mosilan
θ«ζε² Joined: May 31st 2009
Logged in: March 11th 2011
Logged in: March 11th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Mt. Tai
According to the calendar on my wall, I have 17 days left in China. Three more weeks till I come home! Adjusting will be strange... at first I will wake up on my Mom's couch surprised that I'm not in Tianjin. Maybe this will happen a few times, and then after a while it while all seem like a dream, like none of this ever happened at all. Then I'll look over and see some small trinket which will remind me that his trip actually did happen, much like the little' boy's bell in the Polar Express. In my case, it will be a magnetic Tsingdao beer bottle-shaped bottle opener mounted on the fridge (*jingle*jingle*). I bought it in Qingdao, and I think it's one of my favorite things that I bought here, if for nothing ... read more
Styles Collide
I never made it to the sand dunes or grasslands of Inner Mongolia, but the capital city of Hohhot was extremely interesting. We set off on a Friday night for a location further north, but by the time we had bought our tickets, all of the beds had been sold out, and only seats were left. We spent the whole night and the rest of the next day sitting in seats that couldn't recline on a crowded train as it wound through the country side of China (although there were some pretty areas, that last part might sound much more majestic than it actually was). You see, not only can you buy tickets for beds and seats on trains in China, but you can also buy "standing" tickets which means that you pay to stand in ... read more
So we have a ten day "field trip" that starts today (officially tomorrow) where we the students are supposed to choose some place to go (preferably outside of Tianjin) to "study" some aspect of Chinese culture. I am traveling in a group of four people. We were originally planning on going to Sichuan, but the train tickets leaving from both Tianjin and Beijing to Chengdu on the dates we wanted to leave were sold out. Change of plan - now we're going to the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, not to be confused with the country of Mongolia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Mongolia I'm going to be perfectly honest - I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do there... I don't really know anything about Inner Mongolia, but I think it's best known for it's sprawling grass lands.... I ... read more
This weekend was the best! I went traveling with my room mate (Demi), and two other guys from our program (Sam and Sheldon). They were really great! Every one was so laid back and down to earth; it was a huge relief. Our first stop was Taishan mountain in Shandong province. As the legend goes, in ancient times there lived a man who kept growing and growing and growing. Eventually after some thousands of years he died from exhaustion and fell to the earth. His arms, legs and head formed five mountains of which Taishan. The mountain formed from his head is the holiest mountain in Daoist thought. It was believed that the heavens would reject any one found to be unfit from ascending the mountain, so before assuming the throne, the emperor would have to ... read more
We have a long weekend coming up, so this weekend three other people and I are leaving Tianjin to go hiking in Shandong. I'm really excited to get out of the city, but I ran into trouble when I went shopping for more suitable shoes today. As it turns out, my feet are half a size bigger than the biggest women's size that is commonly available in China. My feet are a US size 8.5, but the largest shoe size available in most women's shoe departments is an 8. I was even chased out of one woman's shoe store! She just starting pointing at my feet and yelling (in Chinese), "Too big! You can't fit into our shoes!! Go!" Wow, it was intense. I didn't even know what to say to that. It's funny now, but ... read more
Tianamen - A view
Beijing was a lot of fun! The city was amazing; there was so much to see that a weekend just wasnβt enough. The city was everything that a bustling metropolis should be; there were all kinds of shops, sights, scenes, and restaurants. I was really impressed, so I plan on going back on another weekend to see more. Maybe Iβll bring my computer with me next time so I can write about my experiences every evening. Itβs hard to recall two days worth of sights and actions in a lot of detail, especially about specific points. That kind of blog would be too long, and it would go off on tangents too often. Iβm worried that it might drag. Well, we (my classmates and I) arrived on Friday evening, and had a meal of Peking Duck ... read more
It seems to me that almost everything in Tianjin is either behind walls or gates and the windows are all barred, even the windows on the upper levels of apartment complexes. Well, maybe not everything, but a lot of places are. Furthermore, there are security guards every where who are working for all types of businesses. My own campus is a gated community. There are three entry points at which one or two guards are posted. Once it gets dark, two of the gates are closed and locked, and only the main gate remains open. Eventually however, even the main gate closes to all traffic except for pedestrians. The buildings on campus are only opened during their allotted hours, which seem to be only during class hours. Need to look for something an hour or so ... read more
The past week has been very uneventful for the most part. I wake up, I go to school, classes let out, I meet my language tutor, I study, I converse with my classmates, and then I sleep. We can't do much during the week; we don't have the time. Instead we all wait for the weekends to have our fun. Yes, there are a lot of amusing moments through out the day, but I'm not sure I can capture them in writing very well, so here are some disjointed excerpts from the past few days. Now, each set of room mates is assigned a tutor. Last weekend, our tutor treated us (my room mate and me) to dumplings, so the other day we treated him to dinner. On the way home, we some how started talking ... read more
Tianjin at 4:45 AM
I took a nice long nap today, and it was mmm-mmmm-good. I'll try to post a blog later this evening, but for now, here are some new pictures that I've taken. ... read more
So I've been meaning to write about bathrooms and sewage for a while now because it's an unforgettable experience in China. Let's start by talking about toilets which are most likely going to be the first thing that you encountered here. Most toilets in China are a hole in the ground. Well - not just a hole. Most of the squatty pottys are set along side each other on a tiled platform that is raised slightly above the walk way. Furthermore, these toilets may or may not be separated from each other by walls, doors or any combination of the two. From above, the toilet often looks similar to a regular toilet seat only set into the ground instead of being set on an actual toilet, so you have to squat over it. You can find ... read more
