Sign In
Blogs from China, Asia - page 6
Advertisement
Revisiting Fuzhou = a few days with Pascal.
Published: April 26th 2013Asia » China » Fujian » Fuzhou
April 26th 2013
I met Pascal in Thailand in February 2013 when he was taking a year off traveling around the world. We were both traveling with our parents at the time. We all got along very well and had dinner on several occasions in Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. As he told me he would be passing through China, I gave him my email address and invited him to stay with me in Fuzhou to enjoy a typical Chinese city. He hadn't written and I thought he had lost my email or changed his plans when last weekend he messaged me... from Fuzhou! We ended up spending pretty much 5 days together and I showed him the sights: temples, old neighborhoods, shopping streets, the squares and the dirty restaurants! Pascal told me Fuzhou was much cleaner that Indian ... read more
April 26th 2013
Today was great! Im digging hangzhou more and more each day. It was the last morning in my dorm room that i have had by myself. I slept in a little, until my body (no alarm clock finally!) woke me up at 9:15, and when i opened the curtains it was a beautiful warm morning. I felt so lazy for "sleeping in" as i watched the students below me hustling and bustling to class. I put on a clean dress (wearing clean clothes makes me feel spoiled like a princess) and went across the street to get my usual banana from the crazy banana lady and a laundry bar for laundry in the sink. Joohee was moving into my room, so i cleaned up her side of the room (my hoops were sleeping on that bed ... read more
April 25th 2013
Hangzhou is beautiful! Im so happy to be here a whole month! It is pricey but very modern and westernized. We got in too early for check it at our dorms, and i was cranky from the train ride and lack of sleep. Since i have already roomed with joohee and pamela, and they hadnt roomed with each other yet, i got my own room (i would call that instant good karma =p). It is nice having my own space. I slept from 8 ish to 11 30 and was woken by my teacher for lunch. I felt much better after my nap. Lunch was tasty and we then headed to leifeng pagoda on the south side of the westlake. It is home to the story of the white snake and the scholar. It is a ... read more
April 24th 2013
Looking at all the blogs about Baotou, Inner Mongolia on TB, I realised that out of the 14 blogs, 8 are mine! Wow... I flew back into Baotou on July 2! 2012 after not having been in China for a year and 7 months. Initially back for a 3 months contract, I was very excited about seeing my old students again and to visit the city that I know so well, eat all the amazing (and cheap) food and the weather too! (3 months of 30-40 degrees... Yeay!) It had been a little short of time to get my visa sorted out and it was just 4 days before flying cheaply via Moscow to Beijing that I got my passport back in the mail. I had spend the night at Dusseldorf airport due to my early ... read more
April 24th 2013
Tomorrow marks our first full month in Shanghai. It’s hard to imagine that the transition phase is officially over and now we are settled into our own apartment. We’re cooking, working, beginning to explore. I’ve found a yoga studio and a Chinese teacher. For a long time I’ve debated starting another blog. It seems strange to put your personal life online. At the same time, it’s a great way to keep in touch. I also feel that blogs encapsulate the various phases of living and traveling abroad: different seasons, activities, life stages, events. I’ve also found other blogs to be incredibly inspiring and helpful in planning my own trips. So here I am. We live in a tiny apartment in the French Concession. Our building is five floors (no elevator) with laundry hanging out the windows ... read more
Advertisement
April 24th 2013
The Yi in Laoheipang township will partaking Dage on the 15th day in the Lunar march each year. From the book I read it said laoheipang is belong to Changning region, so i went there through Zhujie, but then find out it was actually inside the Weishan region over the Heihuijiang river. no transportation access so we need to hire a car took us to Laoheipang on the festival day. If I knew it was belong to Weishan region I would have access from Niujie where only 10km from town. Laoheipang is a very tiny Yi village inside the valley, tobacco seem to be the main crop nowaday, as in the old day rice was the main crops, no wondered the local said now there wasn't that many people attended as the tobacco plantation time is ... read more
April 24th 2013
CHINA: FACES OF JIANGSU. Slow train to Suzhou...overnight soft sleeper from Anhui...woken by blaring music somewhere under Simon's mattress. Denise & Anna-Lou brush their teeth in the wash room...man clearing his nose...filling the basin...changed our minds they declare...still can't find how to turn the music down. Chatting to an Aussie who leads school groups into Tibet...what a life...our fond memories of Lhasa...hope to go back there one day. Train sitting at a station...3 white snub-nosed trains pull in...surely can't be bullet trains...surely not. But they are. Taxi from the station...drops us off...pointing down a narrow lane...by a canal...entering another world of eons past...the ancient canal city of Suzhou. Ancient Ming Dynasty mansion...our digs for several days....massive rooms...4 poster bed...wooden bath...perfect. Or so I thought... read more
April 23rd 2013
12 April 2013 We landed at Beijing airport at 01h-something after one of the worst flights and slowest landings of our trip. The heating was on too high for the entire flight, and the windy descent into Beijing took what felt like a bumpy, stomach turning hour. Horrible. Next challenge, the taxi queue and all its inherent scams; and the total absence of any spoken English. After much getting in and out of our chosen taxi, the driver eventually got the message and turned on the meter. We are no initiates to this game! And, things didn't get better fast. Chinese driving, to say the least, is quite special. As is the absolute and open disregard for western passengers shown by the majority of taxi drivers. In fact, as we discovered, they will often just not ... read more
April 23rd 2013
17 April 2013 Brash and brazen, Shanghai sparkles and gleams like cheap chintz in a tobacco haze. We took the fast train from Beijing and got here in air conditioned luxury in four hours. In the process we crossed the longest and second longest bridges in the world; and passed nameless cities of cranes. China is the country of cranes. Tower cranes not the magnificent birds which feature so highly in Chinese mythology... More than 75% of the world's cranes are here, and they are erecting cities rapidly, everywhere. Ten million plus populations inhabiting cities we have never even heard of. The numbers are staggering. The air quality frightening. The brand new station we arrive at in Shanghai is already hopelessly under spec'ed. There are not enough toilets, the taxi queue is hundreds of meters long. ... read more
April 23rd 2013
I left Beijing after 6 nights as was lucky enough to take the high speed train to Xian, the old capital of China. This city has so much history and lots of landmarks to hit so I was very excited about getting here. I was also excited about staying with my friend Katja! For those of you that don't know, Katja and I worked and lived together in Mildura, Australia, she is German and currently studying in Xian with 7 others, so I spent a lot of my time trying to understand German! Quite entertaining. It was so nice to be stable for a few nights, not to worry about lockimg my stuff away and being able to do washing! I am very thankful to Katja and her flatmate Julia for being such great hosts, they ... read more
