Sorry, everyone, I know I've been absolutely terrible at updating lately. I think that I haven't really been in the mood because I know I'm leaving very soon and I'm not sure how I feel about that yet...so I've just been avoiding it. I REALLY will try to do more updates tomorrow, because I definitely have things that I want to share (and that I want to remember).
So- tomorrow I fly to Beijing. My flight leaves at 1:40 PM and someone from the hotel will pick me up at the airport. I'll then spend the 12th and 13th in Beijing (plans= Great Wall/Forbidden City) then I'll fly home on the 14th. My flight leaves Beijing at 9 AM. From there I fly to Tokyo, then Detroit, then RDU. Stupid connections! ;) With flight time and wait times, it will equal about 22 hours. I get in around 7 PM on the 14th (returning I gain time).
So, yeah- I'll try to do more tomorrow, maybe in the airport. :)
2007年8月10日星期五
2007年8月6日星期一
MAYBE I'll write about Songpan...
...but I'm kind of losing motivation as it was a week ago! I'll try to do some, but it may be a shorter story than I expected.
I cannot believe that my summer here is almost over. In 5 days I'll be flying to Beijing, and in 8 days I'll be home. I have moments where I can't wait to go home, and then I have times like this evening when I'm so sad to be leaving.
Things I will miss about Chengdu:
dogs everywhere
being able to walk almost anywhere I want to go
teahouses
hmm...community? Not so much that I'm a part of it, but there are always groups of people on the street or in a teahouse playing mah jong or talking with each other
fruit stands
walking down the street and passing about 10 stores in 2 blocks
The access we have when we're with
I cannot believe that my summer here is almost over. In 5 days I'll be flying to Beijing, and in 8 days I'll be home. I have moments where I can't wait to go home, and then I have times like this evening when I'm so sad to be leaving.
Things I will miss about Chengdu:
dogs everywhere
being able to walk almost anywhere I want to go
teahouses
hmm...community? Not so much that I'm a part of it, but there are always groups of people on the street or in a teahouse playing mah jong or talking with each other
fruit stands
walking down the street and passing about 10 stores in 2 blocks
The access we have when we're with
2007年8月2日星期四
Songpan part 1
I spent yesterday morning/early afternoon in bed, just watching TV and generally being lazy, so I decided I should make a list of the things I want to do each day before leaving Chengdu. On the list for today is Wenshu Monastery. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/chengdu/wenshu_monastery.htm
I think Janell has had her fill of temples and she has to do laundry, so I'm going alone and will meet her for dinner at a Turkish restaurant...yum.
OK, I suppose I should write about Songpan now as I don't want to forget, but writing about it seems a little tedious. I will do my best, though. We left around 7 AM on Thursday, the 26th and it took about 9 or 10 hours to get to Songpan. I don't think it would have taken anywhere near that long if the drive was on flat ground but once we got a few hours out of Chengdu we were basically just traveling up mountains. We stopped a few times and on one of those stops we met a German girl named Charlotte...I'm sure her English would have been great anyway, but she spent a year as an au pair in Michigan so her English was perfect. With about 1 or 2 hours left in the trip, the bus was stopped by police for about 30 minutes. It was, of course, quite dramatic for me since I had no idea what was going on and all the Chinese people were looking out the window and whispering to one another. It turned out, though, that the bus just had too many people on it (there were people sitting in the aisles!) so I think the driver just got a ticket, or something. When we finally got to Songpan and got out of the bus, the air was very cool...I had to put on my fleece or I would have been freezing. We checked into our hostel and registered for our horse trek (the guides were waiting right outside the bus so it wasn't any trouble to find where to go) and then we were pointed towards Emma's Kitchen, which was heavenly. It's a western restaurant that has amazing food and every time we were there, it was packed with foreigners. We found out that we were supposed to go on the hot springs horse ride but since Charlotte and everyone else around us was going on the Ice Mountain trip, we switched to that one. Ha. This is what I just found online:
So, yeah...basically we picked the "hard" trail over the "easy" trail, having no idea what we were doing at the time. Oh, well- we definitely felt accomplished after we finished! The !!! means "may be hazardous when raining", which it definitely did during our trek.
When we were at Emma's Kitchen on Thursday night we met a guy from Toronto who was named Brendan, and he ate dinner with us then walked around the city with us that night. He was tons of fun, so that was great. Walking around the city was such an interesting experience for me...it looked totally different than anywhere else I'd been in China. Songpan is a minority town of Tibetans and Muslims, so the people looked entirely different than the Han Chinese that are in Chengdu (and in the majority of the country). Their skin was much darker and their clothes were very different. The Tibetan people have very pink cheeks that look like they put a ton of blush on them- it is quite a nice effect, actually. ;) We bought knit parkas and 1 or 2 scarves each in preparation for the next day. You have to do some major bargaining, though, especially as a foreigner. I find that it's much easier to bargain if you really don't care that much about what you're getting and really aren't willing to pay more than you say. The scarves and parkas turned out to be VERY wise investments, though.
Charlotte, Janell and I stayed at the Traffic Hotel that night then got up early the next morning to have a good breakfast at Emma's Kitchen before we left at 8:30 AM. It was raining and I had no waterproof options, so I spontaneously went into a store about bought a "North Face' (yeah, right!) rain jacket/fleece combo for 280 yuan (about $36). Although I'm sure I paid way too much for it, it was worth every penny over the next 3 freezing days. I pretty much wore socks, jeans, a long underwear type shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, the fleece/jacket, the scarf, and sometimes the parka every day- and definitely the parka at night.
So, we left at 8:30 AM. There were 5 of us in one group- Janell, Charlotte, and I plus 2 French girls named Magalie and Cecile. We also had 3 guides and I wish I could tell you their names, but I could barely pronounce them, much less type them. :/ We ended up calling them Be Careful!, Earring Man, and Beat the Sheepskin, respectively and for different reasons. They were all part of the Muslim minority so it was interesting to hear their perspectives on the Tibetan people. I hadn't been nervous at all before we left but as soon as I was on my horse, I got a little scared. It took me about 30 minutes to relax a bit and start to enjoy the ride.
Ok, I'm taking a break to go to Wenshu temple since this typing is going to take forever!!! I'll start part 2 either this afternoon/evening or tomorrow morning.
I think Janell has had her fill of temples and she has to do laundry, so I'm going alone and will meet her for dinner at a Turkish restaurant...yum.
OK, I suppose I should write about Songpan now as I don't want to forget, but writing about it seems a little tedious. I will do my best, though. We left around 7 AM on Thursday, the 26th and it took about 9 or 10 hours to get to Songpan. I don't think it would have taken anywhere near that long if the drive was on flat ground but once we got a few hours out of Chengdu we were basically just traveling up mountains. We stopped a few times and on one of those stops we met a German girl named Charlotte...I'm sure her English would have been great anyway, but she spent a year as an au pair in Michigan so her English was perfect. With about 1 or 2 hours left in the trip, the bus was stopped by police for about 30 minutes. It was, of course, quite dramatic for me since I had no idea what was going on and all the Chinese people were looking out the window and whispering to one another. It turned out, though, that the bus just had too many people on it (there were people sitting in the aisles!) so I think the driver just got a ticket, or something. When we finally got to Songpan and got out of the bus, the air was very cool...I had to put on my fleece or I would have been freezing. We checked into our hostel and registered for our horse trek (the guides were waiting right outside the bus so it wasn't any trouble to find where to go) and then we were pointed towards Emma's Kitchen, which was heavenly. It's a western restaurant that has amazing food and every time we were there, it was packed with foreigners. We found out that we were supposed to go on the hot springs horse ride but since Charlotte and everyone else around us was going on the Ice Mountain trip, we switched to that one. Ha. This is what I just found online:
| Name | See what ? | D | B | L | Rain ? | Best time | Cost | Tourism |
| Ice Mountain | Snow peaks, Lush valleys, Monastery | 3/4 | 4 | Hard | !!! | summer but clouds | free | no |
| Hot spring | A lot of lakes | 3 | 3 | Easy | OK | summer | 30Y | little |
| Mineral Water | 2 big lakes | 3/4 | 1 | Hard | OK | summer | free | little |
| Waterfall | Monastery | 3 | 2 | Easy | OK | yearly | 30Y | a lot (10 buses a day) |
| Huanlong | Mountains, Lakes, waterfalls | 3 | 5 | Hard | !!! | April to Oct | 80Y | a lot (5000 people a day) |
| Zoige | Grassland, Monastery | 10 to 12 | 6 | Hard | OK | Aug & Sept | free | little |
So, yeah...basically we picked the "hard" trail over the "easy" trail, having no idea what we were doing at the time. Oh, well- we definitely felt accomplished after we finished! The !!! means "may be hazardous when raining", which it definitely did during our trek.
When we were at Emma's Kitchen on Thursday night we met a guy from Toronto who was named Brendan, and he ate dinner with us then walked around the city with us that night. He was tons of fun, so that was great. Walking around the city was such an interesting experience for me...it looked totally different than anywhere else I'd been in China. Songpan is a minority town of Tibetans and Muslims, so the people looked entirely different than the Han Chinese that are in Chengdu (and in the majority of the country). Their skin was much darker and their clothes were very different. The Tibetan people have very pink cheeks that look like they put a ton of blush on them- it is quite a nice effect, actually. ;) We bought knit parkas and 1 or 2 scarves each in preparation for the next day. You have to do some major bargaining, though, especially as a foreigner. I find that it's much easier to bargain if you really don't care that much about what you're getting and really aren't willing to pay more than you say. The scarves and parkas turned out to be VERY wise investments, though.
Charlotte, Janell and I stayed at the Traffic Hotel that night then got up early the next morning to have a good breakfast at Emma's Kitchen before we left at 8:30 AM. It was raining and I had no waterproof options, so I spontaneously went into a store about bought a "North Face' (yeah, right!) rain jacket/fleece combo for 280 yuan (about $36). Although I'm sure I paid way too much for it, it was worth every penny over the next 3 freezing days. I pretty much wore socks, jeans, a long underwear type shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, the fleece/jacket, the scarf, and sometimes the parka every day- and definitely the parka at night.
So, we left at 8:30 AM. There were 5 of us in one group- Janell, Charlotte, and I plus 2 French girls named Magalie and Cecile. We also had 3 guides and I wish I could tell you their names, but I could barely pronounce them, much less type them. :/ We ended up calling them Be Careful!, Earring Man, and Beat the Sheepskin, respectively and for different reasons. They were all part of the Muslim minority so it was interesting to hear their perspectives on the Tibetan people. I hadn't been nervous at all before we left but as soon as I was on my horse, I got a little scared. It took me about 30 minutes to relax a bit and start to enjoy the ride.
Ok, I'm taking a break to go to Wenshu temple since this typing is going to take forever!!! I'll start part 2 either this afternoon/evening or tomorrow morning.
2007年7月30日星期一
Songpan (pictures only)
I'll be posting all about the trip later (we just got back and I'm too tired now) but for now I'm just doing pictures. :) The trip was...amazing. The other foreigners in the pictures are friends that we made while there.
2007年7月24日星期二
Last day in Chengdu for a while
Hi everyone!
I am leaving tomorrow morning to go to Songpan. We will be back on Monday evening, I think. If you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songpan_County
Things here are good...there's actually not much to report right now. Yesterday we met with some pharmacists from the US who are here with an organization called MSI. It was really interesting to talk to them because they are a Christian organization and (obviously) a NGO, but they have developed a really good relationship with the Chinese government. Basically, they put themselves out there as an organization that was willing to help and now the Chinese government requests that they do certain projects. We'd heard that it was difficult for NGOs to work here, but based on our conversation with him it seems that the approach makes a big difference. They were here conducting pharmacy seminars for students at Sichuan U.
Other than that, we've been going to the pool, which is fun because we meet a lot of people there. They're so friendly and really like to practice their English on us. On Monday, we met with a student named Lily and her friend Anita, just to talk. She had wanted to come to one of our workshops but couldn't because of exams. Lily wants to get her MPH in Hong Kong and then a Ph.D. in the US- she seems really ambitious. They want us to come to their hometown one day when we get back, so we may do that.
I finished Harry Potter and now am reading book one over again. ;)
I'll check in when I get back! Hope everyone's doing well.
I am leaving tomorrow morning to go to Songpan. We will be back on Monday evening, I think. If you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songpan_County
Things here are good...there's actually not much to report right now. Yesterday we met with some pharmacists from the US who are here with an organization called MSI. It was really interesting to talk to them because they are a Christian organization and (obviously) a NGO, but they have developed a really good relationship with the Chinese government. Basically, they put themselves out there as an organization that was willing to help and now the Chinese government requests that they do certain projects. We'd heard that it was difficult for NGOs to work here, but based on our conversation with him it seems that the approach makes a big difference. They were here conducting pharmacy seminars for students at Sichuan U.
Other than that, we've been going to the pool, which is fun because we meet a lot of people there. They're so friendly and really like to practice their English on us. On Monday, we met with a student named Lily and her friend Anita, just to talk. She had wanted to come to one of our workshops but couldn't because of exams. Lily wants to get her MPH in Hong Kong and then a Ph.D. in the US- she seems really ambitious. They want us to come to their hometown one day when we get back, so we may do that.
I finished Harry Potter and now am reading book one over again. ;)
I'll check in when I get back! Hope everyone's doing well.
2007年7月21日星期六
China Days
In case anyone is wondering why I'm blogging when I'm supposed to be on a trip, unfortunately the cold I had got a lot worse and I had to come home early. It wouldn't have been a big deal typically, but trying to hike up a mountain all day and deal with altitude changes would have been really difficult and I would have probably made everyone else miserable. A surprise migraine also came on this morning- awesome. ;) I was quite disappointed- and still am- but this has turned into a good day. Also, at least I got to see the giant Buddha and the lower part of Mt. Emei. I'll try to post some pictures of that. Everyone else will be back tomorrow morning, I think.
I spent a lot of the afternoon in bed and, being quite hypochondriacal, convincing myself that I either had rabies from all the animals I pet or had been poisoned by Chinese food (I happened to look on CNN/MSNBC and there seems to be a TON of news regarding food imports from China, huh?) Luckily I then started feeling better, so I left the dorm for a few hours. It was a HUGE success! I cheered myself up by 1) finding the new Harry Potter book- in English!, 2) getting french fries from McDonald's and 3) getting a green tea frappucino from Starbucks. Definitely American consumerism at it's best. The french fries were greatly deserved after hiking all day yesterday with hardly any food I liked! I didn't get lost or feel uncomfortable being alone at all, and loved being greeted by the women at "our" supermarket and "our" fruit stand. The woman at the fruit stand is so funny because she talks to me the ENTIRE time I'm there and I just smile because I have no idea what she's saying!!! I think she will miss our regular business when we leave as we are very loyal to her. ;) There is also a guard that works in our dorm who is so nice...he speaks no English but always greets us very happily and the other day we talked about going swimming entirely through gestures. I think I'll miss the small town feel of the area around campus, even though we're in a city of 11 million people. There are a lot of students around, but the area doesn't really feel like a college town...just a nice, relaxing place.
So anyway, this evening turned into an "I love China" day, which I don't think I've explained before. We have "I love China" and "I hate China" days. Neither is extreme as it sounds and each serves a very important purpose. I get through the "I hate China" days because I know that an "I love China" day is right around the corner. The "I hate China" days remind me that as sad as I am on that I'll be leaving in a few weeks on the "I love China" days, it will be really good to go home.
I think this summer has taught me a lot and given me confidence in skills that I didn't know I had- or at least wasn't sure I had. I've especially learned that I am pretty adaptable, or have become that way (hello, "strengths" answer in job interview, lol) and that with the right attitude, I can succeed in challenging situations. I love China, at least for today. ;)
I spent a lot of the afternoon in bed and, being quite hypochondriacal, convincing myself that I either had rabies from all the animals I pet or had been poisoned by Chinese food (I happened to look on CNN/MSNBC and there seems to be a TON of news regarding food imports from China, huh?) Luckily I then started feeling better, so I left the dorm for a few hours. It was a HUGE success! I cheered myself up by 1) finding the new Harry Potter book- in English!, 2) getting french fries from McDonald's and 3) getting a green tea frappucino from Starbucks. Definitely American consumerism at it's best. The french fries were greatly deserved after hiking all day yesterday with hardly any food I liked! I didn't get lost or feel uncomfortable being alone at all, and loved being greeted by the women at "our" supermarket and "our" fruit stand. The woman at the fruit stand is so funny because she talks to me the ENTIRE time I'm there and I just smile because I have no idea what she's saying!!! I think she will miss our regular business when we leave as we are very loyal to her. ;) There is also a guard that works in our dorm who is so nice...he speaks no English but always greets us very happily and the other day we talked about going swimming entirely through gestures. I think I'll miss the small town feel of the area around campus, even though we're in a city of 11 million people. There are a lot of students around, but the area doesn't really feel like a college town...just a nice, relaxing place.
So anyway, this evening turned into an "I love China" day, which I don't think I've explained before. We have "I love China" and "I hate China" days. Neither is extreme as it sounds and each serves a very important purpose. I get through the "I hate China" days because I know that an "I love China" day is right around the corner. The "I hate China" days remind me that as sad as I am on that I'll be leaving in a few weeks on the "I love China" days, it will be really good to go home.
I think this summer has taught me a lot and given me confidence in skills that I didn't know I had- or at least wasn't sure I had. I've especially learned that I am pretty adaptable, or have become that way (hello, "strengths" answer in job interview, lol) and that with the right attitude, I can succeed in challenging situations. I love China, at least for today. ;)
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