Blogs from Changzhou, Jiangsu, China, Asia

Jeg fant ut at jeg også måtte komme med noen ord i bloggen. Etter å ha reist litt rundt i Kina må jeg faktisk si at det er mye her som imponerer meg veldig. Kina er jo liksom kopiens land og det er sikkert riktig, men når kineserne kopierer så forbedrer de alt og gjør ting mye større. I går tok vi toget fra Changzhou til Suzhou, vi tog «bullit train» altså lyntoget. Stasjonene er så store at man kan plassere terminalbygget på Gardermoen inne i stasjonsbygningene og hypermoderne og utrolig effektive. Togene kommer og går på sekundet, (akkurat som NSB) dessuten er alt så rent og ryddig. (Gjelder selvfølgelig ikke i bakgatene da). Men at Kina har ett kjempe forurensingsproblem merker vi ganske godt både med smog, men ikke minst alle kullkraftverk som man ser ... read more

On St. Patty's day, we met fellow Travelbloggers Splakawitz in Hangzhou through mutual friends. That weekend we had fun and have kept in contact and knew we wanted to go visit them in the neighboring province of Jiangsu. They just moved to China to teach English in February and are teaching at a Vocational College just like ours. So Friday afternoon, we set out to the train station to catch a high-speed train from Hangzhou to Changzhou. Zhou means city in Chinese so that is why so many cities have zhou at the end of it, especially in the Yangtze River Delta. The train ride was around 2 hours passing through one of the most populated regions on Earth. Per Wikipedia " The urban build-up in the area has given rise what may be the largest ... read more

About a month ago, when Lauren and I had submitted our passports to the local immigration office for the processing of our residency permits, we stayed here in Changzhou for the weekend. One of the first things we did was purchase bikes to help us get around town a little quicker. The following day, I had the crazy notion to take my new bike on a 40+ mile long ride to the shores of Lake Tai. The lake is very famous throughout China, and is the third largest lake in the entire country. Several large urban areas have been built near its edges, but most areas remain fairly rural. A piece of the Changzhou municipality touches the lake, so I decided to check it out for the day. It took several hours to get to the ... read more

This past week was a very exciting one for Nick and me! We have now been in China for over a month, we found what is probably the best food district in the world, we had our first official Chinese pay day (direct deposited into our Chinese bank accounts and everything!), and we were approved for residence permits. Living in China while you are working in China is more or less a three-step process. First, you need your employer to formally invite you to China, then you need to apply for a work visa that will get you into the country but is only good for 30 days, then you must apply with your local police department for residency once you have actually arrived in China. Step three is now complete and we feel so official ... read more

Hello everyone! Lauren and I have finally arrived in Changzhou after months and months of preparation. We flew from LAX on Cathay Pacific and landed in Hong Kong before catching our connecting flight up to Shanghai. Mr. Zhao, a fellow teacher from our school, was waiting there for us with a driver. We made the 200km drive out to Changzhou with a stop for a delicious lunch in rural Suzhou. It gave Lauren a wonderful introduction to real authentic Chinese cuisine! We even got to eat off a whole fish (head, scales, fins, and all!), and a soup full of silverfish minnows. Delicious! We arrived at our apartment, excited at the square footage we have. We're on the ground floor, so fortunately we didn't have to drag our extensive luggage collection up any stairs. The place ... read more