A little group of us went to Teppanyaki on Sunday night. This was partly why not many of said little group went to class on Monday as it was 150 yuan for all you could eat *and* drink. I adore teppanyaki food as it consists of tasty things expertly fried in front of you by a stubbonly non-Chinese chef. That is one of my favourite things about it as it is quite a show to watch. The chefs are incredibly skillfull and deft and when they set up a huge flash of fire to cook steak, rather entertaining. The Japanese present scorned the offerings a little as not being "authentic" and when what looked like bacon on toast with tomato sauce came along I had to agree. However, it was goddam tasty. As well as fish sushi there was also beef sushi, which was the first time I had tried that. It tasted like how you expect raw beef to taste. I also was cajoled by Taku, our Japanese judge, to eat a shrimp head. I did. It was very crunchy. Along with the meal were copious amounts of Qingdao beer and sake. I am not a fan of hard liquor taken neat so I sneakily mixed mine with lemonade and got very happy that way.
The slogan of the restaurant is that "they'll stop before you do". It's a lie, I was still hungry by kick out time.
On the way to school someone has been messing around with the manholes. They have removed the lids and carefully layered branches over the top in some sort of human booby trap.
That is something about China, the freedom with which one has to wonder around building sites. Often without realising you've entered one until you have to dodge a craneload of bricks. Health and safety? 什么意思？
Last year's president of the Edinburgh University Students Association has been arrested for occupying Fortnum and Masons, or something anarchic like that (is anarchic the word I want? Mildly rebellious?). Don't I feel proud... He promised to get us a 24 hour library. They've all promised that. And they've all failed.
No point being disillusioned with the politicians we've got as by the looks of it, the next lot won't be much better....
2011-03-29
2011-03-27
My reading teacher asked me what I was thinking of doing my thesis on. This prompted a half-second moment of panic as the first topic I was thinking of looking at was Taiwan-China relations (namely the likliehood of a Two-China settlement), hardly politic to say to a PRC citizen, and the second was China-North Korea relations. I could hardly mention that in a room full of South Koreans... some of whom will have been in the Korean army. In the end I plumped for Chinese relations with "er, like, the world".
I am going to Shanghai next weekend with Korean flatmates. They were going and invited me along and I just cannot turn down a visit to Shanghai. I'm going to take them to get a Sunday roast dinner. They love doing traditional British things.
I was getting the taxi back from a restaurant yesterday and I reallllllly needed to pee. No worries, I thought, be home soon. Every single bloody traffic light was red. The lights here all count down the seconds left, which is normally a useful thing, but in this instance each geologically long countdown just mocked me in the cruellest way. I mentioned to the driver that I hated red lights. He agreed. For those interested, I made it home without an embarrassing accident...
The thermometer is slowly creeping up in Qingdao but I am still making the mistake of trying to make the weather match my clothes rather than the other way around. Consequently-brrr.
I am going to Shanghai next weekend with Korean flatmates. They were going and invited me along and I just cannot turn down a visit to Shanghai. I'm going to take them to get a Sunday roast dinner. They love doing traditional British things.
I was getting the taxi back from a restaurant yesterday and I reallllllly needed to pee. No worries, I thought, be home soon. Every single bloody traffic light was red. The lights here all count down the seconds left, which is normally a useful thing, but in this instance each geologically long countdown just mocked me in the cruellest way. I mentioned to the driver that I hated red lights. He agreed. For those interested, I made it home without an embarrassing accident...
The thermometer is slowly creeping up in Qingdao but I am still making the mistake of trying to make the weather match my clothes rather than the other way around. Consequently-brrr.
2011-03-23
Bang Bang
I got into a lift with some Chinese people and one woman whispered to another something about "Americans always" doing something. I didn't understand what she said Americans were always doing but just in case it was something rude, I pointed out I was British and then she was embarrassed and muttered something about not realising I could understand...
1-0 me.
Qingdao has a mafia- who knew? Two people were shot dead in Mykal at the weekend. Mykal is a mall I visit every now and then. I was quite surprised to hear there was gun crime around but hopefully they'll keep it to themselves and leave Laowais alone.
A student said today, in response to me explaining about some Scots wanting independence, "that's weird. Nowhere in China wants independence".
1-0 me.
Qingdao has a mafia- who knew? Two people were shot dead in Mykal at the weekend. Mykal is a mall I visit every now and then. I was quite surprised to hear there was gun crime around but hopefully they'll keep it to themselves and leave Laowais alone.
A student said today, in response to me explaining about some Scots wanting independence, "that's weird. Nowhere in China wants independence".
2011-03-20
Of Souls and Sin
Qingdao has a rock scene. Who knew?
As I found out last night, American Korean Michael is a Catholic, so this morning my flatmates and I, along with him and Korean Michael, trooped off to the Catholic cathedral in the old town. Originally built by the Germans, it is now used by the Chinese and Korean congregations. For Communist reasons, the Chinese and Koreans are not allowed to worship together. My Korean flatmates had never really been to church so they were all excited. Becka went to a Catholic school and I was going along as China is a rather soulless place to live sometimes. And because I was drunk when they invited me along.
The service was all in Korean, except for the reading, which was in English. Which was odd. I'm sure there is a Korean version of the Bible as Korea is actually quite Christian. The rest was in Korean so, apart from "thanks be to God", I had no idea what I was being lectured about. (Koreans have taught me how to say thank you.) Not that I understand it when it's in English either.
The cathedral was very nice inside. Cold, but nice. Outside had the usual herd of brides having their wedding photos taken. Their dresses are always pinned at the back because they don't fit-always too small. Wishful thinking I suppose.
To counter my redemption I went to a rock gig last night at Redstar. Redstar is a bilingual magazine here and also hold gigs. I've started writing for the magazine (well one thing-a restaurant review- but other articles are in the pipeline...) so I'm now a fake restaurant critic as well as a fake teacher... Although I now have a board marker so I think that makes me a real teacher.
The bands were really good and gave great performances. The audience was mostly Chinese, which surprised me, who had a fantastic time jumping up and down. The lead singer of the main band, The Dama Lamas, ended up with not that many clothes on in the end... I also met a guy who has been skiing in Iran, Kashmir and Iraq. Unusual. Before the music we watched a documentary on Qingdao's rock and indie scene which was a tad long and emo. The interviewer asked questions like "will you get married" and the scruffy musicians would answer "I'm too cool for marriage" or something like that.
Faux pas of the Week: Me, dipping a bread like substance (lit. "flaky cake") into my mutton soup. It's not for dipping apparently, just eating. But not with soup on it. Me and my silly foreign ways...
As I found out last night, American Korean Michael is a Catholic, so this morning my flatmates and I, along with him and Korean Michael, trooped off to the Catholic cathedral in the old town. Originally built by the Germans, it is now used by the Chinese and Korean congregations. For Communist reasons, the Chinese and Koreans are not allowed to worship together. My Korean flatmates had never really been to church so they were all excited. Becka went to a Catholic school and I was going along as China is a rather soulless place to live sometimes. And because I was drunk when they invited me along.
The service was all in Korean, except for the reading, which was in English. Which was odd. I'm sure there is a Korean version of the Bible as Korea is actually quite Christian. The rest was in Korean so, apart from "thanks be to God", I had no idea what I was being lectured about. (Koreans have taught me how to say thank you.) Not that I understand it when it's in English either.
The cathedral was very nice inside. Cold, but nice. Outside had the usual herd of brides having their wedding photos taken. Their dresses are always pinned at the back because they don't fit-always too small. Wishful thinking I suppose.
To counter my redemption I went to a rock gig last night at Redstar. Redstar is a bilingual magazine here and also hold gigs. I've started writing for the magazine (well one thing-a restaurant review- but other articles are in the pipeline...) so I'm now a fake restaurant critic as well as a fake teacher... Although I now have a board marker so I think that makes me a real teacher.
The bands were really good and gave great performances. The audience was mostly Chinese, which surprised me, who had a fantastic time jumping up and down. The lead singer of the main band, The Dama Lamas, ended up with not that many clothes on in the end... I also met a guy who has been skiing in Iran, Kashmir and Iraq. Unusual. Before the music we watched a documentary on Qingdao's rock and indie scene which was a tad long and emo. The interviewer asked questions like "will you get married" and the scruffy musicians would answer "I'm too cool for marriage" or something like that.
Faux pas of the Week: Me, dipping a bread like substance (lit. "flaky cake") into my mutton soup. It's not for dipping apparently, just eating. But not with soup on it. Me and my silly foreign ways...
2011-03-17
Food
This week has mostly been spent eating. Tuesday's excursion was to a Beijing Peking duck restaurant that was rather tasty. They'd aimed for a traditional looking restaurant but spoiled it by having the first thing you saw be a tank full of frogs. And by having plastic orange chopsticks. But our waiter was very sweet bless him. He had to very patiently explain, several times, what the slices for duck skin were for although he did crack at the end wailing "just eat them whenever you want!!!!". There were quite a few of us- a real mix of Koreans, Chinese and the odd sprinkling of German, American, English and Scottish. I realised that day that a good number of these guys I won't see very often, if at all, after I leave Qingdao. That was not a happy thought. I love that this year abroad has enabled me to meet so many different people from such different cultures, not just Chinese. But not that I have to go home at the end...
Wednesday was off to hotpot to welcome a friend's boyfriend home. The friend is from Tokyo studying in Qingdao and the boyfriend is from Qingdao studying in Tokyo. I feel they got it the wrong way round... Hotpot was again delicious and was washed down with a comfortable amount of beer. Which paled into insignificance as the 5 men next to us had an entire crate full of empty bottles.
Poor Sara, flatmate, ate a mango for the first time on Tuesday and has since discovered she is allergic to it. Her face has swollen up all red and angry. Our reading teacher was very concerned and at first tried to blame it on the fact that they were imported mangoes (they weren't- Chinese born and bred I believe) before telling Sara to be very careful about what she eats. She has also told us never to drink water from the tap in Qingdao, even if it's boiled, which made Boram, Sara and I go very quiet.
I also have finally managed to make apple crumble in the microwave. It is not perfect but close enough :D (See the Chinese attitude seeping in there :P).
What else about food? After teaching Edward, fellow teacher, took me to a traditional mutton soup restaurant for lunch. It's starting to become a regular thing after teaching on Thursday to go find lunch- which suits me as he knows nice places to go. Not to mention he is always a gentleman and pays for mine, despite my protestations. Oh well, the point of mutton soup is that it is dirt cheap (invented in the early 20th century when noone had anything to eat in China. No one not a warlord anyway).
Wednesday was off to hotpot to welcome a friend's boyfriend home. The friend is from Tokyo studying in Qingdao and the boyfriend is from Qingdao studying in Tokyo. I feel they got it the wrong way round... Hotpot was again delicious and was washed down with a comfortable amount of beer. Which paled into insignificance as the 5 men next to us had an entire crate full of empty bottles.
Poor Sara, flatmate, ate a mango for the first time on Tuesday and has since discovered she is allergic to it. Her face has swollen up all red and angry. Our reading teacher was very concerned and at first tried to blame it on the fact that they were imported mangoes (they weren't- Chinese born and bred I believe) before telling Sara to be very careful about what she eats. She has also told us never to drink water from the tap in Qingdao, even if it's boiled, which made Boram, Sara and I go very quiet.
I also have finally managed to make apple crumble in the microwave. It is not perfect but close enough :D (See the Chinese attitude seeping in there :P).
What else about food? After teaching Edward, fellow teacher, took me to a traditional mutton soup restaurant for lunch. It's starting to become a regular thing after teaching on Thursday to go find lunch- which suits me as he knows nice places to go. Not to mention he is always a gentleman and pays for mine, despite my protestations. Oh well, the point of mutton soup is that it is dirt cheap (invented in the early 20th century when noone had anything to eat in China. No one not a warlord anyway).
2011-03-13
Chef Jones
So yesterday I finally made use of my shiny cookbook and traipsed off to Carrefour on the hunt for ingredients for 锅包肉, guo bao rou, meat slices in batter in a sweet sauce, and 地三鲜, di sanxian, "three treasures of the earth", a.k.a potato, pepper and aubergine in soy sauce.
I spent far too much of my life plodding around Carrefour in search of things like cornstarch and vegetable oil. Turns out that despite my Chinese cookbook urging vegetable oil, such a thing is not stocked in Carrefour so I made do with corn oil which is probably the same thing. I located everything else and queued up and paid and made for the exit.
But then I realised I had no scales to measure anything so I headed back and tried to find the scales. Carrefours have a very confusing layout but I found the stairs to the 3rd floor. All good. A preliminary search revealed no scales so I wandered around asking the assistants. The word for scales is 磅"bang" so I did actually spend 10 minutes walking around saying "bang!" at people. Eventually I discovered the Chinese don't really weigh food when they cook and the best they had was one of those scales where you hang something on a hook to find out how much it weighs. Not much use for powder but I bought it regardless.
I borrowed the Koreans' wok and rice cooker (never used one before-gadgety) and despite my ineptitude, what was finally plonked on plates at the end was not half bad! The batter on the meat wasn't perfectly crispy and the di san xian was a wee bit mushy but overall it tasted nice and nobody died :D Next stop, apple crumble in a microwave!
On the way back from the Carrefour the bus was so full the driver wouldn't let more people on. For this to happen, the bus has to be stuffed so full nobody can move. Or breather. I have worked out a way to cope with this and that is to stay stubbornly as near to the door as possible so that a) I can breathe when the door opens and shuts and b)I can get off without trying to fit through a 1mm gap between construction workers from Anhui.
Speaking of construction workers from Anhui, a group were waiting at the bus stop with me and one of them showed me an Indonesian 500 rupiah note. I have no idea where he got it from (he says he found it on the floor) but he wanted to know how much it was worth. Of course I had no idea and refused the offer to buy it. It was quite hard talking to them as their accents were just so thick. Sounded like they were talking through a dodgy radio receiver. How does a human voice achieve that effect?
And finally, this is my 100th blog post... *fireworks*
I spent far too much of my life plodding around Carrefour in search of things like cornstarch and vegetable oil. Turns out that despite my Chinese cookbook urging vegetable oil, such a thing is not stocked in Carrefour so I made do with corn oil which is probably the same thing. I located everything else and queued up and paid and made for the exit.
But then I realised I had no scales to measure anything so I headed back and tried to find the scales. Carrefours have a very confusing layout but I found the stairs to the 3rd floor. All good. A preliminary search revealed no scales so I wandered around asking the assistants. The word for scales is 磅"bang" so I did actually spend 10 minutes walking around saying "bang!" at people. Eventually I discovered the Chinese don't really weigh food when they cook and the best they had was one of those scales where you hang something on a hook to find out how much it weighs. Not much use for powder but I bought it regardless.
I borrowed the Koreans' wok and rice cooker (never used one before-gadgety) and despite my ineptitude, what was finally plonked on plates at the end was not half bad! The batter on the meat wasn't perfectly crispy and the di san xian was a wee bit mushy but overall it tasted nice and nobody died :D Next stop, apple crumble in a microwave!
On the way back from the Carrefour the bus was so full the driver wouldn't let more people on. For this to happen, the bus has to be stuffed so full nobody can move. Or breather. I have worked out a way to cope with this and that is to stay stubbornly as near to the door as possible so that a) I can breathe when the door opens and shuts and b)I can get off without trying to fit through a 1mm gap between construction workers from Anhui.
Speaking of construction workers from Anhui, a group were waiting at the bus stop with me and one of them showed me an Indonesian 500 rupiah note. I have no idea where he got it from (he says he found it on the floor) but he wanted to know how much it was worth. Of course I had no idea and refused the offer to buy it. It was quite hard talking to them as their accents were just so thick. Sounded like they were talking through a dodgy radio receiver. How does a human voice achieve that effect?
And finally, this is my 100th blog post... *fireworks*
2011-03-10
How do you say...in...
Class continues. With one hitch- someone has taken my spot... Which has forced me to retreat several desks so I can still see out of the window. The downside is I am now quite near the back and whilst I can still hear ok, the people in front block the board and being out of sight makes it harder to nervously pipe up with an answer. Problem is I know the two guys who have stolen my spot- both are called Michael and are Korean. And whilst one got out of military service by claiming high blood pressure, the other took American citizenship instead (he grew up in LA). This morning I tried to get there uber early to bagsi but Michael still-Korean must have been there all night because he was there before me...
However it did mean that today I was also sat next to a different person. She was a Korean and like most of the Korean girls, wears a lot of make-up. That's one of the ways you can spot a Korean from a Chinese a mile off- they wear more make-up. They also, as this girl again demonstrated, have more of a sense of style as she was sporting a trilby and a blazer. So I had a good chat with her and the two guys in front. She is called Seruna or something and is from Seoul. The lads gave me their Chinese names which I have forgotten. They tried out some English words on me, namely "Chelsea", "Arsenal" and "iPod". Very good.
I dared to speak in French to Vanessa. I asked if her coffee was good and she laughed and said "oui". Tomorrow I may move onto asking how her evening was. Speaking in French is rather hard now as although I have not really forgotten much, I have to make a great effort to bat the Chinese word aside and rummage around for the French. I may be inventing Chench.
Sara and Boram taught me how to say the "weather is very good" in Korean. I can now say "hello", "goodbye", "don't shoot me" as well as commenting on the weather. And I can count to 10 in Russian as well as stutter my way through the alphabet.
If only there was some way to make money from studying languages....
However it did mean that today I was also sat next to a different person. She was a Korean and like most of the Korean girls, wears a lot of make-up. That's one of the ways you can spot a Korean from a Chinese a mile off- they wear more make-up. They also, as this girl again demonstrated, have more of a sense of style as she was sporting a trilby and a blazer. So I had a good chat with her and the two guys in front. She is called Seruna or something and is from Seoul. The lads gave me their Chinese names which I have forgotten. They tried out some English words on me, namely "Chelsea", "Arsenal" and "iPod". Very good.
I dared to speak in French to Vanessa. I asked if her coffee was good and she laughed and said "oui". Tomorrow I may move onto asking how her evening was. Speaking in French is rather hard now as although I have not really forgotten much, I have to make a great effort to bat the Chinese word aside and rummage around for the French. I may be inventing Chench.
Sara and Boram taught me how to say the "weather is very good" in Korean. I can now say "hello", "goodbye", "don't shoot me" as well as commenting on the weather. And I can count to 10 in Russian as well as stutter my way through the alphabet.
If only there was some way to make money from studying languages....
2011-03-08
New Semester, New Career?
I was going to write about my first day back at uni (it amuses me that I have my first class of the semester at around the time Edinburgh students are winding up theirs) but actually that wasn't the most exciting thing of the day.
At lunch I received a call from Kenton, who moonlights as a scout. He wanted me, and as many white women as I could find, to audition for a main role in a TV drama. I thought for about 0.0000001 of a second before signing myself up along with Becka, Reina and Daisy. Kenton picked us up in his car and we drove along the highway/massive dodgems track to a hotel where we were ushered into a small room populated by two Chinese men and a lot of cigarette smoke. One of them was sporting an arty goatee, very stylish, and the other looked far more like a conventional Chinese man with his sensible short back and sides. Our audition consisted of us having our photo taken and looking hopeful. They asked about any acting experience, to which we replied, er no, but did not seem to mind. To be honest, I don't think that, judging by the acting standards of many of the normal Chinese "actors" I see in Chinese TV dramas, acting is the most important part. Plus, as one of them pointed out, as Britain has so many great actors, we will also be good. Can;t argue with that.
However I suspect I am not about to become a TV star as I am rather tall- and that is not good for TV. Not when your co-actors are several inches smaller than you. Plus, I should probably be focusing on my degree rather than my acting career...
The second most exciting thing was, of course, the first class. I picked my seat in the new classroom with Sheldon-esque precision. It is next to the window so I have a lovely view of the bay. I am right next to the radiator so, for now, I am lovely and warm. And when summer comes the air-con is right in front of me so double-bingo! Plus I am at the front so can both see and hear rather well. The only downside is that as I am on the left of the classroom, the teacher can sometimes block my view when she writes... but that is something only Sheldon would mind!
My class consists of a million Koreans and a handful of other nationalities. I am sat next to Vanessa, who I knew in B class, and she is from the Congo. There is also one Thai, two Japanese, one Russian and one American. Otherwise, my class got Seoul...
When I started last semester I tried out C class and I can remember how utterly lost I was but this semester, with constant paddling, my head is definitely above water. This means my Chinese has improved woohoo!
*Fireworks and celebrations*
The second teacher we had is going to prove excellent entertainment. She is around 50 and lovely. When she found out Vanessa was from the Congo she turned to the rest of the class and said, "Everyone! Vanessa is from the Congo! The Congo! So far away! The Congo! Wow" *Eyes Vanessa* "Congo has a lot forests, doesn't it?" Vanessa had a fit of giggles so I explained that Congo has a big lake but she misheard my pronunciation of "hu" with the 2nd tone as "hu" with the 3rd, which means tiger not lake and commenced a tiger impression, complete with claws, while I desperately tried to explain, through the growling, what I meant. Vanessa's giggles completely took over.
She then proceeded to tell everyone how attractive the American was and how good his pronunciation is. (His pronunciation is indeed very good. I shall say nothing of his looks.) Then she proceeded to use him to answer all of her questions.
I loved that one so much I have completely forgotten everything from the first lesson. All except the teacher had us sing a song about making friends. Sweeeeet.
Last night we went to a tiny restaurant for all-you-can-eat sushi. I ate too much.
Great sushi though. We introduced the Koreans, and Japanese, to "pennying". It's a silly Western game where you drop a penny in someone's drink and they have to down it. I like culture-sharing.
Just found out it is Pancake Day. We are introducing the Koreans to this as well.
P.s. I saw Anthony and his twin in a restaurant today. I could only tell them apart using methods I use on the Exmoor ponies-namely the patterns of their beards.
At lunch I received a call from Kenton, who moonlights as a scout. He wanted me, and as many white women as I could find, to audition for a main role in a TV drama. I thought for about 0.0000001 of a second before signing myself up along with Becka, Reina and Daisy. Kenton picked us up in his car and we drove along the highway/massive dodgems track to a hotel where we were ushered into a small room populated by two Chinese men and a lot of cigarette smoke. One of them was sporting an arty goatee, very stylish, and the other looked far more like a conventional Chinese man with his sensible short back and sides. Our audition consisted of us having our photo taken and looking hopeful. They asked about any acting experience, to which we replied, er no, but did not seem to mind. To be honest, I don't think that, judging by the acting standards of many of the normal Chinese "actors" I see in Chinese TV dramas, acting is the most important part. Plus, as one of them pointed out, as Britain has so many great actors, we will also be good. Can;t argue with that.
However I suspect I am not about to become a TV star as I am rather tall- and that is not good for TV. Not when your co-actors are several inches smaller than you. Plus, I should probably be focusing on my degree rather than my acting career...
The second most exciting thing was, of course, the first class. I picked my seat in the new classroom with Sheldon-esque precision. It is next to the window so I have a lovely view of the bay. I am right next to the radiator so, for now, I am lovely and warm. And when summer comes the air-con is right in front of me so double-bingo! Plus I am at the front so can both see and hear rather well. The only downside is that as I am on the left of the classroom, the teacher can sometimes block my view when she writes... but that is something only Sheldon would mind!
My class consists of a million Koreans and a handful of other nationalities. I am sat next to Vanessa, who I knew in B class, and she is from the Congo. There is also one Thai, two Japanese, one Russian and one American. Otherwise, my class got Seoul...
When I started last semester I tried out C class and I can remember how utterly lost I was but this semester, with constant paddling, my head is definitely above water. This means my Chinese has improved woohoo!
*Fireworks and celebrations*
The second teacher we had is going to prove excellent entertainment. She is around 50 and lovely. When she found out Vanessa was from the Congo she turned to the rest of the class and said, "Everyone! Vanessa is from the Congo! The Congo! So far away! The Congo! Wow" *Eyes Vanessa* "Congo has a lot forests, doesn't it?" Vanessa had a fit of giggles so I explained that Congo has a big lake but she misheard my pronunciation of "hu" with the 2nd tone as "hu" with the 3rd, which means tiger not lake and commenced a tiger impression, complete with claws, while I desperately tried to explain, through the growling, what I meant. Vanessa's giggles completely took over.
She then proceeded to tell everyone how attractive the American was and how good his pronunciation is. (His pronunciation is indeed very good. I shall say nothing of his looks.) Then she proceeded to use him to answer all of her questions.
I loved that one so much I have completely forgotten everything from the first lesson. All except the teacher had us sing a song about making friends. Sweeeeet.
Last night we went to a tiny restaurant for all-you-can-eat sushi. I ate too much.
Great sushi though. We introduced the Koreans, and Japanese, to "pennying". It's a silly Western game where you drop a penny in someone's drink and they have to down it. I like culture-sharing.
Just found out it is Pancake Day. We are introducing the Koreans to this as well.
P.s. I saw Anthony and his twin in a restaurant today. I could only tell them apart using methods I use on the Exmoor ponies-namely the patterns of their beards.
2011-03-06
Qingdao: Round 2
Sometimes in life strange things happen...
I don't really know many people on my course in Edinburgh for several reasons-mostly because I have never bothered to make the effort to speak to them. So I am not really in touch with them.
So when my Korean flatmates walked through the door on Friday, closely followed by such an Edinburgh classmate, I was rather flabbergasted!
It turns out that Sara, my Korean flatmate, was on the bus on the way back from the airport (she'd been home to Korea for the holidays) when a ginger haired girl overhead her say she was an Ocean student and accosted her saying she was new in Qingdao and had no idea where to go or anything but the one thing she did know was that there were two English girls from Edinburgh there and Sara went "oh I have two English girls" and brought her back to see. When she walked through the door I stared at her, certain I recognised her from Edinburgh but couldn't believe it would be her, and she stared at me trying to make sure it was me as I had glasses on and I have my new fringe. But after a few seconds we realised we were thinking the same thing and thus ensued 10 minutes of "what on earth are you doing here!". Her name is Reina (which I hadn't known) and as she does Chinese and Business, she'd been in Dublin for 6 months and was now in China for half a year, which explained why she was new. She'd heard we were here, had rejected Dalian, and thus had decided on Qingdao.
What are the odds though- of her and Sara being on the same bus and then talking!
So I had a new playmate and on Saturday we went exploring in the old part of Qingdao. It hadn't been as nice a day as the one before but we had a lovely time wandering around some decrepit old German buildings. We went into the Protestant Church, which I hadn't been in before, and the Governor's Mansion. The mansion had a lovely collection of artefacts from days gone by, including old cameras and hand wound calculators, as well as some nice furniture-made in Stuttgart- and curtains. Reina and I agreed we wouldn't mind living there. And indeed as it was turned into a guesthouse after the revolution, luminaries such as Ho Chi Minh and Mao himself stayed there.
We also walked down Zhanqiao pier (thing you see on Tsingtao beer bottles) and took pictures of the bay.
One feature of the day was that we had rather psychotic bus drivers. I wondered if they had competitions to see if they could finish a route the fastest because one guy didn't bother stopping at every stop but rather shouted back to see if anyone wanted to get off. And he drove like a maniac. The one on the way back kept trying to overtake other buses and not succeeding.
And then a few drinks in LPG with Daisy and the guy who lives next to Reina, Julian. He's from Germany and while we were sat there another German came round wondering if we were German. He was collecting them for some reason. Daisy has a hurt foot because not only was a telly dropped on it, but a motorbike ran over it. Did she anger God or something?
Went and got a manicure this morning- £1.50 oh yeahhh. Hopefully they'll stay nice until Wednesday. Although I might need to get some more teaching work if I am going to keep getting my nails done...
Glad to be back in Qingdao- it is a nice place :)
I don't really know many people on my course in Edinburgh for several reasons-mostly because I have never bothered to make the effort to speak to them. So I am not really in touch with them.
So when my Korean flatmates walked through the door on Friday, closely followed by such an Edinburgh classmate, I was rather flabbergasted!
It turns out that Sara, my Korean flatmate, was on the bus on the way back from the airport (she'd been home to Korea for the holidays) when a ginger haired girl overhead her say she was an Ocean student and accosted her saying she was new in Qingdao and had no idea where to go or anything but the one thing she did know was that there were two English girls from Edinburgh there and Sara went "oh I have two English girls" and brought her back to see. When she walked through the door I stared at her, certain I recognised her from Edinburgh but couldn't believe it would be her, and she stared at me trying to make sure it was me as I had glasses on and I have my new fringe. But after a few seconds we realised we were thinking the same thing and thus ensued 10 minutes of "what on earth are you doing here!". Her name is Reina (which I hadn't known) and as she does Chinese and Business, she'd been in Dublin for 6 months and was now in China for half a year, which explained why she was new. She'd heard we were here, had rejected Dalian, and thus had decided on Qingdao.
What are the odds though- of her and Sara being on the same bus and then talking!
So I had a new playmate and on Saturday we went exploring in the old part of Qingdao. It hadn't been as nice a day as the one before but we had a lovely time wandering around some decrepit old German buildings. We went into the Protestant Church, which I hadn't been in before, and the Governor's Mansion. The mansion had a lovely collection of artefacts from days gone by, including old cameras and hand wound calculators, as well as some nice furniture-made in Stuttgart- and curtains. Reina and I agreed we wouldn't mind living there. And indeed as it was turned into a guesthouse after the revolution, luminaries such as Ho Chi Minh and Mao himself stayed there.
We also walked down Zhanqiao pier (thing you see on Tsingtao beer bottles) and took pictures of the bay.
One feature of the day was that we had rather psychotic bus drivers. I wondered if they had competitions to see if they could finish a route the fastest because one guy didn't bother stopping at every stop but rather shouted back to see if anyone wanted to get off. And he drove like a maniac. The one on the way back kept trying to overtake other buses and not succeeding.
And then a few drinks in LPG with Daisy and the guy who lives next to Reina, Julian. He's from Germany and while we were sat there another German came round wondering if we were German. He was collecting them for some reason. Daisy has a hurt foot because not only was a telly dropped on it, but a motorbike ran over it. Did she anger God or something?
Went and got a manicure this morning- £1.50 oh yeahhh. Hopefully they'll stay nice until Wednesday. Although I might need to get some more teaching work if I am going to keep getting my nails done...
Glad to be back in Qingdao- it is a nice place :)
2011-03-03
Shanghai Style and... the Daily Mail?
And to my final stop in Shanghai...
I caught the bullet train and spent the first 15 minutes of the trip mentally going "WHHHEEEEEE" as we sped out of Nanjing and across Jiangsu province. I was enjoying it far too much for a train trip... Above the seats is a speed indicator and I think it hit 341kph at one point. For comparison I don't think British trains go faster than 250kph and while Beijing plans to cobweb thousands of kilometres of China in high speed railtracks within a few years, the UK might have laid a track from London to Birmingham by 2026...
Staying with China transport plans, I heard that they intend to add a significant number of new aiports despite the fact that many they already have are losing money and operating at barely 20% of their capacity. And with the introduction of the high speed network, they will surely force many others into making a loss. Once the new Beijing/ Shanghai line opens the trip of hundreds of kilometres will be accomplished in just 4 hours making catching a 2 hour flight rather redundant, when one considers the time lost commuting to airports 50 minutes out of town and another 20 minutes waiting for baggage. Not to mention the tedious security checks.
Plus the view from a train is rather more varied that that out of a plane window!
Anyway after the enjoyable train ride I arrived in Shanghai and made my way to my hostel, dumped my bags, and headed out into the night. And what a night! I always think Chinese cities look better in the dark and Shanghai is no exception. You might not be able to see any stars but the sky was still lit up by thousands of pricks of light from the sleek skyscrapers. I walked down through the old French concession past late night shoppers, flash youngsters in Dad's lamborghini roaring past an old man on a tricycle, stalls selling BBQ (which I sampled) and an endless avenue of bright lights. I loved it.
I explored the area in the light of day and the French Concession lived up to my expectations. It consists of tree-lined streets with the odd network of alleyways that I explored. One such network I visited was 田子坊, Tianzifang, and was, well, chic. Not a word I use often in China! There were independant cafes and restaurants with cuisines ranging from Vietnamese to French. I also discovered some photo galleries and had a happy time drooling over some rather spectacular pictures of Tibet, Mongolia and various other places in China. One of my favourites showed a child sat in a basket on a yak back glaring furiously at the camera. I don't think that yak back was where he wanted to be. Naughty steps must be difficult if you live in a yurt so I suppose maybe they have a naughty yak...
Another photographer specialised in horses. I like horses. I bought a picture of some mongolian horses running through a snowy, birch forest. Bizarrely, there was an article on the collection by the Daily Mail, of all newspapers! Complete with readers' comments at the back and you can imagine the comedic brilliance of the average Daily Mail reader...
Here is the link (my photo is in there):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1350756/Wild-horses-Mongolia-stunning-pictures.html
I had a little hunt for a nice qipao, as Shanghai is where they originated. However I was looking in the expensive shops so they were all over 2000元... but they were lovely to look at and I might go check out a tailor in Qingdao to see if I can get one handmade.
The French Concession also seems to have an abundance of "Former Residences" so I pottered along to the old haunt of Sun Yat-sen's wife, Song Qingling, who seems to have been rather formidable. From the exhibits of her letters and books, she came across as the Chinese revolution's interfering aunt. There was one letter dressing Chiang Kai-shek down for a policy decision, "history will hold you to account", as well as others urging the next set of leaders to adhere to Sun's Three Principles of Chinese Nationalism, Chinese Democracy and Chinese Livelihood. As she switched support from the KMT to the Communists, and thus spent her later years as a representative, she is widely respected in China. There were many photos of her meeting delegations from abroad, including one showing a christmas tree from 1965, and of her with Mao and other top officials. She seems to have played a similar role to our Queen- used for show but not necessarily involved in running things. She, like our Queen, also did large amounts of charity work, specialising in children and women's rights. She died in 1981, aged 88. For such an ardent supporter of the original revolution, I wonder what she made of the Cultural Revolution. I can only think that someone of her strong convictions in building a better China must have felt betrayed.
The house is left exactly as it was, apparently, and it was exactly like a western house of that time. Hardly anything Chinese at all. She had two very nice cars though.
When I was browsing, some students borrowed me for an interview "why did you come to China?! Do you like Shanghai?!" and the obligatory group photo...
I also visited Zhou Enlai's residence. It was used as a base for the CCP, complete with KMT spypost opposite. Zhou Enlai, eventually the Prime Minister, was supposed to succeed Mao but unfortunately died just a few months before the Chairman. His death sparked riots in Tiananmen Square as supporters believed that the government was not showing enough respect by having a too short period of public mourning.
I also walked past Chiang Kai-shek's old pad but did not go in as it was late. They did pick a nice place to stay.
On my last day in Shanghai I went to their musuem which is supposed to be the best in China. I did not enjoy it as much as those in Guangzhou because it mostly featured ancient bronzes although there were some beautiful works of calligraphy and Qing furniture. I am more interested in recent Chinese history but this museum shied away from anything remotely controversial. One rather good exhibit, though, was of coins and notes from various eras including a fabulous Qing note showing a dragon emerging from stormy clouds over paddy fields, with the Emperor's face superimposed on the side. Another showed minority clothes.
Then I hopped over to Pudong district, which is the new, snazzy, financial district across the river from the Bund. After a while spent gazing at some rather fantastic examples of modern architecture I ventured into one of the malls and had a cup of tea while pretending to be as rich as everyone else around me... There were some fascinating pictures showing Pudong over the last 20 years. I was stunned by how much the place had changed. It had gone from fields and huts to a smorgasbord of futuristic skyscrapers. Really quite a difference. I particularly liked the photo of Pudong in 1994 when it was still mostly flat, except for the Oriental Pearl Tower which looked liked an alien had plonked his spaceship down in what looked like an available parking space. Then by 2000 more skyscrapers had sprouted giving it a far more recognisable appearance. It was these photos that made me really understand all those people I've met who visited China 20 years ago and waggle their heads and open their eyes really wide to convey their shock at just how much it's changed.
While walking across a pedestrian bridge I was waylaid for a photo by some interns whose reason was "we are on a training day". I have no idea why a training day involves a picture with a foreigner.
On the Sunday I found an Irish pub and spent my evening devouring a roast beef lunch with a glass of imported wine followed by apple pie and good old Qingdao beer. It cost an horrific amount of money, even by Western standards, but I suspect it is the last roast I'll get for 5 months!
I loved Shanghai. It was just such an exciting place to be, as well as genuinely stylish. There were restaurants of every type of cuisine as well as a variety of cafes, bars and pubs. There were great shops as well as art and photo galleries. Sometimes China can be... grey but Shanghai was one big light. And I'm a bit of a moth!
And now I have returned to Qingdao. On the way back from Qingdao Airport, it was snowing and my taxi driver lost control and we did a 180 spin in the road.
"Hahahaha!" he said.
"!" was my reply...
I caught the bullet train and spent the first 15 minutes of the trip mentally going "WHHHEEEEEE" as we sped out of Nanjing and across Jiangsu province. I was enjoying it far too much for a train trip... Above the seats is a speed indicator and I think it hit 341kph at one point. For comparison I don't think British trains go faster than 250kph and while Beijing plans to cobweb thousands of kilometres of China in high speed railtracks within a few years, the UK might have laid a track from London to Birmingham by 2026...
Staying with China transport plans, I heard that they intend to add a significant number of new aiports despite the fact that many they already have are losing money and operating at barely 20% of their capacity. And with the introduction of the high speed network, they will surely force many others into making a loss. Once the new Beijing/ Shanghai line opens the trip of hundreds of kilometres will be accomplished in just 4 hours making catching a 2 hour flight rather redundant, when one considers the time lost commuting to airports 50 minutes out of town and another 20 minutes waiting for baggage. Not to mention the tedious security checks.
Plus the view from a train is rather more varied that that out of a plane window!
Anyway after the enjoyable train ride I arrived in Shanghai and made my way to my hostel, dumped my bags, and headed out into the night. And what a night! I always think Chinese cities look better in the dark and Shanghai is no exception. You might not be able to see any stars but the sky was still lit up by thousands of pricks of light from the sleek skyscrapers. I walked down through the old French concession past late night shoppers, flash youngsters in Dad's lamborghini roaring past an old man on a tricycle, stalls selling BBQ (which I sampled) and an endless avenue of bright lights. I loved it.
I explored the area in the light of day and the French Concession lived up to my expectations. It consists of tree-lined streets with the odd network of alleyways that I explored. One such network I visited was 田子坊, Tianzifang, and was, well, chic. Not a word I use often in China! There were independant cafes and restaurants with cuisines ranging from Vietnamese to French. I also discovered some photo galleries and had a happy time drooling over some rather spectacular pictures of Tibet, Mongolia and various other places in China. One of my favourites showed a child sat in a basket on a yak back glaring furiously at the camera. I don't think that yak back was where he wanted to be. Naughty steps must be difficult if you live in a yurt so I suppose maybe they have a naughty yak...
Another photographer specialised in horses. I like horses. I bought a picture of some mongolian horses running through a snowy, birch forest. Bizarrely, there was an article on the collection by the Daily Mail, of all newspapers! Complete with readers' comments at the back and you can imagine the comedic brilliance of the average Daily Mail reader...
Here is the link (my photo is in there):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1350756/Wild-horses-Mongolia-stunning-pictures.html
I had a little hunt for a nice qipao, as Shanghai is where they originated. However I was looking in the expensive shops so they were all over 2000元... but they were lovely to look at and I might go check out a tailor in Qingdao to see if I can get one handmade.
The French Concession also seems to have an abundance of "Former Residences" so I pottered along to the old haunt of Sun Yat-sen's wife, Song Qingling, who seems to have been rather formidable. From the exhibits of her letters and books, she came across as the Chinese revolution's interfering aunt. There was one letter dressing Chiang Kai-shek down for a policy decision, "history will hold you to account", as well as others urging the next set of leaders to adhere to Sun's Three Principles of Chinese Nationalism, Chinese Democracy and Chinese Livelihood. As she switched support from the KMT to the Communists, and thus spent her later years as a representative, she is widely respected in China. There were many photos of her meeting delegations from abroad, including one showing a christmas tree from 1965, and of her with Mao and other top officials. She seems to have played a similar role to our Queen- used for show but not necessarily involved in running things. She, like our Queen, also did large amounts of charity work, specialising in children and women's rights. She died in 1981, aged 88. For such an ardent supporter of the original revolution, I wonder what she made of the Cultural Revolution. I can only think that someone of her strong convictions in building a better China must have felt betrayed.
The house is left exactly as it was, apparently, and it was exactly like a western house of that time. Hardly anything Chinese at all. She had two very nice cars though.
When I was browsing, some students borrowed me for an interview "why did you come to China?! Do you like Shanghai?!" and the obligatory group photo...
I also visited Zhou Enlai's residence. It was used as a base for the CCP, complete with KMT spypost opposite. Zhou Enlai, eventually the Prime Minister, was supposed to succeed Mao but unfortunately died just a few months before the Chairman. His death sparked riots in Tiananmen Square as supporters believed that the government was not showing enough respect by having a too short period of public mourning.
I also walked past Chiang Kai-shek's old pad but did not go in as it was late. They did pick a nice place to stay.
On my last day in Shanghai I went to their musuem which is supposed to be the best in China. I did not enjoy it as much as those in Guangzhou because it mostly featured ancient bronzes although there were some beautiful works of calligraphy and Qing furniture. I am more interested in recent Chinese history but this museum shied away from anything remotely controversial. One rather good exhibit, though, was of coins and notes from various eras including a fabulous Qing note showing a dragon emerging from stormy clouds over paddy fields, with the Emperor's face superimposed on the side. Another showed minority clothes.
Then I hopped over to Pudong district, which is the new, snazzy, financial district across the river from the Bund. After a while spent gazing at some rather fantastic examples of modern architecture I ventured into one of the malls and had a cup of tea while pretending to be as rich as everyone else around me... There were some fascinating pictures showing Pudong over the last 20 years. I was stunned by how much the place had changed. It had gone from fields and huts to a smorgasbord of futuristic skyscrapers. Really quite a difference. I particularly liked the photo of Pudong in 1994 when it was still mostly flat, except for the Oriental Pearl Tower which looked liked an alien had plonked his spaceship down in what looked like an available parking space. Then by 2000 more skyscrapers had sprouted giving it a far more recognisable appearance. It was these photos that made me really understand all those people I've met who visited China 20 years ago and waggle their heads and open their eyes really wide to convey their shock at just how much it's changed.
While walking across a pedestrian bridge I was waylaid for a photo by some interns whose reason was "we are on a training day". I have no idea why a training day involves a picture with a foreigner.
On the Sunday I found an Irish pub and spent my evening devouring a roast beef lunch with a glass of imported wine followed by apple pie and good old Qingdao beer. It cost an horrific amount of money, even by Western standards, but I suspect it is the last roast I'll get for 5 months!
I loved Shanghai. It was just such an exciting place to be, as well as genuinely stylish. There were restaurants of every type of cuisine as well as a variety of cafes, bars and pubs. There were great shops as well as art and photo galleries. Sometimes China can be... grey but Shanghai was one big light. And I'm a bit of a moth!
And now I have returned to Qingdao. On the way back from Qingdao Airport, it was snowing and my taxi driver lost control and we did a 180 spin in the road.
"Hahahaha!" he said.
"!" was my reply...
2011-03-02
Too Noisy in Nanjing
And thus I touched down in Nanjing. I collected my luggage and hopped on the bus into town. The plan after this was to take a taxi to my hostel and then meet up with my friend Kit who lived nearby. I got off the bus at the train station and saw lots of free taxis as well as the usual unlicensed lot trying to scam me.
So far so good.
Then followed a miserable 30 minutes as each taxi I approached refused to take me for various reasons. The first was that I was catching taxis in "the wrong place" so had to walk to the other side of the station. I walked over but any taxis I hailed refused to take me to where I wanted to go or just simply said they didn't know the road. Which was one of the largest ones in Nanjing. So how could a taxi driver not know it. And I was constantly being stared at and hassled.
So I burst into tears and sat down against a wall. After a while I pulled myself together but still stayed sat there as I had no idea what to do next and had lost interest in helping myself. My feminist independence vanished and this was where I felt like I needed a man to take charge and look after me:P After a while I attracted a fan base who peered at me. This annoyed me. "Are you Russian? Your hair is beautiful!" one said in Chinese. "No. British" I replied. "Oooo!". I hauled myself to my feet and tried again with a taxi and lo and behold I found one who actually seems to know the city they work in and he took me to the hostel. Nightmare.
And then I joined up with Kit and spent the next week having a great time eating and drinking and wandering around. I met two more graduates of Edinburgh's Chinese department, as well as from SOAS, and was heartened by how good they were at the lingo. I will get there eventually. We cycled to an island in the middle of the Yangtze River which involved getting a knackered ferry which was fun. We had a cycle around this island which was largely agricultural and visited an art gallery showcasing art by some mentally-ill people- which was unexpected to see in China! To get there a man with a motorcycle truck (basically a motorcycle with a truck on the back-common here) gave us a lift. This involved us and the bikes squeezing into the tiny space and hanging on as he whizzed along at 50mph and slalomed around other traffic. Yeah it was quite dangerous... I was basically standing up and I was terrified he'd tip the bike over but we got there safe and sound-for the price of a packet of cigarettes.
I also visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial which commerates the slaughter of around 300,000 Chinese civilians by the Japanese army in the 2nd World War (Japan disputes this number) and the rape and maiming of thousands more. It was fairly horrific. However the memorial was not very good and the Chinese visitors acted like they normally do, taking pictures and larking about which I thought was disrespectful. Also I felt that all the bones on display should be laid to rest and not be a tourist attraction... And they overdid the "this is what Japan did but we are friends now look how friendly we are peace for ever Japan killed 300,000 but WE ARE FRIENDS AND WE DON'T HOLD IT AGAINST THEM but we do really".
Nanjing was also where I realised I am now used to Chinese food. I had such a lovely time stuffing my face with tasty things and chatting to my friends. We went to a restaurant specialising in cuisine like that in Qingdao so I could nom on my favourite dishes and we also had what was basically lamb shank but served with a glove. You put the glove on, pick up the bone and gnaw to your heart's content. Fantastic. Nanjing has a great cosmopolitan feel and had some lovely cafes and even a German bakery selling cheese and bread. Admittedly the air is bad but I began to see that China has potential for me to stay. Kit has a job writing for a bilingual magazine. He writes and translates Chinese articles. The pay works out at £500 a month with no tax which sounds tiny but in China is just enough to live ok. So now I have a seed of a plan of coming back to Shanghai and getting a similar job. There is an expat magazine in Qingdao that I will try to get work for which shouldn't be too hard as I heard a rumour they needed people.
Alternatively a lot of people here were on scholarships that paid accomodation and a tiny allowance so that might be another way to finance coming back...
Another major event in Nanjing was I went to my first KTV... KTV is endemic in Asia (except perhaps North Korea...) and is karaoke. We all piled into a room and drank lots of jinjiu, nasty Chinese alcohol-like cough medicine but so much worse, and sang along to Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Good times:) Then we went to a club but as it neared 6am the atmosphere deteriorated and some of the African immigrants started trying to fight and throwing snooker balls and grabbing bottles as weapons. Nothing snowballed into a real fight though. Then a McDonald's to finish the night :)
The only bad moment in Nanjing was when we visited a bookshop. I mentioned to a friend that the bilingual books were over here and then spent the next 5 minutes wandering around browsing. After a while a Chinese man came up and asked me to "turn my voice down". I was completely confused at first as I hadn't said anything for a while so thought he had got the wrong person. But no, my one sentence 5 minutes earlier had been too loud as people "were trying to read". I got really rather cross at the rudeness of all this as not only had I hardly said anything, and certainly nothing loud, the loudspeaker was constantly broadcasting loud announcements so it was hardly quiet in there and this was a bookshop not a library and I can talk if I want! And you're supposed to browse a book and then buy it, not sit there and read the whole thing... So my friends and I had an argument with him and the whole thing angered me. I dislike being accused of rudeness if my behaviour has been perfectly normal. Grrr.
But otherwise Nanjing was lovely and I stayed longer than I had intended. But Shanghai still beckoned so I booked a ticket on the bullet train...
So far so good.
Then followed a miserable 30 minutes as each taxi I approached refused to take me for various reasons. The first was that I was catching taxis in "the wrong place" so had to walk to the other side of the station. I walked over but any taxis I hailed refused to take me to where I wanted to go or just simply said they didn't know the road. Which was one of the largest ones in Nanjing. So how could a taxi driver not know it. And I was constantly being stared at and hassled.
So I burst into tears and sat down against a wall. After a while I pulled myself together but still stayed sat there as I had no idea what to do next and had lost interest in helping myself. My feminist independence vanished and this was where I felt like I needed a man to take charge and look after me:P After a while I attracted a fan base who peered at me. This annoyed me. "Are you Russian? Your hair is beautiful!" one said in Chinese. "No. British" I replied. "Oooo!". I hauled myself to my feet and tried again with a taxi and lo and behold I found one who actually seems to know the city they work in and he took me to the hostel. Nightmare.
And then I joined up with Kit and spent the next week having a great time eating and drinking and wandering around. I met two more graduates of Edinburgh's Chinese department, as well as from SOAS, and was heartened by how good they were at the lingo. I will get there eventually. We cycled to an island in the middle of the Yangtze River which involved getting a knackered ferry which was fun. We had a cycle around this island which was largely agricultural and visited an art gallery showcasing art by some mentally-ill people- which was unexpected to see in China! To get there a man with a motorcycle truck (basically a motorcycle with a truck on the back-common here) gave us a lift. This involved us and the bikes squeezing into the tiny space and hanging on as he whizzed along at 50mph and slalomed around other traffic. Yeah it was quite dangerous... I was basically standing up and I was terrified he'd tip the bike over but we got there safe and sound-for the price of a packet of cigarettes.
I also visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial which commerates the slaughter of around 300,000 Chinese civilians by the Japanese army in the 2nd World War (Japan disputes this number) and the rape and maiming of thousands more. It was fairly horrific. However the memorial was not very good and the Chinese visitors acted like they normally do, taking pictures and larking about which I thought was disrespectful. Also I felt that all the bones on display should be laid to rest and not be a tourist attraction... And they overdid the "this is what Japan did but we are friends now look how friendly we are peace for ever Japan killed 300,000 but WE ARE FRIENDS AND WE DON'T HOLD IT AGAINST THEM but we do really".
Nanjing was also where I realised I am now used to Chinese food. I had such a lovely time stuffing my face with tasty things and chatting to my friends. We went to a restaurant specialising in cuisine like that in Qingdao so I could nom on my favourite dishes and we also had what was basically lamb shank but served with a glove. You put the glove on, pick up the bone and gnaw to your heart's content. Fantastic. Nanjing has a great cosmopolitan feel and had some lovely cafes and even a German bakery selling cheese and bread. Admittedly the air is bad but I began to see that China has potential for me to stay. Kit has a job writing for a bilingual magazine. He writes and translates Chinese articles. The pay works out at £500 a month with no tax which sounds tiny but in China is just enough to live ok. So now I have a seed of a plan of coming back to Shanghai and getting a similar job. There is an expat magazine in Qingdao that I will try to get work for which shouldn't be too hard as I heard a rumour they needed people.
Alternatively a lot of people here were on scholarships that paid accomodation and a tiny allowance so that might be another way to finance coming back...
Another major event in Nanjing was I went to my first KTV... KTV is endemic in Asia (except perhaps North Korea...) and is karaoke. We all piled into a room and drank lots of jinjiu, nasty Chinese alcohol-like cough medicine but so much worse, and sang along to Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Good times:) Then we went to a club but as it neared 6am the atmosphere deteriorated and some of the African immigrants started trying to fight and throwing snooker balls and grabbing bottles as weapons. Nothing snowballed into a real fight though. Then a McDonald's to finish the night :)
The only bad moment in Nanjing was when we visited a bookshop. I mentioned to a friend that the bilingual books were over here and then spent the next 5 minutes wandering around browsing. After a while a Chinese man came up and asked me to "turn my voice down". I was completely confused at first as I hadn't said anything for a while so thought he had got the wrong person. But no, my one sentence 5 minutes earlier had been too loud as people "were trying to read". I got really rather cross at the rudeness of all this as not only had I hardly said anything, and certainly nothing loud, the loudspeaker was constantly broadcasting loud announcements so it was hardly quiet in there and this was a bookshop not a library and I can talk if I want! And you're supposed to browse a book and then buy it, not sit there and read the whole thing... So my friends and I had an argument with him and the whole thing angered me. I dislike being accused of rudeness if my behaviour has been perfectly normal. Grrr.
But otherwise Nanjing was lovely and I stayed longer than I had intended. But Shanghai still beckoned so I booked a ticket on the bullet train...
Stress in Xiamen
Right now I'm back home in Qingdao (it really is home now!) with a proper keyboard I can update you on adventures had post Guangzhou:)
I caught a night train from Guangzhou to Xiamen. Xiamen, formerly known as Amoy (roughly the word for the city in the local dialect), is another one of the Bits We Used To Own as well as one of China's "second tier" of cities that is developing rapidly. I think it is being used as a base to increase Taiwan-mainland trade as well and you can get a ferry to an island run by the Republic. I however needed to catch a ferry to Gulang Isle as this was where my hostel was. I'd decided to stay on the isle as it is known as the "pretty" bit of Xiamen as this was where the foreigners were based all those years ago.
However this was more easily said then done. I arrived in Xiamen fairly tired after not much sleep on the train. I am starting to lose my enthusiasm for night trains. Then I bought a map of the city and in the grey dawn tried to get a bus to the ferry terminal. The map lady was very helpful and gave me detailed instructions which would have been very useful if I had understood. As it was I ended up walking around in a large circle to get to the bus stop as I hadn't realised I was standing pretty close and thus chose the wrong way to go to look for it. This pattern was continued in Xiamen as everytime I tried to go somewhere I would fail miserably and end up miles away in the wrong direction. In fact I just failed all the time in Xiamen. My Chinese had deserted me. When I checked in at my hostel I asked for the wireless password and the girl replied "jevfgiavfb" and I, flummoxed, asked her to repeat it. She laughed out loud because, as it turned out, she'd said the numbers 1-9 but so fast I had not understood but she then thought I couldn't count to 9 so her and her male friend thus decided I couldn't speak Chinese which destroyed my confidence. It was also rather agonising to watch them desperately trying to speak English and not being able to but refusing to use Chinese despite asking them to.
And it was raining.
And when I was lugging all my stuff around Gulang Isle trying to find my hostel, I dropped my scarf in the way of two Chinese lads. Instead of picking it up and giving it to the girl who was obviously carrying too much stuff to bend down easily, they just stepped around it. I spent the next 10 minutes fuming that an English lad would have picked it up and Chinese people are so rude...
I decided to get out of Xiamen the next day.
Which proved tricky. I had not realised it but that Saturday was when all the students go back to university and when a lot of migrants go back to work too. As I found out later there were 7 million people using the trains that day. Which was a record for China. So when I caught the ferry back to the mainland and then the bus back to the train station and queued for ages I discovered that there were no trains for days- not even business of standing. My plan had been to catch one of the new super fast trains to Shanghai and then catch the even faster one to Nanjing but I couldn't face 3 more days alone in rainy, grey Xiamen so I inquired about buses. They were cheap but at 30 hours, I couldn't face that either. You see in my mind Shanghai was right next to Xiamen but this is China so while it is right next to Xiamen, that still means 800km.
I scuttled home and looked up flights. They were £110 to Nanjing. This was more than I expected but I suppose the airlines know when the trains will be full... I spent about 5 minutes agonising over this and then I thought about 30 hours on a bus and I bought the flight. Then I felt rather guilty about spending £50 more than intended. So I wasn't in a good mood.
But then China displayed it's amazing ability to plunge me into dark depression one minute and then drag me out into sunny contentment the next. Two student age Chinese made friends with me and we went to dinner together. One was a girl from Guangzhou who was traveling by herself. She hadn't told her mother she was traveling because she was worried her mother wouldn't let her but then her mother found out anyway... Parallels. We had some seafood for dinner than I manfully ate even though I dislike swimmy things but I felt I had to eat as the island had lots of fresh seafood around.
Gulang is also famous for its piano collection and music school so we went to a piano recital given by some of the students. The teacher went first and played very well but then came the little kids, who got progressively smaller. One of them was designated Announcer and took this job very seriously, marching to the front of the stage with an intense look of concentration before delivering her speech in a determined manner. Then another child would appear and march to the front of the stage, bow, and march to the piano before setting to work disembowling Fur Elise. One child forgot to bow first and was halfway to the piano before remembering and abruptly changing direction to bow. I found the whole thing very entertaining.
Xiamen continued to gain points the next day when, after getting up early to explore the island before leaving, it began to rain lightly. By English standards it was nothing and it was my own fault for forgetting my cap but then two Chinese men, who both had umbrellas, came over and tried to give me one of them. I protested but it's rude to refuse a gift so I eventually accepted, red-faced, and they wandered off sharing their remaining umbrella. Rather touching, no? There is hope for chivalry in China after all!
Although technically you shoudn't give an umbrella in China because it's rude or something. The word for umbrella sounds like go away or something so you can't give them as presents. But I wasn't offended:P
I loitered in "China's biggest Starbucks" (not that big. Took me ages to find too) before trying to get a bus to the airport. I again failed (bus I wanted sped past my stop and I was running out of time) and ended up catching a taxi instead. Xiamen continued refusing to let me go when my flight was delayed but eventually I was in the air and away...
So Xiamen and I did not get on very well in the end. Which is a shame as I think it is actually quite a nice city and our problems were really my fault. I'm sure it would look nicer in the sun too.
I caught a night train from Guangzhou to Xiamen. Xiamen, formerly known as Amoy (roughly the word for the city in the local dialect), is another one of the Bits We Used To Own as well as one of China's "second tier" of cities that is developing rapidly. I think it is being used as a base to increase Taiwan-mainland trade as well and you can get a ferry to an island run by the Republic. I however needed to catch a ferry to Gulang Isle as this was where my hostel was. I'd decided to stay on the isle as it is known as the "pretty" bit of Xiamen as this was where the foreigners were based all those years ago.
However this was more easily said then done. I arrived in Xiamen fairly tired after not much sleep on the train. I am starting to lose my enthusiasm for night trains. Then I bought a map of the city and in the grey dawn tried to get a bus to the ferry terminal. The map lady was very helpful and gave me detailed instructions which would have been very useful if I had understood. As it was I ended up walking around in a large circle to get to the bus stop as I hadn't realised I was standing pretty close and thus chose the wrong way to go to look for it. This pattern was continued in Xiamen as everytime I tried to go somewhere I would fail miserably and end up miles away in the wrong direction. In fact I just failed all the time in Xiamen. My Chinese had deserted me. When I checked in at my hostel I asked for the wireless password and the girl replied "jevfgiavfb" and I, flummoxed, asked her to repeat it. She laughed out loud because, as it turned out, she'd said the numbers 1-9 but so fast I had not understood but she then thought I couldn't count to 9 so her and her male friend thus decided I couldn't speak Chinese which destroyed my confidence. It was also rather agonising to watch them desperately trying to speak English and not being able to but refusing to use Chinese despite asking them to.
And it was raining.
And when I was lugging all my stuff around Gulang Isle trying to find my hostel, I dropped my scarf in the way of two Chinese lads. Instead of picking it up and giving it to the girl who was obviously carrying too much stuff to bend down easily, they just stepped around it. I spent the next 10 minutes fuming that an English lad would have picked it up and Chinese people are so rude...
I decided to get out of Xiamen the next day.
Which proved tricky. I had not realised it but that Saturday was when all the students go back to university and when a lot of migrants go back to work too. As I found out later there were 7 million people using the trains that day. Which was a record for China. So when I caught the ferry back to the mainland and then the bus back to the train station and queued for ages I discovered that there were no trains for days- not even business of standing. My plan had been to catch one of the new super fast trains to Shanghai and then catch the even faster one to Nanjing but I couldn't face 3 more days alone in rainy, grey Xiamen so I inquired about buses. They were cheap but at 30 hours, I couldn't face that either. You see in my mind Shanghai was right next to Xiamen but this is China so while it is right next to Xiamen, that still means 800km.
I scuttled home and looked up flights. They were £110 to Nanjing. This was more than I expected but I suppose the airlines know when the trains will be full... I spent about 5 minutes agonising over this and then I thought about 30 hours on a bus and I bought the flight. Then I felt rather guilty about spending £50 more than intended. So I wasn't in a good mood.
But then China displayed it's amazing ability to plunge me into dark depression one minute and then drag me out into sunny contentment the next. Two student age Chinese made friends with me and we went to dinner together. One was a girl from Guangzhou who was traveling by herself. She hadn't told her mother she was traveling because she was worried her mother wouldn't let her but then her mother found out anyway... Parallels. We had some seafood for dinner than I manfully ate even though I dislike swimmy things but I felt I had to eat as the island had lots of fresh seafood around.
Gulang is also famous for its piano collection and music school so we went to a piano recital given by some of the students. The teacher went first and played very well but then came the little kids, who got progressively smaller. One of them was designated Announcer and took this job very seriously, marching to the front of the stage with an intense look of concentration before delivering her speech in a determined manner. Then another child would appear and march to the front of the stage, bow, and march to the piano before setting to work disembowling Fur Elise. One child forgot to bow first and was halfway to the piano before remembering and abruptly changing direction to bow. I found the whole thing very entertaining.
Xiamen continued to gain points the next day when, after getting up early to explore the island before leaving, it began to rain lightly. By English standards it was nothing and it was my own fault for forgetting my cap but then two Chinese men, who both had umbrellas, came over and tried to give me one of them. I protested but it's rude to refuse a gift so I eventually accepted, red-faced, and they wandered off sharing their remaining umbrella. Rather touching, no? There is hope for chivalry in China after all!
Although technically you shoudn't give an umbrella in China because it's rude or something. The word for umbrella sounds like go away or something so you can't give them as presents. But I wasn't offended:P
I loitered in "China's biggest Starbucks" (not that big. Took me ages to find too) before trying to get a bus to the airport. I again failed (bus I wanted sped past my stop and I was running out of time) and ended up catching a taxi instead. Xiamen continued refusing to let me go when my flight was delayed but eventually I was in the air and away...
So Xiamen and I did not get on very well in the end. Which is a shame as I think it is actually quite a nice city and our problems were really my fault. I'm sure it would look nicer in the sun too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)