Suzhou, Zhouzhang & Hangzhou (or Where I Rediscover How Awesome Trains Are)

I think I'm just falling in love with China a little more each day. Honestly, before my adventure set out I was terrified that every horrifying thing I've heard about China would have me running back to America for familiar ground. And while there are some things that I dearly miss (certain foods, amenities, Western toilets, dancing) and am counting the days until I can take a nice, warm shower, I absolutely am falling in love with this country.

I wish I could just sit down and talk about everything about where I'm staying and what I'm doing, but once again I find myself positively ready to explode about my latest trip. So, before it gets messy, I think I'll do that.

The traveling itself made this trip special. I made the decision practically the day before and left it up to my travel mates (Jason and Armando, yes, that Armando) to book the tickets (as I spent most of Friday at a spa (story coming soon)). After agreeing on the two cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou and deciding to head to Suzhou first, we soon found out that there was only on train per day... at 12:14 a.m.

This did not excite me. I have never pulled an all nighter, but what I experienced was something very close to what I think an all nighter would be like. The train ride was five to six hours long and extremely uncomfortable. (I attempted to use Jason as a pillow, but he was too fidgety. Later he would tell me my elbows are like knives.)

So after one of the most uncomfortable nights of my life, we arrived in Suzhou, haggard-looking and silent. We stumbled into the hostel with nary a problem and aside from them accidentally confusing my passport for Jason's. (The salt on the wound is that he isn't even blond, so there really was no excuse for it.)

We took a much needed two hour nap and then struck out at 10 a.m.... or really 11 a.m. since it took us an hour to decide what we were going to do. We walked to the North Pagoda, which was relatively cheap (25 RMB). It had this amazing Buddah statue and offered some gorgeous views of the city.

After that we went to the Humble Administrator's garden (拙政园) which offered more beautiful Chinese landscape. But it was hot and humid. I was quick to take out my umbrella for shade. But it didn't stop me from getting soaked from the moisture.

We sought shelter in a museum. I can't tell you what museum. Just that it had amazing air conditioner.

Dazed, we wandered back to our hostel for a quick shower and nap and then we sought out sustenance. We ended up finding a Korean restaurant and I found some good bubble tea. The main walking street in Suzhou, Guan Qian Jie (观前街), was an impressive site. The neon and the crowds gave the street a vibrant sheen in the night, but the crowd was perfect for people watching.

The next day had us up early, breakfast at 7 a.m. and meeting the lobby at 8:10 to go on a tour to Zhouzhang (州长), the Venice of China. We hopped on a Chinese tour because it was honestly cheaper than going ourselves. (We were actually able to haggle down so we basically paid 20 RMB for the bus and 100 RMB for the entrance. The bus without the tour would have been 70+ RMB.)

Zhouzhang earns its nickname in spades. It was a Chinese Venice, complete with boats not unlike gondolas drifting through the canals. (We didn't get in one, but should you choose to enjoy a relaxing boat ride, you are given a small table for tea and if you get a woman to push you around, she'll more than likely serenade you.)

After lunch we were given a choice between two "towers". Of course, not really understanding, we just asked which was the most interesting, took their word for it and bought the tickets. This ended up being the best decision of the trip. They took us to this house that looked pretty shabby on the outside, but inside was the most amazing illusion/fun house I've ever been in.

The rooms were so impressive, as well as the paintings and the optical illusions. There was an upside down room, a sideways room, a room that made you really small and/or really big, a hall of mirrors, and the scariest haunted house I've ever been in.

We went into this room with these tables with headphones. We put on a pair each and then the room went pitch black. You could not see a centimeter in front your face and the audio through the headphones was so frightening. At first it was just something walking around, and you could feel someone walking around. And then it would whisper in your ear, and it really felt like someone was whispering. It was in Chinese, but some how that made it scarier. Haunted houses are usually pretty easy for me to laugh at... this one was really good.

That night we hopped on a bus to the near by Hangzhou (杭州) to meet Emily and Michael O. The hostel they booked our reservations at was probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen in my life. While a bit more expensive than our usual hostel by twenty yuan, it was a really charming place. Past visitors wrote on the walls in bright colors, English, Chinese, French, all over! And when we had breakfast, we got silverware! It was amazing.

The morning was spent at Yingling temple, which was honestly the most impressive temple I've been to in China. While a bit expensive (45 RMB to enter the mountain park and another 30 for the temple) the statues and the scenery were absolutely breathtaking.

After that and wandering around a bit, we ended up renting bikes and going over West Lake. A gorgeous, picturesque lake, but soooo humid!

Armando, Jason and I headed back to Wuhu that night on a train, experiencing one of the sleeper cars for the first time. It was a blast! And extremely comfortable. Only fifteen yuan more expensive, I really recommend this to get around, especially if you're traveling at night. (Though if you want to read, bring your own book light.)

My next trip is to Shanghai where I hope to find some lindy hoppers. Until then, I'll be roaming!

Nanjing Part II (or How I Became a TV Celebrity)

So, last minute, I decided to go to Nanjing again, this time with a larger group (and without Henry, though he was sorely missed). And it just deepened my love for the city.

Out of the three major cities I have visited, Nanjing is easily my favorite. (the other two being Shanghai and Hong Kong (though arguably that is not China, and I would agree with that)). Though it certainly does it's best to discourage me every time I visit.

This time, though I didn't lose my brand new camera (thank goodness), almost everything else seemed a challenge. Still, it will probably be one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

While the first trip to Nanjing was laid back, even restful, this one was a lot more hectic. I acted as a tour guide, since I kind of knew my way around. I ended up going to the Nanjing Massacre Museum again, though it offered a chance to take note on some things I miss and it's honestly the #1 site to see in Nanjing.

I really wanted to show them the top of the mountain, which had been gorgeous the first time around, but it was so foggy we could barely see the tops of the buildings. So, we looked for an antique market (which we didn't find) but I haggled for two gorgeous jade pieces, which I got down to 30% the asking price! I probably could have gotten down more, but I was so excited I just agreed. (All in all, ended up being less than $5 USD, so I call that a win.)

The shopkeepers absolutely loved haggling with us foreigners. Every time I exclaimed "tài guìle (very expensive)!" the woman seemed really excited and happy to haggle.

(Granted, not all the shopkeepers shared her enthusiasm. I tried haggling at a much more expensive place and the woman might as well have been stone.)

After a quick shower and rest, we went to the Fuzi temple, which was closed but the area surrounding it offered beautiful, colorful sites and shops.

The next day, I visited my favorite place in all of Nanjing and probably one of the most beautiful parks I have ever been to in my life.

So many people came up to my fellow teacher Emmanuel and me, it was like we were celebrities. Emmanuel got more than me and I had at least seven people approach me to take pictures.

And then the TV camera came. So there were like nine of us walking around the park and this guy and his camera man approached us asking for a boy and a girl to be boyfriend and girlfriend on camera. One of the guys immediately agreed whereas I kind of volunteered by just staying in the forefront of the group. (Not to say that I didn't want to do it, but I also didn't want to be like "MEMEMEMEME!")

We were given pieces of paper, were made to stand back to back and told to write down our favorite thing about the our significant other. Seeing as how we weren't actually a couple, this was a bit of a challenge. Finally, Hélène shouts to me what would be my dream boyfriend.

So we turn around, I showed him what I wrote ("He takes me dancing."). Now this is supposed to be a very touching moment where we (as a couple) are all lovey dovey, and guess what he says. "She's blond." Apparently that's my defining factor as person. Had he actually been my boyfriend, it would not have been a touching moment.

But then the TV guy told Armando that he had to say something else, that a lot of girls were blond, and he said that I was a nice person and that was pretty, etc. So yeah, got a good compliment or two out of it. ;)

All things considered, he wasn't my boyfriend and (as far as I know) I got to be on China TV. If I ever find the clip I will definitely post it here.

The rest of the day consisted of us trying to go to the Dr. Sun Yatsen Mausoleum (but due to an afternoon thunderstorm was closed), the adventure trying to get there in a taxi, drying off at the hostel before getting caught in the middle of flood trying to get to the bus station. The water was literally up past my knees. We tried to take one of the city buses but the traffic stopped because of the flood and we had to trek there.

We ended up missing our bus but were able to get tickets to the last bus to Wuhu (which ended up being a rest stop half way to another destination) that was supposed to leave at 7:30 p.m. but because of the flooding, the bus schedule was backed up for hours. Eventually we left around 8:30~9 and arrived safe and sound in Wuhu.

And that was Nanjing Part II.

Itchy Feet

There are two things that I irrevocably love. One, as you might have guessed, is travelling. (This blog is a direct result of that affair.) The other one is dance!

Specifically, swing dancing.

I started around January 2010, so not that long ago. And I am now getting ready to enter my third year of college as co-president of my school's swing dance club.

In my normal life I usually dance at LEAST once if not twice or three times a week. And now I have not danced in a month. I am ready to explode. And if and when I do, it may or may not be pretty.

It hit me when I was in Nanjing (for the second time with a larger group of people, story coming soon), when we were waiting for the bus and I was attempting to play music to distract everyone. I came upon Frankie Manning's T'aint What You Do and the urge to get up and dance was undeniable. I ended up shuffling out a rendition of the shim sham (click for video demo) and then I was sorely wishing for any of my companions to know lindy hop (demo).

Now, it's like I have an itch I can't scratch. I could go days without listening to my music, but now I can't stop. I need to dance. To music that I know, that's not techno club-beat music. A partner who can lead and respond.

I found a place in Shanghai. I need to go. Next chance, definitely...

I need to scratch this itch!

A Weekend in Nanjing

Weather.com says thunderstorms all night, and as how I have all day tomorrow to prepare for this week's lesson, I think I finally have some time actually write a (semi) decent entry.

While I have been planning give an update on the teaching experience, I think I'll wait until after this week to give a better picture of what I'm dealing with.

Instead, I think I'll talk about something more recent: My weekend in Nanjing (南京).

A fellow foreigner and a member of the teaching crew, Henry, was going to Nanjing and as my schedule has a longer than average weekend I decided to tag along. Which was probably one of the best decisions I have made in a very, very long time.

I have never been allowed or had the guts to take a whirlwind trip, get on a train with almost no plan (or adult supervision) and just have fun.

And have fun we did... even when we weren't having fun. (Paradox? Maybe. But it's the truth.)

The first thing I want to say is that the most disappointing thing since I arrived in China happened in Nanjing, in that I lost my camera. It was my own fault and I know somewhere out there my dad is shaking is head with an "I told you so" ready, but I was determined not to let that set the tone for the weekend. (And luckily my iPhone came equipped with a camera, though maybe not as high quality.)

But with that very depressing news out of the way (oh and I plan on finding a cheap camera to get me through the rest of the two months, so don't worry, there will be good pictures!), on to Nanjing:

(Oh, just skyped with Dad, apparently he lost his camera (my old one) too. So dodged that "I told you so".)

The first day did its best to discourage us. Not only was it the day I lost my camera, it was also when we kept on ALMOST getting to where we wanted, but we could not just go all the way. Like, first we show up at the bus station in Wuhu (yeah, yeah, go on, giggle) and tried to get tickets to the bus station (which was relatively close to our hostel) in the center of Nanjing. No tickets available. So we got tickets to the southern bus station... which very, very far away from our hostel.

Oh well, we can just take a taxi, right? Nope. I don't know what was with Nanjing taxi drivers, whether it's because they don't like to drive foreigners around or there was a system that just didn't make sense, but we could not get a taxi into or in the city. And while we didn't have ALL off our belongings with us, walking really wasn't an option. (It would've taken maybe TWO HOURS to do so.)

So how did we get into the city? We did the second thing every good mother tells her kid not to do: we got into a stranger's car. He charged A LOT more than a taxi would have (35 yuan), but we couldn't get a taxi to save our lives. Luckily we were able to make it to our a hostel eventually.

Well... first we found a print shop. Then one of the counter girls kindly walked us around the corner and THEN we found our hostel....

AND THEN we realized we didn't have our passports. Now, we actually thought we wouldn't have to... well Henry didn't. I meant to bring a copy of my passport but it didn't make it into my bag.

So after about two hours we were able to get our office to email a scanned copy of our passports and visas and luckily they accepted that. (There was talk about going to the police station to get registered. Eek!)

After that was finally sorted out and our stuff was safely in our room, Henry and I decided that our best option was to walk around, get to the bus station and buy our tickets in advance.

You'd think that would be easier in a more touristic city like Nanjing, right? Ha! It was so difficult to explain when and where we wanted to go, it took another forty-five minutes.

The sad thing? The people at MacDonald's spoke better English. (Don't judge. We desperately wanted Coke. AND THEY UNDERSTOOD US!)

But in all seriousness, despite all the whining, the first day was pretty enjoyable (except for losing my camera). Nanjing is a very beautiful city and, save for the taxi drivers, most people were very friendly.

The next day we started out going to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. (Cheery, ain't it?) Henry and I braved the metro and, for the most part (with the help of my guidebook and a metro employee and some very nice college girls) we were able to get there without much of a fuss. The girls, cousins Emily and Cindy, were headed the same way so we basically hung around them for some translation. (Emily was an English student and spoke very well for someone who had only been studying two years.)

The museum itself is what you would expect of something with "Massacre" in it's name. If you've ever read/heard of the book The Rape of Nanjing: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang, then you know something of this topic. Some parts really were horrifying (such as Japan's propaganda included stories of how their soldiers were peaceful and even giving children candy while walking down the street. Not that I'd expect them to publish how they were murdering and raping mostly civilians, but at least hint to a more gruesome war than what they were telling everyone). It was also really cool to see U.S. newspapers discussing the war in Asia (with bits about the New Deal hear and there).

I could tell why this was the number one recommended stop in my guide book. It really gave a more human feel to an otherwise alienating culture (for a foreigner at least).

That and Henry and I couldn't believe how many people were paying more attention to US than the exhibits. Some kids kept on following us around, a fourteen year old with very good English kept on talking to us about everything and asking how to say certain things while his (presumably) cousins kept on giving us candy.

(So yeah, #1 thing your mother told you to never do, we did.)

Afterward we grabbed lunch with Cindy and Emily, who brought us to a very famous (but cheap) restaurant in Nanjing where I tried the city's famous duck blood soup. (Yes, I gagged after three bites.)

Parting with the girls, we made for Zijin Mountain, specifically to find the cable car to the top. This involved us taking the metro to the wrong side of the mountain to try (and fail) to take a taxi to take a bus where we got off at one stop too late.

Eventually, we made it to the cable car (by following some Chinese guys) and had a pleasant and leisurely ride to the top. We found a park that had some pretty cool statues worked into the natural surroundings (even a really spooky cave). But we didn't spend much time, due to the possibility of the cable car shutting down and having to walk down the mountain at twilight.

The plan for Saturday evening was to have dinner at a restaurant adjacent to the hostel we were staying at. The meal itself was one of the best I've had so far in China, with duck and some sort of ribs and (of course) rice, but it turned out to be a little bit more than we anticipated. (i.e. - Instead of $9 USD it was $15 USD. The outrage!)

Still, Henry decided to jokingly haggle, which one doesn't normally do in a sit down restaurant. It started with him squeaking the price, which the waitresses found hilarious. In fact, it's really easy to be amusing in China if you're a foreigner. Henry proceeded to tell them (in very bad Chinese) that they were pretty, but that still didn't work, and we just paid the bill and left. (Though our funny encounter was to be continued...)

Walking around on Friday, we had stumbled upon a very cool bar that we agreed deserved some investigating. We found out on Saturday that a local band was going to play, and since Henry plays guitar and was in a band, he was specifically interested.

The bar itself supplied a translated menu, so we could easily order and the band was surprisingly very good. I really enjoyed the drummer and the bassist.

Later, after enjoying a few drinks, we get back to the hostel prepared to unwind in the lounge when who should we run into but two of the waitresses that Henry had failed to flirt/haggle with. (I regret to say that I forgot their names.)

One knew English very well and they seemed to have been hanging out just to try and talk to us. (Again, not an uncommon occurrence.) We talked to them beyond what was polite, but eventually had to call it a night. (We ended up seeing the one that spoke the best English the next morning at breakfast and were able to say a more proper goodbye.)

Sunday was a very lazy half-day in Nanjing. We spent our limited time in Xuanwu Lake Park, which was absolutely gorgeous. You know those picturesque photos of China's gardens? It was like being in one of those photos. Sure it was so hot and muggy that by just walking we worked up a sweat and there were a LOT of people there, the park was big enough where we didn't have trouble finding a secluded spot to just sit and take in the surroundings. The lotus lake in particular was my favorite.

Statues and very Chinese-style buildings were everywhere. There really was no mistaking the park for anything but Chinese. It wasn't trying to be American or British (which can sometimes be the case), but it also wasn't alienating to us foreigners (again, sometimes can happen). There were parts that were crowded, but then you could stumble on a calm platform where a small or large group could be walking through the serene motions of tai-chi.

We were stopped twice to get pictures with people, but they were very spaced apart and (as Henry pointed out) when else are we going to get to feel like a star? And it's not like it was impeding or interrupting our day. They were mostly very polite and very respective of our personal space.

The ride home was uneventful and it was good to be back. I highly recommend Nanjing to anyone who is coming to visit China. (Heck, I might tag along.)

Until next time, I'll be roaming.

Old Photographs

Today, July 2, 2011, my aunt Mariette Zonnenberg passed away. This post was going to sum up my past week in Wuhu, what my daily routine has been, etc. but it's so hard after hearing this news to go back to such a light topic.

When Oma asked me to write a little something for Mariette, I could not think of what to say. I have seen Mariette in person only a handful of times in the short time in which our lives overlapped. It’s hard to truly know a person when, for most of our shared time on this earth, an entire country and ocean separates us. And, I’m embarrassed to say, that I got distracted with my current endeavor in China and let Oma’s request temporarily slip my mind.

I learned of Mariette’s passing through, of all things, Facebook. Her sons, Daniel and Michael were liking and commenting posts on Mariette’s wall left by friends and loved ones who were saying their final goodbyes. By reading these, I soon discovered that I also had a few things to say.

Like I said only a few moments ago, I cannot say that I knew Mariette well, like a close sibling or a friend, but what I do know about her, I cannot help but admire her for her courage, her strength and her love and kindness.

I know she was devout in her beliefs. Any lesser person might have been frightened in her situation. But through email accounts, I could tell that Mariette was keeping her faith and her family strong and thanked God for every moment she was given.

I know she was a very talented artist. I loved it when Daniel posted pictures of his mother’s paintings. They were always so beautiful and vibrant and full of life. I could tell that a lot of Mariette went into her paintings and it was something she took particular joy in.

And I know she loved her family very, very much. Mariette loved unconditionally. And it was most apparent when she was with her family. Peter, Daniel and Michael were the lights of her life and only something as permanent as death could have torn her away from them after only such a short period of time. But I do not believe that those we love ever truly leave us. And Mariette is still with all of us.

Death does not have to be such a solid divider between us and those who we have lost. So much of us is made by what we learn from those we share even a brief time with on this earth. And it stands to reason that those closest to us shape who we are. And Mariette has touched so many of our lives that she is still here with us, even if we might not see her.

Mariette, though we never had more than a handful of days together, I was lucky to have known you and to call you my aunt. And I know you’re looking down from Heaven on all of us, smiling. Know that you are loved and missed by so many people. And I hope that one day we will meet again.

Love, Nicole.