I have officially made it through my first month in China, a country pretty different from that of my home, and the western world overall. I have had to make alterations to my daily routine, behaviors, diet, but what i miss most, besides fam, friend, etc... is:
1) water from the tap
2) granola bars
3) running outside( pollution here is too bad)
lets see what material items it progresses to in the upcoming month....
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Silk Road Trip: Part 2
I apologize if this post lacks detail, proper explanation, or grammatical correctness, I just wanted to get this one done, and i have probably forgot some of the great things that went on but here's the jist.
Aug 28, Day 7: In Xi'an, we visited the Small goose Pagoda, a Buddhist Temple. We climbed the 2 foot staircase to the top, which gave a view of the City of Xi'an, but since China is
commonly overcast, we could not see much. After the Pagoda we visited a museum, which i remember vaguely now, so it obviously did not make that much of an impression on me. After, we went back to our hotels, to met host students from nearby universities to take us to lunch. Our host student was Nick. he was really helpful, liked basketball, American movies. The restaurant we went to brought out an old police officer uniform, and let all the men try it on, apparently since women were not police officers, we weren't allowed to put the costume on. After we were suppose to bike along the city wall of Xi'an ,but it was raining, so we found a small bar street with our host student, nick, grabbed a few beers, and played a Chinese dice game, until our bus left for the train station.
The train station was the worst experience i have had in a long time.
First it was raining. The tour guides ordered us to wait till we got our luggage off the, and wait for them to take the lead. We were standing in the pouring rain, with our luggage for about 10min withour the tourguides moving, so a group of us said screw it, and figured we could find our way to the station. We had to pull are bags through puddles, once we got to the station it was jam packed, hardly any room to move anywhere, and everyone smelled like wet dogs. My friend nick got his wallet and camera stolen. We all attempted to huddle in a defense pack until it was time to board the train. Once we actually got on the train it was not too bad. It was a sleep train rows of bunkbeds. Alot of people got stuck sleeping by foreigners, but fortunately i was by all my friends. My friend mitch had a portable projector, so we were able to hook up an ipod, and project a movie to fall asleep to. the train left at 8pm and we arrived in Xining the next morning at 10.
Aug 29, Day 8: In Xinging, we went to a monastery, and than met the other half of our group for lunch. Our TBC group of 100, was split in half, and we each went in oposite directions for the trip, meeting in the middle. A man talked to us about Tibetan culture, which i found very interesting.( I would have been able to share some of the things he spoke of if i did not loose my notebook alon
g the trip) After, we took a 4 hour bus ride to Tongren. The ride was beautiful, driving through the countryside of China, full of mountains, and multiple views of the Yellow River. We Arrived in Tongren, which is a Tibetan town, checked into our hotel, and i had to leave because i was part of the group staying at a Tibetan home that night. We stayed at the leader of Tongren's home. It was a little uncomfortable because i wanted to be gracious and polite, and we did not speak any of each others language. They fed us with watermelon and Yak milk though. We played cards and went to bed
Aug 30, Day 9: In the morning at the Host family, we clogged the toilet, so we all had to use the alternate bathroom, which was a straight up outhouse. 4 wooden walls, with planks on the ground inside. You pee, than dig some dirt and throw it on top. After breakfast with the family, we went to a few monasteries. They were really pretty, but got tedious after awhile, because we saw about 3 in one day, and honestly i can't tell the difference between each Tibetan Buddist Monastery. It was a little uncomfortable as well, because it was a time of year, where no women are suppose to be inside, and some of the monks were looking at us oddly. It was neat because the monastaries are yet to be tourist sights, but in the next few years, the Chinese government is forcing them to be. I am glad i got to see them before they were full of tourists. People were so intrigued by us, so friendly, and held strongly to their culture, it is unfortunate they want to make this town more of a tourist attraction. Later in the night we went back to the Leader's home, where his wife, and daughters and friends dressed in custom Tibetan gowns, and save and danced or us, while talented people from our group sang in return. It was a lot of fun, at the end of the night they played Tibetan music, and taught us all a dance.
Aug 31, Day 10: We awoke, and got on the bus to drive 6 hours. We stopped ab
out 2 hours in at a nomadic plains area. We were unable to see any nomads, but we saw alot of thier Yak's roaming, (As a side note, Tibetans use yak for everything. Yak milk, Yak Tea, Yak cheese, milk, butter rolled in balls. yak meat, i hate it all. i never want to eat yak in my life) The area was beautiful though. After we stopped for lunch in an islam community in Xunhua, I felt so bad because we were eating during the time of Ramadan, and the family had to served us food, while they were unable to eat all day... We then continued on our 4 hour drive. We saw a lot of china that i was looking forward to seeing, small farming towns, houses made of dirt. We arrived in Lanzhou, the most polluted City in the world, grabbed dinner and waited for yet another overnight train. Fortunately, this train station was no where near as crowded as Xi'an, and again i was able to sleep next to friends, instead of unknown Chinese men.
Sep 1, Day 11: We arrived in Jiayuguan the next morning, which was a pretty big city. First we visited the Jiayuguan Fort, it was a fort made with 4 walls to keep invaders out. We had a tourguide who would not let us out of his sight, and wanted to explain each historical detail, while everyone in my group wanted to shoot the bow and arrows available, ride tandom bikes or try on Chinese warrior costumes. It was a really interesting fort, but we spent far too long there. A young Asian boy who spoke perfect english approached us, and wanted to be our tourguide, although we declined, he followed us the entire time. When i was no longer able to handle the tour guide, me and the little boy mike, sat down and he asked me to write down my feelings in the book. i wrote he was a great boy, and to pimp the hos when he was older. He asked me what was in my nose. i explained in the manor that one pierces their ears, i pierces my nose. He thought that was hilarious, and would not stop laughing. After 4 hours at the fort, we left mike, went back to the hotel for lunch, then head to the Hanging Great Wall, which is where the great wall ends on the West side. However, much of it was destroyed, so they rebuilt it, and it just looked like a fake wall. T
here were huge mountains surrounding the wall though, so once we got to the end, to say we had been to the end of the great wall" we climbed all over the mountains. it was great, we got really high. i could see so much of the city. After we had a group reflection dinner at the hotel, then went out to a bar for a little bit. It was overpriced, but nice to be at a more low key bar, that was not a crazy dance party, which is what most of the bars i have encountered have been.
Sep 2, Day 12: WE drove 5 hours from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang. Dunhuang is an oasis town, of the Gobi desert. We had time to wonder the town, then packed the bus to drive to the desert. we drove about 15min to the desert, set up our tents, and climbed the dunes. We got pretty high, and all hung out on the top of a sand dune, until the sun went down. Then we followed the campfire light back to camp, hung around the fire, ate watermelon, and just hung with the group. I was fortunate to be on side A of the trip, everyone was on trip was friendly, and we all got pretty close, which has come back to Beijing with us. Group B is more clicky. But back to the desert.... It was drizzling the whole time we were there, and it has not rained at all in 10 years in the desert. Because of the rain we were not able to see any stars, the only downside of our trip to the desert.
Sep3, Day 13: We woke up at 5am by Aurther, the Chinese man i told earlier speaks like Arnold S. and says "Fuck" alot, shaking our tents, screaming " get uuuup!" We got to the camels, climbed on in the dark and rode them to the top of a really high sand dune. Cindy's camel kept turning around and growling at her, mine kept shitting, and the one behind me kept walking so close to the end, the rider, thought his camel would just topple over. The camels were all attached by a string, about 5 to one string and a leader in the front. When we got
to the top, the leader, smacked our camels in the face to sit down. When they sit down, its pretty scary, thier front legs lay with their butt up, you leaning straight forward, then throw you back as they put thier hind legs down. Once again, we were suppose to be able to watch the sunrise from the dune, but because of the rain it was too foggy, but the camel riding was amazing anyways. After i was exhausted, took a nap back at the hotel. Woke up for a group dinner, than went to a night market, where they sound little gadgets, but then had a bunch of outdoor seating, serving beers and kebabs.
Next morning we flew home, and i moved into my dorm, and was able to get back to somewhat of a normal schedule, and adjust to living in Beijing!!
Aug 28, Day 7: In Xi'an, we visited the Small goose Pagoda, a Buddhist Temple. We climbed the 2 foot staircase to the top, which gave a view of the City of Xi'an, but since China is
commonly overcast, we could not see much. After the Pagoda we visited a museum, which i remember vaguely now, so it obviously did not make that much of an impression on me. After, we went back to our hotels, to met host students from nearby universities to take us to lunch. Our host student was Nick. he was really helpful, liked basketball, American movies. The restaurant we went to brought out an old police officer uniform, and let all the men try it on, apparently since women were not police officers, we weren't allowed to put the costume on. After we were suppose to bike along the city wall of Xi'an ,but it was raining, so we found a small bar street with our host student, nick, grabbed a few beers, and played a Chinese dice game, until our bus left for the train station.The train station was the worst experience i have had in a long time.
First it was raining. The tour guides ordered us to wait till we got our luggage off the, and wait for them to take the lead. We were standing in the pouring rain, with our luggage for about 10min withour the tourguides moving, so a group of us said screw it, and figured we could find our way to the station. We had to pull are bags through puddles, once we got to the station it was jam packed, hardly any room to move anywhere, and everyone smelled like wet dogs. My friend nick got his wallet and camera stolen. We all attempted to huddle in a defense pack until it was time to board the train. Once we actually got on the train it was not too bad. It was a sleep train rows of bunkbeds. Alot of people got stuck sleeping by foreigners, but fortunately i was by all my friends. My friend mitch had a portable projector, so we were able to hook up an ipod, and project a movie to fall asleep to. the train left at 8pm and we arrived in Xining the next morning at 10.Aug 29, Day 8: In Xinging, we went to a monastery, and than met the other half of our group for lunch. Our TBC group of 100, was split in half, and we each went in oposite directions for the trip, meeting in the middle. A man talked to us about Tibetan culture, which i found very interesting.( I would have been able to share some of the things he spoke of if i did not loose my notebook alon
g the trip) After, we took a 4 hour bus ride to Tongren. The ride was beautiful, driving through the countryside of China, full of mountains, and multiple views of the Yellow River. We Arrived in Tongren, which is a Tibetan town, checked into our hotel, and i had to leave because i was part of the group staying at a Tibetan home that night. We stayed at the leader of Tongren's home. It was a little uncomfortable because i wanted to be gracious and polite, and we did not speak any of each others language. They fed us with watermelon and Yak milk though. We played cards and went to bedAug 30, Day 9: In the morning at the Host family, we clogged the toilet, so we all had to use the alternate bathroom, which was a straight up outhouse. 4 wooden walls, with planks on the ground inside. You pee, than dig some dirt and throw it on top. After breakfast with the family, we went to a few monasteries. They were really pretty, but got tedious after awhile, because we saw about 3 in one day, and honestly i can't tell the difference between each Tibetan Buddist Monastery. It was a little uncomfortable as well, because it was a time of year, where no women are suppose to be inside, and some of the monks were looking at us oddly. It was neat because the monastaries are yet to be tourist sights, but in the next few years, the Chinese government is forcing them to be. I am glad i got to see them before they were full of tourists. People were so intrigued by us, so friendly, and held strongly to their culture, it is unfortunate they want to make this town more of a tourist attraction. Later in the night we went back to the Leader's home, where his wife, and daughters and friends dressed in custom Tibetan gowns, and save and danced or us, while talented people from our group sang in return. It was a lot of fun, at the end of the night they played Tibetan music, and taught us all a dance.
Aug 31, Day 10: We awoke, and got on the bus to drive 6 hours. We stopped ab
out 2 hours in at a nomadic plains area. We were unable to see any nomads, but we saw alot of thier Yak's roaming, (As a side note, Tibetans use yak for everything. Yak milk, Yak Tea, Yak cheese, milk, butter rolled in balls. yak meat, i hate it all. i never want to eat yak in my life) The area was beautiful though. After we stopped for lunch in an islam community in Xunhua, I felt so bad because we were eating during the time of Ramadan, and the family had to served us food, while they were unable to eat all day... We then continued on our 4 hour drive. We saw a lot of china that i was looking forward to seeing, small farming towns, houses made of dirt. We arrived in Lanzhou, the most polluted City in the world, grabbed dinner and waited for yet another overnight train. Fortunately, this train station was no where near as crowded as Xi'an, and again i was able to sleep next to friends, instead of unknown Chinese men.Sep 1, Day 11: We arrived in Jiayuguan the next morning, which was a pretty big city. First we visited the Jiayuguan Fort, it was a fort made with 4 walls to keep invaders out. We had a tourguide who would not let us out of his sight, and wanted to explain each historical detail, while everyone in my group wanted to shoot the bow and arrows available, ride tandom bikes or try on Chinese warrior costumes. It was a really interesting fort, but we spent far too long there. A young Asian boy who spoke perfect english approached us, and wanted to be our tourguide, although we declined, he followed us the entire time. When i was no longer able to handle the tour guide, me and the little boy mike, sat down and he asked me to write down my feelings in the book. i wrote he was a great boy, and to pimp the hos when he was older. He asked me what was in my nose. i explained in the manor that one pierces their ears, i pierces my nose. He thought that was hilarious, and would not stop laughing. After 4 hours at the fort, we left mike, went back to the hotel for lunch, then head to the Hanging Great Wall, which is where the great wall ends on the West side. However, much of it was destroyed, so they rebuilt it, and it just looked like a fake wall. T
here were huge mountains surrounding the wall though, so once we got to the end, to say we had been to the end of the great wall" we climbed all over the mountains. it was great, we got really high. i could see so much of the city. After we had a group reflection dinner at the hotel, then went out to a bar for a little bit. It was overpriced, but nice to be at a more low key bar, that was not a crazy dance party, which is what most of the bars i have encountered have been.Sep 2, Day 12: WE drove 5 hours from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang. Dunhuang is an oasis town, of the Gobi desert. We had time to wonder the town, then packed the bus to drive to the desert. we drove about 15min to the desert, set up our tents, and climbed the dunes. We got pretty high, and all hung out on the top of a sand dune, until the sun went down. Then we followed the campfire light back to camp, hung around the fire, ate watermelon, and just hung with the group. I was fortunate to be on side A of the trip, everyone was on trip was friendly, and we all got pretty close, which has come back to Beijing with us. Group B is more clicky. But back to the desert.... It was drizzling the whole time we were there, and it has not rained at all in 10 years in the desert. Because of the rain we were not able to see any stars, the only downside of our trip to the desert.
Sep3, Day 13: We woke up at 5am by Aurther, the Chinese man i told earlier speaks like Arnold S. and says "Fuck" alot, shaking our tents, screaming " get uuuup!" We got to the camels, climbed on in the dark and rode them to the top of a really high sand dune. Cindy's camel kept turning around and growling at her, mine kept shitting, and the one behind me kept walking so close to the end, the rider, thought his camel would just topple over. The camels were all attached by a string, about 5 to one string and a leader in the front. When we got
to the top, the leader, smacked our camels in the face to sit down. When they sit down, its pretty scary, thier front legs lay with their butt up, you leaning straight forward, then throw you back as they put thier hind legs down. Once again, we were suppose to be able to watch the sunrise from the dune, but because of the rain it was too foggy, but the camel riding was amazing anyways. After i was exhausted, took a nap back at the hotel. Woke up for a group dinner, than went to a night market, where they sound little gadgets, but then had a bunch of outdoor seating, serving beers and kebabs.Next morning we flew home, and i moved into my dorm, and was able to get back to somewhat of a normal schedule, and adjust to living in Beijing!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Every few weeks or so, im going to make a listing of the strange things, "different things", for i am to be open minded, that i have observed about china... Here is the list i have accumulated so far:
1) The toilets are a porcelain whole in the ground. There is nothing to hold on to, you simply squat over. Image how gross the bathrooms get in bar in America, Now add the toilet as a hole, and bad piping, a whole lot of piss on the floor, and buildup... If you want toilet paper, you are required to carry it on you, and you cannot flush the toilet paper, you must dispose of it in a trashcan. The sewers get clogged quite easily.
2) The water quality is terrible in China, 75% of it is unsuitable for drinking, 40% or so unsuitable for agriculture, fishing, or industrial uses. Hence, either you must buy bottled water, or more commonly, boil everything. There is water boiling machines on each floor of my dorm building, where you can fill up your canteen so that you have hot, clean water for drinking
3) The Chinese do not use ice, nor is it common to cool one's beverages. At many stores it is a hassle to find a cool, refreshing drank. On one occurrence my friend ordered a milkshake at a local cafe, and received warm milk with chocolate powder milked in. The beer is not even cold.
4) Chinese say Niga, in place of our use like or umm... sort of as a filler word. It is pretty comical to be standing on the subway, hearing a bunch of asians claiming niga.
5) Many Chinese work out in jeans, and rubber gloves. Im guessing to block the germs, they are pretty concerned about that swine flu. I cannot say this is a common chinese trend, but ive seen at least 1 person a day there sporting this look.
6) It is common for Chinese couples to match. I have seen couples in matching black polos, in Shirts that claim, i <3 BJ(beijing, im sure we can all catch the pun), or one couple i found " Our Love" the other being " Will Last Forever".
8) Is you invite a Chinese companion out to eat, offer them a beer, or a gift, they will refuse many times. You must insist a few times before they will take your offering.
9) there is no flow of traffic, many cars or scooters do not even follow the traffic lights, its pretty much always a game of chicken everytime you must cross the street.
1) The toilets are a porcelain whole in the ground. There is nothing to hold on to, you simply squat over. Image how gross the bathrooms get in bar in America, Now add the toilet as a hole, and bad piping, a whole lot of piss on the floor, and buildup... If you want toilet paper, you are required to carry it on you, and you cannot flush the toilet paper, you must dispose of it in a trashcan. The sewers get clogged quite easily.
2) The water quality is terrible in China, 75% of it is unsuitable for drinking, 40% or so unsuitable for agriculture, fishing, or industrial uses. Hence, either you must buy bottled water, or more commonly, boil everything. There is water boiling machines on each floor of my dorm building, where you can fill up your canteen so that you have hot, clean water for drinking
3) The Chinese do not use ice, nor is it common to cool one's beverages. At many stores it is a hassle to find a cool, refreshing drank. On one occurrence my friend ordered a milkshake at a local cafe, and received warm milk with chocolate powder milked in. The beer is not even cold.
4) Chinese say Niga, in place of our use like or umm... sort of as a filler word. It is pretty comical to be standing on the subway, hearing a bunch of asians claiming niga.
5) Many Chinese work out in jeans, and rubber gloves. Im guessing to block the germs, they are pretty concerned about that swine flu. I cannot say this is a common chinese trend, but ive seen at least 1 person a day there sporting this look.
6) It is common for Chinese couples to match. I have seen couples in matching black polos, in Shirts that claim, i <3 BJ(beijing, im sure we can all catch the pun), or one couple i found " Our Love" the other being " Will Last Forever".
8) Is you invite a Chinese companion out to eat, offer them a beer, or a gift, they will refuse many times. You must insist a few times before they will take your offering.
9) there is no flow of traffic, many cars or scooters do not even follow the traffic lights, its pretty much always a game of chicken everytime you must cross the street.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Silk Road Trip: Part 1
From August 22 to September 4, i went on an "academic trip" around different parts of china.
This is a map of the places we traveled to. Due to recent events, protesting in the north west area of China, our trip was cut short, ending in Dunhuang instead of Urumqi. I realize most will not be interested in my blog post to come, but extensively detailed post provides myself with a journal to recap my trip, and eliminates the need to write multiple emails to those limited few interested.
Aug 22, day 1: My trip began with taking a train from Beijing to Anyang, approximately a 4 hour ride. Fortunately, my program filled an entire train can, so we did not annoy the Chinese with our loud american banter. Anyang lies in the Northern most point of Henan Province, and was established about 3000 years ago in the Shang Dynasty. After arriving in the city, we visited a
Shang Dynasty archeological sight. The sight was filled with oracle bones, some of the first chinese characters, and the grave of the first china women general. I found this sight to be less than amazing, and pretty underwhelming. Many of the original bones excavated had been replaced by replicas. Many of the bones had been taken to a museum in Beijing, it was hard to understand why we had taken a 4 hour train ride, to see fake findings of what remained in our original city. Even the leader of our group, the treasurer of TBC, a 6 foot china man, who speaks english with an Arnold Swartzenager accent kept claiming " None of this shit is real." We enjoyed an American dinner of KFC and PBR. Later that night we went out in Anyang, first to a KTV( Karaokee Club) which had no english songs, and wanted to charge 300 quai for a table, then to a small club, with girls in short skirts serving beer cans for 25 quai. A few of my male friends were offered to pay for the girls for a night, at which point i decided it was time to call it a night.
Aug 23, day 2: We took a 2 hour bus ride to Red Flag Canal. The canal was built in the 1900's in the grande valley of Mt. Taihang. The canal is one of the largest hydroelectric systems in china. This place was amazing. We took a chairlift up the mountain side, than walked across the valley on a bridge at the top of the mountain. On the top of the mountain, we made friends with a
chinese family, and taught a 60 year old man to play football. On our way down, we walked in and around caves, and took a skinny pathway leading around the canal. We passed the flat areas where builders of the canal had slept while creating it. It was huge, and pretty unbelievable that people had chiseled away at these tall mountains with manmade tools and rope harnesses. At the entrance of the monument was many asian tour guides, they were all very taken with us, especially the blonde girls, and black people. Everyone wanted to take our pictures. this was probably my third favorite sight of the trip. I 
enjoyed the mountain climbing and walking through nature. The only downside, was our tour guide, Jack, was suppose to stop for lunch, and never did, so we did not eat all day. Once we return to the hotel, everyone was crabby and hungry, so we went to the first chinese restaurant we could find. Most restaurants have pictures to order from but at the one we had chosen, we were forced to rely on the only quasi chinese speaking student that had accompanied us. He attempted to order, noodle and chicken. we received noodles covered in squid, and a full chicken, head and eyeballs included in a big pot.
Aug 24, day 3: We woke up and took a 5 hour bus ride from Anyang to Dengfeng, which is the
kung fu capital. We stayed at a hotel owned by the head Kung Fu Master. The hotel was very elegant, but the town was pretty low key. we walked around and visited stores that sold all sorts of kung fu weapons, numchucks, swords, brass knuckles. Each hotel room had big white robes, so we had a bathrobe party, consisting of American students, drinking shitty chinese beer, and running through the halls in robes of the kung fu masters hotel.
Aug 25 day 4: Today was horrible. i had gotten a cold the previous day, which had turned into a illness that consisted of cold sweats, inablity to walk due to weakness of my body, the urge to throw up, and a migraine. This also happened to be one of the most active days, and i was not going to miss seeing anything. We first went to the Shaolin Monastery, Which is a Kung Fu monastery, boys join at a young age and learn kung fu, which is now only used in competition and entertainment. The Shaolin Monastery began learning martial arts because long ago thieves would steal of thier valuables and they could not do anything because they were peaceful monks. We saw a kung fu show, which was amazing. The physical ability of the boys made me desire to have more control over my body. One was able to throw a thin needle through a pain of glass and pop a balloon behind the glass, without shattering the glass. After the monastery, we went to the Pagoda Forest, which was a graveyard of very significant monks. there are only about 250 currently buried there. Next we went to the Longmen grottoes, which was where i really began feeling terrible. The grottoes were a bunch of buddha etched out of the side of cliffs. Many of the heads were stolen from the Buddha's because it is considered the most valued detail. I took a picture of a few, but could not walk, so i found a bench to rest on and wait for the rest of the group to make their 2 hour trip around the grottoes. Honestly, I do not think i missed much, because it was all the same buddha, etched in different areas and size. Next we took the bus to Luoyang, where we went to the Chariot pits Museum. This was my least favorite site. It was a one room museum of old excavated Chariots. Perhaps i would have enjoyed more if i did not feel so terrible. Finally we checked into our next hotel in Louyang. This was also probably the poorest quality hotel we stayed at. The bathroom looked like an airplane bathroom with the addition of a shower. The shower water was wired to the sink. Fortunately i felt so tired and was exhausted by the day, i got to my room at 630pm, and passed out for the night.
Aug 26, day 5: we simple woke up this day, and drove 5 hours to Xi'an, a pretty big city in China. It is surrounded by a huge wall, and filled with Modern stores like Adidas on every block.
Aug 27, day 6: This day was also one of my favorite. We awoke, and took the bus to the Terra
cotta Warriors. They are Warrior Statues discovered in 1974, by a farmer who was digging a well. The warriors were built to guard the tom of Qin Shi Huang, a rule who unified China over 2000 years ago. The Warriors are so amazing, because each one is different. For some reason, i had pictures being able to come close to the stautues, we just stood on a platform and there were about 10 feet below us. After we visited the Xi'an Mosque. it was in the muslim neighborhood of Xi'an. i found the neighborhood more interested than the Mosque. The Mosque was beautiful, but all the students were staring in the prayer house, and i felt really rude. If i was a devout muslim, i dont think i would want a bunch of americans to watch me as i prayed. There was also a Muslim street market, which sold nuts, dried fruit, wooden intruments, and woven shoes. Later in the evening, we went to a water show. It is in the main park in Xi'an and they play classical music, and water shoots form the ground in sync. Its huge. We decided to run through the fountains, a common action by the children of china, but it was a blast. One of my fellow companions brought a tide stick, and washed the clothes he was wearing while running through the fountains. We then went back to the hotel, with much difficultly. Most of the cabs did not want to drive us, soaked form head to toe, so we took a rickshaw, which is a man riding a motorcycle with a cart in the back for us to sit in. Back at the hotel, we made friends with the hotel receptionist. His name was prince, and loved to pop lock drop it. His goal is life is to marry an american girl. He loves jewelry, has long nails, can freestyle, and wont eat fast food because it will make him fat. He went out with all the students to the disco, and aparently was a blast, and grew a fond attachment to Cynthia. I unfortunately was beat, and did not go out, but got a lovely awakening by Cindy telling me Prince was gonna sleep over in our room because he was too drunk to make it home. I strongly declined, and forced her to tell him no, although he was quite a hoot, and sang back street boys like an angel, i was not big on him sleeping in my room.
This is a map of the places we traveled to. Due to recent events, protesting in the north west area of China, our trip was cut short, ending in Dunhuang instead of Urumqi. I realize most will not be interested in my blog post to come, but extensively detailed post provides myself with a journal to recap my trip, and eliminates the need to write multiple emails to those limited few interested.
Aug 22, day 1: My trip began with taking a train from Beijing to Anyang, approximately a 4 hour ride. Fortunately, my program filled an entire train can, so we did not annoy the Chinese with our loud american banter. Anyang lies in the Northern most point of Henan Province, and was established about 3000 years ago in the Shang Dynasty. After arriving in the city, we visited a
Shang Dynasty archeological sight. The sight was filled with oracle bones, some of the first chinese characters, and the grave of the first china women general. I found this sight to be less than amazing, and pretty underwhelming. Many of the original bones excavated had been replaced by replicas. Many of the bones had been taken to a museum in Beijing, it was hard to understand why we had taken a 4 hour train ride, to see fake findings of what remained in our original city. Even the leader of our group, the treasurer of TBC, a 6 foot china man, who speaks english with an Arnold Swartzenager accent kept claiming " None of this shit is real." We enjoyed an American dinner of KFC and PBR. Later that night we went out in Anyang, first to a KTV( Karaokee Club) which had no english songs, and wanted to charge 300 quai for a table, then to a small club, with girls in short skirts serving beer cans for 25 quai. A few of my male friends were offered to pay for the girls for a night, at which point i decided it was time to call it a night.Aug 23, day 2: We took a 2 hour bus ride to Red Flag Canal. The canal was built in the 1900's in the grande valley of Mt. Taihang. The canal is one of the largest hydroelectric systems in china. This place was amazing. We took a chairlift up the mountain side, than walked across the valley on a bridge at the top of the mountain. On the top of the mountain, we made friends with a
chinese family, and taught a 60 year old man to play football. On our way down, we walked in and around caves, and took a skinny pathway leading around the canal. We passed the flat areas where builders of the canal had slept while creating it. It was huge, and pretty unbelievable that people had chiseled away at these tall mountains with manmade tools and rope harnesses. At the entrance of the monument was many asian tour guides, they were all very taken with us, especially the blonde girls, and black people. Everyone wanted to take our pictures. this was probably my third favorite sight of the trip. I 
enjoyed the mountain climbing and walking through nature. The only downside, was our tour guide, Jack, was suppose to stop for lunch, and never did, so we did not eat all day. Once we return to the hotel, everyone was crabby and hungry, so we went to the first chinese restaurant we could find. Most restaurants have pictures to order from but at the one we had chosen, we were forced to rely on the only quasi chinese speaking student that had accompanied us. He attempted to order, noodle and chicken. we received noodles covered in squid, and a full chicken, head and eyeballs included in a big pot.Aug 24, day 3: We woke up and took a 5 hour bus ride from Anyang to Dengfeng, which is the
kung fu capital. We stayed at a hotel owned by the head Kung Fu Master. The hotel was very elegant, but the town was pretty low key. we walked around and visited stores that sold all sorts of kung fu weapons, numchucks, swords, brass knuckles. Each hotel room had big white robes, so we had a bathrobe party, consisting of American students, drinking shitty chinese beer, and running through the halls in robes of the kung fu masters hotel.Aug 25 day 4: Today was horrible. i had gotten a cold the previous day, which had turned into a illness that consisted of cold sweats, inablity to walk due to weakness of my body, the urge to throw up, and a migraine. This also happened to be one of the most active days, and i was not going to miss seeing anything. We first went to the Shaolin Monastery, Which is a Kung Fu monastery, boys join at a young age and learn kung fu, which is now only used in competition and entertainment. The Shaolin Monastery began learning martial arts because long ago thieves would steal of thier valuables and they could not do anything because they were peaceful monks. We saw a kung fu show, which was amazing. The physical ability of the boys made me desire to have more control over my body. One was able to throw a thin needle through a pain of glass and pop a balloon behind the glass, without shattering the glass. After the monastery, we went to the Pagoda Forest, which was a graveyard of very significant monks. there are only about 250 currently buried there. Next we went to the Longmen grottoes, which was where i really began feeling terrible. The grottoes were a bunch of buddha etched out of the side of cliffs. Many of the heads were stolen from the Buddha's because it is considered the most valued detail. I took a picture of a few, but could not walk, so i found a bench to rest on and wait for the rest of the group to make their 2 hour trip around the grottoes. Honestly, I do not think i missed much, because it was all the same buddha, etched in different areas and size. Next we took the bus to Luoyang, where we went to the Chariot pits Museum. This was my least favorite site. It was a one room museum of old excavated Chariots. Perhaps i would have enjoyed more if i did not feel so terrible. Finally we checked into our next hotel in Louyang. This was also probably the poorest quality hotel we stayed at. The bathroom looked like an airplane bathroom with the addition of a shower. The shower water was wired to the sink. Fortunately i felt so tired and was exhausted by the day, i got to my room at 630pm, and passed out for the night.
Aug 26, day 5: we simple woke up this day, and drove 5 hours to Xi'an, a pretty big city in China. It is surrounded by a huge wall, and filled with Modern stores like Adidas on every block.
Aug 27, day 6: This day was also one of my favorite. We awoke, and took the bus to the Terra
cotta Warriors. They are Warrior Statues discovered in 1974, by a farmer who was digging a well. The warriors were built to guard the tom of Qin Shi Huang, a rule who unified China over 2000 years ago. The Warriors are so amazing, because each one is different. For some reason, i had pictures being able to come close to the stautues, we just stood on a platform and there were about 10 feet below us. After we visited the Xi'an Mosque. it was in the muslim neighborhood of Xi'an. i found the neighborhood more interested than the Mosque. The Mosque was beautiful, but all the students were staring in the prayer house, and i felt really rude. If i was a devout muslim, i dont think i would want a bunch of americans to watch me as i prayed. There was also a Muslim street market, which sold nuts, dried fruit, wooden intruments, and woven shoes. Later in the evening, we went to a water show. It is in the main park in Xi'an and they play classical music, and water shoots form the ground in sync. Its huge. We decided to run through the fountains, a common action by the children of china, but it was a blast. One of my fellow companions brought a tide stick, and washed the clothes he was wearing while running through the fountains. We then went back to the hotel, with much difficultly. Most of the cabs did not want to drive us, soaked form head to toe, so we took a rickshaw, which is a man riding a motorcycle with a cart in the back for us to sit in. Back at the hotel, we made friends with the hotel receptionist. His name was prince, and loved to pop lock drop it. His goal is life is to marry an american girl. He loves jewelry, has long nails, can freestyle, and wont eat fast food because it will make him fat. He went out with all the students to the disco, and aparently was a blast, and grew a fond attachment to Cynthia. I unfortunately was beat, and did not go out, but got a lovely awakening by Cindy telling me Prince was gonna sleep over in our room because he was too drunk to make it home. I strongly declined, and forced her to tell him no, although he was quite a hoot, and sang back street boys like an angel, i was not big on him sleeping in my room.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Beijing Subway System
I took on the subway system for the first time today, and it was pretty neat: modern, fast paced, crowded, and full of unique characters. Here is a list of some interesting observations.
1) You are scanned with a metal detecting wand upon entrance into the subway. Your bags are put through a security belt, small version of the ones used at the airport
2) glass gates walls block the tracks until the train arrives, and then they automatically open.
3) the subway entrance tickets are reusable. you put 2RMB (1$=6.8 RMB)into a machine, choose your location, and a card is dispensed. You have the card over a sensor and the gates open for your entrance. Once you have reached your destination, in order to exit you have to insert your ticket into a machine for the gates to open.
4) Although there is both a normal walkway and stairs, 95% of the commuters choose to use the extremely crowded escalator and mobile walkway, adding what i would approximate to be 10min to thier commute.
5) On the walls of the tunnel out side of the car are electronically projected advertisements that move with the train. China is very good at making use of any space for advertising
6) Asian babies and small children wear assless pants which expose thier butt, so that they are able to drop a poop whenever needed, leaving the mess out of the pants. ( too bad they do not make these for certain indiviuals). Exiting one of the terminals i spotted a few dumplings which i can only guess to be some little baby poops.
1) You are scanned with a metal detecting wand upon entrance into the subway. Your bags are put through a security belt, small version of the ones used at the airport
2) glass gates walls block the tracks until the train arrives, and then they automatically open.
3) the subway entrance tickets are reusable. you put 2RMB (1$=6.8 RMB)into a machine, choose your location, and a card is dispensed. You have the card over a sensor and the gates open for your entrance. Once you have reached your destination, in order to exit you have to insert your ticket into a machine for the gates to open.
4) Although there is both a normal walkway and stairs, 95% of the commuters choose to use the extremely crowded escalator and mobile walkway, adding what i would approximate to be 10min to thier commute.
5) On the walls of the tunnel out side of the car are electronically projected advertisements that move with the train. China is very good at making use of any space for advertising
6) Asian babies and small children wear assless pants which expose thier butt, so that they are able to drop a poop whenever needed, leaving the mess out of the pants. ( too bad they do not make these for certain indiviuals). Exiting one of the terminals i spotted a few dumplings which i can only guess to be some little baby poops.
Blog Disclaimer/Great Wall/ Beijing Market
Disclaimer: The purpose of this blog is to inform others about my experiences in China. Most likely, my readers will consist of the 4 or 5 of my American companions residing in the Chicago area, however the blog is open to anyone interested. I will be in Beijing for 4 months, traveling occasionally outside of the city. I will attempt to give a brief synopsis of my experiences, and unique characteristics of China's culture and daily affairs. Once again, I realize many of the things i will report have been noted in books and previous blogs, however my few companions will hopefully be able to use my blog as another mean to distract them from thier daily office jobs, and elimate the need to write multiple emails of similar content to these folks.
( If spelling is off, it shall be updated along with the installation of Microsoft Office on my device used for communication to my dear old country, and no for some reason it does not spellcheck automatically on the wordpress page)
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/153634
gGreat wWall: It is most of the most beautiful sights, it is entirely worth all ofthe cred, and it cannot be explained because of how miraculous it is. The day i visited, rained, and as a result the sky was foggier than usual for taking photos, and getting a clear view of the wall in front of you was impossible. However, the rain was useful as a cooling aid while climbing up the mountainside to reach the Wall. The climb up was long and possibly one of the most strenuous activities i have accomplished. I joined the group that climbed the entire open part of the wall, and continued past the cutoff, with direction from a chinese women " To proceed if we please, just dont wake the guard". luckily, I wore gymshoes, unlike many of the lovely asian women in highheels( you would think they would know better). the bottom of the hill at the entrance to the wall is filled with sellers, who literally pull foreigners to buy overpriced teeshirts with the logo " I love great wall more than ever" or miniature ceramic replicas of the wall.
- Man smoking bong at wall entrance
- the wall
Wanfujing Market: One of the many Beijing markets i visited today was frantic and overwhelming. Being that i do not know my way around Beijing yet, or even have a loose understanding of the subway system, I am forced to travel in packs of 15, which is not conducive for making smooth, strategic moves through the market, very difficult for a person, like me, who likes to walk with purpose. Regardless, the market was quite an experience. It is like an alley tucked to the side of one of the large main streets in Beijing. Outside of the market the streets are jammed with advertisements, flashy lights and angry bikers and vehicles who have no sense of the traffic lights. Inside the market was full of food and merchandise vendors, who again like to pull your arm in order for you to make purchases. the merchandise vendors barter, but the food vendors have set prices, although everything is cheap approx. 2$=15RMB for a knockoff pair of ray-bans. everything is sold from Chinese slippers to cigarette dispensers with chairman Mao's photo. The food was the most interesting part however. Small stands sell scorpions, cicadas, goat testicals, seahorse, fruit coated in crystallized sugar,all of which are served on a wooden skewer. I took a shot at some Yak's milk, which tasted like blueberry yogurt, and a bite of starfish, horrible, which I can best describe as the consistency of a potato chip, with a salty, griddy, fish flavor.
This is an extremely touristy spot, we were asked if people could take our photo multiple times, and men dressed in army jackets walked around with bowls asking for food,
(Photos to come)
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