Travel Blog Posts
June 30th 2010
Feiying Park in the summer. All the lotuses are out over the lake, and their leaves are around two feet wide, with pink lotus flowers at different stages of development. Very cool to see in person.... read more
June 30th 2010
I took a trip to Shanghai with a few people I know. I took a few pictures, but not many. The weather was dreary for most of the time, and it was difficult to get good photos. We stayed at an international youth hostel, and that was really nice. Foreigners everywhere, from Europe of course, where the workers actually have enough vacation time to do some real traveling. A German girl taught me a little about soccer and the world cup that was on TV, and that was interesting. She had been to the World Expo, and her unbiased opinion was that the German building was really the best. My roommate was tall guy from Finland who was very agreeable. He mostly napped because he had a hangover from watching the World Cup the previous night. ... read more
May 4th 2010
I took a trip with the seventh grade students and teachers of my school, to Shaoxing, a town in the northeast part of Zhejiang province. The trip was in commemoration of the May Fourth Movement, which kicked off an important phase in the modernization of China. At the time, the Qing government was weak and corrupt, and China was being bled by western imperialist powers. There were many intellectuals in China who blamed traditional Chinese culture, and wanted to replace it with a westernized culture and education. This "New Culture Movement" was actually made up of many different groups throughout Chinese society. An example of this was in the Chinese scholarship of the time, which was defined by being critical of traditional sources and accounts of history. They would take a look at something they thought ... read more
April 23rd 2010
A while back, I took a trip to Hangzhou. While I was there, I visited Lingyin Temple, which is one of the biggest temples in China, and West Lake, which is famous as well. The temple is just massive, and it's about 1700 years old, founded by a monk from India. According to Professor Wikipedia, "At its peak under the Kingdom of Wuyue (907-978), the temple boasted nine multi-storey buildings, 18 pavilions, 72 halls, more than 1300 dormitory rooms, inhabited by more than 3000 monks." There was much more than I could see that day, and it would have taken all day to explore the whole place. The big statues in the photos are really, really, really big. They are so big that it's shocking to see them, in the same way that it was when ... read more
February 10th 2010
Today I decided to bring my camera with me for a walk. I stopped first at a restaurant I like and got some noodles. These are noodles with green peppers and strips of pork. Very tasty. Next, I went to the downtown area, and to a Dao Jiao temple (Daoist religion). It is no longer an actual temple with priests or monks, so maybe it is more like a museum. When I first came to Huzhou, I went here out of curiosity, but I disliked it because all around the temple are people selling little jade trinkets and novelties. Now I have grown to accept it for what it is, and to appreciate what is there. Overall, it is a peaceful place with some interesting artwork. On both sides of the main temple building, there are ... read more
January 2nd 2010
I managed to bring along my camera to school on Christmas, so I could take some photos. There are just some basic pictures of 9th graders sweeping up leaves before school, three levels of the main instructional building, and morning eye exercises in an 8th grade class. There are a few photos from the Christmas party we had that night as well. It was hosted at a nice hotel, which is where many of the nicer restaurants are located. There was a lot of karaoke, but I managed to weasel my way out of that. There were also games and some other things, but mostly of interest to Chinese speakers. I busied myself with the food and snacks. 圣诞快乐 shèng dàn kuài lè Merry Christmas 新年快乐 xīn nián kuài lè Happy New Year... read more
December 6th 2009
A small temple in Huzhou, Iron Buddha Temple, is undergoing heavy construction to greatly expand its size. In particular, a new building and two pavilions are currently being built, and a bunch of other things will be replaced or expanded as well. In all, it will be several times its previous size, with lots of cool and fancy stuff. This is a unique opportunity to watch a traditional Chinese building being constructed, and to see a little of how it's done. After I arrived at the temple and started taking some photos, the master of the temple came out and gave me a big piece of sugarcane, and some peanuts and candy. Having recently tried sugarcane for the first time, I'm naturally terrible at eating it, so it probably took me about an hour to finish. ... read more
December 6th 2009
Looking back at my blog, it's easy to think that everything in Huzhou is squeaky clean and picturesque. Actually, it's a big mix of rich and poor, and new and old. This is a part of the city that I never visited before, so I took some photos. Small shops and less affluent housing, I suppose, but I think it's interesting. It's a big contrast to being in the downtown area where people shop in affluent malls where the stores sell extravagant jewelery and $700 Philips electric razors. Zhejiang is generally one of the rich places in China, especially compared to some provinces in the west, so there is a market for luxury items. However, most people can't afford such things and have more modest lifestyles. This leads to items like cars (which are very expensive) ... read more
December 6th 2009
I've been meaning to take more photos of how many electric bikes / motor scooters there are in China, but each time I see a large number of them together, the angle is too wide to get a good photo. I happened to turn the corner yesterday and see a shop selling these bikes, and got a decent shot of them. However, this is just a fraction of what they were selling. The entire inside of the store was packed with them, and down the street there was a similar shop, and then another further down.... Suffice it to say, electric bikes are much more common than cars and bicycles in Huzhou. This is with good reason, because they are very convenient and cheap. For example, the electric bikes in the photo are only ¥1500, or ... read more
December 6th 2009
I was walking through Lianhua Zhuang (Lotus Manor Park) and I decided to take a few photos. Even though it's December, it doesn't look much different than it does in summer. The fish in the pond are huge, and when they open their mouths, it's possible to see a few inches down into their throats. Visitors toss little bits of food into the pond for the fish, and their mouths open to catch it like big suction cups.... read more
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