Weather: 60F
Time: 10pm Thursday
This is a general post of life in Shanghai now that it the expo is about to kick off and April is coming to an end.
Expo Tickets
I know I have mentioned it before, but students are having trouble finding tickets to the Expo. The stores who should be selling them all claim to not have any tickets remaining. It makes me glad that I have a some tickets already lined up. It is hard to believe how little publicity the expo has had on a global level when I have been living through the expo publicity for the last five months. The World Expo 2010 is a continuation of what Americans have come to know as the World's Fair. The same idea as the world's fair that built the Eiffel Tower. Expo 2010 is the largest expo in the history of the event. There have been articles here and there online that I have come across but nothing that has gone into as much of a love fest as the local media. This expo is expected to attract seventy million people from May first to the end of October. I hope it is as grand as the local media has made it out to be!
Bird Crap
There happens to be a road that connects the dorm to the cafeteria that is lined with plenty of overhanging trees. As the title suggests, the road is covered with small white splatters to the point where it appears to have been the target of a shotgun style paintball gun. It has become quite a game to avoid getting crapped on when going to and from lunch. Everyone in the group gets to play, the rules are simple if you get pooped on you get a point. The person with the least points wins. Today, I left the leaders column. I was having a bad day, so I bought myself some ice cream when leaving the dining hall. Sadly, I was unable to finish my ice cream because not only did I get crapped on but so did my delicious treat. Thankfully, the splatter damage was not like someone launched a taco bell burrito at me but much closer to having a gigantic non-delicious ice cream cone melt above my shoulder. I missed the blunt force of it, just down my arm and shirt. Nothing life ending, just sad that it ruined my ice cream bar.
Exams & Homework
I spent a large part of this afternoon working on my final homework assignment. I am happy that school is coming to an end. I look forward to traveling around China a bit and seeing some thing in Shanghai after school ends. I have two exams early next week. I do plan on spending quite a bit of time this weekend studying. After this weekend and the first few days of the next week - I will finally be available about to go out and see Shanghai again. I am really looking forward to seeing all the things that HAVE changed since January. Many buildings have been torn down, walls have been built, buildings have been finished and tourist attractions will be 100% ready for prime time.
Google Voice
The Google Voice experiment has been quite well. Throughout the trip, I have been able to use text messaging to stay in contact with people back at home. I would currently label it as a success. I am planning on keeping my GV phone number when I return to the states. I am working on figuring out what I will be doing about a new cellphone. I am looking into Boost Mobile, if anyone has good or bad review on Boost let me know. If anyone knows of a BETTER pre-paid option, I am in the market. I am looking for a cheap phone that will get me by until the Christmas season when the new phones will be out on the market with new features.
American Food List
It is only a dream at this point, but there is growing whispers among our group of the delicious food we are missing at home. There is such excitement surrounding this issue for many of the students on the trip that it is a topic that comes up almost daily. We never talk about it for more than just a few words here and there because of how much we miss it. It is usually a few words like, "I really miss grilled cheese" "I want real milk" "I want beef that doesn't taste like grass." It is an easy talking point for me, but I try to avoid it as much as I can. I won't lie, the last four months have not been full of the most scrumptious meals I have ever been dealt. That is not to say I have not enjoyed some of the meals, but it clearly is not my first choice of foods. I am truly looking forward to many American staples that are often imitated but never EVER duplicated. If it is served at a Fourth of July lunch, it is on the list. Burgers, Steak, Milk, Chips, MacNCheese, Pasta, Pizza, Garlic Bread, Apples, etc etc etc. I am really looking forward to being home.
If anyone knows of a good motorcycle deal, I am considering it. I am looking for a nice cruiser style bike for about 3500 and 750cc or more. Something comparable to a VTX 1300cc would be right up my alley.
I look forward to seeing all of my friends and family. I hope we can see each other throughout this summer.
Biber
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Guilin / Yangshuo / Shanghai Pictures
Some Photos from the Guilin + Yangshuo trip.
Slideshow from Hike in Yangshuo and some Guilin photos *unsorted*
Pano with Water Buffalo
Pano from Dragon Bridge
Showbiz Rooftop Bar (Hostel)
Shanghai Riverfront (from Pearl TV Tower)
Biber
 |
| From Guilin Skydrive |
Slideshow from Hike in Yangshuo and some Guilin photos *unsorted*
Pano with Water Buffalo
Pano from Dragon Bridge
Showbiz Rooftop Bar (Hostel)
Shanghai Riverfront (from Pearl TV Tower)
Biber
Trip Recap (2 of 2) Yangshuo: The China Experience
Weather: 54F
Time: 12:25AM
I was “just along for the ride.” In short, this was a fantastic leg of the trip. A group of five total visited many beautiful outdoor locations and finally got to see the China countryside. I left America hoping to this China. Something so different that it felt like I was an alien. We went for a hike and only saw locals for the entire day. While the hike was the highlight, we also met some new friends and rode a boat on the Li River from Guilin to Yanghshuo.
Yangshuo
This town is not a very large place. It has a tourist area about the size of two large city blocks which serves at the home base for travelers going into the real countryside. It offers many amenities found in large cities but all of that is gone after five minutes on a bicycle. Surrounded by mountains that were naturally eroded, every street corner offers a unique view. This area of China seemed to be the least fake place I had been to yet.
Li River Cruise
The cost of the cruise was $55 / person. It costs more for foreigners to take the cruise because the cruise boats have to have a different license to carry foreign people. The boat was 100 to 120 feet long and 3 decks tall. Two dining decks and an observation deck. The cruise lasted about 3 hours and went past many famous cliffs and scenic picturesque areas. One of the more famous areas can be found on the back of the 20 yuan bill. It was a nice peaceful way to get from Guilin to Yangshuo and a unique way to see the Chinese countryside.
Small Village Tour
On our boat, we had heard from our tour guide there would be an opportunity that afternoon to see the four items listed above for what seemed like a good price considering travel was included. We registered and went to see these things for the afternoon. We later found out that all of these things were at the same location, but it was still an okay price.
The highlights from this trip were seeing how the village was built, the fantastic views, hanging out with some water buffalo and riding a bamboo raft. The village was made mostly from mud bricks and wood. Almost none of the buildings had glass windows but rather a large opening in the wall where windows should be. This is due to the fluxes in funding the farmers experience.
The bamboo rafts were interesting water going vehicles, the pictures will do a better job explaining this than I can. We floated out to see some water buffalo, that was pretty neat – but the experience was the fantastic scenery.
The last experience on this tour was watching the Chinese technique of Commodore fishing. The commodore is a duck with a long neck and apparently is quite good a fishing. The technique is to tie a rope around the duck's neck loose enough that it can breath but tight enough it can not swallow the fish it catches. While it is incredibly cruel, it is also highly effective. This duck can catch up to 50kg a day of fish. Any to make it less cruel, it was said they they give 1 of 7 fishes caught to the duck to keep it happy. I have some video of this – it is interesting if nothing else.
New Friends / Dinner
After the trip ended we bumped into some students that study in Beijing. The group was a very nice set of students who are studying from American University at the number one university in China. It was a real pleasure to meet these people and we ended hanging out with them a few more times the rest of the trip. We all enjoyed a dinner together and had a few drinks on the roof of our hostel.
Day Hike
The next morning, we had read about a nice hike in the countryside. We got on a local commuter bus and went an hour into the fields. When we got out we were at a river and on the other side of it started at 20 km hike. Unfortunately, the local bamboo boat owners knew that we had no other choice than to pay them to cross the river. They thought a fair price was 100 RMB and we had no room to negotiate. Considering the traveling distance and time it takes to cross the river, 15 RMB would more reasonable. This is a practice I will refer to as “getting bamboozled.” We paid and started our hike on the other side, knowing that the hike would cross the river two more times made us a bit unhappy. The hike from here on is fairly indescribable. We spent the rest of the afternoon, walking through farmer’s fields, climbing on rocks, and being surrounded by nothing western at all. Surprisingly, it was not upsetting to the farmers to have us wandering around on the land they farm. I wonder if this has anything to do with the farmers not actually owning the land, since the government owns it all.
We again got bamboozled on the next river crossing and sadly we had nothing we could do about that. We continued hiking and taking lots of pictures of anything that was interesting. I captured plenty of video of some of the small towns we visited, but it is very shaky since I was walking the whole time.
At one point during the hike there was a man sitting by a creek. The creek had no easy way to get across and he had a bamboo raft. His deal was 1 yuan per person as a toll to cross without getting wet. He even looked like a troll, so rather than trying my luck – I paid the $0.13. It was just odd that there was a man waiting all day for someone to pay him to cross this small creek.
We came across many other things during our walk. We climbed through fields to get to a water fall, visited an orange grove built on the hill, and encountered water buffalo on the trip. Our trip concluded with a bamboo raft to our destination city. We completed around half the hike because we spent so much time off trail looking at things. We got a raft at the end of the day for forty yuan, this raft ride lasted nearly twenty minutes. As we had read, the man would not drop us off in the actual city – instead he chose to drop us off right by his friend’s motorcycle-bus. I cannot describe this better than the pictures, so be sure to look at those. Twenty more yuan to get to town and it was still much cheaper than both of the previous river crossings. It was a great trip and really a unique China experience.
Moon Hill
Sunday morning we rented some bicycles and rode out into the country to find a famous rock, reminiscent of Arches National Park in Utah – just only one arch. We rode for thirty minutes and found the entrance but due to time constraints could not go in and hike up it. We tried to view it from the ground, but it was very cloudy and difficult to get a good picture.
Traveling to Shanghai
We hired a private car from Yangshuo to Guilin Airport, a nice leather interior van. Arrived a bit early so did some studying for my exam the next day and then flew home. Thankfully, we were able to find a cab driver that was willing to take 5 passengers in his cab from Shanghai’s Pudong to school. It saved quite a bit of money by doing this.. despite being super uncomfortable.
Biber
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Trip Recap (1 of 2 ) Guilin: Another Tourist Town
Weather: 68F sunny in Shanghai
Time: 220pm
As we left on Wednesday afternoon I had no expectations for this trip. I was “just along for the ride.” In short, this trip was a fantastic experience. A group of five total visited many beautiful outdoor locations. The train was alright. Guilin is a larger town with many things available to do and see. We had a condensed Guilin schedule because we had heard that Yangshuo was a better place to visit – less touristy. This is a very long series of blog posts, I hope the detail is appreciated.
Guilin
As an overview of Guilin, this town is like many of the places I have seen before in China. There are plenty of things to buy and places that exist for tourism only. We were told that over fifteen million people visit Guilin each year. It was a clean town and was very much an modern place. The only relics were are now tourist sites.
Train
The train left Shanghai just after 5pm Wednesday. My expectations were set very low from the last train ride to and from Xi'an. I had decided that trains take a long time, tend not to be on schedule, and could feel very crowded very quickly. We had soft sleepers, four to a room. Thankfully, I was not the odd man out – though the fifth man only was not in our room when he was sleeping. I studied a little for my exam on the following Monday. We played cards for a while before going to the food car. Watching a movie and drinking beer with friends on the train was a good time.
The next day we killed time by plays cards and discussing things we could do in Guilin and Yangshuo, since we had not yet hammered out an agenda. The discussion drifted from locations to pick pockets and other bad deals. One of the books had written about pick pocketing being especially bad in the Guilin area because of the high volume of tourists. Another article discussed a common scheme that I had seen in Sanya. A little girl (less than five years old) approaches with flowers and uses aggressive sales techniques into pressure the target to buying a flower. If the sale is unsuccessful, the parents who are usually nearby and watching report the tourist to the police for abuse, then you have to explain to the police what happened. Explaining that to the police can be very difficult if the police do not know English. In Sanya the little girl was leaning and begging for the target to buy a flower from her and despite attempts could not get away. I had shouted that a spin move would be the key to success, but it was not attempted at the time. Another warned of Bamboo Rafts on the Li River not dropping passengers off at requested destinations as well as outrageous prices. At the end of the train ride, I was happy to leave the train station just about 23 hrs after I had left Shanghai.
Pagodas
After checking into the hostel and eating a delicious Chinese restaurant, we walked around Guilin. We came across the twin pagodas built in one of the lakes there. As night fell, we took many pictures. The picture taking and posing was drawing the attention of the Chinese tourists, particularly the college aged girls. As we were taking pictures I noticed one of the girls was taking pictures of a fellow in the group with blonde hair and blue eyes. I walked up behind her and called her out on it by inviting her to join the gentleman who was being candidly photographed. She was very embarrassed and insistently said no thank you. Her friends however, took up my offer eagerly. I tried to get the girl in the photo, but she was adamant about not being in the picture.
It seems to be that once the picture with a foreigner practice starts it does not come to an end until everyone there has had a chance to get a picture with a foreigner. After the first group of girls went through and had their picture taken, another group of five or six girls also wanted their picture taken with all of their cameras. Following that, another group of many girls asked for the picture. It concluded with a group picture of all five Americans being squeezed into a picture with a few of the Chinese girls that started it all. As the excitement started to die down from the group pictures, the first flower kid was spotted.
Flower Child
One friend of mine and I both spotted this five or six year old girl approaching with a hand full of roses. He and I made our exit quickly and apparently without the other Americans noticing. The little girls are very persistent that you buy the flowers they were selling. Her golden tactic here was to take a flower and stuck it in to the opening on a half zipped jacket. She was selling the flowers for only five yuan, but still – there was no need for a flower. The guy who got flowered tried to hand it back and say he did not want it. I realized she was being stubborn and started shouting from a distance “no want!” in Chinese. My thought was if we made a scene out of it there was a smaller chance of this guy having to deal with an abuse / assault charge from the police. It is difficult to be rude to these children because they are very cute and do not know that what they are doing is considered socially unacceptable. Eventually he tried to set the flower down and that ended the sale. This event made us come up with a keyword to avoid this situation again.
Soon after, I spotted another child and yelled the keyword. The group began moving quickly but for one guy it was just too late. He was engaged by the child and I started to suggest, more specifically yell, “Spin move!” The guy performed the spin move very well, like the ex-high school football player he is. This spin move leaned on the kid a bit and almost toppled the child over. It was a fantastic sight because – as noted in previous posts Chinese do not know much about American football and these techniques are fantastic evasion tools.
Bus Driver
The next morning we had ordered a tour package to ride a boat on the Li River. A bus came to pick us up and this driver clearly learned his English by watching movies and MTV. Every sentence he said was cliché. It partly entertainment value and also quite literally his lack of knowledge of the English language. As we parted ways with him we got the, “Hasta la vista, baby!” style goodbye. I have some video of this man speaking in the car, hopefully you will get to hear it when I return home.
Part 1 of 2
Biber
Time: 220pm
As we left on Wednesday afternoon I had no expectations for this trip. I was “just along for the ride.” In short, this trip was a fantastic experience. A group of five total visited many beautiful outdoor locations. The train was alright. Guilin is a larger town with many things available to do and see. We had a condensed Guilin schedule because we had heard that Yangshuo was a better place to visit – less touristy. This is a very long series of blog posts, I hope the detail is appreciated.
Guilin
As an overview of Guilin, this town is like many of the places I have seen before in China. There are plenty of things to buy and places that exist for tourism only. We were told that over fifteen million people visit Guilin each year. It was a clean town and was very much an modern place. The only relics were are now tourist sites.
Train
The train left Shanghai just after 5pm Wednesday. My expectations were set very low from the last train ride to and from Xi'an. I had decided that trains take a long time, tend not to be on schedule, and could feel very crowded very quickly. We had soft sleepers, four to a room. Thankfully, I was not the odd man out – though the fifth man only was not in our room when he was sleeping. I studied a little for my exam on the following Monday. We played cards for a while before going to the food car. Watching a movie and drinking beer with friends on the train was a good time.
The next day we killed time by plays cards and discussing things we could do in Guilin and Yangshuo, since we had not yet hammered out an agenda. The discussion drifted from locations to pick pockets and other bad deals. One of the books had written about pick pocketing being especially bad in the Guilin area because of the high volume of tourists. Another article discussed a common scheme that I had seen in Sanya. A little girl (less than five years old) approaches with flowers and uses aggressive sales techniques into pressure the target to buying a flower. If the sale is unsuccessful, the parents who are usually nearby and watching report the tourist to the police for abuse, then you have to explain to the police what happened. Explaining that to the police can be very difficult if the police do not know English. In Sanya the little girl was leaning and begging for the target to buy a flower from her and despite attempts could not get away. I had shouted that a spin move would be the key to success, but it was not attempted at the time. Another warned of Bamboo Rafts on the Li River not dropping passengers off at requested destinations as well as outrageous prices. At the end of the train ride, I was happy to leave the train station just about 23 hrs after I had left Shanghai.
Pagodas
After checking into the hostel and eating a delicious Chinese restaurant, we walked around Guilin. We came across the twin pagodas built in one of the lakes there. As night fell, we took many pictures. The picture taking and posing was drawing the attention of the Chinese tourists, particularly the college aged girls. As we were taking pictures I noticed one of the girls was taking pictures of a fellow in the group with blonde hair and blue eyes. I walked up behind her and called her out on it by inviting her to join the gentleman who was being candidly photographed. She was very embarrassed and insistently said no thank you. Her friends however, took up my offer eagerly. I tried to get the girl in the photo, but she was adamant about not being in the picture.
It seems to be that once the picture with a foreigner practice starts it does not come to an end until everyone there has had a chance to get a picture with a foreigner. After the first group of girls went through and had their picture taken, another group of five or six girls also wanted their picture taken with all of their cameras. Following that, another group of many girls asked for the picture. It concluded with a group picture of all five Americans being squeezed into a picture with a few of the Chinese girls that started it all. As the excitement started to die down from the group pictures, the first flower kid was spotted.
Flower Child
One friend of mine and I both spotted this five or six year old girl approaching with a hand full of roses. He and I made our exit quickly and apparently without the other Americans noticing. The little girls are very persistent that you buy the flowers they were selling. Her golden tactic here was to take a flower and stuck it in to the opening on a half zipped jacket. She was selling the flowers for only five yuan, but still – there was no need for a flower. The guy who got flowered tried to hand it back and say he did not want it. I realized she was being stubborn and started shouting from a distance “no want!” in Chinese. My thought was if we made a scene out of it there was a smaller chance of this guy having to deal with an abuse / assault charge from the police. It is difficult to be rude to these children because they are very cute and do not know that what they are doing is considered socially unacceptable. Eventually he tried to set the flower down and that ended the sale. This event made us come up with a keyword to avoid this situation again.
Soon after, I spotted another child and yelled the keyword. The group began moving quickly but for one guy it was just too late. He was engaged by the child and I started to suggest, more specifically yell, “Spin move!” The guy performed the spin move very well, like the ex-high school football player he is. This spin move leaned on the kid a bit and almost toppled the child over. It was a fantastic sight because – as noted in previous posts Chinese do not know much about American football and these techniques are fantastic evasion tools.
Bus Driver
The next morning we had ordered a tour package to ride a boat on the Li River. A bus came to pick us up and this driver clearly learned his English by watching movies and MTV. Every sentence he said was cliché. It partly entertainment value and also quite literally his lack of knowledge of the English language. As we parted ways with him we got the, “Hasta la vista, baby!” style goodbye. I have some video of this man speaking in the car, hopefully you will get to hear it when I return home.
Part 1 of 2
Biber
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Guilin Departure
Weather: 64F
Time: 130pm Wednesday
Today I will be boarding a train and heading to Guilin. I believe we leave at 5pm and arrive tomorrow at 3pm. I am not looking forward to the train ride.
Exam
The exam that I stayed from the F1 race to study for has been moved to Thursday. I will be on a train at that point. My professor has been generous and pushed the exam back for some of us until Monday. This means I have a couple homework assignments and plenty of studying I can do during the long train ride.
Guilin / Yangshuo Info
I am not really sure what these two cities have to offer. There are some really great outdoor activities that are available and I am hoping to grab a few good pictures during the trip. I will be packing lightly because we will be moving from hostel to hostel. I do not know what to expect, but it is something to do! I am hoping for good weather despite the rainy forecast.
Shanghai
Our group of 5 will arrive back in Shanghai via a 2 hr plane ride. We arrive Sunday at 8pm at Pudong airport, I hope to be back early enough to get some studying done and catch up with my friends, family, and girlfriend a bit. I do not expect to have much contact over the next few days, but if I get a chance - I'll post here first.
Biber
Time: 130pm Wednesday
Today I will be boarding a train and heading to Guilin. I believe we leave at 5pm and arrive tomorrow at 3pm. I am not looking forward to the train ride.
Exam
The exam that I stayed from the F1 race to study for has been moved to Thursday. I will be on a train at that point. My professor has been generous and pushed the exam back for some of us until Monday. This means I have a couple homework assignments and plenty of studying I can do during the long train ride.
Guilin / Yangshuo Info
I am not really sure what these two cities have to offer. There are some really great outdoor activities that are available and I am hoping to grab a few good pictures during the trip. I will be packing lightly because we will be moving from hostel to hostel. I do not know what to expect, but it is something to do! I am hoping for good weather despite the rainy forecast.
Shanghai
Our group of 5 will arrive back in Shanghai via a 2 hr plane ride. We arrive Sunday at 8pm at Pudong airport, I hope to be back early enough to get some studying done and catch up with my friends, family, and girlfriend a bit. I do not expect to have much contact over the next few days, but if I get a chance - I'll post here first.
Biber
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