My lapse is correspondance, oh faithful and complaining readers, can be attributed to me having a good, busy time here in China. Classes, eating, gym, mahjong, excursions, friends, long distance boyfriend :), did I say eating..., seem to take up so much of my time. It has been 3 weeks since I spent a weekend in Jinan!
I feel I should blog in chronological order, but so many things have gone by now that I'll never get it in order! So I will start from today :).
At the moment I am on a bit of an adventure in "the South". Finding myself with a week (practically- if I skipped two days of class) free o travel, I arranged with Portia and Olivia to travel around Jiangxi for a bit. It's day 5 of a 9 day trip, and we are now down to two people. We got to know Nanchang, the capital of Jianxi and our port of arrival, better than expected, especially the Number One People's Hospital, as poor Olivia was really sick, in the end she was diagnosed with pneumonia and flew to Beijing (being unable to get train or plane tickets back to Jinan) to get treated. From what we're hearing, she's in a practically luxurious hospital where all the nurses speak english, and hopefully getting better- I think it's much better for her there than traipsing round the wet province of Jiangxi.
Ironically, our plan was to come south and get some warmth, but it's colder here than in Jinan- mostly due to the wetness I think.
There were alot of (medical, culinary, wierd Nationalistic frenzy...) adventures in Nanchang, but first today... When we finally left Nanchang (yesterday), we arrived in Lushan, a mountainous national park area, which is certainly an escape from the usual China. I can breathe again!!!!
We found a lovely sweet homestead- a restaurant with some rooms up top to stay in, which didn't break the budget. We went in there when it was pouring with rain, and they were a but wary to take us in, as they weren't authorised to take foreigners, but we put our poor student faces on and they let us stay. If anyone asks we are eating in the restaurant :). We went out walking in the afternoon, it wa so good to be in nature again! There are lots of pine, bamboo, sort of forests around here. The town itself has an English quaintness and was built in the colonial era as a summer retreat from the heat. It's all cobbley, and higgledy piggledy stone houses with forest and clear running streams.
We went walking up a random path into the woods and ran into a village woman, who was amazed and delighted that we could speak chinese. She asked if we were married (no), then how old are you (21-portia), that's still young, (24- me), then you can get married!, How many children can you have in your country ("Suibian sheng"= whatever/ as you like), that's great, you should get married quickly then and have babies! We were in hysterics at this- she had such a straight forward pushy mannor to her, her first words to us were something along the lines of "What the hell are you doing walking up here- there's nothing to see!"
Last night we went to see "Love in Lushan", a Chinese classic of 1980- although the graphics looked more 1950's to us! It had the guniness world record for screening the continuously since it was released in one cinema- the cute one here in the town. We took a bottle of red wine and had night out at the movies. Ahhh, warning: the next paragraph is a semi-literary analysis for you, :)...it was quite enjoyable and interesting actually(if you take a poltical perspective). I could understand mos tof the chinese! It was about a chinese american woman, whose parents were in Nationalist army and fled China, who returns to Lushan, their home, and falls in love with a good simple local boy, whose mother lives on the mountain, and father is a general. The modern American woman is the pursuer, the Chinese man is the innocent, oblivious one. She teaches him how to pronounce, in english, "I love my Motherland, I love the morning of my motherland", and she falls in love with the motherland too. In the end it turns out their fathers were friends that fought eachother as they joined separate parties. Very 1980's politics about all Chinese being welcome in the motherland now, and China developing- in one scene the man had drawn a sketch of the scenery, and inserted a town where there was none, imagining the development of the future- this part of the film had us in hysterics.
Today was another big adventure in the woods, we decided to walk to this waterfall "San Die Quan". Our guesthouse owners said it was impossible, and not "fun", but since we got here- in the drizzly weather everyone kept saying going into the woods was "not fun". We have raincoats, waterproof shoes, and so far it had all been fun! We started walking, and stopped in the village to ask directions for the start of the path, "no no no, you can't walk to there, you won't be able to find the way, take a taxi...", and another time with the same result....but on the map there was a path so we started following a path into the forest which seemed to fit with the map.
Gosh it seemed no one wanted us to go for a walk!
We walked for quite a while and ended up on this path going along a ridge. We had very little visability, being stuck in a bit of a cloud. The further we walked the worse the paths became, blocked by trees, bushes, all the bushes were wet from the cloud condensing around us, and pretty soon we were heaps wet too from pushing past them, climbing thrugh them, basically bush bashing, although we sort of thought we were still on a path to the waterfall.
The further we walked (and wetter we became), the less convinced we were that we were on a path, and more that we were imagining gaps in the trees and bushes etc. I thought it would be impossible to get lost in the wilderness in China, but I think today, if at one point we didn't admit defeat and turn back, we could have. Later we saw the ridge the direction we were walking in and laughed, we were just bashing about in the middle of nowhere!
Turning back we found a path we thought went to "another place".... by this stage I had managed to loose both the map and an expensive jumper :( still up there somewhere on that rige with no path...when I realised it was missing we were already heading back, and a bit worried about being lost, (cold and wet) and the time...Breathed some Zen breaths and concentrated on finding civilisation.
We decided the path to this "other place" seemed to actually be a path and would be more interesting than walking back the way we'd came. Eventually we did find civilisation- a paved path that was going to the waterfall!! (and not the other place afterall!). We entered the "waterfall scenic spot" and started walking, down down down, we descended several hundred meters of steps before we reached the waterfall... (by the way all this was beautiful, as were the cliffs we could have fallen off if we'd tried to descend from the ridge with no path!)...we could see the steps kept going after the waterfall, and so we decided to keep going down, as we heard there wa a carpark at the bottom too. A few people told us not to go that way, go back up, but, we thought, they just didn't want us to have fun, afterall they were going down, why shouldn't we... down down down we went...there was certainly no going back up now...down down down...my knees were trembling, I reckon we went down 1000m in total.
These locals who worked in the scenic area started to scare us- you have to go back up, there's no way back to Guling from the bottom, we're at the bottom of the mountain and if you take a car back it's 200Y, and you'll have to buy a 180 entrance ticket.... ai ai ai
We had walked so far down these stairs in a crevice in the mountain that we'd walked completely to the bottom of the mountain. There was civilisation at the bottom, but no where near the town where our luggage was! Indeed the drive back to the top took over an hour and was 40km as we had to go to the non steep side to get back up. Luckily some lovely people helped us, making some side earnings for the day themselves of course, and we finally made it back to Guling for dinner (mmm yummy homey noodle soup)!
We reported to our guesthouse owners that we did indeed make it too the waterfall on foot, the path was indeed hard to follow, and by the end of the day we had 'walked off' the mountains- which only took an hour to do but would probably take a night to undo!
Lesson 1 of the day: Listen to Chinese people!
Lesson 2 of the day: If we had listened none of this would have happened...and life would have been much more boring :).
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Shanda Life
OK, so it's well and truly time to report to the masses how I am going in Jinan! I guess my first impressions and first few days were not that brilliant- perhaps I was suffering from new-place-homesickness, Mummy leaving me behind at a strange school, waa waa ;), but you should be relieved to hear that all that disappeared quite quickly and I am thoroughly enjoying the campus life here!
It's amazing the difference having friends in your life makes! ;)
So the major news: I have been contributing to the Chinese economy with a spending frenzy! I got a Laptop- so I can access the internet, watch pirates, arr me hearty!, and listen to music in my room! I also got a bike, so I can die in the Jinan streets, oh yeah, and so I get around the city..., A mobile phone- as my handset turned out to be locked to bloody optus..., a heap of books, dictionary, bowl, mugs, thermos, knife (to replace the one that got confiscated when I tried to take it on a flight..whoops ;) ),.....yeah that is Chinese life- buy buy buy!
My classes are quite good- I start at 8am every day, which is taking some getting used to, but the discovery of ground coffee in Jinan is making that easier! I'm in Upper Intermediate for everything...seems like I will never make it to Gaoji! (the advanced class)... but as long as I am learning stuff!
Most people live in the dormitories- of which there are three buildings, which house quite a lot of students. One building only has Koreans I think- there are hundreds here! I think I will be picking up a few Korean words along the way here and there! So there is a real dormitory lifestyle here- everyone knocking on people's doors, one you know some people, you meet more people, and now it's almost hard to find a moment alone!
My wai-guo (foreigner) friends meet for lunch everyday at 12, and dinner at 7. Dinner always ends up taking ages, but both meals are highlights of the day so far! Lunch is usually street food, and man it is soooo good, I will have to take a camera down that street some time to show you! A lot of the food is not what you typically imagine as Chinese food...Mmm, I am already adicted to these 'Jianbing'- a type of crepe made from millet,5grain,peanut flour or purple flour (don't ask me what it is!). They crack an egg on top, and then rollit up with this crunchy fried stuff, lettuce, chilli and beany sauce. Mmm, yumm- I have been eating it with lettuce even though this is probably not reccomended! The good ol' belly is holding up so far though!
There is a nightlife culture on the weekends...find me on facebook to see the pictures...This bar where lots of the Koreans and International students go where they play some good music- the Middle Eastern guys bring some music to play which beats Chinese pop! It's nice to have people- Asians, Middle Eastern, Europeans, Africans, and some Aussies too, all hanging out together! It really does cover every continent except perhaps South America- there is one Peruvian I know...but in general there are very few (North/South) Americans at all..Well there are some Canadians, but I've only met one American..which is surprising I think...given the place is crawling with Dutch people (All Leiden Uni) instead! (Pretty cool for me, maybe I will improve my Dutch by the end)
I have also found a Mahjong crowd, yay! Lenore, a girl from Canada, bought a set, but no one knew how to play..Now I have taught some people, and they like it, we can play more often!
So, to put it the Chinese way, my life here is pretty Rich with Many Colours (丰富多彩）。I miss my friends, but I am making some good friends here that make being away easier! Something I quite miss are my Saturday mornings in Croydon House, (or whatever house :)), having brunch and coffee, doing the Quiz and reading the paper... But I am already able to make a long list of the things I'll miss from here when I leave!
It's amazing the difference having friends in your life makes! ;)
So the major news: I have been contributing to the Chinese economy with a spending frenzy! I got a Laptop- so I can access the internet, watch pirates, arr me hearty!, and listen to music in my room! I also got a bike, so I can die in the Jinan streets, oh yeah, and so I get around the city..., A mobile phone- as my handset turned out to be locked to bloody optus..., a heap of books, dictionary, bowl, mugs, thermos, knife (to replace the one that got confiscated when I tried to take it on a flight..whoops ;) ),.....yeah that is Chinese life- buy buy buy!
My classes are quite good- I start at 8am every day, which is taking some getting used to, but the discovery of ground coffee in Jinan is making that easier! I'm in Upper Intermediate for everything...seems like I will never make it to Gaoji! (the advanced class)... but as long as I am learning stuff!
Most people live in the dormitories- of which there are three buildings, which house quite a lot of students. One building only has Koreans I think- there are hundreds here! I think I will be picking up a few Korean words along the way here and there! So there is a real dormitory lifestyle here- everyone knocking on people's doors, one you know some people, you meet more people, and now it's almost hard to find a moment alone!
My wai-guo (foreigner) friends meet for lunch everyday at 12, and dinner at 7. Dinner always ends up taking ages, but both meals are highlights of the day so far! Lunch is usually street food, and man it is soooo good, I will have to take a camera down that street some time to show you! A lot of the food is not what you typically imagine as Chinese food...Mmm, I am already adicted to these 'Jianbing'- a type of crepe made from millet,5grain,peanut flour or purple flour (don't ask me what it is!). They crack an egg on top, and then rollit up with this crunchy fried stuff, lettuce, chilli and beany sauce. Mmm, yumm- I have been eating it with lettuce even though this is probably not reccomended! The good ol' belly is holding up so far though!
There is a nightlife culture on the weekends...find me on facebook to see the pictures...This bar where lots of the Koreans and International students go where they play some good music- the Middle Eastern guys bring some music to play which beats Chinese pop! It's nice to have people- Asians, Middle Eastern, Europeans, Africans, and some Aussies too, all hanging out together! It really does cover every continent except perhaps South America- there is one Peruvian I know...but in general there are very few (North/South) Americans at all..Well there are some Canadians, but I've only met one American..which is surprising I think...given the place is crawling with Dutch people (All Leiden Uni) instead! (Pretty cool for me, maybe I will improve my Dutch by the end)
I have also found a Mahjong crowd, yay! Lenore, a girl from Canada, bought a set, but no one knew how to play..Now I have taught some people, and they like it, we can play more often!
So, to put it the Chinese way, my life here is pretty Rich with Many Colours (丰富多彩）。I miss my friends, but I am making some good friends here that make being away easier! Something I quite miss are my Saturday mornings in Croydon House, (or whatever house :)), having brunch and coffee, doing the Quiz and reading the paper... But I am already able to make a long list of the things I'll miss from here when I leave!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Shanghai Shanghai
Well, I have left Shanghai now, but this is a bit more about our adventures in Shanghai...
Some parts managed to charm us, especially the French concession, a large district where the French built their mansions, houses and apartment blocks and other buildings the community needed. Wandering around there it almost felt we'd arrived in another country! The (1900-30's) European architecture felt oddly familiar, there were Indian restaurants, French cafes, Irish bars...More like Sydney than China! We enjoyed going into one cafe 'Paul's' where the pastries and tarts were delicious and better than what you find at the average bakery at home. Half the patrons seemed to be speaking French!
It was a strange mix of cultures- a couple of Russian Orthodox Churches with their meringue roofs, upperclass Chinese boutiques, restaurants and expat hangouts. Communism mummified the area, rather than destroyed it, so now it is has a historical feel (especially in comparison to Pudong across the river!) and has been gentrified. This is hopefully the way it will survive!
The worst part of our visit to Shanghai was, for me, the annoying and sinister people approaching us to 'make friends', They chat for a while, then ask if you want to go to a tea ceremony (which after you go and enjoy some teas, ends up costing hundreds of dollars- we heard of people charged over 9000Y, which is 1500 Au dollars). We had been warned of the scam, so common is it that it is even on the DFAT website for China. People must still get tricked though, as the numbers of people trying to do this was unbelievable. In one square- near the museum and art gallery, we were approached about half a dozen times, although by the end we were cutting them off before they could try- and warning them we knew what they were doing. It was obvious that they weren't simply people who were friendly and wanted to practise their English (-and there are plenty of nice people like this in China!).
It was just horibble watching tourists come out of the museum and seeing these sweet seeming students who wait near the entrance come up and start talking to them- why do they use their English skills for such mean intent!
Anyway, still plenty of nice people in Shanghai! I met up with Xiongyin, a friend whose studying at Sydney Uni, and we went around to a few places together. It was nice to see a familiar face!
One of the highlights (excuse the pun ;) ) was Jinmao tower- the tallest (although soon to be overtaken by the building in progress next door) in China, and has the highest bar in the world. We went up at duskish time- saw the sunset, and the city getting dark. Truly got a different perspective on things! From the cosy lounge, sipping cocktails, the world down below of tourist touts, crowded buses and unruly drivers seemed almost an illusion...we could see it all, yet couldn't see it at all! It was quite dizzying being so high, although the view would be improved by better air quality. It was a relatively clear day but I think the height of the tower puts the top bit in the smog layer. One drink was all we could afford up there, and so after finishing two bowls of the free peanuts :), we descended into the real world- exiting on foot rather than the conventional taxi (the building housed the Hyatt from the 57th-87th floors) to take a ferry back over the river to the Bund.
Some parts managed to charm us, especially the French concession, a large district where the French built their mansions, houses and apartment blocks and other buildings the community needed. Wandering around there it almost felt we'd arrived in another country! The (1900-30's) European architecture felt oddly familiar, there were Indian restaurants, French cafes, Irish bars...More like Sydney than China! We enjoyed going into one cafe 'Paul's' where the pastries and tarts were delicious and better than what you find at the average bakery at home. Half the patrons seemed to be speaking French!
It was a strange mix of cultures- a couple of Russian Orthodox Churches with their meringue roofs, upperclass Chinese boutiques, restaurants and expat hangouts. Communism mummified the area, rather than destroyed it, so now it is has a historical feel (especially in comparison to Pudong across the river!) and has been gentrified. This is hopefully the way it will survive!
The worst part of our visit to Shanghai was, for me, the annoying and sinister people approaching us to 'make friends', They chat for a while, then ask if you want to go to a tea ceremony (which after you go and enjoy some teas, ends up costing hundreds of dollars- we heard of people charged over 9000Y, which is 1500 Au dollars). We had been warned of the scam, so common is it that it is even on the DFAT website for China. People must still get tricked though, as the numbers of people trying to do this was unbelievable. In one square- near the museum and art gallery, we were approached about half a dozen times, although by the end we were cutting them off before they could try- and warning them we knew what they were doing. It was obvious that they weren't simply people who were friendly and wanted to practise their English (-and there are plenty of nice people like this in China!).
It was just horibble watching tourists come out of the museum and seeing these sweet seeming students who wait near the entrance come up and start talking to them- why do they use their English skills for such mean intent!
Anyway, still plenty of nice people in Shanghai! I met up with Xiongyin, a friend whose studying at Sydney Uni, and we went around to a few places together. It was nice to see a familiar face!
One of the highlights (excuse the pun ;) ) was Jinmao tower- the tallest (although soon to be overtaken by the building in progress next door) in China, and has the highest bar in the world. We went up at duskish time- saw the sunset, and the city getting dark. Truly got a different perspective on things! From the cosy lounge, sipping cocktails, the world down below of tourist touts, crowded buses and unruly drivers seemed almost an illusion...we could see it all, yet couldn't see it at all! It was quite dizzying being so high, although the view would be improved by better air quality. It was a relatively clear day but I think the height of the tower puts the top bit in the smog layer. One drink was all we could afford up there, and so after finishing two bowls of the free peanuts :), we descended into the real world- exiting on foot rather than the conventional taxi (the building housed the Hyatt from the 57th-87th floors) to take a ferry back over the river to the Bund.
Shan Da- first impressions
Arrived in Jinan!
I got in at 7am yesterday after an overnight train trip from Shanghai. Last night, my first night, I slept for 14 hours! Didn't feel so tired yesterday, but at 8pm I tried reading and realised I would be better off sleeping- and was so surprised how late I slept! Must have needed it!
Anyway- my room is alright, I was initially a little shocked, but woke up feeling better about it. At least it is cheap! The floor is concrete, with some pieces of lino covering 3/4 of it. That is the worst thing actually. The shock of how dirty is was- when I wiped my finger along the surfaces it came off black!, has been remedied with a trip to the shops for cleaning products! It seems Jinan is a dusty city. The floor also need cleaning- and we have to all do this ourselves- with our own things! Luckily other students have left mops and things in the common kitchen area.
I tried to mop the floor but just made large blackish puddles on the floor, and had nothing to dry them up with. In a fit of despair I left my room to find internet- but the internet room is apparently closed on weekends and has limited opening hours. I ended up going to the supermarket, and buying a 12Y towel and some other stuff, running into the other girls from Sydney Uni, found out that their rooms are just as bad- perhaps worse as they didn't have any lino on the floor and feeling much better.
I did not feel so welcome when I arrived thus- and did not unpack my bags or really relax until I had wiped all the cupboards and things.
I have my own room though, with a small bathroom (toilet has passed the 'number two test') so when I shower the whole room gets wet!, a phone, a TV that doesn't work yet..., a desk, bookshelf, bedside table, cupboard. Thus plenty of space for my limited belongings! Feel I need to buy more to fill it up, but that will just lead to problems later on!
I was thrown into a 90 minute test in the middle of the day yesterday too, and don't think I performed to my potential, but having not done any written chinese for a year, I'm a bit rusty! Apparently classes don't start till Wednesday, so I've got a couple of days to settle in, and learn where the good places to eat are!
I got in at 7am yesterday after an overnight train trip from Shanghai. Last night, my first night, I slept for 14 hours! Didn't feel so tired yesterday, but at 8pm I tried reading and realised I would be better off sleeping- and was so surprised how late I slept! Must have needed it!
Anyway- my room is alright, I was initially a little shocked, but woke up feeling better about it. At least it is cheap! The floor is concrete, with some pieces of lino covering 3/4 of it. That is the worst thing actually. The shock of how dirty is was- when I wiped my finger along the surfaces it came off black!, has been remedied with a trip to the shops for cleaning products! It seems Jinan is a dusty city. The floor also need cleaning- and we have to all do this ourselves- with our own things! Luckily other students have left mops and things in the common kitchen area.
I tried to mop the floor but just made large blackish puddles on the floor, and had nothing to dry them up with. In a fit of despair I left my room to find internet- but the internet room is apparently closed on weekends and has limited opening hours. I ended up going to the supermarket, and buying a 12Y towel and some other stuff, running into the other girls from Sydney Uni, found out that their rooms are just as bad- perhaps worse as they didn't have any lino on the floor and feeling much better.
I did not feel so welcome when I arrived thus- and did not unpack my bags or really relax until I had wiped all the cupboards and things.
I have my own room though, with a small bathroom (toilet has passed the 'number two test') so when I shower the whole room gets wet!, a phone, a TV that doesn't work yet..., a desk, bookshelf, bedside table, cupboard. Thus plenty of space for my limited belongings! Feel I need to buy more to fill it up, but that will just lead to problems later on!
I was thrown into a 90 minute test in the middle of the day yesterday too, and don't think I performed to my potential, but having not done any written chinese for a year, I'm a bit rusty! Apparently classes don't start till Wednesday, so I've got a couple of days to settle in, and learn where the good places to eat are!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Shanghai Shanghai II - The Lantern Festival etc
Yesterday was the lantern festival, the last day of the Spring festival and a full moon night. My textbook lessons had described it as a night where people walk the streets carrying lanterns, hang lanterns on their houses, look at the full moon and eat tangyuan- sweet glutinous rice dumplings which are round like the moon and symbolise reunions or something like that!
Step out of the textbook and into real China, and just hanging out in random areas you would have practically zilch chance of seeing people walking round with lanterns, not see any decorated houses (people live in apartment blocks now anyway), possibly see a few moon gazers, and possibly find an eatery serving tangyuan. But Shanghai has a special district where lanterns are hung up- the restored part of the 'old town'- none of it is actually old, but is a garden/ bazaar area with traditional Chinese buildings and lanes, chock a block with chinese-y nick nacks, souvenirs, and expensive dumpling vendors (for the famous Shanghai xiao long bao). It was extremely crowded when we visited the first time and a bit of a nightmare actually!
When we went back there on full moon evening we found that the whole new-old-town was gated off and you had to pay 50Y to get in, just to wander around the shops area! We could see in and see some of the lanterns over the streets, they were impressive but they weren't candle lanterns or old style. Outside that area there were also lots of red lanterns hanging up along the streets immediately around the new-old-town, so we contented ourselves with looking at that.
As for families wandering round with lanterns, well the 'lanterns' are not the romantic paper ones I imagined, the trend was for battery operated plastic light up toys of all kinds, most of which sung some sort of high pitched tune. They were quite simply HIDEOUS!
You could see the full moon above the town, and we were probably not the only ones who noticed it, but we didn't actually see people selling yuanxiao outside the paid area. What we did see being vended, on market tables in the middle of the street were red new years undies, for men women and kids. You could get ones with little gold rats, the happiness symbol, etc. Quite amusing!
What was fun was the hordes of people, perhaps without lanterns, but all just wandering about watching the 'renao' (hot and noisy). Some, clearly out of towners- probably migrant workers etc, looked as bedazzled as us! When it gets crowded in China it gets really crowded!! There were also fireworks going off and light displays (with lots of advertising) on some of the buildings.
Step out of the textbook and into real China, and just hanging out in random areas you would have practically zilch chance of seeing people walking round with lanterns, not see any decorated houses (people live in apartment blocks now anyway), possibly see a few moon gazers, and possibly find an eatery serving tangyuan. But Shanghai has a special district where lanterns are hung up- the restored part of the 'old town'- none of it is actually old, but is a garden/ bazaar area with traditional Chinese buildings and lanes, chock a block with chinese-y nick nacks, souvenirs, and expensive dumpling vendors (for the famous Shanghai xiao long bao). It was extremely crowded when we visited the first time and a bit of a nightmare actually!
When we went back there on full moon evening we found that the whole new-old-town was gated off and you had to pay 50Y to get in, just to wander around the shops area! We could see in and see some of the lanterns over the streets, they were impressive but they weren't candle lanterns or old style. Outside that area there were also lots of red lanterns hanging up along the streets immediately around the new-old-town, so we contented ourselves with looking at that.
As for families wandering round with lanterns, well the 'lanterns' are not the romantic paper ones I imagined, the trend was for battery operated plastic light up toys of all kinds, most of which sung some sort of high pitched tune. They were quite simply HIDEOUS!
You could see the full moon above the town, and we were probably not the only ones who noticed it, but we didn't actually see people selling yuanxiao outside the paid area. What we did see being vended, on market tables in the middle of the street were red new years undies, for men women and kids. You could get ones with little gold rats, the happiness symbol, etc. Quite amusing!
What was fun was the hordes of people, perhaps without lanterns, but all just wandering about watching the 'renao' (hot and noisy). Some, clearly out of towners- probably migrant workers etc, looked as bedazzled as us! When it gets crowded in China it gets really crowded!! There were also fireworks going off and light displays (with lots of advertising) on some of the buildings.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Shanghai Shanghai 1
A brief interlude in Kunming was a sort of buffer zone between the regional somewhat backwaters of China in Yunnan, and Shanghai, which in comparison seems like another planet. Kunming felt pretty modern and cosmopolitan when we got in from Tonghai...Now is seems positively provincial (which is exactly what it is ;) ). Shanghai, more of an epilogue to a China trip, is very distinct from the rest of China.
It is partly the colonial history- Shanghai doesn't have a long history as a Chinese city, and didn't exist as a city until the Europeans came and settled it as a strategic port. So it has a really different feel with all the European (French and British mainly i think) buildings from the early 20th C. The new part of Shanghai- Pudong- the one you probably see in postcards with the distinctive skyline, is on the other side of the river, and was only built from 1991!
We spent the first night wandering along the Bund, looking across the river at the spacey skyline, with the old Banks and Cutsoms Houses, and Gentlemans club type buildings on our side. We found a cafe/ bar in the old signal tower building. Walking inside to the heating was great after a month of cold weather yet nowhere to get out of the cold (Yunnan is the warm province right, how come it's still 1 degree at night!). We felt it a bit surreal having creme brulee and coffee, overlooking the city, in a plush cafe...thinking how far away this seems from the villages we went through in the same country so recently.
Yesterday we looked at the Bund in the daytime- got accosted by people selling junky gadjets and toys, the latest novelty crazes in China, people selling photos etc...Some of them a bit annoying. We saw some people making BBQ squid on a small BBQ and as we thought of having one, saw them run off with the BBQ, squids still sizzling! Some of the toy sellers with frames for selling things also ran off, others just shoved everything into their bags probably. Then came the police! Three chubby men in a little buggy car came along looking for all the illegal vendors. None to be found of course, and there was no way the police were getting out of their buggy to find them. Had a peaceful 10 minutes with no one trying to sell us stuff, and then, like bacteria recolonises as soon as you washed your hands, they came back! It would be so easy to crack down on this activity that it seems the police don't really care, or aren't trying seriously (or a completely incompetent!). Everywhere in Nanjing Donglu (a particular street) people come up and try to sell you fake bags, clothes, dvds, cds etc. Haven't done any serious shopping yet, have to get mentally prepared first!
In a cafe, shall continue with Shanghai later...just letting you know that I'm having great fun here. It's quite exciting being in a city of 15million people, has a real buzz!
It is partly the colonial history- Shanghai doesn't have a long history as a Chinese city, and didn't exist as a city until the Europeans came and settled it as a strategic port. So it has a really different feel with all the European (French and British mainly i think) buildings from the early 20th C. The new part of Shanghai- Pudong- the one you probably see in postcards with the distinctive skyline, is on the other side of the river, and was only built from 1991!
We spent the first night wandering along the Bund, looking across the river at the spacey skyline, with the old Banks and Cutsoms Houses, and Gentlemans club type buildings on our side. We found a cafe/ bar in the old signal tower building. Walking inside to the heating was great after a month of cold weather yet nowhere to get out of the cold (Yunnan is the warm province right, how come it's still 1 degree at night!). We felt it a bit surreal having creme brulee and coffee, overlooking the city, in a plush cafe...thinking how far away this seems from the villages we went through in the same country so recently.
Yesterday we looked at the Bund in the daytime- got accosted by people selling junky gadjets and toys, the latest novelty crazes in China, people selling photos etc...Some of them a bit annoying. We saw some people making BBQ squid on a small BBQ and as we thought of having one, saw them run off with the BBQ, squids still sizzling! Some of the toy sellers with frames for selling things also ran off, others just shoved everything into their bags probably. Then came the police! Three chubby men in a little buggy car came along looking for all the illegal vendors. None to be found of course, and there was no way the police were getting out of their buggy to find them. Had a peaceful 10 minutes with no one trying to sell us stuff, and then, like bacteria recolonises as soon as you washed your hands, they came back! It would be so easy to crack down on this activity that it seems the police don't really care, or aren't trying seriously (or a completely incompetent!). Everywhere in Nanjing Donglu (a particular street) people come up and try to sell you fake bags, clothes, dvds, cds etc. Haven't done any serious shopping yet, have to get mentally prepared first!
In a cafe, shall continue with Shanghai later...just letting you know that I'm having great fun here. It's quite exciting being in a city of 15million people, has a real buzz!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Mongolians in Tonghai, and how we got to ride in a police car
In the county of Tonghai, there are, reputedly 14 000 Mongol descendents of Kublai Khans army from when he came down to conquer the south. Some of the army got left behind, i'm not sure how, and these Mongols fished the lake there and then more recently turned to agriculture as the lake receded. They still retain some elements of their traditional dress, which obviously wasn't suited to the climate and was shortened and altered.
We visited a village (Xingmeng) where about 5000 of these supposedly ethnic Mongols live, still speaking their own language (which I'm certain is nothing like what is spoken in contempory Mongolia). It was hard to figure out who was who in terms of facial features though. The area also had a huge hui population, Muslim Chinese, whose features seem to differ subtly from the Han. We think we saw lots of different looking faces though, and a distinct dress- blue tunics, red scarves on the heads of women, and different jewellry, although while i think the community had distinct dress, i am unsure how mongolian it can have remained after so many years of isolation from the 'mother culture'. We only stayed in the village a couple of hours, but we found the people a lot shyer than where we'd been- people didn't look at us much, even though the town had no tourist infrastructure and would see little foreigners coming through i would say. It must be hard being the ones who got left behind.
In the town of Tonghai itself, we immediatly noticed the Hui population- heaps of street vendors cooking mutton kebabs, roast sweet potatoes, BBQ tofu stuffed with chilli, a mosque- (hard to figure out it was a mosque though), and women with headscarves, men in pillbox hats. We only stayed one night, and went to see the ancient temples on the holy buddhist hill in town. This would have been a pleasant experience- saw some trees that were hundreds of years old- pistacios, camellias, magnolias. When we arrived at the top, it seemed to be snowing or sleeting- but that was impossible as just outside the temple at the top it was not raining or anything. Then we saw there was ice falling out of the super high trees inside the courtyard! It was 1pm, and there hadn't been ice in the trees on the way up, although the day felt bitterly cold and even the locals were complaining. So it was a surprise to see ice falling as if it was snowing in the top courtyard- those trees must sit up in the cloud and stay cold most of the day!
Anyway, it was up in the top temple that i realised I was missing my camera, and we spent the next hour or two going back down and up the hill (the chinese call it a Shan which is technically a mountain) looking for it, and finally accepting it lost or stolen. I may have left it somewhere, but where-ever that might have been it was no longer there a bit later. I am quite baffled as I don't feel like I would have left it somewhere, and we hardly stopped anywhere where I would have put it down.
Today (this happened yesterday), we went to the police in kunming, a pretty big city, to make a report, hopefully my insurance will cover this. This is how we got to get driven from one station across to another one, to get a report, in the police car. Very priviledged service- at first I think they were just going to tell us to go to the other one ourselves, but then I must have managed to look/ sound clueless enough! I signed my name on the report in the space labelled 'Loser's signature'. After that we got dropped off at our hotel in the police car! It was much less intimidating and stressful than I was fearing.
Luckily I only had a few days worth of photos stored on the camera, but the worst loss is the photo of the lady with bound feet. As I itemised the value of the batteries, memory card etc, I could not but help think of the mastercard ad, that picture: 'priceless'.
We visited a village (Xingmeng) where about 5000 of these supposedly ethnic Mongols live, still speaking their own language (which I'm certain is nothing like what is spoken in contempory Mongolia). It was hard to figure out who was who in terms of facial features though. The area also had a huge hui population, Muslim Chinese, whose features seem to differ subtly from the Han. We think we saw lots of different looking faces though, and a distinct dress- blue tunics, red scarves on the heads of women, and different jewellry, although while i think the community had distinct dress, i am unsure how mongolian it can have remained after so many years of isolation from the 'mother culture'. We only stayed in the village a couple of hours, but we found the people a lot shyer than where we'd been- people didn't look at us much, even though the town had no tourist infrastructure and would see little foreigners coming through i would say. It must be hard being the ones who got left behind.
In the town of Tonghai itself, we immediatly noticed the Hui population- heaps of street vendors cooking mutton kebabs, roast sweet potatoes, BBQ tofu stuffed with chilli, a mosque- (hard to figure out it was a mosque though), and women with headscarves, men in pillbox hats. We only stayed one night, and went to see the ancient temples on the holy buddhist hill in town. This would have been a pleasant experience- saw some trees that were hundreds of years old- pistacios, camellias, magnolias. When we arrived at the top, it seemed to be snowing or sleeting- but that was impossible as just outside the temple at the top it was not raining or anything. Then we saw there was ice falling out of the super high trees inside the courtyard! It was 1pm, and there hadn't been ice in the trees on the way up, although the day felt bitterly cold and even the locals were complaining. So it was a surprise to see ice falling as if it was snowing in the top courtyard- those trees must sit up in the cloud and stay cold most of the day!
Anyway, it was up in the top temple that i realised I was missing my camera, and we spent the next hour or two going back down and up the hill (the chinese call it a Shan which is technically a mountain) looking for it, and finally accepting it lost or stolen. I may have left it somewhere, but where-ever that might have been it was no longer there a bit later. I am quite baffled as I don't feel like I would have left it somewhere, and we hardly stopped anywhere where I would have put it down.
Today (this happened yesterday), we went to the police in kunming, a pretty big city, to make a report, hopefully my insurance will cover this. This is how we got to get driven from one station across to another one, to get a report, in the police car. Very priviledged service- at first I think they were just going to tell us to go to the other one ourselves, but then I must have managed to look/ sound clueless enough! I signed my name on the report in the space labelled 'Loser's signature'. After that we got dropped off at our hotel in the police car! It was much less intimidating and stressful than I was fearing.
Luckily I only had a few days worth of photos stored on the camera, but the worst loss is the photo of the lady with bound feet. As I itemised the value of the batteries, memory card etc, I could not but help think of the mastercard ad, that picture: 'priceless'.
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