3/23/09

We had a few hours before we had to meet up (at 12) to get on the bus for Shanghai International Airport. We decided to head back to the market areas surrounding the hotel. These were basically just alleyways with people's shops on each side of the street. They were selling all kinds of things, and since we all had Chinese money we had to get rid of, we bought the last of our souvenirs. I wound up buying a shirt for my mom, which said was an XXL, but was really more like a large/medium. Oh well, I guess I have another shirt.

I got to finish off the last of my rolls of film, and bought a cute knock-off purse.

Then we went on another 14 hr flight, and then another 2 hr flight, then 1 hr bus ride.

But we made it home! I don't think I'm going to be eating Chinese food for about a month!

3/22/09

It's Sunday. We all basically have a free day. Larry took a few of us over to Nan Jing Rd. where there is a bunch of shops (the theme for this journey.) I wasn't looking for anything fancy though, these shops mostly consisted of high-end stores and malls (basically stores you couldn't bargain in.)
We decided to go back to the hotel and explore the little market next door.

That was really cool! We discovered that behind the buildings construction there was a pet market. You could find a number of different kinds of animals for sale. There were giant crickets in cages, meal worms in boxes, turtles and birds and cats and dogs...etc. We all got a lot of great pictures at this market.

We then went back to the hotel for some needed personal leisure time before dinner.

After dinner we went back to Xin Tian Di.

3/21/09

Today we went to the Jade Buddha Temple. We were only allowed to take photos of the wooden statues, but I understand why they don't want photos of the Jade, out of respect.  

They are beautiful statues, and it was a beautiful Temple.  It was lucky (even though it was raining) that it was a buddhist holiday.  So while at the temple we saw people praying.  

After the temple, we went over near Yu Yuan Garden. After grabbing a quick lunch, we took a tour of the garden. Wow, that was amazing. It's hard to believe that that huge area (almost like a small city) was the home of one man and his family.

After the tour, we went shopping in the market around the garden. Let's just say that was an adventure in itself. There was a lot of people, and a lot of vendors yelling, and a lot of people staring at us.

Later that night, we went to the Bund (water). After walking for about an hour (following Dr. Searson) and not finding a good bar, we wound up going back to Xin Tian Di. My new favorite mixed drink is a lychee martini, which we had at one of bars over there. It was fun.

3/20/09

Today we had a couple of hours before we had to get back on the bus. After check-out, I wandered around Hangzhou with Lindsey and Neil. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch (probably the fanciest Pizza Hut I've ever seen.) Then we found an alley that held a market, mostly for the locals. Even though we felt a little out of place, it was a cool experience walking down there.

We had another 3 hr. bus ride back to Shanghai, and this time we got to stay there.

We went straight to the restaurant for dinner, then made it over to our hotel, The Magnificent (yeah, right.)

We found our way over to the bar area, Xin Tian Di. There we found one long street with a bunch of bars along it. After bar hopping a little, we made our way back.

3/19/09

Today the Media and Film Department went out only. This time the education group got a free day.

We went first to the Zhejiang University of Media and Communications. It was an amazing campus. I think it made every single one of us (including the Professors) jealous of how fancy their campus and equipment is.





After the tour, the students met with some students of the university while the professors went to a meeting with the Party Chair. Everyone was really nice. We had lunch there. We exchanged emails with some of the students. I hope they actually email me soon. It was nice getting to know them.



After the university, we went over to the Zhejiang Television Station International Channel. We met with the anchors and head of the station. Angela (real name HaoHao) and William were kind enough to give us a tour of all the facilities. We got to see many things on the tour. They have some amazing equipment there.

We had dinner at the station.

We decided to walk back to the hotel. Which was probably a bad idea in hindsight, because on the way back we stopped in nearly every store. Unfortunately, I was unable to find anything that fit me.


When we finally made it back to the hotel, a few of us met up and decided to go out and do some karaoke. That was a lot of fun, even though I'm not a karaoke person. I figured though, hey, I'm in China. I actually sang a few songs, which is something I would never normally do. It was fun.

3/18/09

Plane ride to Shanghai! As soon as we got there though, we hopped on a bus and drove 3 hours to Hangzhou (pronounce Han-jo). We got to Hangzhou near dusk, so when we went to go look at beautiful and famous West Lake, it was too dark for many pictures. It was kind of cool though to have all those bats flying over head, eating all the bugs over the lake. Daniel told us a very famous tale about the West Lake and the White Snake Myth.

3/17/09 (St. Patty's day in Xi'an)

Woke up really early today. Had to take a plane ride from Beijing to Xi'an.

We went to go see the Terracotta Warriors of the first Quin emperor of China (this was the same guy who had the Great Wall built, who knew!)

I have to say that this was pretty cool. You can see where the warriors and horses were dug up, and see the archeologists in the process of rebuilding some. It's amazing to think that these statues survived the centuries, especially since they are made of clay. Did you know that apparently every single statue is subtly different?


After dinner, we went out around the town. It's amazing to see that part of the city is inside the only completed city wall in that province, the Shanxi province. Our hotel was inside. According to our guide, 7 million people reside outside of the wall, and only 1 million are on the inside. We took a short walk to the outskirts.

After that we decided to take a taxi (crazy drivers!) to a street with a bunch of bars running along it. Had a couple of drinks and some laughs, and danced a little, too. Had to cut it short, though, because we had another early day ahead.

3/16/09

Everyone in the film department had a free morning.  The rest of our group is in education, and they went to go visit a school today.  We went downtown and did some shopping (well, not all of us made it, some were a little too "tired" from the night before, and their sundry sleepwalking adventures).

While searching for a convenience-type store, Caryn and I somehow managed to get lost, by going into a building that only had an Up escalator.  After finding the elevator, we found our way to an alley, that luckily was next to a store I was looking for.  We managed to get back to the group on time.  (On this trip, that was a miracle!  No one was on time for anything!)

We all met up at the Beijing Zoo.  It was kind of depressing how sad all the animals were.  They seemed to be in pretty bad shape.  The pandas just kind of sat there, all dirty.

Later that day, we went to the Temple of Heaven.  This is the spot most famous nowadays for the morning Tai Chi.  

This place was huge!  But it was extremely beautiful.

Unfortunately, we lost Maria.  We spent a good hour trying to find her, but she found her way back to the hotel, safe and sound.  

3/15/09 (The Great Wall Adventure)

Can't wait to see the footage and photos from this day. We went to the Great Wall, and our group, which consisted of me, Neil, Caryn, and Lindsay walked farther than anyone else. I can't believe how steep the slopes and those stairs were! Man my legs are killing me! Monique had a little height problem and had to turn back (but we got some funny footage of it, which I'm going to steal from Neil).

I can't believe how far I walked. I only had to take one break, and then caught up with everyone, but I made it! It was really cool.

We went to the most famous part of the wall, The Great Wall of Badaling.

We then went to a tea house, where they showed us the Chinese Tea Ceremony.  We were taught how to properly drink jasmine tea (the tea most drunk in the areas around Beijing).  You have to drink it in  3 sips, and men and women hold the cup differently.  Women hold it with only 3 fingers, and the rest are fanned out, resembling a phoenix tail.  We also got to sample the other types of tea, which were Green, Fruit, Lychee, and Black.  I liked them all.  After the tea ceremony, we were let loose in the gift shop.  I walked out of there spending less than $100 yuan, but some other women weren't so lucky.

Afterwards, we went to Silk Street. It was basically like Englishtown, or any other kind of market, with lots of little booths with people selling knock-offs for really cheap. I'm really bad at haggling. But I'm getting there. My roomate Karen bought some really cute outfits, and only spent about $200. I didn't buy anything. It's crazy with all the people basically attacking you to get you to buy something.

After that we went to the Hutong. Which is basically like a little village area with really old houses, all built in a quadrangle, 4 buildings surrounding a courtyard. We had a ride on a rickshaw (which honestly, I could have done without). I got a Chairman Mao watch, which was a hassle, but that's a long story, involving a man chasing us on his bike, and me mishearing the bargain, and actually paying more. Annoying!!!! I'm not too mad though, because I bought the thing for the price I wanted to pay anyway, it's just that the man was so desperate for the sale, he actually said I could have 2! All I heard was the price and took the one, and then Neil started yelling at me, but it was too late. The man wasn't giving that sucker up.

We went to dinner at another restaurant, where the food was served family style. It was ok. I liked the beef and the potatoes.  We walked through the night food market, where we got to see snakes, bats, seahorses, and various other animals on sticks.  On one menu we even saw "Dog Meat Pot".  None of us were going near that.

I think people are going out tonight, but jetlag is still kicking me in the a$$, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to stay up long enough to enjoy the night.

Next we have to decide what's going to be done in the morning.

3/14/09

We went to Tian'anmen Square and The Forbidden City and The Summer Palace today. It's true what they say, Chinese people love the novelty of Americans. I had a bunch of people ask me to take a picture with them. Everyone seems to think I was asked more because I have red hair.

The Forbidden City was fascinating. Apparently for centuries, the only male allowed inside the city was the emperor. His own sons had to leave the city as soon as they turned 10. So inside this city (and I mean city, it's freaking huge) was one man, and hundreds of women (his wives, and concubines). The city was only opened to the public this century. Even today, there are many rooms, like the Empress' bedroom, and the throne rooms, that are still no access. I was really difficult to try to get close enough to look in, there were so many people pushing their way in.

We went to lunch at a buffet style restaurant (which so far was my favorite) and then afterwards we went to a Pearl Market, where we were given a lecture on how to tell the difference between fake and real pearls, and then of course we were shown the jewelry. I luckily walked out of there only buying some facial cream and a bracelet. I believe Caryn spent about $200 (American) in there.

Right after that we went to the Summer Palace. It was beautiful. It's right on the lake. It has a beautiful Buddhist temple. We got to see the infamous Marble Boat the Dragon Lady had sanctioned, which cost China its Navy. Apparently, the mother of the Emperor, the Dragon Lady, was the Empress because her son was only 5. She also loved power and beautiful things. She had the Marble Boat built, taking all of the money for the Navy, leaving China without protection. Crazy.

Neil and I have been sharing his camera, recording each other in each spot. Can't wait to see all of the footage, and start working on it.

3/12/09 (3/13/09 in China)

All I have to say about today is 14 hr flight.

Torture.

"Happy Times"

I watched this great film the other day. I really liked this movie. The main character is a man in his 50's who wants to get married. He has found a large woman, with 2 children, who is willing. The only drawback is that he is unemployed and she wants 50,000 yuan for the wedding. He decides to go to his friend, who has the idea of converting an abandoned bus into a lover's nest and charging lover's to enter. They call the bus the "Happy Times Hut". When he tells his fiance that he is the General Manager of a big hotel, she decides to heft her blind step-daughter on him, with the premise of him getting her a job at the hotel. When the bus is unfortunately hauled away, the man decides to recreate a massage room for the girl in a factory, as she is very good at massage. Him and his friends believe that because she is blind, she won't be able to tell that the massage room is not real, and that she has the same clients coming in, over and over again. The girl is very sweet, and from the beginning, knows of the deception, but because she understands that it was done out of kindness, she goes along with it. Her and the man start to have an unlikely friendship. Both have been left by the unkind fiance, and both find comfort in each other. I thought this film was very sweet. The character of the girl is very endearing. And though at first you may not really like the bumbling, lying man, it becomes clear very soon that he has a heart of gold. Not once did the relationship between the two become awkward, or sexual, as some movies may have taken it. It is obvious the two care about each other, whether they came together by chance and unhappy circumstances. They had happy times together. Unfortuately, the end is not so happy. Neither knows what has happened to the other. The girl has decided to leave, and the man has been hit by a truck. In a very sweet and brilliant scene, the man's friends reads the letter his friend has written pretending to be the girl's father, to the voice recording of the girl's goodbye. I really liked this movie, and am looking forward to watching more from this director.