THE LONG AWAITED UPDATE!
I guess it's been a little over a month since I've been back in Shiyan, although it feels like I never left. Things are finally settled after a couple weeks of juggling schedules and disorganization which often accompanies the beginning of the school year. The weather is beginning to cool in the evenings and mornings indicating fall is peeking around the corner which, as I've lamented before, reminds me how I wish Chinese people were interested in American college football. On a crisp afternoon, there is almost nothing I would like more than to attend a football game filled with screaming people - the cream of the American crop. (-: Anyway, I digress...
THE CREW
There are twelve Americans teaching at the three colleges (and one high school) in the city this year. At my school, the automotive institute, we have two returnees from last year - Brian and me, one returnee from the year before - Trip, and a newbie - Jessica. I have to admit that at first it was strange for me to not be the only girl at my school, but I'm readily adjusting to it.
A married couple, John and Megan, are teaching at the technical school where the Lewis family dwelt last year. John's from Arkansas and Megan from Texas so they don't really have a chance when it comes to trash-talking home states!
The medical school remains unchanged. Darla, Brad, Andrew and Jaime have all returned which makes the continuity of things much easier.
That was supposed to be the whole of it until a few weeks ago when some problems arose in Xiangfan, a city about two hours from here where, for the first time, our organization was placing teachers. A group of six people who had trained together for a year was placed at two schools in Xiangfan. Upon arrival it was clear that one of the schools was neither prepared nor making any efforts to accommodate four of the teachers. So two of the teachers, William and Priscilla, were sent to our city to teach in the Dong Feng Number One Middle School (Don't be confused, however, it's really a high school!). Then, to make things worse, after a problem with the health exam, two of the remaining four group members in Xiangfan, an older married couple, were not hired by the school there and were forced to find another job in Shanghai! So this group of six who worked diligently together preparing to work in Xiangfan has now been split into three cities! I'm still amazed at how things turned out, but we all feel extremely blessed to have William and Priscilla in Shiyan. They are a lot of fun and a great addition to our team.
MY SCHEDULE
I'm actually a little embarrassed by how light my load is this year so I'm trying to enjoy it without bragging too much. (-: I only have three, two period classes each week. I teach an American English class on Monday afternoons, and oral English class on Monday nights, and an oral English class on Wednesday nights. Since English corner and lecture nights haven't begun yet, I have five days a week free! Of course, I'm quickly filling those days with activities, but the free time has been nice. I've read a lot, and I enjoy the freedom of being able to say yes to anybody asking me if I have time to do something with them (although, sometimes that backfires on me like the other morning when I told some students I'd play basketball with them at six in the morning! What was I thinking?!).
Tuesday nights and Thursday nights we have weekly studies. Thursdays we always have a ladies' luncheon. Saturdays will be used for another type of ladies' get together, and of course Sundays are always busy.
WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS
Our program has also placed four American teachers in Danjiangkou, another nearby town. Two weeks ago the four teachers, Jessi, Sarah, Rusty and Brittany, visited us in Shiyan, and last weekend Brian, Jessica and I returned the, uh, favor? Well, we have two sisters, Sara and Wind, working in Danjiangkou too so we visited them as well. Also, last weekend the two remaining teachers in Xiangfan came to Shiyan to spend time with the family here. They're a married couple, Will and Brittany. So there's a lot of visiting nearby towns going on during the weekends which is really great. I'm hoping to visit Xiangfan sometime soon. Several of our brothers and sisters are from there, and they have a Wal-Mart which still amazes me.
Tuesday was the Mid-Autumn Festival. It's a time to gather with family and friends and celebrate the moon by eating moon cakes filled with your choice (if you can read the labels and don't have to blindly choose one that may look good on the outside but is filled with an unidentifiable, disturbingly green substance) of fruit, nuts, egg, or even meat. Keeping with my two year tradition, I didn't eat a moon cake on the Mid-Autumn day which I think might be blasphemous but does go along with my sugar fast. About twelve of us did, however, meet in town for a dinner of hot pot. Hot pot is a style of eating where you sit around a big table that has a large pot sitting over a fire in the middle. The pot is divided into two sections, one section for spicy soup and one section for less spicy soup. Then you order lots of raw meats and vegetables and quail eggs and this really good twisted bread and cook the food at your table. It's pretty tasty, though everyone loses at least two pounds from sweat loss by the end of the meal.
Next week, October 1st, is National Day. I'm told it's like our 4th of July, but I'm also told Spring Festival is just like our Christmas, and it's definitely not. We do get the entire week off, however, and most people will travel during this time. I will not. I'm still recovering from the Xinjiang journey of a lifetime, and there is nothing within me willing to fight millions of Chinese people traveling back and forth for a week. It's just a bad time to travel. All of the newbies in town will be traveling, however, most of us returners are either wiser or less courageous or just plain more lazy than the others because we're staying here.
Well, that's all I've got for now.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
SHIYAN - ROUND TWO
Home again. It really feels like I've finally arrived home after several weeks of visiting relatives and friends in the States. Not that I don't feel at home in the States too; there's just something great about being in one's own apartment after sleeping in so many unfamiliar beds. Brian and I arrived here Thursday evening and were greeted by our friend Zoe at the train station. She was a sight for sore eyes, for sure! Of course, we had dinner at Happy Guys where I was reminded of just how good we have it here in Shiyan. Yesterday I spent most of the day organizing and cleaning my apartment. Somehow in my absence, I acquired some of Cindy's and Derek's and Yve's old stuff that they couldn't take home or around the world, respectively. I also had four boxes waiting my arrival to school (all of which I sent shortly before I left the States so they made really good time - as well they should for all the money I spent to send them!). Yesterday evening Brian and I had dinner at Brad and Min's house. Three Chinese girls came as well (two from our school and one from the medical college). I know the three of them so it was fun catching up, and we all had a lovely time (I'm back in China so I can use those British/Chinglish words again). I haven't seen too many family members, but today Alice is coming over for lunch. We'll hang out together and then go to a singing at Brad's where I hope to meet up with the others who stayed here this summer. School is supposed to start the 3rd of September so many of our friends should be returning from their summer holiday excursions soon.
XINJIANG TRAVELS
Brian and I left America on August 7th. We both had previously decided to come back to China early to visit several cities in Xinjiang Province. It's the largest province in China and is in the far western regions of the country. This time would really be the best for us to travel it because of its vastness. The only other time during the year we would have time to visit it would be during our winter break, and it would just be too cold then. We figured two weeks or so would be just the right amount of time so after flying into Xi'an (arriving on the 9th), we spent the night with our American friend Nancy and left the next evening on the train to Urumqi (the capital of Xinjiang). In retrospect, this may not have been the wisest move, rushing into a 34 hour train ride on the heights of jet lag, especially considering we couldn't get beds, but we were both interested in making the most of the time we had before school started back. We also thought that once on the train we would be able to upgrade to beds. But after about 18 hours of being told "no! there are no beds available", I gave up that hope and resigned myself to mentally trying to make the most of 34 hours of sitting on hard seats. It was pretty rough which I hate admitting when our friend Orange (who is from Urumqi) has made that trip many times (and just finished it yet again yesterday) in the same scenario without ever complaining. We did make it, however, thanks to ipods and that self-preserving mechanism in my brain that puts it in hibernation when I'm unable to sleep AND unable to entertain myself. Aside from our ankles looking like bowling balls, we emerged victorious and more or less unscathed.
Since Orange's parents live in Urumqi, they were able to buy us train tickets to Kashgar. Again, there were no beds, but at least this train was only supposed to take 24 hours, I think. We arrived in Urumqi around 7:30 in the morning, and our train to Kashgar was meant to leave around noon. In those four hours, we had to meet up with Orange's mom to retrieve our tickets, and since it was a Sunday morning, we had agreed to meet her at the Chinese church, spend a couple hours there for services, and then return to the train station to continue our journey. I might add that the reason we decided to make the back to back train trips instead of breaking them up with a couple days sightseeing in Urumqi was in the hopes that Orange, who is a medical intern student here in Shiyan, could get some time off from her work to go home (which would only "possibly" happen two weeks from when we first arrived in Urumqi), and we could tour her city WITH her.
We met Orange's mom at the church. She doesn't speak any English, and after six weeks of being away from China, jet lag, and the terribly long train ride, our Chinese was worse than rusty; it was just sad. Somehow we made it through. She took great care of us, and the people at the church were nice. We left there about 10:30, train tickets in hand, and after a meal of noodles, we tried to enter the train station. There were a lot of people scurrying about, and a lady with a megaphone kept saying something about our train, but I didn't know what. Finally, Brian figured out that they were saying our train to Kashgar had been cancelled due to bad weather. We called Orange who called her mom who texted us who texted Orange who texted her mom... We finally agreed to go back to the church; services were over now, and Orange's mom was waiting for us. She took us back to the train station where she and Brian waited in line for maybe two hours (I stayed outside where it was raining. Did I mention we were in the desert?? And it was raining!) to get our money back from our tickets. Then she took us to the bus station to buy bus tickets to Kashgar. I admit it hardly makes sense to assume that the buses would run in bad weather if the train would not, but we just wanted to get on our way. Fortunately, in a land that oftentimes doesn't make sense, the buses WERE running. Orange's mom procured us two bus tickets which were only slightly more expensive than our hard seat train tickets, and we had beds! It was all working out perfectly afterall. The timing was great too. Orange's mom treated us to dinner, and then we boarded the bus to leave Urumqi around five in the evening.
Jet lag set in, and I was out. I woke up shortly when we stopped on the side of the road for what I assume was a bathroom break. Brian who had drunk several cups of tea at dinner (I have made it a habit, albeit not a healthy one, to avoid drinking almost anything for long bus rides. It may not be great for my health, but it certainly keeps me from uncomfortable situations since stops are infrequent and unpredictable), was the first to exit the bus, followed quickly by a woman and her child. As soon as Brian hit the fresh air, I thought his clothes were going to be ripped off him by the strong wind. What I saw was him running in front of the bus, going acrosss the street. What I didn't see was him pursuing his shoe that flew off as he exited the bus. The bus driver made the woman and child get back on the bus. Brian went around the side of the bus, and for a few moments I wondered if he blew away. The bus driver began honking his horn and started edging the bus forward. In my moment of nobility, I considered yelling at the bus driver to stop, anchoring myself to the bus with a rope of some kind and heading a one man rescue operation for Brian, but I figured he was okay so I layed back down. Brian jumped back on the bus looking wind blown and irritated, but strangely relieved...
The bus stopped around 10:30 or 11:30 that night. I got off to use the bathroom quickly. It was a little chilly so when I got back on, I covered up and went sound asleep. I woke up around five in the morning. We were stopped again, and we didn't begin going until around 8:30. I asked Brian why we had stopped for at least three hours that I knew of. He said, "Three hours? Try eleven. We haven't moved since you got off last night to use the bathroom!" Apparently, our buses succumbed to the weather threats as well and were forced to stop for half a day until it was safe to continue. The rest of the ride was uneventful. I slept most of the way. Instead of one night on the bus, we spent two which really pans out to our saving one night's hotel bill. We arrived in Kashgar at seven in the morning and immediately found a place to check into to get cleaned up. We hadn't showered since we left Xi'an several days before!
Kashgar is a great city. I enjoyed it a lot. We walked quite a bit that first day. We saw a huge park, walked past a lake and through a bazaar, then mosied down the streets of the Old Town (which is constructed of dirt and wood and looks dilapidated in the most wonderful way). We searched for the old town walls which were slightly disappointing and then headed back to the hotel. I think we did all that in three or four hours so it was still early afternoon when we returned. In this part of Xinjiang (as in most of the parts we saw), the people seem to exist on a diet of bread and meat. Kebabs are a popular food here, and they are delicious. For anyone not good with geography, like me, Xinjiang borders all those -stan countries, and there are a lot of "minorities" in this area. The culture itself is hardly recognizable to anything mainstream Chinese. It's predominantly Muslim in religion and culture. The men wear their hats and the women their head coverings. There are mosques in most, if not all, of the cities we visited. The food is different, the atmosphere is different, the clothes are different. At times, it hardly felt like China at all.
At our hotel, we booked a two day, one night trip to Karakul Lake. This lake is very near the Pakistan border and at the foot of several mountains which make up part of the Pamir Mountain Range, I think. It just so worked out that a German guy and a Japanese guy were planning the same trip, and since it's cheaper to travel in groups of four than in a group of two, the four of us combined forces to bargain hard with the travel agent at our hotel. Bargaining in Xinjiang in unequivocally more fun than bargaining in other parts of China. Perhaps it's the locals' great sense of humor or easy-going nature, but at the end of a bargain, both parties are jovial and friendly. It took a lot of bargaining, but after losing the Japanese guy who decided not to go with us, and changing our minds as to the exact nature of our tour plans, we finally settled on a deal and were to leave early the next morning.
Brain, Fabian (the German), and I left Kashgar with our driver the next morning around 8:30 Beijing time (6:30 local time) for one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. Breathtaking mountains surrounded our panoramic view, and the air which had been hot in the afternoons in Kashgar was fresh and brisk outside the city. The ride took three hours, and at 11:30 we abruptly stopped at a yurt situated close to the road. A yurt is a type of almost tepee-like dwelling where, in this particular location, Kyrgyz people live. For a little money, a Kyrgyz family will feed visitors and house them for a night or two. Since we arrived around lunch time, the family we stayed with sat us down for a meal of rock hard bread and yak milk tea. The yak milk is supposed to prevent altitude sickness which I will pretend that it did. It wasn't long after eating that Brian, Fabian and I decided to begin our walk around the lake. We could have taken a horse or a camel, but we voted for a little exercise instead. The weather changed rapidly here. I was wearing four layers of shirts because I had failed to plan for really cold weather when I was packing for Xinjiang, the province boasting to have the hottest spot in China. As we hiked, however, my body temperature rose so that I was able to shed some layers and enjoy the sunshine. The surroundings were absolutely beautiful. This lake surrounded by large brown hills with snow covered mountains in the distance and glaciers visible from where we were standing was one of the most tranquil places I have ever been. When we stopped walking, the absence of noise was so noticeably thick that it was immediately clear what was missing - insects, animals, people. Colors went from the stark dullness of brown stones to the vivid greens of sparse grass and the various shades of blue the lake became in shifting sunlight.
Fabian and I, perhaps without the consent of Brian, decided to turn our peaceful easy walk around the lake into a more vigorous one in hopes of finding a better view by climbing a rather large peak. It was one of those situations where our energy trumped our common sense. I'm not sure how long it took, but we all made it to the top of this mountain and all feel the prouder for it, I think. It took a great exertion of physical energy, but given our inactivity on planes, trains and buses for six straight days, I think our bodies were craving it.
After descending the mountain and resting in the sunshine for awhile (and getting painfully sunburned), we took a short trip around a bend to get a better view of the snow-capped mountain. We had walked about half-way around the lake already when we decided to turn around and head back. Again the weather in this area changes rapidly, and upon the initiation of our return, we could see the dark sky of the west moving in our direction. It wasn't long before the freezing winds mingled with snow and sleet hit us. I don't know how long we walked in these conditions, but it was pretty miserable. And then, as quickly as it came, the bad weather was gone, and the sun returned.
When we arrived at the yurt, the Kyrgyz family asked what time we wanted to eat, and we told them six o'clock which was in two hours. Still having not totally warmed up, we entered the yurt where we were given colorful blankets to wrap up in. Fabian and Brian napped, I think, while I read. As I was reading, one of the daughters of the family came over and sat next to me. She started trying to pronounce the words so I helped her, and soon, her brother joined us. Their native language is Kyrgyz, and they speak about as much Chinese as I do, but we were surprisingly able to communicate rather well. The family we stayed with has five children, four of which spent the next hour teaching us to count in Kyrgyz and to dance. The girl who first approached me was 12 years old. Brian, if he could remember nothing else, remembered the Kyrgyz words for 12, and so this girl came to be called "0neke" (though I don't know how to spell it), which is 12 in Kyrgyz. Then again, everything became "oneke" to Brian: "thank you", "hello", "come inside this yurt and dance for us", everything. Anyhow, Oneke, the girl, not the other words, showed us the differences between some minority dances, and I showed her the macarena (not one of my proudest moments!), and her two year old brother "Eke" had his own special kind of mucous involved dance routine that was literally the most adorable thing I have ever seen. So that's how we spent time before dinner - dancing, learning Kyrgyz and laughing harder than I have in a long time.
Supper consisted of noodles and tea. After dinner we were invited into their other yurt to "get warm" where we were bushwhacked with odds and ends the family was selling to supplement their income. How could we not purchase something when they had taken such good care of us and when their snot-faced, dancing two year old brought so much laughter to us that our stomachs were hurting? So I bought a purse and necklace partially made out of camel hair, and the boys purchased a few items as well, again after several bouts of bargaining and Brian's consistant refrain of "oneke!"
The next day we were supposed to be picked up by our driver. When the time for him to arrive came and passed, we called the tour agent. Apparently, our driver's car had broken down; we would have to wait three more hours. It was a long wait. We were ready to go. Fabian had plans to leave Kashgar that evening so he needed to get back. It had turned much colder and was snowing. Finally, two and a half hours after we should have left, the father of our family stuck his head in the yurt where we were staying and said, "Kyrgyz bus!" We followed him out to a pickup truck loaded down with three people in the front, six people in the bed, and just enough space for the three of us to cram in the back of the cab with all our backpacks for an uncomfortable ride back. But that's not all. We were following another pickup truck, complete with a man and a goat in its bed, which was in desperate need of a tune up or a complete overhaul or to be used as scrap metal - not sure which - that kept breaking down. Eight times on the way back to Kashgar, our truck pulled over to help the other truck get started again. After one such stop, our driver went to the bed of our truck and pulled a blue tarp over the six people riding back there. They were completely covered by the tarp which I thought was odd, but considering how cold it had been, I thought they were using it as a windbreaker. When the driver re-entered the truck, he put his seatbelt on, made the old woman riding up front put hers on, and then continued down the road for 20 minutes. Then he again stopped, got out of the truck, uncovered the folks in the bed and then jumped back in and drove off, just as the old lady was unbuckling her seatbelt. Apparently, we were smuggling these people through a well-patrolled area!
After dropping off the Kyrgyz people at what appeared to be a family reunion, we returned to Kashgar several hours late where we demanded (and were given) a discount for this truly interesting experience.
The next day, which was Friday, Brian and I left Kashgar for Yarkand. I was expecting a small, podunk town, but it was nice sized. We walked around the old town. It's clear that fewer foreigners stop in this city than in some of the others because we got a lot of attention. The town had a nice feel to it though.
Saturday we took the bus to Hotan. It was about five hours away. The bus ride was all right, again thanks to ipods and good books. We were also blessed with our close proximity to a friendly family. Xinjiang is China-renowned for its fruit, and up to this point, Brian and I hadn't really tried any of it. But on the bus, the man sitting next to me gave Brian and me each a peach. Of course, we had to peel it. Both this man and Brian were peeling their's with no problem, but mine was a laborious effort. When I finally finished, I bit into the juiciest, ripest peach I have ever had. It was delicious, and when I nodded to the man that it was good, he looked at me like a parent looks at an child who has just made a juvenile faux pas, and told me to throw it out the window. Apparently, it was rotten, although I maintain that it was delicious. He then gave me another peach which I peeled in a fraction of the time it took me to peel the first one, and it was also good, though less sweet. Later the same family forced Brian and me to eat boiled eggs. And THAT is why I love Xinjiang people. They treat you like family, and they are hilarious. They seem to really enjoy life.
Our arrival in Hotan was good. We finally found a hotel, no thanks to our map. The main things we had planned for Hotan were to see the Sunday market which was supposed to be spectacular and to book plane tickets from Urumqi to Xi'an. There was nothing within us that could make us possibly be okay with enduring the 34 hour train ride back so we splurged and decided to fly instead.
On Sunday we did, in fact, go to the market, and it was, in fact, spectacular. It was huge. You could buy anything from basic necessities to luxurient carpets to hand-crafted knives to food to animals. At some point, we took a wrong turn and walked a lond distance through a quiet neighborhood. That was quite enjoyable. We made it back to the market, however, because we wanted to see the animals. We never could find the animal market which was slightly disappointing. From the market, we got a taxi to a travel agency. Unfortunately, the taxi driver didn't understand Brian's Chinese and Brian didn't understand his, and he headed towards the airport instead. Brian realized this fact (thank you Lonely Planet for your map, however unhelpful at times!), and asked the driver if we were going to the airport. The driver said, "Do you want to?" and Brian said, "No!" He showed the driver the map and where we wanted to go, and the driver pointed that we were going the right way, but when we saw airport signs, we knew that we weren't on the right track. At this point, both of us started saying that we didn't want to go to the airport. The driver continued, however, until we began yelling, "We don't want to go to the airport!!!" So he looked at the map again and turned around. A ways down the road, he pulled over and asked directions. The guy on the street easily told him where to go and that we had passed by the turn yet again. We finally made it to where we wanted to go, and the driver, who had failed to turn on the meter when we began, tried charging us 50 kuai! I was so angry. We fought with him for awhile, enlisted the aid of a young Chinese passerby who actually spoke really good English but was unable to get this driver to concede, and ended up giving him 25 kuai and walking away. He was not happy and neither were we, especially when the travel agency quoted us a plane ticket price 200 kuai more than what was quoted us in Kashgar! We left without the tickets. On our way to the hotel, we saw a China Southern airline office, stopped and bought tickets (for the inflated price) to leave Urumqi on the 28th which would give us two days with Orange in her hometown. We then returned to the hotel to rest.
As most people can imagine, Brian and I were both tired of traveling at this point. Here was where everything stood: It was Sunday afternoon. Orange would not arrive in Urumqi until the following Saturday (if she could come at all; nearly everyday she was getting mixed signals from her teachers about coming - one teacher said yes, one said no). She did buy her ticket, however, and was supposed to arrive Urumqi in one week. So Brian and I decided we would kill time in and around Urumqi until she arrived, and then she could show us her town. I can honestly say I was not in good humor in Hotan on this Sunday afternoon. After the squabble with the taxi driver and later a squabble with a fruit lady and the idea of basically a week of more travel and more money spending, I was frustrated. Back at the hotel, I was reading which was taking away the tension I had been feeling. After I finished my book, Brian looked at me and said, "Are you ready for this?" An hour earlier, Orange had texted Brian that, although she had bought her train ticket, one teacher was still saying she could not leave. When Brian told me this, I looked at him, he looked at me, and in those quiet seconds, we both exchanged the fact that we just want to go home. So...we went back to the travel agency and through the translating services of Zoe back here in Shiyan, changed our plane tickets from the 28th to the 22nd. Orange was disappointed but we appeased her with promises of returning to Urumqi with her in the near future.
What a weight was lifted from me! Making the decision to come back early was the best one, for sure, but that still didn't do away with the fact that we had a long journey home. On Monday Brian and I boarded another sleeper bus for Urumqi that would traverse the Taklamakan Desert by way of the cross desert highway (by the way, the routes we had been taking up to this point were the remnants of the old China Silk Road - a fascinating history). It took 22 hours, and we were back in Urumqi. We met a Dutch guy named Ruben after getting off at the bus station, and the three of us took a taxi to a youth hostel. We booked a bed and then Brian and I decided to walk around town. It was early in the morning when we arrived, and our plane wouldn't leave until the next morning. As we were walking, Orange texted us wanting to know where we were because her mom was expecting us and didn't know where to find us. After much confusion and texting, we met Orange's mom at a bus stop near her home for lunch. She brought us to their apartment first, gave us lots of fruit to eat, and then we left there for lunch. After picking up Orange's father, we stopped at a nice Uighur restaurant and had lots of rice and kebabs and bread with meat in it and yogurt. We were stuffed, but oh, the day wasn't over. Next, Orange's mom took us to a really nice bazaar where we didn't buy a thing but enjoyed perusing the shops. After a couple hours, we returned to Orange's home, where for the next couple hours, as in good Chinese fashion, we were forced to graze on melons and grapes and cashews and sunflower seeds until we nearly popped. And at the point of explosion, a table was set up, and we were served Orange's mom's delicious fried noodles - a heaping bowl, I might add. We were stuffed and stuffed again.
Orange's mom not only rode the bus with us to our hostel, but walked us to our room, made sure everything seemed to check out, and then left of with a huge bag of a variety of peaches we don't have in Shiyan and well wishes. She is a really sweet woman.
So Wednesday we took the plane to Xi'an - only 3 hours as opposed to 34 by train. We arrived at Nancy's in the afternoon and spent the evening watching movies. Thursday we dragged our luggage - one big, heavy rolling bag, one hiker's backpack, one computer bag and another carry-on bag - to the train station, up stairs, down stairs, down the platform from car 2 to car 15, up the train stairs, into our cubby where we had to cram the big bags under seats or under tables just because they were too heavy to lift. Then I passed out (luckliy we procured beds) in a sweaty, exhausted mass! The train ride took 8 hours which was nothing after all we had traveled. The thought of home consistently kept me going. We arrived in Shiyan at 4:45, dragged our luggage for the last time to a taxi where Zoe (like I said earlier, a sight for sore eyes!) helped us the rest of the way. And THAT details our adventures in Xinjiang - a land of extremes: extreme heat and extreme cold, extreme altitudes, extreme people, extreme conditions on all fronts. And I'm both extremely glad to have toured it AND extremely glad to be done, for now, of touring it.
Home again. It really feels like I've finally arrived home after several weeks of visiting relatives and friends in the States. Not that I don't feel at home in the States too; there's just something great about being in one's own apartment after sleeping in so many unfamiliar beds. Brian and I arrived here Thursday evening and were greeted by our friend Zoe at the train station. She was a sight for sore eyes, for sure! Of course, we had dinner at Happy Guys where I was reminded of just how good we have it here in Shiyan. Yesterday I spent most of the day organizing and cleaning my apartment. Somehow in my absence, I acquired some of Cindy's and Derek's and Yve's old stuff that they couldn't take home or around the world, respectively. I also had four boxes waiting my arrival to school (all of which I sent shortly before I left the States so they made really good time - as well they should for all the money I spent to send them!). Yesterday evening Brian and I had dinner at Brad and Min's house. Three Chinese girls came as well (two from our school and one from the medical college). I know the three of them so it was fun catching up, and we all had a lovely time (I'm back in China so I can use those British/Chinglish words again). I haven't seen too many family members, but today Alice is coming over for lunch. We'll hang out together and then go to a singing at Brad's where I hope to meet up with the others who stayed here this summer. School is supposed to start the 3rd of September so many of our friends should be returning from their summer holiday excursions soon.
XINJIANG TRAVELS
Brian and I left America on August 7th. We both had previously decided to come back to China early to visit several cities in Xinjiang Province. It's the largest province in China and is in the far western regions of the country. This time would really be the best for us to travel it because of its vastness. The only other time during the year we would have time to visit it would be during our winter break, and it would just be too cold then. We figured two weeks or so would be just the right amount of time so after flying into Xi'an (arriving on the 9th), we spent the night with our American friend Nancy and left the next evening on the train to Urumqi (the capital of Xinjiang). In retrospect, this may not have been the wisest move, rushing into a 34 hour train ride on the heights of jet lag, especially considering we couldn't get beds, but we were both interested in making the most of the time we had before school started back. We also thought that once on the train we would be able to upgrade to beds. But after about 18 hours of being told "no! there are no beds available", I gave up that hope and resigned myself to mentally trying to make the most of 34 hours of sitting on hard seats. It was pretty rough which I hate admitting when our friend Orange (who is from Urumqi) has made that trip many times (and just finished it yet again yesterday) in the same scenario without ever complaining. We did make it, however, thanks to ipods and that self-preserving mechanism in my brain that puts it in hibernation when I'm unable to sleep AND unable to entertain myself. Aside from our ankles looking like bowling balls, we emerged victorious and more or less unscathed.
Since Orange's parents live in Urumqi, they were able to buy us train tickets to Kashgar. Again, there were no beds, but at least this train was only supposed to take 24 hours, I think. We arrived in Urumqi around 7:30 in the morning, and our train to Kashgar was meant to leave around noon. In those four hours, we had to meet up with Orange's mom to retrieve our tickets, and since it was a Sunday morning, we had agreed to meet her at the Chinese church, spend a couple hours there for services, and then return to the train station to continue our journey. I might add that the reason we decided to make the back to back train trips instead of breaking them up with a couple days sightseeing in Urumqi was in the hopes that Orange, who is a medical intern student here in Shiyan, could get some time off from her work to go home (which would only "possibly" happen two weeks from when we first arrived in Urumqi), and we could tour her city WITH her.
We met Orange's mom at the church. She doesn't speak any English, and after six weeks of being away from China, jet lag, and the terribly long train ride, our Chinese was worse than rusty; it was just sad. Somehow we made it through. She took great care of us, and the people at the church were nice. We left there about 10:30, train tickets in hand, and after a meal of noodles, we tried to enter the train station. There were a lot of people scurrying about, and a lady with a megaphone kept saying something about our train, but I didn't know what. Finally, Brian figured out that they were saying our train to Kashgar had been cancelled due to bad weather. We called Orange who called her mom who texted us who texted Orange who texted her mom... We finally agreed to go back to the church; services were over now, and Orange's mom was waiting for us. She took us back to the train station where she and Brian waited in line for maybe two hours (I stayed outside where it was raining. Did I mention we were in the desert?? And it was raining!) to get our money back from our tickets. Then she took us to the bus station to buy bus tickets to Kashgar. I admit it hardly makes sense to assume that the buses would run in bad weather if the train would not, but we just wanted to get on our way. Fortunately, in a land that oftentimes doesn't make sense, the buses WERE running. Orange's mom procured us two bus tickets which were only slightly more expensive than our hard seat train tickets, and we had beds! It was all working out perfectly afterall. The timing was great too. Orange's mom treated us to dinner, and then we boarded the bus to leave Urumqi around five in the evening.
Jet lag set in, and I was out. I woke up shortly when we stopped on the side of the road for what I assume was a bathroom break. Brian who had drunk several cups of tea at dinner (I have made it a habit, albeit not a healthy one, to avoid drinking almost anything for long bus rides. It may not be great for my health, but it certainly keeps me from uncomfortable situations since stops are infrequent and unpredictable), was the first to exit the bus, followed quickly by a woman and her child. As soon as Brian hit the fresh air, I thought his clothes were going to be ripped off him by the strong wind. What I saw was him running in front of the bus, going acrosss the street. What I didn't see was him pursuing his shoe that flew off as he exited the bus. The bus driver made the woman and child get back on the bus. Brian went around the side of the bus, and for a few moments I wondered if he blew away. The bus driver began honking his horn and started edging the bus forward. In my moment of nobility, I considered yelling at the bus driver to stop, anchoring myself to the bus with a rope of some kind and heading a one man rescue operation for Brian, but I figured he was okay so I layed back down. Brian jumped back on the bus looking wind blown and irritated, but strangely relieved...
The bus stopped around 10:30 or 11:30 that night. I got off to use the bathroom quickly. It was a little chilly so when I got back on, I covered up and went sound asleep. I woke up around five in the morning. We were stopped again, and we didn't begin going until around 8:30. I asked Brian why we had stopped for at least three hours that I knew of. He said, "Three hours? Try eleven. We haven't moved since you got off last night to use the bathroom!" Apparently, our buses succumbed to the weather threats as well and were forced to stop for half a day until it was safe to continue. The rest of the ride was uneventful. I slept most of the way. Instead of one night on the bus, we spent two which really pans out to our saving one night's hotel bill. We arrived in Kashgar at seven in the morning and immediately found a place to check into to get cleaned up. We hadn't showered since we left Xi'an several days before!
Kashgar is a great city. I enjoyed it a lot. We walked quite a bit that first day. We saw a huge park, walked past a lake and through a bazaar, then mosied down the streets of the Old Town (which is constructed of dirt and wood and looks dilapidated in the most wonderful way). We searched for the old town walls which were slightly disappointing and then headed back to the hotel. I think we did all that in three or four hours so it was still early afternoon when we returned. In this part of Xinjiang (as in most of the parts we saw), the people seem to exist on a diet of bread and meat. Kebabs are a popular food here, and they are delicious. For anyone not good with geography, like me, Xinjiang borders all those -stan countries, and there are a lot of "minorities" in this area. The culture itself is hardly recognizable to anything mainstream Chinese. It's predominantly Muslim in religion and culture. The men wear their hats and the women their head coverings. There are mosques in most, if not all, of the cities we visited. The food is different, the atmosphere is different, the clothes are different. At times, it hardly felt like China at all.
At our hotel, we booked a two day, one night trip to Karakul Lake. This lake is very near the Pakistan border and at the foot of several mountains which make up part of the Pamir Mountain Range, I think. It just so worked out that a German guy and a Japanese guy were planning the same trip, and since it's cheaper to travel in groups of four than in a group of two, the four of us combined forces to bargain hard with the travel agent at our hotel. Bargaining in Xinjiang in unequivocally more fun than bargaining in other parts of China. Perhaps it's the locals' great sense of humor or easy-going nature, but at the end of a bargain, both parties are jovial and friendly. It took a lot of bargaining, but after losing the Japanese guy who decided not to go with us, and changing our minds as to the exact nature of our tour plans, we finally settled on a deal and were to leave early the next morning.
Brain, Fabian (the German), and I left Kashgar with our driver the next morning around 8:30 Beijing time (6:30 local time) for one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. Breathtaking mountains surrounded our panoramic view, and the air which had been hot in the afternoons in Kashgar was fresh and brisk outside the city. The ride took three hours, and at 11:30 we abruptly stopped at a yurt situated close to the road. A yurt is a type of almost tepee-like dwelling where, in this particular location, Kyrgyz people live. For a little money, a Kyrgyz family will feed visitors and house them for a night or two. Since we arrived around lunch time, the family we stayed with sat us down for a meal of rock hard bread and yak milk tea. The yak milk is supposed to prevent altitude sickness which I will pretend that it did. It wasn't long after eating that Brian, Fabian and I decided to begin our walk around the lake. We could have taken a horse or a camel, but we voted for a little exercise instead. The weather changed rapidly here. I was wearing four layers of shirts because I had failed to plan for really cold weather when I was packing for Xinjiang, the province boasting to have the hottest spot in China. As we hiked, however, my body temperature rose so that I was able to shed some layers and enjoy the sunshine. The surroundings were absolutely beautiful. This lake surrounded by large brown hills with snow covered mountains in the distance and glaciers visible from where we were standing was one of the most tranquil places I have ever been. When we stopped walking, the absence of noise was so noticeably thick that it was immediately clear what was missing - insects, animals, people. Colors went from the stark dullness of brown stones to the vivid greens of sparse grass and the various shades of blue the lake became in shifting sunlight.
Fabian and I, perhaps without the consent of Brian, decided to turn our peaceful easy walk around the lake into a more vigorous one in hopes of finding a better view by climbing a rather large peak. It was one of those situations where our energy trumped our common sense. I'm not sure how long it took, but we all made it to the top of this mountain and all feel the prouder for it, I think. It took a great exertion of physical energy, but given our inactivity on planes, trains and buses for six straight days, I think our bodies were craving it.
After descending the mountain and resting in the sunshine for awhile (and getting painfully sunburned), we took a short trip around a bend to get a better view of the snow-capped mountain. We had walked about half-way around the lake already when we decided to turn around and head back. Again the weather in this area changes rapidly, and upon the initiation of our return, we could see the dark sky of the west moving in our direction. It wasn't long before the freezing winds mingled with snow and sleet hit us. I don't know how long we walked in these conditions, but it was pretty miserable. And then, as quickly as it came, the bad weather was gone, and the sun returned.
When we arrived at the yurt, the Kyrgyz family asked what time we wanted to eat, and we told them six o'clock which was in two hours. Still having not totally warmed up, we entered the yurt where we were given colorful blankets to wrap up in. Fabian and Brian napped, I think, while I read. As I was reading, one of the daughters of the family came over and sat next to me. She started trying to pronounce the words so I helped her, and soon, her brother joined us. Their native language is Kyrgyz, and they speak about as much Chinese as I do, but we were surprisingly able to communicate rather well. The family we stayed with has five children, four of which spent the next hour teaching us to count in Kyrgyz and to dance. The girl who first approached me was 12 years old. Brian, if he could remember nothing else, remembered the Kyrgyz words for 12, and so this girl came to be called "0neke" (though I don't know how to spell it), which is 12 in Kyrgyz. Then again, everything became "oneke" to Brian: "thank you", "hello", "come inside this yurt and dance for us", everything. Anyhow, Oneke, the girl, not the other words, showed us the differences between some minority dances, and I showed her the macarena (not one of my proudest moments!), and her two year old brother "Eke" had his own special kind of mucous involved dance routine that was literally the most adorable thing I have ever seen. So that's how we spent time before dinner - dancing, learning Kyrgyz and laughing harder than I have in a long time.
Supper consisted of noodles and tea. After dinner we were invited into their other yurt to "get warm" where we were bushwhacked with odds and ends the family was selling to supplement their income. How could we not purchase something when they had taken such good care of us and when their snot-faced, dancing two year old brought so much laughter to us that our stomachs were hurting? So I bought a purse and necklace partially made out of camel hair, and the boys purchased a few items as well, again after several bouts of bargaining and Brian's consistant refrain of "oneke!"
The next day we were supposed to be picked up by our driver. When the time for him to arrive came and passed, we called the tour agent. Apparently, our driver's car had broken down; we would have to wait three more hours. It was a long wait. We were ready to go. Fabian had plans to leave Kashgar that evening so he needed to get back. It had turned much colder and was snowing. Finally, two and a half hours after we should have left, the father of our family stuck his head in the yurt where we were staying and said, "Kyrgyz bus!" We followed him out to a pickup truck loaded down with three people in the front, six people in the bed, and just enough space for the three of us to cram in the back of the cab with all our backpacks for an uncomfortable ride back. But that's not all. We were following another pickup truck, complete with a man and a goat in its bed, which was in desperate need of a tune up or a complete overhaul or to be used as scrap metal - not sure which - that kept breaking down. Eight times on the way back to Kashgar, our truck pulled over to help the other truck get started again. After one such stop, our driver went to the bed of our truck and pulled a blue tarp over the six people riding back there. They were completely covered by the tarp which I thought was odd, but considering how cold it had been, I thought they were using it as a windbreaker. When the driver re-entered the truck, he put his seatbelt on, made the old woman riding up front put hers on, and then continued down the road for 20 minutes. Then he again stopped, got out of the truck, uncovered the folks in the bed and then jumped back in and drove off, just as the old lady was unbuckling her seatbelt. Apparently, we were smuggling these people through a well-patrolled area!
After dropping off the Kyrgyz people at what appeared to be a family reunion, we returned to Kashgar several hours late where we demanded (and were given) a discount for this truly interesting experience.
The next day, which was Friday, Brian and I left Kashgar for Yarkand. I was expecting a small, podunk town, but it was nice sized. We walked around the old town. It's clear that fewer foreigners stop in this city than in some of the others because we got a lot of attention. The town had a nice feel to it though.
Saturday we took the bus to Hotan. It was about five hours away. The bus ride was all right, again thanks to ipods and good books. We were also blessed with our close proximity to a friendly family. Xinjiang is China-renowned for its fruit, and up to this point, Brian and I hadn't really tried any of it. But on the bus, the man sitting next to me gave Brian and me each a peach. Of course, we had to peel it. Both this man and Brian were peeling their's with no problem, but mine was a laborious effort. When I finally finished, I bit into the juiciest, ripest peach I have ever had. It was delicious, and when I nodded to the man that it was good, he looked at me like a parent looks at an child who has just made a juvenile faux pas, and told me to throw it out the window. Apparently, it was rotten, although I maintain that it was delicious. He then gave me another peach which I peeled in a fraction of the time it took me to peel the first one, and it was also good, though less sweet. Later the same family forced Brian and me to eat boiled eggs. And THAT is why I love Xinjiang people. They treat you like family, and they are hilarious. They seem to really enjoy life.
Our arrival in Hotan was good. We finally found a hotel, no thanks to our map. The main things we had planned for Hotan were to see the Sunday market which was supposed to be spectacular and to book plane tickets from Urumqi to Xi'an. There was nothing within us that could make us possibly be okay with enduring the 34 hour train ride back so we splurged and decided to fly instead.
On Sunday we did, in fact, go to the market, and it was, in fact, spectacular. It was huge. You could buy anything from basic necessities to luxurient carpets to hand-crafted knives to food to animals. At some point, we took a wrong turn and walked a lond distance through a quiet neighborhood. That was quite enjoyable. We made it back to the market, however, because we wanted to see the animals. We never could find the animal market which was slightly disappointing. From the market, we got a taxi to a travel agency. Unfortunately, the taxi driver didn't understand Brian's Chinese and Brian didn't understand his, and he headed towards the airport instead. Brian realized this fact (thank you Lonely Planet for your map, however unhelpful at times!), and asked the driver if we were going to the airport. The driver said, "Do you want to?" and Brian said, "No!" He showed the driver the map and where we wanted to go, and the driver pointed that we were going the right way, but when we saw airport signs, we knew that we weren't on the right track. At this point, both of us started saying that we didn't want to go to the airport. The driver continued, however, until we began yelling, "We don't want to go to the airport!!!" So he looked at the map again and turned around. A ways down the road, he pulled over and asked directions. The guy on the street easily told him where to go and that we had passed by the turn yet again. We finally made it to where we wanted to go, and the driver, who had failed to turn on the meter when we began, tried charging us 50 kuai! I was so angry. We fought with him for awhile, enlisted the aid of a young Chinese passerby who actually spoke really good English but was unable to get this driver to concede, and ended up giving him 25 kuai and walking away. He was not happy and neither were we, especially when the travel agency quoted us a plane ticket price 200 kuai more than what was quoted us in Kashgar! We left without the tickets. On our way to the hotel, we saw a China Southern airline office, stopped and bought tickets (for the inflated price) to leave Urumqi on the 28th which would give us two days with Orange in her hometown. We then returned to the hotel to rest.
As most people can imagine, Brian and I were both tired of traveling at this point. Here was where everything stood: It was Sunday afternoon. Orange would not arrive in Urumqi until the following Saturday (if she could come at all; nearly everyday she was getting mixed signals from her teachers about coming - one teacher said yes, one said no). She did buy her ticket, however, and was supposed to arrive Urumqi in one week. So Brian and I decided we would kill time in and around Urumqi until she arrived, and then she could show us her town. I can honestly say I was not in good humor in Hotan on this Sunday afternoon. After the squabble with the taxi driver and later a squabble with a fruit lady and the idea of basically a week of more travel and more money spending, I was frustrated. Back at the hotel, I was reading which was taking away the tension I had been feeling. After I finished my book, Brian looked at me and said, "Are you ready for this?" An hour earlier, Orange had texted Brian that, although she had bought her train ticket, one teacher was still saying she could not leave. When Brian told me this, I looked at him, he looked at me, and in those quiet seconds, we both exchanged the fact that we just want to go home. So...we went back to the travel agency and through the translating services of Zoe back here in Shiyan, changed our plane tickets from the 28th to the 22nd. Orange was disappointed but we appeased her with promises of returning to Urumqi with her in the near future.
What a weight was lifted from me! Making the decision to come back early was the best one, for sure, but that still didn't do away with the fact that we had a long journey home. On Monday Brian and I boarded another sleeper bus for Urumqi that would traverse the Taklamakan Desert by way of the cross desert highway (by the way, the routes we had been taking up to this point were the remnants of the old China Silk Road - a fascinating history). It took 22 hours, and we were back in Urumqi. We met a Dutch guy named Ruben after getting off at the bus station, and the three of us took a taxi to a youth hostel. We booked a bed and then Brian and I decided to walk around town. It was early in the morning when we arrived, and our plane wouldn't leave until the next morning. As we were walking, Orange texted us wanting to know where we were because her mom was expecting us and didn't know where to find us. After much confusion and texting, we met Orange's mom at a bus stop near her home for lunch. She brought us to their apartment first, gave us lots of fruit to eat, and then we left there for lunch. After picking up Orange's father, we stopped at a nice Uighur restaurant and had lots of rice and kebabs and bread with meat in it and yogurt. We were stuffed, but oh, the day wasn't over. Next, Orange's mom took us to a really nice bazaar where we didn't buy a thing but enjoyed perusing the shops. After a couple hours, we returned to Orange's home, where for the next couple hours, as in good Chinese fashion, we were forced to graze on melons and grapes and cashews and sunflower seeds until we nearly popped. And at the point of explosion, a table was set up, and we were served Orange's mom's delicious fried noodles - a heaping bowl, I might add. We were stuffed and stuffed again.
Orange's mom not only rode the bus with us to our hostel, but walked us to our room, made sure everything seemed to check out, and then left of with a huge bag of a variety of peaches we don't have in Shiyan and well wishes. She is a really sweet woman.
So Wednesday we took the plane to Xi'an - only 3 hours as opposed to 34 by train. We arrived at Nancy's in the afternoon and spent the evening watching movies. Thursday we dragged our luggage - one big, heavy rolling bag, one hiker's backpack, one computer bag and another carry-on bag - to the train station, up stairs, down stairs, down the platform from car 2 to car 15, up the train stairs, into our cubby where we had to cram the big bags under seats or under tables just because they were too heavy to lift. Then I passed out (luckliy we procured beds) in a sweaty, exhausted mass! The train ride took 8 hours which was nothing after all we had traveled. The thought of home consistently kept me going. We arrived in Shiyan at 4:45, dragged our luggage for the last time to a taxi where Zoe (like I said earlier, a sight for sore eyes!) helped us the rest of the way. And THAT details our adventures in Xinjiang - a land of extremes: extreme heat and extreme cold, extreme altitudes, extreme people, extreme conditions on all fronts. And I'm both extremely glad to have toured it AND extremely glad to be done, for now, of touring it.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
LAST NIGHT IN CHINA
This past week has been a bit of a blur. It's not that I was too busy, but the day for my departure approached rather quickly anyway. The week was filled with goodbyes which is not my favorite way to spend my time, but, fortunately enough for me, I'm coming back. I can't imagine how different I would feel if I knew I wouldn't be returning in two months.
Thursday a group of Derek's students came over to cook dinner for us. We were also blessed with the presence of many of our other close friends who came to hang out for the evening or spend the night. In fact, Sara and Jean who both have moved to towns outside Shiyan to begin their medical internships came back just to say goodbye. It was a pretty sweet evening.
Our plane home leaves from Wuhan (the capital of our province and a 6 hour train ride away) on Sunday, but Derek and I decided to leave Shiyan on Friday to spend a day in Wuhan checking out a coffee house (for me) and buying some souvenirs (for Derek). So all morning Friday we ran errands, finished up classes, and spent some last minute time with our Chinese friends. Our train left at 3:58 (to be exact, Angel!) and so we said our last goodbyes to most of our friends at our apartment an hour before. There was a great turnout, and it was such a blessing to see so many friendly and loving faces wishing us well. Derek will not return next year, and, again, I can't imagine what that would be like. It was hard enough for me to say goodbye for just two months!
We arrived in Wuhan last night around 10 o'clock. Another foreign teacher in Wuhan, Janell, lives about 10 minutes from the train station so we took a taxi to her place. She's at a great location and is very hospitable to many of us Shiyan people who have used her apartment on various occasions throughout the year.
I've been getting some advice about how to deal with jet lag. The general consensus is to wear yourself out before flying so that you can sleep very well on the plane. Last night Janell and I stayed up until 4 o'clock talking and tonight the Lewises (who arrived this afternoon) and the rest of us are attempting to pull an all-nighter. They've begun to watch season six of 24. I've only seen season one of this show, and I'm not as into it as everyone else, but I am going to try to stay up with them.
Today was a pretty nice day in Wuhan. Up until today, I have had nothing but rather negative experiences in this polluted, frustrating city. This morning we slept in, but then we met a couple of other teachers for lunch at a Brazilian BBQ place. It's been awhile since I've had so much meat at one sitting. Basically, these waiters walk around carrying different types of meat on a stick and a sharp knife. When they walk by your table, they ask if you want the meat. If you do, then they shave off as much of it as you want. It's an all you can eat place so we more than stuffed ourselves with lamb, steak, bacon, glazed fat and countless other types of meat. It was grotesquely delicious!
The afternoon I spent touring Mr. Mai's coffee shop. It's a coffee house that provides English speaking opportunities (among other opportunities!). It has a really cool setup. Plus, the coffee and desserts were a great treat after being subjected to underpar instant coffee for several months.
Tomorrow our plane leaves around 3 o'clock. From there we fly to Guangzhou and have a five hour layover. Then we'll fly to L.A and, hopefully, we'll all be so exhausted, we'll sleep most of the way (though I've already been assured by Courtny that I can expect to receive no sleep at all). We'll see.
This past week has been a bit of a blur. It's not that I was too busy, but the day for my departure approached rather quickly anyway. The week was filled with goodbyes which is not my favorite way to spend my time, but, fortunately enough for me, I'm coming back. I can't imagine how different I would feel if I knew I wouldn't be returning in two months.
Thursday a group of Derek's students came over to cook dinner for us. We were also blessed with the presence of many of our other close friends who came to hang out for the evening or spend the night. In fact, Sara and Jean who both have moved to towns outside Shiyan to begin their medical internships came back just to say goodbye. It was a pretty sweet evening.
Our plane home leaves from Wuhan (the capital of our province and a 6 hour train ride away) on Sunday, but Derek and I decided to leave Shiyan on Friday to spend a day in Wuhan checking out a coffee house (for me) and buying some souvenirs (for Derek). So all morning Friday we ran errands, finished up classes, and spent some last minute time with our Chinese friends. Our train left at 3:58 (to be exact, Angel!) and so we said our last goodbyes to most of our friends at our apartment an hour before. There was a great turnout, and it was such a blessing to see so many friendly and loving faces wishing us well. Derek will not return next year, and, again, I can't imagine what that would be like. It was hard enough for me to say goodbye for just two months!
We arrived in Wuhan last night around 10 o'clock. Another foreign teacher in Wuhan, Janell, lives about 10 minutes from the train station so we took a taxi to her place. She's at a great location and is very hospitable to many of us Shiyan people who have used her apartment on various occasions throughout the year.
I've been getting some advice about how to deal with jet lag. The general consensus is to wear yourself out before flying so that you can sleep very well on the plane. Last night Janell and I stayed up until 4 o'clock talking and tonight the Lewises (who arrived this afternoon) and the rest of us are attempting to pull an all-nighter. They've begun to watch season six of 24. I've only seen season one of this show, and I'm not as into it as everyone else, but I am going to try to stay up with them.
Today was a pretty nice day in Wuhan. Up until today, I have had nothing but rather negative experiences in this polluted, frustrating city. This morning we slept in, but then we met a couple of other teachers for lunch at a Brazilian BBQ place. It's been awhile since I've had so much meat at one sitting. Basically, these waiters walk around carrying different types of meat on a stick and a sharp knife. When they walk by your table, they ask if you want the meat. If you do, then they shave off as much of it as you want. It's an all you can eat place so we more than stuffed ourselves with lamb, steak, bacon, glazed fat and countless other types of meat. It was grotesquely delicious!
The afternoon I spent touring Mr. Mai's coffee shop. It's a coffee house that provides English speaking opportunities (among other opportunities!). It has a really cool setup. Plus, the coffee and desserts were a great treat after being subjected to underpar instant coffee for several months.
Tomorrow our plane leaves around 3 o'clock. From there we fly to Guangzhou and have a five hour layover. Then we'll fly to L.A and, hopefully, we'll all be so exhausted, we'll sleep most of the way (though I've already been assured by Courtny that I can expect to receive no sleep at all). We'll see.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
WUDANGSHAN, AT LAST
I finally made it to Wudang Mountain. Were it not for the automobile industry and Wudang Mountain, Shiyan would probably be just another small village unknown throughout China and certainly throughout the world. However, the Dong Feng car factory establishes Shiyan as an important economic city, and Wudang Mountain ensures it to be a growing tourist destination. Wudang Mountain is credited with the beginnings of Taoism and a special kind of kung fu known generically as wushu. I'm sure I don't know much about the history or anything else important dealing with Wudang; all I know is that if you live in Shiyan and don't visit Wudang Mountain, it's like living in Siem Reap and not visiting Angkor Wat or living in D.C. and not visiting the White House. As important as Wudang is to everything Shiyan, it's surprising to me how few of my students have actually visited it. This could in large part have to do with the whopping sum of money you must pay to go there. For students it costs about 90 kuai and for us older folks a grand total of 180 something. But it's a pretty sweet layout. Last Thursday I canceled class and joined Derek, Brian, Matt, Amber and Dolly for a day of hiking Wudang. It takes about an hour or less by bus to arrive at the Wudang village and after browsing a few souvenir shops at the bottom of the mountain, we began our ascent. The hike was surprisingly both beautiful and very doable. We had all quietly assumed that the hike up the mountain would simply be hours of climbing a steep staircase consisting of uneven and broken steps. We had continuously received conflicting information about how long it would take to reach the top (anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours!), but we set off anyway. We took a bus a little ways up the mountain and then began our hike up. The trail was really nice. We had significant tree cover and there was a cool stream we walked along. The scenery really was spectacular. We were bombarded by gnats which grew annoying, but it didn't ruin the hike. I'm not actually sure how long we hiked for. We reached a spot where there were a few souvenir shops and restaurants, the first sign of tourist life since we began the hike. We did a little shopping and unanimously decided not to finish the hike. It was already after four, and the remainder of the hike was supposedly like we had envisioned the entire hike to be from the beginning: a rigorous uphill climb. We all felt we had gotten our money's worth (which included a thirty minute kung fu show mid-morning which we were fortunate enough to catch) and were ready to return home. I, fortunately, have the luxury of returning and finishing the hike next year which I plan to do. Wudang was much more beautiful than I had imagined. When people talk about it, they always mention Taoism and kung fu and how important it is to China, but I've never heard anyone mention just how naturally beautiful it is. I'm glad to have visited it, and I'm especially glad to be able to answer everyone who asks from now on that yes, in fact, I have been to Wudang Mountain. I do live in Shiyan, afterall.
I finally made it to Wudang Mountain. Were it not for the automobile industry and Wudang Mountain, Shiyan would probably be just another small village unknown throughout China and certainly throughout the world. However, the Dong Feng car factory establishes Shiyan as an important economic city, and Wudang Mountain ensures it to be a growing tourist destination. Wudang Mountain is credited with the beginnings of Taoism and a special kind of kung fu known generically as wushu. I'm sure I don't know much about the history or anything else important dealing with Wudang; all I know is that if you live in Shiyan and don't visit Wudang Mountain, it's like living in Siem Reap and not visiting Angkor Wat or living in D.C. and not visiting the White House. As important as Wudang is to everything Shiyan, it's surprising to me how few of my students have actually visited it. This could in large part have to do with the whopping sum of money you must pay to go there. For students it costs about 90 kuai and for us older folks a grand total of 180 something. But it's a pretty sweet layout. Last Thursday I canceled class and joined Derek, Brian, Matt, Amber and Dolly for a day of hiking Wudang. It takes about an hour or less by bus to arrive at the Wudang village and after browsing a few souvenir shops at the bottom of the mountain, we began our ascent. The hike was surprisingly both beautiful and very doable. We had all quietly assumed that the hike up the mountain would simply be hours of climbing a steep staircase consisting of uneven and broken steps. We had continuously received conflicting information about how long it would take to reach the top (anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours!), but we set off anyway. We took a bus a little ways up the mountain and then began our hike up. The trail was really nice. We had significant tree cover and there was a cool stream we walked along. The scenery really was spectacular. We were bombarded by gnats which grew annoying, but it didn't ruin the hike. I'm not actually sure how long we hiked for. We reached a spot where there were a few souvenir shops and restaurants, the first sign of tourist life since we began the hike. We did a little shopping and unanimously decided not to finish the hike. It was already after four, and the remainder of the hike was supposedly like we had envisioned the entire hike to be from the beginning: a rigorous uphill climb. We all felt we had gotten our money's worth (which included a thirty minute kung fu show mid-morning which we were fortunate enough to catch) and were ready to return home. I, fortunately, have the luxury of returning and finishing the hike next year which I plan to do. Wudang was much more beautiful than I had imagined. When people talk about it, they always mention Taoism and kung fu and how important it is to China, but I've never heard anyone mention just how naturally beautiful it is. I'm glad to have visited it, and I'm especially glad to be able to answer everyone who asks from now on that yes, in fact, I have been to Wudang Mountain. I do live in Shiyan, afterall.
Monday, June 04, 2007
A FEW DAYS AND COUNTING
For those who don't know, I'll be returning to the States on June 25th, only 21 days from today. The Lewis Five, Brian, Derek and I will all be returning at the same time. We will fly together all the way to L.A. where the Lewises will break off from our group, and the boys and I will continue to Atlanta together before our final goodbye. I'm glad we're flying home together. Somehow it seems like a fitting end. But actually I'm trying not to focus too much on my upcoming return home. I've still got two weeks of classes left which includes final exams, lots of grading, and filling out and completing teacher logs and final grades.
A FULL WEEKEND
Last Monday three American friends of Derek arrived in Shiyan. Dollie and Amber are staying in my apartment, and Matt is staying in Derek's. The three are from Harding and had just spent some time in Wuhan before coming to Shiyan. They came at a good time because we've had quite a few activities this week for them to participate in. Saturday night we had a big potluck meal. I think it's actually the first official potluck dinner we've had, and I'm already regretting that fact because the food was amazing. After dining and socializing, the guys and girls split for separate family devos.
Saturday night I stayed at the Lewis house because Courtny's 16th birthday was the next day. She and I stayed up till 4 a.m. watching movies and being stupid. It was fun, though. Sunday morning the family gathered together for a little roadtrip. We went to the nearby Huang Long Reservoir where we rented a boat. It was my first time to go to the reservoir and I was amazed by the beauty of the surrounding scenery. Mountains jutted up all around us, and the water was really clear. After awhile of singing and learning, many of us went swimming in the cool, clear water. We were out there all afternoon, which is evident if you see Brian's red face!
Last night we celebrated Courtny's birthday with taco salad and lots of cake. Then we watched the season finale of LOST which was awesome. We had a full house, or I should say, the Lewises had a full house, and despite Brian's constant threats of dismemberment if anyone talked during LOST, everyone made it through the show entact. I spent the night again last night at the Lewises and decided to make use of their Internet while they go eat lunch this morning. I actually need to head home, probably clean up, plan my classes for this week, and prepare for meeting with students for dinner tonight. Brian and I rescheduled some of our classes to meet in small groups outside of class. Many of these groups have come to my apartment to cook dinner for us (which is pretty sweet because most of them can cook really well), but tonight I'm going to have dumplings at some restaurant with some of the boys in my class who can't speak English... It should be, um, well, a long evening.
For those who don't know, I'll be returning to the States on June 25th, only 21 days from today. The Lewis Five, Brian, Derek and I will all be returning at the same time. We will fly together all the way to L.A. where the Lewises will break off from our group, and the boys and I will continue to Atlanta together before our final goodbye. I'm glad we're flying home together. Somehow it seems like a fitting end. But actually I'm trying not to focus too much on my upcoming return home. I've still got two weeks of classes left which includes final exams, lots of grading, and filling out and completing teacher logs and final grades.
A FULL WEEKEND
Last Monday three American friends of Derek arrived in Shiyan. Dollie and Amber are staying in my apartment, and Matt is staying in Derek's. The three are from Harding and had just spent some time in Wuhan before coming to Shiyan. They came at a good time because we've had quite a few activities this week for them to participate in. Saturday night we had a big potluck meal. I think it's actually the first official potluck dinner we've had, and I'm already regretting that fact because the food was amazing. After dining and socializing, the guys and girls split for separate family devos.
Saturday night I stayed at the Lewis house because Courtny's 16th birthday was the next day. She and I stayed up till 4 a.m. watching movies and being stupid. It was fun, though. Sunday morning the family gathered together for a little roadtrip. We went to the nearby Huang Long Reservoir where we rented a boat. It was my first time to go to the reservoir and I was amazed by the beauty of the surrounding scenery. Mountains jutted up all around us, and the water was really clear. After awhile of singing and learning, many of us went swimming in the cool, clear water. We were out there all afternoon, which is evident if you see Brian's red face!
Last night we celebrated Courtny's birthday with taco salad and lots of cake. Then we watched the season finale of LOST which was awesome. We had a full house, or I should say, the Lewises had a full house, and despite Brian's constant threats of dismemberment if anyone talked during LOST, everyone made it through the show entact. I spent the night again last night at the Lewises and decided to make use of their Internet while they go eat lunch this morning. I actually need to head home, probably clean up, plan my classes for this week, and prepare for meeting with students for dinner tonight. Brian and I rescheduled some of our classes to meet in small groups outside of class. Many of these groups have come to my apartment to cook dinner for us (which is pretty sweet because most of them can cook really well), but tonight I'm going to have dumplings at some restaurant with some of the boys in my class who can't speak English... It should be, um, well, a long evening.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
High-rollin’ in Hong Kong
Last week was May holiday which for me and my friends meant it was time to face torturously long train rides. After the three day trek to get back to Shiyan from our Southeast Asia trip, I seriously doubted whether I would be prepared to take on another week of travels. But May came and Brian successfully enticed us to visit Hong Kong with visions of grandeur (aka, the comforts of a metropolitan, westernized society). Brian’s mom’s cousin, Suzanne, and her husband, Daniel, live in Hong Kong, and they were gracious enough to allow us to crash at their apartment for a little over a week.
Brian, Derek and I rescheduled some classes and left Shiyan early on Thursday the 26th. We were able to get beds on the train which really is a pleasant way to travel. I’m always amazed how many hours I’m able to sleep on a train, but I generally am knocked out for the majority of the ride (which lasted twenty something hours). When I’m not sleeping, I’m usually reading or playing cards with the boys. Rummy seems to be our game of choice for now, and we usually generate a small crowd of people interested in learning the foreigners’ game. On our trip to Donguan (the first and longest leg of the trip to Hong Kong), we taught two older ladies how to play Rummy. They picked it up pretty quickly, and we, subsequently, created a bond that would help us out considerably once we arrived at the train station.
From Donguan we needed to take a train or some sort of transportation to Shenzhen which was about an hour away. The idea of fighting for a spot on the train was not appealing, but we seemingly didn’t have much choice. That was until the two older ladies to whom we taught Rummy and who were also heading to Shenzhen told us to follow them and another guy who was on the train with us. These three successfully bargained for a small van that would seat the six of us, and we all left together in a much more comfortable transportation situation.
Once we were dropped off at the train station in Shenzhen, we went through the necessary customs to get into Hong Kong. Brian has been there twice before so he led the way as we took the subway and then a taxi to Suzanne and Daniel’s flat. They have a really nice place. They bought two apartments and converted them into one – an upstairs with several bedrooms (enough for each of us to have our own), a workout room, a family room and a laundry room and a downstairs with more bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, an office, and den, and I don’t know what else.
After dropping our things off, we headed up a mountain path near the apartment which led to Victoria’s Peak. We didn’t actually make it to the peak, but we did get lost, and we did eventually find civilization in the form of a mall at the top of the ridge. Here we rested for a bit at Starbucks and basked in the joy that does come from a Vanilla Frapuccino. We then continued our hike for a bit before returning to the apartment four and a half hours later. It was a longer hike than expected but we had a clear day, something infrequently experienced in this highly polluted city, which gave us a good view of Hong Kong and all its skyscraper glory.
Our days were so relaxing. Each morning we slept as late as we wanted (which wasn’t actually that late thus making me realize how either old or boring I have become!) and then ate breakfast. That last statement may seem obvious and/or pointless, but we honestly don’t have typical breakfasts in China – something I miss a lot. At Suzanne’s we were able to have cereal (amazing!) or toast or waffles while enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper in English.
Usually after breakfast we would go downtown. We walked everywhere making it possible for us to eat a ton of good food without putting on the extra poundage. We had food from a different country nearly everyday – Australia, Mongolia, Mexico, Vietnam, India, Egypt and, of course, America. We typically would eat lunches out since it was cheaper and we were roaming the city anyway and then would return to the apartment where one of the housekeepers would prepare dinner for us (like meatloaf or steak or tacos). It was pretty amazing.
We also spent a lot of time reading. We stopped at every English bookstore we could find and bought several books, all of which I have since read! Just being in a bookstore was thrilling (I’m a nerd, I know!). Besides book shopping, we didn’t visit too many other stores. Hong Kong is really well known for shopping, but the malls consisted of really high-end fashion stores like Prada, Chanel, Armani, Louis Vuitton and countless others. So, we mostly just window shopped.
Harmony, a Canadian who taught in Shiyan two years ago, lives in Hong Kong. She came to Shiyan a few weeks ago to visit old friends, and I met her then. While we were in Hong Kong, though, we all met up whenever she was free (she teaches at an international school there), and she would take us to several good eating places.
One of the days of our vacation we decided to visit Macau. Macau is a former Portuguese colony that now belongs to China. It’s known as the Las Vegas of China. People mostly go there to gamble, and there’s a huge casino strip along the coastline. The boys and I arrived late morning and visited a few places of interest. The city is not terribly interesting, but we did get to see some parts of town that had a certain Portuguese flair in the architecture and whatnot. We also decided to make a stop at the casinos before we left back for Hong Kong. Before we had left for Macau, Harmony gave me 50 patacas (the currency used in Macau), and I decided to use this amount of money to make one bet at the casino. Fifty patacas isn’t very much money at all so I considered it an entertainment fee of sorts. Surprisingly, the casino would only accept Hong Kong dollars so I kept the patacas and traded in 50 Hong Kong dollars for two chips. I placed the two chips on the roulette table (one between 14 and 15) with no hope of winning yet no fear of losing, and amazingly, lucky number 14 was rolled! I got back 425 Hong Kong dollars! I bet 25 of that and lost and then cashed in the 400 dollars worth of chips and walked out a winner. Sadly, I can’t say the same for the boys…
A couple of days in a row, Suzanne took us to their country clubs for lunch. Suzanne is an interesting woman who seems to have led an interesting life so chatting over lunch was highly stimulating and usually entertaining.
After spending a little over a week in Hong Kong, I felt like it was definitely a city I would enjoy living in for a year or two. I seem to be progressively working my way into living in larger and larger places. Coming from a hometown of about 3500 people, Shiyan, a city of about 500,000, seemed rather large to me. I have this urge, however, to live in an extremely large city for a few years while I’m still young and not settled, and Hong Kong seemed like a fun place to do this. I’m not sure, though, if I liked Hong Kong so much because it’s a truly great city or if it’s because all of the things I’ve been missing for the last 8 months living on the Mainland (things I didn’t even realize I missed) smacked me in the face in Hong Kong. I felt really comfortable in the city and enjoyed the culture a lot. Hong Kong is also unique because there are so many different nationalities mixed together in this one city. That international flavor was really intriguing.
We left Hong Kong on a Saturday evening train and arrived in Shiyan about 23 hours later. It was a pleasant trip, complete with sleeping, reading, eating the nicely packed ham and cheese sandwiches Suzanne sent us off with, and watching old Jackie Chan movies (the latter on the bus between Wuhan and Shiyan).
A TOUCHING MOMENT
Yesterday I met with a class for just the second time this semester. There are seventeen students enrolled, but I’ve had an average of 14 students at each meeting. Yesterday I had a guy named Fisher come for the first time. Fisher sat in the back of the class and participated in the class discussion when I asked him to. Class was going really well. I love the small classes because I can connect with each of my students much better, and they feel more comfortable to speak in front of smaller groups. After I lectured for a bit, we broke into groups to begin preparations for the debates we will have next week. I actually assigned the groups because my students tend to have trouble forming themselves into groups sometimes. So I told Fisher to join these three other people, and he told me that, no, in fact, he did not want to join them. I was taken aback and asked him why he did not want to join them, and he said that he didn’t wish to tell me. Now I was flat out annoyed so I made the spiel about how participation in class was worth a fairly significant portion of their final grade, which is only partially true, and then proceeded with class.
After class I asked Fisher to stay so that I could talk to him. I waited for the other students to leave, and then I approached Fisher who was still sitting towards the back of the classroom. He stood up, moved one seat over, and asked me to sit down. I sat down and asked him, “What’s goin’ on?” He sat there for a moment, and then for the next few minutes in broken English, he explained to me that he has an illness which causes terrible skin problems. While he spoke, he only looked straight ahead – never at me – which gave me a perfect view of the skin problems he was referring to. His neck, ear, and the side of his face (and even portions of his arm that I could see) are covered with severely irritated and inflamed sores. It looked to me as if he had been burned because the skin is raised and peeling in some areas and is extremely red. He told me that he has had this illness for five years and since he developed it, he feels uncomfortable talking with strangers because he is worried that they will be afraid of him. I was floored and a little humbled thinking about how quickly I had judged him as merely being obstinate of my request earlier in class. We talked for awhile about his self-consciousness, and it was so clear to me just how much of a burden this illness has been on him. Not only has he had situations in which people have judged him because of his skin condition, but these situations have manifested themselves into a phobia in which he believes that people should (not just are, but should) be afraid of him.
I told him that I would not require him to join the group, but that it wouldn’t be fair for him to just sit in class while the groups work and still get the same grade. I gave him the alternative of writing one page about his opinion on the topic of one of the debates we will have next week. To my surprise and immediate frustration, he replied that he did not want to do that. I said, “Okay, then what do you want to do?” He thought for a moment and then said, “I would like to talk to the class next week about judging people based on their appearance and not their personality.” Wow! I was speechless. Here was this guy who refused to join a small group in class because he worries that strangers are afraid of his physical ailment, and here he is wanting to stand up in front of 13 strangers and talk to them about the fact that it’s what’s on the inside that matters. I don’t even know this kid, yet I am so proud of him. How much courage would it take to do something like this! So I told him I thought that was a great idea. I asked if he needed anything from me, and his one simple request was that he could speak in Chinese so as to better be able to express himself. Man, how I wish I could speak Chinese and hear what he has to say! After his talk, I too will be lecturing (or perhaps leading a discussion) on the same topic. Fisher believes that after he speaks to his classmates on this topic, he will feel more comfortable joining group activities later in the semester. I hope it’s so.
Last week was May holiday which for me and my friends meant it was time to face torturously long train rides. After the three day trek to get back to Shiyan from our Southeast Asia trip, I seriously doubted whether I would be prepared to take on another week of travels. But May came and Brian successfully enticed us to visit Hong Kong with visions of grandeur (aka, the comforts of a metropolitan, westernized society). Brian’s mom’s cousin, Suzanne, and her husband, Daniel, live in Hong Kong, and they were gracious enough to allow us to crash at their apartment for a little over a week.
Brian, Derek and I rescheduled some classes and left Shiyan early on Thursday the 26th. We were able to get beds on the train which really is a pleasant way to travel. I’m always amazed how many hours I’m able to sleep on a train, but I generally am knocked out for the majority of the ride (which lasted twenty something hours). When I’m not sleeping, I’m usually reading or playing cards with the boys. Rummy seems to be our game of choice for now, and we usually generate a small crowd of people interested in learning the foreigners’ game. On our trip to Donguan (the first and longest leg of the trip to Hong Kong), we taught two older ladies how to play Rummy. They picked it up pretty quickly, and we, subsequently, created a bond that would help us out considerably once we arrived at the train station.
From Donguan we needed to take a train or some sort of transportation to Shenzhen which was about an hour away. The idea of fighting for a spot on the train was not appealing, but we seemingly didn’t have much choice. That was until the two older ladies to whom we taught Rummy and who were also heading to Shenzhen told us to follow them and another guy who was on the train with us. These three successfully bargained for a small van that would seat the six of us, and we all left together in a much more comfortable transportation situation.
Once we were dropped off at the train station in Shenzhen, we went through the necessary customs to get into Hong Kong. Brian has been there twice before so he led the way as we took the subway and then a taxi to Suzanne and Daniel’s flat. They have a really nice place. They bought two apartments and converted them into one – an upstairs with several bedrooms (enough for each of us to have our own), a workout room, a family room and a laundry room and a downstairs with more bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, an office, and den, and I don’t know what else.
After dropping our things off, we headed up a mountain path near the apartment which led to Victoria’s Peak. We didn’t actually make it to the peak, but we did get lost, and we did eventually find civilization in the form of a mall at the top of the ridge. Here we rested for a bit at Starbucks and basked in the joy that does come from a Vanilla Frapuccino. We then continued our hike for a bit before returning to the apartment four and a half hours later. It was a longer hike than expected but we had a clear day, something infrequently experienced in this highly polluted city, which gave us a good view of Hong Kong and all its skyscraper glory.
Our days were so relaxing. Each morning we slept as late as we wanted (which wasn’t actually that late thus making me realize how either old or boring I have become!) and then ate breakfast. That last statement may seem obvious and/or pointless, but we honestly don’t have typical breakfasts in China – something I miss a lot. At Suzanne’s we were able to have cereal (amazing!) or toast or waffles while enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper in English.
Usually after breakfast we would go downtown. We walked everywhere making it possible for us to eat a ton of good food without putting on the extra poundage. We had food from a different country nearly everyday – Australia, Mongolia, Mexico, Vietnam, India, Egypt and, of course, America. We typically would eat lunches out since it was cheaper and we were roaming the city anyway and then would return to the apartment where one of the housekeepers would prepare dinner for us (like meatloaf or steak or tacos). It was pretty amazing.
We also spent a lot of time reading. We stopped at every English bookstore we could find and bought several books, all of which I have since read! Just being in a bookstore was thrilling (I’m a nerd, I know!). Besides book shopping, we didn’t visit too many other stores. Hong Kong is really well known for shopping, but the malls consisted of really high-end fashion stores like Prada, Chanel, Armani, Louis Vuitton and countless others. So, we mostly just window shopped.
Harmony, a Canadian who taught in Shiyan two years ago, lives in Hong Kong. She came to Shiyan a few weeks ago to visit old friends, and I met her then. While we were in Hong Kong, though, we all met up whenever she was free (she teaches at an international school there), and she would take us to several good eating places.
One of the days of our vacation we decided to visit Macau. Macau is a former Portuguese colony that now belongs to China. It’s known as the Las Vegas of China. People mostly go there to gamble, and there’s a huge casino strip along the coastline. The boys and I arrived late morning and visited a few places of interest. The city is not terribly interesting, but we did get to see some parts of town that had a certain Portuguese flair in the architecture and whatnot. We also decided to make a stop at the casinos before we left back for Hong Kong. Before we had left for Macau, Harmony gave me 50 patacas (the currency used in Macau), and I decided to use this amount of money to make one bet at the casino. Fifty patacas isn’t very much money at all so I considered it an entertainment fee of sorts. Surprisingly, the casino would only accept Hong Kong dollars so I kept the patacas and traded in 50 Hong Kong dollars for two chips. I placed the two chips on the roulette table (one between 14 and 15) with no hope of winning yet no fear of losing, and amazingly, lucky number 14 was rolled! I got back 425 Hong Kong dollars! I bet 25 of that and lost and then cashed in the 400 dollars worth of chips and walked out a winner. Sadly, I can’t say the same for the boys…
A couple of days in a row, Suzanne took us to their country clubs for lunch. Suzanne is an interesting woman who seems to have led an interesting life so chatting over lunch was highly stimulating and usually entertaining.
After spending a little over a week in Hong Kong, I felt like it was definitely a city I would enjoy living in for a year or two. I seem to be progressively working my way into living in larger and larger places. Coming from a hometown of about 3500 people, Shiyan, a city of about 500,000, seemed rather large to me. I have this urge, however, to live in an extremely large city for a few years while I’m still young and not settled, and Hong Kong seemed like a fun place to do this. I’m not sure, though, if I liked Hong Kong so much because it’s a truly great city or if it’s because all of the things I’ve been missing for the last 8 months living on the Mainland (things I didn’t even realize I missed) smacked me in the face in Hong Kong. I felt really comfortable in the city and enjoyed the culture a lot. Hong Kong is also unique because there are so many different nationalities mixed together in this one city. That international flavor was really intriguing.
We left Hong Kong on a Saturday evening train and arrived in Shiyan about 23 hours later. It was a pleasant trip, complete with sleeping, reading, eating the nicely packed ham and cheese sandwiches Suzanne sent us off with, and watching old Jackie Chan movies (the latter on the bus between Wuhan and Shiyan).
A TOUCHING MOMENT
Yesterday I met with a class for just the second time this semester. There are seventeen students enrolled, but I’ve had an average of 14 students at each meeting. Yesterday I had a guy named Fisher come for the first time. Fisher sat in the back of the class and participated in the class discussion when I asked him to. Class was going really well. I love the small classes because I can connect with each of my students much better, and they feel more comfortable to speak in front of smaller groups. After I lectured for a bit, we broke into groups to begin preparations for the debates we will have next week. I actually assigned the groups because my students tend to have trouble forming themselves into groups sometimes. So I told Fisher to join these three other people, and he told me that, no, in fact, he did not want to join them. I was taken aback and asked him why he did not want to join them, and he said that he didn’t wish to tell me. Now I was flat out annoyed so I made the spiel about how participation in class was worth a fairly significant portion of their final grade, which is only partially true, and then proceeded with class.
After class I asked Fisher to stay so that I could talk to him. I waited for the other students to leave, and then I approached Fisher who was still sitting towards the back of the classroom. He stood up, moved one seat over, and asked me to sit down. I sat down and asked him, “What’s goin’ on?” He sat there for a moment, and then for the next few minutes in broken English, he explained to me that he has an illness which causes terrible skin problems. While he spoke, he only looked straight ahead – never at me – which gave me a perfect view of the skin problems he was referring to. His neck, ear, and the side of his face (and even portions of his arm that I could see) are covered with severely irritated and inflamed sores. It looked to me as if he had been burned because the skin is raised and peeling in some areas and is extremely red. He told me that he has had this illness for five years and since he developed it, he feels uncomfortable talking with strangers because he is worried that they will be afraid of him. I was floored and a little humbled thinking about how quickly I had judged him as merely being obstinate of my request earlier in class. We talked for awhile about his self-consciousness, and it was so clear to me just how much of a burden this illness has been on him. Not only has he had situations in which people have judged him because of his skin condition, but these situations have manifested themselves into a phobia in which he believes that people should (not just are, but should) be afraid of him.
I told him that I would not require him to join the group, but that it wouldn’t be fair for him to just sit in class while the groups work and still get the same grade. I gave him the alternative of writing one page about his opinion on the topic of one of the debates we will have next week. To my surprise and immediate frustration, he replied that he did not want to do that. I said, “Okay, then what do you want to do?” He thought for a moment and then said, “I would like to talk to the class next week about judging people based on their appearance and not their personality.” Wow! I was speechless. Here was this guy who refused to join a small group in class because he worries that strangers are afraid of his physical ailment, and here he is wanting to stand up in front of 13 strangers and talk to them about the fact that it’s what’s on the inside that matters. I don’t even know this kid, yet I am so proud of him. How much courage would it take to do something like this! So I told him I thought that was a great idea. I asked if he needed anything from me, and his one simple request was that he could speak in Chinese so as to better be able to express himself. Man, how I wish I could speak Chinese and hear what he has to say! After his talk, I too will be lecturing (or perhaps leading a discussion) on the same topic. Fisher believes that after he speaks to his classmates on this topic, he will feel more comfortable joining group activities later in the semester. I hope it’s so.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
ONE OF THOSE DAYS
Life is beginning to really pick up. After we returned from vacation, we had about a month of solid nothingness to do. But more recently, we've all become quite a bit busier - or at least I feel like I have. Last week I began two new classes which meet twice a week every other week. So every other week I have four extra classes to teach! Both classes are sophomore English majors. However, the differences between them couldn't be any more drastic than if one class was comprised of geniuses and the other class was comprised of stones. The genius class is filled with interested, energetic, encouraging students who speak English really well and truly desire to learn. The other class (which I taught last semester too and had problems with) is comprised mostly of disinterested, disrespectful (and, I think, maybe spoiled) students. I've tried everything with the latter class from games to lectures to presentations to being strict to being totally relaxed...Nothing seems to work. Recently, I decided it's because they can't understand me so I planned to create opportunities outside of class for us to meet and hang out so they can begin to feel comfortable speaking English. My first attempt was such a debacle. I played a game in class, and I told the group that one the game that I would take them out to lunch one day. We planned a good time when we could all have lunch together. So yesterday one of my students picked me up in her car (which is amazing since it's really difficult for the students here to get a car) and took me to one of the most expensive restaurants in town. I thought maybe they were trying to impress me and that they would offer to pay (like most of my students usually do), but after we ate maybe eight dishes, I was given the bill of 200 kuai!! I know that may not mean much. Let me put it in perspective. An average dish will cost 6 or 7 kuai. So for eight dishes at a normal restaurant, the bill might come to 80 kuai, give or take some. I didn't bring 200 kuai with me - only 130 - so my students had to pay the difference. Normally, I would be embarrassed about this, but I'm really not in this situation. Derek and Yve think that they tried to take advantage of me since they're students from the class that I say hates me, but I think maybe they're just spoiled and didn't know any better. So this morning I had to teach the class that hates me. Everytime before I go into this class, I give myself a pep talk and try to connect with the students. Everytime I leave the class, I feel so drained and frustrated. Today I just gave up. There was about 15 minutes left in class, and I was tired of talking over them, and I was tired of the blank looks on their faces so I just stopped talking. Normally, a class will shut up if their teacher shuts up and just stares at them. Mine did not. So after a few minutes, I got their attention, told them I was tired of talking, gave them an emotional version of a indirect guilt trip, and then put on some music for the rest of class. I didn't say one more word to them. It's frustrating, but I'll keep trying, I guess.
LADIES' RETREAT
Last weekend we had a ladies' retreat at Rena's house. I think we had about 30 girls, give or take, at different times during the weekend. A few people came from Yichang and a couple from Wuhan. The rest of us were locals. It was just a really nice, relaxing weekend filled with fellowship, food, and fun - the three "f"s of any ladies' gathering.
Life is beginning to really pick up. After we returned from vacation, we had about a month of solid nothingness to do. But more recently, we've all become quite a bit busier - or at least I feel like I have. Last week I began two new classes which meet twice a week every other week. So every other week I have four extra classes to teach! Both classes are sophomore English majors. However, the differences between them couldn't be any more drastic than if one class was comprised of geniuses and the other class was comprised of stones. The genius class is filled with interested, energetic, encouraging students who speak English really well and truly desire to learn. The other class (which I taught last semester too and had problems with) is comprised mostly of disinterested, disrespectful (and, I think, maybe spoiled) students. I've tried everything with the latter class from games to lectures to presentations to being strict to being totally relaxed...Nothing seems to work. Recently, I decided it's because they can't understand me so I planned to create opportunities outside of class for us to meet and hang out so they can begin to feel comfortable speaking English. My first attempt was such a debacle. I played a game in class, and I told the group that one the game that I would take them out to lunch one day. We planned a good time when we could all have lunch together. So yesterday one of my students picked me up in her car (which is amazing since it's really difficult for the students here to get a car) and took me to one of the most expensive restaurants in town. I thought maybe they were trying to impress me and that they would offer to pay (like most of my students usually do), but after we ate maybe eight dishes, I was given the bill of 200 kuai!! I know that may not mean much. Let me put it in perspective. An average dish will cost 6 or 7 kuai. So for eight dishes at a normal restaurant, the bill might come to 80 kuai, give or take some. I didn't bring 200 kuai with me - only 130 - so my students had to pay the difference. Normally, I would be embarrassed about this, but I'm really not in this situation. Derek and Yve think that they tried to take advantage of me since they're students from the class that I say hates me, but I think maybe they're just spoiled and didn't know any better. So this morning I had to teach the class that hates me. Everytime before I go into this class, I give myself a pep talk and try to connect with the students. Everytime I leave the class, I feel so drained and frustrated. Today I just gave up. There was about 15 minutes left in class, and I was tired of talking over them, and I was tired of the blank looks on their faces so I just stopped talking. Normally, a class will shut up if their teacher shuts up and just stares at them. Mine did not. So after a few minutes, I got their attention, told them I was tired of talking, gave them an emotional version of a indirect guilt trip, and then put on some music for the rest of class. I didn't say one more word to them. It's frustrating, but I'll keep trying, I guess.
LADIES' RETREAT
Last weekend we had a ladies' retreat at Rena's house. I think we had about 30 girls, give or take, at different times during the weekend. A few people came from Yichang and a couple from Wuhan. The rest of us were locals. It was just a really nice, relaxing weekend filled with fellowship, food, and fun - the three "f"s of any ladies' gathering.
Friday, March 02, 2007
SETTLING IN
Classes began yesterday for me. I'm teaching two sophomore English majors classes, two non-major oral English classes, and one non-major elective class. All of my classes are either mid-morning or afternoon classes. Last semester I had either early morning classes or night classes so having to teach in the afternoons is an adjustment for me. My elective class has 69 students in it which is the largest class I've had yet. I think it's too many. It's hard to be constructive with such a large class, especially in an oral English class. At least two thirds of these students have taken one of my classes before which means I need to come up with all new material for them (so much for regurgitating past lesson plans!).
Life is back to normal. All of the students (and our friends) are back from what I understand was a month of dull existence and are already busy with classes. We haven't been very active the last couple of weeks. The weather has been rather dreary so we've stayed inside and found various things to entertain us. Derek has been rediscovering his love for computer games. I've been organizing my computer. And, Brian? Well, perhaps Brian has been the most constructive of us all. A couple months ago I purchased a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of a beautiful green forested, grassy scene. The Monday before last I decided to lay it out on my coffee table and attempted to put some of it together. It wasn't long before I realized this was a puzzle from An Kang (the most horrible place in the world). There are only two puzzle shapes which means that every piece can fit together with nearly every other piece. Since the puzzle is all green (green trees and green grass), many of the pieces look like they could fit with many of the other pieces. So even if two pieces fit together perfectly and look like they should fit together, it's very likely they aren't actually a match. On the back of the puzzle is a lettered grid, without which the puzzle would be impossible and with which the puzzle is nearly impossible at worst and unbelievably frustrating at best. Brian has spent the past week meticulously matching each piece with its location in the picture on the box and placing it in its location on the table. He has shown more patience than most people could and at 11:59 last night, he finally finished it! Well, all of it minus the one piece our friend Orange kidnapped earlier in the week. We thought it would be funny (at least to us) for Brian to finally complete this ridiculous puzzle only to realize one piece was missing. I did feel mildly bad about the whole thing, but it was pretty funny to hear how he threw my furniture around looking for that one lost piece of the puzzle! When the notorious piece is finally returned, we will be giving the puzzle its proper farewell by watching it go up in flames. Now as you can tell by this rather long paragraph about the effects of a jigsaw puzzle on our lives over the last week, we have been rather bored since returning from vacation and having no classes to teach!
NEW FAMILY
One of the American teachers at the medical school, Brad, will be getting married in April to a Chinese lady from Nanning (southern China). Her name is Min. Derek, Janis, and I got the chance to meet her when we went to Nanning for our Vietnam passports in January. She doesn't speak English, but she is so nice and friendly (and cute!). Anyway, last week we learned from Brad that she went swimming in January! She will be moving to Shiyan sometime after the wedding, and we are really looking forward to having her here.
Two nights ago, Michael, a student from our school, decided to go swimming as well. He's a really thoughtful guy and very intelligent too. Michael will be searching for a job in the coming months. I think he already has one job offer in Shanghai, but he seems to be looking around for better deals.
Classes began yesterday for me. I'm teaching two sophomore English majors classes, two non-major oral English classes, and one non-major elective class. All of my classes are either mid-morning or afternoon classes. Last semester I had either early morning classes or night classes so having to teach in the afternoons is an adjustment for me. My elective class has 69 students in it which is the largest class I've had yet. I think it's too many. It's hard to be constructive with such a large class, especially in an oral English class. At least two thirds of these students have taken one of my classes before which means I need to come up with all new material for them (so much for regurgitating past lesson plans!).
Life is back to normal. All of the students (and our friends) are back from what I understand was a month of dull existence and are already busy with classes. We haven't been very active the last couple of weeks. The weather has been rather dreary so we've stayed inside and found various things to entertain us. Derek has been rediscovering his love for computer games. I've been organizing my computer. And, Brian? Well, perhaps Brian has been the most constructive of us all. A couple months ago I purchased a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of a beautiful green forested, grassy scene. The Monday before last I decided to lay it out on my coffee table and attempted to put some of it together. It wasn't long before I realized this was a puzzle from An Kang (the most horrible place in the world). There are only two puzzle shapes which means that every piece can fit together with nearly every other piece. Since the puzzle is all green (green trees and green grass), many of the pieces look like they could fit with many of the other pieces. So even if two pieces fit together perfectly and look like they should fit together, it's very likely they aren't actually a match. On the back of the puzzle is a lettered grid, without which the puzzle would be impossible and with which the puzzle is nearly impossible at worst and unbelievably frustrating at best. Brian has spent the past week meticulously matching each piece with its location in the picture on the box and placing it in its location on the table. He has shown more patience than most people could and at 11:59 last night, he finally finished it! Well, all of it minus the one piece our friend Orange kidnapped earlier in the week. We thought it would be funny (at least to us) for Brian to finally complete this ridiculous puzzle only to realize one piece was missing. I did feel mildly bad about the whole thing, but it was pretty funny to hear how he threw my furniture around looking for that one lost piece of the puzzle! When the notorious piece is finally returned, we will be giving the puzzle its proper farewell by watching it go up in flames. Now as you can tell by this rather long paragraph about the effects of a jigsaw puzzle on our lives over the last week, we have been rather bored since returning from vacation and having no classes to teach!
NEW FAMILY
One of the American teachers at the medical school, Brad, will be getting married in April to a Chinese lady from Nanning (southern China). Her name is Min. Derek, Janis, and I got the chance to meet her when we went to Nanning for our Vietnam passports in January. She doesn't speak English, but she is so nice and friendly (and cute!). Anyway, last week we learned from Brad that she went swimming in January! She will be moving to Shiyan sometime after the wedding, and we are really looking forward to having her here.
Two nights ago, Michael, a student from our school, decided to go swimming as well. He's a really thoughtful guy and very intelligent too. Michael will be searching for a job in the coming months. I think he already has one job offer in Shanghai, but he seems to be looking around for better deals.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
TRAVELING HOME
Our last night in Vang Vieng was less than what we had hoped for. We all got to bed fairly early knowing it might be the last time we could sleep in a comfortable bed for several days. Around midnight, we heard a lot of loud talking that aroused us from our sleep. We soon realized that just outside our room, where there was a nice little balcony, several people were having a party. It wouldn't have been so bad had not there voices filtered directly into our room making it difficult for us to sleep. We decided, though, that it was still early for most people and tried to sleep despite the constant rattling of stupid conversations that people have when they're drinking and socializing on Valentine's Day. Around one o'clock, Tommy got up and asked them to hold it down a bit. There were maybe a dozen or so people outside, but this one particular British girl was the loudest and most annoying. They continued despite our request for "quiet voices". A little later, Tommy went downstairs to see if the owners could do something about this. No one was at the front desk, however, and no one responded to Tommy's attempts to wake them up. Finally, Derek got up and talked reason with them explaining how we had several days of traveling ahead of us and just wanted a little sleep. The guys of the group were really nice and understanding. The girls were still loud. It wasn't long, though, before the group disintegrated and we had some peace. In the morning, the balcony looked like a wreck, dotted with beer cans and white with cigarette butts.
Derek and I left mildly early for breakfast. Our bus was to leave at ten so we had about three hours before we needed to be ready. Not many people were out yet (the result of a party town mentality) so Derek and I found an empty restaurant that had just opened. In the restaurant next door, the song Home by Michael Buble was playing. I thought it fitting since we would soon be heading home. Immediately after thinking this, the song Take Me to Your Heart by Michael Learns to Rock, which quickly became the anthem of China when we first arrived and will forever remind me of this country just because I heard it for two months straight on every street corner in Shiyan, came on. Then I knew it was time to come back. (-: Sitting in the other restaurant about a table away from us (we were sitting outside) was a young lady who is also an English teacher in China. We've met more people on this trip who are teaching in China! It's always fun talking to them and discussing our similar experiences.
The bus ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang took maybe six hours, but it seemed much longer. The road was not good and it twisted through lots of mountains so we were able only to move at a snail's pace. There really were not places to stop along the way - only tiny make-shift villages that consisted of maybe four or five huts which we saw rather infrequently - and we probably wouldn't have stopped at all had three quarters of the people on the bus not threatened to riot. The bus driver wisely pulled over on the side of the road to allow these anguished people to find a nice tree to serve as their WC (I've certainly used worse places which were actually supposed to serve as bathrooms AND had to pay money for them!). Anyway, the experience reminded me of old family roadtrips...
We arrived in Luang Prabang around six and quickly (and surprisingly easily) found where we needed to buy bus tickets to Kunming, China. The bus would leave that evening at 10 pm. We originally had wanted to spend a day in Luang Prabang, but at this point, I think we were all ready just to continue heading back. We booked the tickets and then set off to find food. We did have one manner of business to take care of in this town before we left, however. Earlier, in Cambodia, we met an older French woman. She was really eccentric but very friendly, and we found ourselves repeatedly meeting up with her in Phnom Penh, Kratie and southern Laos. During one of our bus rides together, she gave us a letter and a picture of her family with a guesthouse owner in Luang Prabang that they had taken when she stayed at that guesthouse some time before. She asked us to deliver the letter and picture to this particular guesthouse owner, and we could do nothing but comply with this request. We searched for quite awhile to find the guesthouse, and it wasn't until after dinner, when we tried again, that we found it. It was kind of a neat thing to do, I guess, and we got bananas out of the deal which came in handy a day later.
Luang Prabang seemed to be a nice town. We decided to splurge on dinner that night since we had some kip to burn, but even when we bought everything we wanted - nice dinner, dessert, drinks - we still only paid about four dollars! There was a night market filled with all sorts of tourist goods - jewelry, bags, shirts, coffee - and we spent a little time there before going to wait for our night bus.
3 SOLID DAYS OF TRAVELING
We had a sleeper bus so each of us got a really narrow bed - all top bunks - on the 30 hour roller coaster ride we were about to endure to Kunming. We were still winding through mountains, but this driver took the turns much faster than the previous driver. So the entire night we were being tossed to and fro in our little beds, getting slammed against the window and the bar that was the only thing that kept me from being thrown out of my bed (and it only slightly helped!). Somehow we did get some sleep (through the aid of Derek's limitless supply of sleeping pills).
The next day we decided to switch beds. At the back of the bus, there was one large bed that stretched from one side of the bus to the other. We had avoided it previously because we could imagine them overbooking the bus and us getting sandwiched between several greasy men for the remainder of the trip. But on the second day, we decided to go for it, and Derek, Tommy and I moved to this gianormous bed which was supposed to hold five people, but we more than used all the space - selfishly sprawling ourselves comfortably out like spread eagles. It turned out to be a good move since, for the first time since I've ridden any kind of transportation in China, the bus didn't get overbooked, AND since we lost several people at the border crossing (not really sure what happened to them), there were more than enough empty beds for any late comers who hitched rides along the way. The second night was much more comfortable than the first night, though we were still being thrown about and this time with no bars to prevent us from rolling all over the place. When we weren't trying to sleep, it was actually a fun ride.
I wish I could say that after we arrived in Kunming, we were almost home, but that would be a lie. We arrived at seven in the morning to a very cold China. We quickly found the train station, bought our tickets home and then found a small restaurant to eat a breakfast of baozi. Tommy's train to Beijing would not leave until 10 pm, but ours to Wuhan was leaving at 10 am. So we parted around 8:30 - him to find a hotel and us to buy some snacks for another long train ride. We got hard sleepers on the train which was a necessity for what was about to be another 29 hour ride.
It's surprising how much we slept during the thirty hour bus ride and the 29 hour train ride, but when there's nothing else to do, there's nothing else to do. Janice, who had kept herself hopped up on coffee and sugar during the previous week, finally crashed on the train ride to Wuhan. We were traveling on the 17th, and the Chinese New Year would begin on the 18th. We heard that it's practically impossible to travel three days after the new year because all the Chinese who had traveled to visit their families would be traveling during this time. We thought we would be wise and travel DURING the new year since most Chinese people celebrate this time at home. As we were traveling across the country side, we could see fireworks being shot off everywhere. I went to bed early, but at midnight, I heard lots of explosions. I was too tired to watch the celebration, but I heard the next day that we had stopped in a town and a lot of people got off the train to watch the display of fireworks.
We traveled all day on the 18th so we didn't really celebrate the new year. No one my age that I talk to really enjoys the new year anyway because they think it's boring; they just spend three days visiting family. I've been told that the Chinese New Year is like our Christmas, but the more I talk to people about it, the less I think it is. It is about family, that's the same, but level of celebration and the enjoyment factor is just not equal to what we feel, or I feel anyway, during Christmas.
Andrew and Jaime were also traveling back to Shiyan from another city in southern China. They arrived in Wuhan first and bought beds on the 5:15 train to Shiyan. We asked them later to procure tickets for us too, but they were only able to get standing tickets. Our idea that it would be easy to travel on new year's day was wrong! We arrived in Wuhan at 4 and had just enough time to get some Muslim noodles before boarding the next train home. It took about 6 hours, and fortunately, Janice was able to find a seat which she kept for the entire trip. Derek and I stood for several hours and alternated accepting the kindness of strangers who really went out of their way to allow us to sit in their seats or tripled up in some cases to allow us a little section of a seat to rest on. They were so nice to us.
We arrived at 10:45 to a Shiyan which was surprisingly warmer than we were expecting. There were a lot of taxis available since so many other people were arriving too, but since it was a holiday, they had turned off their meters, and we had to pay much more than we normally would of had to. It was really nice to get home. After several days of solid traveling and no shower, however, it was disappointing to miss our hot water time slot, though since we've arrived, we've yet to have hot water despite the fact we're supposed to have it twice a day. Maybe they don't turn it on when no one is here, and they just don't know we're here yet.
Yesterday we had planned to relax, but we actually were more productive than anyone should be when they've just spent a month traveling. Since the Chinese celebrate the new year for three days (though it's supposed to be 15 days, but apparently a little thing called work gets in the way of what used to be a two week celebration), all the shops and restaurants on our street were closed. Many people, including Happy Guy and his family, have gone to visit their families so their restaurants are closed. The streets were really quiet too, and there was hardly any traffic. We went into town where we found a few places to eat noodles and then proceeded to a supermarket to buy groceries. Besides the supermarket and a few restaurants, there were several stands throughout the city where one could buy oil, liquor and fireworks. Those three things must be the staples during this time of the year because everyone we came into contact with was carrying at least one, if not all, of these items. Fireworks are especially popular, and the town sounds like a war zone with loud explosions frequently startling us. Since none of the restaurants near us were open, we bought supplies to cook dinner. Derek and I also were able to buy external hard drives which we'll really need with all the pictures taken during this trip, and I even mailed a couple letters which is a huge accomplishment for me as I often write letters but don't mail them for a couple weeks later. When we got back home, we began what would be a full evening of watching sitcoms and shows. It was a good day!
So through all my travels in Southeast Asia, the one thing I learned is just how unique China is in the Asian sector. I really thought there would be a lot of similarities between the eastern cultures, but I was wrong. When we took the Chinese bus from Laos to Kunming, it was abundantly clear to me just how different the Chinese culture is. We were quickly reintroduced to China at the border crossing where we often saw lots of spitting on the streets, children in split pants and 15 layers of clothing, horrible bathroom conditions with no toilet paper or soap, drive by hellos by people like security check guards, good food (dishes and rice), fast bus drivers in dangerous conditions, and a host of other random bits of cultural things that are "so China". It's weird that many of these things are becoming a part of my identity whether I ever understand them or not!
CHINESE NEW YEAR FEAST
For lunch today Derek, Janice and I visited Janice's aunt and uncle who prepared a traditional New Year's feast. The food was especially delicious, and as is custom anytime we eat dinner in someone's home, we were forced to gorge ourselves. Even Janice, who was supposed to be our buffer and communicative liason, continued to feed us long after we should have stopped. But it was a lot of fun, and it's always cool to meet our friends' families.
This evening we went to Andrew and Jaime's to cook pizza and play a game called Settlers. It's a fun, strategic game that I'm not very good at but is easy enough to play. It's nice settling back into a routine that feels regular. Things are still really quiet around here since most of the students have not returned. The city actually woke up today, and it seemed to be more like it's old self instead of the ghost town it was yesterday. School is supposed to begin next week, but I'm not sure when or what I'll be teaching yet. No worries, though.
Our last night in Vang Vieng was less than what we had hoped for. We all got to bed fairly early knowing it might be the last time we could sleep in a comfortable bed for several days. Around midnight, we heard a lot of loud talking that aroused us from our sleep. We soon realized that just outside our room, where there was a nice little balcony, several people were having a party. It wouldn't have been so bad had not there voices filtered directly into our room making it difficult for us to sleep. We decided, though, that it was still early for most people and tried to sleep despite the constant rattling of stupid conversations that people have when they're drinking and socializing on Valentine's Day. Around one o'clock, Tommy got up and asked them to hold it down a bit. There were maybe a dozen or so people outside, but this one particular British girl was the loudest and most annoying. They continued despite our request for "quiet voices". A little later, Tommy went downstairs to see if the owners could do something about this. No one was at the front desk, however, and no one responded to Tommy's attempts to wake them up. Finally, Derek got up and talked reason with them explaining how we had several days of traveling ahead of us and just wanted a little sleep. The guys of the group were really nice and understanding. The girls were still loud. It wasn't long, though, before the group disintegrated and we had some peace. In the morning, the balcony looked like a wreck, dotted with beer cans and white with cigarette butts.
Derek and I left mildly early for breakfast. Our bus was to leave at ten so we had about three hours before we needed to be ready. Not many people were out yet (the result of a party town mentality) so Derek and I found an empty restaurant that had just opened. In the restaurant next door, the song Home by Michael Buble was playing. I thought it fitting since we would soon be heading home. Immediately after thinking this, the song Take Me to Your Heart by Michael Learns to Rock, which quickly became the anthem of China when we first arrived and will forever remind me of this country just because I heard it for two months straight on every street corner in Shiyan, came on. Then I knew it was time to come back. (-: Sitting in the other restaurant about a table away from us (we were sitting outside) was a young lady who is also an English teacher in China. We've met more people on this trip who are teaching in China! It's always fun talking to them and discussing our similar experiences.
The bus ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang took maybe six hours, but it seemed much longer. The road was not good and it twisted through lots of mountains so we were able only to move at a snail's pace. There really were not places to stop along the way - only tiny make-shift villages that consisted of maybe four or five huts which we saw rather infrequently - and we probably wouldn't have stopped at all had three quarters of the people on the bus not threatened to riot. The bus driver wisely pulled over on the side of the road to allow these anguished people to find a nice tree to serve as their WC (I've certainly used worse places which were actually supposed to serve as bathrooms AND had to pay money for them!). Anyway, the experience reminded me of old family roadtrips...
We arrived in Luang Prabang around six and quickly (and surprisingly easily) found where we needed to buy bus tickets to Kunming, China. The bus would leave that evening at 10 pm. We originally had wanted to spend a day in Luang Prabang, but at this point, I think we were all ready just to continue heading back. We booked the tickets and then set off to find food. We did have one manner of business to take care of in this town before we left, however. Earlier, in Cambodia, we met an older French woman. She was really eccentric but very friendly, and we found ourselves repeatedly meeting up with her in Phnom Penh, Kratie and southern Laos. During one of our bus rides together, she gave us a letter and a picture of her family with a guesthouse owner in Luang Prabang that they had taken when she stayed at that guesthouse some time before. She asked us to deliver the letter and picture to this particular guesthouse owner, and we could do nothing but comply with this request. We searched for quite awhile to find the guesthouse, and it wasn't until after dinner, when we tried again, that we found it. It was kind of a neat thing to do, I guess, and we got bananas out of the deal which came in handy a day later.
Luang Prabang seemed to be a nice town. We decided to splurge on dinner that night since we had some kip to burn, but even when we bought everything we wanted - nice dinner, dessert, drinks - we still only paid about four dollars! There was a night market filled with all sorts of tourist goods - jewelry, bags, shirts, coffee - and we spent a little time there before going to wait for our night bus.
3 SOLID DAYS OF TRAVELING
We had a sleeper bus so each of us got a really narrow bed - all top bunks - on the 30 hour roller coaster ride we were about to endure to Kunming. We were still winding through mountains, but this driver took the turns much faster than the previous driver. So the entire night we were being tossed to and fro in our little beds, getting slammed against the window and the bar that was the only thing that kept me from being thrown out of my bed (and it only slightly helped!). Somehow we did get some sleep (through the aid of Derek's limitless supply of sleeping pills).
The next day we decided to switch beds. At the back of the bus, there was one large bed that stretched from one side of the bus to the other. We had avoided it previously because we could imagine them overbooking the bus and us getting sandwiched between several greasy men for the remainder of the trip. But on the second day, we decided to go for it, and Derek, Tommy and I moved to this gianormous bed which was supposed to hold five people, but we more than used all the space - selfishly sprawling ourselves comfortably out like spread eagles. It turned out to be a good move since, for the first time since I've ridden any kind of transportation in China, the bus didn't get overbooked, AND since we lost several people at the border crossing (not really sure what happened to them), there were more than enough empty beds for any late comers who hitched rides along the way. The second night was much more comfortable than the first night, though we were still being thrown about and this time with no bars to prevent us from rolling all over the place. When we weren't trying to sleep, it was actually a fun ride.
I wish I could say that after we arrived in Kunming, we were almost home, but that would be a lie. We arrived at seven in the morning to a very cold China. We quickly found the train station, bought our tickets home and then found a small restaurant to eat a breakfast of baozi. Tommy's train to Beijing would not leave until 10 pm, but ours to Wuhan was leaving at 10 am. So we parted around 8:30 - him to find a hotel and us to buy some snacks for another long train ride. We got hard sleepers on the train which was a necessity for what was about to be another 29 hour ride.
It's surprising how much we slept during the thirty hour bus ride and the 29 hour train ride, but when there's nothing else to do, there's nothing else to do. Janice, who had kept herself hopped up on coffee and sugar during the previous week, finally crashed on the train ride to Wuhan. We were traveling on the 17th, and the Chinese New Year would begin on the 18th. We heard that it's practically impossible to travel three days after the new year because all the Chinese who had traveled to visit their families would be traveling during this time. We thought we would be wise and travel DURING the new year since most Chinese people celebrate this time at home. As we were traveling across the country side, we could see fireworks being shot off everywhere. I went to bed early, but at midnight, I heard lots of explosions. I was too tired to watch the celebration, but I heard the next day that we had stopped in a town and a lot of people got off the train to watch the display of fireworks.
We traveled all day on the 18th so we didn't really celebrate the new year. No one my age that I talk to really enjoys the new year anyway because they think it's boring; they just spend three days visiting family. I've been told that the Chinese New Year is like our Christmas, but the more I talk to people about it, the less I think it is. It is about family, that's the same, but level of celebration and the enjoyment factor is just not equal to what we feel, or I feel anyway, during Christmas.
Andrew and Jaime were also traveling back to Shiyan from another city in southern China. They arrived in Wuhan first and bought beds on the 5:15 train to Shiyan. We asked them later to procure tickets for us too, but they were only able to get standing tickets. Our idea that it would be easy to travel on new year's day was wrong! We arrived in Wuhan at 4 and had just enough time to get some Muslim noodles before boarding the next train home. It took about 6 hours, and fortunately, Janice was able to find a seat which she kept for the entire trip. Derek and I stood for several hours and alternated accepting the kindness of strangers who really went out of their way to allow us to sit in their seats or tripled up in some cases to allow us a little section of a seat to rest on. They were so nice to us.
We arrived at 10:45 to a Shiyan which was surprisingly warmer than we were expecting. There were a lot of taxis available since so many other people were arriving too, but since it was a holiday, they had turned off their meters, and we had to pay much more than we normally would of had to. It was really nice to get home. After several days of solid traveling and no shower, however, it was disappointing to miss our hot water time slot, though since we've arrived, we've yet to have hot water despite the fact we're supposed to have it twice a day. Maybe they don't turn it on when no one is here, and they just don't know we're here yet.
Yesterday we had planned to relax, but we actually were more productive than anyone should be when they've just spent a month traveling. Since the Chinese celebrate the new year for three days (though it's supposed to be 15 days, but apparently a little thing called work gets in the way of what used to be a two week celebration), all the shops and restaurants on our street were closed. Many people, including Happy Guy and his family, have gone to visit their families so their restaurants are closed. The streets were really quiet too, and there was hardly any traffic. We went into town where we found a few places to eat noodles and then proceeded to a supermarket to buy groceries. Besides the supermarket and a few restaurants, there were several stands throughout the city where one could buy oil, liquor and fireworks. Those three things must be the staples during this time of the year because everyone we came into contact with was carrying at least one, if not all, of these items. Fireworks are especially popular, and the town sounds like a war zone with loud explosions frequently startling us. Since none of the restaurants near us were open, we bought supplies to cook dinner. Derek and I also were able to buy external hard drives which we'll really need with all the pictures taken during this trip, and I even mailed a couple letters which is a huge accomplishment for me as I often write letters but don't mail them for a couple weeks later. When we got back home, we began what would be a full evening of watching sitcoms and shows. It was a good day!
So through all my travels in Southeast Asia, the one thing I learned is just how unique China is in the Asian sector. I really thought there would be a lot of similarities between the eastern cultures, but I was wrong. When we took the Chinese bus from Laos to Kunming, it was abundantly clear to me just how different the Chinese culture is. We were quickly reintroduced to China at the border crossing where we often saw lots of spitting on the streets, children in split pants and 15 layers of clothing, horrible bathroom conditions with no toilet paper or soap, drive by hellos by people like security check guards, good food (dishes and rice), fast bus drivers in dangerous conditions, and a host of other random bits of cultural things that are "so China". It's weird that many of these things are becoming a part of my identity whether I ever understand them or not!
CHINESE NEW YEAR FEAST
For lunch today Derek, Janice and I visited Janice's aunt and uncle who prepared a traditional New Year's feast. The food was especially delicious, and as is custom anytime we eat dinner in someone's home, we were forced to gorge ourselves. Even Janice, who was supposed to be our buffer and communicative liason, continued to feed us long after we should have stopped. But it was a lot of fun, and it's always cool to meet our friends' families.
This evening we went to Andrew and Jaime's to cook pizza and play a game called Settlers. It's a fun, strategic game that I'm not very good at but is easy enough to play. It's nice settling back into a routine that feels regular. Things are still really quiet around here since most of the students have not returned. The city actually woke up today, and it seemed to be more like it's old self instead of the ghost town it was yesterday. School is supposed to begin next week, but I'm not sure when or what I'll be teaching yet. No worries, though.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
TUBING IN VANG VIENG
Okay, I am way too tired to write, and this internet cafe charges an arm and a leg to use their computers so this entry is likely to be filled with all sorts of mistakes. That's my disclaimer, now onto the fun.
We got a "VIP" bus out of Pakse to Vientiane, which was like ten hours away. It was an overnight trip which is really the only way to travel, I think, if you have such a distance to cover. The VIP bus was surprisingly, well, VIP. I say "surprisingly" because I've learned to not attach western meanings to western phrases in eastern countries. But the bus was a double decker with plenty of leg room, a nice blanket, and a wonderful meal of fried rice with three pieces of candy for dessert. We even were given an American movie to watch, but it was dubbed in Laotian so it was of no use to us. I did, however, prefer the movie to the blaring Laotian music videos that look like they were made in the 80s on a shoe-string budget.
In Vientiane we killed time at a Scandinavian pastry shop (which was amazing) with a young British couple. We've been on a Rummy kick lately, though we really should go back to Spades. Janice somehow always pulls out the most frustrating straights on us. We were all in a better humor when we played Spades.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent. We arrived in Vang Vieng yesterday afternoon. So far all the towns in Laos have been so quiet and relaxed. In Vang Vieng, all the restaurants have lay down benches covered in pillows with tables in the center. They all have TVs too where you can catch an episode of Friends, the Simpsons or any number of movies. A lot of tourists relax for hours watching TV. I know it sounds like a waste of time, but after you've been traveling hard for several weeks (or months in the cases of every Westerner EXCEPT Americans), it's nice to lay down for an hour or two and watch TV. Yesterday we didn't do much but play cards, eat some terrible Indian food, and drink lots of strawberry shakes. I was pretty tired so I crashed at 6:30 (I wish I were kidding) and didn't get up this morning until after seven.
Around nine o'clock today, we rented inner tubes and were taken by tuk-tuk up the river a little ways. We spent about five hours tubing down the river, swimming some, and exploring a really cool cave. The river was pretty slow for most of the ways so we were all ready to be done long before we ever saw the "Tubers Stop Here" sign. We all got a little toasted too. But it was definitely fun and relaxing.
This afternoon we ate some more Indian food, which was good this time, and then became those lazy tourists camped out in the restaurants watching movies - the very ones we criticized yesterday!
Tomorrow we leave for Luang Prabang. I don't know what we'll do there, if anything. It's really time for us to head back to China. It's going to be a long trip home, and the only thing that would make it worse is if we caught the trains going back during the peak traveling time for the Chinese (which is a few days after the Chinese New Year). We're going to attempt to travel on the day of their new year since everyone will be spending this time with their families, and hopefully we will be back home before all the tickets get bought up. Otherwise, it could be a REALLY long trip home!
Okay, I am way too tired to write, and this internet cafe charges an arm and a leg to use their computers so this entry is likely to be filled with all sorts of mistakes. That's my disclaimer, now onto the fun.
We got a "VIP" bus out of Pakse to Vientiane, which was like ten hours away. It was an overnight trip which is really the only way to travel, I think, if you have such a distance to cover. The VIP bus was surprisingly, well, VIP. I say "surprisingly" because I've learned to not attach western meanings to western phrases in eastern countries. But the bus was a double decker with plenty of leg room, a nice blanket, and a wonderful meal of fried rice with three pieces of candy for dessert. We even were given an American movie to watch, but it was dubbed in Laotian so it was of no use to us. I did, however, prefer the movie to the blaring Laotian music videos that look like they were made in the 80s on a shoe-string budget.
In Vientiane we killed time at a Scandinavian pastry shop (which was amazing) with a young British couple. We've been on a Rummy kick lately, though we really should go back to Spades. Janice somehow always pulls out the most frustrating straights on us. We were all in a better humor when we played Spades.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent. We arrived in Vang Vieng yesterday afternoon. So far all the towns in Laos have been so quiet and relaxed. In Vang Vieng, all the restaurants have lay down benches covered in pillows with tables in the center. They all have TVs too where you can catch an episode of Friends, the Simpsons or any number of movies. A lot of tourists relax for hours watching TV. I know it sounds like a waste of time, but after you've been traveling hard for several weeks (or months in the cases of every Westerner EXCEPT Americans), it's nice to lay down for an hour or two and watch TV. Yesterday we didn't do much but play cards, eat some terrible Indian food, and drink lots of strawberry shakes. I was pretty tired so I crashed at 6:30 (I wish I were kidding) and didn't get up this morning until after seven.
Around nine o'clock today, we rented inner tubes and were taken by tuk-tuk up the river a little ways. We spent about five hours tubing down the river, swimming some, and exploring a really cool cave. The river was pretty slow for most of the ways so we were all ready to be done long before we ever saw the "Tubers Stop Here" sign. We all got a little toasted too. But it was definitely fun and relaxing.
This afternoon we ate some more Indian food, which was good this time, and then became those lazy tourists camped out in the restaurants watching movies - the very ones we criticized yesterday!
Tomorrow we leave for Luang Prabang. I don't know what we'll do there, if anything. It's really time for us to head back to China. It's going to be a long trip home, and the only thing that would make it worse is if we caught the trains going back during the peak traveling time for the Chinese (which is a few days after the Chinese New Year). We're going to attempt to travel on the day of their new year since everyone will be spending this time with their families, and hopefully we will be back home before all the tickets get bought up. Otherwise, it could be a REALLY long trip home!
Monday, February 12, 2007
LAST DAY IN PHNOM PENH
Well the Northens, the missionary couple we met the night before, showed us the boat (and I use that word lightly as it is more like an incredibly awesome ship!) our last day in Phnom Penh. This fully furnished medical boat is amazing. I wasn't expecting much, but my mind was blown away to see the living quarters and the well designed doctor's examination rooms. It even has an X-ray room and a room specifically designed for lab work. The Northens and all involved will be doing some good work before too much longer (as soon as all the paperwork goes through which can take a long time when you try to do things honestly). The remainder of our day in Phnom Penh was spent walking around and seeing the Imperial Palace and visiting the Central Market, which is by far the largest maze of a market I've ever seen.
KRATIE AND THE FRESHWATER DOLPHINS
The next morning we left for Kratie, a city in northern Cambodia. It took about six hours after stopping for the worst lunch I've ever had in Asia. I ordered beef noodle soup - a staple around here - but whatever I got contained two types of mystery meat. It was pretty bad. I should have been tipped off, though, when, as soon as we stepped off the bus, a basket of large, fried spiders was thrust in my face. Before we left, Derek and I, in a desire to be open-minded, purchased one of the spiders. We only at the legs because we couldn't bring ourselves to eat the body. It wasn't half bad, actually, though my mind wouldn't let forget the image of spiders crawling down my throat!
In Kratie we got a room, unloaded our stuff, and then got motorcycles to the Mekong River where you can see dolphins swimming in the fresh water. The motorcycle ride was really nice as we road through little villages with the cool air swishing across us. At the entrance to the seeing area, we were told we would have to pay twice as much as what our hotel told us we would have to pay to see the dolphins. We had already decided not to take the boat to see them but to stay on the shore and view them from a distance. At the entrance, they told us we HAD to take the boat and pay for it. After much arguing, we were finally permitted to not take (or pay) for the boat and try to spot the dolphins from the distance. We got good pictures, though, of little black dots making little splashes in the water... So we didn't really have a very good view, especially since neither Janice nor I were wearing our glasses, but we showed them by not paying two extra dollars... Okay, so maybe we didn't, but it wasn't really worth it for me to pay extra money just to see dolphins up close anyway. I don't know how the others felt, but the motorcycle ride was definitely the highlight of that little expedition.
Kratie is a really small town so there was nothing to do other than play cards and watch TV. In the evening, a crew of French tourists put in The Killing Fields, and as it seemed an appropriate movie given where we were, we all joined in watching it. I didn't finish because I was tired, but this particular version of the movie was totally edited. I was surprised at how poor of a job of editing they did too. There were complete scenes missing.
THE ROAD TO LAOS
The next morning we left on a mini-bus to Laos. We could also have taken a boat trip, but it was a little more expensive. The mini-bus wasn't so bad though. The roads are notoriously bad going to (and through) Laos, but this road was pretty good until right before we came to the exit point for Cambodia. Then the road got really bumpy and dusty. It seemed like we were on some backwoods trail rather than a road that connects two countries. After a small fee, the Cambodian officials let us exit their country, after which, we, along with several others who had taken the boat trip, loaded up into a small van (there were 15 of us in all plus all our baggage piled into this little vehicle) for a short trip to the Lao border. Again, after a small fee (which was a little higher than normal because it was Saturday and we were charged a weekend "overtime" fee), our visas were stamped and we were on our way to Don Det, one of the 4000 islands in southern Laos.
DON DET
We were taken by boat to Don Det, one of the smaller islands, where, for the first time since we've been traveling, we were not hounded by hotel workers or taxi/tuk-tuk/motorbike drivers to "have a look" at their guesthouses. Instead, we just started walking down this little dirt trail which had some guesthouses on either side (all of which were full) and several huts where Lao families were going about their daily business. We walked for quite awhile, carrying all our things, until we lucked out at what turned out to be a perfect place to stay for a couple nights. We stayed in little huts, complete with mosquito netting over the bed, a hammock on the front porch and no electricity. Our guesthouse had a nice little deck over the Mekong River with the most spectacular view which was so nice, it's really unexplainable. We only had about two hours of sunlight left so we ordered our food (which took a good hour to prepare) and played cards until it was too dark to see. We were given little lanterns to light our way so we could see to take showers, and then we just hung out on the porch in the dark, enjoying the countless stars (which I haven't seen in a long time) and talking.
The next day was just as relaxing. The roosters began their noise around four in the morning, but I didn't get up until 6:30. I spent the next hour watching the sun come up over the trees and river and color the surrounding area. The others slept a little later, but everyone was up by eight which is really early for a day when we had no plans but to relax. Derek rented a bike and went across a little bridge to a larger island, but the rest of us decided to stay in our little area. Tommy and I went swimming in the river. Actually, the current was too strong to swim so we just sat in the water to be cooled off from the strong sun. Janice, who is neither a fan of heat nor of cold, was pretty miserable for about four or five hours, but when that sun began to go down, the temperature cooled off to a perfect degree, and I was quite comfortable.
PAKSE AND BEYOND
This morning after a fantastic, and not so healthy, breakfast of chocolate banana pancakes, we left on a boat to catch our early morning bus to Pakse. There's really nothing in Pakse for us except a ticket to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The boat ride was really relaxing. The Mekong has quickly found its place in my heart, and I look forward to visiting it again in about two days. The bus ride we had was a little different. It was less like a bus and more like a truck that had benches along both sides of the bed and one bench in the middle. It was covered, fortunately, but it was quite crowded with both foreigners and locals making it difficult to find a comfortable position. We did make it to Pakse, though, and now are waiting for our bus to leave for Vientiane, which doesn't happen until this evening at 8:30. It's an overnight bus, obviously, and I think it takes about 10 or so hours from here to the capital. Once in Vientiane, we're going to immediately try to get a bus to Van Vieng, a town about four hours away, where we can tube all day down the river. After the terribly long and uncomfortable bus rides we are about to endure, I am really looking forward to the tubing!
I kept hearing from everyone who had been to Laos that it's "totally chill", and they were absolutely right. Already, and we've only been here for two days, it's one of my favorite places we've visited. It possesses so much natural beauty, so if you enjoy the "great outdoors", it's the country to see.
Well the Northens, the missionary couple we met the night before, showed us the boat (and I use that word lightly as it is more like an incredibly awesome ship!) our last day in Phnom Penh. This fully furnished medical boat is amazing. I wasn't expecting much, but my mind was blown away to see the living quarters and the well designed doctor's examination rooms. It even has an X-ray room and a room specifically designed for lab work. The Northens and all involved will be doing some good work before too much longer (as soon as all the paperwork goes through which can take a long time when you try to do things honestly). The remainder of our day in Phnom Penh was spent walking around and seeing the Imperial Palace and visiting the Central Market, which is by far the largest maze of a market I've ever seen.
KRATIE AND THE FRESHWATER DOLPHINS
The next morning we left for Kratie, a city in northern Cambodia. It took about six hours after stopping for the worst lunch I've ever had in Asia. I ordered beef noodle soup - a staple around here - but whatever I got contained two types of mystery meat. It was pretty bad. I should have been tipped off, though, when, as soon as we stepped off the bus, a basket of large, fried spiders was thrust in my face. Before we left, Derek and I, in a desire to be open-minded, purchased one of the spiders. We only at the legs because we couldn't bring ourselves to eat the body. It wasn't half bad, actually, though my mind wouldn't let forget the image of spiders crawling down my throat!
In Kratie we got a room, unloaded our stuff, and then got motorcycles to the Mekong River where you can see dolphins swimming in the fresh water. The motorcycle ride was really nice as we road through little villages with the cool air swishing across us. At the entrance to the seeing area, we were told we would have to pay twice as much as what our hotel told us we would have to pay to see the dolphins. We had already decided not to take the boat to see them but to stay on the shore and view them from a distance. At the entrance, they told us we HAD to take the boat and pay for it. After much arguing, we were finally permitted to not take (or pay) for the boat and try to spot the dolphins from the distance. We got good pictures, though, of little black dots making little splashes in the water... So we didn't really have a very good view, especially since neither Janice nor I were wearing our glasses, but we showed them by not paying two extra dollars... Okay, so maybe we didn't, but it wasn't really worth it for me to pay extra money just to see dolphins up close anyway. I don't know how the others felt, but the motorcycle ride was definitely the highlight of that little expedition.
Kratie is a really small town so there was nothing to do other than play cards and watch TV. In the evening, a crew of French tourists put in The Killing Fields, and as it seemed an appropriate movie given where we were, we all joined in watching it. I didn't finish because I was tired, but this particular version of the movie was totally edited. I was surprised at how poor of a job of editing they did too. There were complete scenes missing.
THE ROAD TO LAOS
The next morning we left on a mini-bus to Laos. We could also have taken a boat trip, but it was a little more expensive. The mini-bus wasn't so bad though. The roads are notoriously bad going to (and through) Laos, but this road was pretty good until right before we came to the exit point for Cambodia. Then the road got really bumpy and dusty. It seemed like we were on some backwoods trail rather than a road that connects two countries. After a small fee, the Cambodian officials let us exit their country, after which, we, along with several others who had taken the boat trip, loaded up into a small van (there were 15 of us in all plus all our baggage piled into this little vehicle) for a short trip to the Lao border. Again, after a small fee (which was a little higher than normal because it was Saturday and we were charged a weekend "overtime" fee), our visas were stamped and we were on our way to Don Det, one of the 4000 islands in southern Laos.
DON DET
We were taken by boat to Don Det, one of the smaller islands, where, for the first time since we've been traveling, we were not hounded by hotel workers or taxi/tuk-tuk/motorbike drivers to "have a look" at their guesthouses. Instead, we just started walking down this little dirt trail which had some guesthouses on either side (all of which were full) and several huts where Lao families were going about their daily business. We walked for quite awhile, carrying all our things, until we lucked out at what turned out to be a perfect place to stay for a couple nights. We stayed in little huts, complete with mosquito netting over the bed, a hammock on the front porch and no electricity. Our guesthouse had a nice little deck over the Mekong River with the most spectacular view which was so nice, it's really unexplainable. We only had about two hours of sunlight left so we ordered our food (which took a good hour to prepare) and played cards until it was too dark to see. We were given little lanterns to light our way so we could see to take showers, and then we just hung out on the porch in the dark, enjoying the countless stars (which I haven't seen in a long time) and talking.
The next day was just as relaxing. The roosters began their noise around four in the morning, but I didn't get up until 6:30. I spent the next hour watching the sun come up over the trees and river and color the surrounding area. The others slept a little later, but everyone was up by eight which is really early for a day when we had no plans but to relax. Derek rented a bike and went across a little bridge to a larger island, but the rest of us decided to stay in our little area. Tommy and I went swimming in the river. Actually, the current was too strong to swim so we just sat in the water to be cooled off from the strong sun. Janice, who is neither a fan of heat nor of cold, was pretty miserable for about four or five hours, but when that sun began to go down, the temperature cooled off to a perfect degree, and I was quite comfortable.
PAKSE AND BEYOND
This morning after a fantastic, and not so healthy, breakfast of chocolate banana pancakes, we left on a boat to catch our early morning bus to Pakse. There's really nothing in Pakse for us except a ticket to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The boat ride was really relaxing. The Mekong has quickly found its place in my heart, and I look forward to visiting it again in about two days. The bus ride we had was a little different. It was less like a bus and more like a truck that had benches along both sides of the bed and one bench in the middle. It was covered, fortunately, but it was quite crowded with both foreigners and locals making it difficult to find a comfortable position. We did make it to Pakse, though, and now are waiting for our bus to leave for Vientiane, which doesn't happen until this evening at 8:30. It's an overnight bus, obviously, and I think it takes about 10 or so hours from here to the capital. Once in Vientiane, we're going to immediately try to get a bus to Van Vieng, a town about four hours away, where we can tube all day down the river. After the terribly long and uncomfortable bus rides we are about to endure, I am really looking forward to the tubing!
I kept hearing from everyone who had been to Laos that it's "totally chill", and they were absolutely right. Already, and we've only been here for two days, it's one of my favorite places we've visited. It possesses so much natural beauty, so if you enjoy the "great outdoors", it's the country to see.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Phnom Penh - The Killing Fields
Tuesday morning Yve departed for Malaysia with Danny. We only briefly said goodbye because she was busily preparing to leave, and I was taking care of other things. I was missing her before she was even gone, mostly because I have the sneaky feeling she won't be returning to Shiyan. I may be wrong, but I think she's finally doing what she initially started out to do - travel the world - and I don't think she'd be happy returning. But it was fun while it lasted, and I have no doubt we'll meet up again, probably somewhere in Australia which seems to be her target destination for now.
Anyway, we left Tuesday morning for Phnom Penh too. The bus ride back was defnitely more pleasant for me than the bus ride to Siem Reap, though I can't say the same for Tommy. As we were being taken from our hotel to the bus station, he realized he didn't have his camera. Usually, he keeps it in my backpack that I carry with me everywhere for safe and convenient storage, but I checked my back a couple times and couldn't find it. So he jumped off the mini-bus, grabbed a motorbike back to the hotel while we continued on to catch our bus. Just as we were about to leave, eagle-eyes Janice spots Tommy on the motorbike, and Derek jumps off the bus to catch him. He just barely made it before we left! But he didn't find his camera so he was really bummed the entire bus ride back and all evening too.
When we got back to Phnom Penh, we took a tuk-tuk to a guesthouse we read about in Lonely Planet, and, lo and behold, the Lewises had just sat down for dinner at the same guesthouse! So while Derek and Tommy went to find a place for us to stay (this guesthouse was full), I sat down with the Lewises, and we caught up on each others adventures.
Not far from this guesthouse, the boys found a cheap hotel with an empty room so we booked it even though it looked really shady. We soon realized just how shady it was when we entered our rooms and saw the pink light bulb above our beds! I don't think I've ever been so uncomfortable in my life!! (-: But we fared the night well and left the next morning for the first guesthouse where the Lewises were staying. The Lewises left that morning for Siem Reap so we really just missed each other.
Oh, and while we were paying for the red light hotel, I reached in my bag and pulled out Tommy's camera. I don't know how I could have checked that bag so many times and missed it each time, but I did. Tommy was so happy to have it back that instead of killing me (like he had jokingly threatened to do earlier had I found it in my bag after he had raced back to the hotel and almost missed the bus to PP because of it), he gave me a big hug and turned back into the fun-loving Tommy we hadn't heard from since before the missing camera experience. But I felt bad and rather stupid for about 5 minutes afterwards, anyway!
Yesterday we went to the Museum of War Crimes. It's a museum set up in the old S-21 prison used during the Khmer Rouge regime. It's a really haunting place to visit, but I feel it's necessary, for me anyway, to see and acknowledge the horrible crimes that were committed during this time. After the museum, we went to the killing fields. It's not quite what I expected. There must be a school very near by because as we walked among the mass grave sites (large holes in the ground where hundreds of bodies have been dug up), we could hear children laughing and playing. It was eerie, but strangely comforting.
Yesterday evening we met with the Family here in Phnom Penh for their mid-week meeting. Derek went to school at Harding with the children of a missionary family here so we were able to arrange meeting with them. There were about 14 Americans, almost all older than sixty or maybe even seventy, who are here mostly on a short term basis to teach English and the Book. They were so welcoming, and it was so awesome to be able to sing and fellowship with them. It was really inspiring to hear their stories too because most have been working in missions around the world for a big portion of their lives. Spending time with them was like finding a piece of home in a really strange land - but I guess it's always like that with the Family.
Today we're meeting back up with the missionary couple Derek had connections with. We're going to have lunch together, and then they're going to take us to see their boat. They've recently acquired a boat that they're turning into a medical missions boat. They're going to travel to three different provinces along the Mekong River and visit poor villages offering free medical assistance (since they have no way of obtaining it themselves). Right now they're trying to get through all the governmental red tape to be able to sail the boat, and they're also in the process of interviewing and hiring Khmer doctors for the job of assisting the villagers. It's a really exciting endeavor, I think.
Tomorrow we plan to leave for Laos. At first, we had decided against going through Laos back to China, but everyone we meet who has been to Laos thinks it's one of the greatest places to see. So now we're really excited about the different things we'll see and do there. We don't have too much time before we have to be back for school so we're trying to make the most of the time we have left!
Tuesday morning Yve departed for Malaysia with Danny. We only briefly said goodbye because she was busily preparing to leave, and I was taking care of other things. I was missing her before she was even gone, mostly because I have the sneaky feeling she won't be returning to Shiyan. I may be wrong, but I think she's finally doing what she initially started out to do - travel the world - and I don't think she'd be happy returning. But it was fun while it lasted, and I have no doubt we'll meet up again, probably somewhere in Australia which seems to be her target destination for now.
Anyway, we left Tuesday morning for Phnom Penh too. The bus ride back was defnitely more pleasant for me than the bus ride to Siem Reap, though I can't say the same for Tommy. As we were being taken from our hotel to the bus station, he realized he didn't have his camera. Usually, he keeps it in my backpack that I carry with me everywhere for safe and convenient storage, but I checked my back a couple times and couldn't find it. So he jumped off the mini-bus, grabbed a motorbike back to the hotel while we continued on to catch our bus. Just as we were about to leave, eagle-eyes Janice spots Tommy on the motorbike, and Derek jumps off the bus to catch him. He just barely made it before we left! But he didn't find his camera so he was really bummed the entire bus ride back and all evening too.
When we got back to Phnom Penh, we took a tuk-tuk to a guesthouse we read about in Lonely Planet, and, lo and behold, the Lewises had just sat down for dinner at the same guesthouse! So while Derek and Tommy went to find a place for us to stay (this guesthouse was full), I sat down with the Lewises, and we caught up on each others adventures.
Not far from this guesthouse, the boys found a cheap hotel with an empty room so we booked it even though it looked really shady. We soon realized just how shady it was when we entered our rooms and saw the pink light bulb above our beds! I don't think I've ever been so uncomfortable in my life!! (-: But we fared the night well and left the next morning for the first guesthouse where the Lewises were staying. The Lewises left that morning for Siem Reap so we really just missed each other.
Oh, and while we were paying for the red light hotel, I reached in my bag and pulled out Tommy's camera. I don't know how I could have checked that bag so many times and missed it each time, but I did. Tommy was so happy to have it back that instead of killing me (like he had jokingly threatened to do earlier had I found it in my bag after he had raced back to the hotel and almost missed the bus to PP because of it), he gave me a big hug and turned back into the fun-loving Tommy we hadn't heard from since before the missing camera experience. But I felt bad and rather stupid for about 5 minutes afterwards, anyway!
Yesterday we went to the Museum of War Crimes. It's a museum set up in the old S-21 prison used during the Khmer Rouge regime. It's a really haunting place to visit, but I feel it's necessary, for me anyway, to see and acknowledge the horrible crimes that were committed during this time. After the museum, we went to the killing fields. It's not quite what I expected. There must be a school very near by because as we walked among the mass grave sites (large holes in the ground where hundreds of bodies have been dug up), we could hear children laughing and playing. It was eerie, but strangely comforting.
Yesterday evening we met with the Family here in Phnom Penh for their mid-week meeting. Derek went to school at Harding with the children of a missionary family here so we were able to arrange meeting with them. There were about 14 Americans, almost all older than sixty or maybe even seventy, who are here mostly on a short term basis to teach English and the Book. They were so welcoming, and it was so awesome to be able to sing and fellowship with them. It was really inspiring to hear their stories too because most have been working in missions around the world for a big portion of their lives. Spending time with them was like finding a piece of home in a really strange land - but I guess it's always like that with the Family.
Today we're meeting back up with the missionary couple Derek had connections with. We're going to have lunch together, and then they're going to take us to see their boat. They've recently acquired a boat that they're turning into a medical missions boat. They're going to travel to three different provinces along the Mekong River and visit poor villages offering free medical assistance (since they have no way of obtaining it themselves). Right now they're trying to get through all the governmental red tape to be able to sail the boat, and they're also in the process of interviewing and hiring Khmer doctors for the job of assisting the villagers. It's a really exciting endeavor, I think.
Tomorrow we plan to leave for Laos. At first, we had decided against going through Laos back to China, but everyone we meet who has been to Laos thinks it's one of the greatest places to see. So now we're really excited about the different things we'll see and do there. We don't have too much time before we have to be back for school so we're trying to make the most of the time we have left!
Monday, February 05, 2007
ANGKOR WAT DAY#2
Yesterday evening we finally met back up with Derek, Yve, and Janice. Derek and Yve were heading off with two new replacements (I mean friends...) to have dinner as Tommy and I were leaving the Internet bar. They met these two guys, one Canadian named Danny and an Aussie whose name I didn't catch, while touring the temples and had yet to be separated from them. Tommy and I met up with Janice at our hotel and spent the rest of the evening playing Spades. Just as we finished and headed for our room to read quietly before going to sleep, the prodigal friends, Derek and Yve, returned with Danny and the other kid for a jam session in our room. Yve had guitar, Aussie had vocals, Danny had drums (well sticks and mattresses), and I, well, I had a vibrating bed from all the jumping around Danny did. Needless to say, we slept in this morning.
After we finally got around, we rented bikes and headed for Angkor Wat. Yve is really sick again today, but she didn't want to miss the most famous temple and like a trooper, biked out with the rest of us. Along the way, she mentioned that Danny invited her to go to Malaysia with him to meet up with some of his friends. She's rather smitten with this fellow and since she doesn't have to return as early as the rest of us to Shiyan (it's still questionable whether she will be able to or not anyway - long story), she decided she really wants to travel with him. He's leaving tomorrow, and if all works out, she'll be heading out too. Crazy!
Anyway, Angkor Wat was amazing. I have been constantly surprised at how few tourists there are here. It seems like I see them in the city, but when we go to the temples, there's usually only a small clump of tour groups near the main entrances, and everywhere else is more or less empty of them. It's so nice! And there's so much freedom to wander about. There aren't a lot of protected areas to prevent self-injuries which is strange to see coming from the West where we have to put warnings on everything. The architecture and ornately detailed carvings and bas reliefs within the temples at Angkor are breathtaking, and I feel so fortunate to have been able to see them. But, in the end, our bodies gave out. After biking such a distance and climbing several steep stairways and hiking around in the heat, we decided to head back (after realizing we had seen all the other temples yesterday and after playing for a short time with the monkeys, yet again). We have a three day pass to the temples, but two days were enough for me and so tomorrow we will probably head back to Phnom Penh in the afternoon.
Yesterday evening we finally met back up with Derek, Yve, and Janice. Derek and Yve were heading off with two new replacements (I mean friends...) to have dinner as Tommy and I were leaving the Internet bar. They met these two guys, one Canadian named Danny and an Aussie whose name I didn't catch, while touring the temples and had yet to be separated from them. Tommy and I met up with Janice at our hotel and spent the rest of the evening playing Spades. Just as we finished and headed for our room to read quietly before going to sleep, the prodigal friends, Derek and Yve, returned with Danny and the other kid for a jam session in our room. Yve had guitar, Aussie had vocals, Danny had drums (well sticks and mattresses), and I, well, I had a vibrating bed from all the jumping around Danny did. Needless to say, we slept in this morning.
After we finally got around, we rented bikes and headed for Angkor Wat. Yve is really sick again today, but she didn't want to miss the most famous temple and like a trooper, biked out with the rest of us. Along the way, she mentioned that Danny invited her to go to Malaysia with him to meet up with some of his friends. She's rather smitten with this fellow and since she doesn't have to return as early as the rest of us to Shiyan (it's still questionable whether she will be able to or not anyway - long story), she decided she really wants to travel with him. He's leaving tomorrow, and if all works out, she'll be heading out too. Crazy!
Anyway, Angkor Wat was amazing. I have been constantly surprised at how few tourists there are here. It seems like I see them in the city, but when we go to the temples, there's usually only a small clump of tour groups near the main entrances, and everywhere else is more or less empty of them. It's so nice! And there's so much freedom to wander about. There aren't a lot of protected areas to prevent self-injuries which is strange to see coming from the West where we have to put warnings on everything. The architecture and ornately detailed carvings and bas reliefs within the temples at Angkor are breathtaking, and I feel so fortunate to have been able to see them. But, in the end, our bodies gave out. After biking such a distance and climbing several steep stairways and hiking around in the heat, we decided to head back (after realizing we had seen all the other temples yesterday and after playing for a short time with the monkeys, yet again). We have a three day pass to the temples, but two days were enough for me and so tomorrow we will probably head back to Phnom Penh in the afternoon.
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