Today started off with another fantastic breakfast. Let me tell you, the Chinese really know how to throw a breakfast buffet together. You have your Western food, your Asian foods, and some fruit and breads thrown in just for kicks. I absolutely love it!
We met our new local city guide, Helen, who took us to our first stop of the day. It was definitely a very somber stop, and really the only emotional downer of the trip - thus far, anyway. We went to the Memorial Hall for Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. If you don't know what this is, here is a quick lesson. In 1937, Japanese forces took control of the city of Nanking. For six weeks between December and January 1938, approximately 300,000 Chinese were killed. Thousands were raped. It is a major stumbling block still between Japan and China as many in Japan deny that this event ever occured. This Memorial Hall was erected in part to document the evidence of these horrible acts. It is kind of hard to deny things that hit you right in the face, you know? It's kind of like those who deny the Holocaust. Once you see it, you know it happened. Same thing here. It was very somber, but I have to admit to being a little perplexed by the actions of many Chinese there. Our group was repeatedly reminded - perhaps one too many times - to be quiet. The Chinese here were very loud, especially in the mass grave area where you could view the skeletal remains of the massacre victims. I would have thought that they would be more somber, but I guess I was wrong.
Our next stop was the Presidential Palace, where Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the creator of Modern China, and Chiang Kai-shek officiated over the government. This was a very nice collection of buildings and offices. Wow, what a dry sentence. But, there is really no other way to put it! The place was crowded - it is the weekend - but it was still relatively easy to get around in.
After lunch, we visited the Confucius Temple area. I say area because the Temple is no longer there in operation. My lesson plan that I am doing for the trip is on Confucius, so I was a little disappointed. The area was really more for shopping. I did manage to get a McDonald's ice cream cone (I'm living large over here) for a whopping 37 cents in US money. Again, have I mentioned how much I love it here?
We then said goodbye to Helen - short stay in Nanjing! - and headed for Suzhou, a good two hour drive. On the way we stopped at a Chinese rest area where we got to experience the squatty potty. It's kind of fun being in China sometimes. I swear to you that sometimes we get so many stares. Kim, one of our guides, said that in many cases we may be the first Caucasians that some of the Chinese have seen. We've been filmed, had our pictures taken - and the rest area was no different. Definitely funny!
Upon arriving in Suzhou, we ate dinner - all we do sometimes is eat - and then arrived at the most amazing hotel yet. It is LARGE. My room is crazy - I'll have to post pictures because there aren't words appropriate enough. Suzhou seems cool so far - lots of lights (think Vegas) and water. I'm looking forward to touring it tomorrow!
Location: Gusu Jinjiang Tower Hotel, Suzhou
Tooth Update: Lots of pressure today. Not sure what is up with that.
Weather Update: We had been told to expect killer hot temps in Nanjing, but it was actually pleasant. Temps in the upper 70s, low 80s with SUNLIGHT. I even got a bit of a sunburn. Lucky me!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Did You Miss Me?
One of the group members was able to find a proxy server for us, so I can now blog! Woo hoo!!!
It's a lot to read. But it's good!!
Saturday - June 19
This morning I got up early and went out with Cindy to check out Yangshuo while it was relatively cool and less crowded. We stopped in a local supermarket where Cindy was able to buy a giant Coke (maybe 1.5 liter?) for around 75 cents. We then found a cave entrance that had a large statue of Kwan Yin outside. My Indian mythology is pretty bad, but I believe that she is a goddess of mercy that has been adopted by many Buddhists in China.
Our first - and really only - stop today was the village of Xingping. We got REALLY lucky today as boat tours were allowed on the Li River. We went out for maybe an hour or so. The original plan was to disembark at the Xingping fishing village, but the water was still way too high to make that a safe idea. It was still a great cruise though! Beautiful scenery through the karst limestone mountains. A man boated up to our boat with his comorant birds and we could have our picture taken with them for 2 yuan (45 cents or so). It was fun and a relaxing boat trip.
The rest of the day was kind of boring as it was spent in transit. We rode back to Yangshuo, had lunch at the hotel, then bussed up to Guilin to the airport. We hung around there for several hours until our two hour flight to Nanjing.
Location: Ramada Plaza, Nanjing
Tooth Update: No issues.
Weather Update: Today wasn't bad - and the sun finally came out!
Friday - June 18
Today started a bit earlier than yesterday - 8:20, but I didn't mind much because I was really excited about the boat trip that we were going to take from Guilin to Yangshuo. When we got to the lobby, we got some good news and some bad news. For the good, it looked like it wasn't going to rain today. For the bad, because of all of the rain, the Li River was excessively high, and even if its depth wasn't a problem, the speed of its current would be. It just wouldn't be safe to go out on the river. I admit to being a little bummed. Last night we found out that the light show that we were supposed to see on the river tonight was cancelled because of the flooding, and I was worried that we would be left to do things on our own today. Luckily, we had a good twist of luck!
We visited the Guilin Art Museum where we were able to watch a demonstration of Chinese water painting. It was pretty cool! I had a chance to watch the artist paint a piece for me, and then purchase it, of course! It took him all of five minutes to create a lovely bamboo painting. I was impressed! I then had another chop made. I chose a round shape this time - the last was square - and this time I just had the Chinese symbols carved, without the English added. I recorded the guy carving the chop. So cool!!!
We then settled in for a 1.5 hour bus ride to Yangshuo. Our ride took us through some pretty stunning landscapes. Our driver pulled over so that we could get some pictures. The mountains here are very old and are karst, which gives them a very distinctive shape. Before I knew it, we had arrived in Yangshuo and then we checked into the New Century Hotel. Our lunch, which we were supposed to eat on the boat, was substituted with a fantastic meal at the hotel, which featured these AMAZING deep fried sweet potato dumplings. Seriously, one of the best things I have eaten so far! It was just like eating candy.
Our only appointment for the day was a visit to the Omeida Language School, which required us to change into our "nice" clothes. We had a tour of the school. It was so hot and humid today that the stairs were a special challenge. Both the steps and the banisters were slick, and in some places even the walls were wet! We then went to the classrooms in small groups. I went to a Basic Business Communications class. The students in this class had been learning English for a while, and were very good at conversing. The teacher led them through a 20-minute review, and then Wayne and I led a 20-minute Q&A period about life in the US. After that, we headed to the rooftop cafeteria to meet in small groups with the students. I spent a long time talking to a student named Jenny. She was VERY interested in the United States, and she had done her research! It was a lot of fun talking to her, and I gave her my e-mail address so that we can hopefully write back and forth.
After the school visit, it was back to the hotel to change, and then we had a free evening ahead of us. Mona, Edith, Dave and I stopped for pizza. Shocking that I would eat pizza out somewhere, I know. As I have mentioned before, the prices here are ridiculous, and dinner was no different. I wish the US was this cheap! After dinner we wandered up and down West Street, a pretty busy shopping avenue. It was very touristy, but fun and exciting at the same time. Another good day down!
Location: New Century Hotel, Yangshuo
Tooth Update: A bit of pressure today. Not sure what is up with that.
Weather Update: Sunny at last! The humidity must be at 99% though. It is sticky nasty out.
Thursday - June 17
Today we got to sleep in a bit considering that we had been up late the night before - what a bunch of partiers we are! While at breakfast, I saw a teenage boy wearing an Indiana basketball t-shirt. Weird, so I went up and asked him where he was from. He told me Louisville, I told him that I was from Corydon. His mom then came up to me and told me that they were actually from Sellersburg! Imagine going halfway around the world to find people from Sellersburg at your hotel breakfast! It doesn't stop there - it turned out that they were there as part of a large group of young men from St. X High School in Louisville. The lobby was practically swarming with these guys! They were really helpful in telling me how to get onto the internet and were just really nice overall. So, a big shout out to Rick Ayers and the guys from St. X!!
We left at 10:00 this morning to head out to the Longji Rice Terraces. The weather was MISERABLE. Considerable downpours, and we had heard that there had been deaths in the part of China that I am currently in due to mudslides caused by the rain. So what did we do? That's right - head right into the belly of the beast, as Longji is located at the top of a mountain. The road was crazy getting there - all kinds of hairpin turns and small rockslides over the road. It was a white knuckle ride, I can tell you that! We stopped at the Zhuang minority village for a bathroom break, where people came out and tried to sell us stuff, and then later on at the Yao village. We stopped here to transfer to a smaller bus (easier to get up the road), and I made friends with a Yao woman who desperately wanted to sell me some postcards. I kept telling her no, and she kept saying "Maybe later." She gestured that she would have her eyes on me when I came back down the mountain. She cracked me up. Yao women are known for their long hair, which can be two meters long, and how it is knotted on their heads. Google it. It was very interesting. When we got a little further up, the road ended, and we then had to take the steps.
I'm not sure how many steps I climbed, but it had to easily have been 1,000. I'm not kidding. No handrails, slick with rain...people, I could have died at any moment. But back to the sheer number of stairs...I was HURTING. The village was spread up the mountain path, so there were plenty of people around trying to sell me things. The size and length of the climb really surprised me - in fact, I had no idea that this was going to happen. But let me tell you, I am so glad that I did it. The view at the top was absolutely stunning, even on a rainy foggy day. I drank some herbal Long Ji tea at the top, was able to haggle with shoppers on the way down the mountain, have an excellent lunch halfway down the hill. It was so much fun. I bought some pretty amazing things and had a whole bag of stuff for which I only paid about $22 USD. Isn't that crazy?! But I have to admit - I was exhausted, and glad to get back on the bus. When we transferred, my new Yao friend was there and I bought postcards from her as promised.
When we got back to Guilin, Mona and I decided that all of that climbing had taken a toll on us, and that a massage was in order. We could have left the hotel to do this, and it probably would have been cheaper, but the chance to get a full body massage for 60 minutes at the bargain basement price of just under $30 doesn't happen much. The massage was extremely painful but felt SOOOOO fantastic. Definitely a good investment and one that I am glad that I made!
Today has been an excellent day. I'm a pretty lucky girl.
Location: Guilin Bravo Hotel, Guilin
Tooth Update: Felt some pressure on the mountain, but subsided when I came out of the clouds.
Weather Update: Rainy this morning, but cleared up. Sun stayed away but the temperature was fantastic.
Wednesday - June 16
This morning we left Hong Kong to go to the border. Yes, that's right - the border. You see, even though Hong Kong is in China, it is a special region (technically a Special Administration Region), and you have to have special permission to go back and forth across the border. Tricky stuff, isn't it? To be quite honest, it surprised me quite a bit. I figured that when Hong Kong reverted back to China after the British handed it over in 1997 that it would be China, period. Not the case. Immigration was surprisingly easy though. It was interesting to step over the line in the building that marked administration by Hong Kong and administration by China.
We met Michael Gallagher when we arrived in Shenzhen, the first new locale of the day. We had talked with Michael via Skype during our orientation in Bloomington, and he arranged a tour for us in Shenzhen. We first met him at the Urban Planning Building where he gave us a brief overview of the city and how it has grown since being declared a Special Economic Zone in China. The room was HOT, but since I had my special $1 fan from yesterday, I was able to be the envy of everyone in the room. We then checked out a computer simulation room where urban planners can digitize potential building plans and put them into a digital map of Shenzhen. It allows them to see what it would look like in the end. It was pretty cool! Michael then took us on a bus tour of Shenzhen. We saw some urban minority villages - don't let the word "village" mislead you though. These are pockets in the city where minority villages were once located, but now they are a collection of high rise apartment building where minorities and migrant workers live. The closest thing that we would have to those are what we would call tenement houses or slums. They were pretty sad. Michael's tour was heavy on urban planning and architecture, but we did manage to see some other places. We visited the Green Oasis school, an international school in Shenzhen. We also visited the Dafen Oil Painting Village, which was interesting. We saw an art exhibit there, but overall I was a little disappointed in Dafen. I thought that we were going to be able to visit some artist studios, but apparently what Dafen is known for has been outsourced to the surrounding area. Art here was ridiculously overpriced. Needless to say, I didn't buy any!
Our lunch stop today was chosen especially by Michael in light of the fact that we would not be visiting the Szechuan region of China. So, we went to a Szechuan restaurant! VERY good food, and very spicy. Definitely the best meal of the trip so far, but that seems to keep happening with each and every day. However, I can't say the same for dinner. We had a long day that kept getting longer, and we got to the airport to fly to Guilin a bit later than expected. By the time that we got checked in, we only had an hour before boarding and 25 people to feed. Where does a person go when faced with this dilemma in China? That's right - you go to KFC! I had chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes with gravy - and a desire to NEVER eat mashed potatoes in an Asian country ever again! Blech! After wolfing that down and getting through security, we got to our gate only to find out that our flight had been postponed from 9:30 to 11:00. Since there was a delay, the airline promptly handed out a meal and water. Can you believe that?!?! I didn't eat it since I had just scarfed down my KFC, but I was blown away by an airline making amends for creating an inconvenience for their customers. Once aboard the flight, I immediately conked out. The flight seemed like it was 5 minutes long! We finally got to our hotel in Guilin around 2, and I was out by 2:15. A definite long day in China!
Location: Guilin Bravo Hotel, Guilin
Tooth Update: Loves Szechuan food.
Weather Update:: Hot and steamy in Shenzhen, but no rain!
Tuesday - June 15
3:30 am. Most people are asleep. Most aren't experiencing jet lag. Amy, my roommate and I, are wide awake then. We finally said to heck with it, and just got up. I was able to finish up typing out yesterday's blog, and as I did so, was worried the entire time about how I was going to feel later on that evening. I read a little bit and managed to get another hour of sleep. Around 7:00 I went down to breakfast - oh, breakfast! I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Asian breakfasts! Yes, there was standard Western fare - bacon, eggs, and the like - but there was miso soup! And shark fin dumplings! And wonderfully tasty noodles! I am actually looking forward to tomorrow for the sole reason of eating breakfast - okay, wait. That could be extreme, but if you'd had one of the steamed custard buns, you'd understand.
Walking outside I was met with a sure sign that today was going to be a muggy Wonderland of Fun - my glasses fogged up. This was at 8:30. The weather card left in the room predicted 95% humidity today, and I don't think that was too high of an estimate at all. In fact, throughout the day, it looked like the sky could open up at any moment and just unleash a torrential downpour of rain. Luckily, that never happened. It did, however, create a very overcast and foggy environment. Part of me wonders how Hong Kong would have looked in sunshine, but since it was so stinking hot as it was, maybe it was better off foggy!
Our first stop was Victoria Peak, which is the highest natural point in Hong Kong. We took a cable car to the top of the peak. Unfortunately, the view of the Hong Kong skyline was less than desirable because of the massive amount of fog, but I did have the opportunity to do a little souvenir shopping. Using Hong Kong dollars is crazy. I had only exchanged $50, since we are going to be here for such a short time. That netted me $375 Hong Kong dollars. For whatever reason I kept thinking that things cost WAY more than what they did! For example, I decided to buy a cheap folding fan. The price was $7 HKD. I thought it was ridiculous to pay that much for a cheap folding fan until I remembered that it was only around $1 US. This may be the first time in my life that I am having trouble spending money! I am actually going to have Hong Kong dollars to exchange into the Chinese renminbi. Very strange. I was able to score some Hong Kong velvet wall art for my classroom as well. All in all, great time!
We next traveled tons of windy roads to drive past Repulse Bay and its beaches to the Stanley Market. The Stanley Market is full of all kinds of little stands. I would say that it is definitely oriented to tourists, but that's not always a bad thing. One of the things that I wanted to get in China was my own chop, or signature stamp. Our faculty adviser, Richard Bohr, is fluent in Cantonese (the language spoken in Hong Kong) and was able to negotiate a special price for us, and I ended up getting my chop with my name carved in it, with the phonetic Chinese symbol for "Emily", some red ink, and a box to keep it in for a ridiculously low price of around $13 US. The name on the stamp says "Michelle" instead of "Micky" or "Emily" but it's just so cool that they carved it there today, on my own little stamp with my Chinese zodiac sign of the rabbit on it, that I really don't mind that much.
There are a couple of times on the tour that we have to make "factory visits." Apparently the tour company that we are using gets some kickbacks if we buy something there, so they are scheduled throughout. We were just told to grin and bear them. Today's special visit was to a jewelry factory. The introduction took about five minutes, the "tour" all of one minute as we passed by two workers, and then we were taken into a large showroom where we could buy the goods. I bought nothing as the jewelry was outrageous in price, but I did manage to find a machine where you could get a free cup of soft drink. Woo hoo! Yay for freebies! Too bad it wasn't the jewelry!
We then took the bus to another harbor, and had a sanpan boat tour of the Aberdeen Fishing Village, the only floating fishing village left in Hong Kong. If you've seen pictures of the "junk" boats all ti4ed up next to each other, you've seen what I saw today. To me it felt a little intrusive, like I was spying on these people, but it appears that tours of this area are a good industry, so maybe in some way they benefited from it. After the tour, which took around 25 minutes or so, we ate at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant and had a Cantonese Dim Sum lunch. This was SOOOOO good! All kinds of dumplings, rice, and soup, and a fantastic mango pudding at the end. I absolutely loved it. It was nice also to sit for a while and talk to members of the group and just hang out. There are some really cool people in the group!
Lunch was definitely filling, and the next part of our day brought nap time to many - a 40-minute drive to Lanpau Island to see the Giant Buddha. We took a cable car (!!!) to get there, which was a 25-minute ride. It was AMAZING!!!! Up at the top, we walked through the Ngong Ping village to the Giant Buddha, which like everything else today, was wrapped in fog. You had to climb the 300+ steps to get up to it, which was intense due to the altitude and the fact that I am fat, but it was pretty cool up at the top. Had the sun been shining I surely would have died, but it was nice to be up there. My pictures aren't great at all because of the fog, but I still know that I was there. Before getting back on the cable car to go down the mountain, I bought a bottle of Pocari Sweat, my favorite drink from Japan, and was able to sit on a bench and do some people watching.
After arriving back at the hotel, Mona and I decided to walk along the harbor front to the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars - think of Hollywood's Walk of Fame and you have its American equivalent. I took a picture of Bruce Lee's statue against the Hong Kong skyline, and then we walked around a bit more to find some food. We ended up in a French deli across the street from the hotel. It was really tasty, and cheap! It felt good to sit down in air conditioning and relax for a bit. It was a perfect way to end a very jam-packed day!
Location: Royal Garden Hotel, Hong Kong
Tooth Update: Other than my tongue continuously playing with it, nothing to report.
Weather Update: Foggy, muggy, hot, hot, hot.
Monday Evening, Having Lost a Day - June 14
Today was LONG. IT was the flight out of Chicago, in all of its 15.5 hour wonder. For some reason I thought that the flight would lift off at 4:30, but it turns out that we were to leave around 12:45 or so. I am not sure at all where I got that time. Nevertheless, it finally was clear why we had to meet downstairs at 8:30. We walked off and did a group check-in for the flight, which was very speedy, and then to security. I've been through security at O'Hare, and let me tell you - it isn't pretty. But for whatever reason, it was a BREEZE! INSANE! I was in and out of there in no time at all. The biggest excitement of the day came when I went to check my luggage, featuring my new rolling duffle bag. I was allowed up to 50 pounds, and my luggage came in at 30.9 pounds! EXCELLENT! I must have finally learned how to pack, or I have forgotten something drastically important.
Upon arriving at our gate at Concourse C, I had a meeting the others who had arrived late because of weather. The remainder of the time was spent getting to know others in the group. So far it looks like a really fun group, maybe just one or two that will keep lagging behind (I figure if you can't get to where you need to be on the first day, we're going to have issues - I really hope that I am wrong). The biggest crack-up of the pre-boarding time was listening to Alan, a teacher from Indy, describe in detail the numerous diseases that we could contract while in China. It sounds like many of the teachers went out and fully armed themselves with every immunization known to man. I didn't. I believe that I will be fine, but if I am not, that's why I bought extra trip insurance! I may be acting a bit too loosely with this, but life is too short to worry all of the time!
We boarded out 747 jumbo jet for our non-stop to Hong Kong. I shared a row with Mona (my roommate from Bloomington) and Shari. It was nice to have a row with people from the group. I hate asking strangers to move so that I can get up, and when you have a window seat such as I did, you have to ask often. I actually felt a little motion sickness from time to time, which is weird for me as I usually have no trouble flying. But, it was long, and very turbulent, so there's my excuse! Lots of TV shows, lots of movies, and lots of bad airline food later (with the exception of the ramen noodle snack - pretty tasty!), we finally landed in Hong Kong. The only real highlights of the trip for me was being able to see the Arctic Ocean and Russia. I was sad and disappointed that I couldn't read SkyMall - one of these days I'll remember that you don't find those on international flights - duty free catalog, yes, but definitely not to Sky Mall.
Getting through Immigration was a piece of cake, and through Customs the icing on that cake. Hong Kong seems laid back! One of the signs in the airport said that it is the 4th busiest international airport in the world. Not hard to believe. I did get to see the Chinese health officials whose job is to check you for fever when you come into the country. I didn't see any of the laser guns that I had heard about - I think it was just a large general area that we walked through. We met Linda, our city guide, who escorted us to our bus. We had about a 40-minute drive to the part of the city that we are staying in. We drove past Hong Kong Disneyland, but I didn't get to see it. Very sad. When we arrived at the hotel, we jumped off, and I was hit with a blasting wave of heat and humidity. The hair grew, people. It grew. We got our room keys, and were able to freshen up very quickly before we met downstairs in the lobby to walk to dinner. We ate at a Cantonese restaurant, one of those places where the dishes keep coming and coming. I really have no idea what I ate, but my favorite was the steamed spicy eggplant. My goal is to try everything that is put in front of me, even the dessert...and you may be questioning why I would ever question dessert. Well, kids, it's really simple...an old nemesis of mine is back...
The Red Bean.
When I was in Japan, the red bean was everywhere. It showed up in dumplings, pastries, you name it! Well, it showed up at my dinner...in the form of red bean soup. I tried it. I didn't like it. But I tried it, and that is all that matters! For a girl who doesn't like beans, the red bean in any form is a force to be reckoned with, and I defeated it again!
We were divided into two groups for dinner, and most of my group had left prior to the red bean soup. I would have joined the other group but everyone was still there. Part of me wanted to go out and walk to the waterfront to take pictures, but I felt kind of weird waiting for people to finish their meal. Cindy was the last person at my table besides myself, and she wanted to hit the 7-11 to buy a bottle of water, so we did that. That was a bit of culture shock - the bottle of water cost me about $7.50. Insane, right? But that is in Hong Kong dollars - it was really right around $1. I only changed over around $50 US dollars here since we will be in Hong Kong such a short time. We'll see how it all works out! I then came back to the hotel room, got things ready for the next day of touring, and fell immediately asleep.
Location: Hong Kong, Royal Garden Hotel
Tooth Update: Some pressure on the flight, but nothing painful. Hates red bean as much as I do.
Weather Update: Like someone keeps slapping you with a hot wet towel. And that's at night.
Saturday Evening
So, I FINALLY made it to Chicago. It took forever. My flight lifted off at around 7:45, but because of the thunderstorms, we had to reroute around St. Louis and come up from that direction. That added about an hour onto our flight. The only thing good that I can say about this is that United was very thoughtful when it added fuel to our tank so that we wouldn't run out midair. It's the little reassuring things that make flying so fun, you know?
Unfortunately, I had to miss the meeting, and by the time I ran from Terminal B to Terminal A to get my luggage and then back to Terminal B to check into the O'Hare Hilton, I almost missed dinner. To be honest, dinner was pretty much over, and people were getting up and leaving, but I was encouraged to go ahead and get some dinner. I was starving - famished, really - but I felt bad at the group leaders having to wait on me, so I ordered a salad. It was a good one though! Field greens with strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, and feta cheese with a raspberry vinaigrette. I did manage to get a little dressing on my shirt, so the first Shout wipe came out. Sigh.
I think I need sleep as I am starting to feel violent. Wait, I've felt like that all day!!
Location: Chicago O'Hare Hilton
Tooth Update: Enjoyed salad greatly. The gritting of me teeth in frustration throughout the day was probably a bad idea.
Weather Update: Haven't been outside, but I did see a puddle, so I guess the storms were real.
It's a lot to read. But it's good!!
Saturday - June 19
This morning I got up early and went out with Cindy to check out Yangshuo while it was relatively cool and less crowded. We stopped in a local supermarket where Cindy was able to buy a giant Coke (maybe 1.5 liter?) for around 75 cents. We then found a cave entrance that had a large statue of Kwan Yin outside. My Indian mythology is pretty bad, but I believe that she is a goddess of mercy that has been adopted by many Buddhists in China.
Our first - and really only - stop today was the village of Xingping. We got REALLY lucky today as boat tours were allowed on the Li River. We went out for maybe an hour or so. The original plan was to disembark at the Xingping fishing village, but the water was still way too high to make that a safe idea. It was still a great cruise though! Beautiful scenery through the karst limestone mountains. A man boated up to our boat with his comorant birds and we could have our picture taken with them for 2 yuan (45 cents or so). It was fun and a relaxing boat trip.
The rest of the day was kind of boring as it was spent in transit. We rode back to Yangshuo, had lunch at the hotel, then bussed up to Guilin to the airport. We hung around there for several hours until our two hour flight to Nanjing.
Location: Ramada Plaza, Nanjing
Tooth Update: No issues.
Weather Update: Today wasn't bad - and the sun finally came out!
Friday - June 18
Today started a bit earlier than yesterday - 8:20, but I didn't mind much because I was really excited about the boat trip that we were going to take from Guilin to Yangshuo. When we got to the lobby, we got some good news and some bad news. For the good, it looked like it wasn't going to rain today. For the bad, because of all of the rain, the Li River was excessively high, and even if its depth wasn't a problem, the speed of its current would be. It just wouldn't be safe to go out on the river. I admit to being a little bummed. Last night we found out that the light show that we were supposed to see on the river tonight was cancelled because of the flooding, and I was worried that we would be left to do things on our own today. Luckily, we had a good twist of luck!
We visited the Guilin Art Museum where we were able to watch a demonstration of Chinese water painting. It was pretty cool! I had a chance to watch the artist paint a piece for me, and then purchase it, of course! It took him all of five minutes to create a lovely bamboo painting. I was impressed! I then had another chop made. I chose a round shape this time - the last was square - and this time I just had the Chinese symbols carved, without the English added. I recorded the guy carving the chop. So cool!!!
We then settled in for a 1.5 hour bus ride to Yangshuo. Our ride took us through some pretty stunning landscapes. Our driver pulled over so that we could get some pictures. The mountains here are very old and are karst, which gives them a very distinctive shape. Before I knew it, we had arrived in Yangshuo and then we checked into the New Century Hotel. Our lunch, which we were supposed to eat on the boat, was substituted with a fantastic meal at the hotel, which featured these AMAZING deep fried sweet potato dumplings. Seriously, one of the best things I have eaten so far! It was just like eating candy.
Our only appointment for the day was a visit to the Omeida Language School, which required us to change into our "nice" clothes. We had a tour of the school. It was so hot and humid today that the stairs were a special challenge. Both the steps and the banisters were slick, and in some places even the walls were wet! We then went to the classrooms in small groups. I went to a Basic Business Communications class. The students in this class had been learning English for a while, and were very good at conversing. The teacher led them through a 20-minute review, and then Wayne and I led a 20-minute Q&A period about life in the US. After that, we headed to the rooftop cafeteria to meet in small groups with the students. I spent a long time talking to a student named Jenny. She was VERY interested in the United States, and she had done her research! It was a lot of fun talking to her, and I gave her my e-mail address so that we can hopefully write back and forth.
After the school visit, it was back to the hotel to change, and then we had a free evening ahead of us. Mona, Edith, Dave and I stopped for pizza. Shocking that I would eat pizza out somewhere, I know. As I have mentioned before, the prices here are ridiculous, and dinner was no different. I wish the US was this cheap! After dinner we wandered up and down West Street, a pretty busy shopping avenue. It was very touristy, but fun and exciting at the same time. Another good day down!
Location: New Century Hotel, Yangshuo
Tooth Update: A bit of pressure today. Not sure what is up with that.
Weather Update: Sunny at last! The humidity must be at 99% though. It is sticky nasty out.
Thursday - June 17
Today we got to sleep in a bit considering that we had been up late the night before - what a bunch of partiers we are! While at breakfast, I saw a teenage boy wearing an Indiana basketball t-shirt. Weird, so I went up and asked him where he was from. He told me Louisville, I told him that I was from Corydon. His mom then came up to me and told me that they were actually from Sellersburg! Imagine going halfway around the world to find people from Sellersburg at your hotel breakfast! It doesn't stop there - it turned out that they were there as part of a large group of young men from St. X High School in Louisville. The lobby was practically swarming with these guys! They were really helpful in telling me how to get onto the internet and were just really nice overall. So, a big shout out to Rick Ayers and the guys from St. X!!
We left at 10:00 this morning to head out to the Longji Rice Terraces. The weather was MISERABLE. Considerable downpours, and we had heard that there had been deaths in the part of China that I am currently in due to mudslides caused by the rain. So what did we do? That's right - head right into the belly of the beast, as Longji is located at the top of a mountain. The road was crazy getting there - all kinds of hairpin turns and small rockslides over the road. It was a white knuckle ride, I can tell you that! We stopped at the Zhuang minority village for a bathroom break, where people came out and tried to sell us stuff, and then later on at the Yao village. We stopped here to transfer to a smaller bus (easier to get up the road), and I made friends with a Yao woman who desperately wanted to sell me some postcards. I kept telling her no, and she kept saying "Maybe later." She gestured that she would have her eyes on me when I came back down the mountain. She cracked me up. Yao women are known for their long hair, which can be two meters long, and how it is knotted on their heads. Google it. It was very interesting. When we got a little further up, the road ended, and we then had to take the steps.
I'm not sure how many steps I climbed, but it had to easily have been 1,000. I'm not kidding. No handrails, slick with rain...people, I could have died at any moment. But back to the sheer number of stairs...I was HURTING. The village was spread up the mountain path, so there were plenty of people around trying to sell me things. The size and length of the climb really surprised me - in fact, I had no idea that this was going to happen. But let me tell you, I am so glad that I did it. The view at the top was absolutely stunning, even on a rainy foggy day. I drank some herbal Long Ji tea at the top, was able to haggle with shoppers on the way down the mountain, have an excellent lunch halfway down the hill. It was so much fun. I bought some pretty amazing things and had a whole bag of stuff for which I only paid about $22 USD. Isn't that crazy?! But I have to admit - I was exhausted, and glad to get back on the bus. When we transferred, my new Yao friend was there and I bought postcards from her as promised.
When we got back to Guilin, Mona and I decided that all of that climbing had taken a toll on us, and that a massage was in order. We could have left the hotel to do this, and it probably would have been cheaper, but the chance to get a full body massage for 60 minutes at the bargain basement price of just under $30 doesn't happen much. The massage was extremely painful but felt SOOOOO fantastic. Definitely a good investment and one that I am glad that I made!
Today has been an excellent day. I'm a pretty lucky girl.
Location: Guilin Bravo Hotel, Guilin
Tooth Update: Felt some pressure on the mountain, but subsided when I came out of the clouds.
Weather Update: Rainy this morning, but cleared up. Sun stayed away but the temperature was fantastic.
Wednesday - June 16
This morning we left Hong Kong to go to the border. Yes, that's right - the border. You see, even though Hong Kong is in China, it is a special region (technically a Special Administration Region), and you have to have special permission to go back and forth across the border. Tricky stuff, isn't it? To be quite honest, it surprised me quite a bit. I figured that when Hong Kong reverted back to China after the British handed it over in 1997 that it would be China, period. Not the case. Immigration was surprisingly easy though. It was interesting to step over the line in the building that marked administration by Hong Kong and administration by China.
We met Michael Gallagher when we arrived in Shenzhen, the first new locale of the day. We had talked with Michael via Skype during our orientation in Bloomington, and he arranged a tour for us in Shenzhen. We first met him at the Urban Planning Building where he gave us a brief overview of the city and how it has grown since being declared a Special Economic Zone in China. The room was HOT, but since I had my special $1 fan from yesterday, I was able to be the envy of everyone in the room. We then checked out a computer simulation room where urban planners can digitize potential building plans and put them into a digital map of Shenzhen. It allows them to see what it would look like in the end. It was pretty cool! Michael then took us on a bus tour of Shenzhen. We saw some urban minority villages - don't let the word "village" mislead you though. These are pockets in the city where minority villages were once located, but now they are a collection of high rise apartment building where minorities and migrant workers live. The closest thing that we would have to those are what we would call tenement houses or slums. They were pretty sad. Michael's tour was heavy on urban planning and architecture, but we did manage to see some other places. We visited the Green Oasis school, an international school in Shenzhen. We also visited the Dafen Oil Painting Village, which was interesting. We saw an art exhibit there, but overall I was a little disappointed in Dafen. I thought that we were going to be able to visit some artist studios, but apparently what Dafen is known for has been outsourced to the surrounding area. Art here was ridiculously overpriced. Needless to say, I didn't buy any!
Our lunch stop today was chosen especially by Michael in light of the fact that we would not be visiting the Szechuan region of China. So, we went to a Szechuan restaurant! VERY good food, and very spicy. Definitely the best meal of the trip so far, but that seems to keep happening with each and every day. However, I can't say the same for dinner. We had a long day that kept getting longer, and we got to the airport to fly to Guilin a bit later than expected. By the time that we got checked in, we only had an hour before boarding and 25 people to feed. Where does a person go when faced with this dilemma in China? That's right - you go to KFC! I had chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes with gravy - and a desire to NEVER eat mashed potatoes in an Asian country ever again! Blech! After wolfing that down and getting through security, we got to our gate only to find out that our flight had been postponed from 9:30 to 11:00. Since there was a delay, the airline promptly handed out a meal and water. Can you believe that?!?! I didn't eat it since I had just scarfed down my KFC, but I was blown away by an airline making amends for creating an inconvenience for their customers. Once aboard the flight, I immediately conked out. The flight seemed like it was 5 minutes long! We finally got to our hotel in Guilin around 2, and I was out by 2:15. A definite long day in China!
Location: Guilin Bravo Hotel, Guilin
Tooth Update: Loves Szechuan food.
Weather Update:: Hot and steamy in Shenzhen, but no rain!
Tuesday - June 15
3:30 am. Most people are asleep. Most aren't experiencing jet lag. Amy, my roommate and I, are wide awake then. We finally said to heck with it, and just got up. I was able to finish up typing out yesterday's blog, and as I did so, was worried the entire time about how I was going to feel later on that evening. I read a little bit and managed to get another hour of sleep. Around 7:00 I went down to breakfast - oh, breakfast! I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Asian breakfasts! Yes, there was standard Western fare - bacon, eggs, and the like - but there was miso soup! And shark fin dumplings! And wonderfully tasty noodles! I am actually looking forward to tomorrow for the sole reason of eating breakfast - okay, wait. That could be extreme, but if you'd had one of the steamed custard buns, you'd understand.
Walking outside I was met with a sure sign that today was going to be a muggy Wonderland of Fun - my glasses fogged up. This was at 8:30. The weather card left in the room predicted 95% humidity today, and I don't think that was too high of an estimate at all. In fact, throughout the day, it looked like the sky could open up at any moment and just unleash a torrential downpour of rain. Luckily, that never happened. It did, however, create a very overcast and foggy environment. Part of me wonders how Hong Kong would have looked in sunshine, but since it was so stinking hot as it was, maybe it was better off foggy!
Our first stop was Victoria Peak, which is the highest natural point in Hong Kong. We took a cable car to the top of the peak. Unfortunately, the view of the Hong Kong skyline was less than desirable because of the massive amount of fog, but I did have the opportunity to do a little souvenir shopping. Using Hong Kong dollars is crazy. I had only exchanged $50, since we are going to be here for such a short time. That netted me $375 Hong Kong dollars. For whatever reason I kept thinking that things cost WAY more than what they did! For example, I decided to buy a cheap folding fan. The price was $7 HKD. I thought it was ridiculous to pay that much for a cheap folding fan until I remembered that it was only around $1 US. This may be the first time in my life that I am having trouble spending money! I am actually going to have Hong Kong dollars to exchange into the Chinese renminbi. Very strange. I was able to score some Hong Kong velvet wall art for my classroom as well. All in all, great time!
We next traveled tons of windy roads to drive past Repulse Bay and its beaches to the Stanley Market. The Stanley Market is full of all kinds of little stands. I would say that it is definitely oriented to tourists, but that's not always a bad thing. One of the things that I wanted to get in China was my own chop, or signature stamp. Our faculty adviser, Richard Bohr, is fluent in Cantonese (the language spoken in Hong Kong) and was able to negotiate a special price for us, and I ended up getting my chop with my name carved in it, with the phonetic Chinese symbol for "Emily", some red ink, and a box to keep it in for a ridiculously low price of around $13 US. The name on the stamp says "Michelle" instead of "Micky" or "Emily" but it's just so cool that they carved it there today, on my own little stamp with my Chinese zodiac sign of the rabbit on it, that I really don't mind that much.
There are a couple of times on the tour that we have to make "factory visits." Apparently the tour company that we are using gets some kickbacks if we buy something there, so they are scheduled throughout. We were just told to grin and bear them. Today's special visit was to a jewelry factory. The introduction took about five minutes, the "tour" all of one minute as we passed by two workers, and then we were taken into a large showroom where we could buy the goods. I bought nothing as the jewelry was outrageous in price, but I did manage to find a machine where you could get a free cup of soft drink. Woo hoo! Yay for freebies! Too bad it wasn't the jewelry!
We then took the bus to another harbor, and had a sanpan boat tour of the Aberdeen Fishing Village, the only floating fishing village left in Hong Kong. If you've seen pictures of the "junk" boats all ti4ed up next to each other, you've seen what I saw today. To me it felt a little intrusive, like I was spying on these people, but it appears that tours of this area are a good industry, so maybe in some way they benefited from it. After the tour, which took around 25 minutes or so, we ate at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant and had a Cantonese Dim Sum lunch. This was SOOOOO good! All kinds of dumplings, rice, and soup, and a fantastic mango pudding at the end. I absolutely loved it. It was nice also to sit for a while and talk to members of the group and just hang out. There are some really cool people in the group!
Lunch was definitely filling, and the next part of our day brought nap time to many - a 40-minute drive to Lanpau Island to see the Giant Buddha. We took a cable car (!!!) to get there, which was a 25-minute ride. It was AMAZING!!!! Up at the top, we walked through the Ngong Ping village to the Giant Buddha, which like everything else today, was wrapped in fog. You had to climb the 300+ steps to get up to it, which was intense due to the altitude and the fact that I am fat, but it was pretty cool up at the top. Had the sun been shining I surely would have died, but it was nice to be up there. My pictures aren't great at all because of the fog, but I still know that I was there. Before getting back on the cable car to go down the mountain, I bought a bottle of Pocari Sweat, my favorite drink from Japan, and was able to sit on a bench and do some people watching.
After arriving back at the hotel, Mona and I decided to walk along the harbor front to the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars - think of Hollywood's Walk of Fame and you have its American equivalent. I took a picture of Bruce Lee's statue against the Hong Kong skyline, and then we walked around a bit more to find some food. We ended up in a French deli across the street from the hotel. It was really tasty, and cheap! It felt good to sit down in air conditioning and relax for a bit. It was a perfect way to end a very jam-packed day!
Location: Royal Garden Hotel, Hong Kong
Tooth Update: Other than my tongue continuously playing with it, nothing to report.
Weather Update: Foggy, muggy, hot, hot, hot.
Monday Evening, Having Lost a Day - June 14
Today was LONG. IT was the flight out of Chicago, in all of its 15.5 hour wonder. For some reason I thought that the flight would lift off at 4:30, but it turns out that we were to leave around 12:45 or so. I am not sure at all where I got that time. Nevertheless, it finally was clear why we had to meet downstairs at 8:30. We walked off and did a group check-in for the flight, which was very speedy, and then to security. I've been through security at O'Hare, and let me tell you - it isn't pretty. But for whatever reason, it was a BREEZE! INSANE! I was in and out of there in no time at all. The biggest excitement of the day came when I went to check my luggage, featuring my new rolling duffle bag. I was allowed up to 50 pounds, and my luggage came in at 30.9 pounds! EXCELLENT! I must have finally learned how to pack, or I have forgotten something drastically important.
Upon arriving at our gate at Concourse C, I had a meeting the others who had arrived late because of weather. The remainder of the time was spent getting to know others in the group. So far it looks like a really fun group, maybe just one or two that will keep lagging behind (I figure if you can't get to where you need to be on the first day, we're going to have issues - I really hope that I am wrong). The biggest crack-up of the pre-boarding time was listening to Alan, a teacher from Indy, describe in detail the numerous diseases that we could contract while in China. It sounds like many of the teachers went out and fully armed themselves with every immunization known to man. I didn't. I believe that I will be fine, but if I am not, that's why I bought extra trip insurance! I may be acting a bit too loosely with this, but life is too short to worry all of the time!
We boarded out 747 jumbo jet for our non-stop to Hong Kong. I shared a row with Mona (my roommate from Bloomington) and Shari. It was nice to have a row with people from the group. I hate asking strangers to move so that I can get up, and when you have a window seat such as I did, you have to ask often. I actually felt a little motion sickness from time to time, which is weird for me as I usually have no trouble flying. But, it was long, and very turbulent, so there's my excuse! Lots of TV shows, lots of movies, and lots of bad airline food later (with the exception of the ramen noodle snack - pretty tasty!), we finally landed in Hong Kong. The only real highlights of the trip for me was being able to see the Arctic Ocean and Russia. I was sad and disappointed that I couldn't read SkyMall - one of these days I'll remember that you don't find those on international flights - duty free catalog, yes, but definitely not to Sky Mall.
Getting through Immigration was a piece of cake, and through Customs the icing on that cake. Hong Kong seems laid back! One of the signs in the airport said that it is the 4th busiest international airport in the world. Not hard to believe. I did get to see the Chinese health officials whose job is to check you for fever when you come into the country. I didn't see any of the laser guns that I had heard about - I think it was just a large general area that we walked through. We met Linda, our city guide, who escorted us to our bus. We had about a 40-minute drive to the part of the city that we are staying in. We drove past Hong Kong Disneyland, but I didn't get to see it. Very sad. When we arrived at the hotel, we jumped off, and I was hit with a blasting wave of heat and humidity. The hair grew, people. It grew. We got our room keys, and were able to freshen up very quickly before we met downstairs in the lobby to walk to dinner. We ate at a Cantonese restaurant, one of those places where the dishes keep coming and coming. I really have no idea what I ate, but my favorite was the steamed spicy eggplant. My goal is to try everything that is put in front of me, even the dessert...and you may be questioning why I would ever question dessert. Well, kids, it's really simple...an old nemesis of mine is back...
The Red Bean.
When I was in Japan, the red bean was everywhere. It showed up in dumplings, pastries, you name it! Well, it showed up at my dinner...in the form of red bean soup. I tried it. I didn't like it. But I tried it, and that is all that matters! For a girl who doesn't like beans, the red bean in any form is a force to be reckoned with, and I defeated it again!
We were divided into two groups for dinner, and most of my group had left prior to the red bean soup. I would have joined the other group but everyone was still there. Part of me wanted to go out and walk to the waterfront to take pictures, but I felt kind of weird waiting for people to finish their meal. Cindy was the last person at my table besides myself, and she wanted to hit the 7-11 to buy a bottle of water, so we did that. That was a bit of culture shock - the bottle of water cost me about $7.50. Insane, right? But that is in Hong Kong dollars - it was really right around $1. I only changed over around $50 US dollars here since we will be in Hong Kong such a short time. We'll see how it all works out! I then came back to the hotel room, got things ready for the next day of touring, and fell immediately asleep.
Location: Hong Kong, Royal Garden Hotel
Tooth Update: Some pressure on the flight, but nothing painful. Hates red bean as much as I do.
Weather Update: Like someone keeps slapping you with a hot wet towel. And that's at night.
Saturday Evening
So, I FINALLY made it to Chicago. It took forever. My flight lifted off at around 7:45, but because of the thunderstorms, we had to reroute around St. Louis and come up from that direction. That added about an hour onto our flight. The only thing good that I can say about this is that United was very thoughtful when it added fuel to our tank so that we wouldn't run out midair. It's the little reassuring things that make flying so fun, you know?
Unfortunately, I had to miss the meeting, and by the time I ran from Terminal B to Terminal A to get my luggage and then back to Terminal B to check into the O'Hare Hilton, I almost missed dinner. To be honest, dinner was pretty much over, and people were getting up and leaving, but I was encouraged to go ahead and get some dinner. I was starving - famished, really - but I felt bad at the group leaders having to wait on me, so I ordered a salad. It was a good one though! Field greens with strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, and feta cheese with a raspberry vinaigrette. I did manage to get a little dressing on my shirt, so the first Shout wipe came out. Sigh.
I think I need sleep as I am starting to feel violent. Wait, I've felt like that all day!!
Location: Chicago O'Hare Hilton
Tooth Update: Enjoyed salad greatly. The gritting of me teeth in frustration throughout the day was probably a bad idea.
Weather Update: Haven't been outside, but I did see a puddle, so I guess the storms were real.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Seriously?!?!
It's 4:00. I'm in Louisville. At the airport. Which is bad considering that my flight to Chicago was supposed to leave at 3:12. NOT a happy camper at the moment. There is one, count her, one agent working a MULTITUDE of flights that have been delayed due to thunderstorms in Chicago. The weird thing is that the screens listed my flight as being on time, United's website listed it as on time, and when I called the United toll free line, the guy wondered why I wasn't on the plane. But he helpfully told me that I was due to land in Chicago at 7:11 pm CST. (Just heard that my flight is leaving at 7:44 EST). Interesting. The bad news is that I am going to miss the group orientation, and even more importantly, the group orientation dinner. The good news is that anyone flying into Chicago right now is facing the same problem, so I am sure that I won't be alone once I get to the airport. It just REALLY frustrates me that I can't get any information as to what is going on. I do, however, have a tiny piece of paper with the numer "34" on it, given to me by one of the policemen patrolling the area (there are MANY angry people). The agent is working with person with the number 4 for about an hour now, so I figure I'll get to talk to her sometime on Monday.
Location: Louisville International Airport
Tooth Update: Who cares. My head hurts more than the tooth ever did. It's still there with no danger of being hurt as I am not eating anything.
Weather Update: Clear and hot here. Thunderstormy in Chicago.
Location: Louisville International Airport
Tooth Update: Who cares. My head hurts more than the tooth ever did. It's still there with no danger of being hurt as I am not eating anything.
Weather Update: Clear and hot here. Thunderstormy in Chicago.
Luggage Update!
Last night around 2:00 in the morning I decided that my suitcase was ridiculous, and I repacked it! Goodbye, coat! I have a wrap, and one of those cheap pocket ponchos, so I am set there. I chucked three shirts, so expect to see pics of me wearing the same clothes over and over again. I cut back on the samples (go me!), repacked my backpack into another pack (MUCH more comfortable), and now my suitcase feels much better. Well, at least I feel better!
I had a hard time sleeping last night - just excited about the trip and getting going. I'm reading a HILARIOUS book right now called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles which is about the Americanization of Chinese food. I'm only halfway through, and it's not going with me. Kind of makes me sad, but I'll have it to read when I get home. Check it out! I found my copy at Half Price Books. Love that place.
Location: Corydon, IN
Tooth Update: Still hanging in there. Literally. It's a top molar.
Weather Update: No idea. Have yet to go outside.
I had a hard time sleeping last night - just excited about the trip and getting going. I'm reading a HILARIOUS book right now called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles which is about the Americanization of Chinese food. I'm only halfway through, and it's not going with me. Kind of makes me sad, but I'll have it to read when I get home. Check it out! I found my copy at Half Price Books. Love that place.
Location: Corydon, IN
Tooth Update: Still hanging in there. Literally. It's a top molar.
Weather Update: No idea. Have yet to go outside.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Whaddya mean there's only one more day?
Seriously. Somehow time just managed to slip right on by me. I thought that I had everything taken care of, and all of a sudden today shows up and rears its ugly head. Yes, boys and girls, it's time for another round of "Oh Crap! I Leave Tomorrow!"
School FINALLY ended (Am I going out on a limb here by saying that this has been the most trying year of my teaching career? Probably. Oh well. It's the truth). I decided that the best possible way to end such a perfect year was by busting up a tooth at lunch on the very last work day. LOTS of pain later, I had a partial root canal which will hopefully get me through the next three weeks without any problems. That was Monday. Yesterday (Thursday, for those of you keeping track) I busted the side out of the same tooth and had to go have it sanded down. This trip may become known as the Trip of the Tooth. I will be obsessing about said tooth for the next four weeks (three in China, one in Philadelphia) until I can get back here and have it fully fixed. Until then, expect updates on the tooth as the trip progresses.
For some odd reason, the same bag that I packed and took to Bloomington over a month ago has suddenly become heavier. I know I am under the 50lb mark, but this is ridiculous. My luggage can't exceed 44lbs in China. I am wondering how much my underwear really weighs and how much it will reduce suitcase weight by (as in all other trips, the underwear gets left behind) as I go, how badly I really need to take a coat when I am going to one of the four "furnaces" of China (hello, Nanjing!), and why I feel the need to bring a sample size of everything. Luckily, I can chuck most of this as I go, but things are getting out of hand. So it made perfect sense that I would try to repack the suitcase into a smaller unit. Whatever. That was a good 25 minutes I'll never get back!
For the most part, I am relaxed about the trip. I do admit to being a bit apprehensive though, which shocks me quite a bit. I'm all about travel - I'd pretty much go anywhere on someone else's dime. But this trip worries me a bit. How will I be perceived as an American? Friend or foe? Am I a target? These are worries that get to anyone traveling, and I know from experience that I will be fine, but this is China for crying out loud. I am excited and thrilled to be going, but part of me is a little worried. I am sure I will be fine once I get there. Maybe I am just worried about the water!!
I leave tomorrow at 3:30 for Chicago, where I will conveniently land at 3:35 (oh, the power of time zone changes...). I have a group meeting at 5:00 and then a group dinner. I don't actually leave for Hong Kong until Sunday. Not sure how much connection charges are at the grand O'Hare Hilton or in O'Hare itself, so be prepared for a lenghty bit of time without word from yours truly.
Wish me luck!
Location: Corydon, IN
Tooth Update: Still there. Tongue won't leave it alone. Envision it to have strange iceberg shape.
Weather Update: Unhappily hot and humid. I actually turned on the AC today.
School FINALLY ended (Am I going out on a limb here by saying that this has been the most trying year of my teaching career? Probably. Oh well. It's the truth). I decided that the best possible way to end such a perfect year was by busting up a tooth at lunch on the very last work day. LOTS of pain later, I had a partial root canal which will hopefully get me through the next three weeks without any problems. That was Monday. Yesterday (Thursday, for those of you keeping track) I busted the side out of the same tooth and had to go have it sanded down. This trip may become known as the Trip of the Tooth. I will be obsessing about said tooth for the next four weeks (three in China, one in Philadelphia) until I can get back here and have it fully fixed. Until then, expect updates on the tooth as the trip progresses.
For some odd reason, the same bag that I packed and took to Bloomington over a month ago has suddenly become heavier. I know I am under the 50lb mark, but this is ridiculous. My luggage can't exceed 44lbs in China. I am wondering how much my underwear really weighs and how much it will reduce suitcase weight by (as in all other trips, the underwear gets left behind) as I go, how badly I really need to take a coat when I am going to one of the four "furnaces" of China (hello, Nanjing!), and why I feel the need to bring a sample size of everything. Luckily, I can chuck most of this as I go, but things are getting out of hand. So it made perfect sense that I would try to repack the suitcase into a smaller unit. Whatever. That was a good 25 minutes I'll never get back!
For the most part, I am relaxed about the trip. I do admit to being a bit apprehensive though, which shocks me quite a bit. I'm all about travel - I'd pretty much go anywhere on someone else's dime. But this trip worries me a bit. How will I be perceived as an American? Friend or foe? Am I a target? These are worries that get to anyone traveling, and I know from experience that I will be fine, but this is China for crying out loud. I am excited and thrilled to be going, but part of me is a little worried. I am sure I will be fine once I get there. Maybe I am just worried about the water!!
I leave tomorrow at 3:30 for Chicago, where I will conveniently land at 3:35 (oh, the power of time zone changes...). I have a group meeting at 5:00 and then a group dinner. I don't actually leave for Hong Kong until Sunday. Not sure how much connection charges are at the grand O'Hare Hilton or in O'Hare itself, so be prepared for a lenghty bit of time without word from yours truly.
Wish me luck!
Location: Corydon, IN
Tooth Update: Still there. Tongue won't leave it alone. Envision it to have strange iceberg shape.
Weather Update: Unhappily hot and humid. I actually turned on the AC today.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Bloomington Orientation
Well, the big pull for me to the orientation was to get the itinerary. I've been dying to know where we will be going, and was THRILLED to find out that we were going to places other than Shanghai, Xi'an, and Beijing. I admit to being a little bummed that there is no time for Hong Kong Disneyland (a girl can dream), but there are SOOOOOO many fun things to do that the disappointment quickly left. I'm extremely lucky to be going on this trip, and no Disney park is going to stand in my way, darn it!
The orientation was a lot of fun. I met all of the trip participants, and I think that we are going to be a good group. My roommate for the night Mona was a blast, and I am sure that we will have fun in China. We had lectures about the Great Wall, education in China, a brief (very brief) introduction to Chinese, a look at Chinese history, and some videoconferencing with people in Xi'an and Shenzhen. We had a group dinner at the Chow Bar in Bloomington, which has some SERIOUSLY good Chinese food. I'm not a huge tofu eater, but the Szechuan tofu there was killer! I also grabbed a bubble tea (you have to try it). We watched a movie Saturday night called Please Vote for Me, which was about a democratic election held in the second grade in China for class monitor. Very enlightening. Sunday we took our luggage on a tour of the Student Union to see how weel we could manage our luggage. I consider myself a packing pro now, so it was no problem at all. We also got some packing tips and an introduction to our curriculum project.
It was a fun weekend, and I am definitely looking forward to leaving! I've bought my plane ticket to Chicago, secured my seats on that flight and the ones to/from China, and have nothing to do now but wait!
The orientation was a lot of fun. I met all of the trip participants, and I think that we are going to be a good group. My roommate for the night Mona was a blast, and I am sure that we will have fun in China. We had lectures about the Great Wall, education in China, a brief (very brief) introduction to Chinese, a look at Chinese history, and some videoconferencing with people in Xi'an and Shenzhen. We had a group dinner at the Chow Bar in Bloomington, which has some SERIOUSLY good Chinese food. I'm not a huge tofu eater, but the Szechuan tofu there was killer! I also grabbed a bubble tea (you have to try it). We watched a movie Saturday night called Please Vote for Me, which was about a democratic election held in the second grade in China for class monitor. Very enlightening. Sunday we took our luggage on a tour of the Student Union to see how weel we could manage our luggage. I consider myself a packing pro now, so it was no problem at all. We also got some packing tips and an introduction to our curriculum project.
It was a fun weekend, and I am definitely looking forward to leaving! I've bought my plane ticket to Chicago, secured my seats on that flight and the ones to/from China, and have nothing to do now but wait!
Itinerary
Read it and revel in my happiness...this trip is going to kick some serious booty. This is all tentative, of course, but gives a pretty decent idea of what I will be up to!
June 12 Chicago
Depart for Chicago and attend pre-departure orientation. Spend the night at the fab Hilton Chicago O’Hare. Group dinner with my trip peeps.
June 13 Chicago to Hong Kong
Nothing says fun like ~15.5 hours on a plane! Long endurance baby!
June 14 Hong Kong
Arrive in Hong Kong via time travel. Suddenly, it’s Monday!
June 15 Hong Kong
Sightseeing – check out Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Stanley Market, Aberdeen
Fishing Village, and the Giant Buddha
June 16 Bus to Shenzhen, fly to Giulin
Visit to the Planning Building, Xiasha Urban Village, the Central Business District, Overseas China Town, Dafen Oil Painting Village, and Dongmen
June 17 Giulin
Longji Terraced Field (yes!!!) and the Zhang and Yao Minority Villages
June 18 Giulin to Yangshuo
Boat cruise, West Street, and a school visit
June 19 Yangshuo to Giulin (by bus), fly to Nanjing
Check out the Xingping fishing village
June 20 Nanjing to Suzhou by bus
Gate of China, Memorial Hall to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, Confucius Temple, Qinhuai River
June 21 Suzhou
Lingering Garden, local tea house and folk music, Silk Institute Museum, paddle-wood-boat tour (any bets on me falling out of the boat?), silk factory and a silk fashion show, Guan-qian Street
June 22 Suzhou to Shanghai by bus
Shanghai Museum, Bund, Ming Dynasty Yuyuan Garden, Nanjing Road, Night cruise in the Huangpu River
June 23 Shanghai
2010 Shanghai World Expo, baby!
June 24 Shanghai
School visit in the morning, free day in the afternoon! First free day of the trip…what to do, what to do…
June 25 Shanghai to Xi’an via plane
School visit in Xi’an, Ancient City Wall, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Grand Mosque, Imperial Dumpling Banquet Dinner, Traditional Tang Dynasty singing and dancing show
June 26 Xi’an
Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum (I could pee my pants in excitement about this), Hing Jia village, Noodle-making performance, art ceramics factory
June 27 Xi’an
Shanxi Provincial Historical Museum and another free afternoon
June 28 Xi’an to Beijing by plane
Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Peking roast duck banquet dinner
June 29 Beijing
Temple of Heaven, practice taichi, Summer Palace, Olympic Park, Hot pot dinner
June 30 Beijing
Largest jade center of Asia, Great Wall (!!!), Ming Tombs/Changling Exhibition Hall, farewell dinner
July 1 Beijing
Free study day (AKA get last minute shopping done!)
July 2 Flying home
This time, only around 13.5 hours! It’s a miracle!
June 12 Chicago
Depart for Chicago and attend pre-departure orientation. Spend the night at the fab Hilton Chicago O’Hare. Group dinner with my trip peeps.
June 13 Chicago to Hong Kong
Nothing says fun like ~15.5 hours on a plane! Long endurance baby!
June 14 Hong Kong
Arrive in Hong Kong via time travel. Suddenly, it’s Monday!
June 15 Hong Kong
Sightseeing – check out Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Stanley Market, Aberdeen
Fishing Village, and the Giant Buddha
June 16 Bus to Shenzhen, fly to Giulin
Visit to the Planning Building, Xiasha Urban Village, the Central Business District, Overseas China Town, Dafen Oil Painting Village, and Dongmen
June 17 Giulin
Longji Terraced Field (yes!!!) and the Zhang and Yao Minority Villages
June 18 Giulin to Yangshuo
Boat cruise, West Street, and a school visit
June 19 Yangshuo to Giulin (by bus), fly to Nanjing
Check out the Xingping fishing village
June 20 Nanjing to Suzhou by bus
Gate of China, Memorial Hall to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, Confucius Temple, Qinhuai River
June 21 Suzhou
Lingering Garden, local tea house and folk music, Silk Institute Museum, paddle-wood-boat tour (any bets on me falling out of the boat?), silk factory and a silk fashion show, Guan-qian Street
June 22 Suzhou to Shanghai by bus
Shanghai Museum, Bund, Ming Dynasty Yuyuan Garden, Nanjing Road, Night cruise in the Huangpu River
June 23 Shanghai
2010 Shanghai World Expo, baby!
June 24 Shanghai
School visit in the morning, free day in the afternoon! First free day of the trip…what to do, what to do…
June 25 Shanghai to Xi’an via plane
School visit in Xi’an, Ancient City Wall, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Grand Mosque, Imperial Dumpling Banquet Dinner, Traditional Tang Dynasty singing and dancing show
June 26 Xi’an
Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum (I could pee my pants in excitement about this), Hing Jia village, Noodle-making performance, art ceramics factory
June 27 Xi’an
Shanxi Provincial Historical Museum and another free afternoon
June 28 Xi’an to Beijing by plane
Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Peking roast duck banquet dinner
June 29 Beijing
Temple of Heaven, practice taichi, Summer Palace, Olympic Park, Hot pot dinner
June 30 Beijing
Largest jade center of Asia, Great Wall (!!!), Ming Tombs/Changling Exhibition Hall, farewell dinner
July 1 Beijing
Free study day (AKA get last minute shopping done!)
July 2 Flying home
This time, only around 13.5 hours! It’s a miracle!
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