After our first night in our gorgeous hotel in Dali, we woke up early to take a boat cruise on Erhai Lake. I was really excited because I was ready to lie in the sun and be on the water, but what I didn't expect was the boat. Instead of a small leisurely boat, which is what I expected, we were faced with the monstrosity of a gigantic cruise ship. There was not much room to find sun, and we spent a good amount of time indoors. During the first leg of the trip we attended a performance called "Three cups [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Lijiang much after dark, and the air was cold, but also crisp and clear. Finally, after 3 months in the smog and city lights, we could see stars. It seemed gorgeous. We checked into our hotels, which were small compounds in the ancient city of Lijiang. Our rooms surrounded a courtyard, and they were fully equipped with squatty potties, but were missing heat. It was freezing in our room, especially at night, but we had heating blankets, which were lifesavers. During the first day in Lijiang, we attended a lecture on Dongba culture, which is a culture that [View Full Entry]

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We went to Leshan on a side trip within our Chengdu trip to go and visit the biggest buddha in the world. We got to our hotel early in the evening. Leshan was refreshing because our hotel overlooked a small river. I didn't realize how much I missed moving, running, natural water until I saw that river. In the morning, we went to visit 乐山大 (the big buddha). It was a short hike up from the entrance to the head of the buddha. Then we hiked down to its feet on a narrow staircase, and back up on another. It was [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Chengdu late at night, but we were starving. So after checking into our hotel, Monica, Jakey and I went out to find some food. Right around the corner from our hotel, we found a row of small restaurants that had small makeshift tables out front and 服务员 (waiters/waitresses) at the doorways insisting that we choose their restaurant. We picked one at random, and sat down to eat. In the front window of the store, there was a wide selection of delicious eats: Pig noses, chicken feet.... even rat heads (or so we thought). After our meal was over, [View Full Entry]

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Our journey for the two week study tour began on last saturday, on an overnight sleeper train from Beijing to Xi'an. Monica and I were in a compartment with 4 other Chinese people. It was a small compartment with three bunk beds on each side. Luckily, Monica and I were on the bottom bunk, so we didn't have to climb up, and our ride was fairly comfortable. Although I'd prefer my bed to a sleeper train any day, it was an interesting experience and it's much more comfortable than sleeping on a bus or a plane. We arrived in Xi'an just [View Full Entry]

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Two weekends ago, we went on a program organized trip to the 798 Art District-- an old abandoned factory that was turned into the main place for modern chinese artist to display their work. It was an amazing trip. I am a huge fan of art galleries in general, and modern art is probably my favorite. It was so nice to see some freedom of expression. So many things that I see in China are constantly conforming: Conforming to what tourists want, to what Chinese art is supposed to look like, to dragons and porcelain, to America. It was nice to [View Full Entry]

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A couple of weekends ago was our trip to the Forbidden City, which of course is a very famous and popular site in Beijing. After being here for a couple of months, I have attained quite a bit of knowledge on the significance of this site, so naturally I was stoked to go. I wanted to have an image, some sort of physical picture into which I could place all of the power, secrecy, change, revolution, and glamor that took place at Tian'anmen and the Forbidden City. When we got to the site, I was shocked to see the vast number [View Full Entry]

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When I first got to China, the first thing that I put in my mouth was a large sip of soy milk. After that, I thought to myself: I am going to hate china. It wasn't that it was THAT bad, but it was weird and rather unpleasant. I didn't finish it and my outlook was then abysmal as to the food situation in China. But I would soon change my mind, maybe not completely, but somewhat, and China's food has definitely grown on me. Some of my favorites or the most interesting things are... *mantou（馒头）: This is a roll that [View Full Entry]

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In the first couple of weeks in the program, when the weather was still nice, we visited the summer palace: a place for emperors (or empress') to relax and vacation. It was a splurge that kept China from having a military power available to defend themselves and prevent the many years of shame they experienced at the fall of the dynasty. But that's beside the point. It was gorgeous. Big bridges, long walkways, beautiful temples, and a huge lake. It was really nice walking around, and we took a boat on the lake. We rented it for an hour, then paddled [View Full Entry]

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Shopping in China is nothing like i've ever experienced. I enjoy shopping at home, browsing, but in China there is much more to it. This doesn't hold true in all places, but it seems that most shopping districts or stores or street vendors require (at least if you don't want to get majorly ripped off) bargaining. First of all, there are street vendors who sell everything from socks, to fruit, to tofu and steamed cakes, to wall art and tattoos. The vendors keep all of their merchandise in bicycle carts or car trunks or on large sheets. They pedal their merchandise, [View Full Entry]

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