Blogs from Anhui, China, Asia

R. Draeger Jr. Newsletter 23 The Kindness of Strangers or My Adopted Family This may come as a surprise to you but I am actually from Germany. Most people, except two, are surprised by this revelation. This is because I do not have the Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "German-American" accent. Yes I know he is from Austria, but they speak German there. In the grand scheme of things the place of my birth does not mean much. The fact that I was born there means even less. I am, however, adopted. Not by the two people who raised me, but by my Chinese family in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, China (chew-joe/an whoyea). No, I do not look like a Chinese person, I stick out like a soar thumb. That did not stop my adopted Di-di's mother (ma-ma) and ... read more

Chaji,a small village located in south Anhui province,has several hundreds years history.if you have any question,just ask me!... read more

Alleen de reis zelf was het al waard. Een enorme horde die de klaarstaande trein probeert in te komen. Niemand die er ook maar aan denkt om kaartjes te controleren. Als ik eindelijk mn plek heb gevonden is die natuurlijk al bezet, maar voor een waiguo ren(buitenlander) wordt meteen opgestaan. Als de trein eindelijk vertrekt heeft een kwart geen zitplek gevonden. Een hoop gedoe in het begin, maar als alle ‘regels’ zijn afgesproken, verloopt de reis zonder enig probleem. Chinezen zijn gewend aan permanente drukte; frustraties worden niet publiekelijk geuit. Een schattig dertiger stel (jep, zelfs dertigers zijn hier schattig) en een oud mannetje zitten bij mij in de stoelen. Ik probeer wat Chinees te praten, maar veel wordt het niet: mijn Chinees en hun Engels is gebrekkig, en eigenlijk zijn we beiden te verlegen om ... read more

My aunt and uncles picked me up at the Hefei trainstation. My mom's side of the family is from this city so I was very excited to visit with relatives. In fact, there's not much to say about my stay here other than family reunions that involved a lot of yummy food!! I also took advantage of the cheap haircuts and got myself a perm. Several days into my stay, my cousins and I embarked on our own journey to Xi'an! So, onto the next entry...... read more

So I hit the mountain and with the weather the day before looking like it was clearing up, thought we might be alright.. no, not at all!! It couldn’t have been raining harder! Got prepped at the bottom of the mountain, meaning getting rid of anything that was going to get wet. No shoes, no shirt, no worries =D stuck a comical poncho on to look a bit like a tele tubby and started the accent. The Chinese know how to be tourists and were cracking us up! They all looked exactly the same with bright yellow ponchos with matching trousers, shoe covers and obviously a camera, there were armies of them traipsing about everywhere you went! The mountain seemed to get wetter and the view wasn’t much but was all good fun, all the Chinese ... read more

Guilt! I have had this feeling of guilt since arriving back from the wedding in Australia. Why? For various reasons, all of them trivial. Now before I go on to tell my story, let me start of by saying that guilt is a big thing in my family. We are all comfortably endowed with a guilty conscience about anything and anybody, it is in our genes. Returning to Guangzhou I had made all these plans, I was going to visit such and such places of interest around the city. But instead of doing any of that I just stayed in the hostel and lounged in the common area talking to other travellers, Chinese and Western alike and sipping beers in the evening. For two days I did nothing and then left without ever having done any ... read more