Sichuan Part 二

After paving a road all day, we were all really looking forward to relaxing in the hot springs in the mountains the next day. We drove for six hours on the worst road I’ve ever been on. Granted, it was beautiful, but imagine a huge tour bus going up and down narrow roads covered with potholes that wrap around a mountain. The bus was rocking back and forth the entire six hours, blaring its horn, and rendering it nearly impossible to sleep. We finally arrived in Moxi, a town at the bottom of the mountain, and had lunch, despite the bus-induced nausea. We all remained hopeful that the ride would be worth it and as we neared the hotel, we peered down into the valley to see a beautiful resort and huge hot springs, only to have the bus stop at a smaller hotel with incredibly disappointing hot springs. To be fair, we expected this to be a non-luxurious trip through rural China, but when they showed us pictures of the hot springs, our expectations were definitely raised. To give the hotel credit, the rooms were way nicer than our previous ones, we enjoyed the first time having a Western style toilet, and the dining room was rather luxurious. THAT being said, upon returning to our rooms at night, we discovered two HUGE spiders on the wall (and another when we woke up in the morning).

Beautiful view on the mountain bus ride

Anyway, back to the hot springs. Afew of us walked down the road to the resort and used their hot springs instead. These hot springs were, in fact, the beautiful ones from the photos. We loved just relaxing and looking up at the mountains around us, particularly after the bumpy bus ride and paving a road the day before. There were many different pools, such as the tea spring, and one huge hot spring pool. Afterwards, we used the nicest shower I have experienced in China, making it all worth it. 

The next morning, we loaded onto another bus that would go up an even bumpier ride to the Hailuoguo Glacier in the Gongga Mountains. Thank goodness for seatbelts.

We took cable cars higher into the snow-capped mountains. It was beautiful, especially with the temples and statues at the top. There is a high Tibetan presence in the area and one monk spoke to one of our teachers and knew all these specific things about her life that she did not tell him. The mountain was truly stunning, albeit hard to breathe at the high altitude (and we felt really out of shape while panting after walking up a few steps).

Eventually, we went back down, had lunch, and drove six hours back through the mountains until we reached Ya’an, where we had Sichuan hot pot.

[This the part where I discuss food]

For most of the trip, our tour guide organized meals so we weren’t eating the (in)famous hot-as-hell Sichuan food every day. We actually had some really delicious food for the most part.

That little red spot on the left? That's it.

One spice very specific to Sichuan is called mala (麻辣) which means “numbing,” because when you eat it, it’s not hot, it literally just numbs your mouth. My first time eating it, I had never heard of it so I thought nothing of it. A few minutes later, half of my tongue started to feel really weird and I said something along the lines of, “omg, omg, what is happening to my mouth?” When one of my friends ate it, he kept asking if he was drooling because he couldn’t feel his mouth. I don’t truly understand why people eat it because it honestly doesn’t add much flavor and it wasn’t really an enjoyable experience, but I guess it makes a good story.

Sichuan Hot Pot

Our dinner in Ya’an was the famous Sichuan hot pot, a bowl of broth colored deep red from the peppers and spices to which we added various raw meats, fish, and vegetables. We each had a bowl of sauce to “cool it down” but it was still the hottest thing I have ever eaten, and I’m pretty sure I burned the inside of my entire mouth. I’m glad I got to experience true Sichuan flavors, and it did taste really good, but I’m very grateful that we weren’t eating it the entire trip.

The next morning we traveled to Chengdu, where they gave us time to walk around the Wuhou Shrine, a pedestrian street, and the Tibetan street. The shrine was very pretty although they gave us too much time in the area and I would have rather spent less time on the bus and instead, seen the famous giant Buddha in Chengdu or do more service. After dinner, we got onto the bus again to see the famous Sichuan opera. We were expecting a very traditional show but in fact, it was filled with lights, sounds, gymnastics, colors, and a lot of various flashy effects stimulating all of our senses a little too much. The music itself was seemingly random banging on drums and crashing symbols, while people screamed on stage. As with most things on our trip, it was not what we expected, but definitely an interesting experience.

Taken in a park in Chengdu

Overall, I had an incredible time in Sichuan. It was an experience I would never have been able to orchestrate on my own, and one I will always remember. I was grateful to be able to donate my time towards helping others, while still having an enjoyable trip, and most importantly, I got a lot closer to the people traveling with me. We could have been sitting in a hotel room with spiders on the walls, mouths burning from Sichuan cuisine, and still having a good time. The company definitely made the trip worth it, and I’m excited for the many more adventures to come.

Sichuan Part 一: Community Service in Ya’an and Shangli (aka PANDA PANDA PANDA)

This past week, our program hosted weeklong trips to four different locations, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Yunnan (Tea Horse Road), and Sichuan. I chose Sichuan because it was a community service trip in which I would get to engage with the locals and have a unique experience I could never organize on my own.

The first day, we got off the plane and drove to Ya’an, the city of rain. Our tour guide Shirley told us that Ya’an is known for three things: 雅女nu (women), 雅雨 (rain), and 雅鱼 (fish). Our plane was delayed so we did not get to hike down the mountain to our guesthouse, but the drive was beautiful nonetheless. Due to a power outage, we spent the first night playing cards and getting to know each other by candlelight. 

Baby panda!!

The next morning, we walked five minutes down the road to the Bi Fang Xia Panda Base. We all put on the clothes they provided us, so we looked like the Ghostbusters, and split up by group to go to our respective panda enclosures. In each enclosure, we would clean poop and old bamboo out of the panda’s “garden,” break new pieces of bamboo by slamming them on the ground, and then let the panda come in and eat while we cleaned out their cage. Our group got along really well and had a lot of fun, even while cleaning poop (粪便!). One of my highlights of the morning was when we came out of an enclosure to see a baby panda being fed milk right in front of us. 

 

Breaking bamboo

After lunch we went back to feed the pandas. The pandas would come up to the cage and stick their arms out. We handed them carrots and a special bread and sat right in front of them as they ate. It was an incredible experience to be sitting with a panda, only separated by metal bars. At one point, one of the pandas put its paw right onto my hand while I was feeding it. The panda trainer freaked out a little and kept asking if I was okay, but nothing actually happened (although I secretly hoped I would have a cool scratch so I could say I got mauled by a panda). After feeding them, we watched a documentary on pandas until it was time for the next feeding. It was truly an awesome experience and very peaceful just sitting right across from the giant panda as it munched away. At the end of the day, they gave us all certificates and pins for volunteering with the pandas. Nothing fancy but definitely a nice way to remember this once in a lifetime experience. 

The group, our teachers, and our tour guide with our certificates

Shangli Old Town

  In the late afternoon, we traveled to Shangli Old Town where we planned our lessons and prepared pencil cases and for the elementary schools kids we would teach the next day. That night, we strolled around and came across a variety of karaoke bars (KTV), which was totally unexpected in this ancient town.

Group 1!

The next day, we woke up early to pick mushrooms. Mushrooms are the livelihood of many families in the area and each group helped one family. There is only a certain window of time that the mushrooms can be picked. Our group got very competitive and picked four rows of mushrooms before the other groups had even finished three. Naturally, we were very proud of ourselves and as expected, our group dynamic allowed for us to have too much fun while picking mushrooms.

 

In the afternoon, we went to the local elementary school. The 2008 earthquake in Sichuan destroyed their school so they were all in temporary shelters serving as classrooms, although who knows when the government will actually rebuild their school. Many of the students were traumatized by the experience but our visit was definitely a big event for them and all the kids really enjoyed the experience. Each group had one class to teach English, art, and sports. The kids did not speak any English so we taught them how to say: “hello, my name is ____” and “I like (color).” The kids had a lot of fun learning the colors and I really enjoyed being at the front of the class with them. 

I'm the one second from the left

For art, we taught them to sing, “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands,” and then we gave them markers and paper to draw. Some of them drew the pictures we put up as examples, and wrote the English translations; some copied pictures from their workbooks; and some drew pictures of us. 

For sports, we had brought a ball but when they were playing with it earlier they nearly killed each other, so we decided to play other games such as Duck Duck Goose (which we called Dog Dog Cat 狗狗猫). I led a few rounds of Simon Says (老师说) and then let the kids take turns being the teacher. We ended with a game of Hot Potato, singing songs in English and Chinese. 

Personally, this was the most rewarding day of the trip. The kids all seemed to be having a lot of fun and over the next few days, whenever our tour bus drove by students, they waved at us and smiled. That night, we made dumplings in a local restaurant. Then after dinner, almost everyone on our program ended up in another KTV where we played games and did karaoke with some other Chinese people around our age.

All the students we taught

The next part of our service was helping the poorest family in the village pave their driveway. Our tour guide told us that the couple both had surgery so physical labor was hard for them, and when we arrived, it was clear that this sort of work would have taken them days and days without our help. We spent the morning mixing cement and laying it down, and then putting a layer of stones on top. Our group obviously dominated (while being totally humble, of course), with two of us running the wheelbarrows back and forth, and the others consistently shoveling cement and stones. After lunch, we added the top layer of cement and mixed it with water. They had an interesting way of paving but at the end of the day, it worked fine and we all went back to town exhausted. In the evening, a few of us chilled on a beautiful bridge in town and eventually found a cute café where we drank tea in the loft and talked for hours.

The service part of our trip was tremendously rewarding and while our small group got a little competitive at times, it felt good to help others and directly see the impact we had on their lives, especially after the trauma they experienced from the 2008 earthquake. I definitely would not have gotten this experience on any of the other program trips and the community engagement made it all worth it. Working together towards a common goal definitely brought us closer together and I became good friends with people I would not have known as well otherwise.

The whole group after a day of paving (try and find me...)

Stay tuned for part 2! Hot springs, glacier, spicy Sichuan hot pot, and Chengdu!

Guilin and Yangshuo

Longsheng Rice Terraces 龙胜

This past weekend I went to Guilin and Yangshuo, two popular tourist destinations in the south of China. We flew out Thursday night, arrived at the Ming Palace International Youth Hostel around midnight, and passed out. Friday morning, a bus picked up our group of 10 and drove us two hours to the Longji Rice Terraces (or Longsheng in Chinese). The hike was really pretty and not too difficult, except for one stretch of stairs that gave me flashbacks to climbing Hua Shan. This weekend was the Tomb Sweeping holiday, where families from all over China visit the tombs of their ancestors to pay their respects. It was pretty cool to see all the tombs decorated and hear firecrackers going off throughout the weekend. While I wish I could see the rice terraces in season when they are filled with water, it was still a beautiful and rewarding hike. 

Decorated tomb on the terraces

Our group! (minus Mariah, plus Chinese girl who wanted a picture with us)

On the terraces, there is a village of Yao, one of 55 ethnic minorities in China. The Yao women are known for having extremely long hair. One woman took down her hair for us (for 10 元!) and I found out that she had two huge sections of hair not even growing from her head anymore, that she just attached to her hair with a comb. It was interesting to see and I enjoyed practicing my Chinese, as usual. We finished the hike with lunch at a local restaurant on the mountain, and took the bus back to Guilin. That night, after dinner, two other girls and I got a massage that kind of felt like I paid someone to punch me for an hour, but was actually pretty good.

The next day, we planned on going down to the Li River and taking rafts from 
Yangdi to Xingping, the most scenic part of the river, but the hostel neglected to tell us their tour was not offered that day (even though we had been asking them about it the entire day before) and then we were unable to get a bus to Yangshuo until later in the day. We decided to go to the famous Reed Flute Caves, only 30 minutes from the city; something we were planning on doing Sunday anyway. The caves were awesome, once you got past the touristness of it all. The colors were helpful to light up the cave, although a little over the top. Nonetheless, the cave itself was huge and incredible and we really enjoyed it. We then went back to the center of the city, had lunch and wandered around Big Banyan Park (which didn't have the famous big banyan!) and finally got on the bus.

"public bus"

That afternoon, we finally made it to Yangshuo and fought our way onto a “public bus” to West Street, where our hostel was located. West Street is a pedestrian street packed with tourists, shops, and international food, and we definitely took advantage of the situation by getting some delicious burgers (from a guy who claims he has cooked for Putin and other politicians/celebrities!). We walked around and did some bargaining for souvenirs, but once it started pouring, we went back to the hostel and went to bed. The hostel, Monkey Janes, had a rooftop bar and was rumored to be very loud, but we were lucky to be in a quieter side building. Although, what we didn’t realize until we went to bed, was that the bedding was all slightly damp, which was awful. But I can’t complain too much considering the other people from our program who also stayed there had a sewage pipe explode and flood their room, causing problems too nasty to explain here (but I will leave it to your imagination).

West Street 西街

The next morning, Kim, Sarahann, and I planned on waking up early (6 am gah!) to bike through the countryside. I was really looking forward to exploring the famous mountains and nature in Yangshuo and getting out of the city, but it was pouring rain so we didn't get to go. After breakfast, we walked around and shopped some more before getting on another bus to the Li River. While I didn’t get to bike, the drive featured some very unique mountains making for a beautiful ride. We then took a bamboo raft up the river to “9 Horse Mountain,” took some pictures, and turned back. The boat was extremely relaxing and drifting through the mountains was gorgeous. I only wish it could have lasted longer, but we made the best of what the weather gave us.

Upon returning to Yangshuo, we had dinner (German food this time), walked around, and eventually loaded up on another bus to the airport. We got in very late, around 2 am, but luckily we had Monday off because of the holiday. I had a nice time in Yangshuo and although I would definitely never stay at that hostel again, I wish I could have stayed another day or two in the town to enjoy the nature in good weather.