Weekend Trip to Wuzhen (and my new friend, Denny)

Wuzhen's East Side

The day before we left on our program’s weekend trip, after going to the visa bureau, I had some extra time before my haircut (ah! someone new taking care of my poof!), so I walked around the fake market and bought some 60元 Converse (~$10). I then wandered into a small tea shop and the owner offered me a cup of tea, which is pretty typical in those little tea stalls. I had no place to be so I sat down and chatted with him (his English name is Denny) and we ended up talking for almost an hour, entirely in Chinese. It was a really nice relaxing experience, great Chinese practice, and I drank some delicious tea. I arrived at my hair appointment really early and although I was concerned with finding a salon that spoke English, I ended up primarily using Chinese anyway.

 

Wuzhen 乌镇 (we climbed that pagoda!)

Saturday morning we took a bus for 2.5 hours to Wuzhen, one of China’s most popular water towns. We spent that day and night in the west side scenic area. This area consists of alleyways and walking streets (no cars or motorbikes), bridges, and obviously rivers. It is very small, about 3 km long, and most of the stalls were on the main streets on each side of the river. There was a large pagoda and temple in town, as well as a very interesting museum on footbinding, a beautiful flower field, and an indigo dying center. Wuzhen is known for its indigo, silk, and chrysanthemum tea (which of course I bought). As we were walking around, we even witnessed a wedding procession float by. It is apparently tradition for the newlyweds to ride under all the bridges in the town.

 Wuzhen is big on snacks (小吃) so while as were unable to find any restaurants with more than two tables (which were all full), we settled on buying various street food items for dinner. That night, we walked around to see the town lit up, and fell asleep relatively early in our extremely comfortable hotel beds.

Artsy shot of yummy snack that I had to push and shove to get

Wuzhen's West Side at night

The next morning, a few of us woke up at 6:30 (an accomplishment on its own, on my part) to explore the town while it was still void of hoards of tourists. It was calm and beautiful, while also relaxing because there were no Chinese people taking pictures of us foreigners every time we turned around. 

Early morning Wuzhen

  After filling up at our continental breakfast buffet (ugh so good), we left the west side and went to the east side. The east scenic area was similar to the west side, only smaller. We walked through an ancient bed museum and wandered around, buying souvenirs and the like. We also took a boat ride that was really pretty and relaxing, yet too short. Overall it was a nice weekend getaway to relax and take some pretty pictures, without the stress of a big city and schoolwork. I would definitely recommend it, although one or two days is the perfect amount of time.

Tea, Marriage, and Martial Arts

Tea market

Advanced II Chinese had our first test Tuesday, so on Wednesday our teachers took us on a field trip to a tea market called “天山茶城” (tian shan cha cheng). We split up into groups and went into different stalls to talk to venders about tea and do a tasting. My group asked a lot of questions and we all bought tea. There were some teas that cost hundreds of kuai. This “tea city” was only two bus stops away, which is perfect because I love tea, but dangerous because, as my family can attest, I really like to buy anything tea-related.  After the tea market, our program paid for our class to go out for lunch, which included chicken feet and delicious sweet plum juice (酸梅汁).

 

On Friday, some friends and I went to a Sherlock themed restaurant in the French Concession. As I was fangirling, the waitress handed me a Sherlock hat. THEN, if it couldn’t get any better, she handed me a violin (Sherlock plays violin), and THEN to top it all off, she gave me a pipe. It was super cool and not at all nerdy. The food was also pretty good, albeit a little pricier than we are used to, but totally worth it for the experience (plus, “pricy” in Shanghai is still decent compared to the States). 

Later that day, we went for burgers, marking this day the longest amount of time I had gone without eating Chinese food. The burgers were awesome and we plan on returning to compete in their burger challenge. You have 15 minutes to eat 2 (or 3, we weren’t sure) burgers, fries, and a milkshake. If you complete it, your meal is free and you get a t-shirt. Otherwise, you pay double.

You don't miss it until it's gone

That night we went to a bar called Southern Belle which is owned by two Americans, has flags of Southern US colleges (big Georgia flag!), and has rugby playing on the big screen. Needless to say, I was pretty happy. We ended the night at a microbrewery where we relaxed and played some pool.

Marriage Market at People's Square

Saturday morning, I went to a marriage market in People’s Square as a field trip with my class on “Issues in Contemporary China.” Parents go there on weekends to find potential spouses for their children and it was incredibly interesting to see the vast number of people and “advertisements” filling the park. The flyers typically include: gender, year of birth, job, education, salary, and where the individual lives. I talked to a number of Chinese parents to understand how their children feel about them going there, and I asked some teenagers how they would feel if their parents were there. I loved practicing my Chinese and a lot of people were excited to hear me speak, to the point where I would be talking to a couple and by the end of my conversation, 10 more people had gathered around me. Many parents even suggested that I date their sons, to which I politely declined. It was definitely an interesting experience that is not something to be found just anywhere.

All the single ladies

The final highlight of my weekend was Sunday night at the gym. Becca and I took a “kickboxing” class without knowing what to expect. The first half was tai chi chuan, which involved moving back and forth in a lot of very deep stances. The second half was kicking and punching, which obviously I loved. The instructor was surprised and impressed by my kicks (I might have a little experience with kicking) but it was also fun to see the differences between our styles. People kept looking into the room to watch the two Americans taking class. We are used to people staring at us there, but it is always entertaining to see how much attention we get. Another student in the class kept stopping to take pictures and at the end, they took a group picture with us posing in the center. That night, our instructor friended us on WeChat (social-media/messaging platform) and wrote a whole post about the “two beauty from the United States” in class, compete with pictures and a lot of emojis. We laughed for a long time about it but we also really enjoyed the workout and the environment, and we definitely plan on going back. 

Xi'an and Hua Shan

Hua Shan 华山

 [Okay, so I know last time I said that every post won't be as long-winded as the first, but it looks like I was wrong. Also, this post is filled with pictures because it was too beautiful and incredible to explain with just words. Enjoy!]

Who knows if these really work...

After our first week of classes, and realizing how much work we have for our Chinese studies, a few friends and I decided to take an impromptu trip to Xi’an. It took hours online, on the phone, and at the airlines’ storefront, but we finally got our tickets, and Friday morning, we went to the airport and flew to Xi’an. Transportation challenges were a running theme throughout the trip, which only made the outcome all the more rewarding. When we arrived, we immediately unpacked facemasks, as the smog was the worst we’d seen so far in China. Somehow our group of 10 people (6 girls, 4 guys) ended up only having 3 Chinese speakers, which meant I got a lot of speaking practice. We split up into taxis and after our cab drivers all got lost looking for the hostel, we eventually arrived at Seven Sages Hostel, unpacked into our big 10 person room, went to dinner, had second dinner, stocked up on water and snacks, and went to sleep.

Base of the mountain. Smog!

 Saturday, we had some local street food for breakfast and loaded into the van we hired to head to Hua Shan（华山）, one of China’s Five Great Mountains. The base of the mountain was daunting and exciting, but the smog was so thick we could barely see the rest of the mountain. At 11:00 we began the hike and didn’t take long for us to start shedding layers. The walk up the mountain had a surprising number of little stores along the way. As we climbed higher, the smog disappeared, the blue sky peaked out, and the air was exponentially fresher.

Along the way up, we also encountered funny signs, and tons of locks. It is a tradition for couples to engrave their names on locks and then attach them to chains on the mountain, as a symbol of their everlasting love (similar to that bridge in France, except this tradition is all over the mountain). 

 

The hike itself was extremely strenuous and consisted of thousands of little steps that left us breathing as hard as our pollution covered lungs could handle. We climbed up stairs for 3.5 hours, sometimes at a near vertical angle, to reach the North Peak. It was undoubtedly the hardest hike of my life, yet it was also the most fulfilling and beautiful upon reaching the top. The mountains were endless and strikingly unreal. Pictures and words cannot adequately describe the view, but I will say that absolutely justified over 5 hours of near vertical climbing and aching calves.

 

From the North Peak, we continued the stairs to South Peak, the highest peak of Hua Shan at over 7,000 feet. It was getting late and our van driver was getting angry, but there was no way I was going to hike all the way to the top of Hua Shan without crossing the plank walk off my bucket list. There were a surprising number of old people and women wearing platform shoes on this part of the hike, but they all took the cable cars to the top and just traveled between peaks. 

Sally, Sarahann, Kim, and I somehow got far ahead of the rest of the group (who ended up missing a turn and just going back to the van) and finally made it to the plank walk. We harnessed up and climbed down a scary ladder to the walkway. Two planks attached to the side of the mountain and a harness was the only thing holding us up. We inched across the planks, clipping our carabiners along the way. Midway through I turned around, leaned against the mountain, and took it all in. The view was incredible. It was slightly nerve-racking and entirely gorgeous. We were there around 6:00 pm so the sun was low in the sky and the air was sharp. The mountains seemed to go on for miles and the colors were amazing. At the end of the walk was a small temple with incense burning. It was definitely one of the top experiences of my life and made every challenge along the way totally worth it.

  

Breathtaking!

 
The next day, I went to see the Terracotta soldiers（兵马俑）. It was really cool and fascinating to see such a huge army made for the afterlife. Some of us hired a tour guide who was very knowledgeable and told us a lot of interesting things about the emperor, the Qin dynasty, and obviously the soldiers. We were also lucky because the farmer, who first discovered the buried army on his property, was there that day signing books. I never realized the extent of the Terracotta warriors. The army took about 40 years to build and began when the emperor was only 13. There are many pits of statues with soldiers, generals, and commanders, and each statue is different from the others.

Later that day, before our flight home, we wandered around (and got slightly lost) in Xi’an. We walked through the Muslim Quarter and had a delicious last dinner as a group before running around the city again to find a cab and head to the airport. We actually began to run out of time and no taxis were stopping, until one came over with a guy already in it. I bargained with him for a good price and to get us there fast (my Chinese language skills really benefitted with all these drivers). Four of us squeezed in the back seat and we made it to the airport with time to spare. We went home to return to classes and  tests, but beaming with happiness from our awesome weekend.

WEEK ONE!!

[Disclaimer: lots happened in week one, so this is going to be an extremely long post. The next posts hopefully won’t be as long-winded]

I arrived at Pudong Interational Airport after a surprisingly bearable 15-hour flight. After a bus ride to my new school, East China Normal University, or 华东师范大学, I settled into my dorm room, went out for dinner with some year-long students, had some bubble tea, and eventually passed out. The next day we had a typical orientation all morning, which included a doctor’s vivid and lengthy warnings about the risk of rabies and diarrhea, and went on a tour of campus. That night we met at the statue of Chairman Mao in the middle of campus and went off to a program (CIEE) sponsored Sichuan-style dinner, where there was a traditional “face-changing” performance to spiced things up (ß that’s a pun because Sichuan food is spicy, if you didn’t catch that).

Exhibit at MoCA

The next morning after some more orientation, a few friends and I went to the local metro station, Jinshajian, pointed at a random stop, and hopped on the train. We ended up at People’s Square and happened upon the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, where a very famous Japanese artist had an incredible and weird exhibit. A lot of picture taking ensued. It was an awesome experience to come across and a great way to kick off the trip. We walked around the area more and found a marketplace targeted towards foreigners but where they sold very inexpensive “name brand” shoes, bags, sunglasses, jerseys, clothes, etc etc, and where I could practice my Chinese bargaining skills. My first conquest was a bag of tea for half the requested price.

"The Obliteration Room"

The next day was the Chinese Placement exam, which left almost everyone feeling confused and frustrated with their language skills. Afterwards, I signed up for classes and went to an info session on volunteer teaching English to children of migrant-workers. The training was really unique and in order to demonstrate to us a class taught entirely in a foreign language, we had a demo class taught entirely in German. Hopefully I can make this work in my schedule because it is right up my alley, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the training.

After some down time, CIEE took us to Shanghai Circus World for an acrobatics show. We weren’t allowed to take pictures (I have a few because I’m such a rebel) but there are honestly no words to describe how totally awesome it was. They had a spherical cage with a motorcycle driving in it, and eventually got up to 8 motorcycles in there. They had contortionists and gymnasts and dancers and maybe I’m easily entertained, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. After this, I don’t understand how China doesn’t win every event of the Olympics every single year. After the show we went to a local bar called Ellen’s, which is filled with smoke, is a very close walk to campus, and has awesome deals such as 10远 (about $1.50) cocktails and free beer Fridays. Ellen’s was followed by KTV (karaoke!) and a really good night sleep.

The next day a few of us went to Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆). Afterwards, I had the best meal I’ve had so far, 番茄鸡蛋拌面, which translates to noodles with eggs and tomatoes but was SO much more. 

Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆)

East Nanjing Road (南京东路)

From there we walked to the Bund. The smog made it hard to see, but it was nonetheless awesome. We continued on into the Fairmont Peace Hotel and then down 南京东路, East Nanjing Road. Nanjing Road is like Times Square but Chinese; very touristy, lots of people, but definitely a sight to see. Before heading back to campus, we went back to the Bund to see it lit up at night.

Friday morning I signed up for a gym (hurray to not running outside in the smog!) and then went on the Amazing Race Shanghai. We split into groups and had to figure out clues that sent us across Shanghai, from Zhongshan Park to Jing’an Temple to the Bund to East Nanjing Road to the Shanghai Museum to Xintiandi. After a fun, intense day of literally running around the city (and filling my lungs with pollution) my team grudgingly accepted 5^th place. We had a small dinner of 小笼包 (soup filled dumplings), went to Ellen’s in the pouring rain, and then went to the World Financial Center (one of those crazy tall buildings on the skyline) where the Park Hyatt was hosting a hella swanky party on the 92^nd floor. It was all sorts of classy, the music was pretty good to dance to, and most importantly, it was free.

Finally, Sunday we went to Taikang Lu (Road) a marketplace with a series of connected alleyways filled with art, boutiques, bars, restaurants, crafts, and lots of people. I loved it despite all the people who took pictures of us when we weren’t looking (by now, we’ve developed a code-word system when that is happening so we can all turn and pose). The weather today was the nicest it’s been all week and it was a really enjoyable way to end our Honeymoon week before classes start up Monday morning. [Sidenote: The background to this blog was taken at Taikang Lu]

Taikang Lu

First blog post! Woo!

I’m writing this blog for a few reasons. One is so I can keep track of my experiences in China and around Asia this semester/summer for my own future reference. The other is so I have a place to direct friends and family when they ask me “How’s China?” It’s hard to answer that question in a single text or Facebook message, and the shotty wifi (and Great Firewall of China) makes Skyping and social media pretty inconvenient to begin with.

Smog!

So here I am! How is China? China is good! The food is good, albeit oily and filled with MSG. The pollution is awful, as expected, and the weather has been perpetually overcast, although that just means having “nice” weather is all the more exciting! When I went outside today and saw the sky for the first time, my jaw actually dropped. Everything here is also crazy cheap. My breakfast buns this morning were less than a quarter. You can get a full meal on campus for 18远, which is less than $3 USD.  I also feel like a total freshman: living in a dorm, shared bathroom with the hall, not knowing anything, etc etc. But it's a learning experience. The culture here is also obviously very different, and I’m really enjoying comparing our ways of life. For instance, I tried to buy face moisturizer yesterday at Tesco and when I finally found it, the only ones I could find were whitening creams. Chinese culture values extremely white skin, kind of similar to the way Americans might value tanning, but I figured that I’m already pale enough so I passed on this exciting cultural opportunity.  But anyway, let the blogging begin!