Blogs from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China, Asia

Well the giant crab like spider didn't bite me to death during the night, which was a relief. I soon got myself sorted and headed out to explore some more of Shaoxing. I didn't get too far as my first stop was Starbucks for a coffee and some breakfast. Filled with caffiene, I was ready to explore. I took a walk down the main pedestrianised tourist street. I loved the little canal ways that were filled with small boats. I kind of wish that I could have took a ride on one, it would have been nice to see the streets and houses from a different perspective. I came to the Shou Family Taimen and went in there for a look around. A taimen is a house complex and this one was built during the Qing ... read more

'There are three choices in this life; be good, get good or give up' (author, date, publication unkown). I'm usually one who gives up, I spent years running away from problems, arguements, relationships that were in all honesty just difficult. It's taken a lot for me to be able to start changing this, let alone admit it, just ask my Mum. People travel to find themselves, lose themselves, discover something more, me I was just giving up. Mum would probably say, if she was being honest, running away. Now don't get me wrong I'm not on a downer, I'm not berating myself, truth is I'm just understanding. I wasn't running away from friends, family or relationships more like I was running away from 'real life'. After my degree I became almost completely disillusioned with the higher ... read more

CHAPTER 21-LAST DAYS SHAOXING AREA-CHINA On my final days in Shaoxing area I just explored couple of places and took a ride on one of the many double decker buses- nothing exciting, but my first since the 1970’s. I also visited the statue dedicated to Da Yu. He was the guy who thousands of years ago tamed the swamps, rivers and floods. The sticky fertile soil was good for agriculture but hard to plough. He built canals and build up soil from the swamps, which lead to this areas development. There is a’plough and paddle’ monument to him in the city also. The last area I found was a huge gate with a fake Draw-bridge over one of the canals. It leads into an old area which is about to be redeveloped into a new tourist ... read more

CHAPTER 18-MORE SHAOXING MORE SHAOXING The much bigger and more interesting city of Shaoxing is a pleasant diversion on my few months here. It is relatively modern, but not too crowded and semi touristy but mostly famous for the locals than international travelers. The main city centre is about a square kilometer surrounded by a circular canal (sort of like a ‘mote’), with other canals criss-crossing the city. It is one of China’s famous ‘water towns’ and is very easy to walk around. (I no longer get lost here…. how boring). It is also famous as the birthplace of one of China’s most famous writers-Lu Xun. I now often walk past and thru his house on the way to somewhere else. There are also many photos in this blog of his home This main city mote ... read more

Halloween definitely did not feel at all like a holiday being in China this year. We taught our students about it for the two weeks leading up to it and they seemed to have some fun, but it is a pretty weird holiday to explain to foreign people- "Oh yeah, we dress up in creepy costumes and encourage children to demand candy from strangers!" Hmm. I can see why my students looked at me in confusion. As it was just another day on the trip for us, we woke up yet again at 7am and went downstairs for the standard hotel buffet breakfast. It was fancy, delicious and we definitely were full by the end of it. We ended up sitting with another older Chinese couple (not in our group) at breakfast and they immediately tried ... read more