Blogs from Jiangxi, China, Asia - page 11

Introduction and First Day 15th of March I have always impressed my friends with my…. let’s say “frugality”. My natural inclinations towards economic simplicity were encouraged by my family. Mom and dad did not really have a taste for “nice” things. Wholesome, delicious, entertaining and functional items would suffice. The tendencies towards minimalism in spending habits have been further reinforced through my traveling experiences. While living in India for six months in 2008, I kept track of every single rupee I spent (for the first four and a half months, at any rate). Even now, I often calculate my expenditures in terms of the amount of food I could purchase in Kolkata. For example, one dollar is not one dollar. It is two paneer egg rolls, two plates of all-you-can-eat rice and lentil curry, three ... read more

We finally got everything in the office set up! Six desks, phone/internet, sofa set, and a bunch of cacti. Rich is going to be our webmaster and it looks like everything is falling into place quickly. Recruiting is going all right, I guess- today some random guy showed up and started working on something. No one smokes at work, too, which I am really grateful for. So far, my "duties" have been to check e-mail and play online games while I look busy. Hehe. Too bad the office is such a long commute from the apartment... I'm feeling pretty irritable these days... not sure why. Weather is supposed to be highs in the 80's the next couple days... ... read more

Wuyuan was voted as one of the most beautiful villages in China by the Chinese National Geography (CNG) because of the rapeseed fields and the architectural style of the local houses. Wuyuan is formerly under the administration of Hui Zhou which is now part of Anhui province. This explains the similarity of the village designs between Wuyuan and those villages around Huangshan. On the first day (or 7th day of the tour), we booked a taxi to go to Mt Shanqing, the world heritage site mountain and one of the most beautiful mountains (by CNG) which is 2 hours away. The spikes we brought at Mt Lu were put to use again as there were frozen sections of the footpaths. The cable car brought us to the top of the ridge to start the trekking. The ... read more

This was a record 13 days travel across 3 provinces Jiangxi, Anhui and Zhejiang during winter time. The total distance was 1341 km covering Nanchang - Jiujiang - Jingdezhen - Wuyuan - Huangshan city - Hangzhou. This is the main route and the distance excludes the traveling between the cities to the destinations around it. Along the way, we visited 4 UNESCO World Heritage sites and 5 Most Beautiful Places in China. We were fortunate to travel according to our travel plans without being affected by the weather. Along the way, we had to make some changes to the travel schedule but still managed to visit all the places planned. This is a land of mountains, pavilions and ancients villages. We started the tour from Nanchang and went straight from the hotel to visit Tenghuang Pavilion ... read more

Hello All: I hope everyones new year went well and hope this year will be as good or better than the last. New Years in China is not celebrated on the grand scale that we in the west do. I gave my students a presentation on Kwanza, of which many of them were already acquainted. I then asked them what they would do on Dec 31st to celebrate the new year. I was met with blank stares and questions regarding what there is to do. So evidently, its not like the high speed affair I usually plan for new years. Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is apparently the time to ring in the new year (based off lunar calander, this year it is Feb14th) and they throw a feast and have crazy parties with fireworks. This ... read more