Blogs from Zhejiang, China, Asia - page 8

So much like the trip to Suzhou, Ningbo was on my list of places to go see. Of course I didn’t realize I’d have to pack in so many places in such a short time but still an adventure is an adventure. And it just so happened that when I was covering for people at Wulin I had the same weekend days off as Rebecca so we went off on another adventure together before I left. We had decided that we’d catch a super early train (it’s the weekend no one gets up before 11am on their days off, let alone my working days haha) and therefore caught the 8am train to Ningbo from Hangzhou East station. My public transport was super slow and the Hangzhou East station is a bit further away than the usual ... read more

Geo: 30.0754, 120.177Today we were up early as again Clint was excited to be visiting Mr Tong's factories, so we were picked up then we went shopping to the phone shop as we now had Cookie as our bargaining lady, we bought a few Apple products then left the city area and headed to the first factory which was where they make Plastic curtain parts, then next we had some lunch to share and next was the Tape Factory where Curtain Tapes were produced, one of which is our wave tape( Remfold ). I certainly wouldn't like to re-thread this machine if the thread broke, hundreds of clear threads on this machine.Next was where metal rods and finials are produced, this place was massive with lots of workers having their tea break at 4.30pm re starting ... read more

Hello Everyone It’s been a month since the last blog but not much has really happened in that time that has been overly exciting to write about. I’ve been covering some classes for people on holiday which have all gone well. For most of April I will be covering holiday at the other center in Hangzhou the Wulin center where I did the first lot of Winter Phonics Camp. It has made me slightly stressed as I have to plan lessons for classes I don’t know but I guess once they are done, they are done and if they are good I don’t have to worry about planning that lesson again. I got my confirmation a few weeks back about my transfer to Guangzhou. So my last day at the Xiaoshan center will be Monday 12th ... read more

Always look on the bright side of life Work So after beers with the FT crew on Monday 13th I had one more day of work before my weekend started. Now since just after I arrived I’ve been covering Casey’s lessons and then last Sunday when Casey managed to make it back I covered Rebecca’s classes that day as she’s been really ill. They have been a great experience and although somewhat chaotic because everyone has their own routines but it was great teaching kids, learning new lessons and generally having fun with the students and the content of the lessons. I don’t think I’ll every come home from a day of work not singing one of the songs from that day. Having only heard one song twice so far I already know it word for ... read more

One of the surprising benefits of Shanghai is its efficient transport links. In Vietnam, the roads and railways are so poor that it takes an age to get anywhere. It's less than 80km from Saigon to Mui Ne, the nearest 'nice' beach resort, yet it takes over 5 hours by bus and a similar time by train to the nearest station - Phan Thiet. It's even about 3 hours by private car/taxi. Shanghai has a metro running in the city - now the biggest in the world apparently, and to many places in the suburbs and high speed rail links to the surrounding towns and cities. You can even travel the 1,500 km journey to Beijing in five hours. Can you imagine how long that would take on Vietnamese rail? Our first sightseeing trip out of ... read more