I've been feeling tired and working long days in the office. Over the weekend I walked around the local area, and the locals thought I was loco. Philippinos obviously do not walk, as you might get tanned in the progress. Every little distance is covered either by a jeepney or a tricycle ride. So seeing me walking around the town was confusing to them, I got a lot of shouts of "where are you going?" and tricycles stopping next to me - obviously I wanted a ride. In the same way Chinese people didn't understand that if we had the money to take a taxi to the base of the holy mountain, why would we want to climb up instead of taking the cable car! I ended up going to a hot spring spa, which turned out to be a couple of swimming pools. It was a hot day and I had walked for a couple of hours, so a swim in any kind of a pool was welcome. I met a local girl of my age who could not believe that I had walked all that distance! We spoke a lot about normal things like boyfriends, marriage, children, study and work, but it was interesting to hear the local attitude and approach. People here marry soon as this is a strongly Catholic country, but her boyfriend was trying to go to the States so it was better for the visa application that they weren't married. But she seemed hopeful. She was well educated, worked in a good job and considered a further degree to become a teacher.
On my walk in the area I saw lots of university buildings, busy high streets and a lot of residential area. There were posh buildings next to smelly shed-like homes, but people seemed happy enough and as it was lunch time, most of them were having a meal outside their sheds. The area was definetely dirtier than anything I saw in China, and the living conditions worse. Apparently the Philippines have the biggest gap between the rich and the poor, and 33% of the population lives with less than 1$ a day, and third of them are 'absolutely poor' (what this means with respect to income, the news article didn't say). What I'm curious about is how the people I saw fall into the poorness categories. How much do they earn, are they considered poor or even absolutely poor? Their houses were awful, but they had houses. They had food. They were smily and one family even asked me over for a drink (I politely declined). Some of them had chickens. All of this considered, they might not even be those classified as poor. I don't think I will ever know. I keep hoping that the money here would be more evenly spread.
Food, glorious food!
Then a complete change of the topic! The food in the Philippines is a lot of rice. Every meal here is a cup of rice (pressed together into a little cake in the middle of your plate) and then a selection of curry-type things or fried/grilled fish or chicken. I've sampled all kinds of things in the cafeteria here, and everything has been tasty with a lot of garlic. I fell in love with aubergine in China, and the relationship has been carrying on here. The vegetable dishes feature a lot of green beans, aubergine, pumpkins and squashes. The high point of the cafeteria food is the fresh exotic fruit available at breakfast time. The local delicacy buko pie is made out of fresh coconut flesh and must be one of the tastiest pies in existence! And for the disgusting but tasty treats, balut takes the first prize. It is a duck egg that has been allowed to develop for a week before boiling it, so basically it looks like a normal egg but inside there is the yolk and a developing duck embryo that you just munch away.
And then quickly about the food in China, as I never wrote about it. The Chinese restaurant food was surprisingly somewhat like the Chinese food in Western restaurant food: you'd order two million dishes and share them with everyone on the table. And when I say 'somewhat similar', I think I mean not at all. The Beijing duck wasn't crispy as they lead you to believe in the restaurants of London. The conference banquets and dinners were overflowing and allowed sampling so many different dishes. The spicy food didn't feature that much in Shanghai or Beijing, but the spicy region is more to the south (Sechzuan etc). The stinky tofu actually smelled so bad that I couldn't eat more than a mouthful. Augergine and seaweed became my absolute favourites. Oh I'm struggling to remember what I ate in those two conference weeks! After the conferences, the dining went down a notch and majority of the food came from the streets. Steamed dumplings, baozi, filled with shrimp, pork or vegetables were my typical breakfast. Hand-stretched la mian noodles in a soup were delicious and the cooking was exciting to watch. Unfortunately the hostel I stayed at served also Western food, so I found myself too often craving for spagetti or fries, so I ate a lot of that instead of the delicious cheap Chinese food!
Where next?
So the travel plan has slightly changed. Instead of returning to China at the end of this week, I will first spend a bit over a week in Hong Kong. I will be meeting some friends from back home there, which should be super. After HK I will travel by land to Southern China. The plan for it is not definite, but I have heard so many good things about the Yunnan province that I will be headed there. So at the end of the week I will finish work, spend a couple of nights in Manila (which I find frightening if it's like the rest of this country, it's going to be a hectic mess!) and fly out. I will be unfortunately missing the Banaue rice terraces and any further islands and beaches. But this gives me a reason to return to the Philippines one day!
Monday, 27 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
All work and no play makes peppers cold
You might've noticed that I'm trying to write anonymously. It's actually surprisingly difficult, and some of what I write ends up sounding terribly vague. Oh well.
Yet another morning in the office. I have now been here at the institute for a week now, and it is not too bad. My purpose is to write a review on the research they are carrying out jointly here and in the lab where I used to work. It is exciting to see this end of the research and their massive experimental set up. However, writing the review reminds me too much of writing up my PhD thesis. The all-too-bright fluorescent lamps in the office that make my eyes hurt. The drilling sounds next door where they are building new labs. The lack of concentration, the procrastination, the need to think about something else for a bit. The moments when writing just flows.
And the air-conditioning! Why do they have to keep the room temperature below 20C? Why do I need to take a jumper and a scarf with me to work when it's 33C outside? And why oh why do I catch a cold from sitting under the air-conditioning unit? Yesterday went past in a haze, having a sore throat and confused brain. Luckily I fell asleep soon after eight and slept for ten or eleven hours straight, and now I feel much better. Not that the confusion ever goes away! I'm determined to go and explore the area independently more over the weekend. I've spent the whole time allowing people to take me to places, or alternatively being lazy and reading in my room. The books in the local supermarket cost about one euro though, so I haven't been able to resist!
Yet another morning in the office. I have now been here at the institute for a week now, and it is not too bad. My purpose is to write a review on the research they are carrying out jointly here and in the lab where I used to work. It is exciting to see this end of the research and their massive experimental set up. However, writing the review reminds me too much of writing up my PhD thesis. The all-too-bright fluorescent lamps in the office that make my eyes hurt. The drilling sounds next door where they are building new labs. The lack of concentration, the procrastination, the need to think about something else for a bit. The moments when writing just flows.
And the air-conditioning! Why do they have to keep the room temperature below 20C? Why do I need to take a jumper and a scarf with me to work when it's 33C outside? And why oh why do I catch a cold from sitting under the air-conditioning unit? Yesterday went past in a haze, having a sore throat and confused brain. Luckily I fell asleep soon after eight and slept for ten or eleven hours straight, and now I feel much better. Not that the confusion ever goes away! I'm determined to go and explore the area independently more over the weekend. I've spent the whole time allowing people to take me to places, or alternatively being lazy and reading in my room. The books in the local supermarket cost about one euro though, so I haven't been able to resist!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Beautiful beaches and a bit more on China
I'm so happy that I decided to join the group going to Puerto Galera, as it was amazing! It took us three hours on bus and two hours on a boat to reach our destination, White Beach. Our group of 22 consisted of mainly Chinese and Indian people, and we met a German girl, Bianca, on the boat who decided to join our group for the two days. Me and her automatically teamed up and decided to share a hotel room with two Chinese girls. After getting a room from the hotel and having lunch, it was obviously time to swim.
Having spent over a month now in hot countries without being able to swim at all has been difficult. I was excited to get into the water, and it definitely didn't disappoint me! The water was warm and the waves were gentle, the saltiness of the water made floating easy and I felt I could stay there for days. However, it soon clouded over and we saw the rain front approaching us like a wall of water. The rain drops reached us and it was one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. The heavy drops hitting the sea and splashing the sea water up into tiny little fountains. It was like swimming in a sea of dancing pearls which waved gently. The warm sea water and cool rain brought a beautiful contrast. Regardless of the beauty of the rain, we started swimming back to the beach s we were quite far out and didn't feel safe. Some of the distance I had to swim my eyes squeezed tightly shut as the beautiful little splashing drops were salt water and they were getting into my eyes.
After the swim and just only one beer (San Miguel Brand is what they've got here) Bianca wanted to get a henna tattoo, a gecko on her back. Somehow her spontaneity was contagious, and I ended up taking a tribal henna tattoo on my leg. I quite like it, but it is quite big and obvious and looks scaringly like a real tattoo. This made me realize that I would never want to take a real tattoo, and I'm a bit worried about this one lasting too long or leaving a tan line.
The beach restaurants offered all the same menu, grilled fish, meat or vegetables with rice, and the same entertainments. First on line was a fire show with pois and some of the performers were amazingly skilled, and some of us also appreciated the way how the fire reflected from sweaty muscular upper bodies of the performers! The rest of the entertainment was a variety show by drag queens, but it was not-so-exciting and not always very skilled. I have to say that I got so bored that I went to early bed.
For Saturday, we had booked a snorkeling trip to nearby coral reef. We were taken to the location on traditional style Philippine boats (handmade by the captain) and me and Bianca were the first ones in the water. It turned out that a lot of our Chinese friends couldn't swim too well, so they had life jackets on whilst swimming and didn't go far from the boats at all, hence missing out a lot of the corals. The corals were beautiful and there were a lot of sea urchins scattered throughout, making me slightly nervous. After getting used to the idea of breathing through the mouth and just taking it easy, even the sea urchins looked beautiful rather than scary! There were big schools of brightly colored fish, and swimming calmly you could get so close that you could catch them! We also fed the fish with stale bread, and they seemed to love it they'd flock towards the bread and eat it from your hand! After catching a couple of fish this way we also had a go on fishing, and in the end we got to take our catch with us and we had it grilled at the beach restaurant for lunch!
We also made a quick stop at an isolated and empty beach. The trip organizer, a local 22-year old boy, told us that the beach was owned by the government, but the land right next to it belongs to a politician. This same man owns three quarters of the Mindoro island. The gap between the rich and the poor is big, he said. However, he was from a family of 16 sons ("14 sons and two gays") and they had always had enough to eat. He obviously didn't consider himself rich, but he was currently studying for a bachelor's degree in management and seemed happy with his life. We spoke about families. I had one brother, coming from a Western highly-educated family. The Han Chinese would have only one child and the minority Chinese could have two. The Ugandan man was surprised at all this; government-imposed family planning, effect of the education, someone coming from a family of 16 sons. He had nine siblings himself, and all of them were well-educated - I was surprised by this.
The journey back went with some rough seas and Philippine-style slow traffic. I was tired and unfortunately slightly burned from the snorkeling, and all too happy to go to bed by nine pm!
Then some more about China - things that they do well!
The urban planning. The cities are boringly built in a logical arrangement. Streets go north to south and east to west. The subway runs logically into main directions, and at the subway stations there are clearly labeled exits with the directions (e.g. North-West exit), maps and lists of buildings one will find from each exit. You will never lose your sense of direction. I was able to find my way to subway stations, sights and always back without a map, as everything made sense. Must be like being one of those Australian aboriginals who learn from a young age where each direction is.
Hot water. Every single train, waiting room or public place has a boiler for hot water. Your own tea Tupperware pot is essential, and you keep topping it up whenever you want. Also, forget about buying a sandwich at the train station - you buy potnoodles instead and just add hot water! It must be difficult for the Chinese to get by anywhere else in the world without their reliable supply of boiling water!
Having spent over a month now in hot countries without being able to swim at all has been difficult. I was excited to get into the water, and it definitely didn't disappoint me! The water was warm and the waves were gentle, the saltiness of the water made floating easy and I felt I could stay there for days. However, it soon clouded over and we saw the rain front approaching us like a wall of water. The rain drops reached us and it was one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. The heavy drops hitting the sea and splashing the sea water up into tiny little fountains. It was like swimming in a sea of dancing pearls which waved gently. The warm sea water and cool rain brought a beautiful contrast. Regardless of the beauty of the rain, we started swimming back to the beach s we were quite far out and didn't feel safe. Some of the distance I had to swim my eyes squeezed tightly shut as the beautiful little splashing drops were salt water and they were getting into my eyes.
After the swim and just only one beer (San Miguel Brand is what they've got here) Bianca wanted to get a henna tattoo, a gecko on her back. Somehow her spontaneity was contagious, and I ended up taking a tribal henna tattoo on my leg. I quite like it, but it is quite big and obvious and looks scaringly like a real tattoo. This made me realize that I would never want to take a real tattoo, and I'm a bit worried about this one lasting too long or leaving a tan line.
The beach restaurants offered all the same menu, grilled fish, meat or vegetables with rice, and the same entertainments. First on line was a fire show with pois and some of the performers were amazingly skilled, and some of us also appreciated the way how the fire reflected from sweaty muscular upper bodies of the performers! The rest of the entertainment was a variety show by drag queens, but it was not-so-exciting and not always very skilled. I have to say that I got so bored that I went to early bed.
For Saturday, we had booked a snorkeling trip to nearby coral reef. We were taken to the location on traditional style Philippine boats (handmade by the captain) and me and Bianca were the first ones in the water. It turned out that a lot of our Chinese friends couldn't swim too well, so they had life jackets on whilst swimming and didn't go far from the boats at all, hence missing out a lot of the corals. The corals were beautiful and there were a lot of sea urchins scattered throughout, making me slightly nervous. After getting used to the idea of breathing through the mouth and just taking it easy, even the sea urchins looked beautiful rather than scary! There were big schools of brightly colored fish, and swimming calmly you could get so close that you could catch them! We also fed the fish with stale bread, and they seemed to love it they'd flock towards the bread and eat it from your hand! After catching a couple of fish this way we also had a go on fishing, and in the end we got to take our catch with us and we had it grilled at the beach restaurant for lunch!
We also made a quick stop at an isolated and empty beach. The trip organizer, a local 22-year old boy, told us that the beach was owned by the government, but the land right next to it belongs to a politician. This same man owns three quarters of the Mindoro island. The gap between the rich and the poor is big, he said. However, he was from a family of 16 sons ("14 sons and two gays") and they had always had enough to eat. He obviously didn't consider himself rich, but he was currently studying for a bachelor's degree in management and seemed happy with his life. We spoke about families. I had one brother, coming from a Western highly-educated family. The Han Chinese would have only one child and the minority Chinese could have two. The Ugandan man was surprised at all this; government-imposed family planning, effect of the education, someone coming from a family of 16 sons. He had nine siblings himself, and all of them were well-educated - I was surprised by this.
The journey back went with some rough seas and Philippine-style slow traffic. I was tired and unfortunately slightly burned from the snorkeling, and all too happy to go to bed by nine pm!
Then some more about China - things that they do well!
The urban planning. The cities are boringly built in a logical arrangement. Streets go north to south and east to west. The subway runs logically into main directions, and at the subway stations there are clearly labeled exits with the directions (e.g. North-West exit), maps and lists of buildings one will find from each exit. You will never lose your sense of direction. I was able to find my way to subway stations, sights and always back without a map, as everything made sense. Must be like being one of those Australian aboriginals who learn from a young age where each direction is.
Hot water. Every single train, waiting room or public place has a boiler for hot water. Your own tea Tupperware pot is essential, and you keep topping it up whenever you want. Also, forget about buying a sandwich at the train station - you buy potnoodles instead and just add hot water! It must be difficult for the Chinese to get by anywhere else in the world without their reliable supply of boiling water!
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Reflections on China
Leaving from China put it all in perspective, made me contemplate it. I met Western people with all kinds of views on China. I met an Italian guy who hated Chinese food and was afraid to eat anything. I met Canadian brother and sister, and the brother said he hated everything about China - traffic, people, rudeness, politics, language, everything... except being on holiday there. I met an American girl who teaches English, and she had a love/hate relationship with China. And there was me, not having a single negative thought about the it. (Ignoring the politics here.)
I enjoyed the experience a lot. I enjoyed that people stared, that people were occasionally pushy in the ques, that the language was very blunt, that people just did what they were meant to do. It all just reflected their life - sheltered, crowded, functional, obedient. I just took it all as an experience. This is the life the Chinese live, this is the mentality that adapts them to the environment. I found it immensely exciting. Whereas the Canadian guy would say that it's just all awful and they should learn manners and how to be Western.
The one thing that took me completely by surprise is the cleanliness of the streets. They might get a little dirty every now and then, but it was obvious that the cleaning was effectively externalized. There were no official cleaners as such, but normal looking individuals who would collect trash and carry it away with their little motorized tricycles. Also I learned that the empty plastic bottles carried a very small deposit, so the poorer people collected them very efficiently. We saw about thousand wonders of logistics, not unlike this picture, and this was how things were delivered in the little hutong alleyways where cars, let alone lorries, could not easily fit in. And speaking of Chinese wonders and hutongs: I saw a hutong house next to my hostel being torn down, the rubble taken away, new bricks brought in, bricks laid, walls plastered, roof made, and the family moving back in... within a week.
On the last days in Beijing I went to see the view of whole Beijing from the TV tower. It reminded me of the film Baraka, maybe because it was an intermediate between the views of poverty stricken apartment blocks and the views of New York traffic from above. I have to say that Beijing is huuuuge. Mahoosive even! And the views were great! I've noticed that the weirdest little things remind me of snippets of my life together with my boyfriend. Eating a roll with butter in the airplane. Sitting outside the Bird's Nest, watching the sky darken. And all of the memories that they bring back are happy ones.
I also ended up in the Military Museum, partially because it was free, and I ended up appreciating the fact that I could see the viewpoint of the Chinese to some of the wars of last century. A lot of it was in Chinese, but the English captions also told a neat story.
I have so much to say and so little time... as it happens I've got my welcome dinner here at the Philippines in ten minutes. Tomorrow is a local holiday and I'm joining some of my coworkers to an overnight trip to Puerto Galeira! It will be the first time on this trip that I get to wear my bikini and go to the beach - wohoo!
I enjoyed the experience a lot. I enjoyed that people stared, that people were occasionally pushy in the ques, that the language was very blunt, that people just did what they were meant to do. It all just reflected their life - sheltered, crowded, functional, obedient. I just took it all as an experience. This is the life the Chinese live, this is the mentality that adapts them to the environment. I found it immensely exciting. Whereas the Canadian guy would say that it's just all awful and they should learn manners and how to be Western.
The one thing that took me completely by surprise is the cleanliness of the streets. They might get a little dirty every now and then, but it was obvious that the cleaning was effectively externalized. There were no official cleaners as such, but normal looking individuals who would collect trash and carry it away with their little motorized tricycles. Also I learned that the empty plastic bottles carried a very small deposit, so the poorer people collected them very efficiently. We saw about thousand wonders of logistics, not unlike this picture, and this was how things were delivered in the little hutong alleyways where cars, let alone lorries, could not easily fit in. And speaking of Chinese wonders and hutongs: I saw a hutong house next to my hostel being torn down, the rubble taken away, new bricks brought in, bricks laid, walls plastered, roof made, and the family moving back in... within a week.
On the last days in Beijing I went to see the view of whole Beijing from the TV tower. It reminded me of the film Baraka, maybe because it was an intermediate between the views of poverty stricken apartment blocks and the views of New York traffic from above. I have to say that Beijing is huuuuge. Mahoosive even! And the views were great! I've noticed that the weirdest little things remind me of snippets of my life together with my boyfriend. Eating a roll with butter in the airplane. Sitting outside the Bird's Nest, watching the sky darken. And all of the memories that they bring back are happy ones.
I also ended up in the Military Museum, partially because it was free, and I ended up appreciating the fact that I could see the viewpoint of the Chinese to some of the wars of last century. A lot of it was in Chinese, but the English captions also told a neat story.
I have so much to say and so little time... as it happens I've got my welcome dinner here at the Philippines in ten minutes. Tomorrow is a local holiday and I'm joining some of my coworkers to an overnight trip to Puerto Galeira! It will be the first time on this trip that I get to wear my bikini and go to the beach - wohoo!
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Taking it easy in Beijing
After returning to Beijing, I changed into a cheaper hostel with more travellers, and it was a smart move. The bar area has been great for meeting people, hanging out, eating occasional Western food, having a Tsingtao or two, and watching films. It's like being in your own living room, but with interesting people! I've been doing short days of sightseeing (Botanical Gardens, Temple of Heaven garden, Beihai Park, Jingshan Park, Drum and Bell Tower... can you tell that I've seen too many temples and I'm now concentrating on parks and gardens?) and then enjoyed the evenings at the hostel. I'm feeling pretty comfortable here! Good night everyone, Beijing over and out.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Adventures in Shanxi province
I'm now back in Beijing after a quick four-day stint in the amazing mountaineous Shanxi province. I travelled with five fellow scientists/partners, and I think the best part of the trip was travelling in good company. The train journeys were relaxed and entertaining: we played games and had a good laugh. The sights we saw inspired interesting conversations. Travelling with other people gave me a lot more perspective.
After the conference I had two days of sightseeing in Beijing: the beautiful Summer Palace, the traquil Lama temple, the hustle and bustle of the streets, the tourist traps. On Sunday evening I met up with my travel buddies at the Beijing West train station, and we caught a sleeper train to Datong, the coal mining capital of China. The journey was six or seven hours, and I slept easily the most of it. We had hard sleeper beds, which were really confortable, and although they were open to the aisle, it felt safe as many people were around.
In Datong we ended up going to an organised tour of the Yungang Buddha grottoes and the Hanging Monastery. The grottoes were located near Datong, and contained huge awe-inspiring Buddha statues. The Hanging Monastery were two-hour drive away from Datong, and the area around was beautiful with mountains and rivers. The Hanging Monastery actually hangs, and it looks very tiny in comparison to the massive mountain that protects it from sun, wind and rain. Given that it has survived there already for 1400 years, we braved walking on the narrow passages. The European style health and safety pre-cautions were non-existent: the lack of high railings on the passages kept me glued to the wall. Not a good place for people like me who are scared of heights! Our travel guide Happy was worth her name, and after the two amazing sights, we were dropped off at a hotel in Hunyuan (near the Hanging Monastery) where she negotiated us drastically reduced room prices.
On Tuesday, we set off early to climb Mount Hengshan, one of the holy mountains of Taoism. The morning started off rainy, and we had our doubts about spending three hours on a rainy mountain. Luckily the rain ceased and we had the perfect misty weather for exploring the Taoist temples whilst the monks were burning incence and beating gongs. It was amazingly beautiful and out-of-this-world, probably the best thing I've seen in China this far. After the mountain we took a bus back to Datong (with loads of random Chinese snacks) and a sleeper train to Taiyuan, where it arrived at 11 pm. After five attempts, we found a hotel with free rooms, and we booked for two nights.
Wednesday morning was another relatively early morning, and the rock-hard mattresses in the hotel didn't help the matter. We took a minibus to Pingyao, and we were accompanied by the family of the driver. Amazingly enough, the six-year old could count in English, as well as ask how are you and list about half a dozen different fruit. It seems that China is valuing the language education at the moment! Pingyao was a very touristy walled city which had remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. A lot of Chinese cities used to have city walls, but in majority of the cases the cities have grown and the bricks from the walls have been used for other purposes. Pingyao however had the original walls, and the city inside had lots of preserved temples, banks, government offices, schools etc which made the whole city a massive museum. Lots of old courtyard houses were converted into guesthouses, and we had a delicious lunch in one of them. Also lots of touristy shopping was available, and we made some well-considered and well-bargained purchases. One of my travelling companions bought Chinese chess, Xianqi, and we found some friendly local men who were willing to teach him the rules and to have a couple of matches. When we caught a bus back to Taiyuan, we thought we had seen a whole day's worth of China, but on the walk back to the hotel we encountered a number of exciting things. There were a hundred or so people singing together in a circle in one of the street corners. There was a dance aerobic class going on in front of a building, and two of us (including me!) joined in for a couple of songs, trying really hard to learn the steps. There was amazing street food, noodles and kebabs, and a friendly Chinese man who taught us Chinese phrases. I learned to ask "how much" with the right tones, to say "I don't understand", and some other essential words.
Thusrday was our final day outside Beijing, and it was raining again. Or rather, it started raining half an hour after we had left the hotel without our rain gear. We went to the Twin Pagoda Towers, tallest in the world. I think my dad would've loved it, as you got to go inside and climb to the top for the best views in the city! After the pagoda towers we tried to go to the China Coal Museum, but we had to split up for taxis and the other driver didn't know where to go. So instead three of us ended up having tasty local lunch, with potentially the best mushroom-potato-pepper dish in the world. The bullet train journey back to Beijing went fast with games of Psychiatrist and Click-Click-Bang, and soon we were back at my hostel and in bed for another short night, as on Friday we went to hike the Great Wall. Did I mention that two of the people were training for a marathon? I didn't realise when we set off, but I might have been better off taking the cable car up, as the Wall itself had a lot of steep stairs... regardless of being out of breath most of the time, it was Great as the name implies! Also, we separated at the top, so I had an hour of very calm sitting and appreciating the view whilst others hiked to the non-tourist stretches. On the way down, all of us were exhausted and took a toboggan down! In the evening we had a dinner in true Beijing style: duck!
Now it's Saturday I think and I'm exhausted. Others have flights today to go back home, and I'm having a relaxed day to recover and plan the next ten days I've got left in China. Maybe a trip to Xian, maybe staying in Beijing,... time will tell!
After the conference I had two days of sightseeing in Beijing: the beautiful Summer Palace, the traquil Lama temple, the hustle and bustle of the streets, the tourist traps. On Sunday evening I met up with my travel buddies at the Beijing West train station, and we caught a sleeper train to Datong, the coal mining capital of China. The journey was six or seven hours, and I slept easily the most of it. We had hard sleeper beds, which were really confortable, and although they were open to the aisle, it felt safe as many people were around.
In Datong we ended up going to an organised tour of the Yungang Buddha grottoes and the Hanging Monastery. The grottoes were located near Datong, and contained huge awe-inspiring Buddha statues. The Hanging Monastery were two-hour drive away from Datong, and the area around was beautiful with mountains and rivers. The Hanging Monastery actually hangs, and it looks very tiny in comparison to the massive mountain that protects it from sun, wind and rain. Given that it has survived there already for 1400 years, we braved walking on the narrow passages. The European style health and safety pre-cautions were non-existent: the lack of high railings on the passages kept me glued to the wall. Not a good place for people like me who are scared of heights! Our travel guide Happy was worth her name, and after the two amazing sights, we were dropped off at a hotel in Hunyuan (near the Hanging Monastery) where she negotiated us drastically reduced room prices.
On Tuesday, we set off early to climb Mount Hengshan, one of the holy mountains of Taoism. The morning started off rainy, and we had our doubts about spending three hours on a rainy mountain. Luckily the rain ceased and we had the perfect misty weather for exploring the Taoist temples whilst the monks were burning incence and beating gongs. It was amazingly beautiful and out-of-this-world, probably the best thing I've seen in China this far. After the mountain we took a bus back to Datong (with loads of random Chinese snacks) and a sleeper train to Taiyuan, where it arrived at 11 pm. After five attempts, we found a hotel with free rooms, and we booked for two nights.
Wednesday morning was another relatively early morning, and the rock-hard mattresses in the hotel didn't help the matter. We took a minibus to Pingyao, and we were accompanied by the family of the driver. Amazingly enough, the six-year old could count in English, as well as ask how are you and list about half a dozen different fruit. It seems that China is valuing the language education at the moment! Pingyao was a very touristy walled city which had remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. A lot of Chinese cities used to have city walls, but in majority of the cases the cities have grown and the bricks from the walls have been used for other purposes. Pingyao however had the original walls, and the city inside had lots of preserved temples, banks, government offices, schools etc which made the whole city a massive museum. Lots of old courtyard houses were converted into guesthouses, and we had a delicious lunch in one of them. Also lots of touristy shopping was available, and we made some well-considered and well-bargained purchases. One of my travelling companions bought Chinese chess, Xianqi, and we found some friendly local men who were willing to teach him the rules and to have a couple of matches. When we caught a bus back to Taiyuan, we thought we had seen a whole day's worth of China, but on the walk back to the hotel we encountered a number of exciting things. There were a hundred or so people singing together in a circle in one of the street corners. There was a dance aerobic class going on in front of a building, and two of us (including me!) joined in for a couple of songs, trying really hard to learn the steps. There was amazing street food, noodles and kebabs, and a friendly Chinese man who taught us Chinese phrases. I learned to ask "how much" with the right tones, to say "I don't understand", and some other essential words.
Thusrday was our final day outside Beijing, and it was raining again. Or rather, it started raining half an hour after we had left the hotel without our rain gear. We went to the Twin Pagoda Towers, tallest in the world. I think my dad would've loved it, as you got to go inside and climb to the top for the best views in the city! After the pagoda towers we tried to go to the China Coal Museum, but we had to split up for taxis and the other driver didn't know where to go. So instead three of us ended up having tasty local lunch, with potentially the best mushroom-potato-pepper dish in the world. The bullet train journey back to Beijing went fast with games of Psychiatrist and Click-Click-Bang, and soon we were back at my hostel and in bed for another short night, as on Friday we went to hike the Great Wall. Did I mention that two of the people were training for a marathon? I didn't realise when we set off, but I might have been better off taking the cable car up, as the Wall itself had a lot of steep stairs... regardless of being out of breath most of the time, it was Great as the name implies! Also, we separated at the top, so I had an hour of very calm sitting and appreciating the view whilst others hiked to the non-tourist stretches. On the way down, all of us were exhausted and took a toboggan down! In the evening we had a dinner in true Beijing style: duck!
Now it's Saturday I think and I'm exhausted. Others have flights today to go back home, and I'm having a relaxed day to recover and plan the next ten days I've got left in China. Maybe a trip to Xian, maybe staying in Beijing,... time will tell!
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Greetings from the happy traveller!
As predicted, Chinese government does not want me updating my blog. This update was made by email to a friend, as I have not yet had time to figure out how to circumvent the system (although a kind Chinese friend of a friend has given me instructions).
There is so much to write about, and all of it is positive. The worst thing happened this far is that I misread my map and got out of the metro on the wrong stop. It took me two minutes to realise this and get back on the metro. Which, by the way, is ultra modern compared to the metros of west: air-conditioning, sliding doors and costs only 2 RMB (0,25 EUR). Everything seems so modern here anyway, all the new cars and mobile phones and buildings. The economic growth is really apparent, at least in the big cities.
I think the best thing so far in China have been the people. They are incredibly kind. Walk around with a map, and someone will be there to ask if they can help. When you tell them where you're going, it turns out that they don't know the area but they will go and ask someone local in Chinese. Forget your brand new iPhone in a restaurant, and they check who it belongs to and call people on your phonebook with the same surname to find out which hotel you're staying at. Mention a friend that you're going to his hometown, and he'll organise his parents to greet you at the airport and show you around in the town and take you to their home for real home-cooked Chinese food. It has all been INCREDIBLE.
So I have spent about a week in Shanghai and half a week in Beijing now. The conferences have been excellent - interesting, stimulating and have convinced me that I want to stay in science. It is just too damn interesting! Also the conferences have yielded a couple of job offers, one seriously worth considering. I will be flying to the States later in my gap year to see their incredibly well-equipped institute and to give a seminar. Very exciting! And for the shorter scale, I managed to promise I would fly to the Philippines to another institute and write a review there. This will be happening already in September! I don't think I can even express how happy this makes me! The conference attendance has truly been a stepping stone for me, and I definitely made the right choice coming here and paying the travel out of my own pocket! And there is still a couple of days of conference left...
After Beijing I will be headed west. I have found a group of American students who are staying in China for a week after the conference and have planned to travel around. I decided to team up with them for a few days to get outside Beijing. The travel plan is still slightly up in the air, but the first destination is Datong and the Hanging Temple near Mt Hengshan. Looking forward to seeing the areas outside the big cities!
I'm not certain where and when I can update this blog again, so don't be worried for me if the updates are rare!
There is so much to write about, and all of it is positive. The worst thing happened this far is that I misread my map and got out of the metro on the wrong stop. It took me two minutes to realise this and get back on the metro. Which, by the way, is ultra modern compared to the metros of west: air-conditioning, sliding doors and costs only 2 RMB (0,25 EUR). Everything seems so modern here anyway, all the new cars and mobile phones and buildings. The economic growth is really apparent, at least in the big cities.
I think the best thing so far in China have been the people. They are incredibly kind. Walk around with a map, and someone will be there to ask if they can help. When you tell them where you're going, it turns out that they don't know the area but they will go and ask someone local in Chinese. Forget your brand new iPhone in a restaurant, and they check who it belongs to and call people on your phonebook with the same surname to find out which hotel you're staying at. Mention a friend that you're going to his hometown, and he'll organise his parents to greet you at the airport and show you around in the town and take you to their home for real home-cooked Chinese food. It has all been INCREDIBLE.
So I have spent about a week in Shanghai and half a week in Beijing now. The conferences have been excellent - interesting, stimulating and have convinced me that I want to stay in science. It is just too damn interesting! Also the conferences have yielded a couple of job offers, one seriously worth considering. I will be flying to the States later in my gap year to see their incredibly well-equipped institute and to give a seminar. Very exciting! And for the shorter scale, I managed to promise I would fly to the Philippines to another institute and write a review there. This will be happening already in September! I don't think I can even express how happy this makes me! The conference attendance has truly been a stepping stone for me, and I definitely made the right choice coming here and paying the travel out of my own pocket! And there is still a couple of days of conference left...
After Beijing I will be headed west. I have found a group of American students who are staying in China for a week after the conference and have planned to travel around. I decided to team up with them for a few days to get outside Beijing. The travel plan is still slightly up in the air, but the first destination is Datong and the Hanging Temple near Mt Hengshan. Looking forward to seeing the areas outside the big cities!
I'm not certain where and when I can update this blog again, so don't be worried for me if the updates are rare!
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