Yes, you read the title right. I am coming home. I will take my original planned flight out of Asia on May 16th. I couldn't be more excited. I have no regrets with my decision. The idea of a summer in China is a completely romantic to me. Bartending, meeting people, learning mandarin and having random exciting adventures. In fact, everything the past couple of weeks has led me to believe that I can't fight fate - that everything has worked out so perfectly and all the signs are leading me to stay here. However, despite everything the one thing that has deterred me and made me second guess my decision was my heart. Everyone knows that quote. "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart". Yes, part of my heart is in China. But where my heart really is is back home, in the good old United States of America.
I have had so many great times here. So many adventures with travelling, as I have documented a couple of them in my blog. But most of all I have learned and grown as a person. I believe that I will have left China quite a bit different than when I entered, and it is all for the best.
They say that China is the New Wild West. I believe that. This is an amazing country that has so much potential for greatness and power. The future for the time being looks optimistic for China and the opportunities endless. I believe I share that with China. I think my future is pretty optimistic too, and I don't have to stay here for the summer to have crazy adventures and new opportunities. In fact, I have somfe pretty crazy adventures with my best friends back home!
So here I am. In my dorm room at the old SWUFE campus. It is way nicer than the one I came into, and I just got back from having nice long chats with some people I met in the lobby. Most are from the University of Florida, here on an exchange. They are very wide eyed and excited as they have only been here for a week. All dreaming of what China will bring them. I am sure it will bring them great times, just as I am sure that I would have fun with them, showing them around and venturing around Chengdu. Learning Chinese by day, bartending at Shamrock by night.
But I have already done this whole scene, and I have more than my fair share of stories. So with that, my feet are following my heart back to Seattle and I couldn't be more excited. I am about to turn 21, which is quite possibly the best age to be in America. I want to celebrate it with my best friends who I can't wait to see. I look forward to those late nights at the Burrow, staying up until sunrise talking about nothing and absolutely everything. Being able to text Taylor any innappropriate phrase I want and having her respond with quite possibly a more inappropriate one. I'm going to look forward to having Jessi drive Maggie, I and whoever else around all summer and causing a raucous. Having Alissa come over from Spokane, Shiree leaving the Tulip frields and visiting. And Paula - oh Paula. I look forward to whatever crazy story she will have to tell me. Lunch dates with Cyril, listening to him talk passionately about Orison. Seeing Matt in odd moments - rolling my eyes at his horribly bad jokes. But most of all I am excited to see my family. My mom (who I know was just here but who I miss already), my stepdad (because who else is going to slam the cupboards at 4 AM and wake him up?) my Dad (because who else will entertain him like I do?) my stepmom (who else is going to leave a mess everywhere?) and all my siblings - all five of my beautiful, wonderful, crazy siblings. I can't wait for my little sister's First Communion and can't wait to see my whole wacky, fun extended family of cousins, my little second cousins, my aunt and uncle, and most especially the man that made this all possible - My Grandfather.
So here's to you China. We had our ups, we had our downs. Mainly it was ups and I will never forget the time I spent here. I have learned so much and made so many amazing (albeit interesting) friends and had one too many crazy counters. Thanks for the late nights and the insane taxi rides. The strengthening of my quads with the squatty potties, and giving me the force of the hulk to now be able to navigate through crowds of thousands of people. Xie, Xie and Bye-bye!
Side note: My mom put her foot down and completely refused to pay for another flight for me (as she should..I am quite the money sucker!) so I have to take the train. My internet isn't working at the Tex-Mex grill that I am at right now so I have tried to explain frantically to the Chinese people my situation and they have been the most accommodating. Since I couldn't book online a man left this place to go a half hour away to find and book the tickets for me. He got me a luxurious first class cabin on the train for a fraction of the price that most people pay! That's the thing with China - you never really know what you're going to get. They can't figure out that drinks and appetizers come before the meals but sometimes they will quite eating their meal and run to the train station to help you out.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
A word on the Chinese people
I typically got the same response from people when I told them that I was going to China. It was essentially a mixture of "wow that's really exciting...but why the eff would you do that?" Yes. It's true, for our standards the Chinese are incredibly rude. They stare. They hack and spit. They are so ridiculously loud. They walk around with their shirts up and bellies exposed when they get hot. They piss everywhere. They push, they shove, and don't seem to care about anyone but themselves. (This isn't true for all Chinese..mainly for the older crowds). But to understand why the way they are you need to understand their history. Well, at least when Mao came into the picture.
These people have been straight up abused by their government since 1949. They say that Mao did 70 percent good and 30 percent bad for China. It's all how you look at it and what you believe, but I know for certain the 30 percent that was bad was really, really bad. I mean, he did get the whole country off of their opium addiction, and he did turn it more into a land of opportunity. But my God the other stuff he did was just ridiculous. Like killing all the sparrows in china, which caused an increase of locusts eating crops and starting a giant famine that killed some 30 million Chinese people? That was one of the many strengths on his resume. He decided that China needed to be a superpower and to achieve that he needed to destroy basically their whole culture. He knocked down all the of the ancient temples and monuments. All the ancient city walls. In their place he put up factories. Hence the smog and pollution levels, and the hacking and spitting. Hence the sad, cheap immitation knock offs of old temples.
It made me think. What would China be like if the communist party hadn't won? Would China have blue skies and be cleaner? Would the people be less pushy because it wasn't survival of the fittest? Or would they be worse off. Because now China is really like the wild west. Full of opportunity to make some money, to get out of poverty. It's pretty interesting to think about. I mean I go back in forth with this a lot in my head, but nothing seems to explain the staring...except for the borders being opened up only thirty years ago.
These people have been straight up abused by their government since 1949. They say that Mao did 70 percent good and 30 percent bad for China. It's all how you look at it and what you believe, but I know for certain the 30 percent that was bad was really, really bad. I mean, he did get the whole country off of their opium addiction, and he did turn it more into a land of opportunity. But my God the other stuff he did was just ridiculous. Like killing all the sparrows in china, which caused an increase of locusts eating crops and starting a giant famine that killed some 30 million Chinese people? That was one of the many strengths on his resume. He decided that China needed to be a superpower and to achieve that he needed to destroy basically their whole culture. He knocked down all the of the ancient temples and monuments. All the ancient city walls. In their place he put up factories. Hence the smog and pollution levels, and the hacking and spitting. Hence the sad, cheap immitation knock offs of old temples.
It made me think. What would China be like if the communist party hadn't won? Would China have blue skies and be cleaner? Would the people be less pushy because it wasn't survival of the fittest? Or would they be worse off. Because now China is really like the wild west. Full of opportunity to make some money, to get out of poverty. It's pretty interesting to think about. I mean I go back in forth with this a lot in my head, but nothing seems to explain the staring...except for the borders being opened up only thirty years ago.
Mom's week in China
It was insane seeing my mom bound toward me in the Beijing airport. It was like, Nance, what are you doing in China? Of course I was happy to see her but it was quite a shock. I was stoked (bro) to fly her out to Chengdu with me to see the place that I had called home for the past three months.
Unfortunately, our drive into Chengdu was pretty uneventful. I was expecting a full on Chengdu taxi ride. Complete with horns, speeding, people driving on the sidewalk. You know the works. I was really upset because I wanted my mom to experience and feel the full on insanity that I had most weekends. Oh well. I think she enjoyed Chengdu in the sense that she got to experience the real China. Other than that there wasn't that much to do. She kept asking me what she would do and see. It was then I realized that I hadn't ever actually done anything in Chengdu but eat American food, shop at Shunxi Lu and rage.
It was also completely humid and sweltering hot. And smelly. All in all a beautiful day. So I took her to the People's park and showed her where I blew bubbles for all the Children and started a gathering of all the Chinese. She watched the old women and men dance in the park. Watched them perform songs and dances for audiences. Watched the old men play checkers, chess, and mahh-jong. We both came to the conclusion that retired old people really do live the life in China. Naturally we got stares everywhere we went, especially since my mom was platinum blond. She loved it. Next we went to some Temple that was probably cool at one point but now it was just a cheap copy of what Mao so brilliantly destroyed sixty years ago.
I think my mom's favorite part of Chengdu was being able to talk to Chinese people about China. She absolutely drilled my friends. It's my moms favorite past time so naturally she was in heaven. Both nights we went out to dinner with Eamon, Winnie, Joannah and Lisa and she asked them all their opinions on what they thought about the safety of China to the one Child policy. Conclusion? This country is completely insane. I learned things that I had never even thought to ask. I figured China was a pretty safe place but Joannah told me that all crime goes unreported until they find the murderer or rapist. If the felony is over 20 years old they just sort of pardon the person and let it go. Nice...
We said goodbye to Chengdu after two days and headed East to the amazing city of Shanghai. I could live in Shanghai it's so cool. On a scale of one to China it is definitely closer to a one but it still is very China in the sense that "OMG what is going to happen next?!". Oh and they walk around in their pajamas. All of them. Isn't that strange? I have never encountered it in any other city and here, in the most westernized China city there it is. People in their pajamas on the back of motorbikes, walking down the street, buying vegetables, doing Tai Chi...just going about their daily lives in their nice striped cotton suits. Some expat told me that last year for the expo they police used to ride around and make the people in their pajamas go home and change to look more civilized to all the foreigners. Also, there are so many lights in Shanghai. It made me think. China really only cares about two cities in the whole country and really play it up so foreigners are all impressed. They spend so much energy on light in Shanghai but they won't pay a dime on anywhere else. Take SWUFE for example. They never turned on the lights in the building, the escalators they implemented in the meat locker were only turned on at random times. And heat? Ha! Yeahhh...well we all know about that situation.
Mom and I had a pretty good time walking around and exploring Shanghai. The city is dripping with all kinds of history and since I am pretty into that subject I was all about it. I mean, it was taken over by so many different people. Namely the Eurpopeans, which is why the architecture and buildings around the bund look so pretty. Oh the Bund. I could walk up and down that forever. It's a long stretch of path overlooking the Shanghai river on the Puxi side. It gives you a breath-taking view of Pudong. The boats coming and going. It made me pretty home sick, like watching the ferries come and go from Seattle to Bremerton, Bainbridge, etc.
My mom wanted to buy shitty souveneirs for people back home so I spent the better part of four days being drug around to random market places finding cheap goods to bring back (that honestly probably wouldn't even make it back without breaking). We were so go, go go the whole time I had to tell her we needed to slow it down. I mean, I had spend the past two weeks on my own waking up when I wanted and eating when I wanted. Not to mention I have had no sort of parental guidance in three months so that was a bit rough to say the least! But it was really fun. It was beautiful and unlike cloudy Sichuan province you could actually see blue skies and sunshine!
At night we went to swanky bars on the bund. It was beautiful. Everyone looked really fabulous. It was where all the wealthy expat men went to find some pretty Chinese mistresses or foreign girls. Where pretty Chinese girls would go to try and find a man to take care of them. Where rich Chinese men would go to try and their luck with pretty foreign girls (good luck with that..absolutely not going to happen!). Then there was my mom and I just hanging out being super Chinese and just straight up surveying the scene and staring at people. No respect. We also went up to the tallest bar in the world in the World Financial Center in Pudong. Drinking champagne in a swanky bar 97 stories up in the air in a foreign country is pretty cool. Especially when you're with your mom.
Unfortunately, our drive into Chengdu was pretty uneventful. I was expecting a full on Chengdu taxi ride. Complete with horns, speeding, people driving on the sidewalk. You know the works. I was really upset because I wanted my mom to experience and feel the full on insanity that I had most weekends. Oh well. I think she enjoyed Chengdu in the sense that she got to experience the real China. Other than that there wasn't that much to do. She kept asking me what she would do and see. It was then I realized that I hadn't ever actually done anything in Chengdu but eat American food, shop at Shunxi Lu and rage.
It was also completely humid and sweltering hot. And smelly. All in all a beautiful day. So I took her to the People's park and showed her where I blew bubbles for all the Children and started a gathering of all the Chinese. She watched the old women and men dance in the park. Watched them perform songs and dances for audiences. Watched the old men play checkers, chess, and mahh-jong. We both came to the conclusion that retired old people really do live the life in China. Naturally we got stares everywhere we went, especially since my mom was platinum blond. She loved it. Next we went to some Temple that was probably cool at one point but now it was just a cheap copy of what Mao so brilliantly destroyed sixty years ago.
I think my mom's favorite part of Chengdu was being able to talk to Chinese people about China. She absolutely drilled my friends. It's my moms favorite past time so naturally she was in heaven. Both nights we went out to dinner with Eamon, Winnie, Joannah and Lisa and she asked them all their opinions on what they thought about the safety of China to the one Child policy. Conclusion? This country is completely insane. I learned things that I had never even thought to ask. I figured China was a pretty safe place but Joannah told me that all crime goes unreported until they find the murderer or rapist. If the felony is over 20 years old they just sort of pardon the person and let it go. Nice...
We said goodbye to Chengdu after two days and headed East to the amazing city of Shanghai. I could live in Shanghai it's so cool. On a scale of one to China it is definitely closer to a one but it still is very China in the sense that "OMG what is going to happen next?!". Oh and they walk around in their pajamas. All of them. Isn't that strange? I have never encountered it in any other city and here, in the most westernized China city there it is. People in their pajamas on the back of motorbikes, walking down the street, buying vegetables, doing Tai Chi...just going about their daily lives in their nice striped cotton suits. Some expat told me that last year for the expo they police used to ride around and make the people in their pajamas go home and change to look more civilized to all the foreigners. Also, there are so many lights in Shanghai. It made me think. China really only cares about two cities in the whole country and really play it up so foreigners are all impressed. They spend so much energy on light in Shanghai but they won't pay a dime on anywhere else. Take SWUFE for example. They never turned on the lights in the building, the escalators they implemented in the meat locker were only turned on at random times. And heat? Ha! Yeahhh...well we all know about that situation.
Mom and I had a pretty good time walking around and exploring Shanghai. The city is dripping with all kinds of history and since I am pretty into that subject I was all about it. I mean, it was taken over by so many different people. Namely the Eurpopeans, which is why the architecture and buildings around the bund look so pretty. Oh the Bund. I could walk up and down that forever. It's a long stretch of path overlooking the Shanghai river on the Puxi side. It gives you a breath-taking view of Pudong. The boats coming and going. It made me pretty home sick, like watching the ferries come and go from Seattle to Bremerton, Bainbridge, etc.
My mom wanted to buy shitty souveneirs for people back home so I spent the better part of four days being drug around to random market places finding cheap goods to bring back (that honestly probably wouldn't even make it back without breaking). We were so go, go go the whole time I had to tell her we needed to slow it down. I mean, I had spend the past two weeks on my own waking up when I wanted and eating when I wanted. Not to mention I have had no sort of parental guidance in three months so that was a bit rough to say the least! But it was really fun. It was beautiful and unlike cloudy Sichuan province you could actually see blue skies and sunshine!
At night we went to swanky bars on the bund. It was beautiful. Everyone looked really fabulous. It was where all the wealthy expat men went to find some pretty Chinese mistresses or foreign girls. Where pretty Chinese girls would go to try and find a man to take care of them. Where rich Chinese men would go to try and their luck with pretty foreign girls (good luck with that..absolutely not going to happen!). Then there was my mom and I just hanging out being super Chinese and just straight up surveying the scene and staring at people. No respect. We also went up to the tallest bar in the world in the World Financial Center in Pudong. Drinking champagne in a swanky bar 97 stories up in the air in a foreign country is pretty cool. Especially when you're with your mom.
Here on the 19th floor the neon lights make me numb...
Hong Kong...wow this place is absolutely amazingly hauntingly beautiful. I have that Gorillaz Song "Hong Kong" stuck in my head and it is completely fitting with the city (naturally). Taking the bus from one Island to the next was awesome. The scenery - I can't even describe it. I regret that I didn't take more pictures while being here. I hadn't had enough time to book a hostel in Thailand (oops) so I got off at a random stop to see what I could do. I stopped outside of the the Chungking Mansions (please google this place...please) and was immediately hustled by and Indian man asking me if I needed a place to stay. I said yes so I followed him up to this dirty, nasty building. There were Indian people everywhere crying out trying to sell things and staring. I was immediately put off. We waited in line of an elevator and rode up to 17th floor. This place was so gross. Dust everywhere as they were doing reconstruction on the building. Really small, really cramped. I was feeling claustrophobic, which is saying something since I had been living in China for the past three months. I got in my room. I actually couldn't breath. I looked out my "window" which was actually just a square whole in the wall that looked onto some pipes. "Oh god", I thought. I have to get out of here.
So I left. I left to explore the city of beautiful neon lights. Along the way I got attacked by three different men. Not really attacked, but stopped and asked if I would talk to them and be friends with them. One was kenyan, two were Indian. I was getting really seriously annoyed. I made excuses to all of them and I am pretty sure I had a permanent "fuck off" look stuck to my face for the next three days. I found an Irish pub and went in there to seek refuge from all the street hustlers. I sat at the bar and chatted with the nice Philipino bartender for a while. Soon after I was joined by a nice American man named Derrick. Derrick hailed from the Big Apple, and hadn't been to he states for four years. He had been in Korea teaching English for the past two years and then in a small town in China teaching English for the past two. We bonded and swapped stories of the complete ridiculousness that is China. That's what expats seem to do around here - laugh about this Country. Because hey, we are all in this together. We cheers and had a drink together over the news of Osama. It was nice to be with an American again, but in general it's great meeting the random people you do while travelling. Really it is.
I spent the next two days exploring all that Hong Kong had to offer me. I moved out of the nasty hostel and into a nicer hotel where I could actually breath. Also less nasty hustlers in the area which is also a complete plus. Hong Kong is technically part of China - but not really. The British signed something with them when they took it over saying that they would give it back over to them in 100 years after they were done with the place - in 1999. That they did, much to the displeasure of the Chinese. I would be worried if I were them too, it would be hard to go from a commonwealth to communism. But the Chinese didn't implement the same rules that it did in mainland China, mainly because Hong Kong is so profitable. Many Chinese escaped to here when the CPC party took over in 1949. As a result, the Chinese living her are very...non-chinese. They actually mainly speak in English to each other. Everyone is dressed up wearing a business suit, and there are more Starbucks than I have ever seen in my life. Oh, and you don't need a proxy to log into Facebook!
I could honestly see myself living in Hong Kong. It got a little claustrophobic at times but there was nothing more breathtaking than riding the Star Ferry back and forth across islands, looking at all the neon lights and the wonders of the modern world. And listening to the distinguished Brittish men chat over their business lunches. The clashing of Chinese and English culture made a unique place and even more unique people. I took a hot yoga class which was in a high rise, and trying to find peace with one's body and mind while overlooking the beauty of Hong Kong was ug...well you get the point.
Despite the creepy guys (they exist all over the world ladies...watch out!) It seemed to be like a pretty romantic place. Walking through Kolwoon park and looking out across the pier there were couples everywhere. I witnessed some pretty adorable intimate moments. It almost seemed slightly cheesy - one man picked up his lover and swung her around and another carried his bride style towards a bench and sat her down. I tried to take pictures but I didn't want to be that creepy. And someone like Jess would be way better at that then me..I am just good about writing it. Of course as all things I prefer Hong Kong at night. It was much more beautiful that way.
As usual, I got to thinking (wow Carrie Bradshaw much?) about the Chinese in Hong Kong. They seem happy and they seem to love it. Of course this is all they know, but still they seem to have no issues living in a completely westernized place. It made me wonder how long it would take mainland China to get this. If i was a betting woman I would say not too much longer. Change is coming to China at a rapid pace and it has already taken over Shanghai and Beijing. If they want to be the established superpower that they strive to be then they must make the change to all the cities, not just those two. Of course it will be difficult, but honestly they Chinese have gone through so much culture change in the past hundred or so years they should be used to all the change by now.
I was pretty sad to leave Hong Kong. Part of me wanted to buy a nice high rise apartment and search for a nice posh 9-5 business job with all the other locals. It had been two weeks since I had been in mainland china and I had gotten used to the normal toilets and the lack of hacking and coughing. And staring. And dirt. But I was excited to press on because in a few hours in the Beijing airport I was going to see my mom for the first time in three months! Ahhh!
So I left. I left to explore the city of beautiful neon lights. Along the way I got attacked by three different men. Not really attacked, but stopped and asked if I would talk to them and be friends with them. One was kenyan, two were Indian. I was getting really seriously annoyed. I made excuses to all of them and I am pretty sure I had a permanent "fuck off" look stuck to my face for the next three days. I found an Irish pub and went in there to seek refuge from all the street hustlers. I sat at the bar and chatted with the nice Philipino bartender for a while. Soon after I was joined by a nice American man named Derrick. Derrick hailed from the Big Apple, and hadn't been to he states for four years. He had been in Korea teaching English for the past two years and then in a small town in China teaching English for the past two. We bonded and swapped stories of the complete ridiculousness that is China. That's what expats seem to do around here - laugh about this Country. Because hey, we are all in this together. We cheers and had a drink together over the news of Osama. It was nice to be with an American again, but in general it's great meeting the random people you do while travelling. Really it is.
I spent the next two days exploring all that Hong Kong had to offer me. I moved out of the nasty hostel and into a nicer hotel where I could actually breath. Also less nasty hustlers in the area which is also a complete plus. Hong Kong is technically part of China - but not really. The British signed something with them when they took it over saying that they would give it back over to them in 100 years after they were done with the place - in 1999. That they did, much to the displeasure of the Chinese. I would be worried if I were them too, it would be hard to go from a commonwealth to communism. But the Chinese didn't implement the same rules that it did in mainland China, mainly because Hong Kong is so profitable. Many Chinese escaped to here when the CPC party took over in 1949. As a result, the Chinese living her are very...non-chinese. They actually mainly speak in English to each other. Everyone is dressed up wearing a business suit, and there are more Starbucks than I have ever seen in my life. Oh, and you don't need a proxy to log into Facebook!
I could honestly see myself living in Hong Kong. It got a little claustrophobic at times but there was nothing more breathtaking than riding the Star Ferry back and forth across islands, looking at all the neon lights and the wonders of the modern world. And listening to the distinguished Brittish men chat over their business lunches. The clashing of Chinese and English culture made a unique place and even more unique people. I took a hot yoga class which was in a high rise, and trying to find peace with one's body and mind while overlooking the beauty of Hong Kong was ug...well you get the point.
Despite the creepy guys (they exist all over the world ladies...watch out!) It seemed to be like a pretty romantic place. Walking through Kolwoon park and looking out across the pier there were couples everywhere. I witnessed some pretty adorable intimate moments. It almost seemed slightly cheesy - one man picked up his lover and swung her around and another carried his bride style towards a bench and sat her down. I tried to take pictures but I didn't want to be that creepy. And someone like Jess would be way better at that then me..I am just good about writing it. Of course as all things I prefer Hong Kong at night. It was much more beautiful that way.
As usual, I got to thinking (wow Carrie Bradshaw much?) about the Chinese in Hong Kong. They seem happy and they seem to love it. Of course this is all they know, but still they seem to have no issues living in a completely westernized place. It made me wonder how long it would take mainland China to get this. If i was a betting woman I would say not too much longer. Change is coming to China at a rapid pace and it has already taken over Shanghai and Beijing. If they want to be the established superpower that they strive to be then they must make the change to all the cities, not just those two. Of course it will be difficult, but honestly they Chinese have gone through so much culture change in the past hundred or so years they should be used to all the change by now.
I was pretty sad to leave Hong Kong. Part of me wanted to buy a nice high rise apartment and search for a nice posh 9-5 business job with all the other locals. It had been two weeks since I had been in mainland china and I had gotten used to the normal toilets and the lack of hacking and coughing. And staring. And dirt. But I was excited to press on because in a few hours in the Beijing airport I was going to see my mom for the first time in three months! Ahhh!
A little bit of Thailand. But not too much because I don't want to frighten my parents
Despite the creepy, large, pedophile looking Ronald Mcdonald I quite enjoy watching the McDonald's employees at the Bangkok Airport. I understand why they call it the land of smiles, because that is literally the only facial expression that I have seen the Thai people make so far! I'm not even that far away from Chengdu yet but I feel worlds away from China. It's almost a little like being in Japan as the Thai people do this bowing thing when they greet you and when they say goodbye. I can already tell that this will be a deeply religious country, which will be nice since China is completely lacking in that department.
My voyage from Wenjiang to Bangkok was eventful to say the least. I was incredibly sad this morning when everyone in the group left at 5 AM for Shanghai/Hong Kong. I cannot get over how fast the past week went, and in general that the trip is over! I miss my classmates already. We definitely became a sort of family over the past eight weeks and I am really sad that I am not ending the trip with Dan, Brett, Craig, and Shoji. It seems like just yesterday we were checking into our Tokyo Hostel! Honestly, I really don't know how my life hasn't completely fallen apart without Shoji in it! I miss that little ninja! Like I said I almost wish I was in Shanghai with them - but the excitement of being solo for the next two weeks is a bit more alluring. I have the whole summer to see the rest of China so I am glad I am seeing other parts of the world! But this morning was miserable watching everyone leave. I got about three minutes of sleep because me, Ana, Emon and Colette decided it was absolutely necessary to go out clubbing last night so we got in about 4 AM. The Chinese students saw them off since they won't be seeing them again and it was a pretty sad scene. I am thankful that this trip is WSU students so I don't have to say goodbye permanently! My leaving of SWUFE was pretty anticlimatic since I will be back in two weeks with my mom (so she can see the living conditions I endured) but what I have learned in being in Beijing and Hainan is that Chengdu it home, so I felt a little sad leaving it for the while!
I hopped in the taxi and enjoyed the crazy tumultuous ride. I took in all the sights of Wenjiang and played some John Mayer. I started to get this awesome feeling that I like to describe as travellers high. It's like you get super elated and excited because you have no idea what could possibly come next, but you know it's going to be good. Besides, what could possibly go wrong in a land full of beaches? I soon found out: disgustingly, creepy guys. There I was in the Chengdu airport minding my own business when some Indian guy decides I look like I want to talk with him. I didn't, I wanted to eat my sandwich and think about how tired I was from lack of sleep. I was nice at first and he yammered on about how he was a pro golfer. I told him I hated golf. He laughed. I glared. Then he started talking about his money or something and how it was nice everything went on his tab. Then he told me I should think about being in golf management. I once again repeated that I hated golf. So I got up to grab the plane. He followed me and asked where I was sitting so I showed him my ticket. He said he would try and upgrade me to first class. WTF?! Fortunately it didn't work so I had a nice three hour flight where I passed out. When I got off the plane he was waiting for me. I had told him I was going to Phuket and he was trying to convince me that Bangkok was way better. He carried my bags for me and told me to accompany him to Bangkok. I said that I couldn't because I made plans. He told me he would pay for everything all week, and we could even sleep in different rooms. Ew, ew, ew, ew. I grabbed my bags and excused myself to the bathroom and waited till he left. Unfortunately this was only the first of many creepy older men encounters in Thailand. I mean, just because I am 20 does not mean I am interested in older men and their money. I mean I am financially dependent on my parents...I always travel all expenses paid! And they aren't creepy. And I get my own room.
I got picked up from the airport from a nice Thai lady and the owner of my hostel. We travelled across some bumpy backroads and I was shocked at how uneventful the ride was. As in, there was no u-turns in the middle of the streets or driving up on the sidewalks. Niiiiiiice. The only thing was that there were animals. Everywhere. We constantly had to stop because there would be a pack of stray dogs roaming around. We finally got to the hostel and was a little apprehensive, since i didn't quite know what to expect. When I got to the lobby there was a group of people. One said "Ey, you miss? You alone?" I replied yes and they all replied with a smile and they told me to hurry up and come and enjoy the hedonistic pleasures of patong beach with them. That's the thing with travelling: you're never really alone even if you think you start out that way! Other backpackers/travellers seems to be the friendliest and most open-minded out there. They also never seem to be American, as the crew I met were all kiwis, aussies, canucks, or brits.
Patong was nuts. I couldn't help but notice that there were gorgeous Thai girls walking around everywhere...then I noticed again most of them weren't girls but ladyboys! I took a picture of one and she got pissed and said "100 baht!!" I said no snapped another pic and she chased me down the walk a ways. There were people every two feet that wanted you to buy something, purse, watch, tuk-tuk, massage, prostitute, drinks, etc. There were also beggars, lots and lots of beggars. In China this is an incredibly rare site so I was kind of taken aback. It was worse than Mexico. That night I took shots of snake blood with my new friends and watched a ping pong show. I won't go into detail, but if you are curious google it. Everyone else seemed entertained but it made me feel really sad. But I drowned that out with boozing until 5 am.
The next few days were awesome! I think I gained ten pounds eating Thai food this past week. So delicious! Actually I know I gained ten pounds this past week. I couldn't help it! Not only is Thai food delicious but there was such a variety everywhere else! And everyone speaks English. Being in Thailand was such a luxury. Sitting on the beach, munching on phad thai and french fries and being surrounded by cats. Lots and lots of cats. Heaven. Unfortunately I didn't get to know any real Thai culture this past week, so I know I need to go back. I was too busy not doing anything but being a tourist. One thing that really stuck out to me was what this woman (named Porn) said to me as she was giving me a manicure. The conversation started off as all conversations started off in Thailand. "You come here alone!??! Why you travel alone!? Where you boyfrined? What?! You no have boyfriend? American girls always have boyfriend! You too pretty to no have boyfriend you find nice boyfriend here!" and then I told her I enjoyed the country, but a lot of it had made me sad. Like the children attacking me for money and the sex trade. She looked at me for a couple of seconds and said "Don't think about it too much honey. You just have fun, okay?". Hmmm.
After two days in Phuket (which is an Island by the way..did anyone else not know that cause I felt like an idiot when I found out) me, and four other people decided to venture on to Koh Phi Phi. A canuck couple, Em and Craig, and two Aussies, Wyatt and Jared. I miss my companions quite a bit and though I had just met them two days before I thought I had known them for much longer!
We had a couple crazy nights. The most memorable was watching the wedding with a pub full of Britts. We had taken turns painting the Union Jack over each other and were belting English songs at the top of our lungs. There were still cats everywhere. There were so many fun people to meet, and I enjoyed the whole trip! This is where I am going to stop writing about Thailand...for multiple reasons but the main ones being the week I believe was a bit too insane to publicly blog about. And I don't want to give my parents heart attacks. But I did wake up with a few more piercings, lots of body paint, and cats. Yes. This being said I will tell anyone who will listen (and that don't want to listen) about my adventures of this past week. Trust me though, you will want to hear them.
The interesting thing about Koh Phi Phi was there were so many foreigners working there. Many had been backpacking with friends and just decided they loved it so much that they would stay there. They are club promoters, and essentially get paid 10 bucks a day and free alcohol. They get no days off and make just enough to live....but they love it! I almost wanted to stay there and join them! And I almost got my wish as I accidentally missed my first flight to Hong Kong...oops!
My voyage from Wenjiang to Bangkok was eventful to say the least. I was incredibly sad this morning when everyone in the group left at 5 AM for Shanghai/Hong Kong. I cannot get over how fast the past week went, and in general that the trip is over! I miss my classmates already. We definitely became a sort of family over the past eight weeks and I am really sad that I am not ending the trip with Dan, Brett, Craig, and Shoji. It seems like just yesterday we were checking into our Tokyo Hostel! Honestly, I really don't know how my life hasn't completely fallen apart without Shoji in it! I miss that little ninja! Like I said I almost wish I was in Shanghai with them - but the excitement of being solo for the next two weeks is a bit more alluring. I have the whole summer to see the rest of China so I am glad I am seeing other parts of the world! But this morning was miserable watching everyone leave. I got about three minutes of sleep because me, Ana, Emon and Colette decided it was absolutely necessary to go out clubbing last night so we got in about 4 AM. The Chinese students saw them off since they won't be seeing them again and it was a pretty sad scene. I am thankful that this trip is WSU students so I don't have to say goodbye permanently! My leaving of SWUFE was pretty anticlimatic since I will be back in two weeks with my mom (so she can see the living conditions I endured) but what I have learned in being in Beijing and Hainan is that Chengdu it home, so I felt a little sad leaving it for the while!
I hopped in the taxi and enjoyed the crazy tumultuous ride. I took in all the sights of Wenjiang and played some John Mayer. I started to get this awesome feeling that I like to describe as travellers high. It's like you get super elated and excited because you have no idea what could possibly come next, but you know it's going to be good. Besides, what could possibly go wrong in a land full of beaches? I soon found out: disgustingly, creepy guys. There I was in the Chengdu airport minding my own business when some Indian guy decides I look like I want to talk with him. I didn't, I wanted to eat my sandwich and think about how tired I was from lack of sleep. I was nice at first and he yammered on about how he was a pro golfer. I told him I hated golf. He laughed. I glared. Then he started talking about his money or something and how it was nice everything went on his tab. Then he told me I should think about being in golf management. I once again repeated that I hated golf. So I got up to grab the plane. He followed me and asked where I was sitting so I showed him my ticket. He said he would try and upgrade me to first class. WTF?! Fortunately it didn't work so I had a nice three hour flight where I passed out. When I got off the plane he was waiting for me. I had told him I was going to Phuket and he was trying to convince me that Bangkok was way better. He carried my bags for me and told me to accompany him to Bangkok. I said that I couldn't because I made plans. He told me he would pay for everything all week, and we could even sleep in different rooms. Ew, ew, ew, ew. I grabbed my bags and excused myself to the bathroom and waited till he left. Unfortunately this was only the first of many creepy older men encounters in Thailand. I mean, just because I am 20 does not mean I am interested in older men and their money. I mean I am financially dependent on my parents...I always travel all expenses paid! And they aren't creepy. And I get my own room.
I got picked up from the airport from a nice Thai lady and the owner of my hostel. We travelled across some bumpy backroads and I was shocked at how uneventful the ride was. As in, there was no u-turns in the middle of the streets or driving up on the sidewalks. Niiiiiiice. The only thing was that there were animals. Everywhere. We constantly had to stop because there would be a pack of stray dogs roaming around. We finally got to the hostel and was a little apprehensive, since i didn't quite know what to expect. When I got to the lobby there was a group of people. One said "Ey, you miss? You alone?" I replied yes and they all replied with a smile and they told me to hurry up and come and enjoy the hedonistic pleasures of patong beach with them. That's the thing with travelling: you're never really alone even if you think you start out that way! Other backpackers/travellers seems to be the friendliest and most open-minded out there. They also never seem to be American, as the crew I met were all kiwis, aussies, canucks, or brits.
Patong was nuts. I couldn't help but notice that there were gorgeous Thai girls walking around everywhere...then I noticed again most of them weren't girls but ladyboys! I took a picture of one and she got pissed and said "100 baht!!" I said no snapped another pic and she chased me down the walk a ways. There were people every two feet that wanted you to buy something, purse, watch, tuk-tuk, massage, prostitute, drinks, etc. There were also beggars, lots and lots of beggars. In China this is an incredibly rare site so I was kind of taken aback. It was worse than Mexico. That night I took shots of snake blood with my new friends and watched a ping pong show. I won't go into detail, but if you are curious google it. Everyone else seemed entertained but it made me feel really sad. But I drowned that out with boozing until 5 am.
The next few days were awesome! I think I gained ten pounds eating Thai food this past week. So delicious! Actually I know I gained ten pounds this past week. I couldn't help it! Not only is Thai food delicious but there was such a variety everywhere else! And everyone speaks English. Being in Thailand was such a luxury. Sitting on the beach, munching on phad thai and french fries and being surrounded by cats. Lots and lots of cats. Heaven. Unfortunately I didn't get to know any real Thai culture this past week, so I know I need to go back. I was too busy not doing anything but being a tourist. One thing that really stuck out to me was what this woman (named Porn) said to me as she was giving me a manicure. The conversation started off as all conversations started off in Thailand. "You come here alone!??! Why you travel alone!? Where you boyfrined? What?! You no have boyfriend? American girls always have boyfriend! You too pretty to no have boyfriend you find nice boyfriend here!" and then I told her I enjoyed the country, but a lot of it had made me sad. Like the children attacking me for money and the sex trade. She looked at me for a couple of seconds and said "Don't think about it too much honey. You just have fun, okay?". Hmmm.
After two days in Phuket (which is an Island by the way..did anyone else not know that cause I felt like an idiot when I found out) me, and four other people decided to venture on to Koh Phi Phi. A canuck couple, Em and Craig, and two Aussies, Wyatt and Jared. I miss my companions quite a bit and though I had just met them two days before I thought I had known them for much longer!
We had a couple crazy nights. The most memorable was watching the wedding with a pub full of Britts. We had taken turns painting the Union Jack over each other and were belting English songs at the top of our lungs. There were still cats everywhere. There were so many fun people to meet, and I enjoyed the whole trip! This is where I am going to stop writing about Thailand...for multiple reasons but the main ones being the week I believe was a bit too insane to publicly blog about. And I don't want to give my parents heart attacks. But I did wake up with a few more piercings, lots of body paint, and cats. Yes. This being said I will tell anyone who will listen (and that don't want to listen) about my adventures of this past week. Trust me though, you will want to hear them.
The interesting thing about Koh Phi Phi was there were so many foreigners working there. Many had been backpacking with friends and just decided they loved it so much that they would stay there. They are club promoters, and essentially get paid 10 bucks a day and free alcohol. They get no days off and make just enough to live....but they love it! I almost wanted to stay there and join them! And I almost got my wish as I accidentally missed my first flight to Hong Kong...oops!
Beijing and Hainan
Last week was a complete blur of finals and packing. I am shocked at how fast the past eight weeks went, but I was really excited to go on our final week long trip together! Our final trip will consist of three nights in Beijing and then two nights in the tropical Hainan. As per usual we woke up at the crack of dawn to make our flight. Also as usual Ana and I sat next to each other and clutched her crucifix and prayed the whole time we were on the flight. Seriously! I swear these are not real pilots. There is just absolutely no way. I am pretty sure I could fly a plane better than these Chinese drivers. I understand turbulence, turbulence happens. But the whole swooping up and down at random and swerving side to side thing just should not happen.
We were so happy to be off that plane and were completely shocked when we looked around and there were....white people. Everywhere. Herds and herds of lowai. Just milling around the airport. And there were normal toilets. No one was staring at us. We weren't exciting. We were just a dime a dozen. We got on our bus to head to the hotel. And then there was the ride there..no one was honking! No crazy drivers, nothing. Oh and the sky was almost blue. What was this place? Surely we were not in China anymore.
We got to the hotel and did the usual waiting game. In China everything takes forever, hotels especially. We milled around. Outside looked clean. We finally got situated and then it was time to head out to Tienanmen and The Forbidden City! It was hot. When I got to China it was absolutely miserably freezing cold out. But the second April rolls around more smog rolls in as does the heat. We were hungry and tried desperately to look for food. For some odd reason there were literally two restaurants around this area. We turned down Bernie's idea of heading to McDonalds. (For some reason Bernie always assumed that we wanted to eat breakfast lunch and dinner at Mcdonalds. I mean, I love my fries and my McChickens, but not that much). We regretted turning him down when all we found was a KFC to eat. We all just stared at each other and picked at our "food" and then ventured on.
Being at Tiennamen was...uneventful I guess? I don't know what I was expecting. It's not like there were going to be a reenactment of the events of 1989 (which the Chinese students don't know about by they way). It was a bunch of Chinese taking pictures of a giant square. People selling Mao memorabilia. "Hello!" they would call out. "Hello! You buy!". Like yeah, I would love a giant stone bust of Mao? It would look great in my apartment next year or better yet my Dad's office. I mean he did so many great things for America? They were also selling these red books that I found out everyone had to carry around as little as 20 years ago. They were all quotations of Mao and his beliefs and what not. I also found out that the Chinese people weren't allowed to see their groceries until a few years ago. Weird? Definitely. We took turn posing in front of Mao and staring at each other until we decided it was time. Time to enter the Forbidden City. Ooooooohhhhhh...
The Forbidden City was cool, I guess. Me, Audra, Colette and Ana decided to buy those giant rice paddy hats to wear around. Instead of actually trying to learn about the history of the City we decided to amuse ourselves by jumping into random Chinese people's pictures. Ha. Give them a taste of their own medicine. Too bad they actually enjoyed it and got really excited when we posed with them. Hurmph.
I am sure that years ago the Forbidden City was amazing. Especially when it was actually, you know, Forbidden. But Mao, in his fit of genius decided it would be best to destroy any part of ancient Chinese culture so we were looking at replicas that were built probably around thirty years ago when they opened up the boundaries for tourism. It's sad. It really is.
The next day we ventured toward the Great Wall of China. Ahhhhhh one of the wonders of the ancient world. To tell the truth, I was not that excited about it. You see, I never really get excited about seeing things like that. I prefer endlessly walking around and finding unique little places among cities that will remind me of them. But I was pleasantly surprised at how awesomely epic the great wall was. We were driven two hours out of the city to a non touristy place that few people come to. At times we were literally scaling the wall because it hadn't been refurbished. It was so cool. The view was absolutely amazing..I can't believe all those little Chinese people built all that! I couldn't see the end of it. For a while we walked alone, and then we ran into some interestingly dressed women. We were all in shorts and tank tops as it was pretty hot and these ladies were covered head to toe, and wearing hats. Bright colors. We later found out that they were Mongolians. That made me laugh.
Tao explained that they wanted to sell us souveneirs. We told them we didn't want any but they insisted and followed us around the Great Wall. Each lady grabbed onto one of us, and tried to speak to us in their Broken Chinese. I was borderline annoyed because I didn't need anyone telling me to be careful and that there were sharp rocks around. And that the great wall was really old. Cool woman, thanks. Actually she told me that the Japanese paid to restore part of the wall so that actually was interesting. Anyway, they helped us down the mountain. She held my hand the hold time but it's not like I actually needed the help. I humored her and Tao explained once again that we didn't want to buy anything from them. When we got to the bottom they literally attacked. They were trying to sell us the most worthless stuff - all for 100 yuan each. Everyone in the group caved but me. No way in hell was I going to spend 15 bucks on some decorative chopsticks! Maybe a dollar fifty, but no more than that. She didn't budge so I told her politely that I really didn't have any money. She asked Bernie if he would front the money. I handed her 20 yuan to thank me for helping her down the mountain but she was PISSED. I was having Tao translate for me and what I got from him was that he was going on about how she was cursing my family or some shit. Oops...
The hotel was pretty nice and even had a pool. That night we decided that we wanted to take a nice refreshing dip to ease our muscles. We were floating around having a good time when an employee came up and asked us if we had swim caps. We stared at him. Then we stared at each other. He repeated the question and told us that we needed to have swim caps to swim in the pool. Did it look like we had swim caps? No. I mean we weren't doing it for exercise, we were just floating. He said we could purchase them for 33 yuan or we could get out. We got out. Weirdest thing, wouldn't the Chinese be happy to have western hair be stuck in drains of their pool? This country is a mystery, I swear. We dried off and decided to see what the Tuesday night club scene in Beijing had to offer us.
Turned out it offered nothing. We went to a Muse type place and found it completely empty. And a cover charge. Puhhhhleeease like we were going to pay that! In Chengdu people begged us to come into their clubs. We left and made our way down to another strip of seedy bars and clubs. There were people hustling for us to come in but they all wanted more money than we were willing to pay so we settled for a restaurant where we could smoke some Hookah. We met some Turkish people smoking at the next table (weird...Turkish people and Hookah) and chatted them up for a bit. It made me think of the burrow and how Ty keeps his Hookah set in a cat litter box. So that reminded me of cats. I like cats, and I like Ty and the burrow so it was an all around good feeling. We hung out for a couple hours, and naturally had some drama when it was time to pay the bill. See, the Chinese still haven't quite got the concept of separate checks, or any sort of organized system that would make the process go a lot smoother.
I guess this is because in China you eat family style and you pay family style. In any case, they really need to figure it out. They don't bring the bill to the table. You have to go up, point at what you ordered, and pay separately. This is okay, but the problem is the Chinese don't seem to want to cross off the items after you pay. This is always the cause of some drama. We have theories that they do this to get more money out of us because they will claim that we didn't pay for something. This was one of those times. We argued back and forth in Chinglish that the girl who just left paid for the rum and coke and everything is good. I think the Chinese assume that since we are foreigners we have lots of money we would like to throw at them. Well we are in college, so we don't, oh and we are kind of assholes when it comes to that kind of stuff. It's probably from living in Chengdu.
The next day we saw some more boring temple type things. I won't go into detail because it wasn't that amazing. Just a bunch of tourists looking at new buildings that represented old buildings that used to be there. It's really sad actually, but I will go more into depth and detail about that in a different post. The thing that was most eventful that happened was me going into major mommy mode. See, I tell people that I don't like kids and that I would never, ever, ever want to produce a snot-nosed child. But the truth is I am pretty good quite kids and have quite a large maternal bone in my body. So when I saw a little three year old boy crying, next to his overturned bike with no parents around I started freaking out. Where were his parents? Was he hurt? Ana and I rushed over. I picked up the little boy and tried to calm him down. Chinese people came over and took pictures of me holding the screaming child and none seemed to be his parents. I wanted to scream like the little boy. Where were these irresponsible parents?!? Tao came rushing over demanding why I was carrying this random child. I told him. He went around asking, and no one came forth. Eventually we figured out his mother was a random woman who was trying to push useless Chinese stuff on tourists. Tao finally coerced me into putting him down and explained that in China you learn to take care of yourself from a very young age. That's the Communist spirit!
Later that night we went to a large market where you bargain for designer knock offs It was more fun than anything - I didn't actually want to buy any of the cheap shit that they were selling. The whole thing was really dramatic. They would show us a ridiculous sum of money that they wanted for the stuff on their calculator than show us the special discount price they would offer only for us. We would show them a ridiculously low price, they would get angry, and roll their eyes, and we would do the same. We would go back and forth saying how poor we both were and that we couldn't afford this - then usually we would walk away and get the price we wanted. Which of course was probably too high to begin with when you factor in production costs. I mean come on, you know they pay them like thirty cents an hour and the raw materials cost like seventy cents each. Also, did you know that in the workshops (sweatshops) the Chinese roll around on rollerblades to increase productivity? Human Rights?
We took another early flight out of Beijing to head down south to the beautiful island of Hainan. I don't need to go into depth on how the flight was because I am sure my regular readers know exactly how it went. A couple of Hail Marys and tears later we were on the ground. On a scale of One to China, the airport was definitely more China. A lot of pushing, staring, and cutting in lines in the bathrooms. So great, really gonna miss that about this place. Anyway, once we got there we had to take a two hour train ride to the south of the Island. The train was pretty sweet. It was air conditioned, and we saw some pretty cool Chinese countryside. The best part of the trip was seeing THE PACIFIC OCEAN. OMG IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. You have no idea. I love the pacific, since I grew up near it. I wanted to cry. I think we all wanted to cry. We hadn't seen water like this in over two months. It was glorious! I wanted to praise Buddha. Instead I just made a noise similar to that of a goose and jumped up and down a bit.
We got to the hotel. It was beautiful. Amazing, an actual five star hotel. We all joked that WSU set us up with this nice hotel to make us forget about how shitty our dorms were. It pretty much worked. We hopped into our suits and ran into the ocean. Oh It was majestic. Water, lovely, wonderful, tropical salt water. We laughed and splashed around. Eventually I actually looked around at my surroundings and noticed something. The signs were in Chinese, English,, and some other language. What was that? Greek? No it was...Russian. I looked around. There were a lot of white people and I soon realized that they were all Russian. What were all these Russians doing in China?
I realized that Hainan was the closest tropical place for those living in Eastern Russia. For the next two days I studied these people. They all have the same facial expression on their face. Not very happy looking, with furrowed eyebrows. They all also seem to have a nice hefty weight about them. And they don't seem to mind. Women that frequent Lane Bryant were wearing bikinis, bearing it all out on the beach. The men (of course..they are European) were wearing speedos. I was also certain that there were quite a few members of the Russian Mafia there. They were the men with the big guts and gold chains hanging around their necks. And gold teeth. Then there were the ungodly skinny ones who definitely shared the same pant size as my nine year old sister. Because of these Russians, the Chinese had to learn to speak some. Have you ever heard a Chinese person speak in Russian? Hilarious.
As you all know, in America we love the idea of being tan. A little bronzed is beautiful, and pasty white is disgusting. So the tanning industry makes quiiiiiiiiite a bit of money. In China it is the opposite. I'm sure I have already mentioned the whitening cream they sell in stores. But you know what they don't sell in stores? SUNBLOCK. Yeah, so being in cloudy, smoggy Wenjiang we had gotten quite pale over the past two months. Being in sunny Hainan we got burnt to a crisp. All of us. Even Colette, and she is black. We were completely miserable and wanted to cry. Tao just laughed because he turned a nice bronze color. But he was afraid that Fan-Fan would leave him because he looked like a Farmer. Oh the Chinese.
And that concludes the last week of our china adventure together. Everyone was to go their separate places. We said a tearful goodbye to Dayton in the Hainan airport as he was leaving for Beijing. When we got back to our beautiful (ish) city of Wenjiang we split up once again. Most of the group went to Vineyards with Winnie, Helen, and Joanna. Vineyards is Korean owned restaurant that makes American food. We found this place two weeks before we left. Typical. Me, Colette, Ana, and Eamon went to hit the clubs in Chengdu one last time. We of course started off with Shamrock and had a blast with all the rugby boys. I did my best to avoid master Tom and had a blast. We went to Jellyfish next and reminisced with all the good times we had out at these clubs. We avoided the Eurotrash like the plague and danced until three in morning. Unfortunately we never made it to Muse. I am really going to miss my two partners in crime this Summer.
We were so happy to be off that plane and were completely shocked when we looked around and there were....white people. Everywhere. Herds and herds of lowai. Just milling around the airport. And there were normal toilets. No one was staring at us. We weren't exciting. We were just a dime a dozen. We got on our bus to head to the hotel. And then there was the ride there..no one was honking! No crazy drivers, nothing. Oh and the sky was almost blue. What was this place? Surely we were not in China anymore.
We got to the hotel and did the usual waiting game. In China everything takes forever, hotels especially. We milled around. Outside looked clean. We finally got situated and then it was time to head out to Tienanmen and The Forbidden City! It was hot. When I got to China it was absolutely miserably freezing cold out. But the second April rolls around more smog rolls in as does the heat. We were hungry and tried desperately to look for food. For some odd reason there were literally two restaurants around this area. We turned down Bernie's idea of heading to McDonalds. (For some reason Bernie always assumed that we wanted to eat breakfast lunch and dinner at Mcdonalds. I mean, I love my fries and my McChickens, but not that much). We regretted turning him down when all we found was a KFC to eat. We all just stared at each other and picked at our "food" and then ventured on.
Being at Tiennamen was...uneventful I guess? I don't know what I was expecting. It's not like there were going to be a reenactment of the events of 1989 (which the Chinese students don't know about by they way). It was a bunch of Chinese taking pictures of a giant square. People selling Mao memorabilia. "Hello!" they would call out. "Hello! You buy!". Like yeah, I would love a giant stone bust of Mao? It would look great in my apartment next year or better yet my Dad's office. I mean he did so many great things for America? They were also selling these red books that I found out everyone had to carry around as little as 20 years ago. They were all quotations of Mao and his beliefs and what not. I also found out that the Chinese people weren't allowed to see their groceries until a few years ago. Weird? Definitely. We took turn posing in front of Mao and staring at each other until we decided it was time. Time to enter the Forbidden City. Ooooooohhhhhh...
The Forbidden City was cool, I guess. Me, Audra, Colette and Ana decided to buy those giant rice paddy hats to wear around. Instead of actually trying to learn about the history of the City we decided to amuse ourselves by jumping into random Chinese people's pictures. Ha. Give them a taste of their own medicine. Too bad they actually enjoyed it and got really excited when we posed with them. Hurmph.
I am sure that years ago the Forbidden City was amazing. Especially when it was actually, you know, Forbidden. But Mao, in his fit of genius decided it would be best to destroy any part of ancient Chinese culture so we were looking at replicas that were built probably around thirty years ago when they opened up the boundaries for tourism. It's sad. It really is.
The next day we ventured toward the Great Wall of China. Ahhhhhh one of the wonders of the ancient world. To tell the truth, I was not that excited about it. You see, I never really get excited about seeing things like that. I prefer endlessly walking around and finding unique little places among cities that will remind me of them. But I was pleasantly surprised at how awesomely epic the great wall was. We were driven two hours out of the city to a non touristy place that few people come to. At times we were literally scaling the wall because it hadn't been refurbished. It was so cool. The view was absolutely amazing..I can't believe all those little Chinese people built all that! I couldn't see the end of it. For a while we walked alone, and then we ran into some interestingly dressed women. We were all in shorts and tank tops as it was pretty hot and these ladies were covered head to toe, and wearing hats. Bright colors. We later found out that they were Mongolians. That made me laugh.
Tao explained that they wanted to sell us souveneirs. We told them we didn't want any but they insisted and followed us around the Great Wall. Each lady grabbed onto one of us, and tried to speak to us in their Broken Chinese. I was borderline annoyed because I didn't need anyone telling me to be careful and that there were sharp rocks around. And that the great wall was really old. Cool woman, thanks. Actually she told me that the Japanese paid to restore part of the wall so that actually was interesting. Anyway, they helped us down the mountain. She held my hand the hold time but it's not like I actually needed the help. I humored her and Tao explained once again that we didn't want to buy anything from them. When we got to the bottom they literally attacked. They were trying to sell us the most worthless stuff - all for 100 yuan each. Everyone in the group caved but me. No way in hell was I going to spend 15 bucks on some decorative chopsticks! Maybe a dollar fifty, but no more than that. She didn't budge so I told her politely that I really didn't have any money. She asked Bernie if he would front the money. I handed her 20 yuan to thank me for helping her down the mountain but she was PISSED. I was having Tao translate for me and what I got from him was that he was going on about how she was cursing my family or some shit. Oops...
The hotel was pretty nice and even had a pool. That night we decided that we wanted to take a nice refreshing dip to ease our muscles. We were floating around having a good time when an employee came up and asked us if we had swim caps. We stared at him. Then we stared at each other. He repeated the question and told us that we needed to have swim caps to swim in the pool. Did it look like we had swim caps? No. I mean we weren't doing it for exercise, we were just floating. He said we could purchase them for 33 yuan or we could get out. We got out. Weirdest thing, wouldn't the Chinese be happy to have western hair be stuck in drains of their pool? This country is a mystery, I swear. We dried off and decided to see what the Tuesday night club scene in Beijing had to offer us.
Turned out it offered nothing. We went to a Muse type place and found it completely empty. And a cover charge. Puhhhhleeease like we were going to pay that! In Chengdu people begged us to come into their clubs. We left and made our way down to another strip of seedy bars and clubs. There were people hustling for us to come in but they all wanted more money than we were willing to pay so we settled for a restaurant where we could smoke some Hookah. We met some Turkish people smoking at the next table (weird...Turkish people and Hookah) and chatted them up for a bit. It made me think of the burrow and how Ty keeps his Hookah set in a cat litter box. So that reminded me of cats. I like cats, and I like Ty and the burrow so it was an all around good feeling. We hung out for a couple hours, and naturally had some drama when it was time to pay the bill. See, the Chinese still haven't quite got the concept of separate checks, or any sort of organized system that would make the process go a lot smoother.
I guess this is because in China you eat family style and you pay family style. In any case, they really need to figure it out. They don't bring the bill to the table. You have to go up, point at what you ordered, and pay separately. This is okay, but the problem is the Chinese don't seem to want to cross off the items after you pay. This is always the cause of some drama. We have theories that they do this to get more money out of us because they will claim that we didn't pay for something. This was one of those times. We argued back and forth in Chinglish that the girl who just left paid for the rum and coke and everything is good. I think the Chinese assume that since we are foreigners we have lots of money we would like to throw at them. Well we are in college, so we don't, oh and we are kind of assholes when it comes to that kind of stuff. It's probably from living in Chengdu.
The next day we saw some more boring temple type things. I won't go into detail because it wasn't that amazing. Just a bunch of tourists looking at new buildings that represented old buildings that used to be there. It's really sad actually, but I will go more into depth and detail about that in a different post. The thing that was most eventful that happened was me going into major mommy mode. See, I tell people that I don't like kids and that I would never, ever, ever want to produce a snot-nosed child. But the truth is I am pretty good quite kids and have quite a large maternal bone in my body. So when I saw a little three year old boy crying, next to his overturned bike with no parents around I started freaking out. Where were his parents? Was he hurt? Ana and I rushed over. I picked up the little boy and tried to calm him down. Chinese people came over and took pictures of me holding the screaming child and none seemed to be his parents. I wanted to scream like the little boy. Where were these irresponsible parents?!? Tao came rushing over demanding why I was carrying this random child. I told him. He went around asking, and no one came forth. Eventually we figured out his mother was a random woman who was trying to push useless Chinese stuff on tourists. Tao finally coerced me into putting him down and explained that in China you learn to take care of yourself from a very young age. That's the Communist spirit!
Later that night we went to a large market where you bargain for designer knock offs It was more fun than anything - I didn't actually want to buy any of the cheap shit that they were selling. The whole thing was really dramatic. They would show us a ridiculous sum of money that they wanted for the stuff on their calculator than show us the special discount price they would offer only for us. We would show them a ridiculously low price, they would get angry, and roll their eyes, and we would do the same. We would go back and forth saying how poor we both were and that we couldn't afford this - then usually we would walk away and get the price we wanted. Which of course was probably too high to begin with when you factor in production costs. I mean come on, you know they pay them like thirty cents an hour and the raw materials cost like seventy cents each. Also, did you know that in the workshops (sweatshops) the Chinese roll around on rollerblades to increase productivity? Human Rights?
We took another early flight out of Beijing to head down south to the beautiful island of Hainan. I don't need to go into depth on how the flight was because I am sure my regular readers know exactly how it went. A couple of Hail Marys and tears later we were on the ground. On a scale of One to China, the airport was definitely more China. A lot of pushing, staring, and cutting in lines in the bathrooms. So great, really gonna miss that about this place. Anyway, once we got there we had to take a two hour train ride to the south of the Island. The train was pretty sweet. It was air conditioned, and we saw some pretty cool Chinese countryside. The best part of the trip was seeing THE PACIFIC OCEAN. OMG IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. You have no idea. I love the pacific, since I grew up near it. I wanted to cry. I think we all wanted to cry. We hadn't seen water like this in over two months. It was glorious! I wanted to praise Buddha. Instead I just made a noise similar to that of a goose and jumped up and down a bit.
We got to the hotel. It was beautiful. Amazing, an actual five star hotel. We all joked that WSU set us up with this nice hotel to make us forget about how shitty our dorms were. It pretty much worked. We hopped into our suits and ran into the ocean. Oh It was majestic. Water, lovely, wonderful, tropical salt water. We laughed and splashed around. Eventually I actually looked around at my surroundings and noticed something. The signs were in Chinese, English,, and some other language. What was that? Greek? No it was...Russian. I looked around. There were a lot of white people and I soon realized that they were all Russian. What were all these Russians doing in China?
I realized that Hainan was the closest tropical place for those living in Eastern Russia. For the next two days I studied these people. They all have the same facial expression on their face. Not very happy looking, with furrowed eyebrows. They all also seem to have a nice hefty weight about them. And they don't seem to mind. Women that frequent Lane Bryant were wearing bikinis, bearing it all out on the beach. The men (of course..they are European) were wearing speedos. I was also certain that there were quite a few members of the Russian Mafia there. They were the men with the big guts and gold chains hanging around their necks. And gold teeth. Then there were the ungodly skinny ones who definitely shared the same pant size as my nine year old sister. Because of these Russians, the Chinese had to learn to speak some. Have you ever heard a Chinese person speak in Russian? Hilarious.
As you all know, in America we love the idea of being tan. A little bronzed is beautiful, and pasty white is disgusting. So the tanning industry makes quiiiiiiiiite a bit of money. In China it is the opposite. I'm sure I have already mentioned the whitening cream they sell in stores. But you know what they don't sell in stores? SUNBLOCK. Yeah, so being in cloudy, smoggy Wenjiang we had gotten quite pale over the past two months. Being in sunny Hainan we got burnt to a crisp. All of us. Even Colette, and she is black. We were completely miserable and wanted to cry. Tao just laughed because he turned a nice bronze color. But he was afraid that Fan-Fan would leave him because he looked like a Farmer. Oh the Chinese.
And that concludes the last week of our china adventure together. Everyone was to go their separate places. We said a tearful goodbye to Dayton in the Hainan airport as he was leaving for Beijing. When we got back to our beautiful (ish) city of Wenjiang we split up once again. Most of the group went to Vineyards with Winnie, Helen, and Joanna. Vineyards is Korean owned restaurant that makes American food. We found this place two weeks before we left. Typical. Me, Colette, Ana, and Eamon went to hit the clubs in Chengdu one last time. We of course started off with Shamrock and had a blast with all the rugby boys. I did my best to avoid master Tom and had a blast. We went to Jellyfish next and reminisced with all the good times we had out at these clubs. We avoided the Eurotrash like the plague and danced until three in morning. Unfortunately we never made it to Muse. I am really going to miss my two partners in crime this Summer.
The End for Some but the Beginning for Me!
Last night was our farewell party with our Chinese friends. After a somewhat edible Chinese dinner we headed to KTV to sing out our hearts content, along with our professor and a couple bottles of vodka. The last time we went to KTV it was the thirteen of us, Eamon, and one Chinese person, Lisa. We only sang American songs. I looked around the room and saw our group completely integrated with about ten close Chinese friends. They were singing Chinese songs and we were loving it. My, how we have grown! I think it was more emotional for the rest of the group than me since they are all peacing out of this country as fast as they can, while I made my decision to stay in Chengdu for the better part of the Summer. I opted for this over Shanghai because I realized that while I am not in Wenjiang I quite enjoy Chengdu, and besides why would I leave all the wonderful friends that I have made and helped me out here? Also it will be nice to have some friendly faces carry me home from the clubs on my 21 run.
The last week and a half has been kind of a whirl wind of planning, packing, contracting the stomach flu, and passing my finals. Can I reiterate again how weird it is that I am already done with school? I only had class for seven weeks, and as much as it kind of sucked at times it was honestly pretty awesome. I am not going to miss my dorm room, or the SWUFE campus in Wenjiang or really anything else in this area except for being able to see all my lovely Chinese friends all the time! We had a lot of lasts today. Last time walking and listening to the must play between classes, one last meal at the meat locker, and the last time having a great wall party in our dorms. So many memories in the past eight weeks, and I think we have all adapted pretty well and come a long way. Ish.
Two weekends ago we hit up the clubs (as usual) for a long night of drinking (for free), showing the locals how to dance and seeing odd things that are typical with Chinese nightlife. Oh, before I progress with my story I would like to share a little about the clubs/bars in Chengdu. First there are the authentic Chinese clubs, like Muse, Emperor,etc. These clubs are huge, 99.8% Chinese locals only, and absolutely insane. Other clubs and bars like Shamrock, Jellyfish, Paname are mainly places for foreigners. These are broken down into 70% Eurotrash, 15% American, and 15% Chinese who are trying to either be a foreigner or get one. I like both the same and we usually hit up both. We have taken a liking to Shamrock, which we usually drink for free since the Owner and Manager love us (okay and we are always there and bring in pretty good business).
Anyway we headed to Muse around 3:30 to finish the night with some crazy Chinese dancing. Me Brett, Dan and Dayton got tired around 4:30 and waited outside for the rest of the group to stumble out. We were enjoying hanging out and talking when some Chinese drunkenly stumbled out and talked to us. We were bsing with them and saying the little Chinese we knew. They laughed and babbled and told us they loved us. But they looked different. And they were, they were actually Tibetan! We said hello to them in Tibet and they got stoked. They started to get really loud and rowdy. We didn't really think a lot of this because being in the Southwestern Provence of China we are pretty close to Chengdu and there are places here with more Tibetans than Han Chinese. We joined in with them. Dan started chanting "Dalai Lammaaa!!!" So we all joined. Then One Tibetan guy started saying "Yess TIBET! Fuck CHINA!!" We were chanting yes in Chinese just not thinking about the really bad tensions between the two. Ooops.
Then the fight started. And that pretty much sums up the rest of our times at the clubs. We went to Shamrock a couple more times. I got hustled by the owner and manager to make drinks all summer, had some crazy times with some crazy rugby boys and as usual, we ended it with some late night grub at mcdonalds (goodbye China weight loss). We are making the country fat.
Anyway, Sunday night we decided to make dinner for Winnie, Joanna and Spring since they had taught us how to make dumplings, been completely hospitable and had already made us dinner three times. Me being the master Chef, and Colette, Shoji, Audra, and Ana helping wiht everyone else. I made some bomb pasta that everyone loves and some greek salad. Shoji was shocked at how good a cook I was, and was even more surprised that I made my own salad dressing. We also made some delicious mac and cheese shipped in from Japan. oohhhhhhh that mac was so good. It made me think of Taylor and how we eat our mac with forks. We are not spoon people, damn it. Of course Winnie doesn't have forks so we had to eat with chopsticks. Such a crime.
The last week and a half has been kind of a whirl wind of planning, packing, contracting the stomach flu, and passing my finals. Can I reiterate again how weird it is that I am already done with school? I only had class for seven weeks, and as much as it kind of sucked at times it was honestly pretty awesome. I am not going to miss my dorm room, or the SWUFE campus in Wenjiang or really anything else in this area except for being able to see all my lovely Chinese friends all the time! We had a lot of lasts today. Last time walking and listening to the must play between classes, one last meal at the meat locker, and the last time having a great wall party in our dorms. So many memories in the past eight weeks, and I think we have all adapted pretty well and come a long way. Ish.
Two weekends ago we hit up the clubs (as usual) for a long night of drinking (for free), showing the locals how to dance and seeing odd things that are typical with Chinese nightlife. Oh, before I progress with my story I would like to share a little about the clubs/bars in Chengdu. First there are the authentic Chinese clubs, like Muse, Emperor,etc. These clubs are huge, 99.8% Chinese locals only, and absolutely insane. Other clubs and bars like Shamrock, Jellyfish, Paname are mainly places for foreigners. These are broken down into 70% Eurotrash, 15% American, and 15% Chinese who are trying to either be a foreigner or get one. I like both the same and we usually hit up both. We have taken a liking to Shamrock, which we usually drink for free since the Owner and Manager love us (okay and we are always there and bring in pretty good business).
Anyway we headed to Muse around 3:30 to finish the night with some crazy Chinese dancing. Me Brett, Dan and Dayton got tired around 4:30 and waited outside for the rest of the group to stumble out. We were enjoying hanging out and talking when some Chinese drunkenly stumbled out and talked to us. We were bsing with them and saying the little Chinese we knew. They laughed and babbled and told us they loved us. But they looked different. And they were, they were actually Tibetan! We said hello to them in Tibet and they got stoked. They started to get really loud and rowdy. We didn't really think a lot of this because being in the Southwestern Provence of China we are pretty close to Chengdu and there are places here with more Tibetans than Han Chinese. We joined in with them. Dan started chanting "Dalai Lammaaa!!!" So we all joined. Then One Tibetan guy started saying "Yess TIBET! Fuck CHINA!!" We were chanting yes in Chinese just not thinking about the really bad tensions between the two. Ooops.
Then the fight started. And that pretty much sums up the rest of our times at the clubs. We went to Shamrock a couple more times. I got hustled by the owner and manager to make drinks all summer, had some crazy times with some crazy rugby boys and as usual, we ended it with some late night grub at mcdonalds (goodbye China weight loss). We are making the country fat.
Anyway, Sunday night we decided to make dinner for Winnie, Joanna and Spring since they had taught us how to make dumplings, been completely hospitable and had already made us dinner three times. Me being the master Chef, and Colette, Shoji, Audra, and Ana helping wiht everyone else. I made some bomb pasta that everyone loves and some greek salad. Shoji was shocked at how good a cook I was, and was even more surprised that I made my own salad dressing. We also made some delicious mac and cheese shipped in from Japan. oohhhhhhh that mac was so good. It made me think of Taylor and how we eat our mac with forks. We are not spoon people, damn it. Of course Winnie doesn't have forks so we had to eat with chopsticks. Such a crime.
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