Today I think that I am going to talk about travel.
Despite being incredibly busy with work this semester, there has also been several week-long holidays that have provided me with the opportunity to see more of China, I believe the last trip that I blogged about ended with Suzhou at the tail end of William and my southern tour. This means that I have a lot more to catch you up on... Unfortunately, uploading pictures takes hours due to the proxy, so you will just have to read my descriptions and bug me for pictures later.
Trip One: Guilin, Xinping, Yangshuo
The first break that we had was in the middle of April: tomb sweeping festival. I still am not quite sure what it means, and all of my student have given me different answers and wikipedia also continues to confuse me... But anyway, what it meant for me was a week off from teaching and another chance to travel. This time, I went again with William and again to the south, however, to a different destination: Guilin. (google it, it is beautiful) This city as well as the other two we went to (Yangshuo and Xinping) are best known for their amazing water and mountain scenery. On this trip we took a raft down the river, climbed a mountain and drank beer on a rooftop bar all in the most beautiful place I have ever been. It was definitely a trip to remember.
Trip Two: The Magic Max Masterpiece Power 10-day travel
I had been bugging a couple of people to come visit me in China and to share this experience with me, but as it turns out, all of my friends are now adults and have big-boy jobs that they are unable to get away from in order to visit me. My good friend Max, from Akron, came through. Max and I had an action packed 10 day trek through 6 cities. I met him in the Airport on Friday. We ate roast duck that night. Saturday we climbed the great wall, went to the Olympic Park and then the night market. Sunday we went to the forbidden city and then got on a night train for Xi'an. Monday we visited the Terracotta Army, played some rock music at the bar and sang at KTV with strangers into the morning, Tuesday we walked around the city wall and ate delicious "break soup." Wednesday we took the bullet train to Zhengzhou where we had some soup which turned out to be Max's least favorite meal of the trip. That afternoon Max taught my classes and we shared a massive Kaifeng feast. Thursday we toured around town a bit and then took another night train to Shanghai. Friday we explored Shanghai in the beautiful weather and ended the evening by watching the sunset over the city from atop the world's highest observation deck. Saturday we took the bullet train to Hangzhou where we enjoyed the beautiful "west lake" and my personal favorite the China National Tea Museum. Sunday, Max had to go. He must have been exhausted, but not as tired as me because I had to teach class the nest morning! For more details on this trip, email me or ask me when I get home.
Trip Three: Jinan and Qingdao
A couple of weekends ago, I went with Tim to Jinan which is a city famous for its natural springs. We only stayed for one night, but I was able to meet one of my classmates for the coming semester. (I wont spoil the surprise and tell where I am going, that is coming in the next blog) She was very nice and we enjoyed a local guide. The springs were beautiful, but I liked DaMingHu (Big Culture Lake <-- my personal translation) the best. Following our 18 hour visit to Jinan, we boarded another train the Qingdao famous for its seafood, its oceanfront views, German architecture and of course BEER! Our hostel was great: an old renovated Baptist church complete with a full bar. Tim and I met some wonderful British friends and we partied late into the night drinking beer from bags on the street and making fun of each other's accents. The rest of the weekend, we enjoyed the seaside, the architecture and the beer museum. Qingdao, I will be back...
Trip Four: (Being White in Puyang)
About 3 weeks ago, I received word of a "job offer" in a neighboring city. The details were never clear. All we knew was something about selling apartments and they wanted white people to promote their image. In the part of China, there are not many white people. In Puyang --- a sizable city on American standards---, at any given time, I would venture to say that there are 4. So, we were something special. Three of us decided to go. To make a long story short, we were treated like royalty, put up in the nicest hotel rooms, wined and dined (or in my case BEERED) and toured around the city. (Oh yeah, we saw a magnificent acrobatics show. Like nothing I have ever seen before I mean WOW) In return, we had to hang around a housing fair for a couple of hours on Friday and Saturday, posing for pictures and handing out fliers. It was a bit boring, but in all it was a magnificent experience. Many funny and interesting things happened this weekend, but I would rather tell you in person...
Trip Five: Xi'an take 3
My favorite city in China thus far is Xi'an. Its just a great city: ancient, but modern, big, but still has the small ancient city feel, lots to do and delicious food to eat. This trip Tim and I went together. We went for two nights and only had one thing that we wanted to do: ride a bike around the city wall. On Saturday, we got our chance. On a hot afternoon, we rented the bikes and rode several kilometers around the city. It was beautiful. Inside the wall is the center of the ancient city, outside is the towering skyline of modern China. The contrast is tremendous. For the rest of the weekend, Tim and I enjoyed the local bar life which seems to be missing from Kaifeng. We even played some more music in one of the bars late at night (Tim is an Amazing Guitarist). Also, I met another future classmate who is doing a summer language program in the city. Small world.
In total I have been to 23 cities and have ridden 35 trains over the last year. I think I really did get the most out of it! I am not done though... I still have 20 days left in China and I only have about 2 more days of work to finish up before I am FREE! This means I have a good 2 weeks of traveling before I should pack-up and prepare to go to the states. I think the next stop is Chengdu, but it is a 23 hour train ride... I think we might splurge for the 1.5 hour plane ticket and enjoy more time! Chengdu is famous for HOT food, HOT weather and beautiful women (no joke, everyone tells me this, I want to go see for myself!)
once again, thanks for reading!
Adam
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