TravelStream™ news feed for member justjonas on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/justjonas en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 27 May 2008 17:07:36 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1211920560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1211920560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1211920560/tpod.html Tue, 27 May 2008 17:07:36 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

So in some ways I've almost been avoiding writing this final reflection entry. Maybe because I'm trying to ignore the fact that I'm actually home for good now, or perhaps because it just seems such a monstrous task to reflect on a year in China, especially since it still is so early.
First, I thought I'd describe my final experience in China.
On Monday at 2:30, the week anniversary of the earthquake that hit Sichuan, China began a three day period of mourning. I was in the airport when the loadspeaker came on announcing that China was entering a mourning period, flags would be at half mast, and all ships, trucks, ect would sound their horns before entering a moment of silence. Then music, a classical peice, comes on playing throughout the airport. Imagine a giant international airport, full of people, coming to an absolute standstill, complete silence, everyone is standing in place, some people are crying, I almost was it was so overwhelming. In some ways I felt I shouldn't be leaving, it felt like I was abandoning China at her time in need. At the same time, though sorrowful, I was grateful to have such a moving final image of China. I've had many rough times with China, but seeing that unity right before leaving left me with an amazing sense of compassion for China.

Coming back has been interesting for sure. Cultural adjustment hasn't been what I thought, but then again, how can you predict these things. There are little things, like hitting the lightswitch the wrong way because they're opposite in China, or forgetting that I can actually flush toilet paper and don't need to throw it in the trash. I drank from a water fountain in the airport in Chicago. There are larger things too. I find myself staring at black people, as black culture pretty much is nonexistent in China. What I didn't expect at all is how I stare at white people, and keep thinking I recognize them. I don't know what it is. Maybe I've become so Asian that I think all white people look alike, or maybe it's because I did know most white people I ran into in China, but I keep thinking I recognize people I clearly don't know. It's getting better, but it sure was strange for the first few days. I also feel more scared in the city than I used to be, as I'm remembering that I'm not longer in Asia, where crime, especially against white people, is rare, and that I'm back in St. Louis, where I need to be on my guard. Again, I'm getting better at that too, but I was a lot more edgy than I've ever been.

I went to the Rib America festival the other day, listening to a rock country band, seeing a whole other type culture I had almost forgotten about. For now it's kind of charming or endearing, whereas usually older drunken men with American eagle tattoos, old band T-shirts, and baseball caps hitting on my usually gets me pretty disgusted and annoyed. This charm I imagine will also fade fast though.

It's been nice eating Western food, I had Imo's when I first got back. I was so happy just listening to KDHX and having good music everywhere. And honestly, I don't feel all that behind with pop culture and stuff. I turned on one radio station the other day and they were playing all old songs from the 90's, so I guess I'll be ok.

I've been happy seeing all my friends, though I really miss my friends from China. They all but one live on the East coast, so we've been using texting, facebook, ect to keep in touch. I got really close to my friends in China and made bonds with people unlike any I've really had before, so it's been rough being away from them, especially since we saw each other so often. We're already looking into trips to visit each other. I'm sure we'll stay friends for quite some time, but you know, it'll never be quite the same.

I think what's been really rough is the feeling that I'm not quite sure where my home is anymore. St. Louis has been more home for my entire life really, but at this point I feel a bit more like a nomad. I've been in China for the past year, this summer I'll be in Chicago for an internship, and after my final year at SLU all be hopefully back in China for awhile, and then off to grad school somwhere likely in New York or DC. I realize that my time in St. Louis is really coming to an end, and while I'm excited for moving on to newer bigger things, having a final year to finish off at SLU now feels a bit like a burden, which I don't want it to seem like for sure. I'm sure I'll enjoy my final year, and I'll be really busy, I just don't want to take it for granted. I know I'll just have to work on taking in everything day by day, get caught up in the moment, and not focus so much on my future that I loose sight of all the good amazing things and people around me.

So China...by far the mose amazing experience I've gone through. I can't even really tell yet how it's changed me. I think it's definitely made me more relaxed, as I've realized you just have to go with the flow with some things and that it'll all eventually work out. There are some things in life just not wroth worrying or getting stressed about. Again, take it day by day. I also thing I'm much more confident in myself, and more independent. While I had a lot of help in China, no one was there the whole time holding my hand, and as you probably know from my entries, I had to go through some difficult challenging situations on my own. I just have a lot more confidence that I can handle any situation. I also feel more confident just in my relationships with other and much more open towards others. I met a lot of amazing people who I know in a normal environment at SLU or someplace I probably never would have met or spoken too. It's taught me to be a lot more open to others and perked my interest to hear everyone's story. Finally, I guess, China has given me a sense of direction for what I want to do with my life. Part of going to China was to figure out if I liked it and if this was a place I truly wanted to work with in the future. So while if was difficult and often frustrating, I've fallen in love with China, and I know it will be a major part of the rest of my life. Just talking ot ther friends and such, who feel so perplexed trying to find a purpose, I feel very grateful at least having a sense of what I want to do with my life and some sense of direction.

And so one chapter of my life has come to a close but at the same time it has opened many doors for me and I am by no means done with China. She's sucked me in and I don't see myself getting away any time soon. I'm looking forward to my internship this summer and to the senior year at SLU, and even more so to the future that China holds for me. Thanks for reading and following my excursions, I hope they've kept you entertained, and perhaps in the near future I'll be having some more for you.

Zaijian
Jonas
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1211313360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1211313360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1211313360/tpod.html Tue, 20 May 2008 15:58:13 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

Well many of you probably know that I am home now. I got in last night. Everything went smoothly. I am planning to write a final entry, reflection mostly. At the moment though, I'm honesty just a little too overwhelmed to handle writing it. I promise it will come in the next few days...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1210657200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1210657200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1210657200/tpod.html Tue, 13 May 2008 01:51:58 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

By now many of you may have heard about the earthquake that hit China yesterday mostly in the province of Sichuan. I first wanted to let you all know that I'm fine, there was only a minor tremble in Beijing and everything is alright here. Thousands though are dead, more injured, and even more affected in Sichuan, Chongqing and surrounding areas. There's something unnerving reading about a small city, DuJiangYan, being hardest hit when I was just there a few weeks ago now. I ask all of you to keep those affected by the earthquake in your thoughts and prayers.

Here's an article on what happened, I'm still looking for some from Chinese blogs to be translated, I'll post them later.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/13/asia/13scene.php?page=1

Here's also information on an organization collecting donations to help the relief effort:
http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/china/2155


There's a common Chinese belief, illustrated much through history, that natural disaster precedes great political and social upheaval...or perhaps it's just an item of folklore...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1209916740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1209916740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1209916740/tpod.html Sun, 04 May 2008 13:12:59 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

For the labor day holiday we had Thursday and Friday off. So I decided to take one final small trip as my time in China is running short.
Friday I took the city kids camping on the Great Wall.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonasmeetschina/sets/72157604875256334/

Basically my friend Dave who works at TBC knows a guys who lives in a small village at the base of the mountains surrounding Beijing where an unrestored, untouristy part of the Great Wall happens to be in his backyard. You call the guy, he picks you up at a bus stop about an hour and half outside the city, drives you to his village, and lets you climb his mountain. You pay him for the ride, and it ends up costing you about 10 bucks in the end.
I really wanted to go camping to I told my friends if they went I'd do all the work. Kelly, Cary, and Jean, all New Yorkers (Jean originally from Paris if the name didn't give it away) all agreed to go. Cary and Jean had never camped. Kelly was the experienced one with two times camping in a log cabin. I swear they went with me willingly....
So I call the guy and get everything arranged, buy all the supplies we'll need, and borrow the tents and sleeping bags from TBC. The plan was to leave at 8am on Friday. I get up at 8 to get Cary, who wakes up with my knocking. Kelly is awake but we send her to wake up Jean. This is a process that takes almost half an hour as he complains about going, refuses to go, then realizes he's already awake so he might as well go. Plus Cary promised him we would go get McDonald's breakfast beforehand, which Jean has never had because he never is awake before it ends at 10am. Needless to say, we don't actually leave the dorm until closer to 9:30, just making it to the McDonalds by the bus stop with time to grab breakfast. I was beginning to worry about how this trip would work out...
We take a public bus for close to two hours to arrive at a stop by a gas station. We wait almost half an hour to be picked up by our host Wei. The drive to village takes awhile as we get stuck in traffic. There are a lot of tourist stops along the way and with the great weather and holiday, lots of Chinese were out to see the Great Wall. We finally get out of traffic, pass a sign that says no public entry, and arrive at a small collection of houses at the base of the mountainside.
It's a hot day, we're wearing tank tops, and lugging all our sleeping bags, tents, food, water, ect. Cary has a guitar with him, because against my advice, he insists on bringing it. After about 15 minutes hiking (note, not even up the mountain yet, just to the mountain) Jean needs to take a cigarette break. He sheds most of his clothes as we're all covered in sweat and we are finally ready to go again. We follow a walked out small dirt trail and start walking at an incline as we move up the mountain. Kelly keeps saying that she thinks we have to be going the wrong way (there's only one way: up, but I don't say this out loud), Jean is trailing behind and we have to keep waiting for him, and Cary keeps complaining about nature and bugs and heat and anything else he can think of. At one point I tell them to all just shut up and keep moving, not really aggravated though, because even though it was hot and the hike was difficult, I love this stuff. The other trips we had were nice, but what TBC considers "hiking" is walking along rocks and a paved trail. This was real hiking, grabbing on to tree branches and twigs to pull yourself up a ledge hiking.
About and hour or so of hiking we arrive at the base of the Great Wall. We stopped for a break during which I fear the gang got a little too over zealous thinking we were almost finished. Little did they know what was ahead....
The plan was to stay at one of the guard towers on the wall. However, you have to hike to about the fourth tower because that's the first place where the wall is flat. So we spent about another hour hiking on the wall at a complete incline. And this isn't like the wall at the tourist sites with lots of steps. The wall is literally crumbling beneath your feet. We had to be extremely careful the entire time, and test every rock we climbed on. Plus the wall is all overgrown, so there are small trees and bushes you walk through. It's like a mini forest growing along the ten foot wide strip of the Great Wall. Nonetheless, it was amazing. The view was beautiful, even though is was terribly hazy and smoggy. You could stand atop a guard tower and see the wall go on for miles and miles along the mountains, and we were completely alone out there.
At the third guard tower everyone stops for a break. They're set on staying there, but I can see the other tower and think that it looks a lot better. So why they rest I go check it out. It turns out to be perfect, with a great flat area at the base of the guard tower for our tents, so I go ahead and get the site ready. By the time the rest of them arrive and had a fire pit dug, stone seats set, wood gathered, fired started. It was pretty funny to see their faces when they finally got there, they were shocked, but I'm telling you, I was in my element.
They then set up the two small tents, all on their own, and I showed them what good wood was so they could collect more firewood. I was so proud of them, honestly. It was kind of like a was a boy scout troupe leader or something. Then we sat around and made hot dogs and s'mores around the fire, which none of them had ever done before. I thanked them all for coming with me, because I was so happy to be camping. It had been so long, and I need to be out in nature every now and then so I can have a bit of a break or else I start to get stir crazy.
We spent the evening around the camp fire, playing cards, and listening to Cary play music as he did manage to get the guitar all the way up. Perhaps it was a good idea to bring it. I fell asleep that night listening to the sounds of the forest and Cary whining about how loud bugs were.....
Little did we know what was to come....
The next morning I awoke to the sound of thunder. As I walked out of the tent I was met by a drastic drop of temperature, tornado strength winds, and black skies. I was quick to wake the others and we managed to get our stuff into the tents and seek shelter in the guard tower as the rain started to come down. We sat in the guard tower playing cards and listening to the thunderstorm begrudging our luck. Of the five days in all my time in Beijing it decides to rain, it had to be on the day we camped. Plus, this was the first actual thunderstorm I had seen in China, thunder, lightening, everything. We were in the guard tower for maybe an hour until it got too cold for us to bear. We ran back down to our tents and curled up in our sleeping bags for warm.
Then we waited.
We joked back and fourth between our tents. Jean kept complaining that his tent was leaking and that he was sliding around everywhere in his tent. Cary brought the guitar back out and played some music. We napped a bit. About 3 hours and the storm finally broke. We then went about the task of packing up wet tents and sleeping bags and packing up as quickly as possible without getting too muddy. Now came the challenge of getting back down the mountain.
Walking down the Great Wall was quicker as we were going down the whole time. However, though the rain may have stopped, the wind did not. It was particularly strong as we were on top of a mountain. Then add being on top of a wall, on top of a mountain. I was literally blown over into a bunch of bushes by the wind. Since some parts of the wall are so broken down, you are walking along an open edge, and are at the full mercy to the wind. Plus the trees are being blown all around and slapping you in the face and arms. I have quite a few scratches. Then you're trying to climb down crumbing rocks and not create a landslide. Once we got off the wall we had to climb down the mountain. With the rains, our dirt path and turned into a mudslide. I was actually sliding down the side of the mountains at times, sometimes on purpose, sometimes just falling and slipping down a steep bend. My shoes and pants were covered in mud. Plus it started to rain again to top it off, though it wasn't heavy and didn't last long.
Nevertheless, we made it down the mountain in one piece and in half the time it took to get up. Plus the rain had cleared the smog so we had a great view of the mountains as we came down.
We then had Wei drive us back to where the bus stop was, but we first had to make a stop at McDonalds, of course. Jean eats there at least three times a week I think, and he ordered six hamburgers and fries, and, yes, he ate them all. Another two hour bus ride back to the city, and we caught a cab from the bus station. While in the cab we had a conversation that went something like this:
Jean: "Man I'm so glad to be back."
Cary: "Yea, Beijing almost looks beautiful now"
Jean: "You just have to go to a shithole to then really appreciate a place like Beijing"
Me: "What? You do realize people go camping to get away from the city and enjoy nature, to take a break?"
Jean: "Yea, F that"

So while I may not have turned them into nature loving outdoorsmen, I took the city kids camping and though they complained the entire time, it was fun. They even admitted that it was one of the cooler things they've done in China, and I agree. I'm still pretty exhausted and a little sore, but it was a great final little adventure before my return. Camping on the Great Wall, I mean, come on, how surreal is that?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1209295200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1209295200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1209295200/tpod.html Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:29:51 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

So about three weeks left...
Last weekend we had TBC prom. It was held at a Western style bar called Goose and Duck. We had the upstairs floor rented out, with a dining area, dance floor, and bar. For about 40 US dollars we had a great Western meal with pasta, salad, garlic bread, all sorts of goodies, music provided by Dave, and drinks at the bar including champagne. It was great to see everyone all dressed up to the nines, since we've all seen the worst of each other on our trips together. I only have one photo, but am waiting on Dave to email me the ones he took, I'll post them as soon as I have them.
This weekend my friends Pat, John and I had one last dinner with our Chinese teacher from last semester, Wang Botong. We treated her to a really nice Western style restaurant where I had an amazing salmon, which was the first time I'd had good fish in China. Botong is four months pregnant now and she showed us a picture on her cell phone of her ultrasound. Chinese hospitals don't allow the use of ultrasound to determine a baby's sex because of the one child policy and high rates of selective abortions against girls, but my teacher is going to a Western hospital and will know in a few weeks if it's a boy or girl. She and her husband are hoping for a girl. I'm going to miss Botong, she had all the adorableness of a Chinese girl but doesn't take any of the nonsense. After dinner she treated us to coffee and dessert at a near by place with the great name Tastey Taste, as is the Chinese way to reciprocate any sort of gift. We ended up staying out pretty late talking about the T word, gay men in China, and traveling, all in Chinese for the most part. It's one of those nights where once I came back I was still thinking in Chinese. I need a lot more of those types of nights...
Yesterday I met with my tutor Yifei to help her prepare for an English competition. She is in the top 25 in Beijing and today they compete with the final 3 going to a national competition. She has to do a one minute speech, Q & A, debate, and talent show. I went over her speech with her, helping her pronunciation, stressed, pauses, ect. The theme for the essay was: Standing at the Turning Point, Tradition and Modernization. She wrote a cute essay about getting a pair of red shoes when she was young and how even though now she can buy lot's a shoes and go out to clubs and bars and such, she hasn't felt as happy as she was one she first got her red shoes. I think she has a good chance. She speaks well, without being really monotone like some Chinese sound when they give a speech. I'm excited for her; I really hope she does well. I want to be able to watch her compete on TV!
Now it's the final stretch. I got up early yesterday to go to the dirt market, a market full of art, crafts and traditional Chinese artifacts and such, to buy souvenirs. Still a bit more gift shopping to do, but I'm glad I have a head start. I don't want to be stuck with a ton of stuff to get done my last weekend in China. Now I'm in a café trying to get a jumpstart on my final papers. It's located in a preserved hutong area called Nanluoguxiang. Hutongs are the traditional style Chinese houses that hold an entire extended family. They are shaped in a square with three building making up three of the walls and holding three different families. The south side is just a wall, usually open to allow some wind, and there's a courtyard in the middle shared by the entire hutong. Beijing used to be a giant maze of hutongs, with small streets running in between them that might barely hold a few bicycles, let a lone a car. Most of the have been torn down by this point (modernization!), but a few have been preserved. Nanluoguxiang is mostly a trendy area for young Chinese, and more and more for foreign tourists. Lot's of cafes and shops, but it's not too touristy yet and I like to come here every now and then for coffee.
I've got three final papers, two tests, and then my Chinese final to work on. Then there's packing, which I'm not letting myself think about yet. Then saying goodbye, which I know will be rough. At the same time I'm looking forward to coming home. Besides, I know I'll be back in China, probably sooner than later...I'm already looking into Fulbright Scholarships for after graduation. We'll see though, we'll see.
Alright, time to write a paper about the Cultural Revolution. Fun times! A few more blog entries and before you know it, I'll be sitting across the table from you telling you everything in person.


Sidenote: When I originally wrote this entry, instead of "the T word" I had the actual name of the province/country that is having issues recently. After posting the entry I could no longer access my blog. I could get in to edit it though, and when I removed the T word, I could view my blog again. Ai ya.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1208238420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1208238420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1208238420/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:06:44 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

So you may or may not remember, but when I went to the crazy fancy millionaire party last semester, I won a free two person two night stay at the Shangri-La Hotel. Well I decided to take a break this weekend and cash in my prize.
Friday night we first went to Dave's, who works at TBC, for a BBQ. It was a last minute decision and I skipped my afternoon class so I could get desserts made, oops....don't tell my teacher...
The BBQ was awesome, and after being stuffed with fried chicken, grilled veggies, hamburgers, and banana cream pie, Jess, Cary, Patrick and I left for the Shangri-La. The hotel is really nice, on the West side of the city. We checked into our room, got a couple bottles of wine, and did nothing. It was great.
The next day Jess and I got massages that were also included with the weekend stay. 200 US dollar massages, for free. I've had a couple massages here in Asia, but this by far is the best, probably the nicest I will ever have. Before the massage we took a quiz to determine our element. I was fire- creative, independent, inspiring others, yada yada. So they then use specific oils to enhance your element, or something like that.
Then I was taken to the massage room. The entrance had an area where I sat, had my feet washed, and drank green tea. There was a back room where I could shower and then put on the most comfortable robe ever, so soft! I melted into it! Then to the massage room. It had a Tibetan feel, soft music, earth colors, and to start the massage the woman rang a Tibetan singing bowl, which makes a resonating ring, and walked around me in a circle. Then it was an hour and a half long oil massage ending again with the singing howl. Let's just say afterwards I passed out in my supper comfy bed (rare in China) with fluffy pillows, watching National Geographic, and didn't move for a few hours, I was so relaxed.
The hotel also included free breakfast and dinner, so we all had a great dinner caught up on news with the free international magazines, and spent the rest of the night being lazy in our hotel room.
The next day had amazing weather, so we went to Purple Bamboo park not far form the hotel. It's the time of the year in Beijing when a certain tree buds and there are white puffy cotton balls flying around everywhere. It looks like snow and while perhaps annoying to some, I think is really pretty. We walked around the park for awhile then found a shady tree to sit under. However we were soon yelled at by a Chinese women using a megaphone as apparently we were not allowed to sit on the grass. Lame, what are parks for then? From there we moved on exploring the West side of the city, which we've rarely been to. We came across the Dinosaur Museum and Planetarium, which unfortunately were both closed, so we'll have to go back. We checked out some Chinese clothing markets with some of the craziest clothes. Cary was looking at some belts, but they were all too small so he set them aside. The guy selling them said they were only 2 kuai, roughly 30 cents, but Cary told him sorry they were too small. The guy asked him to buy it for a friend, just to give the salesguy some face. Face is a complicated idiom in Chinese, but it roughly means giving respect to someone. Cary thought that was too silly, so he let me pick out the craziest belt possible and bought it. I know own a bedazzled gold belt. I'm turning more and more Chinese every day....
So that was my lazy but awesome weekend. All too soon we had to return to UIBE and now I have to go write a paper for my Cultural Revolution class analyzing a document written by a man sent to the countryside for reeducation. Fascinating, and depressing. The Cultural Revolution wasn't a very happy time in China, and studying it all semester can be a bit much sometimes, the stories are all to gruesome and violent.
Anyways, TBC prom is this weekend, it should be a good time, one big final TBC event before the closing banquet (eek!).
The list of things I still need to do is overwhelming, and that's not even including all the schoolwork I have. Starting to get to that stressed freaking out point, but not quite yet.
I'll do my best to keep the blog updates, but I apologize in advance as there's much to be done and very little time left....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1207038960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1207038960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1207038960/tpod.html Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:17:43 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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ChongQing, China

ChongQing:
Largest city in the world
Population: 30 million = entire population of Canada
City name meaning: Continual Celebration

photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonasmeetschina/sets/72157604337180498/

After a 4 and a half hour bus ride we arrived in ChongQing. It's huge. It's between the meeting of two rivers and we have decided to name it a greener version of Gotham City. It rises up from the rivers and feels like what San Fransisco might be like, with so many steep hills. The streets wind around everywhere, and it seems you could easily get lost. Cary, our resident New Yorker, claims the hectic pace of the city is even worse than New York. There are huge corporate buildings next to China style slum apartments with broken tiled ceilings and rusting bars on the windows. A truly fascinating city. And to think that a little over twenty years ago, before the economic reforms, this place could hardly even be considered a city...

After checking into our hotel and cleaning up a bit, we explored the area around our hotel. Lots of shops, clothing, DVDs, appliances, a lot like what you find in Beijing. As we moved away from the main area around the Liberation Monument, which our hotel was by, we found the river side. We stumbled across a random pirate themed restaurant, and moved on through the more local streets. As you walked down a main road, moving down any of the many side alleys would take you down steep steps to an entirely new level of the block with more houses and roads. Trying to get back to larger roads we had to wander up so many steps, past grade schools, small restaurants, and apartments, our legs aching and trying to catch our breath. If anything, the 30 million people in ChongQing are fit.

We went back to the hotel when the rest of TBC arrived and swapped stories. We then all went to get dinner. A big group of us took a cable car across the river to a main strip of restaurants and bars. We overwhelmed the cable car and the poor Chinese probably didn't know what to think of us crazy Americans who decided to have a dance party as we streamed above the river. We wondered along the riverfront past all sorts of Christmas lights and lit up figurines of Olympic mascots and Chinese temples, pausing for photos, until we eventually found a place to eat. The restaurant was really nice, and we got rooftop seating with a perfect view of the river and all the city lights on the other side. The food was reasonably priced and according to everyone there, was the best food they had had in Sichuan. I was still not able to think of food without feeling queasy, so I had to just enjoy the river view. We spent the rest of the night at the Music Bar, which wasn't as cool as it might have sounded, but it was our last night on the trip and we caught up and had a good time until it started to rain and had to head back for the night.

The next day, after some time at an internet bar, we explored more of the city, as it's huge and there's plenty to see. Patrick and I found a street exclusively for selling dogs. Puppies! So many dogs, of all kinds of breeds, Huskies (my favorite), German Sheperds, Cocker Spaniels, Chow Chows, and the best, Poodles with purple dyed ears or pink dyed tails. Unfortunately we had little time in ChongQing and had to be back at the airport to return to Beijing, where we flew into some small airport in the south side of the city. We had to walk across the lot to our terminal in the cold rain and wait for our luggage to come on a strip no longer then ten feet.

So now I'm back in Beijing going back to classes. Sichuan was great, and I really enjoyed myself besides the fact that I got sick and we spent so little time there. Last trip in China, now it's just classes until I come back. Six weeks. It's crazy to believe. Such a short time when you think how long I've been here already. My friend Dave who works for TBC told me that I had better just start packing now, for which I gave him a fierce glare. I know time is short though, and there's a lot to do. There's a TBC prom coming up, we're planning a wine and cheese party, and I have lots of souvenirs to buy still. There's also that whole school work and finals thing. Enough to distract me from how little time is left, and so much that it will certainly only go by faster....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1207034880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1207034880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1207034880/tpod.html Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:11:20 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Chengdu, China

Early Monday morning TBC left for our last group trip during my time here in China: Sichuan Province.

photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonasmeetschina/sets/72157604337180498/

Our first stop after arriving in Chengdu was a two hour bus ride out to the QingCheng Mountain. We grabbed lunch at the small town at the base of the mountain and then took a rickety cable car up the side of the mountain. The cable car was all boarded with dirty windows so there wasn't much of a view. After the cable car we hiked the next two hours down. The mountain side was beautiful, as we walked along the small river that ran down the mountain, and there were yellow, pink, and white flowers in bloom all along the mountainside. However, I wasn't a huge fan of having to walk on a trail of paved stairs. Much rather explore. Oh well. There was a moment, when walking on a bridge along the ledge of the slope, that my friend Dave's foot slipped through and his flip flop fell down below the ledge. I saw where the shoe landed and sprung over to help. Slipping through the small space between the rocky, mossy side and the bridge I climbed under, grabbed the shoe, threw it back up, and pulled myself back up onto the bridge. I may have gotten a little muddy, but it was the closest thing I got to an adventure and the guys were all a little taken aback, which always is fun.

After the mountain we took another two hour bus ride to a small city where we got hot pot, the specialty dish of Sichuan, which is known for its spicy food. Hot pot is a very literal name. It's a big bowl with spicy broth that you cook meat, tofu, vegetables, mushroom, ect in. It was originally made by poor farmers who ate scrap meats and left over food and to make the food edible, they would make it as spicy as possible. I love hot pot, but it's really a love it or hate it meal.

The next day we did the one event that is meant to be done in Sichuan, if not China- see pandas. We went to the panda reserve outside of Chengdu and spend quite a few hours there looking at the thirty giant pandas they have there as well as the red pandas. I also chalked up the 400kuai (about 55 US) to sit with a panda and take photos. I have now lived a complete life, I have pet and cuddled with a panda. It was amazing. He just sat their enjoying his bamboo, looking at me a bit curiously, and then going back to eating. He was so fuzzy! I was like a five year old. Definitely worth it.

What was also fun at the reserve was the loads of Chinese children. For some reason they all had notebooks and pens ready to run up to foreigners to get autographs. I honestly have no idea why, but they swarmed us all day. "Hello!" "Hello!" "Your name!"

After pandas, Cary and I decided to skip out the next part of the trip to go to Chengdu. The original itinerary was to go there, but because of the recent Tibetan protests it had been canceled. That wasn't going to stop Cary or I though! Another TBCer Dave heard about us going and joined us on the public bus that ran into the city. Chengdu is a really cool city, probably one of my favorite in China. The layout it very modern, and well organized. It actually feels like they knew what they were doing when they planned the city. We got let off right by the square in the middle of the city where we were greeted by city cops, other type of cops in blue carrying semi-automatic rifles, and military. We didn't see any other foreigners, and felt a little ill at ease. Dave starts talking about wanting to take photos of the men with guns to which Cary and I shook our heads and strongly ordered him not to do such a stupid thing. It's probably a good thing all of TBC didn't come to Chengdu...

We found a hostel listed in Lonely Planet which was a triple room we each paid only 6 dollars a night for and was really nice. There was even a courtyard that lit up with Christmas lights at night. What more could you ask for?

We then went out to the RenMin GongYuan or People's Park it the center of the city. It was so beautiful! Again, planned like they knew what they were doing. It was a nice warm day, old people were out playing mazhong, a domino like board game, dancing and badminton. We went to a tea house along a lake, covered in green moss and pink flowers, and enjoyed hua cha, or flower tea. I have so many photos, it was so pretty, really, I was gushing the entire time. Why doesn't Beijing know how to make such a pretty park?

We also found a fun-house in the park. For 5 kuai, we had to check it out. It was in an old underground bomb shelter. We walked along passing old manikins of tigers with spaghetti hair, and a monkey wearing a toupee. The actual fun-house was a maze of plywood walls in the pitch blackness. As you turned each corner motion sensors activated monsters of cheap masks and neon sheets to rotate back a forth and make weak squealing noises. It startled me each time, as I was in the front, even though I knew it was coming. Of course then I just laughed at the absurdity of each "monster". The greatest horror of all was saved for the very end- a Santa Claus, justing hanging out.
I love China.

As we wondered through the rest of the city we found an arcade where we killed some time playing China style drum games and DDR, which I failed at miserably. We then got 20kuai (roughly 3 dollar) massages. When I mentioned my calves were soar from the hiking, my masseuse grabbed some strange Chinese medicine and rubbed it on them. It tingled a bit, and mostly just smelled. I didn't feel much better after the massage and we all decided to avoid 20 kuai massages.

We went to Walking Street to grab dinner. It's a big pedestrian area with lots of neon lights and name brand shops, including one called Spice Girls. We found a cafeteria style restaurant and sampled Sichuan foods, spicy jiaozi, puffy dumblings, and noodles in spicy soup. We walked around the area and eventually went to an Irish bar called Shamrock for some more food and a few beers before we all decided we were too exhausted to do much else and went to sleep.

Well, I should consider myself lucky to have go so long in China without getting sick, but it finally caught up with me that night. I spent most of the night in the bathroom throwing up and feeling too nauseas to sleep. I was finally able to sleep at some point even though all my muscles ached and I had all sorts of restless dreams, continually waking up. It was miserable. Food poisoning perhaps, or just a virus, but brutal either way. The next morning I felt a bit better and got up to go out with the boys. However, I made it to the parking lot where I then promptly threw up again. I was however able to fall asleep and slept a good five hours before the boys came back to check on me.
They had explored a Temple and the Tibetan Street. They told me how on the Tibetan Street, which ran maybe two blocks, they saw, no exaggeration, 40 cop cars. It's strange when your first reaction when you see a monk is stay away. All it not yet well in China...

Feeling better after sleeping I went back out with the boys. We went to a Tibetan monastery that was really gorgeous and was also surrounded by a park. We watched the faithful give offerings of incense, kneeling and bowing before the temples, monks gathered around tables for dinner, and elderly women practicing sword bearing along a small pond full of turtles. We then grabbed a cab to the riverside and found a restaurant that was on a bridge over the river. It was a really swanky place, let me tell you. If we had been in America, dressed as we were, we would have been thrown out. However, we have the benefit of being foreigners, so that all they see are dollars bills. Cary and Dave ordered a GongBaoJiDing, Kungpow Chicken, that was covered in chillies. They said it was the best they had had. Unfortunately, my stomach was still not ready for food.

I went back after that, my muscles starting to scream at me again, while the boys when to a bar with Scottish women singing. Apparently they had a great night. They decided later to go to a huge club called MGM which we had walked by the previous night and we thought was ridiculous with it's amounts of neon lights. They sat at the front of the bar that surrounded a circular stage where Chinese performed disco. Cary decided to go with the night, darned his sunglasses and rocked out. Being the only foreigner, besides Dave, his rocking eventually drew the manager who took him to the back and bought the boys drinks the rest of the night. Chengdu, a pretty cool place.

We were up early the next day and onto a bus to ChongQing to meet up with the group. Though bummed I had gotten sick, I still really enjoyed Chengdu. It's a modern city the perfectly combines modernity with culture and tradition. I'll just have to go back someday...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1206290160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1206290160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1206290160/tpod.html Sun, 23 Mar 2008 13:04:27 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

Happy Easter All,
TBC holds a big brunch for all of us to celebrate Easter. Awesome western food, including dessert. What's even better was the fact that it was probably the nicest day I've seen in Beijing. After an especially bitter, polluted, sand storm week, it may have been only with some divine intervention that the weather broke today. It was in the upper 70's, there was a cool breeze, and the sky was pure blue, even a few white puffy clouds. I could see the mountains from my apartment window, that's when you know it's a good day.
Honestly, we didn't stay too long at the brunch because it was rather stuffy in the hotel and we were ready to go outside. We spent maybe an hour or more just walking around Beijing enjoying the weather, dressed in our Sunday best, drawing stares from the old people walking their awkward, stumpy little dogs.
I spent the rest of the day packing and getting ready for Sichuan. I leave in about six hours, so I really should probably be sleeping now, but whatever. I can sleep on the plane. I'm not quite sure what our itinerary is because it's been changed a lot recently it seems. Rumor has it that instead of a 26 hour train ride back, arriving on Sunday morning, we fly back Friday night. I think that'll be good, so I can recover a bit on the weekend. I really don't mind the train rides though, I can get a lot of reading done then. Either way I guess.
Finished up midterms this week. I think they all went well, even feel good about Moses's. The Chinese written was actually pretty difficult, we were all complaining about how strange some of the translations were that we had to do, and they included a lot of characters we hadn't studied. So while it was a bit rough, I still think it went well. The oral was fine too. Apparently I was in there for a long time according to my classmates, and made them nervous. I just felt really comfortable I guess, more than I thought I would. Plus she asked me to talk about the characteristics of my ideal boyfriend, so of course it was going to take a little while....
I tried out some more cultural events this week too. Thursday I went to a literary month event that was being held at a Western style cafe called the Bookworm. They had two modern Chinese fiction writers talk about their works and modern Chinese fiction in general. The woman was kind of boring and didn't have much to say, but the guy was cool. He has one book in English, called I Love Dollars, look into it...
I also found the artist street with Cary. It's across the National Art Museum, which looks cool but was unfortunately closed when we were there. Across from it though is a bunch of art supply shops. It was fun to check them out. Oil paints were so cheap! Under a dollar! Tell all starving artists to come to China. Cary was excited because he found a plaster skull and spray paint. He spent the rest of the night spray painting....Thank goodness for the art shops to provide such inspiration!
We spent a good amount of the afternoon just walking around downtown Beijing. I saw the night market the first time. It wasn't night yet, but there were tons of small stands selling food, such as caterpillar, squid, and snake kebabs, mmmm....I just tried the fried ice cream. However it was taro root ice cream, covered in some weird gummy white stuff laid on a piece of bread and then fried in a wok. We each had about a bite and that was the end of it. I should know by now to not put Western expectations on Chinese food....or Chinese anything really....
Managed to walk past a small park in the middle of the city that recognizes the ruins of the old city wall, and found the May 4th Movement monument, where student protested against the Imperialist Japanese after WW1, which I had just happened to have studied in my history class, yay! Also played in some random little bamboo grove also just alongside a major street, so Chinese I know. Overall a very random but somewhat productive day.
Alright well it's about 1am and I need to be up at about 5:30, so I think I'll try and get some sleep. The next you'll here from me, I'll be in Sichuan!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1205754000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1205754000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/justjonas/china0708/1205754000/tpod.html Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:24:01 -0400 Jonas Meets China

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Beijing, China

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonasmeetschina/

From two different extremes this weekend.

I spent Saturday night attending a ballet called "The Red Detachment of Women" for my Cultural Revolution History course. The ballet was being performed at the best school in Beijing, arguably in China, Beijing University, or as we here know it, BeiDa.
The play was first shown in 1966 in the midst of Mao's Cultural Revolution. During this time art was not supposed to be "bourgeoisie" and difficult for the masses to understand. It was a time of art for a purpose, and this purpose was pushing forward the proletariat revolution. So no frilly tutu's in this ballet. Women were dressed in soldiers uniforms and danced with rifles and swords in hand.
The main plot is a woman, Cheng-hua who is enslaved by her landlord on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan. She manages to escape after almost being beaten to death and is taken in by the local Red Army troupe that is forming. There she learns of the greatness of Mao and signs up to fight for the Communist revolution. The troops storm the landlord's place, liberate the village, and they all live happily ever after.
The ballet wasn't bad by any means, besides being so nationalistic. In it's accepting of all people way, there are dances that involved bright costumes of the Miao minority that live on Hainan. The dance style is different, in that it is strong and tough, poses with arms flexed in might, these are warriors! In that sense though, it's not quite as pretty as ballets tend to be. Overall, it was alright I guess. It was a packed show, and the Chinese seemed to enjoy it. It was shown for Nixon when he visited China, so I'll take it as a cultural and historical experience.

Now Sunday, on the other hand, was a little bit of home. Baseball. Yep, American baseball. I went to an exposition game, Padres vs. the Dodgers at the baseball stadium built for the Olympics. Stadium is stretching it though. It was really more like a little league field, all the seating were bleachers and there were tents around the outsides that sold food and overpriced MLB gear. It was fun to go to a baseball game though. It was awfully polluted, but I wouldn't let it damper my mood. We had to wait an inning and a half for hotdogs, as they ran out. When they did come they were cold, with a smidgen of mustard and no ketchup. The beer was Yanjing, the cheapest in China, and with a taste equivalent to soured rind and water or something. There was a game the day before where they not only ran out of hotdogs but also beer. Clearly the Chinese do not understand why Americans go to baseball games...Let's hope they have it figured out by the Olympics.
The game was alright, it was mostly third string players. At one point the first baseman and outfielder for the Dodgers ran into each other going after a fly ball. Good job Dodgers, we all had a good laugh at that one. We also had a good laugh at the cheerleaders. No one seemed to tell the Chinese that you don't really have cheerleaders at baseball. Nevertheless, they were out there each inning with a new outfit and poorly coordinated dance of sorts. Again, something I'm sure they'll have up to par by the Olympics.
We were all pretty exhausted after the game, having had a late night out before. Cary, Patrick, and I were practically falling asleep at the restaurant table getting dinner. We had a hardcore group nap in Cary's bed (I know we're precious) and I spent the rest of the night reading a book I borrowed from Peg. I've been desperate for something to read that isn't about China, just for a break really, and finally got some good books from Peg. Currently reading To Serve Them All My Days. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Working on midterms now, Moses is due tomorrow....yea, you know what that means. Chinese midterms Thursday and Friday, Easter brunch with TBC on Sunday (portabella mushrooms and artichoke here I come!), and Monday we leave for Sichuan. Final trip of my year here in China, ah! I better take a lot of pictures....

You may have also heard in the news about some other "events" happening on a certain plateau of China. Just know that I've been warned not to mention anything about it or forward articles about it in email or blogs. Things are very sensitive right now. Let's just say the smog is especially overbearing these days.....
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