I am checking my email using the hostel computer in Xi'an. I am already traveling inside my traveling abroad. I wouldn't have it any other way! That is how I want to make my dreams come true. By traveling the world. I cant wait. It really is so beautiful in other countries. And I learn things everyday I could never learn in a classroom...its a compltely different kind of education, and i love it. speaking of my dreams.....in the airport while we waited for our flight to Xi'an I met the executive chef of a very fancy chinese restaurant here in Xi'an. There was a man at starbucks who could translate for us and to make a very very long story short, he invited us all to eat at his restaurant tomorrow night (saturday night) for free!!!! He said we could order whatever we want free of charge! how cool is that?! I would LOVE to be able to just watch him for a day in the kitchen....you could learn so much! The mans name is Wenlu Xu. he is the executive chef at the Prince Restaurant, which is apparently in a hotel? He also said that one of his friends just opened one up in Florida somewhere and that it is the best mandarin and cantonese food we will ever eat. I will let you know how that goes! He was so kind, (which is not characteristic of an executive chef) and incredibly adamant about us coming to his restaurant. I cant wait!
I saw the Terracotta Warriors today! I can not even tell you how cool it was! They are calling it the 8th wonder of the world, and boy i agree! I also got to see the tomb of QinShihuang who was the emporer who had the terracotta warriors built to guard his tomb. The warriors and the tomb are about a mile and a half apart. They say that the tomb still hasnt been excavated because they have found intense amounts of mercury in the walls that they have penetrated, and in the tellings about the tomb they talk about "rivers and seas of mercury" which turned out to be true, and aparently there are a few other crazy warnings about who ever or whatever is guarding the tomb itself since there is supposed to be beautiful treasures buried with the emporer also. I would LOVE to do more research about it..Just think, i was standing on his tomb today! So crazy! Anyway, the warriors were incredible. The detail is emaculate, and truely awe inspiring. The Emperor had all the workers who made the warriors sealed in the kiln after they were complete so the secret of the warriors died with the town, and then with himself when he died. They were discovered in 1974 by a farmer (I met him today!!!!) They found more warriors in 1984 and found more recently, but are waiting until they have more technology to fully excavate them. (When the first warriors were found, they were colorful, but once they made contact with the air some type of oxidation happened and the color faded completely after 3 days. So they are waiting to find some kind of preservation technique to save the beautiful 2,000 year old pigment on the warriors.)
We also went to a silk factory where I learned how silk is made. Silk worms are nasty looking! But it is INCREDIBLE at how they find the ends of the strings of their cocoons. From one silk worms cocoon they can get 1,800 meters of silk thread. Pretty crazy!
We are staying in a hostel for 6 US dollars per night and it is such a cool experience! I will have to tell you more a bout that later. Anyway, they booked our tour for us and arranged everything, all we had to do was show up so that was helpful. They have posters about all the different tours, and things you can do here and the tour today was from 9:30am to 6pm and we were exhausted! So we rested for about an hour then went to the Tang Dynasty Music and Dancing show. It cost 198Yuan or about 26 US. It was so worth it! It was a beautiful asian musical basically with incredible lights, and costumes, headdresses, backgrounds...it was an all around awesome experience! It is pouring rain all night so when the show was over we had our umbrellas and were running through the streets trying to catch a taxi. The drivers in china are very defensive...everyone just looks out for themselves and it seems like that is the only law. They completely disreguard any signs, or pedestrians or lights...people just go when they want. Anyway, we finally caught a taxi and there were no seats in this little van! It was just covered with cardboard so we had to sit on the floor and hope he took us to the right place. (we keep a list of everywhere we are staying in chinese to show people where we need to go. It is an adventure sometimes but we always make it back safe!) We couldnt stop laughing, it was such an awesome experience. One you could definitely only get in China!
Here in china, people stop me all the time to take pictures with me. It is really really funny. They push the other girls in my group away and suddenly i am surrounded with chinese people and flashes everywhere...i dont get it! I must look really odd to them or something? I dont know about that one...
I better go, my time is about up!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Life In Guzhen, Zhongshan
Hey Everyone,
Trying to figure out how to get wireless internet in China and not knowing the language or who to contact was really difficult! Anyway, we are all moved in to our apartment in Guzhen and it is very...interesting to say the least. IT IS SO HOT AND HUMID IN CHINA ITS TERRIBLE!!!!!!! Seriously though, we have like sweat marks down our backs as we walk down the street. You can not focus on the heat and humidity or it would be miserable. We do our best to push through. The AC in our apartment is only mediocre. Jenna and I are sharing a room and we have the best AC in all the apartment (luckily!!!) It is also a very small room. In the big family room we have two big fans that just blow hot air around which is better than no air circulation at all, but it still isnt very comfortable. Our bathroom is the biggest difference though. It is only one room for the shower, toilet and a very SMALL sink. Toilet is not a "western" toilet..it is a Chinese toilet. Better known as a squatter. Yes, it is simply a hole in the ground. Its so weird and awkward and hilarious and terrifying and scary! I will have to show you when we skype because I can't describe it very well. But seriously...be grateful for 3 things there at home that I do not have. 1. Air Conditioning. 2. Dry Heat. 3. A Toilet to sit on. The city is kind of dirty that we are in. It is not as nice as I thought it was going to be, but it could be a lot worse. I am grateful for what I have. Yesterday we went to the bank and the store, and people just live in garages and warehouses and sleep on the ground with nothing...it is terribly sad. So compared to that we are very very very blessed. I am having SO much fun! Everything is an experience and it is really awesome to see the way people really live in China away from the bigger cities. We joke that we all are getting scurvy because we eat lots of bread, and noodles but rarely fruits or vegetables. I have had the same noodles for 3 meals now and its getting really old. We ate at a dumpling shop yesterday for lunch and it was delicious! We also went to the grocery store and bought some really crazy fruits to try with our dinner. i took pictures, but none of the fruits were very good. We bought some fruit juice and that is already almost gone so we will have to buy more. Also, they told us we dont have to teach until Sept 1. and we have a vacation time from the 27-31 so we are going to Xi'an. That is where the terracotta warriors are, etc. It is going to be so fun I cant wait! We are flying both ways which cost us about $190 US round trip. Expensive, yeah, but we would rather have more time there where it is such a short vacation and so far away. I am having lots of fun and I will update more later!
Trying to figure out how to get wireless internet in China and not knowing the language or who to contact was really difficult! Anyway, we are all moved in to our apartment in Guzhen and it is very...interesting to say the least. IT IS SO HOT AND HUMID IN CHINA ITS TERRIBLE!!!!!!! Seriously though, we have like sweat marks down our backs as we walk down the street. You can not focus on the heat and humidity or it would be miserable. We do our best to push through. The AC in our apartment is only mediocre. Jenna and I are sharing a room and we have the best AC in all the apartment (luckily!!!) It is also a very small room. In the big family room we have two big fans that just blow hot air around which is better than no air circulation at all, but it still isnt very comfortable. Our bathroom is the biggest difference though. It is only one room for the shower, toilet and a very SMALL sink. Toilet is not a "western" toilet..it is a Chinese toilet. Better known as a squatter. Yes, it is simply a hole in the ground. Its so weird and awkward and hilarious and terrifying and scary! I will have to show you when we skype because I can't describe it very well. But seriously...be grateful for 3 things there at home that I do not have. 1. Air Conditioning. 2. Dry Heat. 3. A Toilet to sit on. The city is kind of dirty that we are in. It is not as nice as I thought it was going to be, but it could be a lot worse. I am grateful for what I have. Yesterday we went to the bank and the store, and people just live in garages and warehouses and sleep on the ground with nothing...it is terribly sad. So compared to that we are very very very blessed. I am having SO much fun! Everything is an experience and it is really awesome to see the way people really live in China away from the bigger cities. We joke that we all are getting scurvy because we eat lots of bread, and noodles but rarely fruits or vegetables. I have had the same noodles for 3 meals now and its getting really old. We ate at a dumpling shop yesterday for lunch and it was delicious! We also went to the grocery store and bought some really crazy fruits to try with our dinner. i took pictures, but none of the fruits were very good. We bought some fruit juice and that is already almost gone so we will have to buy more. Also, they told us we dont have to teach until Sept 1. and we have a vacation time from the 27-31 so we are going to Xi'an. That is where the terracotta warriors are, etc. It is going to be so fun I cant wait! We are flying both ways which cost us about $190 US round trip. Expensive, yeah, but we would rather have more time there where it is such a short vacation and so far away. I am having lots of fun and I will update more later!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Hong Kong!
I can not think of a very good word besides different to describe Hong Kong. Many things are not good or bad...just different than what I know.
Yesterday, when we first got here we had free time for the whole day and even though it had been like 40 hours since we had last REALLY slept (cat naps on the collectively 17 hour plane ride dont count!) and we were wearing the same clothes and had no idea what was going on we decided to start the 4 month trip off right and go on an adventure! First, we walked about 30 min through the crazy and busy streets of HK. Then we got on the Metro which is like a subway and rode it for a good 40 min or so. Then we walked through a mall to a bus station and took an hour and 15 min bus ride to the top of some mountain, where the Po Lin (i think?) Monestary is, which means... BIG BUDDAH! We climbed all the stairs and walked around the big statue. It really was cool! The drive up and the drive down though were on really windy roads so I had to sit at the front of the bus to be sure not to get car sick. The heat and humidity made the trip almost more than I could stand. But it was incredibly interesting, we saw a few monks and people go inside the bottom part of the buddah where you worship I guess. We werent allowed to take any pictures once we were inside. There were 3 levels... on the bottom was a big wooden buddah and beautiful lights and flowers, etc. The middle level had paintings and pictures and prayer beads. And on the top level was "The Relic". I want to learn more about the Relics because they are a big deal to the Chinese people. The black relic is hair, the red relic is the flesh and the white relic is the bone. This Temple or whatever it was, was devoted to the White Relic. So we got to see that which was basically a glass case with really beautiful crystals and flowers, and statues inside.
After seeing the Big Buddah, we were kind of hungry so we stopped at a bakery and I got some bread and a chocolate mousse cup. The bread was just salty bread, and the mousse cup was DELICIOUS! The best part was, that was about 8$ HK which is like $1.15 US! After enjoying our Chinese pastries, we showered and went to bed...and man was I tired! This morning we started a tour of the city around 8:30am and went to Victoria Peak which is basically just a look out point for the city. When we were up there I saw a really beautiful HK spoon I wanted. It was $30HK which is not quite $4US. But I only had 2 $20HK so I asked the sweet old man for change... and he gave me a fake $10 bill! Luckily I knew the difference, so I could pick which $10bill I wanted from his stack but I was slightly taken back that that happened.
We also went to Stanley Market which was really awesome shopping! Things seemed pretty cheap but Amanda says we can get them for cheaper in mainland so we didnt buy anything. It was still a really fun experience and it was cool to see the things we can buy.
There is a big tunnel in HK that goes from HK island to Kowloon island and it is UNDER the harbour. So you pay a little bit and go through the tunnel. I haven't been that claustrophobic in a long time. Our sweet tour guide Matthew who has lived in HK his whole life told us that HK is made up of 3 parts. Hong Kong Island or Hong Kong City is the most densly populated city in the world. 2 million people living in just a few square miles. Then there is the New Territiories (I personally think they should come up with a better name for this!) and there is about 1 million on that island, and on Kowloon there is over 1.5 million. Can you imagin that many people crammed in to such a tiny space? Me either, and I walked through it today! You can really tell though when you are walking around. Everyone seems to be in a huge hurry and there are so many people everywhere you look. The streets are also very narrow and I was sure our bus was going to crash when we were on the tour. But they know what they are doing, and they are great at defensive driving. If people drove like they do here, in America I think there would be %50 more accidents. It really is crazy.
We also went to the Hong Kong Temple today. It is tiny! Absolutely the smallest temple I have ever been in. There are walls with a small courtyard around the bottom and once you step in the gates its like a wall of silence...it is pretty cool especially because the HK streets are crazy and busy and full of honking! We didnt have to wait too long...at least I didnt. We had a group of 22 people and only 2 could change at a time. One had to change in the bathroom and the other in the shower! Also, I am pretty sure EVERYONE who was working at the temple that day was down in the baptistry. The Temple President was the one marking the names so that was pretty cool to see him involved with us. They sounded like they were speaking complete gibberish While they were praying, etc. it sounds like they are just mumbling or stuttering or something. However, the peace and comfort inside that building was the same as it was 4 days ago in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple so something is right there. It was an awesome experience.
We then went on the search for some edible food. We were starving and wanted something of substance! Just down the street from our hotel was a small dumpling shop. It was like a little cafe. We tried the beef, korean spicy, jade, and the house special dumplings both steamed and pan fried. They were 3$HK each and we got 5 plates so it ended up being a little more than $10US for 3 of us to eat. We were really full too! The dumplings were delicious and they had little containers with different sauces and garlic and some red pepper relish that was REALLY hot but so good! We came back to the hotel and some girls took a nap but I hung out with Amanda and Shalise...we talked and looked at pictures it was really fun. We were going to go down to the pier to see the laser show, but we missed the last bus and we all had $100 HK (about $13US) to spend before we leave tomorrow. (Mainland China and HK$ are not the same.) So we went shopping on Nathan Street! It is the most popular and busy street in Hong Kong. We saw a small cooler sitting on a stool as we walked past and it had like small easter egg looking things inside floating in water...except they were round like balls. I was curious so I bought one for Amanda and I. The lady opened the ball in to a plastic bag and a white ball fell out. I thought it was like a frozen slushee or something. IT WAS JELLO! It was the weirdest thing I have ever ate. It was really gelatinous like jell-o but it didnt have much flavor besides a sweet vanilla that was very subtle. I hated it! We all tried it but threw it away. We also tried some soy ice cream which was pretty good. It also had some small jell-o like pieces on the side as a topping along with bananas and mini marshmallows. really strange. I bought some really cute shoes at the shopping mall... The lady first wanted 150$HK which is a little less than $20US. I told her it was too much and walked away...after some bargaining I got them for $50HK which is like $7.50US So I was happy! I am exhausted after yet another really long day. It is so fun here, and I am loving it, but I can not wait to get to Guzhen so we can settle in and not live out of a suit case in a cramped hotel room anymore.
I dont think I will have facebook in mainland China. I am pretty sure the government blocks it, so checking the blog, email, and skype are the best ways to communicate. I think we will have to get on either late at night for me, and early in themorning for you guys, or the other way around because otherwise, one of us should be sleeping!
I also can't upload any of my pictures here for some reason. It is really frustrating and I am trying to figure it out so check back later! I am thinking it might be because my internet connection is not the best...hopefully that will change. I want you to see what I am seeing! Its pretty unreal!
I love and miss you all!!!
Yesterday, when we first got here we had free time for the whole day and even though it had been like 40 hours since we had last REALLY slept (cat naps on the collectively 17 hour plane ride dont count!) and we were wearing the same clothes and had no idea what was going on we decided to start the 4 month trip off right and go on an adventure! First, we walked about 30 min through the crazy and busy streets of HK. Then we got on the Metro which is like a subway and rode it for a good 40 min or so. Then we walked through a mall to a bus station and took an hour and 15 min bus ride to the top of some mountain, where the Po Lin (i think?) Monestary is, which means... BIG BUDDAH! We climbed all the stairs and walked around the big statue. It really was cool! The drive up and the drive down though were on really windy roads so I had to sit at the front of the bus to be sure not to get car sick. The heat and humidity made the trip almost more than I could stand. But it was incredibly interesting, we saw a few monks and people go inside the bottom part of the buddah where you worship I guess. We werent allowed to take any pictures once we were inside. There were 3 levels... on the bottom was a big wooden buddah and beautiful lights and flowers, etc. The middle level had paintings and pictures and prayer beads. And on the top level was "The Relic". I want to learn more about the Relics because they are a big deal to the Chinese people. The black relic is hair, the red relic is the flesh and the white relic is the bone. This Temple or whatever it was, was devoted to the White Relic. So we got to see that which was basically a glass case with really beautiful crystals and flowers, and statues inside.
After seeing the Big Buddah, we were kind of hungry so we stopped at a bakery and I got some bread and a chocolate mousse cup. The bread was just salty bread, and the mousse cup was DELICIOUS! The best part was, that was about 8$ HK which is like $1.15 US! After enjoying our Chinese pastries, we showered and went to bed...and man was I tired! This morning we started a tour of the city around 8:30am and went to Victoria Peak which is basically just a look out point for the city. When we were up there I saw a really beautiful HK spoon I wanted. It was $30HK which is not quite $4US. But I only had 2 $20HK so I asked the sweet old man for change... and he gave me a fake $10 bill! Luckily I knew the difference, so I could pick which $10bill I wanted from his stack but I was slightly taken back that that happened.
We also went to Stanley Market which was really awesome shopping! Things seemed pretty cheap but Amanda says we can get them for cheaper in mainland so we didnt buy anything. It was still a really fun experience and it was cool to see the things we can buy.
There is a big tunnel in HK that goes from HK island to Kowloon island and it is UNDER the harbour. So you pay a little bit and go through the tunnel. I haven't been that claustrophobic in a long time. Our sweet tour guide Matthew who has lived in HK his whole life told us that HK is made up of 3 parts. Hong Kong Island or Hong Kong City is the most densly populated city in the world. 2 million people living in just a few square miles. Then there is the New Territiories (I personally think they should come up with a better name for this!) and there is about 1 million on that island, and on Kowloon there is over 1.5 million. Can you imagin that many people crammed in to such a tiny space? Me either, and I walked through it today! You can really tell though when you are walking around. Everyone seems to be in a huge hurry and there are so many people everywhere you look. The streets are also very narrow and I was sure our bus was going to crash when we were on the tour. But they know what they are doing, and they are great at defensive driving. If people drove like they do here, in America I think there would be %50 more accidents. It really is crazy.
We also went to the Hong Kong Temple today. It is tiny! Absolutely the smallest temple I have ever been in. There are walls with a small courtyard around the bottom and once you step in the gates its like a wall of silence...it is pretty cool especially because the HK streets are crazy and busy and full of honking! We didnt have to wait too long...at least I didnt. We had a group of 22 people and only 2 could change at a time. One had to change in the bathroom and the other in the shower! Also, I am pretty sure EVERYONE who was working at the temple that day was down in the baptistry. The Temple President was the one marking the names so that was pretty cool to see him involved with us. They sounded like they were speaking complete gibberish While they were praying, etc. it sounds like they are just mumbling or stuttering or something. However, the peace and comfort inside that building was the same as it was 4 days ago in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple so something is right there. It was an awesome experience.
We then went on the search for some edible food. We were starving and wanted something of substance! Just down the street from our hotel was a small dumpling shop. It was like a little cafe. We tried the beef, korean spicy, jade, and the house special dumplings both steamed and pan fried. They were 3$HK each and we got 5 plates so it ended up being a little more than $10US for 3 of us to eat. We were really full too! The dumplings were delicious and they had little containers with different sauces and garlic and some red pepper relish that was REALLY hot but so good! We came back to the hotel and some girls took a nap but I hung out with Amanda and Shalise...we talked and looked at pictures it was really fun. We were going to go down to the pier to see the laser show, but we missed the last bus and we all had $100 HK (about $13US) to spend before we leave tomorrow. (Mainland China and HK$ are not the same.) So we went shopping on Nathan Street! It is the most popular and busy street in Hong Kong. We saw a small cooler sitting on a stool as we walked past and it had like small easter egg looking things inside floating in water...except they were round like balls. I was curious so I bought one for Amanda and I. The lady opened the ball in to a plastic bag and a white ball fell out. I thought it was like a frozen slushee or something. IT WAS JELLO! It was the weirdest thing I have ever ate. It was really gelatinous like jell-o but it didnt have much flavor besides a sweet vanilla that was very subtle. I hated it! We all tried it but threw it away. We also tried some soy ice cream which was pretty good. It also had some small jell-o like pieces on the side as a topping along with bananas and mini marshmallows. really strange. I bought some really cute shoes at the shopping mall... The lady first wanted 150$HK which is a little less than $20US. I told her it was too much and walked away...after some bargaining I got them for $50HK which is like $7.50US So I was happy! I am exhausted after yet another really long day. It is so fun here, and I am loving it, but I can not wait to get to Guzhen so we can settle in and not live out of a suit case in a cramped hotel room anymore.
I dont think I will have facebook in mainland China. I am pretty sure the government blocks it, so checking the blog, email, and skype are the best ways to communicate. I think we will have to get on either late at night for me, and early in themorning for you guys, or the other way around because otherwise, one of us should be sleeping!
I also can't upload any of my pictures here for some reason. It is really frustrating and I am trying to figure it out so check back later! I am thinking it might be because my internet connection is not the best...hopefully that will change. I want you to see what I am seeing! Its pretty unreal!
I love and miss you all!!!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Taipei!
Well I just arrived in Taipei...after a 12 hour flight. It was really terrible, but I am so glad to be here now. I can feel the humidity already, the airport is pretty muggy. I would do anything for some bottled water! They gave tiny little cups of water on the flight, I wanted to grab the stewardess and ask for her pitcher of water and a straw! This time difference thing is screwing with my head! It is 6:20 am here, but 4:20pm back home. Mind you, Its FRIDAY and yesterday was Wednesday. I don't try to understand the time difference because I can never fully wrap my head around it.
I can not believe I am in Asia! I am finally living my dreams, and I could not be more excited about it. I am so excited to be here and to be doing what I am doing! My roommates are awesome and I can tell we are all going to be really good friends by the time we leave in December.
I'm off to find some bottled water!
I can not believe I am in Asia! I am finally living my dreams, and I could not be more excited about it. I am so excited to be here and to be doing what I am doing! My roommates are awesome and I can tell we are all going to be really good friends by the time we leave in December.
I'm off to find some bottled water!
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