Day 3 – “I think we should bike to Baisha–twice”
After deciding to wait another day so that I had a hiking buddy for the gorge, Susanne and I found our way to the Mao Zedong statue in Lijiang. It was here that we found “Ali Baba’s Cafe” where you can rent a bike for 15 元 per day, as long as you return it by 6:30. We headed out of town to the North to try to find the village of Baisha. We were hoping there would be a sign because the map from Ali Baba’s was not doing it for us. We kept riding and riding and riding and finally we turned when I saw the Chinese characters 白沙。 🙂 We didn’t really know what we were getting into with Baisha. Just that it was a famous village. So we biked and biked and found a cute little village (not Baisha) to bike around in. We took some pictures, biked around some more, and then found ourselves back in Lijiang. WHAT?!? How did this happen. We stopped at a place for some Yunnan Coffee to figure out where we should go.
Delicious Yunnan Coffee. And a 'biscuit' that came with it.
After drinking our coffee and talking to the woman who owned the shop–she was Malaysian and spoke English–we decided to give Baisha another try.
This is Dr. He (pronounced like huh). He is really famous in China. Actually, I think he's famous because he's mentioned in The Lonely Planet. This was our main attraction in Baisha and he made us read all of his English news articles about him. He's very old. He is said to have "cured" his disease using only natural/traditional Chinese medicine.
This woman was taking a picture of us--the foreigners--so I took her picture. This is a common occurrence in the 'rural' parts of the country. 🙂
Day 1 – Hurry up and wait…
My flight was scheduled for 7:45 am on a Tuesday morning. This would prove to be interesting because it takes just under an hour to get to the airport from my apartment. I was going to be taking the airport shuttle bus and my plan was to leave my apartment at about 5:30 so that I could catch the 6:00 bus. I did make it to the bus but I was unaware that terminal 3 was the last stop of the bus. I must have forgotten. Thankfully, I didn’t have any luggage to check or it would not have made it to Lijiang. I was also able to check in with ‘speedy check in’. All of these things contributed to my being able to make my flight on time. I got to the gate and walked on the plane. The flight to Chengdu (where I had a four-hour layover) wasn’t so terrible. Seems like such a waste of time to sit in an airport…
As you may know, I’m not really fond of flying. This flight was decent. A little bumpy but not the worst flight I had been on. We were approaching the landing and we were rewarded with the most amazing view of mountains. Far in the distance, as far as the eye could see were mountaintops. It was glorious. And the best part was the clear sky! (This would be my constant companion for the next week.)
I landed, found the airport shuttle and was on my way to the city. I hopped in a taxi, found my hostel, checked in and then went out to find some supper. (Yes, it was already that time…) I found a small restaurant and ordered something simple before heading back to the hostel to crash. I had gotten sick just before my trip and was still sick when I arrived in Lijiang. I decided to make it an early night, wake up without an alarm, and see how I felt in the morning. I was supposed to be climbing the gorge in a day or two after all. I slept decently well considering I was coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose all night. I would have slept a lot worse had there not been an electric matress pad on my bed!! China, you never cease to amaze me! (In the southern part of the country there is no heat. They also don’t really know what insulation is.) Thankfully I was warm while I was sleeping.
Day 2 – “Sure I’ll be carried up a mountain by a horse…”
I woke up still feeling sick and decided that maybe a nice hot shower would help. The woman at the desk the night before told me that you have to let the water run for about five minutes before it becomes ‘warm.’ Hmmm…. 10 minutes later, I shut off the water and put my clothes back on. Not the greatest start to my day. I decided to take it easy and wander around the Old Town in the morning (what was left of my rapidly waning morning). There are really two Old Towns in Lijiang, the one for the tourists and the actual Old Town. My hostel was in the actual Old Town. Looking at the rooftops from above, the two blend together very well. From inside the two towns there is a noticable difference.
This is from the top of a hill where there is a monestery and countless restaurants. Most of the 'houses' in Lijiang have this type of roof. It's a pretty cool sight!
While I was wondering around the touristy Old Town, a woman approached me and said, “You want to ride a horse?” My immediate thought was, “not really” but I listened to her. Her English was pretty good and she was super friendly. Her name was Li. Actually, that was her family name but it was easier to call her Li than try to understand her given name. After about 30 minutes of bargaining and making it known to her that I did not really want to ride a horse that day, I gave in. 🙂 She told me to meet her by the waterwheels in the square at a given time and she would pick me up in a minibus. This was not weird. At all. After I left Li, I ran into a random foreign guy sitting on a bench and chatted away the hour or so that I had before I was supposed to meet Li.
Li picked me up and then told me that there would be another man joining me for the ride. Great. We found ourselves in front of the Lijiang Grand Palace Hotel (or something ritzy like that) and I couldn’t figure out who would pay that much to stay in a hotel. The man who climbed in the minibus was about 60 years old (he told me but I can’t remember) and he was American. An mystery author living in Thailand but was currently traveling in China. He told me about some of his books and they seemed interesting. I hope to read at least one of them someday. 🙂
We made it to a little village outside of the city and found our horses. They carried us up the mountain–which was okay, heights and all–and we looked down the other side of the mountain. The view was pretty cool even though there was a haze in the sky. We saw the Yangtze River in its early stages. (I would seeing this again before the hike.) The mountains (the big ones in the distance) kept taunting me. At this point, I had not found anyone to do the hike with. Yes, it was only my first day there, but it was like they were teasing me…’you won’t really climb…’ etc… I’ll show those mountains!
After the horses carried us back down the mountain, we ate a lovely Naxi hotpot for a really late lunch. (Naxi is the minority group in and around Lijiang. They are matriarchal in their lineage and the women are the field workers.) After hotpot, we were taken on the lake in a canoe.
This man was rowing the canoe with a very long bamboo stick. It was very relaxing to sit on the water. I also blame the water for the first of three days worth of sunburn on my face!
We were not alone on the lake. It was beautiful weather and incredibly peaceful!
I was returned to the city by minibus and back at the hostel to switch rooms. (The reservations were silly when I tried to make them online.) Thankfully, I would be in this new room for the rest of my time and would not have to switch again. I made my way down to the common room and started chatting with a group of three guys and one girl who were just sitting around hanging out. The three guys had just gotten back that day from hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I was interested to hear how the hike went for them. They were telling their tales and relaying mishaps while Susanne (my new friend from Holland) and I listened carefully. She had also wanted to do the two-day hike but had no one to do it with!! 🙂 Isn’t it funny how HE answers our prayers?… She and I decided to do the hike together. She didn’t want to hike the following day because she had just arrived that evening and wanted to explore the city for a day. I would have to delay my hike by one day. It was fine. I had a hiking buddy. After chatting and getting to know each other a bit, I headed to my room and about five minutes later found out that Susanne was also in that room. It was a four-person dorm room. We also met Andrew, a Brit teaching in Guangdong Province, who was planning to leave the following morning on the hike. (And I thought there would be no one!)
I decided to keep track of the different forms of transportation that I used on my trip. This day added quite a few: Taxi, Bus, Airplane, Minibus, Horse, Canoe
My first stop will be Lijiang 丽江 in Yunnan 云南 province. Lijiang is a small touristy town in the northwest corner of Yunnan.
Yunnan 云南 Province - bordered by Tibet (NW), Myanmar (W), and Laos and Vietnam (S)
The main purpose of this part of my trip is to see and hike Tiger Leaping Gorge 虎跳峡。 It claims to be the deepest river gorge in the world. I’m planning to spend 2-3 days hiking in the gorge and photographing the magnificent scenery. Below are some pictures I found online. When I return, I will show you my own pictures!
There are two different paths to take: the high road and the low road. I plan to take the high road. If I'm going to make the trip all the way down there I'm going to make it worthwhile. Thankfully there are hostels on the mountain.
The mountains surrounding the gorge have an elevation of 18,000+ feet. On one side of the gorge is "Jade Dragon Snow Mountain" and on the other side is "Haba Snow Mountain" I wonder what the terrain will be like in the winter... 😉
I'm very excited to see mountains!!
After the hike in the gorge, my plan is to stay in Lijiang for a couple of days and explore the area. There are many other things to do there and I’m looking forward to getting lost in the area. (Don’t worry, Mom, I don’t actually mean “lost”)
Guangxi 广西 Province-bordered by Vietnam (SW)
After my time in Yunnan Province, I will take a train from Kunming 昆明 (also in Yunnan) to Guilin 桂林 in Guangxi 广西 Province. Guilin is a really toursity town, so I only plan to stay there long enough to either get a bus ticket to Yangshuo 阳朔 or take the boat tour down the Li River. I’ll have plenty of time to make that decision later. Yangshuo/Guilin areas are known for their Karst Topography. I’m very excited to visit this part of the world. Below is a photo from my hostel in Xingping 性平 village, near Yangshuo. (Interesting side note: as I was doing some “research” for my trip–wikipedia saves the day again–I discovered that Yangshuo is a ‘sister city’ to Rapid City, SD. Now I’m even more excited!)
Yes, that is a random, unknown person in the photo. It was the best one I could find.
After a couple days of hiking/biking/photographing the area of Yangshuo, I will take the bus (three different buses, actually) to the small village of Dazhai, which is about 4 hours north of Yangshuo. Near Dazhai there are more (although smaller) mountains. This part of the country is best known for its rice farming. I will be staying at a hostel in the mountains surrounded by rice terraces. It is called “Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces”.
This is a photo from the hostel website. I don't know what the terraces will look like during this time of the year.
I kind of wish I were taking this trip in the warmer months so that I could see this:
I wonder how they thought of the name...
Or this…
🙂
When I’m done hiking in the rice, I’ll head to Hong Kong for the FOC retreat. I’ll get to spend four days with the other Americans from all over China. I’m excited to explore Hong Kong again, too. If you remember, the last time I was there was a very short trip. I’ll see what kind of pictures I can get!
Please pr-y for my safety, my health, and a working camera! I’ll update when I return to Beijing sometime during the week of February 14th. I will mostly be out of touch during the next three weeks!
Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐！Happy Spring Festival! 春节快乐！
Jinshanling
It has been almost two months. I’m a pathetic blogger. Instead of writing down events from my life, I ponder how my life is like that of a Chinese kindergartner. (except they can speak Chinese better than I can) I still marvel at how we acquire language when we are very small and how it is different from actually learning/studying a language. My Chinese reading ability is actually better than my speaking. It’s a bit odd but I’ll take what I can get. My speaking confidence wavers. My excuse for this is that I don’t want to sound like an idiot when I don’t know how the sentence is put together. So, I just don’t speak. I actually prefer charades and grunting. 🙂
Things are going well in the Capital City. Temps are low but spirits are high. We had a great Christmas party with a large (250-300) group of Chinese friends. Christmas Day was also fun as we exchanged gifts among our FOCbeijing family. I really could not ask for a better group of people to work with this year! I’m so blessed!
Below is a smattering of photos from the past weeks in Beijing. Included in this group are some photos I took of my most recent excursion to the wall. This time it was to a different place. This is my new favorite place! 🙂 Enjoy the photos
See that painted Chinese character above us? That's "chai" 拆。 This means "demolish" or something like that. Unfortunately this character was found on the outer wall of a favorite restaurant of ours. Most likely this restaurant will be torn down to make room for yet another fancy new building where people can't afford the rent. Thankfully, Handsome Chuar Man (not pictured) has informed us of his new location! 🙂 The restaurant no longer exists. 🙁
These are my 4th Grade Hooligans. I love them dearly....most of the time. I have two Saturdays left with them and then I get a much needed break!! 🙂
On the left is Fiona, on the right is Gretl. I love these girls!! 🙂 This was taken at the Christmas party!
These are some of the Tuesday night B studiers. From L-R: Peter, John, ZhaoWei, Me, Gary, ZhaoShu and Jessica is in the front
One view of the wall
Me, Tim, and Fiona pondering life...
I realize I’m a bit overdue. What can I say? Busy-ness has taken over my life! I still managed to take a few pictures during this time and you may have to settle for a blog in photos once again. Much has happened. Prepare to step into Amber’s life for a brief moment:
Fun times with Jun Ning:
This is called "hot pot". Basically, you have a bunch of raw food and a pot in the middle of the table to cook the food. The twist on this hot pot is that it was mostly mushrooms. My friend Jun Ning (if you remember from the 3rd Ring Road journey) decided she wanted me to experience this type of hot pot. Hot pot usually has a divided bowl where one side is spicy and the other is mild. This one was only mild and was specifically for calming one's stomach. (I had been having some 'intestinal difficulties' due to the overabundance of spicy food in Ningxia Province on vacation.) I've been trying to spend as much tme with Jun Ning as possible because she's going to head back to Taiwan soon. She finised her medical degree and needs to return home. The bowl of 'broth' in the front is a little of the soup base before we added the food. It was so delicious! I don't really like mushrooms but for some reason, I love them in China! The cup you see in the lower left is the tea that we were drinking. The best translation I had for it was "deer blood" but it's also some type of mushroom tea.
This was an interesting night. Jun Ning asked us if we wanted to see some Peking Opera with her. I had never experienced Peking Opera before, so I was excited to do something new! We met for a hot pot supper at a famous Beijing hole-in-the-wall near the theater and near the hutongs. (Hutongs are the old-time communities that you can get lost in if you aren't careful.) I experienced eating stomach for the first time (and the last time) during this hot pot experience. Afterward, we wandered through the hutongs to find the theater. Jun Ning told us that she didn't actually have the tickets. We didn't mind because we thought we could get them at the door. Nope. Show is sold out. The best part about that is that Jun Ning knew that. So, we asked her how we were going to see the show. She was kind of hoping we could beg them to let us see part of it or that we could hide in the bathroom until the show started. 🙂 Ha! When we got to the theater it was completely dark but the door was open so we went in and found the bathroom. This picture is of us waiting in the bathroom. We finally found out that there wasn't a show that night. Sometimes companies will purchase the whole night so that the 'cast' can take a break. This was one of those nights.
...so instead of seeing the show, we wandered around downtown for a while. This is the National Theater. (sometimes people call it the "egg" because it looks like an egg! I will be attending a performance of western opera on Saturday night here! We have the tickets already! I had no tripod for this picture. I'll remember to bring it on Saturday night so I can get a better picture. 🙂
The following weekend we celebrated my birthday. The FOC crew and my best Chinese friends met at a jazz club in Sanlitun...a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city. The original plan was to meet at an Italian restaurant next door to the jazz club for supper and then to the jazz club for drinks after. The Italian restaurant was a bust because they couldn't seat that many people. RESERVATION RESERVATION!!! Next time we'll know. We wandered around for a while looking for a place to eat and finally realized that the jazz club also had food. 🙂 Cha-ching! So, we went there. Jun Ning had told me that she was leaving on that day. I was so sad because I tried to contact her all week to try to get together with her before she left to go back to Taiwan. Each time her phone was off. We were at the jazz club for a while when Jun Ning showed up to surprise me! What a sweetie! The others were also happy to see her because they didn't know how to get a hold of her either. This was a really fun night! In the photo with me are Josh (L) and Peter (R).
One morning, Jun Ning and I decided to get up early (5 am) and take the subway down to 日坛公园 (the temple of the sun park) to see the sunrise and catch the awesome leaves. Before we left I turned on my camera to see if I had a full charge of battery. 🙂 I wanted to be able to take lots of pictures of the leaves in the great lighting. We got on the very empty subway, traveled 12 stops, transferred to a different line, traveled 7 stops, and got off. I wanted to take a picture of the clock when we got off. I tried to turn on my camera and it wouldn't power up! 🙁 Not cool. (or in Chinese 不好!) I didn't know why it wasn't working. I was a little bit sad and kind of upset because I was really looking forward to capturing the beauty. We walked by many many embassies and finally made it to the park...before the sun came up! We wandered around for a while waiting for the light to come and listening to people yelling across the park. (apparently this is some form of exercise that I am unaware of...also deep belly laughing is included...it was hilarious!) I was so happy that I had my phone with me to take some sub-par photos. I was able to record a bit of the beauty but still sad about the camera. Here is one picture of the awesome yellow leaves! It was so gorgeous!
That same day, I took my camera to the Canon store. I had noticed this store many many times before (it does say Canon after all) and always wanted to go there. I didn't know what the Chinese below the Canon sign said though. (It said "camera fixing" or something like that--perfect!) My friend came with me to the store so that I could express what was wrong with the camera. Of course, the first thing the lady tried was the battery. I understand that some people probably would not think of this. I was a little insulted. When she realized that it wasn't the battery she said it would take a little while to see what was wrong and then to fix it. I was hoping to get the camera back by Monday so that I could venture to the park again and try to capture the last of the beauty with a non-mediocre photo taker. She called a couple hours later and informed us what was wrong with it and how much it would cost. I said go ahead and it was finished the same night! 🙂 I wasn't able to go back to the park the next day because I had to teach all day. On Sunday I went to 任丘Renqiu to lead an adult study and also a kid's study (which ends up being a whole day event). The next possible time for me to return to the park would be between my classes on Monday. Check. As soon as my first class was finished on Monday I was on my way. Most of the leaves were off of the trees because of the big wind in Beijing the day before. Also a little sad. 🙁 It just wasn't meant to be. But, there were still some trees with green leaves. I was able to capture this gem while wandering the park. Praise HIM for his wonderful creation and for allowing me to photograph it! 🙂
This is my friend Wei Bin. He was recently Washed with Water and the Word. He was going to be leaving Beijing for a job but certain events kept him in Beijing. He and I study the BOOK one-on-one. He aproached me to ask me if we could study. He's also studying with another FOCer. I decided to try my hand at Chinese cuisine that night. I made a dish that a Chinese person would call 土豆丝 which is potato strips cooked in oil with some vinegar and peppers. Really, you can make it however you want. Instead of being Tu土dou豆 (potato) si丝 (si = strips), mine was tu土dou豆 clumps. It was still delicious. 🙂 I also had another dish made with green beans and some leftover potato chunks. I also attempted a soup. In the soup was jiao饺zi子 (dumplings) some noodles, cabbage, some onions, and some other random (never measured) spices. It ended up being pretty good. Wei Bin doesn't eat meat so dinner was a challenge. Normally I would just make something involving chicken but I had to be creative. This week he's going to cook for me. I'll take some more pictures.
Life continues to move even though I’m poor at sharing it with you. In a way it’s good. I would like to say that it’s because nothing very exciting has happened to me. This really isn’t the case though. I think it feels like it because everything is so normal. I mentioned that before. I’m getting a little more confident with my Chinese speaking. Gretl is encouraging me to speak even though my word order might be wrong or my word choice might not be correct. 🙂 She’s so helpful.
My life is very blessed right now and I’m thankful for all the things HE is blessing our group with. Keep “thinking” about us! HE is answering!
Part Two of October Holiday 2010 was a camel ride in the Tenggeli Desert, Ningxia Province. We began on Monday afternoon riding deep into the desert. (Actually, I’m pretty sure our guides led us in circles. When we commented about this, they laughed!) We rode for a couple of hours, set up camp, looked for firewood (which proved easier than we thought it would be), and rested for the evening. We sang hymns and other songs around the campfire while our guides played a drinking game. (The second night was awesome because the guides tried to sing along with us!)
Highlights of the camel trip: Watching the sunset and sunrise in the desert, seeing all of the stars at night, blue skies all day, squatting in the cleanest, freshest bathroom I’ve ever been in (there’s just something about the open air breeze and sun smiling down on you. Honestly, the first bathroom I used when I got back was the bus station bathroom and let me tell you…I prefer the desert), 🙂 sleeping by the fire, fellowship and fun with other FOCers, and marveling at the beauty of HIS creation both fauna and flora. Riding the camels was also a highlight, but that’s assumed! 🙂 Below are some of the better pictures that I took on the trip.
This was really the color of the desert sand. It was so beautiful there. It wasn't too hot. It got a bit cold at night. Not a view I will soon forget!
I wondered a lot how long it took for the wind to blow the footprints out of the sand. We created a lot of footprints but somehow the sand ended up like this again. If it wasn’t for the power lines here and there, it would have seemed like I was a million miles away from civilization. It was awesome!
When I take pictures of things I like to take things from a wide perspective and also up close. This was taken in a different direction from the sun so the color is a bit different than the previous picture.
Camels are some of the craziest looking creatures I have ever seen...and some of the strongest. Although we weren't on the camels for a terribly long time each day, they did carry us up and down dunes with ease and skill. I was a little nervous a couple of times when my camel would run down the dunes. As the trip went on, the nerves calmed and going down hills was actually pretty fun!
It was fun to watch the camels. The way they eat. They way the chew. The way the walk. They way they ‘smile.’ Their feet. Everything about them is so funny. And this just in…I didn’t see one camel spit. I wonder if it’s a myth.
Speaking of smiling. 🙂 They were so cute. A different kind of cute than the pandas. They were also so funny.
This camel’s name was Xiao Bai 小白. It means “little white”. He wasn’t so little (or white for that matter) but he was whiter than the rest of them. He was sort of the “drama queen” camel. So much so, that the camel driver let the person riding him go on his own with him just because he had a hard time being in a group of camels!
I also found this guy while I was wandering in the desert. We saw tons of little tracks in the sand. (When I say little, I mean smaller than a camel print or a human print.) The small tracks belonged to various bugs, these little guys, and--according to the guides--foxes.
He wasn’t that big. I was able to get pretty close to him to take his picture. It didn’t seem like he was afraid of me at all.
Footprints of yours truly. Yes, both sets. I have another one with only one set of footprints.
The sunrise on the second day. I didn't get up for the sunrise on the first day. The sun rose much later here than in Beijing because of the lack of timezones. China is all one timezone. And it all revolves around the capital. 🙂
Another one of HIS beautiful gifts to us! It seemed extra beautiful in the desert. Maybe because I was able to see the blue skies all the time and didn’t have to worry about smog and pollution.
There were many other great photos. You’ll just have to wait until I come home to see them or stop on by Facebook.
I’m so blessed to be able to have this holiday time to be energized, to spend time with fellow believers, and to enjoy HIS creation. I couldn’t have asked for a better time.
A blog entry in pictures. (…and captions)
These were the people sitting by us on the train to Yinchuan. It was a 19-hour train ride that turned into 21 hours. We killed the first 6ish hours by chatting with these gentlemen and playing a card game. After that, the ride was pretty brutal because it was overnight, we were tired, and we had seats instead of sleepers. The beginning of the journey was really beautiful as the train was travelling through the mountains. When we weren't in one of the 106 tunnels the views of the mountains were breathtaking! The boy in the front is named George. He also had the picture on his camera and we are now email friends. His English is really good. The other two could not speak English but thankfully I had a translator with me. 😉 She slept more than I did and one of the guys even commented that they wanted to talk but couldn't because the translator was sleeping!
Gretl and I arrived in Yinchuan a day ahead of the rest of the crew so we had some time to explore before the camel adventure. Here is the only picture I took of Yinchuan on the evening that we arrived in town. Yinchuan is a city of 1 million people. (a very small city in China standards...but still pretty large) Our full day (the next day) was to be spent out of town in the mountains of Dawukou climbing to the wild great wall!
I noticed that they were both wearing Wyoming shirts! 🙂 I had to take a picture!
After walking through the sand river (that's not the name, just what it was) we climbed part of the mountains to get to this spot. This is an unrestored section of the Great Wall. I was kind of a chicken because I have this immoderate fear of heights. I didn't climb the steeper part of the wall but chose to stay on this tiny little section of it!
Gretl and me in front of the mountains. People in this part of the country are not used to seeing foreigners. Needless to say, I got a lot of stares and even more "Hello"s.
Coming off of the mountain, we stumbled upon this little boy. He looked so sad. I can only imagine what he was hiding from. He tried to 'hide' from me in the picture, but I waited long enough until his curiosity got the best of him. I couldn't resist.
Also on our way out of the mountains we came across this wall. Apparently, barbed wire isn't known in this part of the world. I actually like this security method better. It's much more light reflecting and beautiful!
Sometimes when you are waiting or you have nothing better to do, you practice the squat. I'm not so great at the squat. To be really good at it you are able to have both feet flat on the ground and both legs together. I have seen many-a Chinese man in this position, on a curb, smoking a cigarette, for at least 30 minutes. My knees would get tired. I'm glad there are only a few times when I HAVE to be in this position.
After our day in Dawukou, we met up with the rest of the group and prepared for the camel part of our adventure!
Sunday was a workday. In the previous post you will understand why. So, naturally, I didn’t have to work. 🙂 Instead, I decided to partake in the gloriously sunny, blue-sky day and head to the Art District with my friend Jun Ning. (Remember from the bike ride?) We met at Sanyuanqiao subway station to board our bus. It takes a while to get to 798 so we had some good chatting time. There’s not much to write about 798 so I’ll just share pictures with you. It was a really great day in the sun!
Near the entrance of 798
Brick Iron
Galleries are in German-style warehouse buildings (formerly for factories). Designed like this to let in the most light. But the windows face north so that the light casts fewer shadows. Each 'room' in the building curves upward and then slants downward. The windows are in the slant.
Jun Ning and I figured out that these were here for you to stand in and have your picture taken. Then we had a grand time laughing with the other Chinese people who were taking part in this!
There was an abundance of graffiti. A lot of it was really cool.
I took many more pictures but I’ll keep it brief on here. Stay tuned for the next blog update! I’ll be leaving this weekend to go to Ningxia Province to do some camping in the desert. Oh, and there will be some camel riding also! 😉
I decided to buy a new bike. After riding the really awesome bike not once, but two times and realizing the potential power one has with this sort of bike, I felt the need to have my own awesome bike!
One of the veteran teachers came with me and another teacher because we both wanted new bikes. His Chinese skills were exactly what we needed to get a good price. After trying out a few different bikes–some better than others–we both settled on bikes that we wanted. During the bargaining, two other Chinese people came up to our ‘conversation’ with the bike lady and wanted to ride the bike I had chosen. Now, a strategy for bargaining is not looking too interested in the object being purchased. If the seller knows you want it badly enough, he or she will try to get a higher price from you. This was difficult because I really liked this bike. So, the veteran teacher told me to not look interested and to let the other guy ride it. He then asked if they had more than one. 🙂 A thought popped into my mind that maybe these two people were actually employees of the bike place and were ‘playing’ us by pretending they wanted the same bike so that we would end up paying more. In the end, they were actually just getting in on the bargaining so that they could get the best price also! It was funny to watch.
In China, a shiny new bike screams, “steal me!” I should know this lesson well because of the incident from last year which will not be brought up again. 🙁 So, a way to combat theft in this country is to make something that is beautiful and shiny and new look like it is not beautiful and shiny and new. After we purchased the bikes, the other teacher spray painted them and rubbed dirt in the wet spray paint. It was a little sad to watch but also very entertaining. We were drawing quite a crowd with this display. Below are photos of the shiny new bike before and after the paint job. Enjoy!
The shiny new bike before it was defiled. It was a shame too because I really love red!
During the paint job.
...more during...
...after. He was pretty proud of the paint job!
Final product. Still looks new. Hopefully that won't be a problem...
In the midst of changing jobs…again…there still stands some time to explore and have fun.
Yesterday was “Mid-Autumn Festival” in China and what that means is three days off! Although I’ve had quite a bit of free time the way it is, the past two days have been pretty great!
Let me explain something about holidays in China. They don’t actually take a break. Holiday time is for resting and enjoying oneself away from the stresses of work. Well, here in China, we don’t roll that way. For example: say a holiday falls on a Wednesday (like this one). Instead of taking the holiday by itself and enjoying the one day off, let’s have three days off! Woo hoo! 🙂 But…wait…we can’t possibly take that much time off work so let’s rearrange the week. Let’s move Thursday to Saturday and Friday to Sunday. That way, we still get our work time in but have three days off in a row. (What they don’t understand is that now they will work seven days in a row.) WHAT?!? I will never understand this. This, my friends, is country-wide. There are not many exceptions. It’s this way for EVERY holiday that doesn’t fall on a weekend. Somethings aren’t meant to be understood.
With that being said, I’ll tell you what I did on the first two days of my three days off.
Day 1
Remember last year’s journey around the 4th Ring Road? Well, a friend of mine wanted to bike around the 3rd Ring Road on Wednesday. This journey is a bit shorter (30 miles instead of 42ish). I was excited to go for a long bike ride again. So, two other foreign teachers, one Chinese friend, and I set out to conquer the 3rd Ring. We all decided that this shouldn’t take long at all. Boy, were we wrong! We began around 10:30 am when we finally arrived at the 3rd Ring. (It’s not too far from my home, but keep in mind that we are north of the 4th Ring.) We barely got started on the journey when one of us wanted to stop for something to drink and a snack because he hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast. Well, we couldn’t possibly let him bike 30+ miles on an empty stomach. While we were waiting outside the 7-11 (yes, they have those in China) we witnessed a fist-fight. Someone had gotten into an accident (we think) with another person and the one person wanted to drive away. So the other guy stood in front of the car to keep him from moving….etc, etc. It was mildly humorous and highly entertaining. (yes, I know I shouldn’t be entertained by this) After we were finished taking some pictures we were finally on our way…for real this time. A little while later (like 5 minutes) we stopped again. This time at a bike guy’s cart to get oil on a couple of chains, a seat raised, and a tension rod tightened. After this is what I like to refer to as our REAL starting time. We did pretty well until we got to the eastern side of the city and the traffic stopped. I’ll admit, it is WAY better to be on a bike than in a car at times like this, but this particular traffic jam was ridiculous. We couldn’t even bike between some of the cars.
This was taken after traffic had let up quite a bit. We weren't sure why the traffic was so bad since no one had to work that day. Maybe everyone decided to go to the same place! See how there are four solid lanes of traffic (and up ahead 5)? I'm pretty sure there are only 3 actual lanes on this road. They identify the bad drivers in the city with blue license plates!
After the massive traffic back up, we found ourselves in the CBD: Central Business District. This part of ‘town’ is in Chaoyang District and is where the rich foreigners live and is also the location of the US Embassy. A beautiful part of town with lots of green space and bad drivers.
This is the CCTV building in the Business district. It's very cool looking. I would not want to be a window washer for this building. What you don't see in this picture (actually, you can a little) is the building right next to it that still bears the fire damage from Chinese New Years fireworks gone awry. That was a year and a half ago. 🙂
When we got about half way around the ring, my Chinese friend, Jun Ning, asked if she and I could switch bikes. I had borrowed another friend’s bike so that she could use my bike for the trip. This other bike was a bit high for both of us but had sweet gears and made the biking really easy. So, we switched bikes for the rest of the trip. Below is what she looked like when we switched. 🙂
Jun Ning. Afraid. 🙂 She really was a vision. She had on purple pants, a blue t-shirt with a bike on it, a yellow sweatshirt over it and bright bluish-turquoise shoes! Jun Ning just graduated from medical school and is waiting to hear the results of her certification test. She is also a believer!
Other sights on the journey included:
Make sure you aren't using your exploding car
The bike I was riding. This was an accident. Notice the ground is in focus and the bike is not.
McDonald's delivery guy. This is actually a very common scene. They are some of very few people who wear helmets.
Three bikers after surviving the traffic jam.
Team 3rd Ring at the beginning of the journey!
The Fearsome Foursome at the end of the journey!
Day 2
On Thursday, I visited the beautiful city of Tianjin. If you remember, I went there last year during my spring festival break to visit my friend Gretl and to meet her family. See that guy in the picture above? Last year, he made it his goal to get his Chinese driver’s license. He did this and now wants to drive at every opportunity. 🙂 He decided to rent a van to do a road trip for the National Holiday coming up in about a week. However, it’s cheaper per day if you rent the van for the whole month. So, he asked if anyone wanted to go to Tianjin to visit Gretl. I was in. We left at about 7:30 am and after a few missed exits, a couple turn-arounds, and two re-routes (thankfully we had GPS on an iPhone) we arrived at the correct neighborhood. Now, a little about Chinese apartment complexes. There is no rhyme or reason to how they number the buildings. If there is, it is not obvious to the average person. We were searching and searching for building 18. We had 20. We had 15, 14, 17, 19. Where was 18? Eventually, after much asking, (I no longer need to practice that phrase) we found the right building and the correct door. 🙂 We were greeted by warm smiles and hugs! Gretl’s parents, aunt, uncle and cousin, and her grandma were all there to have lunch with us. Before lunch we played Ma Jiang. The tile game that I mentioned the last time I visited. We were treated to a delicious lunch and then we got into the van to explore the city. Now, this van is unlike any vehicle you’ve ridden in. Okay, maybe not. I must say, our driver (see again the picture above) did a great job. To be a successful driver in China you have to drive agressively and just Go! You are better off if you don’t pay attention to what is going on behind you. If someone hits you from behind it’s their fault. 🙂
We had a good day exploring the city with friends and an exciting (albeit bumpy and nerve-racking) ride back to Beijing. Below are a couple of pictures from Tianjin.
A dessert that these three made after lunch. This was an American-style dessert!
The beautiful Tianjin sunset
