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1213184100/tpod.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:48:59 -0400 China '08

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Sanjiang, Guangxi Zhuang, China

The next few days of the trip, the part that go through Guizhou province, was all So Young's idea, I just wen't along with it. They were definitely the hardest/most trying part of the whole trip. Guizhou province is one of the poorest in China. I guess this is due to all of the mountains, so there aren't as many people and transportation is tough. Most of our problems in mountainous areas had something to do with transportation.

Anyway, I thought Sanjiang deserved a short post so I can link the picture of the sign for the "Island of the Taste Delicious Food Garden". We did end up eating there, unfortunately, it looked like the best restaurant in Sanjiang. It wasn't as "taste delicious" as the sign would lead you to believe tho.

The other thing notable about Sanjiang is that this time, our bathroom didn't have a sink. We failed to notice that when we were inspecting the room. In place of a sink, it simply had a faucet in the wall so that the water drained onto the floor, and then proceeded to flow into the squat toilet. The toilet didn't flush automatically, we needed to use the faucet to fill a bucket with water, then pour the bucket onto the floor/into the toilet to make it flush. It might sound gross, but it wasn't so bad. At least it kind of conserves water that way, and space too. I had to do my laundry here too... when I went to the 5th floor to do it, I learned that even the washing machines drain into a squat toilet on the ground!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1213096560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1213096560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1213096560/tpod.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:32:05 -0400 China '08

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Longsheng, China, China

After Yangshuo So Young and I went to some really awesome rice terraces near a town/city called Longsheng. This wasn't too far from Guilin.

The interesting part of this expedition was that we thought a car was going to pick us up from the train station in Guilin and take us right to the hotel near Longsheng. Well...the car did pick us up, but didn't exactly take us to the hotel because it was at the top of a small mountain. So, it was pouring down rain all day, and finally we arrived at the bottom of a mountain around 8pm when it's already dark and the driver says we're here. We couldn't really see anything. Then we went to some building where we met a woman that works at the hotel and she tells us we need to hike up the mountain in the rain and in the dark for about 45 minutes. We are already exhausted and hungry, but what choice do we have?

There is another little issue with my suitcase at this point, but eventually we sort out that I will just take a day's worth of clothes with me up the mountain and leave most of my suitcase at the bottom of the mountain in some restaurant/home/store/all of the above.

Once that's sorted out we start hiking. It's pretty hard to hike in the rain with only flashlights to light the path. It was slippery. It was also a little dis-comforting that when I swung the flashlight to the left, where the edge of the stairs were, I noticed that the stairs just dropped off...so since I couldn't really tell if it was a long drop, I stayed nice and close to the right side of the stairs on the way up.

Eventually, we made it to our hotel. It wasn't the best I've stayed in, but not the worst either. The bathroom was a little odd. It had a sink, but whatever went in the sink just went straight onto the floor, so I kept getting my feet wet that way because I would forget that the sink would drain like that. There was a drain on the floor for the shower (bathtubs aren't typical in China. Showering in the middle of the bathroom and soaking the floor is typical, apparently. Usually there's no shower curtain when this is the case).

The next morning we could finally see what was surrounding the hotel. It was basically rice terraces as far as we could see! The air was SO clear there. Since it was raining, we decided to stay an extra night and just relax, instead of going back down the mountain right away in the rain. Eventually, we put on our ponchos and took our umbrellas and cameras out to explore the area. The amount of work that must have gone into creating those terraces is incredible.

That night we met an Australian named Ingrid who apparently loves cats. She was fun to talk with at dinner, and we ended up hiking back down the mountain with her the next day.
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Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang, China

(This post was originally written June 12, but I'm posting it as June 9 since that's when I was in Yangshuo)

Originally I was planning on arriving in Yangshuo on Sunday and staying until Thursday. Since I was going to be there so long I wanted to stay at the hostel that was highly recommended by LP. So I booked a reservation at that hostel (Yangshuo Culture House) when I was in Shanghai, but at the time I thought I'd be able to get a friend to go wiht me so I had booked a double room for most nights. I figured when I got to the hostel I could just change the double reservation to a dorm reservation (less than half the price) but it didn't quite work like that. The manager told me that was too complicated and I have to either keep the double room or go somewhere else. Since he was being difficult I decided that I didn't really feel like staying there anyway, especially since the location was out of the way and they didn't have wireless internet as advertised. So, without knowing where I'd sleep that night, I ventured out to the street with all my luggage and started walking. (A note from the future: not knowing where I would sleep at night became a common theme of my travels. Now it doesn't scare me so much.)

While I was walking, I kind of started to panic and I guess this was one of those points where I started regretting some things: coming to China, travelling alone, not staying at the other hostel, having a heavy suitcase, and leaving comfortable Shanghai. I started asking places if they had a room but since it was a holiday weekend no-one did. Finally, I found some cheap hostel that didn't have AC or Internet, but did have hot water and a western toilet. Of course finding that place was a little more complicated than I'm explaining here but the details aren't that important.

-------Interjection----------
This is quite long already. You should know I usually write these iPod posts when I'm bored, usually on a bus or in the hotel/hostel. Right now I'm in a bus to Kaili and the ticket guy next to me is overly interested in this iPod but he's pretending not to pay attention. Bus drivers in China are awful. There's even a girl puking right now actually. Yuck. Good thing she has a barf bag. And yay for headphones so I can't haer it too clearly. At least it distracted the ticket guy from staring at me for the next 6 hours.

------Back to Yangshuo--------
So anyway, while I was searching for a hostel I had called the Korean girl (So Young) that I had met on the bus to Guilin, she was in Yangshuo that day as well. We ended up getting lunch together along with a really really nice Chinese guy that she met in her hostel. Sometimes, I get really frustrated by things and people here but every once in awhile I meet someone so nice like him and feel better about things. He was super helpful and hung out with us for that night and the next morning. He did all of the bargaining and figured out where we should go next. I swear he wasn't a tourguide, he was just really pleasant to travel with! He even reserved a hotel for So Young and I at the next place we were going to go and arranged for us to be picked up from Guilin's train station to be taken on a 2-hour bus ride to the Dragon's-Backbone Rice Terraces near Longsheng.

While we were in Yangshuo, I learned that So Young wasn't kidding when she said she didn't know how to ride a bike. Apparently alot of Koreans don't know how if they're from Seoul? So she ended up sharing a tandem bike with our Chinese friend and I rode myself. Sunday night (June 8) we went to a place called Moon Cave or something. Basically it was a mountain and after we climbed to the top we got to see a large hole (or a natural bridge-type-thing) in the peak of the mountain. It was a nice hike, not too strenuous like Zhangjiajie. We were chased by mosquitos and old ladies selling water the whole way. The old ladies were funny, one spoke really good English, which caught me way off guard. I definitely wasn't expecting that! Anyway, we were trying to get away from one of the annoying old ladies so we thought if we ran up the mountain since we are so much younger than us there is no way they'd be able to keep up. So we took off running and of course 3 minutes later we were already out of breath so we slowed down and she immediately caught up. We had to pay 3kuai for the water to get her to leave us alone (water is usually 1.5 or 2 kuai for 1 bottle...or basically about $0.25). Ha, to Americans reading this I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but we felt ripped off.

Monday morning we got up early and met again and went to some rice fields (the 3 of us). We had umbrellas and ponchos with us, but that still didn't really prepare us for the downpour that we would get caught in. We walked liek 20 minutes to some famous bridge before the rain started. Then there was a downpour and we were stuck near the bridge for awhile. Finally it slowed down so we started walking through along the dirt road to get back to civilization when suddenly the rain started again. We took cover near some building and waited it out. It was inconvenient but really relaxing. It was so quiet and the air was so clear. I ended up with lots of pictures from standing near that building for so long.

Eventually the rain slowed down again enough so that we could go back to "downtown" Yangshuo (by bus this time, not bike), eat a quick lunch, and get on a bus back to Guilin so we could continue our adventures elsewhere. Oh, I should mention that in Yangshuo So Young and I decided that we would travel together for the next week. I didn't really know where we would go but I didn't care, I just was kind of happy not to travel alone for awhile (it's a little lonely). Our next destination would be the rice terraces that I mentioned earlier. More about that in the next post...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1212962760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1212962760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cantreadchinese/1/1212962760/tpod.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:50:15 -0400 China '08

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Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang, China

I guess I haven't posted for a couple days. I was mostly taking it easy and relaxing from all the hiking in Zhangjiajie. My legs were pretty sore but they're better now.

Anyway, I stayed in Guilin for 2 nights in a hostel. Guilin is supposed to be really pretty but I didn't really think it was that special. However, on the train ride to Guilin one of the tour guides told me the Olympic torch would be there on June 6. I wasn't planning on watching since Shauna's video of it wasn't exciting, but then I figured I might as well just so that I could say I saw it.

So Saturday morning I got up early as usual and hung out in the lobby for awhile. The day before, I had met a Korean girl on the bus to Guilin. She was also traveling alone and our itineraries for the next 2 weeks basically happened to be the same. Anyway, she came down to the lobby and we headed out in the hot, humid weather and waited for the torch to run by. We actually could see pretty well since we were standing on some steps. After almost an hour of waiting things finally started to happen. First, a couple of advertisement trucks passed by (Cocacola and Samsung I think). Then, finally, I saw the torch. I almost missed it actually because it happened pretty fast. But I still managed to get some video of it. I think the most interesting part was the herd of Chinese people trying to run along with it. I was planning on trying that too but I didn't really want to get trampled on.

So now that I've seen the torch, I don't really think it's going to be necessary to go out of my way to see it again. Its actually not very exciting and it happened really fast.
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Zhangjiajie, China

I'm ok the top of another mountain now. This morning I left my hotel at 7:15 and met my guide to begin the trek up. There were stairs the whole way but don't let that fool you to think it was easy. Actually, for me it wasn't too bad... But I had my suitcase because I was going to stay in a hotel at the top. My guide took a look at my huge suitcase and looked a bit nervous. Usually foreigners have a backpack but I don't have one. He took my suitcase from me and started to wheel it along. That was fine until we got to the stairs. Then he lifted it onto his shoulders and started climbing. We walked about an hour this way. I felt sort of bad but he didn't complain. I felt embarrassd whenever we passed other tourists and workers who laughed at me. I like enjoying nature and pretty scenery bit ot's annoying when I can't do it peacefully. When I'm alone here I actually get less attention and people generally don't pay attention to me aside from the occasional "hello!". But with the guide, people like to joke with him about me or ask him questions about me. I don't think he understands that I can't stand the attention, so my patience is wearing thin. I admit tho that I wouldn't know how to get around without him, so I guess I'm stuck with hom for awhile longer. The other thing that's bugging me is its difficult to enjoy the scenery with a stranger. He makes me feel rushed, even tho I know he doesn't mean to. But just knowing that he's always waiting for me to stop and admire the scenery he sees everyday makes me feel like I'm always supposed to go faster. So I've learned that next time, no matter how persistent the guides are, not to give in. I think tomorrow I might try to walk around alone. I'm in this hotel for 2 nights. At least to get back down the mountain I can take a bus so no one has to carry my suitcase again.

Speaking of the suitcase, halfway up he didn't want to carry it anymore, so he paid another lady we passed 20 kuai to do it. It was kind of ammusing and probably worth more of a story than I'm telling, but I'm grumpy and don't feel like giving details. I'll post pictures later.
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Zhangjiajie, China

This morning I woke up early to leave Fenghuang and go to Zhangjiajie. The bus was to leave at 8:30am. Of course I didn't actually know where the bus station was, so I left my "hotel" (or extra bedroom above a restaurant) around 7:30 so I'd have plenty of time. I walked back through the strange alley that I was originally afraid of (pictures later) and waited for a taxi once I got to the street. Eventually I got one and it turned out to be really easy to get to the busstation. I was about 45 minutes early so I contentidly sat reading my magazine. In another blog post I'll talk about the cost of the bus ride.

Anyway, a couple of interesting things happened on the bus. First, there was this couple across the aisle, probably college underclassmen. They were very...touchy. I was ammused watching them try to contort themselves so they could lay against each other on the tiny seats. I took a picture of them while they were sleeping all tangled up in each other's arms. I figure they must have just started dating or something since they were acting so mushy. The next interesting thing that happened is that about halfway through the ride, the bus pulled over and stopped at what looked like some sort of reststop. I stayed inside, and then I noticed drops on the windows. I didn't think it was raining. Next thing I knew, some guys were scrubbing the bus, making it all soapy. So basically, mid-way through the 4-hour journey, the driver decided we needed a bus-wash right then! I wonder if that's normal in China? I thought it was strange/ammusing. Eventually everyone got back on the bus and we pulled away. 30 minutes later, the romeo guy w/ the g/f stood up with the container of noodles he bought. Then the guy in front of me motioned to an open window and before I realized what was happening, there went his cardboard bowl, right onto the road! Then he just sat back down as if he threw it into the trash instead of destroying the scenery around us. Right before he did that I was thinking how pretty the farmland was, and how it looked relatively undisturbed. After he did it, I kind of felt a mini-outrage mixed with disbelief. Why couldn't he have just held onto his bowl for another hour? I If I knew the right vocabulary, I might have said something to him about it, but I didn't know what to say so I just kept quiet and observed.

Eventually the bus got to ZJJ city. This is apparently different than ZZJ village. From the bus station, I was supposed to look for another bus that would take me to the village. Immediately when I stepped off of the bus some tourguide people started to bug me. I ignored them initially and retreived my bag from under the bus, and while trying to stand back up proceeded to bang my head (hard) on the door. So now I guess the score is me:2, bus:4, since half of the time I use a bus I seem to end up with a headache from banging my head against something. Anyway, once I finally stood up the travel agency people took advantage of my dazed-ness and asked where I wanted to go. I tried telling them I was looking for the bus for the village. They took me to their office and tried to get me to read some paper, but it was all in Chinese so I told them I couldn't. They talked about that for a bit then made a call to someone who could speak english. The guy on the phone asked what I was trying to do and I told him I just wanted to find the bus. He asked if I wanted to go alone or with a tour so I told him alone. This actually ended well, he explained to the other guys that I wanted to find the bus, and I convinced them to give me a trail map (for free!) and then one of them showed me where the bus was.

When I got to the bus, I was harrassed by yet another guy. This one wanted me to stay at his hotel somewhere in the mountains I was going to. So here's the problem I had with this guy: he had really really bad teeth. So based on his teeth, I immediately didn't trust him. I think I tend to judge Chinese by their teeth and nails, so if they have long nails or bad teeth I am more suspicious of them. I don't mean like crooked teeth. If you can't afford braces that's one thing, I don't descriminate against crooked teeth :-P. But there was some major decay going on in his mouth, very gross. Anyway, I couldn't get him to go away, I kept telling him I didn't want whatever he was trying to sell. Eventually I called my friend, Ying, the girl who was supposed to come with me this week, and she translated for me. He wanted to charge 50kuai/night at his hotel and 30kuai to carry my luggage. Since I hadn't seen his hotel, I didn't want to commit to anything. So basically that's what Ying told him and even tho the bus had already left the station he finally got the point and got off.

Fifteen minutes later, I'm trying to figure out when I should get off the bus. Other people start getting off at various stops. That couple that I mentioned before are on this bus too. I figure I'm basically probably going to the same place as them so I followed them. They got off, so I did too (I used the same strategy when trying to find Fenghuang). I didn't have a plan about what I'd do once I got off the bus but I didn't need to worry, since as soon as I got off someone else was bugging me already. This time, she just wanted me to eat, and I was hungry, so I did. While I was sitting in the outdoor restaurant (watching some caged bird live his final hours), I was trying to figure out what hotel I'd stay in. I settled on a place that LP said should be 80kuai. Luckily this place was not far away, so I asked the waitress where it was and she pointed me in the right direction. The hotel is okay...definitely not to US standards but at least this time it's a real hotel. I even have a real toilet this time! But hot water is apparently only after 6pm.

It was about 3pm by now, so I wanted to go hiking before it got dark. I filled my Walmart-brand Camelback with water and set off towards the mountain. On the way I was bugged by yet another tour guide but this one I liked. He had decent teeth, his clothes were clean, and his nails weren't too long. He's about 35. He wasn't pushy like the others, and was patient with my bad Chinese. He can also speak a little English (by a little, I mean just a some words here and there, not like forming sentences). Anyway, he told me I should take the cable-car up since it was starting to get late (was almost 4 by then). He wanted to come with me to guide me but I wanted to do it alone. Eventually he said okay, but he first showed me where the bus was, as well as the cable-cars. He told me once I got to the top, that I should take the short way down because otherwise I wouldn't have enough daylight to do the long way. I really tried to follow his advice, but the signs at the top were very confusing, so I accidently took the long way. I took some time to enjoy the scenery (it's my new favorite place in the world, it beats Zion Valley in Utah) then I realized my mistake. So after taking many pictures from the top, I started to get a little worried about the setting sun. I was trying to go down the mountain but for some reason I kept finding stairs that led UP. I'd go along a path longer, look at more signs, and still end up finding stairs going up. I was so confused. So I started going REALLY fast, as I was still on the top of the mountain and had a long hike ahead of me. This went on for awhile...

Eventually, I started to find workers who were packing up to leave (they were taking the cable-car down). I asked them which way to go, they'd point, I'd go, then I'd get lost again. So this process repeated at least 4-5 times and finally I found the right path with a sign that made sense. It was about 6 pm, I didn't knwo what time the sunset. So I more or less ran down the mountain stairs. So far in China, I haven't walked down mountain stairs, only ran. The only other mountain I've visited so far was in Changzhou 2 years ago, and we were sorta running from the mountain security (long story...)

The hike down was very discouraging, because whenever I thought I was getting close, I'd turn a corner and see more stairs. Finally, I heard some noises up ahead. I thought I reached the base. I turned the corner around some trees expecting to see people, and I saw...monkeys! A whole family of them! Including some babies. I wasn't sure if they were going to attack me (I was thinking of the NatGeo documentary about Baboon attacks) so I was really cautious. But they just looked at me then went on their merry way. They were pretty close at one point but I couldn't get my camera to focus well so I think I only have 1 good picture of one of the bigger monkeys. They were actually good luck for me, as the last cornor I turned yielded the base of the mountain. I made it down in about 30-40 minutes with approximately 30 minutes of sunlight to spare.

I got back to my hotel at 7. The hot water was still on, so I took advantage of it and took a shower.

Does anyone know if mosquitos can bite through jeans? I think I have some bites on my legs, but I didn't think that would be possible.
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