The tourist capital and the Chinese countryside

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Hi! Here another update, although I didn't do too much the past week...

First I passed two days in Shanghai, chilling a bit. The 28th I had coffee with a girl from Hong Kong, went to the Shanghai museum and then I was a bit lazy and actually went to the cinema to see Harry Potter in 3D haha. In the evening I experienced the Shanghai sightseeing tunnel, which I found a bit of a anticlimax. But then I climbed the pearl tower (highest building in Asia I believe) and that was cool! Gives a great view over Shanghai, I'll put some pictures so you can see 😉 I felt like a proper superstar there, because I think at least 10 Chinese people wanted to make a photo with me haha. In the bottem of the tower was also a quite interesting museum, where they showed the history of Shanghai. It was nicely done with some little houses and wax statues.

Next day I bought tickets to go to Hangzhou the next day with an American guy from the hostel (Wil). Hangzhou is the tourist capital of China, with a big lake and some nice pagoda's. Then we went to the old city to have a look at the Yunuan gardens, which are really nice. But the weather was not so good, it started to rain a bit so we decided to go back to the hostel. On the way, we ran into a music store and Wil turned out to be sort of a singer-song writer, he was quite good actually. Then we decided to go for a Chinese foot massage, which was a bit painfull in the beginning but after that very good and relaxing 😊

Next morning we went to Hangzhou, but missed our train. Wil is a very laidback American guy, but sometimes a bit too laidback maybe 😉 We would meet at 10 to go to the station, but then he just ordered breakfast... So we got there quite late, and then we tried to find out where to go, but everyone seemed to send us in another direction and then it was too late... But no man overboard. When we went to the ticket office, they just took our tickets and gave us new ones for one train later! What a service! We arrived in Hangzhou in the afternoon. But the weather was horrible! The rain was pooring down and there was thunder and lightning... So we stayed in and read a book untill it was a bit dryer and we could walk around. Hangzhou is really nice; a big lake with nice surroundings. The city is not very different from other Chinese cities, although it's a bit cleaner and reminded me of touristic towns near the sea in Europe. In the evening we walked by a square where a lot of people were dancing, and decided to watch them a bit. It seems like they all know the dances by heart 😊
The next day we rented bicycles to cycle around and we climbed the pagoda on the side of the lake from where you have a good view. But you couldn't even see the other side of the lake because it's so cloudy. And it's like that in China all the time; the sky is either blue or absolutely white. I guess that whenever there are some clouds, the smog just can't go away and a thick mist accumulates. It's really a shame, because it's a beautifull country, but it would be even so much better with clean air! In the evening I got really sick, I think I haven't felt as bad in many years; headache, sweating, shiffering etc etc. I took a pain killer and in the end I managed to sleep a bit, so that the next day it was a bit better.

I went back to Shanghai. When I took the taxi in Hangzhou to the trainstation, I had to cough and then the driver just opened my window. I guess he was affraid that I would contamine him, but it was raining so not very nice :S Well, anyway, I got back to the hostel in Shanghai, where they were really nice and I kind of felt at home. So I just stayed there and watched some DVD's. In the evening I already felt much better. Heidi had also arrived in Shanghai by then. She told me that Qian Xin would call me the next day to have dinner somewhere and that we would leave for her hometown on the 3rd!

So the next day was my last day in Shanghai. I had seen most of the things I wanted to see in Shanghai, so decided just to go to the French Concession again. An English guy from the hostel joined me. But again the weather was quite bad so we ended up just drinking coffee most part of the day. We also went to the former site of the Communist Party, but I didn't find it very interesting. I liked the Propaganda Poster Museum much more! In the evening Qian Xin called me and we went for dinner. Was really good, we had great Chinese dishes, and really interesting conversations about the Chinese culture and economy 😊

And then I went to Heidi's hometown! In the morning I took the metro to her flat in Shanghai, where I met her parents; they are really really nice. But they don't speak English, and as my Chinese hasn't really improved much, I'm mainly just smiling to them... They prepared some Chinese breakfast for us, and after that we took the bus to Taizhou.
After about 6 hours in the bus (and a nice sleep) we arrived in the north part of the river of Taizhou where Heidi's grandparents live. It's the Chinese countryside, which is very very different from the countryside that I know... So very interesting to see. There were a lot of little houses, some old, some really new, and they were still building quite a few. The people working on the land live here. It's quite basic; a stove for cooking, a table, a little shed where I think they keep their crops and above a room for sleeping. The toilet was outside, but I was surprised to see that it was a very modern western toilet! I think they were an exception however; Heidi told me that her parents insisted on that... Heidi's grandparents were also really sweet, but again all I could do was smile. We first walked around a bit. When we passed all the little houses we arrived at the fields; every piece of land was used to build something. A lot of people living in the houses had a little piece of this land. The difference with Holland is huge; if I compare it to Groningen, where there are mainly cows, I think that the land of one farm is about the same size as the land here. The only difference is that here this piece of land is divided over many many families... We also passed a little river where some people were washing their clothes, but it didn't seem too clean. Behind the field were mountains, with some tombs from people who lived there that had died. When we got back at the home of Heidi's parents they had made dinner. They made some great dishes; peas, potatoes, pork with onions, vegetables, noodles and even shrimps and squids. I never really liked shrimps and squids but they tasted really good. Then we had to roll everything in a pancake and eat it. Heidi's aunt, uncle and cousin also came along and joined for dinner. Heidi already warned me that everyone will push me to eat more, so I decided to eat really slowly haha. I can't really eat fast here anyway, with the chopsticks...
Then we took the bus to the house of Heidi's parents (and everybody made some comments about my heavy backpack; they all had to lift it to feel how heavy it was haha). Heidi's parents house couldn't be any more different from the house of her grandparents! Nice, shining, big and with all the comforts we have back home. Heidi even gave me her room, with a private bathroom... The air here is also fresher as in the rest of China, as it's near to the sea, and it's really quiet at night. So I had a great sleep! I'm here for 2 days now, and it's really relaxed. We're mainly just chilling and eating haha. Whenever we finished our breakfast, Heidi's mother is already cooking lunch... She's a really good cook. We even ate crab yesterday, and it was really good! This morning I watched how she made fried egg-plant, so I'm hoping to learn some Chinese cooking from her 😉

Hm, I see that even if I didn't do much, I still wrote a very long story... Sorry guys, hope you didn't get bored. Oh, and I wanted to say that I don't have facebook. Already about 3 weeks ago it got blocked here in China... So if any news; please let me know! 😉

Oh and just to let the people know who have their stuff in my room; this mornig I got an email from CFB that I have to move before August 31, because they didn't receive any message from the Sorbonne. I didn't get any message before neither... I just emailed Coricelli and he send me that I'm accepted, apparently there was a problem somewhere... I really hope I can fix it with CFB, cause otherwise I have to move all our stuff before August 31 and I'll have to find another home!
Oh and now I get the email that has been sent to me; I see that Daniel, Claudia, Nina, Varvara, Tim, Leonardo and Jose are also in! Cool, congrats guys!! Fuck, I guess I had to check my university email... But did your parents receive any letters? Because I also still didnt' receive my grades...

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Photos

Pearl Tower
View over Shanghai at night from the Pearl Tower

Pearl Tower
The museum in the Pearl tower; some statues of people smoking opium in ancient times in Shanghai

Hangzhou
The lake at Hangzhou with it's boats and a pagoda

Hangzhou
View from the pagoda; at the other side of the lake are a lot of big flats, but it's impossible to see them...

Chinese countryside
Goats living next to the farmers houses...

Chinese countryside
Street of Heidi's grandparents

Chinese countryside
The fields

Heidi's family
From left to right; grandmother, aunt, grandfather, me, Heidi, mother and father. In front of the grandparents house

Comments

[Dorota]

Your backpack must be extremely heavy, considering the size of the thing, I remember! So I understand everyone wanting to lift it haha..I hope it''s resisting the heavy rain! Hope you manage to sort things out with CFB, you absolutely have to stay in Cité, especially when I'm gonna be there now!! Say hi to Heidi! bisous

[dian]

natural popstar
Renaat! Wat een gaaf uitzicht uit die toren! En wat cool dat je de countryside hebt gezien, dat lijkt me een super interessant contrast met de stad en ook gewoon mooi :-) maar wel heel arm zo te horen. Gelukkig dat de kaartjes voor de trein nog omgewisseld konden worden en aan de foto met heidi's familie te zien ben je nog steeds een superstar (terecht, goed dat die chinezen dat herkennen). Ze zijn je goed aan het verwennen met lekker eten en een lekker en rustig bed, mooi zo. Hoop dat je je beter begint te voelen, maar een comfortabel bed en frisse lucht helpen zeker en vast. Jammer dat praten nog niet zo lukt, maar glimlachen doe je goed en zegt ook best wel wat. Ik zal binnenkort die chinese simkaart nog eens uitproberen, op een normale tijd... :-S Nederland went heel snel en nu ik eenmaal hier terug ben wil ik uiteraard wel weer terug naar daar! Zucht... Geniet en lief zijn voor jezelf X en knuffel Dian ps: volgende week laat ik de foto's van de kaart ophalen, mn broer zei dat hij het kon, ik laat je weten wanneer het is gelukt.

[Rit]

Groovy
Naat, wat gaaf allemaal. En wat zuur wat je kamer :-O Zet m op he daar in the countryside! Liefs