Returning from Shanghai to Hangzhou was amusing because we all felt like we were coming home. It was lovely to be back in the hotel and back to our normal routine. I was determined this week to see more local sights and enjoy the really beautiful city that is Hangzhou.
Running again in the morning, through all the people in the park walking and exercising to start the day. Back to class, walking past the consturction workers oogling at us, and stopping at the little convenience store to buy a green tea and bottle of water to drink in class. I keep forgetting to mention the street cleaning (ie. bright blue tanker trucks spraying a wide stream of water) trucks which play ice cream truck songs as they drive through the streets in the morning. And the older workers with twig brooms sweeping the sidewalks clean all day. Lots of labor here, and tons of people just doing basic jobs all over the place. The sheer number of people working is kinda staggering.
Nice to be back in the classroom. Our Chinese students were happy to see us, and various folks shared their adventures on the trips they went on if they didn't go to Shanghai. Neat stuff, some folks went to Beijing and recounted the adventures of climbing various sections of the Great Wall, seeing the soldiers at Xian, and all the construction runing rampant for the Olympics. I would have liked to go to Beijing, but I think I need to plan another trip later to see more of Northern China.
More later.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
I have not abandoned the blog
My apologies, but wow was I a sick puppy the last week I was in China!
More soon, now that Internet isn't a huge hassle, and I'll get my pictures posted to a site.
Much love, and I'm very grateful to be home!
More soon, now that Internet isn't a huge hassle, and I'll get my pictures posted to a site.
Much love, and I'm very grateful to be home!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
End of Shanghai and back home...
China Day 9 - Almost the end of Shanghai and back to Hangzhou. We visited the Urban Planning center in the morning. They had a room sized, to scale model of Shanghai. It was amazing. The city is just massive, and seeing it all laid out was amazing. They also had a little 360 film room with animated models of how different areas would look when finished. The roads in Shanghai have a ton of elevated roadways, sometimes 3 levels high. Which is small next to the skyscrapers. And there are a lot more of those planned. I counted 9 cranes in one view of the city alone. They're building on a massive scale, and they have to with how many people they have to house and businesses moving in. It's really quite amazing.
A friend got me an authentic CUltural Revolution poster of Mao and the dramas about being a good party member. Fabulous souvenier, and she got it at the Museum of Propaganda for me. I was all excited, and it comes in those fabulous little Chinese scroll boxes. Kinda cool.
Then back on the bus and back through traffic to get home. It was a trek, and I'm not one to sleep pn moving vehicles very easily. I gotta be tired. But we made it back "home". It's kinda weird to think of Hangzhou as home, but I really do enjoy the little city. (Little meaning smaller than Shanghai. I think Hangzhou is bigger than San Diego). But things are familiar, and I know where to get non-weird food now , and I have my secret stash of ramen and beer for those days I don't want to deal with things.
I definitely need to get running in the mornings again. I wasn't keen on running in Shanghai due to the pollution and the size of the city. I haven't been running with my usual headphones so I can provide a more exciting dodge through traffic and actually hear the cars heading for me.
I have no idea how the hell we're going to take exams. We haven't covered enough material really. And I have a horrible advantage of sorts in being in my third year. Most of my compatriots are in their 1st or 2nd years of law school. Hmm, maybe I shoud study and get good grades. Gee, that might be a good plan, eh? Hooray for seniotitis. Maybe I'll see if My SPring grades are finally in yet.
Off to bed, class and a ridiculously busy week tomorrow.
A friend got me an authentic CUltural Revolution poster of Mao and the dramas about being a good party member. Fabulous souvenier, and she got it at the Museum of Propaganda for me. I was all excited, and it comes in those fabulous little Chinese scroll boxes. Kinda cool.
Then back on the bus and back through traffic to get home. It was a trek, and I'm not one to sleep pn moving vehicles very easily. I gotta be tired. But we made it back "home". It's kinda weird to think of Hangzhou as home, but I really do enjoy the little city. (Little meaning smaller than Shanghai. I think Hangzhou is bigger than San Diego). But things are familiar, and I know where to get non-weird food now , and I have my secret stash of ramen and beer for those days I don't want to deal with things.
I definitely need to get running in the mornings again. I wasn't keen on running in Shanghai due to the pollution and the size of the city. I haven't been running with my usual headphones so I can provide a more exciting dodge through traffic and actually hear the cars heading for me.
I have no idea how the hell we're going to take exams. We haven't covered enough material really. And I have a horrible advantage of sorts in being in my third year. Most of my compatriots are in their 1st or 2nd years of law school. Hmm, maybe I shoud study and get good grades. Gee, that might be a good plan, eh? Hooray for seniotitis. Maybe I'll see if My SPring grades are finally in yet.
Off to bed, class and a ridiculously busy week tomorrow.
Shanghai Saturday...
China Day 8, and Shanghai by Day. It was the big tour day. We started out at the Shanghai Museum - it was fantastic! They had a whole section on folk costumes and I took over 100 pictures of everything interesting. Great exhibit, and I was glad to see a lot of Uzbek and Mongol stuff. I know some folks that will love to see those pictures! I wandered through the jade exhibit, the calligraphy exhibit, and the other exhibits in the museum. Great stuff, but I eventually wandered through and found the museum shop. Hooray for museum shops. I did the best I could to support the museum, and bought 5 books on various topics. They had a great exhibit book on the folk costumes, so I snapped it up. I also got postcards, gift wrap, and a few other little things. I did some damage on my credit card, but it was well worth it!
We stopped at the Silk Museum, and this one had actual displays on silk making. Very interesting, and I'm seriously considering getting a silk comforter. It's actually padded with raw silk fiber. really delicious, and they are warm or cool depending on the weather. And I finally found a pillow cover that will match my sister's new comforter. I'd been carrying around a tassel from her bed this whole time, but I had yet to find anything that matched. Happy birthday Suz!
Next up was the Yu garden and main shopping market. It was insanity making it to the garden, which was at the middle of the shopping area. It was just a press of people on all sides, tons of little shops, and Sunny waving her little flower as a flag for us to follow. We made it to the garden, and it was beautiful. Really surprisingly considering that the marketplace wrapped around the garden and was really loud. But you couldn't hear it from inside. It was a beautiful traditional Chinese garden, with gallerys and rooms spread through and a stream moving throughout. Lots of colorful carp, nice landscaping, interesting rocks, and it was rather calm and sweet. Built for the original owner's grandparents in their old age, they unfortuantely died before it was done. But it was a lovely garden.
The shopping, which I was looking forward to, was next. Back into the chaos, and we were off. I chose to skip going up in the Shanghai TV tower - I'm uncomfortable with heights and not fond of paying admission to exercie that discomfort. Besides, it's shopping in Shanghai! We bargained and haggled and got followed around by tons of people saying "fendi, gucci, watches, bags". The government has cracked down rather dramatically on the open selling of counterfeits, but that didn't stop us from being accosted by them offering to take us to the warehouse. I don't care much for brands anyhow, so it was easy for me to just say no. And you couldn't pick something up without the shop keeper being on top of you saying "very good price". That was a total lie, as it took time to haggle them down to realistic prices. We got to the point where we had a code word for not wanting something so we could just escape en masse. I ended up with a dragon kite, an owl kite, and a bunch of little goodies.
Then we cabbed to tourist dinner, and again weird mix of foods. French fries, chicken and veggies and various chinese dishes. Beer to drink, and good conversation about our various experiences. Some folks had skipped the tour things and had done their own thing in the city. Then it was off to a nighttime cruise of the Shanghai riverfront. Again, this is just a gorgeous city at night. The skyline all lit up is just dramatically beautiful. A bunch of Korean tourists were singing songs on the boat and we joined in with "the Wheels on the bus go round and round" complete with hand motions. One Korean couple started ballroom dancing to it, it was amusing. Then a roam along the Bund, which is the riverfront near the British Concession. Vendors accosted us regularly, and the most amusing thing they offered were the 2 wheeled skates you could strap onto your shoes. And they even lit up! Good price for 10 yuan...
Back to the hotel and crashing like a pile of bricks.
We stopped at the Silk Museum, and this one had actual displays on silk making. Very interesting, and I'm seriously considering getting a silk comforter. It's actually padded with raw silk fiber. really delicious, and they are warm or cool depending on the weather. And I finally found a pillow cover that will match my sister's new comforter. I'd been carrying around a tassel from her bed this whole time, but I had yet to find anything that matched. Happy birthday Suz!
Next up was the Yu garden and main shopping market. It was insanity making it to the garden, which was at the middle of the shopping area. It was just a press of people on all sides, tons of little shops, and Sunny waving her little flower as a flag for us to follow. We made it to the garden, and it was beautiful. Really surprisingly considering that the marketplace wrapped around the garden and was really loud. But you couldn't hear it from inside. It was a beautiful traditional Chinese garden, with gallerys and rooms spread through and a stream moving throughout. Lots of colorful carp, nice landscaping, interesting rocks, and it was rather calm and sweet. Built for the original owner's grandparents in their old age, they unfortuantely died before it was done. But it was a lovely garden.
The shopping, which I was looking forward to, was next. Back into the chaos, and we were off. I chose to skip going up in the Shanghai TV tower - I'm uncomfortable with heights and not fond of paying admission to exercie that discomfort. Besides, it's shopping in Shanghai! We bargained and haggled and got followed around by tons of people saying "fendi, gucci, watches, bags". The government has cracked down rather dramatically on the open selling of counterfeits, but that didn't stop us from being accosted by them offering to take us to the warehouse. I don't care much for brands anyhow, so it was easy for me to just say no. And you couldn't pick something up without the shop keeper being on top of you saying "very good price". That was a total lie, as it took time to haggle them down to realistic prices. We got to the point where we had a code word for not wanting something so we could just escape en masse. I ended up with a dragon kite, an owl kite, and a bunch of little goodies.
Then we cabbed to tourist dinner, and again weird mix of foods. French fries, chicken and veggies and various chinese dishes. Beer to drink, and good conversation about our various experiences. Some folks had skipped the tour things and had done their own thing in the city. Then it was off to a nighttime cruise of the Shanghai riverfront. Again, this is just a gorgeous city at night. The skyline all lit up is just dramatically beautiful. A bunch of Korean tourists were singing songs on the boat and we joined in with "the Wheels on the bus go round and round" complete with hand motions. One Korean couple started ballroom dancing to it, it was amusing. Then a roam along the Bund, which is the riverfront near the British Concession. Vendors accosted us regularly, and the most amusing thing they offered were the 2 wheeled skates you could strap onto your shoes. And they even lit up! Good price for 10 yuan...
Back to the hotel and crashing like a pile of bricks.
Shanghai Trip - weekend!
China Day 7, Friday and we're off to Shanghai after class. We piled on the buses after classes and headed off. Once we got out of the city, there wasn't much to the countryside. There's a ton of farms, the occasional manufacturing plant, but not much out there. Apparently, 15 years ago or so there wasn't even this freeway, and the buses would share the dirt roads with the cars, carts, bicycles, motorbikes, and donkeys. We stopped at a freeway rest stop (yes, there really was a freeway rest stop), with a few food stores, tourist chotchkes, and bathrooms. We kept driving for 3 hours, the cars zipped by us and flew on the freeways. We hit solid traffic just outside Shanghai, and it was worse than LA traffic. Tons of skyscrapers, tons of cars, and the air wasn't pretty. It was exhausting just to watch. Almost four hours later we arrived. But there were big magnolia trees everywhere, which were lovely. And the buildings are just huge, and there are tons of skyscrapers.
I can see where cyberpunk came from, the city is just huge and kind of foreboding. It;s more cosmopolitan than Hangzhou, and more commerce heavy. There are European touches in the buildings and lots more foreigners. Instead of staring at us here, they try to hawk goods at you just about everywhere. The tour guide, Sunny, told us that Shanghai men were more desirable because unlike Beijing men, they cook and clean and help out around the house :-) The accent here is harsher and sharper than Hangzhou, definitely different.
We stopped at a law office, and apparently we were an hour or two late. We just toured the office and headed back to the bus. There were still attorneys working in the cubicle warren until well after we left. Shanghai in the Bund area and the new business area is rather nice. Outside the financial districts and tourist area (and the city is HUGE), it's more just tons of apartment buildings and little shops everywhere. There's just a ton of people who live here, and rush hour was just ridiculous. We were late for our dinner, but still god something to eat. Weird tourist buffet with french fries next to the chinese dumplings next to fresh fruit. But edible, and a TsingTao to drink.
Then it was back on the bus and off to the Chinese acrobat show. We arrived 20 minutes late and got to see the tissue climbers - they were graceful and lovely. Then it was a progression of balancing acts, jugglers, little girls balancing on 7 other people and doing headstands. Good show, and it amused me that the audience was almost entirely western tourists. The trees outside were now lit up with little lights with coverings over them to look like purple and white magnolias. They were beautiful, and the city was just gorgeous at night. Huge different from the dingy daytime, witht the signs and trees and roads all lit beautifully. We trundled back to the hotel, and I fell exhausted into bed.
I can see where cyberpunk came from, the city is just huge and kind of foreboding. It;s more cosmopolitan than Hangzhou, and more commerce heavy. There are European touches in the buildings and lots more foreigners. Instead of staring at us here, they try to hawk goods at you just about everywhere. The tour guide, Sunny, told us that Shanghai men were more desirable because unlike Beijing men, they cook and clean and help out around the house :-) The accent here is harsher and sharper than Hangzhou, definitely different.
We stopped at a law office, and apparently we were an hour or two late. We just toured the office and headed back to the bus. There were still attorneys working in the cubicle warren until well after we left. Shanghai in the Bund area and the new business area is rather nice. Outside the financial districts and tourist area (and the city is HUGE), it's more just tons of apartment buildings and little shops everywhere. There's just a ton of people who live here, and rush hour was just ridiculous. We were late for our dinner, but still god something to eat. Weird tourist buffet with french fries next to the chinese dumplings next to fresh fruit. But edible, and a TsingTao to drink.
Then it was back on the bus and off to the Chinese acrobat show. We arrived 20 minutes late and got to see the tissue climbers - they were graceful and lovely. Then it was a progression of balancing acts, jugglers, little girls balancing on 7 other people and doing headstands. Good show, and it amused me that the audience was almost entirely western tourists. The trees outside were now lit up with little lights with coverings over them to look like purple and white magnolias. They were beautiful, and the city was just gorgeous at night. Huge different from the dingy daytime, witht the signs and trees and roads all lit beautifully. We trundled back to the hotel, and I fell exhausted into bed.
Silk Silk SILK!
China Day 6, Thursday. Today we decided to hit the Silk shopping market in town. It had to be less expensive than the silk market at the lake for tourists! A bunch of us piled into cabs. First the driver took us to the wrong place, a silk department store that looked expensive. Mom pointed and talked at the taxi driver with the map and he got the clue that we were not amused. So he took us to the right place, and didn't charge us any more than it would have been.
And we walked into a market full of silk stores offering fabric, ties, clothes, scarves, and just about anything else you could think of to be made of silk. We roamed into a few stores, but the first stores we hit must have been wholesale. An Afghani guy in one of the stores offered to help me find the silk twill. But then he kept pressing me for my hotel room number, and I wasn't ok with that. I tried going back to that shop after the twill would have been in a few days later, but they had no idea what I was talking about. Not promising on the twill front, ladies.
But we went a few stores down and bought some ties for the guys, and bargained like mad women. The funniest tie was the one labeled Washington DC with the capital building on it. Nice. While mom was haggling over a pile of panda ties, I wandered next door to look at brocade. This shopkeeper actually seemed happy to see me and was nice enough to pull out the brocades I pointed at. The shop was about the size of a large closet, but she had some really gorgeous stuff crammed in there. I selected a black grounded with red chrysanthemums and red borders brocade, and got 10 meters for about $6 per yard. It was gloriously heavy and just delicious! She had other good stuff, but I wanted to shop around a bit.
We shopped a bit more and made a few shopkeepers cry with our bargaining over a pair of silk pants for mom and some scarves for me. We wandered through, but the stores started closing up about 5pm. We started looking for somewhere to eat, and passed on the Wei Wei Sheep place because there wasn't any pictures or English. So we went to a 2 storey restuarant next door. Again with a fabulous round booth surrounded on half of it with a koi pond stream thingy. Two little boys kept coming over and feeding the fish in the open part. They were giggly and delighted that the fish were enthusiastic to be fed. And they liked mugging for pictures for the American girls. Mom kept calling one the Chinese Harry Potter. Very amusing, and the food was great!
And we walked into a market full of silk stores offering fabric, ties, clothes, scarves, and just about anything else you could think of to be made of silk. We roamed into a few stores, but the first stores we hit must have been wholesale. An Afghani guy in one of the stores offered to help me find the silk twill. But then he kept pressing me for my hotel room number, and I wasn't ok with that. I tried going back to that shop after the twill would have been in a few days later, but they had no idea what I was talking about. Not promising on the twill front, ladies.
But we went a few stores down and bought some ties for the guys, and bargained like mad women. The funniest tie was the one labeled Washington DC with the capital building on it. Nice. While mom was haggling over a pile of panda ties, I wandered next door to look at brocade. This shopkeeper actually seemed happy to see me and was nice enough to pull out the brocades I pointed at. The shop was about the size of a large closet, but she had some really gorgeous stuff crammed in there. I selected a black grounded with red chrysanthemums and red borders brocade, and got 10 meters for about $6 per yard. It was gloriously heavy and just delicious! She had other good stuff, but I wanted to shop around a bit.
We shopped a bit more and made a few shopkeepers cry with our bargaining over a pair of silk pants for mom and some scarves for me. We wandered through, but the stores started closing up about 5pm. We started looking for somewhere to eat, and passed on the Wei Wei Sheep place because there wasn't any pictures or English. So we went to a 2 storey restuarant next door. Again with a fabulous round booth surrounded on half of it with a koi pond stream thingy. Two little boys kept coming over and feeding the fish in the open part. They were giggly and delighted that the fish were enthusiastic to be fed. And they liked mugging for pictures for the American girls. Mom kept calling one the Chinese Harry Potter. Very amusing, and the food was great!
Hmm, I may have screwed with the numbers on the days.
Day five Wednesday, and I'm getting used to China. I went for a run in the morning in the light rain. It was really a nice run, and I bobbed and weaved through the old people taking their morning walk.
Classes in the morning, then a trip to explore the Trust Mart (aka. Chinese Wal Mart) and the McDonalds and Pizza Hut nearby. We walked over to the stores, and got the usual stares all the way. Apparantly 5 western girls walking to the store are an endless source of amusement to the Chinese. Folks literally stop and stare at us everywhere. We roamed through the store, and were amused at the distinct lack of nail places anywhere in China. They have girls who will paint your nails, but it's just a precursor to buying the products. No real nail shops anywhere. We stopped for food at a little place, but no English on the menu. I lost at CHinese food bingo ( you're never entirely sure what you're going to get) and I ended up with deep fried fish with raw shrimps and a weird sweet and sour sauce. Not my thing.
After exploring the shopping, I met up with mom and a few more girls to head to West Lake. We took a cab to the lake, and on the way I taught Rene a Buddhist chant to calm herself during traffic while our driver made a left turn through six lanes of oncoming traffic. We roamed one of the causeways (man made bridges across the lake, quite lovely and I'll have to post pictures). As we walked along the island at the center of the causeway, a boatman stopped us and asked us if we wanted to tour the lake by boat. He'd take 100 yuan to take all five of us women to the two islands for an hour tour. Not bad, considering that's about $13. We carefully climbed into the little sampan boat (I've got pictures), and we were off. He served us green tea, and described the sights in Chinese and a few English words. I managed a quasi-conversation with the phrasebook out, and eventually he offered to take us silk and pearl shopping instead of the islands. A bunch of totally normal women, we readily agreed! So we boated under a few bridges into the areas where they had the silk and pearl store.
First stop was for pearls. I got a pair of single pearl earrings for a really good price. We roamed and looked at the really beautiful pearls for sale - there was one huge gold pearl that was remarkable! Second stop was at the "Silk Museum" There was one spinning machine at the entrance, then a big silk shop. Really wonderful quality silk, soft and flowing like water. But really over priced, and the majority was made up in clothing. Fabric was really limited, and 160 yuan per yard, which is more than I would pay at home for charmeuse($17 per yard!). Folks, I may not be bringing home much silk.
We clambored back into the boat, and enjoyed a lovely dusk on the lake and watched the bats come out and eat mosquitos as we paddled back to shore. Walking along the lake sidewalk, we chose the restuarant with the fairy lights (you can't go wrong with fairy lights) and walked in to have dinner. The 60s metal link curtains around our table were fabulous, and the food was good. We chose dim sum dishes to share and Rene and I shared a bottle of Grand Dragon wine. Choices for wine were Grand Dragon or Great Wall. I went with dragons, and it was pretty good, if a bit sweet and it definitely needed some more time in the cask. But then, China isn't exactly known for its fabulous vintages.
After a great dinner, we got the hint they were closing when they started flashing the lights at us in the restuarant. We got two cabs back to the hotel, and Rene and I were "ni how"-ing out the window at the policemen directing traffic all the way back. They looked rather startled at the crazy American chicks in the taxi speaking Chinese at them. Our cab driver thought we were hilarious, he was laughing all the way to the hotel. But it was definitely a great night, lots of fun.
Classes in the morning, then a trip to explore the Trust Mart (aka. Chinese Wal Mart) and the McDonalds and Pizza Hut nearby. We walked over to the stores, and got the usual stares all the way. Apparantly 5 western girls walking to the store are an endless source of amusement to the Chinese. Folks literally stop and stare at us everywhere. We roamed through the store, and were amused at the distinct lack of nail places anywhere in China. They have girls who will paint your nails, but it's just a precursor to buying the products. No real nail shops anywhere. We stopped for food at a little place, but no English on the menu. I lost at CHinese food bingo ( you're never entirely sure what you're going to get) and I ended up with deep fried fish with raw shrimps and a weird sweet and sour sauce. Not my thing.
After exploring the shopping, I met up with mom and a few more girls to head to West Lake. We took a cab to the lake, and on the way I taught Rene a Buddhist chant to calm herself during traffic while our driver made a left turn through six lanes of oncoming traffic. We roamed one of the causeways (man made bridges across the lake, quite lovely and I'll have to post pictures). As we walked along the island at the center of the causeway, a boatman stopped us and asked us if we wanted to tour the lake by boat. He'd take 100 yuan to take all five of us women to the two islands for an hour tour. Not bad, considering that's about $13. We carefully climbed into the little sampan boat (I've got pictures), and we were off. He served us green tea, and described the sights in Chinese and a few English words. I managed a quasi-conversation with the phrasebook out, and eventually he offered to take us silk and pearl shopping instead of the islands. A bunch of totally normal women, we readily agreed! So we boated under a few bridges into the areas where they had the silk and pearl store.
First stop was for pearls. I got a pair of single pearl earrings for a really good price. We roamed and looked at the really beautiful pearls for sale - there was one huge gold pearl that was remarkable! Second stop was at the "Silk Museum" There was one spinning machine at the entrance, then a big silk shop. Really wonderful quality silk, soft and flowing like water. But really over priced, and the majority was made up in clothing. Fabric was really limited, and 160 yuan per yard, which is more than I would pay at home for charmeuse($17 per yard!). Folks, I may not be bringing home much silk.
We clambored back into the boat, and enjoyed a lovely dusk on the lake and watched the bats come out and eat mosquitos as we paddled back to shore. Walking along the lake sidewalk, we chose the restuarant with the fairy lights (you can't go wrong with fairy lights) and walked in to have dinner. The 60s metal link curtains around our table were fabulous, and the food was good. We chose dim sum dishes to share and Rene and I shared a bottle of Grand Dragon wine. Choices for wine were Grand Dragon or Great Wall. I went with dragons, and it was pretty good, if a bit sweet and it definitely needed some more time in the cask. But then, China isn't exactly known for its fabulous vintages.
After a great dinner, we got the hint they were closing when they started flashing the lights at us in the restuarant. We got two cabs back to the hotel, and Rene and I were "ni how"-ing out the window at the policemen directing traffic all the way back. They looked rather startled at the crazy American chicks in the taxi speaking Chinese at them. Our cab driver thought we were hilarious, he was laughing all the way to the hotel. But it was definitely a great night, lots of fun.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Technical difficulties
Please stand by, my laptop has apparently been invaded by Chinese net gremlins.
Or the Chinese government doesn't like me.
Blah.
Or the Chinese government doesn't like me.
Blah.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Day 3
Day 3 was the first day of classes. I woke up before the alarm (!), went for a run with Shannon before breakfast (!), and managed to shower and get back out the door for class in about 20 minutes! Not bad. Quite amazing actually, and I only had one cup of coffee...
We started with an orientation, giving us basic info and a few dire warnings about traffic, drugs, and the like. I switched all of my classes, since International Business Transactions and WTO Law were both overfilled. Besides, I may use International Environmental Law and International Labor Law more. Classes went an hour later due to the orientation, and a bit longer for us when the door closed. Apparently, no one inside or out can open these doors without a special key or mojo or kung fu or something. Our Environmental class started late due to the door being locked, then we all paniced when we all collectively got locked in the classroom. Our Chinese students luckily called the admin people on their cell phones, and eventually we were let out. But it happened again after Labor class, and about 7 of us, including me, got locked in the classroom again.
We did get lunch delivered from the cafeteria, and the only utensils we had to eat with were spoons. It was amusing. But the food was ok, and free, so we dealt with it. One thing definitely holds true, regardless of cultures - cafeteria food is nothing wonderful, esoecially after the amazing dinner we had had the night before.
Back to the hotel again, and since Mom wanted to chill in the room for a while, Shannon and I went back out to head to the department store. I was a bit sketchy about walking that far, as it required crossing about 5 major intersections. But we managed to make it safely there. The crossing guards seemed to take special interest in the unpredictable, crazy american chicks, and made sure we made it safely across their road! But I'm glad we walked as we managed to find a facial salon as well. Or really, they found us through their little promotional man on the street. He took one look at us and dragged us over to the salon. It was rather affordable, and a 2 hour facial is a lovely thing :-) We got slathered with all kinds of stuff, steamed, plumped, exfoliated, and massaged. About halfway through, their English speaker arrived, and we traded words with the help of my little Rough Guide Mandarin phrasebook. She spoke excellent English, and we managed to get across that we were law students for the summer at the university. She also helped explain the slatherings and plumpings we were getting a bit. They were facinated by Shannon's dark green eyes. And Shannon finally let me know after about 45 minutes of being slathered that she'd never had a facial before! I found that terribly amusing, but tried to explain things as they happened so she'd have a clue. We all learned a few new words, and it was entertaining.
Then Shannon decided to ask them if they knew of a tatoo parlor, as some folks in our group had wanted to get tatoos. We got walked over to the place by two of their promotional boys (they were probably in their 20s, but they looked young to us). It was definitely an adventure, punctuated by us passing the phrasebook with characters and English in it back and forth to try to communicate. I think they asked us to dinner more than once, but I was keen to get back to the hotel.
Mom had gone over to the restuarant from the night before with a few fellow students. They hadn't fared as well in the Chinese food bingo game. They hadn't managed to order as much food, and ended up with a plate of deep fried crispy chicken cartiledge. Mmmmm, yummy, nothing like southern fried cartiledge. I declined to try it, but got included on the beers as a result. Nice work on my part, eh?
We started with an orientation, giving us basic info and a few dire warnings about traffic, drugs, and the like. I switched all of my classes, since International Business Transactions and WTO Law were both overfilled. Besides, I may use International Environmental Law and International Labor Law more. Classes went an hour later due to the orientation, and a bit longer for us when the door closed. Apparently, no one inside or out can open these doors without a special key or mojo or kung fu or something. Our Environmental class started late due to the door being locked, then we all paniced when we all collectively got locked in the classroom. Our Chinese students luckily called the admin people on their cell phones, and eventually we were let out. But it happened again after Labor class, and about 7 of us, including me, got locked in the classroom again.
We did get lunch delivered from the cafeteria, and the only utensils we had to eat with were spoons. It was amusing. But the food was ok, and free, so we dealt with it. One thing definitely holds true, regardless of cultures - cafeteria food is nothing wonderful, esoecially after the amazing dinner we had had the night before.
Back to the hotel again, and since Mom wanted to chill in the room for a while, Shannon and I went back out to head to the department store. I was a bit sketchy about walking that far, as it required crossing about 5 major intersections. But we managed to make it safely there. The crossing guards seemed to take special interest in the unpredictable, crazy american chicks, and made sure we made it safely across their road! But I'm glad we walked as we managed to find a facial salon as well. Or really, they found us through their little promotional man on the street. He took one look at us and dragged us over to the salon. It was rather affordable, and a 2 hour facial is a lovely thing :-) We got slathered with all kinds of stuff, steamed, plumped, exfoliated, and massaged. About halfway through, their English speaker arrived, and we traded words with the help of my little Rough Guide Mandarin phrasebook. She spoke excellent English, and we managed to get across that we were law students for the summer at the university. She also helped explain the slatherings and plumpings we were getting a bit. They were facinated by Shannon's dark green eyes. And Shannon finally let me know after about 45 minutes of being slathered that she'd never had a facial before! I found that terribly amusing, but tried to explain things as they happened so she'd have a clue. We all learned a few new words, and it was entertaining.
Then Shannon decided to ask them if they knew of a tatoo parlor, as some folks in our group had wanted to get tatoos. We got walked over to the place by two of their promotional boys (they were probably in their 20s, but they looked young to us). It was definitely an adventure, punctuated by us passing the phrasebook with characters and English in it back and forth to try to communicate. I think they asked us to dinner more than once, but I was keen to get back to the hotel.
Mom had gone over to the restuarant from the night before with a few fellow students. They hadn't fared as well in the Chinese food bingo game. They hadn't managed to order as much food, and ended up with a plate of deep fried crispy chicken cartiledge. Mmmmm, yummy, nothing like southern fried cartiledge. I declined to try it, but got included on the beers as a result. Nice work on my part, eh?
Day two was Sunday, and we had a welcoming reception. We woke up, found our free breakfast, and explored the hotel a bit. Breakfast is an interestig mix of cultures. There's a daily omlette stand, and usually sausages, breads, and hard boiled eggs. There's also fresh fruit, salad, hash brown patties, Chinese dumplings or steamed buns of some sort, random vegetables, congee, dry cereals, and juice and coffee. Nice spread, and I'm eating rather healthy when the fresh fruits and veggies are nicely cut up and available every morning. I think they reevaluated the coffee situation after we cleaned them out the first morning in minutes.
The weight room was comical. Good free weights and machines, but not the biggest space, and the treadmill made us all laugh. It was a self propelled little thing, and I think I'll be running on the street instead. I'd probably break it in my enthusiasm.
Off to the reception at 2pm, and first view of Zheijhang University where our classes are held. After a wonderfully perilous street crossing in front of the university, it's a really pleasant campus. Lots of trees, and they tend to decorate with little 4" pots of growing flower plants in circles on the sidewalk every 15' or so. The buildings are about 10 storeys tall, and rather institutional. Functional, basic amenities, more comfortable chairs than our home school, that's for sure. We gathered in the main auditorium and met the Director of the Zheijhang Law School, and Professor Sung who arranged the program with Professor Tiefenbrun from our school. Our other professors introduced themselves, and they had all of the students - Chinese, American, Canadian - introduce themselves as well. Then we all milled around a bit outside. Dinner was supposedly planned, but that turned out to be a trip to the dining hall. We weren't terribly impressed, so we went over to the restuarant across from our hotel, after dropping Mom at the hotel.
We walked in, much to the amusement of the restuarant staff. We were somewhat dressed up from the reception, and we managed to communicate that we wanted dinner and there were 4 of us. They seated us and found the English speaker in the place. A very nice man, he led us back to the fish tanks area. Instead of a menu, they have displays of various dishes in refrigerated cases, roasted pork strung up, tanks of living fish to pick from and small baskets of vegetables. Each has a price displayed. We picked a cucumber salad and fruit plate from the first case, some BBQ pork from the second, I picked out a zippy, flashy silver fish that looked rather healthy, some dumplings from the far case, and broccoli and bok choy as veggies. He escorted us back to the table, after punching in our selections to this cool little Blackberry looking jobber.
We managed to order drinks, after I had a moment with Mr. Blackberry about whether they had TsingTao beer or not. I really didn't care, I just wanted a beer instead of overpriced bottled water. But we got our drinks. The meal was delicious! The fruit had an interesting mayonnaise sauce in dollops on the watermelon and melon, but everything else was a smash hit in our Chinese food ordering bingo! Since the displays aren't great, we weren't entirely sure what we were getting, but we got some fantastic dishes. The fish was sublime, delicately steamed and served whole, eyes popping on a big platter. The veggies were perfect and nicely cooked. Considering the language barrier, we did well!
Then just back to the hotel and off to bed. Jet lag ate my head, and 8:00pm sounds like a lovely bedtime!
The weight room was comical. Good free weights and machines, but not the biggest space, and the treadmill made us all laugh. It was a self propelled little thing, and I think I'll be running on the street instead. I'd probably break it in my enthusiasm.
Off to the reception at 2pm, and first view of Zheijhang University where our classes are held. After a wonderfully perilous street crossing in front of the university, it's a really pleasant campus. Lots of trees, and they tend to decorate with little 4" pots of growing flower plants in circles on the sidewalk every 15' or so. The buildings are about 10 storeys tall, and rather institutional. Functional, basic amenities, more comfortable chairs than our home school, that's for sure. We gathered in the main auditorium and met the Director of the Zheijhang Law School, and Professor Sung who arranged the program with Professor Tiefenbrun from our school. Our other professors introduced themselves, and they had all of the students - Chinese, American, Canadian - introduce themselves as well. Then we all milled around a bit outside. Dinner was supposedly planned, but that turned out to be a trip to the dining hall. We weren't terribly impressed, so we went over to the restuarant across from our hotel, after dropping Mom at the hotel.
We walked in, much to the amusement of the restuarant staff. We were somewhat dressed up from the reception, and we managed to communicate that we wanted dinner and there were 4 of us. They seated us and found the English speaker in the place. A very nice man, he led us back to the fish tanks area. Instead of a menu, they have displays of various dishes in refrigerated cases, roasted pork strung up, tanks of living fish to pick from and small baskets of vegetables. Each has a price displayed. We picked a cucumber salad and fruit plate from the first case, some BBQ pork from the second, I picked out a zippy, flashy silver fish that looked rather healthy, some dumplings from the far case, and broccoli and bok choy as veggies. He escorted us back to the table, after punching in our selections to this cool little Blackberry looking jobber.
We managed to order drinks, after I had a moment with Mr. Blackberry about whether they had TsingTao beer or not. I really didn't care, I just wanted a beer instead of overpriced bottled water. But we got our drinks. The meal was delicious! The fruit had an interesting mayonnaise sauce in dollops on the watermelon and melon, but everything else was a smash hit in our Chinese food ordering bingo! Since the displays aren't great, we weren't entirely sure what we were getting, but we got some fantastic dishes. The fish was sublime, delicately steamed and served whole, eyes popping on a big platter. The veggies were perfect and nicely cooked. Considering the language barrier, we did well!
Then just back to the hotel and off to bed. Jet lag ate my head, and 8:00pm sounds like a lovely bedtime!
A few quick words
A few quick words about my situation. Internet takes a bit of doing - it's either in the coffee shop for wireless and pay for a beer as I maneuver through the wireless Internet connection or the business center. And the default format is in Chinese, so maneuver is definitely the word. This could be interesting - let me know if anyone knows how to fix it, as I've exhausted my usual remedies. Or the business center, where I can't drink a beer and type, and I still have to pay to use their computer. Meanwhile, I'm able to write these entries in my room offline and drink beer and cut and paste a bit later. I know what system I picked.
I have no idea if my pictures are posting. Please tell me if anything shows up or not.
Second, I'm limited by battery power in the coffee shop. So it's about an hour of useful time on Frankenstein (my laptop) before the battery is done. My apologies if I don't send you love letters daily, but time is limited.
Third, I hesitate to leave the computer plugged into the wall when I can't be here to see it blow up and somehow avert the rumored power surges in the Chinese electrical grid. But I think I'll get used to it. The TV looks ok, so chances are it isn't that terrible.
Fourth, I need to go check my grades from Spring semester. Ugh... wish me luck.
Fifth, this is quite a different situation, but thus far there is enough familiar to make it work. China is a pretty interesting place, but so far I'm relatively comfortable. It seems safe, the people are friendly even when we can't communicate a bit, and I've managed to get fed on a regular basis thus far. And the Chinese students in our classes are very helpful and well spoken. All good things. And it truly is a beautiful city, with lots of little touches that American cities just don't have, like decorative dragons on concrete bridges and really lovely parks with well maintained landscaping. No dog crap on the sidewalks, no one litters, everyone is polite even when they're about to run you over in their car. I could grow to really like it here, despite the hotel pool being completely a big fat lie. There is no pool, there is no hot tub. There is no joy in studentville....but I think we'll manage to cope ok :-)
I have no idea if my pictures are posting. Please tell me if anything shows up or not.
Second, I'm limited by battery power in the coffee shop. So it's about an hour of useful time on Frankenstein (my laptop) before the battery is done. My apologies if I don't send you love letters daily, but time is limited.
Third, I hesitate to leave the computer plugged into the wall when I can't be here to see it blow up and somehow avert the rumored power surges in the Chinese electrical grid. But I think I'll get used to it. The TV looks ok, so chances are it isn't that terrible.
Fourth, I need to go check my grades from Spring semester. Ugh... wish me luck.
Fifth, this is quite a different situation, but thus far there is enough familiar to make it work. China is a pretty interesting place, but so far I'm relatively comfortable. It seems safe, the people are friendly even when we can't communicate a bit, and I've managed to get fed on a regular basis thus far. And the Chinese students in our classes are very helpful and well spoken. All good things. And it truly is a beautiful city, with lots of little touches that American cities just don't have, like decorative dragons on concrete bridges and really lovely parks with well maintained landscaping. No dog crap on the sidewalks, no one litters, everyone is polite even when they're about to run you over in their car. I could grow to really like it here, despite the hotel pool being completely a big fat lie. There is no pool, there is no hot tub. There is no joy in studentville....but I think we'll manage to cope ok :-)
Arrival
We arrived on Saturday at the Yellow Dragon Hotel here in Hangzhou, after a lovely cab ride through the outskirts and city of Hangzhou. The best way I can describe driving in China is perilous. Someone in class described crossing the street as Frogger. I'm sure there are worse places, but they're treading the perilous edge between order and chaos on the streets, that's for sure! The center of the road is for cars and buses. Lanes are simply suggestions, and changing lanes is a matter of simply turning the wheel into the next lane, regardless of who or what is there. Pedestrians seem to just wander into traffic and manage not to die. You may think I'm being dramatic, but I just about lost it watching two ice cream cone eating children just stand and watch as our bus passed within inches of them. Literally inches. It's quite an experience.
We passed by fascinating high rise apartment homes, either covered in tiles or bricked in interesting geometric patterns. Roofs are tiled or metal, although it could also be a metallic finish. Then there were huge areas of gardens behind each row of homes, no clue if they were ocmmunity gardens or run by groups of farmers. Interspersed between the sparkling 5-7 storey apartments were old buildings, or the remains of them as they're being replaced.
The hotel is lovely. Very modern, nicer than the franchised Mariotts of the Americas in my opinion. The staff scurried and found the English speakers as we arrived, and one by one they checked us into our rooms. The bellhop very nicely dropped off our luggage right at our room. The room is nice, clean, and has the amenities you would need. It's a rather Beaver setup with two single beds, and they're hard as rocks. But the linens are top notch and the shower is hot. Which was very welcome, since my luggage was still missing. I made do with the clothes I had on, and headed out shopping.
We walked to the right of our hotel, where there are a string of shops in the ground level of the neighboring buildings. Each store is the size of a large bedroom - maybe 20x10 feet. Small display window, and mostly clothing. Fashion is fascinating here - they're very daring with what they wear, and designer-type duds are forgiving on an Asian silhouette. They had all kinds of adorable dresses and skirts, jackets and pants. The T-shirt shops are my favorite - nothinglike random words to cover a t-shirt. I found one that said "In God we trust, legal tender of the United States, and The Tarheel state". Quite entertaining. Love that random grouping of words. I think I'll be buying a few shirts, as I think they're fabulously Chinese.
Interacting with the shopkeepers is wonderful. They're generally happy to see you, but they did follow us around every store as much as they could in the little space. One lady helped me try on these very nice tailored jackets in Chinese brocades - modern, yet in the fancy schmancy silk. It was rather smart, but the green one that looked the best was a bit tight around the hips. We'll see what a few weeks of walking all over the People's Republic does to that...
Finally, I gave up and we headed back to the hotel. I promised myself I was just sitting down for a minute, as it was only 6:30pm or so local time. That turned into a happy cuddle in bed after a very welcome warm shower. I watched a very cool Chinese ballet on TV. The principal female dancer was ridiculously supple and terribly thin. She bent herself like a piece of al dente spaghetti and floated all over the place. The best description of the plot I can give was that she and her lover had been separated, I guess by a shipwreck, and she was struggling through the sea to get to land. They had these huge pieces of blue silk they were waving above and around and below her, like we did as kids with parachutes in gym class. They even simulated waves by folding it above and below itself and running past each other. Pretty surreal, especially in my jet lagged state! When her pirate boyfriend pranced out, I decided I'd had enough and curled up for sleep. I vaguely remember Mimi bringing my suitcase over, which was sweet of her. I passed out for the rest of the night...
We passed by fascinating high rise apartment homes, either covered in tiles or bricked in interesting geometric patterns. Roofs are tiled or metal, although it could also be a metallic finish. Then there were huge areas of gardens behind each row of homes, no clue if they were ocmmunity gardens or run by groups of farmers. Interspersed between the sparkling 5-7 storey apartments were old buildings, or the remains of them as they're being replaced.
The hotel is lovely. Very modern, nicer than the franchised Mariotts of the Americas in my opinion. The staff scurried and found the English speakers as we arrived, and one by one they checked us into our rooms. The bellhop very nicely dropped off our luggage right at our room. The room is nice, clean, and has the amenities you would need. It's a rather Beaver setup with two single beds, and they're hard as rocks. But the linens are top notch and the shower is hot. Which was very welcome, since my luggage was still missing. I made do with the clothes I had on, and headed out shopping.
We walked to the right of our hotel, where there are a string of shops in the ground level of the neighboring buildings. Each store is the size of a large bedroom - maybe 20x10 feet. Small display window, and mostly clothing. Fashion is fascinating here - they're very daring with what they wear, and designer-type duds are forgiving on an Asian silhouette. They had all kinds of adorable dresses and skirts, jackets and pants. The T-shirt shops are my favorite - nothinglike random words to cover a t-shirt. I found one that said "In God we trust, legal tender of the United States, and The Tarheel state". Quite entertaining. Love that random grouping of words. I think I'll be buying a few shirts, as I think they're fabulously Chinese.
Interacting with the shopkeepers is wonderful. They're generally happy to see you, but they did follow us around every store as much as they could in the little space. One lady helped me try on these very nice tailored jackets in Chinese brocades - modern, yet in the fancy schmancy silk. It was rather smart, but the green one that looked the best was a bit tight around the hips. We'll see what a few weeks of walking all over the People's Republic does to that...
Finally, I gave up and we headed back to the hotel. I promised myself I was just sitting down for a minute, as it was only 6:30pm or so local time. That turned into a happy cuddle in bed after a very welcome warm shower. I watched a very cool Chinese ballet on TV. The principal female dancer was ridiculously supple and terribly thin. She bent herself like a piece of al dente spaghetti and floated all over the place. The best description of the plot I can give was that she and her lover had been separated, I guess by a shipwreck, and she was struggling through the sea to get to land. They had these huge pieces of blue silk they were waving above and around and below her, like we did as kids with parachutes in gym class. They even simulated waves by folding it above and below itself and running past each other. Pretty surreal, especially in my jet lagged state! When her pirate boyfriend pranced out, I decided I'd had enough and curled up for sleep. I vaguely remember Mimi bringing my suitcase over, which was sweet of her. I passed out for the rest of the night...
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The flight...
Well, we made it onto the flight just fine, thanks to my brother in law dropping us off. Here's a picture of my mom at curbside. Note the large orange suitcase in the picture. This is the last time we see said suitcase for a good day and a half. That big orange suitcase, known as "The Great Pumpkin", was promptly lost by the airline. But we'lll get to that later.
The flight was good - packed with people - but any airline that has complimentary wine, sherry and cognac is just fine by me. We had seats in the very back of the plane, next to the bathroom. I gave mom the inside seat, and I took the aisle in our two seat wide row. We flew up and over Alaska and Russia to get here. The flight went quick - 3 movies, a few glasses of wine, and 40 million people shaking the back of my seat as they walk past in the aisle, and we're there. I had one little dragon lady grandma relishing in shaking the hell out of my seat as she was walking by. Hooray for polite elders, eh? But we made it to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong airport was really nice - they redid it, and it's gorgeous. All the signs were in English as well as Chinese, and the terminal was clean and nice. We found the herd of TJSL students waiting for the connecting flight to Hangzhou. We met and bonded and looked bleary after the overnight flight together. Our flight to Hangzhou was nice as well, breakfast of fried noodles for me, and a rather greasy omlette for my mum. I was next to a very nice business man who spoke a bit of English.
But since my battery is almost dead, this is the end.
More later.
The flight was good - packed with people - but any airline that has complimentary wine, sherry and cognac is just fine by me. We had seats in the very back of the plane, next to the bathroom. I gave mom the inside seat, and I took the aisle in our two seat wide row. We flew up and over Alaska and Russia to get here. The flight went quick - 3 movies, a few glasses of wine, and 40 million people shaking the back of my seat as they walk past in the aisle, and we're there. I had one little dragon lady grandma relishing in shaking the hell out of my seat as she was walking by. Hooray for polite elders, eh? But we made it to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong airport was really nice - they redid it, and it's gorgeous. All the signs were in English as well as Chinese, and the terminal was clean and nice. We found the herd of TJSL students waiting for the connecting flight to Hangzhou. We met and bonded and looked bleary after the overnight flight together. Our flight to Hangzhou was nice as well, breakfast of fried noodles for me, and a rather greasy omlette for my mum. I was next to a very nice business man who spoke a bit of English.
But since my battery is almost dead, this is the end.
More later.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Welcome to my Hangzhou Travel Blog!
Here's where I'll be posting once I get to China!
Stay tuned for the adventures of me and my mom!
Stay tuned for the adventures of me and my mom!
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