Star Struck in Xian

No he isn’t a famous sports star, or movie star or singer, but I was still star-struck. He might wanna-be a star but right now Ron is a just another fellow English teacher working in Fuzhou, China but he is also someone with lots of talent. His name is Ron Sims and has a series of video podcasts about living and traveling in China. The weird thing is that I had already recommended his video podcasts on my May 27th blog. I watch Ron faithfully and am grateful every time he puts a new one online. Try them out they are funny and a surprising insight on living in China. You can download them from iTunes the 'illworld: China' or from his web site www.rsims2.com

Anyway back to ME. I saw Ron in line going into the Terra Cotta Warriors, so I excused myself from our travel group and ran over and made a fool of myself gushing compliments and saying little else. You can tell by the idiotic grin on my face that I gave the impression of not being very bright. I did have just enough presence of mind to get my friends to take a picture of us. Meeting him was almost as good as the Terra Cotta Warriors—well maybe not but pretty darn close. Thanks Ron and keep making your video

Georgia Girls' Adventure- Day 3

Margie wins the prize at taking the best children photos. Above is one of them from the Ming Tomb park.

First stop today was the Jade factory Tour. When you come to China using a tour package, I guarantee that you will be taken to at least 1 or 2 factory tours in each city. Since everything is made in China, you might as well see how it is being made, but keep a good grip on your credit cards and wallets cause you will see lots of things that will encourage you to part with your money. This is because factory tours ALWAYS end at the entrance of a large store. I would have thought that after 8 months here I would have become ‘jaded’ to the lure of this style of their Chinese Infomercials but no….. I STILL spend money in their factory shops. Basically my job was to go around with the girls and tell them if they will see that item in another city for a better price and help them bargain. Most people can bargain better than I but the GA girls were stuck with me. Margie and Linda were the winners here of buying the prettiest stuff.

After the jade store we went to the Ming Tombs where the 13 of the 15 or 16 Ming Emporers were buried. The first emperor, Zhu Di, selected the site for the tombs after sending his Feng Shui expert into the country to look for the perfect place for them to spend their afterlife.

After we went down and back up many flights of stairs to visit one of the tombs we needed a stretch. Luckily we had Margie with us. She made us do Yoga stretches to loosen up our tight muscles. I really will have to start taking Yoga when I get back. The hard part will be keeping my mouth shut during the sessions. After our stretches Margie and Laura bought their Chinese farmer hats. How embarrassing! At least they bargained for them and got a reasonable deal.

Cloisonne Factory Tour. Two in one day! Usually they will spread the factory tours out, but the guides must be doubling up before the Olympic crowds. Lunch was conveniently located on the second floor of the Cloisonné factory STORE. So we toured, ate and then shopped. I am sure I won the “purchased the most” award here. Next stop was the Great Wall….. That deserves its’ own blog.

Georgia Girls' Adventure

Next day was Tiananmen Square. It was PACKED even more than the usual Chinese crowds because it was National Day October 1, the 49th anniversary of China’s Communist government. Lots of people, soldiers and police. The crowd felt very strange because it also felt very safe and usually crowds and safety don’t go together. In the 8 months I’ve been here I haven’t encountered a city or gathering where I haven’t felt safe.

Since Margie and I were frantically taking pictures (that we promised to share) of everything from storm drain covers to roof tops, Linda, Laura, and Jan were able to ease back on their camera usage until they got to Suzhou.

Side Note: Margie took enough pictures at the Great Wall to qualify for the “Mimi-SOH-Award” (SOH – stands for Sydney Opera House) – Somebody please present her with the award!

Next stop was the Forbidden City, The main building was covered for renovation for the 2008 Olympics but that didn’t bother the girls much cause they just kept saying “I can’t believe we are in China”! After the Forbidden city we did a vegetable and flea market walk thru. Here I was able to purchase another tea container because I had left mine in Xiasha. I have become addicted to the Chinese Tea as much as Margie and Jan needed their morning coffee. After tea we went for our Hutong visit and meal. Hutong are traditional styled homes that have been preserved. Different generations of a family would live in a small compound that surrounded a small courtyard. We were taken there by rickshaw and fed lunch by the home’s husband and wife. Here we learned that if you finish one of the items placed on the lazy susan, it does NOT tell the host or hostess that it was great. It tells the host and hostess that they didn’t give you enough. So here DO NOT eat everything on the plates cause you will never finish.

Got back to the hotel and walked around the corner for our Beijing Duck dinner which is a big deal here. But before the duck they stuffed you with all sorts of other good things to eat. After dinner Laura, Margie and I walked to the Internet café and registered with our passports (everyone in the huge internet room had to register with their national ID card). We let everyone know that we were alive and well and I completed my registration for an online PBS class.

The Georgia Girls’ Trip – Day 1 - I was the Late One

Supposedly, I was to arrive in Beijing before Margie, Linda, Jan and Laura but my plane was an hour late. My tardiness was probably predicable because I did NOT fly China Air. If you have never flown China Air try it. Just think back in time about 30 years and that approximates their service. They even bow in unison at the end of the flight to thank you. Good full meals (not ‘snacks’) and drinks but still no diet coke.

The minute we got to the gate I turned on my no-frills Motorola Chinese cell phone and immediately got the call asking “Katie, Where are you”? The girls had arrived 30 minutes early (they flew China Air) and got thru Immigration in record time. Robert, our Chinese guide, took us immediately to our Beijing hotel whose lobby and elevators looked like a Las Vegas “wanna be”. After some short instructions from Robert, the five of us took off to explore the streets. After looking at DVD’s, fruit and people we stopped at a crowded restaurant that looked promising. It ended up being Sichuan, which has a red hot, fiery, chili sauce on almost everything and if the food doesn’t have a sauce it had lots of pepper. Margie was in heaven and the food was really good but most of our stomachs could only take half portions. After stocking up on bottled water for the next day we hit the bed (can’t use the idiom “hit the sack”, cause that would mean that the bed would have to semi-resemble the softness of a sack). I don’t know about the other Georgia jet lagged girls, but Margie & I slept hard and thru the night.

Just an Appetizer...

Since I just got back I haven’t had any time to work on my blog- so this blog is just an appetizer with more of our Georgia Girls Adventures coming soon. I promise! Don’t you just love the picture! It makes me smile every time I see it! It was taken close to the Great Wall.

First week of October was one of China’s “Golden Weeks” meaning everybody had a week off. I guess I did a good enough sales pitch because Margie, Linda, Laura, and Jan flew to Beijing where I joined them for a 10 day tour of China. We did the biggest tourist attractions (and factory tours) in 4 of the big tourist cities Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, and Suzhou. We saw the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Silk Market, Summer Palace, Terra Cotta Warriors, the Bund, and much more. We had a great time, great food, and spent a great amount of money in Lisa Pearls and the many factory stores. China Spree has a reasonably priced 12 day Middle Kingdom tour if you want an appetizer size tour of China and it is a great way to see if China is your cup of tea. It will also let you know if you can handle the wicked jet lag. I will be here till January so if you want to do something really adventuresome during your Christmas Holidays I will meet you in Shanghai and add on a side trip to Hangzhou and Xiasha.

Side Note – Thanks to EVERYBODY that contributed to my suitcase of goodies and a huge thanks to Margie, Jan, Linda, and Laura for lugging all of it here. Even though I loved seeing the China sites a second time, my favorite part of the trip was seeing, talking and being with my friends from America. Their visit will keep me going for the rest of my 3.5 months term here.

Bubble Wrapped Bikes

One of the strangest things in China is the bubble wrapped bikes. There always seems to be a lot of bubble wrap and plastic left on items such as doors, remotes, bikes etc. In America, (except for that 90’s or 80's period where all the ‘adolescent boys’ were wearing hats and some shoes with the tags hanging off), we generally unwrap our items and immediately get rid of all the wrappings. With the new crop of Freshman there seems to be a new crop of bubble wrapped bikes. I finally had the nerve to ask some of them why they leave the bubble wrap on and one of the girls had the guts to tell me the truth – “So people know that it is new”. A month and half later the bubble wrap is starting to look pitiful but I betcha it makes a neat sound when it rubs on the spokes (remember clothes-pinning a playing card?).

Buying Train Tickets

Sounds Un-blog worthy doesn’t it? Don’t worry it is blog-worthy. I needed to buy train tickets for Linda, Margie and myself from Shanghai to Hangzhou and Hangzhou to Shanghai. I had looked up all the different train schedules, gotten the correct dates and train numbers written down, so I was sure I could successfully purchase them without being fluent in Chinese and pissing off the travel agent too much. There is a convenient Xiasha satellite ticket office where you can purchase your train tickets located a couple of block from WuMei. I figured this was way easier than going all the way into the Hangzhou Train station to buy them (hour and a half each way) and I had the day off. So with a bottle of water, my iPod, my papers, my Foreign Expert ID Book (you need and ID card to buy tickets) I walked the mile to the bus stop, rode to WuMei and walked the mile to the ticket office. When I rounded the last corner I was sort of shocked when I saw how long the line was. I almost turned around, but I was determined not to deal with this during my vacation. Since it was right before the National Holiday week there were hundreds of students with the same idea. See Picture Above – which is only half the line! I was lucky enough to stand behind 3 kids from another college that were actually willing to talk to me. This meant I could use my iPod to show off my pictures of Zac, Nicole and Sadie instead of quietly listening to another NPR Car Talk. Cindy, Stilwell, King and I talked as we slowly crept closer to the ticket window. Three hours (yes, it really was 3 hours!) later we finally arrive. Cindy, an English Major (lucky me), has already made sure she understands exactly what I need and the trains I am hoping to get tickets for. We tell the agent the dates, times and destinations we need. I hear the words I never expected to hear “meiyou” (may-yo) which mean “Have Not”. I discover that you are not allowed to purchase tickets here more than 10 days before you need them. I needed them 14 days in advance -- So much for planning ahead.

There are so many things that I as an American take for granted. Purchasing travel tickets being one of them. With the Internet, phone, credit cards, e-tickets, travel agents, and the ability to speak the language it is usually a 20 to 40 minute job to make any short or long term travel plans. America seems to encourage planning ahead whereas in China you have to readjust often and quickly. As a perfect example, yesterday (Sept 25th) we were notified as to what classes we needed to make up Sept 30th (when I am flying to Beijing) and Oct 7th (when we are in Shanghai). I had to quickly get permission to reschedule a class on Sept 30th but I am still not sure about the Oct 7th classes because I wasn’t able to get train tickets today. Oh well, I guess it will all work out.

The three hours wasn’t a total waste of time, I met 3 really nice kids and we ended up walking to the KFC together and sharing a meal. You just have to be extra, extra flexible if you live in China and not get too frustrated when things don’t go as planned – cause there is no planning here.