UPS has finally delivered my keyboard to me. It took about a week longer than it should have but it got here. When my dad shipped the keyboard out to me, Chinese customs called me while I was in Qingdao asking me for a copy of my passport. Well, since I was in Qingdao I couldn't fax it right over. By the time I got to Beijing, UPS had sent my keyboard to Beijing Customs and Security for a thorough inspection of the contents. They decided that it was ok to send but I needed to pay a Y136 fee. Of course, living in the 99c store this isn't much more than $17 tax, but still, $17 is a lot considered I've been wanting this keyboard for so long.
When the package was stuck in Beijing Customs & Security, I tried to have my dad call over and find out what was going on and to see if he could fax my passport copy over. Of course, no one spoke good enough English, so it was just a frustrating experience for my dad and a waste of long distance minutes. Having a Chinese phone, I called the hotline, figured out what was going on and got the all clear to be delivered today. But, nothing is that easy with my luck. I had to let the front desk know that my package was being delivered but I had to pay a fee to pick it up. They don't pay fees on behalf of the package holder so I gave them my name, room number and cell phone number so they could notify me as soon as it arrived. Today, I went back around 3pm, expecting them to have forgotten to call me but nothing had arrived. Around 5pm I got a phone call from the UPS driver. He was on campus but he was telling me what street he was on. I didn't know where he was, he didn't know where he was, so it was kind of a lost cause and things got lost in translation. Finally, a few phone calls later, after I asked a Chinese person to give him directions to my building, the brown truck turned around the corner glowing and with trumpets of victory and cheering crowds... Well, maybe it wasn't that exciting but for me it was. I guess that concludes the UPS adventure.
Friday, September 26, 2008
The Heart of China
I haven't posted the past few days because I've been crazy busy trying to figure out our National Holiday vacation. We've booked tickets for Shanghai and I leave tomorrow morning. We'll spend two nights in Shanghai, then Monday morning, we depart for Hangzhou. Hangzhou is one of the most beautiful cities in China. In the center of town is West Lake, a beautiful and clam lake. Also, Hangzhou is nestled inbetween small mountains and has an eclectic feel (as eclectic as you can get with 3+ million residents). We spend two nights in Hangzhou and Wednesday we head to Suzhou. Suzhou is one of many local watertowns. The watertowns of China are much like Venice. Small canals run through them and the most popular towns Zhouzhuang and Tongli have no roads at all. We aren't staying the night in Suzhou but instead we head back to Shanghai for Wednesday and Thursday nights. We leave early Friday morning back to Beijing. This trip has crept up on all of us. With school and still recovering from our Qingdao trip (not literally) we haven't had much time to plan for this trip. We have places to stay and a loose itenerary but we're basically going to wing it most of the time there.
Since I have nothing interesting to write about concerning my life here (same old, same old: school work, gym, hanging out, etc.), I think I'll give everyone a glimpse of some things I have forgot to mention. These things are so distinct to China, and occur so regularly that I have completely forgot to tell everyone about them. Most of them you might have heard rumors of or inferred them from my stories but now I'll go into a few details.
First, and most recent, my marketing teacher. The Chinese people are extremely welcoming (most of the time) to foreigners. So much so that during my first marketing class, my teacher welcomed us to China and profusely apologized on behalf of his country about the milk problem going on. He said something along the lines of this:
In addition to this sincerity, I probably haven't mentioned another gesture that shows the Chinese character. Many times, if you go to a restaurant, expecially a small family-style restaurant, and they do not have a Sprite or Iced Tea, the waitress will personally run down the street to the nearest convenience store and buy your drinks. This often happens when they serve us hot tea on a sweltering day and it makes you feel terrible. They will never tell us that they don't have our beverages, they simply reappear carrying a bag of 6 bottled waters and 2 iced teas. It makes all of us at the table feel terrible. We wouldn't have ordered those drinks if we knew they would have to go through all that trouble. Something like this would never happen in the United States.
Another example is when we were in Xi'an. We were famished after a full day of sightseeing and all of us were irritable with hunger. After walking around our hotel for 15 minutes, we were getting angry wandering around. I asked a gentleman where we could go to eat and he asked us what we wanted to eat. I told him something quick and cheap and the next thing we knew he was escorting us down a side street. I tried to tell him that he could just point us in the direction but he simply wouldn't have it. He took us to a street full of restaurants. At this point, we easily could have found a restaurant on our own, but no way, he took us to a place and we sat down. It was a kabob place with very cheap food, but some of us had had stomach problems for a few days and weren't about to try something interesting. I told the gentleman that we would like to eat elsewhere and right away he said OK! We walked to another restaurant which was much better and not only did he help us find it, but he stayed and helped us order food. We invited him to eat with us but he kindly refused stating he was on his way home from work and had to go home. I also doubt this kind of thing happens in the US.
Additionally, last one for today, was the woman at the China Mobile store in Xi'an. I had run out of minutes on the Silk Road Trip and I wanted to fill my sim card again. I asked the woman if she had Beijing minutes to sell and she did. I didn't have my wallet or my phone with me so I returned the next day. This woman was so helpful and so kind we spent well over an hour talking. She complimented me on my Chinese (which is about a 3 yr old vocabulary) and we were able to communicate on my limited vocabulary. She has a son, who is 19 who is learning English. He goes to a local university in Xi'an and she was so proud of him. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she saw her son in me. She asked if I had eaten some of the local Xi'an foods and recommended me to order certain dishes explaining what they were and how they tasted. I forgot the name of the one thing she liked the most, which was a breaded something or other and it sounded spectacular. Before I knew it, I was almost late for dinner and thanked her for her conversation. She wished me good travels and safe studies when all I wanted was a few minutes for my cellphone. It was a great experience.
Thats all for today. I have a whole list of more stories, so whenever I have nothing to say about travelling, I'll share some more.
Since I have nothing interesting to write about concerning my life here (same old, same old: school work, gym, hanging out, etc.), I think I'll give everyone a glimpse of some things I have forgot to mention. These things are so distinct to China, and occur so regularly that I have completely forgot to tell everyone about them. Most of them you might have heard rumors of or inferred them from my stories but now I'll go into a few details.
First, and most recent, my marketing teacher. The Chinese people are extremely welcoming (most of the time) to foreigners. So much so that during my first marketing class, my teacher welcomed us to China and profusely apologized on behalf of his country about the milk problem going on. He said something along the lines of this:
I am so sorry that you have to come to China at this wonderful time in China's histor and are unable to drink our milk or eat our dairy. For many of you, this is your first time to China and I am ashamed that are here while this is happening. Don't worry. The managers and owners of the companies are being severely disciplined and soon I hope it will be safe to drink our milk again.He was extremely sincere and I was personally touched by his apology. He had no need to apologize for that company or for the problem in general. It was quite a moving experience.
In addition to this sincerity, I probably haven't mentioned another gesture that shows the Chinese character. Many times, if you go to a restaurant, expecially a small family-style restaurant, and they do not have a Sprite or Iced Tea, the waitress will personally run down the street to the nearest convenience store and buy your drinks. This often happens when they serve us hot tea on a sweltering day and it makes you feel terrible. They will never tell us that they don't have our beverages, they simply reappear carrying a bag of 6 bottled waters and 2 iced teas. It makes all of us at the table feel terrible. We wouldn't have ordered those drinks if we knew they would have to go through all that trouble. Something like this would never happen in the United States.
Another example is when we were in Xi'an. We were famished after a full day of sightseeing and all of us were irritable with hunger. After walking around our hotel for 15 minutes, we were getting angry wandering around. I asked a gentleman where we could go to eat and he asked us what we wanted to eat. I told him something quick and cheap and the next thing we knew he was escorting us down a side street. I tried to tell him that he could just point us in the direction but he simply wouldn't have it. He took us to a street full of restaurants. At this point, we easily could have found a restaurant on our own, but no way, he took us to a place and we sat down. It was a kabob place with very cheap food, but some of us had had stomach problems for a few days and weren't about to try something interesting. I told the gentleman that we would like to eat elsewhere and right away he said OK! We walked to another restaurant which was much better and not only did he help us find it, but he stayed and helped us order food. We invited him to eat with us but he kindly refused stating he was on his way home from work and had to go home. I also doubt this kind of thing happens in the US.
Additionally, last one for today, was the woman at the China Mobile store in Xi'an. I had run out of minutes on the Silk Road Trip and I wanted to fill my sim card again. I asked the woman if she had Beijing minutes to sell and she did. I didn't have my wallet or my phone with me so I returned the next day. This woman was so helpful and so kind we spent well over an hour talking. She complimented me on my Chinese (which is about a 3 yr old vocabulary) and we were able to communicate on my limited vocabulary. She has a son, who is 19 who is learning English. He goes to a local university in Xi'an and she was so proud of him. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she saw her son in me. She asked if I had eaten some of the local Xi'an foods and recommended me to order certain dishes explaining what they were and how they tasted. I forgot the name of the one thing she liked the most, which was a breaded something or other and it sounded spectacular. Before I knew it, I was almost late for dinner and thanked her for her conversation. She wished me good travels and safe studies when all I wanted was a few minutes for my cellphone. It was a great experience.
Thats all for today. I have a whole list of more stories, so whenever I have nothing to say about travelling, I'll share some more.
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Last of the Pictures
I have officially caught everyone up for the Silk Road. These last pictures are of our trip to the Mongolian Grasslands where we stayed overnight in the gers. Also, there are a few pictures of Hohhot the city, which is located in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia (still in China). It was a great trip as you can tell by the pictures we all had a great time and experienced so many different things. I wish you all could have been there.
It might be easier for most people to simply click on the "View Album" link below the slideshow. This way you can see better quality pictures and comment on them as well. I'm sure when you see our feast at the Mongolian Grasslands you'll laugh and wonder how we ate that, but it was delicious, trust me.
Also, here are the pictures from the weekend. I hope we all don't look like a bunch of drunks but it was a beer festival, so don't blame us for holding beer in every picture. At least we were all safe.
I have been at the internet cafe for more than 4 hours now and I need to do something productive. I have some reading to get done so I think I'm going to do that for a while. I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing for the National Holiday coming up this weekend. We have classes on Saturday but everyone is planning something. Had they told us earlier, we could have gotten visas to leave the country, but they told us a day before we left for Qingdao so we had limited time to plan something. Our trip to Thailand is no longer going to happen and nobody can reach a consensus about where to go and for how long. The best deal we're seeing right now is a trip to Sanya, Hainan. This is the southern-most point in China. Hainan is the Hawaii of China and Sanya has amazing sand beaches and lots of stuff to do. If the plans go through, I'll be headed there from Wednesday to Sunday, October 5th. I'll let you know about that adventure as it unfolds. Until then, have a good one.
It might be easier for most people to simply click on the "View Album" link below the slideshow. This way you can see better quality pictures and comment on them as well. I'm sure when you see our feast at the Mongolian Grasslands you'll laugh and wonder how we ate that, but it was delicious, trust me.
Also, here are the pictures from the weekend. I hope we all don't look like a bunch of drunks but it was a beer festival, so don't blame us for holding beer in every picture. At least we were all safe.
I have been at the internet cafe for more than 4 hours now and I need to do something productive. I have some reading to get done so I think I'm going to do that for a while. I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing for the National Holiday coming up this weekend. We have classes on Saturday but everyone is planning something. Had they told us earlier, we could have gotten visas to leave the country, but they told us a day before we left for Qingdao so we had limited time to plan something. Our trip to Thailand is no longer going to happen and nobody can reach a consensus about where to go and for how long. The best deal we're seeing right now is a trip to Sanya, Hainan. This is the southern-most point in China. Hainan is the Hawaii of China and Sanya has amazing sand beaches and lots of stuff to do. If the plans go through, I'll be headed there from Wednesday to Sunday, October 5th. I'll let you know about that adventure as it unfolds. Until then, have a good one.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
More Silk Road Pictures
These are pictures of the Tai Taoist Monastery near Xi'an.
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These are pictures of Shaolin Monastery and the Longmen Grottoes.
My Third Chinese Adventure
I returned back to Beijing this afternoon after a great weekend in Qingdao. What a trip! Let's start with the overnight train that we had to go on. At first, we didn't mind that fact that the lights didn't turn off or the fact that the seats were really uncomfortable and practically leaned forward. We also didn't mind the fact that we were getting in at 7:20 am. But the fact that they sold at least 100+ standing tickets made the trip a little uncomfortble. If you can't quite get a mental picture going let me try and paint one for you. When we got on the train everyone was putting their belongings in the overhead holders so the isles were pretty crowded. Because this is China, people were already sitting in our seats which is fine because they moved when we asked them too. But the problem was, there wasn't anywhere to go. The isles were so packed that we figured out pretty quickly that these people were going to stand for the 8 hours to Qingdao. They were sitting on the ground, laying under our seats, squishing onto people's laps. There were people sitting on the bathroom sinks, underneath the sinks and on the floor inbetween the cars. If I had to go to the bathroom, it would have been like trying to play a game of tip-toe over peoples bodies. The conductor who checked tickets could barely snake through the hoards of people. The beverage cart never came. Sleeping was another story. Since someone was leaning on my seat, I had a great view of their backside and there were too many people to stretch out my legs. I put my head face down on the table and spent most of the night switching between that position and seat-sleeping.
When we got to Qingdao we had to buy our return tickets back. In China, you can't buy roundtrip tickets for trains, you have to buy a ticket from one destination to another. Our returning overnight train was sold out, but I'm sure that we could have gotten standing tickets (yea right). The only available tickets were early morning tickets and we tried to get everyone on the same train but ended up having to split into two trains. The rest of the day we spent napping at the hotel and eating until our friends arrived from Beijing. It was only Jim, Devon and I on the overnight train because everyone else has classes on Fridays. We met up with our Chinese friend Serena and her friends. They took us out to a pagoda on the water and afterwards we went out and had a great dinner. Tons of delicious seafood including clams, mussles, shrimp and even crab. We had a few vegetables and lots of beer. We learned all of the traditional Chinese drinking games and enjoyed challenging our Chinese friends to their own games. Most of the games involve one on one challenges like who can finish a bottle of beer faster.
We met up with our other friends at the hotel. Being in China, the hotel booked one of our reserved hotel rooms so we ended up having two rooms for 15 people. Apparently in China they dont mind how many people sleep per room. The front desk asked if we had 8 people in one room and when we said yes, the clerk wasn't even surprised. That night we all went out to a bar as a group and had a great time. The next morning we ate and headed straight to the beer festival. It was a cool festival, but not what we had expected. It wasn't as cheap as we had planned, but there were so many fun things to do. They had Hofbrauhaus from Germany (I've been to the original), they had Heineken and other imported beers and of course a huge tent for Tsingtao Beer (the beer was first owned by Germans thus the different spelling). They had tons of food and some interesting music but we had a blast. We made our own international feel by playing American drinking games. Of course, the Chinese crowded around us taking pictures, cheering us on and even joining in. The tripods and videocameras were out in full force and a Chinese newspaper took our picture for the front page. In the background of this picture, a guy is holding up his baby to get in the picture. Serena and her friends also met us there and they ended up having a great time. They really enjoyed us Americans. Around 5 o clock we headed toward the beach to continue our fun. We all took a dip in the sea and played soccer with a Chinese guy. The water wasn't the warmest but we had a great time.
We went back to the hotel to change and clean up. We went to dinner and celebrated Jeff's birthday. It was last Monday, but no one had time to celebrate because we had just returned from our Silk Road trip. We had a lot of toasts and some more seafood and finished the night by going out to a local club with our Chinese friends. Leaving Qingdao was a bummer. We all had such a great time and the weekend flew by. We were all loving the Northern California of China. I'll post some pictures when I can.
Here are some of the Jiayuguan Fort and the Hanging Wall.
Here are some pictures of Xi'an and Muslim street.
Here are some pictures of the Terracotta Warriors.
When we got to Qingdao we had to buy our return tickets back. In China, you can't buy roundtrip tickets for trains, you have to buy a ticket from one destination to another. Our returning overnight train was sold out, but I'm sure that we could have gotten standing tickets (yea right). The only available tickets were early morning tickets and we tried to get everyone on the same train but ended up having to split into two trains. The rest of the day we spent napping at the hotel and eating until our friends arrived from Beijing. It was only Jim, Devon and I on the overnight train because everyone else has classes on Fridays. We met up with our Chinese friend Serena and her friends. They took us out to a pagoda on the water and afterwards we went out and had a great dinner. Tons of delicious seafood including clams, mussles, shrimp and even crab. We had a few vegetables and lots of beer. We learned all of the traditional Chinese drinking games and enjoyed challenging our Chinese friends to their own games. Most of the games involve one on one challenges like who can finish a bottle of beer faster.
We met up with our other friends at the hotel. Being in China, the hotel booked one of our reserved hotel rooms so we ended up having two rooms for 15 people. Apparently in China they dont mind how many people sleep per room. The front desk asked if we had 8 people in one room and when we said yes, the clerk wasn't even surprised. That night we all went out to a bar as a group and had a great time. The next morning we ate and headed straight to the beer festival. It was a cool festival, but not what we had expected. It wasn't as cheap as we had planned, but there were so many fun things to do. They had Hofbrauhaus from Germany (I've been to the original), they had Heineken and other imported beers and of course a huge tent for Tsingtao Beer (the beer was first owned by Germans thus the different spelling). They had tons of food and some interesting music but we had a blast. We made our own international feel by playing American drinking games. Of course, the Chinese crowded around us taking pictures, cheering us on and even joining in. The tripods and videocameras were out in full force and a Chinese newspaper took our picture for the front page. In the background of this picture, a guy is holding up his baby to get in the picture. Serena and her friends also met us there and they ended up having a great time. They really enjoyed us Americans. Around 5 o clock we headed toward the beach to continue our fun. We all took a dip in the sea and played soccer with a Chinese guy. The water wasn't the warmest but we had a great time.
We went back to the hotel to change and clean up. We went to dinner and celebrated Jeff's birthday. It was last Monday, but no one had time to celebrate because we had just returned from our Silk Road trip. We had a lot of toasts and some more seafood and finished the night by going out to a local club with our Chinese friends. Leaving Qingdao was a bummer. We all had such a great time and the weekend flew by. We were all loving the Northern California of China. I'll post some pictures when I can.
Here are some of the Jiayuguan Fort and the Hanging Wall.
Here are some pictures of Xi'an and Muslim street.
Here are some pictures of the Terracotta Warriors.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I Can Taste the Beer
Ok, here are a few pictures to keep everyone satisfied until I come back from Qingdao. I leave tonight on an overnight train for the International Beer Festival in Qingdao. It's going to be a great weekend filled with dancing, music, festivities, Western food (yea!), foreigners (supposedly a lot of Russians), and of course, beer.
I don't know why I can't do those album preview links that I've done in the past but I'll try and figure that out.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Real Reason I Came to China
With all the shenanigans that have been going on the past month and a half it has to come to an end at some point. I've been having a blast getting to know Beijing and China and I can't wait until my pictures are in order so that I can show you all what an amazing adventure I had travelling the Silk Road. But, I did come here for one thing and that is to study. Now, I know that this hasn't been the most official blog on the internet. Sometimes I may not use proper English and most of the time I don't even type in complete sentences. It's hard enough to make time to post often enough and I sincerely wish I could have time to check my spelling, review my grammar and proof-read my entries. However, I don't have time and I'm sorry.
Now that I've explained my lack of professionalism, I can talk about my past few days. I started class yesterday (Tuesday) and so far so good. I began my day with my Intermediate Chinese class. It wasn't nearly as hard as some of the other students made it out to be. Although, after talking with a few of my classmates, it seems as though I have a slightly easier professor than other classes. My teacher is a 26 year old woman. We address her as Li Laoshi (Teacher Li). She is very nice and takes the class at a slow and steady pace. She spoke about 3 sentences of English the entire period. I have Chinese class three times a week from 8 am until 9:50 pm. I'm really excited to start getting into this class. I really hope to become fluent by the time I leave China. I can already get my way around (kind of) and I just need to expand my vocabulary and work on my sentence structure. A person is only as smart as the words they know, so it is my goal to learn to read, write and speak as many new words as possible.
My Arts of China class was intense. My teacher is a Dartmouth undergrad and a Harvard grad student. She has taught in Beijing three times before and this is her fourth time teaching for The Beijing Center. She is working on her dissertation, which has something to do with the Forbidden City, and she loves her job. She actually loves her job so much it is intimidating. We are going to be going through 3000 years of Chinese history. The thing I love most about this class is the fact that art and history go hand in hand. Although we will be learning about Chinese art, we will also be learning about the historical events associated with certain art movements and styles. It will be a history lesson as well as an art class.
My third class was Business Finance. This was an interesting class. We jumped right into the book and begin with future and present values, which I've already done at Fordham. Also, we worked on amortizations and loan payments and all that stuff. The professor explained everything in an extremely difficult way, making it confusing and lengthy. Many of the students were utterly dazed at his explanations. It will be interesting to see where this course goes throughout the semester.
Once again, I hope everyone is doing well. I wish some of you guys would comment on my posts and let me know what you think about my adventures. Simply click on the comment link below this post and you can leave messages and read what other people think about my travels. Remember, I leave tomorrow night around 11 pm to go to Qingdao. There, we will be meeting up with one of our old leaders from CYCAN, Serena. She goes to the Qingdao International Beer Festival almost every year and knows of many places to eat, shop and relax in Qingdao. I'm excited for my weekend and finishing my first week of classes.
Now that I've explained my lack of professionalism, I can talk about my past few days. I started class yesterday (Tuesday) and so far so good. I began my day with my Intermediate Chinese class. It wasn't nearly as hard as some of the other students made it out to be. Although, after talking with a few of my classmates, it seems as though I have a slightly easier professor than other classes. My teacher is a 26 year old woman. We address her as Li Laoshi (Teacher Li). She is very nice and takes the class at a slow and steady pace. She spoke about 3 sentences of English the entire period. I have Chinese class three times a week from 8 am until 9:50 pm. I'm really excited to start getting into this class. I really hope to become fluent by the time I leave China. I can already get my way around (kind of) and I just need to expand my vocabulary and work on my sentence structure. A person is only as smart as the words they know, so it is my goal to learn to read, write and speak as many new words as possible.
My Arts of China class was intense. My teacher is a Dartmouth undergrad and a Harvard grad student. She has taught in Beijing three times before and this is her fourth time teaching for The Beijing Center. She is working on her dissertation, which has something to do with the Forbidden City, and she loves her job. She actually loves her job so much it is intimidating. We are going to be going through 3000 years of Chinese history. The thing I love most about this class is the fact that art and history go hand in hand. Although we will be learning about Chinese art, we will also be learning about the historical events associated with certain art movements and styles. It will be a history lesson as well as an art class.
My third class was Business Finance. This was an interesting class. We jumped right into the book and begin with future and present values, which I've already done at Fordham. Also, we worked on amortizations and loan payments and all that stuff. The professor explained everything in an extremely difficult way, making it confusing and lengthy. Many of the students were utterly dazed at his explanations. It will be interesting to see where this course goes throughout the semester.
Once again, I hope everyone is doing well. I wish some of you guys would comment on my posts and let me know what you think about my adventures. Simply click on the comment link below this post and you can leave messages and read what other people think about my travels. Remember, I leave tomorrow night around 11 pm to go to Qingdao. There, we will be meeting up with one of our old leaders from CYCAN, Serena. She goes to the Qingdao International Beer Festival almost every year and knows of many places to eat, shop and relax in Qingdao. I'm excited for my weekend and finishing my first week of classes.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival
If I was home, I'd give you a moon cake. This festival takes place on the 15th day of the 8th months in the Chinese calendar--this year, that day is September 14. Celebration traditionally involved eating moon cakes and worshiping the moon. The festival has a long history. In ancient China, emperors followed the rite of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and to the moon in autumn and historical books of the Zhou Dynasty incolude the word for "Mid-Autumn." Later, aristocrats and literary figures helped expand the ceremony to common people. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Mid-Autumn festival had been fixed, and became even grander in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, it grrew to be one of the major festivals in China. Folklore about the origin of the festival goes like this: In remote antiquity, there were ten suns rising in the sky, which scorched all crops and drove people into dire poverty. A hero named Hou Yi was greatly worried by this, and so ascended to the top of the Kunlun Mountain. Using his superhuman strength to full extent, he drew his extraordinary bow and shot down the nine superfluous suns one after another. He also ordered the last sun to rise and set according to time. For this reason, he was respected and lvoed by the people and lots of people of ideals and integrity came to him to learn martial arts. One of these people was known as Peng Meng. Hou Yi had a beautiful and kind-hearted wife named Change E. One day on his way to the Kunlun Mountain to call on friends, Hou Yi ran upon the Empress of Heaven Wangmu who was passing by. Empress Wangmu presented to him a parcel of elixir, by taking which, it was said, one would ascend immediately to heaven and become a celestial being. Hou Yi, however, hated to part with his wife. So he gave the elixir to Change E to treasure for the time being. Change E hid the parcel in a treasure box at her dressing table when, unexpectedly, it was seen by Peng Meng. One day when Hou Yi led his disciples to go hunting, Peng Meng, sword in hand, rushed into the inner chamber and forced Change E to hand over the elixir. Aware that she was unable to defeat Peng Meng, Change E made a prompt decision at that critical moment. She turned round to open her treasure box, took up the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. As soon as she swallowed the elixir her body floated off the ground, dashed out of the window and flew towards heaven. Peng Meng escaped. When Hou Yi returned home at dark, he was told by his servants what had happened. Overcome with grief, Hou Yi looked up into the night sky and called out the name of his beloved wife when, to his surprise, he found that the moon was especially clear and bright and on it there was a swaying shadow that was exactly like his wife. He tried his best to chase after the moon, but as he ran, the moon retreated and as he withdrew, the moon came back. He could not the to the moon at all. Thinking of his wife day and night, Hou Yi had a incense table arranged in the back garden that Change E loved. Putting on the table the sweetmeats and fresh fruits Change E enjoyed most, Hou Yi held at a distance a memorial ceremony for Chanage E, who was sentimentally attached to him in the palace of the moon. When people heard of the story that change E had turned intoa celestial being, they arranged a similar incense table in the moonlight one after another and prayed to kind-hearted Change E for good fortune and peace. From then on the custom of worshiping the moon spread among the people. People in different places follow various customs, but all show their love and longing for a better life. They will enjoy the full moon and eat moon cakes on that day. The moon looks extremely round, big and bright on the 15th day of each lunar month. Poeople selected the 15th of the 8th month to celebrate because it is a season when crops and fruits are all ripe and the weather is pleasant. On the Mid-Autumn Festival is perhaps the most important day for family reunion or remebering one's family, as the full moon symbolized the fact that you are sharing the same moon with your loved ones, both present and deceased. (With thanks to http://www.chinesesavvy.com)
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Short Stories of a Silk Traveler
Well, I'm alive if anyone was wondering. I returned back to Beijing about 7:30 am yesterday and I've been doing a lot of work settling back into school. I begin classes tomorrow, but Chinese is my only class. Since tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn festival, our Chinese classes will be cancelled. That means a day off to start making a gigantic photo-fest for everyone. I think the last time I wrote was sometime in Xi'an, the day before we saw the Terracotta Warriors. The Warriors were amazing. The 8th Wonder of the World. I'll try and tell as much as I can in the captions when I post pictures. Xi'an also has a great Muslim street that was a lot of fun to go down. It had plenty of places to eat and tons of vendors selling stuff. We saw a Taoist temple near Xi'an that was absolutely 100% the picture of China. It was located in the mountains and there was fog that surrounded the lower parts of the mountains. The peaks slowly faded into the fog the further away they became and the temple was on top of a mountain side. Straight out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I'd say. We walked through a local village to Big Goose Pagoda and on the way back to Xi'an we went to Old Qin Palace (replica). The day we went to Luoyang we went to see the Small Goose Pagoda in the city of Xi'an.
In Luoyang, we spent most of our time exploring the town. Playing Xiangxi (Chinese Chess) with the locals, finding new restaurants, and of course going out and having a good time at night. One night, Jeff, Dan, Ryan and I spent nearly 2 hours with this Muslim family in Luoyang. They had two children (probably cousins) and we ate cheap noodles and played with them. They even had a "Panda" bunny that was no bigger than my hand. That's the abbreviated version but it was a very memorable experience. In Luoyang, we went to the Shaolin Temple, where Kongfu began. We saw students break metal sticks on their heads, throw nails through glass, do Mushu animal interpretations, sword fighting and other awesome stuff. Also, we saw the nearby Pagoda Forest made up of several dozen stone pagodas. The Shaolin Temple is also a Zen Buddhist temple, and we walked through the temple looking at monks and seeing the Buddhas. On the way home, we went to the Longmen Grottoes. These are very famous caves, similar to Mogao Caves that have thousands of Buddha statues and paintings. The Longmen Grottoes have over 2300 caves and over 100,000 Buddhas ranging from centimeters high to about 30m.
From Luoyang we took a flight to Hohhot, our final destination. Of course, because of my last name and my general luck, I was one of 12 people that didn't make it on the direct flight in Hohhot. I was lucky enough to wake up a half-hour earlier (6:30 am), have a 3 hour layover in Beijing, then arrive 3 hours later than everyone an hour before dinnertime. The flight from Beijing was delayed 40 minutes, but I didn't notice because I had already fallen asleep while we were waiting on the runway. The hotel in Hohhot was amazing. It had mineral springs and massages in the hotel. Everyone got a massage and about 6 or 7 of us guys got a massage. Naturally, not being massage connoisseurs, we didn't know NOT to have the women take glasses, light a cotton ball underneath them to remove the air, and put them on our backs. The result is 10 huge circles that are red from the suction. I have pictures that will help explain.
From Hohhot, which is located in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia, we went to the Mongolian Grasslands to finish our trip by staying with the Mongols in their traditional nomadic homes called gers. Gers are round huts and our gers were a bit modernized. They had beds, bath, and even a TV. Not saying it was much, there was no heat and the water was almost a trickle. In the grasslands, you'll see in the pictures, there isn't much to do. Within 250 miles. Of the things to do, there are two that would be considered fun to 20 year olds and that was horseback riding and ATVing. The horses were "strictly forbidden" and there were about 8 ATVs. The ATVs were Y150 for an hour and a half. The hour and a half was following a Mongol on a "Grasslands Tour." Whatever that meant it sounded restrictive and boring so we decided to break the rules and ride the horses instead. We asked our leader what would happen (before we rode horses) if "hypothetically" a group of us went horseback riding. She frankly said, "Nothing." So we told her to turn around and pretend we had never talked and next thing I knew I was riding my first horse in the Mongolian Grasslands. We went for two hours to the "lake," aka big puddle with cows. Great time. Really sore after. Really really sore. We had a roast lamb dinner (you'll see pictures) and finished the night with a Mongolian dance party. Not what you would think though, they listen to techno music so it was pretty much like a high school dance party. Except outside in the cold under the stars. The sunrise wasn't as great as the Gobi and when we left the grasslands we went back to Hohhot for the day. TBC wouldn't let us rest there though, we had a museum trip and 8 hours of free time to do whatever. We took an overnight train and here I am.
That was the brief version of my past 5 days. It was a trip of a lifetime but now I'm getting ready to start classes and get into a routine. We all joined a nearby gym for Y500 for 3-months. Not bad and I feel great already after working out for two days. Expect a whole lot of pictures and some really great posts in the coming days. I have a list of stories to tell and about 1000 pictures to share. (Not all of them mine)
In Luoyang, we spent most of our time exploring the town. Playing Xiangxi (Chinese Chess) with the locals, finding new restaurants, and of course going out and having a good time at night. One night, Jeff, Dan, Ryan and I spent nearly 2 hours with this Muslim family in Luoyang. They had two children (probably cousins) and we ate cheap noodles and played with them. They even had a "Panda" bunny that was no bigger than my hand. That's the abbreviated version but it was a very memorable experience. In Luoyang, we went to the Shaolin Temple, where Kongfu began. We saw students break metal sticks on their heads, throw nails through glass, do Mushu animal interpretations, sword fighting and other awesome stuff. Also, we saw the nearby Pagoda Forest made up of several dozen stone pagodas. The Shaolin Temple is also a Zen Buddhist temple, and we walked through the temple looking at monks and seeing the Buddhas. On the way home, we went to the Longmen Grottoes. These are very famous caves, similar to Mogao Caves that have thousands of Buddha statues and paintings. The Longmen Grottoes have over 2300 caves and over 100,000 Buddhas ranging from centimeters high to about 30m.
From Luoyang we took a flight to Hohhot, our final destination. Of course, because of my last name and my general luck, I was one of 12 people that didn't make it on the direct flight in Hohhot. I was lucky enough to wake up a half-hour earlier (6:30 am), have a 3 hour layover in Beijing, then arrive 3 hours later than everyone an hour before dinnertime. The flight from Beijing was delayed 40 minutes, but I didn't notice because I had already fallen asleep while we were waiting on the runway. The hotel in Hohhot was amazing. It had mineral springs and massages in the hotel. Everyone got a massage and about 6 or 7 of us guys got a massage. Naturally, not being massage connoisseurs, we didn't know NOT to have the women take glasses, light a cotton ball underneath them to remove the air, and put them on our backs. The result is 10 huge circles that are red from the suction. I have pictures that will help explain.
From Hohhot, which is located in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia, we went to the Mongolian Grasslands to finish our trip by staying with the Mongols in their traditional nomadic homes called gers. Gers are round huts and our gers were a bit modernized. They had beds, bath, and even a TV. Not saying it was much, there was no heat and the water was almost a trickle. In the grasslands, you'll see in the pictures, there isn't much to do. Within 250 miles. Of the things to do, there are two that would be considered fun to 20 year olds and that was horseback riding and ATVing. The horses were "strictly forbidden" and there were about 8 ATVs. The ATVs were Y150 for an hour and a half. The hour and a half was following a Mongol on a "Grasslands Tour." Whatever that meant it sounded restrictive and boring so we decided to break the rules and ride the horses instead. We asked our leader what would happen (before we rode horses) if "hypothetically" a group of us went horseback riding. She frankly said, "Nothing." So we told her to turn around and pretend we had never talked and next thing I knew I was riding my first horse in the Mongolian Grasslands. We went for two hours to the "lake," aka big puddle with cows. Great time. Really sore after. Really really sore. We had a roast lamb dinner (you'll see pictures) and finished the night with a Mongolian dance party. Not what you would think though, they listen to techno music so it was pretty much like a high school dance party. Except outside in the cold under the stars. The sunrise wasn't as great as the Gobi and when we left the grasslands we went back to Hohhot for the day. TBC wouldn't let us rest there though, we had a museum trip and 8 hours of free time to do whatever. We took an overnight train and here I am.
That was the brief version of my past 5 days. It was a trip of a lifetime but now I'm getting ready to start classes and get into a routine. We all joined a nearby gym for Y500 for 3-months. Not bad and I feel great already after working out for two days. Expect a whole lot of pictures and some really great posts in the coming days. I have a list of stories to tell and about 1000 pictures to share. (Not all of them mine)
Friday, September 5, 2008
Jiayuguan to Xi'an
Last time I posted, we were on our way to Jiayuguan (I think). I can't remember and internet here is by the hour. We had a five hour bus ride to Jiayuguan. It was a good time. We all got to catch up on some sleep and get to know eachother a little bit more. I haven't talked about any of the people I've met yet, but we're all starting to get to know eachother a lot more now that we're settling in. Me, Jim, and Devon all knew eachother before the trip, and most of our classmates had at least someone else they knew. It was easy for us to meet up with Matt and Brittany. They both were really good friends, having known eachother at Gonzaga. Matt actually knows some people from my highschool. All us of pretty much keep eachother laughing at stories from home and just some of our life experiences. Ryan and Jeff are roommates together too. Ryan is from Las Vegas, but he's lived all over the US including Laguna, St. Louis, Florida, Georgia and Nevada. He goes to St. Louis University and his roommate Jeff goes to Georgetown. Jeff is a laid back guy and has a great sense of humor. I can't place what kind it is but he's a good time.
When we got to Jiayuguan everyone checked in and ate before we left for the Jiayuguan Fort. This fort is the last fort on the Great Wall. Criminals and corrupt officials were banished here and thrown into the Gobi. Most of the people, after leaving through the last gate, simply sat down to die. Walking through the same gate, it was pretty cool to see the mountains and desert ahead of you for miles. Nothing else (Well there were people selling horseback rides for Y5, but when you live in a 99c store you can't buy everything all the time so we didn't do it.) It got pretty windy while we were at the fort and for a while a sandstorm blew through.
After the fort, we ate a group dinner, paid for by TBC and we all went out for a friend's birthday. We woke up early the next day to see some last things before we boarded our 20 hour train to Xi'an. We saw the Weijn tombs, which were awesome. They were underground tombs that had three original rooms. The last of the rooms was the actual coffin room where the owner and his wife were put to rest. They were really small, no more than 6ft high and 8x8 square. There was no cement, and all of the 1700+ yr old paintings on the bricks were original and visible. This is one of 1400 tombs in the Jiayuguan area. The rest remained unopened until China has the technology to prevent the oxidization of colored paintings. That is some pretty good planning and patience by the Chinese. Props.
From the tombs, we went to the Hanging Great Wall. I think it's called the Hanging Great Wall because it is practically vertical. The Wall is the wall, so I took a few pictures and moved on. We left for the train station and spent most of the train talking and sleeping. We played a few games but were able to pass time fairly quickly. We got to Xi'an today and pretty much are taking it easy. We took a bike ride along the oldest completed wall around a city. It was awesome and the weather was fantastic. It's nice to be back in a modern city. We're in a pretty high end part of town and our hotel is really nice. Great service. We're about a block away from a mall with all of the name brand stores. The real stores haha. Tonight we have another group dinner with the other half the TBC groups. Tomorrow is the terracotta warriors.
When we got to Jiayuguan everyone checked in and ate before we left for the Jiayuguan Fort. This fort is the last fort on the Great Wall. Criminals and corrupt officials were banished here and thrown into the Gobi. Most of the people, after leaving through the last gate, simply sat down to die. Walking through the same gate, it was pretty cool to see the mountains and desert ahead of you for miles. Nothing else (Well there were people selling horseback rides for Y5, but when you live in a 99c store you can't buy everything all the time so we didn't do it.) It got pretty windy while we were at the fort and for a while a sandstorm blew through.
After the fort, we ate a group dinner, paid for by TBC and we all went out for a friend's birthday. We woke up early the next day to see some last things before we boarded our 20 hour train to Xi'an. We saw the Weijn tombs, which were awesome. They were underground tombs that had three original rooms. The last of the rooms was the actual coffin room where the owner and his wife were put to rest. They were really small, no more than 6ft high and 8x8 square. There was no cement, and all of the 1700+ yr old paintings on the bricks were original and visible. This is one of 1400 tombs in the Jiayuguan area. The rest remained unopened until China has the technology to prevent the oxidization of colored paintings. That is some pretty good planning and patience by the Chinese. Props.
From the tombs, we went to the Hanging Great Wall. I think it's called the Hanging Great Wall because it is practically vertical. The Wall is the wall, so I took a few pictures and moved on. We left for the train station and spent most of the train talking and sleeping. We played a few games but were able to pass time fairly quickly. We got to Xi'an today and pretty much are taking it easy. We took a bike ride along the oldest completed wall around a city. It was awesome and the weather was fantastic. It's nice to be back in a modern city. We're in a pretty high end part of town and our hotel is really nice. Great service. We're about a block away from a mall with all of the name brand stores. The real stores haha. Tonight we have another group dinner with the other half the TBC groups. Tomorrow is the terracotta warriors.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
As the Sun Rises Over the Gobi
Last night we headed out for the Gobi Desert. We arrived at the camp site around 7-8pm and set up tents. We had to get some pictures in before the sun set so we climbed to a nearby sand dune and watched it set. Everyone was enjoying the sand. It reminded me a lot of the Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. Just imagine that (Uncle Bob, Aunt Sandy, Aunt Ana, Uncle Rob & Cousins) but a whole lot bigger. The Gobi has really big dunes, not small ones. I've seen sand dunes before, but these were just monsters. Of course, I had to keep camera #2 on tight control. Didn't want anything to happen again. So when I rolled down the dune to the bottom, I gave my camera and belongings to Devon. Rolling down a sand dune definitely beats running, walking, or sliding down. I was going so fast, I could barely stop myself at the bottom. When I stood up, I couldn't even walk because I was so dizzy. It was great.
Our whole group had set up camp near the edge of the sand, and most of our tents were near one another. A few kids had far away camps, but we were the only people around. As the sun set, the stars began to come out and it reminded me of backpacking in the mountains with my Dad and Uncles. But once again, the Gobi had to have the upper hand over Colorado. I don't think I've seen so many stars in my life. The Milky Way was a distinct cloud of clustered stars and it was crazy. I found 5 satellites, which for some people was their first satellite. As the night went on, the stars continued to come out and before midnight, there were too many for me to try and find satellites. The Beijing Center prepared a bonfire for us and we ate watermelon and another Chinese melon. It really cooled off when the sun set and we all just kinda layed around in the sand lookin up at the crazy amount of stars. It was awesome. We knew we had to get up pretty early, so most of us crashed around 11:30pm. The alarms went off at 4:15am and when I opened up my tent I was in awe to see that the stars were just as bright and plentiful as when I had fallen asleep. The crazy part was the fact that they had actually shifted significantly during the night. Orion, which wasn't visible earlier in the night, had risen over the horizon and Betelgeuse was bright red. It was awesome. And cold. And sandy.
Speaking of the sand, let me just give a heads up that rolling down the sand dune probably wasn't a great idea. I'm pretty sure I got sand in every place imaginable. Every place.
We packed up our tent, and headed back to the bus. The bus dropped us off at the camel place where we had to wait until 5:45am to get on. All the camel caravans were 5 camels, all led by a Chinese leader. A guy Jeremy led our group, followed by Jessica, Devon, Jim and myself. Gerald, my camel, was a pretty good camel. I'm pretty sure he was in the back of the bus for some reason because he tended to not follow in line and usually crowded up next to Jim. Sometimes, when we stopped, Gerald would put his head by Jimmy and just look at him. It was great. We begin our ride to the dune while the glow of the sunrise was barely lighting up the eastern sky. It was still to dark to get clear pictures and cold enough to wear a long sleeved t-shirt and hoodie.
When we got to the top camp, we had to climb further to the top of the dune. We got to the top and waited. By now, the eminent glow of the rising sun had lit the entire sky. The stars had given way to clear blue sky and we waited. Finally, the orange ball began to peek above the mountains and we watched it rise. I'm pretty sure this is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'll show you pictures. Of course, nothing would be fun without a little excitement, so we decided to airtube down the dune on the way back to the camels. We got on innertubes and went down a track, sand blowing in my eyes and face like no tomorrow. As if I didn't have enough sand in my teeth as it was. As always, living in the 99c store, we had to pay Y10 to usethe innertubes. It was worth it. It even came with a free sandwich.
We took the camels back to the base of the dunes and went to the desert oasis that Dunhuang is famous for. By this time, it was 8:30am and we had been sandblasted, sun scorched and pretty much Gobi-ed out. I was hungry and thirsty and couldn't wait to spend a solid hour finding out where half the Gobi Desert had sneaked into. We got back to the hotel before 10 and ate a Chinese breakfast (which made me crave American breakfast even more), and cleaned up. Many q-tips later, I was ready to take a nap.
We slept, ate lunch, and headed out to Mogao Grottoes. These are 1000 caves that are carved into thelimestone wall. Each has a representation of Buddha but due to earthquakes and mankind, over 500 of them have been destroyed. We viewed a few of them. One of them was the 2nd largest Buddha in the world. Because the Taliban has destroyed two of the largest ones in the world, the Buddha at the Mogao Grottoes is now 2nd largest. This was even larger than the wooden one I saw at the Llama Temple. No pictures were allowed, so here's a link to some pictures. Mogao Caves. It was pretty cool.
Other than that it was a great day. We went out for the night and enjoyed Dunhaung. This morning, we took a bus to Jiayuguan to see the last section of the Great Wall, it was pretty cool but the wall is the wall. Actually, you'll see pictures.
Our whole group had set up camp near the edge of the sand, and most of our tents were near one another. A few kids had far away camps, but we were the only people around. As the sun set, the stars began to come out and it reminded me of backpacking in the mountains with my Dad and Uncles. But once again, the Gobi had to have the upper hand over Colorado. I don't think I've seen so many stars in my life. The Milky Way was a distinct cloud of clustered stars and it was crazy. I found 5 satellites, which for some people was their first satellite. As the night went on, the stars continued to come out and before midnight, there were too many for me to try and find satellites. The Beijing Center prepared a bonfire for us and we ate watermelon and another Chinese melon. It really cooled off when the sun set and we all just kinda layed around in the sand lookin up at the crazy amount of stars. It was awesome. We knew we had to get up pretty early, so most of us crashed around 11:30pm. The alarms went off at 4:15am and when I opened up my tent I was in awe to see that the stars were just as bright and plentiful as when I had fallen asleep. The crazy part was the fact that they had actually shifted significantly during the night. Orion, which wasn't visible earlier in the night, had risen over the horizon and Betelgeuse was bright red. It was awesome. And cold. And sandy.
Speaking of the sand, let me just give a heads up that rolling down the sand dune probably wasn't a great idea. I'm pretty sure I got sand in every place imaginable. Every place.
We packed up our tent, and headed back to the bus. The bus dropped us off at the camel place where we had to wait until 5:45am to get on. All the camel caravans were 5 camels, all led by a Chinese leader. A guy Jeremy led our group, followed by Jessica, Devon, Jim and myself. Gerald, my camel, was a pretty good camel. I'm pretty sure he was in the back of the bus for some reason because he tended to not follow in line and usually crowded up next to Jim. Sometimes, when we stopped, Gerald would put his head by Jimmy and just look at him. It was great. We begin our ride to the dune while the glow of the sunrise was barely lighting up the eastern sky. It was still to dark to get clear pictures and cold enough to wear a long sleeved t-shirt and hoodie.
When we got to the top camp, we had to climb further to the top of the dune. We got to the top and waited. By now, the eminent glow of the rising sun had lit the entire sky. The stars had given way to clear blue sky and we waited. Finally, the orange ball began to peek above the mountains and we watched it rise. I'm pretty sure this is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'll show you pictures. Of course, nothing would be fun without a little excitement, so we decided to airtube down the dune on the way back to the camels. We got on innertubes and went down a track, sand blowing in my eyes and face like no tomorrow. As if I didn't have enough sand in my teeth as it was. As always, living in the 99c store, we had to pay Y10 to usethe innertubes. It was worth it. It even came with a free sandwich.
We took the camels back to the base of the dunes and went to the desert oasis that Dunhuang is famous for. By this time, it was 8:30am and we had been sandblasted, sun scorched and pretty much Gobi-ed out. I was hungry and thirsty and couldn't wait to spend a solid hour finding out where half the Gobi Desert had sneaked into. We got back to the hotel before 10 and ate a Chinese breakfast (which made me crave American breakfast even more), and cleaned up. Many q-tips later, I was ready to take a nap.
We slept, ate lunch, and headed out to Mogao Grottoes. These are 1000 caves that are carved into thelimestone wall. Each has a representation of Buddha but due to earthquakes and mankind, over 500 of them have been destroyed. We viewed a few of them. One of them was the 2nd largest Buddha in the world. Because the Taliban has destroyed two of the largest ones in the world, the Buddha at the Mogao Grottoes is now 2nd largest. This was even larger than the wooden one I saw at the Llama Temple. No pictures were allowed, so here's a link to some pictures. Mogao Caves. It was pretty cool.
Other than that it was a great day. We went out for the night and enjoyed Dunhaung. This morning, we took a bus to Jiayuguan to see the last section of the Great Wall, it was pretty cool but the wall is the wall. Actually, you'll see pictures.
Monday, September 1, 2008
The Wild Wild West
I'm in Dunhuang, China. It was a three hour flight over here but we made it safely. I'm at an internet cafe, where I am the only westerner and the only person not playing video games. It is a great town here. With a population of 180,000 this town can't be put on the map. It actually didn't exist 20 years ago. They call it the oasis in the desert because we are right in the middle of the Gobi. I've had the chance to explore around a bit and it is awesome. The people are great, the markets remind me of Mexico. Raw spices in heaps in baskets, meats with flies swarming around, trinkets and junk out for sale, dirt everywhere. The people are so nice and for once I'm getting the curiosity stares that I don't really have in Beijing. We are truely off the map here. Our meals are almost half the price in Beijing, but on the busy streets we still get ripped off for bottled water and iced tea. I can't wait to wake up at 4 am tomorrow and watch the sunrise on a camel in the Gobi. I'll be writing again soon. Hope all is well in the states. Apparently, cell phone service is weak here so you might not be able to reach me, but keep trying...but not too hard.
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