Blogs from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 2

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Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 27th 2017

Es gibt Tage, an denen ich einfach nicht zum Schreiben komme. So wie momentan. Kanding war die letzte Station, wo ich aufgeregt nach meinen Bettsocken gesucht habe, gestern war der letzte Tag, an dem es Yaks zu sehen gab, ab jetzt geht es beim Jammern nur noch um Hitze, Schwüle und so was. Von Kanding aus ging es eine normale Straße entlang, zuerst immer bergab. Und diese ersten 120 km hatte es in sich. Es war, als hätten sich alle Teufel gegen uns verschworen und als wären sämtliche mordlustigen Autofahrer auf diese Strecke versammelt worden. Es waren nicht die großen Fahrzeuge, die uns entgegen kamen, die Probleme darstellten. Aber hinter jedem LKW oder Bus lauerte ein Angreifer, der wild überholte, wann immer es ihm in den Sinn kam. Dabei war es völlig egal, ob das gerade ... read more
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Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 21st 2017

On Friday the 16th the class and I visited the pandas. It was really busy. Autumn, Ebon, Faith, Bethany and I walked up a hill and arrived at the giant pandas. They were so cute and a bit bigger than I thought they would be. They were very lazy, just sitting back eating bamboo like they didn’t have a worry in the world. They had very big claws and really big teeth and just shredded the bamboo to a pulp. After the big pandas we went and saw yearlings. There were about four of them and they were the most playful, mischievous things I have ever seen. They were running around pulling each other out of trees, tackling each other, sitting on each other and biting, too. One of the pandas climbed up a tree and ... read more
Munching

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 21st 2017

On our recent trip to Jiuzhai Valley, I was surprised when Yashoda announced that we would be able to get up really early in the morning and spend the whole day in the national park. I wondered how on earth this would be possible, but I agreed to be one of the early birds who would give it a go. With tickets in hand, we waved goodbye to Yashoda at 7:30 am and headed for a bus, which would take us to the top-most point of the park from where we would be able to walk, or use the shuttle bus service to move from one lake to the next. The whole park is dotted with the most incredible lakes of all sizes, glittering with crystal clear water of the most amazing colours. Walking between the ... read more
Unbelievable falls!

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 21st 2017

I’ve never been to China before. Here’s some observations of China from a newcomer: · China loves concrete. Why build something that’s structurally sound, when you can build gigantic structures that way exceed the minimum standards! Aussie specs: 100 X 100 posts; Chinese specs: 800 X 800 posts! Chinese engineers are also very playful and creative in the way they design bridges and other structures. Why build two apartments when you can build twenty? · China embraces technology. I jumped on a bike today. Using my phone, I scanned a bar code on one of the millions of bikes parked around the streets. It automatically unlocked the bike and debited my Wechat account. How amazing is that! Try to pull that one off, Cairns! · Sparkies nightmare? Or an historical wiring record? Walking to a restaurant ... read more
Polystyrene issues? We'll fix it!

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 17th 2017

This week we have been travelling to sites all around Chengdu. Our first visit was to a Biodynamic farm, where we covered a propagation tunnel in plastic, before being set to work in a paddock to try and find as many earthworms as we could, to start a worm farm. The next visit was to Dujiangyaun to see an irrigation system that has been in use, providing water to Chengdu, and the province of Sichuan, for the last 2000 years. An incredible site with spectacular views and beautiful temples. After lunch we went to see how the people of Chengdu enjoy leisure activities along the banks of the river. Imagine beach umbrellas set up along the banks (a little like being on Bondi Beach) but with tables set up underneath, and people eating meals, drinking tea ... read more
Grinding soybeans

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 17th 2017

We took a really long bus drive to Dujiangyuan, which consisted of a series of temples around a gigantic river. In the beginning we did a really bad flash mob singing ‘Land Down Under’. After leaving that cringe-worthy moment behind, we were basically forced to take pictures with these guys in monkey suits. That was before we realized we had to pay. We took a lot of pictures, but Che’la, Tamara and I kept getting left behind because the teachers were walking too fast. Walking from temple to temple was basically all stairs, which was painful. The place was beautiful, and it was sad we had to go. We walked a million miles to the bus to get to lunch, which was one of the best lunches I’d eaten out so far. We then drove to ... read more

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 17th 2017

Today my class and I went to a cuisine museum. Our tour guide was this awesome chef called Colin. He was really funny and his English was pretty good, although he kept saying he was nervous because he thought his English was bad. He showed us through a museum that told the history of China’s foods and utensils. There was a beautiful garden with pathways that wove in between the different buildings. We walked around the garden till we reached a covered eating area. There was one other tourist group already there when we arrived, they were Americans and one girl said she thought our accent was cool. My class sat and had lunch, which was a combination of tiny bowls with noodles, dumplings and sweet soup. Most of the little dishes were spicy and made ... read more
Colin cooking

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 17th 2017

On the weekend I met up with a girl named Milli whom I hosted in Australia last year. She picked me up after camp and we went to see a movie and go shopping. We watched the movie ‘The Mummy’ with her whole family and it was great. The next day we got up early and went horse-riding. The Stables were so fancy, a real equestrian vibe. They had many horses, and some were so beautiful. They even had baby foals. After Milli told the stable staff I was from Australia and owned a horse, they instantly trusted I could ride. It was great, and they let me off to do my own thing. I was riding a horse with a name (it was Chinese and too hard to pronounce) that meant ‘handsome boy’. He was ... read more

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 14th 2017

After the day at Dujiangyuan we went back to the school. Ken wanted to come to visit my homestay family so he could see how I was going. He came back with us, but on the way there was a huge pile up of cars in the intersection, so Bill’s mum (who was driving) started crossing the intersection. We only had 10 seconds left on the traffic sign, but even though it was red you can still go though. So we’re in the middle of the intersection and the cars to our left start driving straight at our side and after 15min we noticed that the road we wanted to drive down was full of cars going THE OPPOSITE WAY! So our driver decided to turn around and go the other way and by this point ... read more
No way out
Squeezing back across the road.

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu June 14th 2017

The excursions this week have been FANTASTIC, we are really getting to see some amazing parts of Chengdu. But it is a bit of a shame that we aren’t able to spend most of these last few days with the Chinese students after we got to know them a little better at the camp. They really do seem like an awesome bunch of people and I honestly can’t wait until they come to Australia!! Some of them have unfortunate names like Awake, Fish, etc., and some of them don’t have an English name at all. So the last couple of days we’ve been trying to think of some new English names for them (it’s pretty funny naming people…but anyway), we gave Awake the name Olivia, we gave GelBoy, who I don’t think had an English name, ... read more




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