http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Jiangsu , Wuxi en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:13:56 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:13:56 +0000 Wuxi Xihui Park filming base of the TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms Yuantou Zhu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-448287.html Today was supposed to be a light day of a little sightseeing in Wuxi then back to Nanjing. It turned out to be a little different than that. Instead of doing much sightseeing we visited another school in a city south east of Wuxi called Suzhou then we were taken to an ancient house once lived in by a very wealthy and important family. It was nice but the translation from the tour guide was a l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/Suzhou/blog-445480.html Let me start off by apolgizing for not blogging yesterday. To make a long story short..it was out last night in Wuxi and our hosts took it as a personal and cultural insult if you did not get completly hammered with them. I would not call myself hammered but I did not have to take Advil PM to sleep if you know what I mean. A few of the group members were favorites of Dr. Hua and had to be help http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-445226.html Today we left Wuxi to travel 1 hour southeast to visit the Dongwu Foreign Language School and Foreign Language Teachers College. We had a brief tour of their campus and then spent about 2030 minutes meeting with their principal. We then traveled another hour to our lunch destination which was located at the edge of Taihu Lake. We were supposed to have a quick lunch to allow more time for sig http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-445213.html While waiting for the bus at the hotel Jon learned from the vice principal that Dangkou MS has transformed its teaching philosophy as a result of Purduersquos visit last year. The teachers are now beginning to value the ability of students to think individually and explore on their own. Such thinking represents an incredible departure from traditional Chinese education and also from American http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-444933.html So today we went to the middle school where we will be teaching our lesson. We met with the teachers and the administrators including the mayor and other city officials where Jon described our program and thanks them for their hospitality and they in turn told us about their programs and schools and thanks us for coming such a long way to honor them with our presence. The tone was set from the v http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-444669.html Today we spent the day at Wuxi Dangkou High School in E'Hu. E'Hu is considered a very important area in Chinese history due to its role in the introduction of science education. Dr. Hua was very proud to bring us to this particular school his alma mater because one of his ancestors was a school founder.We started the day with a welcome from local government officials the school principal and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-444654.html Today I am waking up in Wuxi. It is 630 am China time which is 630 pm in USA. Im not sure what day it is...let me check...I know its Tuesday but I have to find my calendar...oh never mind that will probably take too long. Let me look on the computer. Okay I think I have it figured out. It is Tuesday October 13th here 630 am and Monday October 12th there 630 pm. Leaving Lafayette http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-444503.html First let me start by saying how much I love everyone's comments. It is a highlight of my day to come back to my room and get to read everyone's comments And Josh...I will NEVER eat the turtleOkay this morning started off a little differently than yesterday morning...we had to check out of our hotel before leaving for the days events due to the fact that we would end the day some 2 hours http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-444367.html Well..day 2 is down and only 9 more to go. Today was a rather enjoyable day. We began our day with breakfast in Nanjing and then headed to the Jiangus School of Education. We met with our advisors who will work with us on presenting our lesson on Wednesday. After meeting with them we went to lunch for more ODD food from China. I will sooo be ready for some steak and baked potato when I return http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-444355.html Nihao HelloWe just finished our first full day here in Nanjing and what an experience this has been. The flight over from Chicago to Beijing took approximately 14 hours. We then traveled from Beijing to Nanjing another 2 hours on a plane. We arrived at the hotel at 11 P.M. on Saturday Oct. 10th. that would be 11 A.M. on Saturday back in the states So my travel time was over 24 hours to go http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-444354.html My friend Chris was coming to visit on the 3rd June. I was already contemplating buying a Nintendo Wii from one of the jarg game shops that are all over Shanghai but almost impulsively his impending arrival sealed the deal. Clare and I walked down Nanjing Xi lu to a 'fake' market where you can buy all sorts of things for very cheap if you haggle well. A good trick is to say ridiculously low pric http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/Yixing/blog-429386.html On the 13th May a Wednesday evening our flatmate Louis told us that he had just been up to the roof our our apartment. Clare and I realised that after living here for 8 months in a 23 storey high rise apartment in the heart of the city it had never actually occurred to us to check out the view from the top floor The view from our apartment on the 15th floor is impressive enough so we went and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-429369.html 18th JulySo the next two days we spent just being in Olina's city. We went and booked our coach and trip to the mountain Huang Shang which we would got to on saturday. So today i had a sleep in and woke to find all Olina's friends in the flat they had come round to have dinner and play some games. Olina's mum came home from work especially to cook us some nice dishes for lunch. They were very yum http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-422703.html Last time i finished with the day that Daisy left to go home and how we bumped into some famous basketball player. Well the next mroning it felt like me and Olina were starting a new part of the trip with Daisy gone we got up and had some breakfast from a local bakery in Shanghai and then went and caught a lift back to Olina's flat. Once home we got a bus straight into town and went to an Opticia http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-422694.html Shanghai well if like busy cities that are hot and sweaty here is the place to come.We got up early on the 14th and caught a coach to Shanghai and then went to a hostel which we booked. It was a good job as when we arrived they were already full and still other travellers were pilling through the door to try and get in. Even so it was quite a good hostel to meet people. We got our bags behind the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-419462.html 13 th JulyToday is Party Day It is tradtion in China that when you move into a new houseflat you hold a party whether it be a few relatives fro a meal or 30 people at a massive hotel. Olina's family opted for the latter. Yes 300 people we had to sit with. To start the day we got up and went out to eat noodles with lots of people we didnt know. Then came back to the flat whilst lots of people cam http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-419452.html So daisy has gone thought i would update my blog of the last few things we did together before she left.12th JulyToday we ventured to a strange place. It is a village only half an hour away from where Olina's lives. It is a completely communist village the only thing is is that everyone is rich It's one of the richest places in china and its weird all the houses are the same. Even though i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-419449.html We've been at Olina's home for almost a week now. Tomorrow Lauren Olina and I set off to Olina's university near to Nanjing to meet her friends. After that our journey should beNanjing gt Xi'an gt Yichang gt Wuxi Jiangyin gt Wuzhen gt Wuxi Jiangyin gt Shanghai and then for me England.We're planning to see the Terracotta army in Xi'an and the Three gorges dam the large http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-413249.html So i flew from manchester and met daisy in Dubai airport. The flgihts were long but ok ashad some films to watch and random guy from Nigeria was chatting to me and also a guy from Palestine both thought it was strange that i was going to travel around China and that i am not visitng for business.We arrived in Shanghai to find Olina and her dad waiting for us at the airport. However we were kept http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangsu/Wuxi/blog-412432.html