Recipe for a college in the Xiasha Higher Educational Zone
Main Ingredients:
– Lg. quantity of very clean cement buildings (4-7 stories) with loud echoing marble floors.
– 12-15 more nearby large college campuses that also strongly resemble military bases 15,000-20,000 students in each campus
– 1 large fence around each campus
– 2-3 guards at every gate and entrance
– sprinkle heavily with flowers, lakes, trees, and beautiful mosaic walkways
– garnish with lots of really nice and respectful students walking and biking.
This recipe makes the college campus feel very safe but a very isolated. There is very little local culture here in the Xiasha area besides the small businesses that cater to the students from the different colleges such as mini marts and quick types of Chinese meals. A variety of transportation is available. There are 4 types of buses that will transport you to the culture.
– the X1 bus – sort of like an express in that it doesn’t have many stops but goes all the way into the city of Hangzhou. It is 4 quai (about 50 cents). Quai is slang for RMB or Ywan which is their form of money. 8 RMB equals 1 dollar. The X1 runs every 15 minutes. They even have a TV on the bus.
– The K401 bus – same route more stops – don’t know the cost – Runs every 20 mins.
– The free bus from Xiasha campus to the Hangzhou campus – every 2 hours – not much on weekends
– The free Wu Mae Bus – to take you to the Chinese version of WalMart
There are a couple of different types of taxis available: the normal type of taxi (meter and they go where you tell them – if they don’t get lost) and the student favorite: the MIMI green ‘stuff you in‘ van. It has a set price of 2 to 4 quai per person. I have decided that they should let me go free because I provide so much entertainment to the others when I try to get in and out. I hear them laughing after they pull away.
A 2 mile walk will get you to an outdoor local vegetable and fruit market. They do have meat but I’ll pass on that menu item. When you are shopping on foot like this you have to remember not to buy too much. Nathan’s left arm was about 2 inches longer after he carried his rice, vegetables, fruit and spices the 2 miles home. I had no such problem with my 3 apples and 2 bananas.
Side Note: Nathan, Elizabeth and I went to WuMae on the stuff-it bus and I got a really loud alarm clock and other small items including a candy bar!
