Hong Kong - Day 1

It seems unreal that we’re finally here. I’ve been looking forward to this day for so long. Now that we’re here, looking across at the very famous HK skyline and I am inhaling the scent of the harbour, I feel immediately at home. It’s good to feel this connectedness. I have not felt this particular feeling anywhere else we’ve been. I couldn't be happier that I got to share this with Don.

Our travel day here was stressful but remarkably smooth. We got up early, walked 2 minutes (our hotel was attached to the airport), arrived in Shenzhen, got on a coach bus that took us through customs and drove us into Kowloon. The only big hitch was that we thought that we would be able to exchange some $ at the airport but we couldn’t so when we landed in Kowloon, we were worried we couldn’t get to our hostel. Fortunately, I was finally able to communicate in Cantonese and found our where we could take a taxi and asked the driver if she took RMB for payment.

Our hostel was another lesson. Appearances are deceptive. This hostel was smack in the middle of everything on Nathan Road, one of the main streets in Kowloon, but was located in a very ugly building that we could easily call a tenement. Our room was very small but typical of HK. It was very reasonable for HK prices. Still, it looked bigger and better on the Internet. The hostel was really a bunch of rooms on different floors in this building. Amongst your neighbours, there are families, small businesses / aka sweatshops and other hostels. There was laundry drying on poles above our heads in the hallways or extended into the open space in the middle of the building. The literature in our room says this gives visitors a real HK experience since we get an idea of what it might feel like actually living here. It certainly was a different style of accommodation and not suitable for everyone. We found it perfect since it give us a clean comfortable place to sleep and we were steps away from everything.

The first meal we had was dim sum. In the northern part of China where we are, the food is very different from what we’ve been used to. So our plan here in HK was to eat as much as we could. We got a recommendation from the hostel and found our way to the restaurant easily and ordered easily, something we can’t do easily where we’ve been so far in China. Ahhhhh, food for our souls!

We couldn’t wait to start exploring. With our map in hand, we walked a short distance to the harbour, checked out the Avenue of the Stars and got oriented.

Nanjing Trip - July 29 to Aug 2

We tagged along with Kathy when she visited Nanjing. To get there, we took our first sleeper train. Train travel is very common in China. The system is extensive and widely used. Our Lonely Planet says “At any given time it is estimated that over 10 million Chinese are traveling on a train in China, except during Chinese New Year when most of China seems to be on the railway.”

There are different classes of seats / sleepers. We opted for the soft sleeper because there were fewer bunks and a bit more privacy. There are 4 bunks in the compartment and a door to shut out the noise. The adventure for us came from our bunkmates who were complete strangers. You don't have much choice since the tickets are only available for purchase only 5 days before the departure date, and they go fast. My impression of the train system is that while it may be efficient, the ticketing leaves a lot to be desired. Tickets are hard to get and you have to wait till the last minute to buy them so it’s hard to plan.

We had 2 different sets of compartment mates in our 9 hour journey to Nanjing. Even though we got sleepers, we slept little. We got on the train at 6 p.m. and arrived at our compartment to find 2 tiny old men in worn clothing. We spent a few silent hours with them. While I read on the upper bunk, they offered Don tea. Trying to climb to the upper bunk on a moving train was fun for me. The guys had one visitor during that time. I’ve made up a story for them. They are “experts” at some trade that warrants them traveling in “style”. The visitor was their boss. Their luggage consisted of a small cloth bag and a bucket of belongings for one man and a big black cloth bag for the other. They left after a few hours.

Our next compartment mates were more talkative. The first one was very curious about us and the language barrier didn’t slow him down. When the other man arrived, his first question to him was “Do you speak Cantonese?” He didn’t so man #1 filled him in on what he was able to find out about us. Then we settled down in the lower bunks and had a conversation with the help of all of our resources (phrase books, Lonely Planet and electronic translator). Surprisingly, we were able to find out a little about each other. We found out where they were from and what they did for a living. Being true Chinese, they quickly asked our salary and why we didn’t have children. Amazing how you can get to those topics without a common language!

We checked into our hostel at 2 a.m. and was a bit disappointed. It was located in the middle of a very historic area, the Fuzi temple, the centre of Confucian study for more than 1500 years. Now, the area surrounding the temple is a pedestrian zone filled with shops, restaurants and night life. We found this place on the Internet and while it was extremely convenient, we learned a very important on how photos can be deceptive. Things can appear much larger than they are.

Touring Nanjing

Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu province. It's one of the furnaces of China but we experience a very wet Nanjing thanks to the tail end of a tropical storm. Even in the rain, we saw that it was a very scenic city with its wide tree-lined streets. It is also very historic. It was China’s capital twice and was the site of the worst war atrocity Chinese civilians suffered under Japanese occupation.

Sun Yatsen Mausoleum – It's set in the middle of the mountain in a national park, a sanctuary from the heat and humidity. Dr. Sun is acknowledged by many as the father of modern China and is a popular tourist site. The mausoleum is at the top of a stone stairway and 392 steps!

This is the path leading up to the tomb of the only Ming emperor buried outside of Beijing. It is lined with stone statues of lions, camels, elephants, horses, mythical creatures and soldiers.

Since it was raining constantly, we weren’t really able to enjoy the natural beauty of Nanjing. We had to look for inside activities. The memorial hall of the Nanjing massacre is one of the most disturbing places we’ve visited. We saw exhibit after exhibit documenting what the people of Nanjing suffered at the hands of the Japanese soldiers in 1937. The photos too vividly told the personal stories. It seemed very appropriate that we exited that memorial to pouring rain, like the tears we shed for the 300,000 victims.

Kathy was a great travel companion since she speaks Mandarin. Everything was easier. We tried local specialties such as river fish and duck head. She got us around by taxi. This would have been impossible for us to accomplish since we didn’t have any of the tourist attraction names or addresses in Chinese.

Our travel plans were fluid and was going to depend on the weather. Since the rain did not let up much, we decided not to check out any nearby towns. She got us seat sales to Hong Kong while she headed back to Jinan. Since she got us cheap flights, we escaped a 28 hour train ride. Thank you Kathy!

We took the train to Shanghai so that we could catch a flight to Shenzhen, Guangdong. From there, it would be a short bus or train ride to Kowloon. We chose this option over flying straight into HK because the fares were much more reasonable.

When we arrived in Shanghai, we almost got scammed at the train station. This man approached us and asked if we needed a taxi. We must have looked like the perfect marks. Two people who were clearly tourists, carrying knapsacks, and were disoriented. I had asked Kathy to write our hotel name in Chinese so that it would make it easier to get a taxi. This guy said he could take us there for 300 Yuan. At that point, we were willing to go along with it even though it seemed steep. It was 36 C and very hot. It seemed like a good option but as we got led a bit too far from the station, we started feeling like it wasn’t such a good idea. When we saw the minivan, we knew it was a bad idea. We said no and started walking back towards the station. Then the guy followed and flagged down a real taxi but when he tried to get into the front seat, the taxi driver said no. Guess he was going to try to get something out of us still. We managed to lose him and find our own taxi and it only cost us 47 Yuan. We had booked a hotel at the airport since we were leaving early the next morning and had hoped to see more of Shanghai in the afternoon. Since we were far from the main tourist area and the temperature was too uncomfortable, we decided to rest up for HK instead.

Qingdao Trial Run

Happy belated Canada Day! Here we are in Qingdao on the rooftop of our hostel. Hoping to travel by ourselves this summer, we decided to go to nearby Qingdao as a trial run. Since the Olympic sailing events will take place here and so they’ve been preparing for an international crowd, we thought this city would be a nice transition for the rest of China.

Getting around - We’ve rarely taken taxis by ourselves here but had to rely on it in Qingdao. We have discovered that it can be a bit of an adventure. Even when we had the address of our destination, it wasn’t straightforward. For instance, the hostel gave us a taxi card to make it easier to get back but we quickly discovered that this didn’t easily guarantee success. Some drivers found the typeface hard to read. One time we got in and though the taxi driver wasn’t sure where he was going, he started driving anyway. Luckily, I was able to copy the Chinese characters out in a larger size in the back of the moving cab.

Day 1 – We took our first cab in Jinan by ourselves and got to the train station. We pushed our way through security and found the waiting
area. So far so good. We took a super fast train that reached a top speed of 247 km and arrived in Qingdao in 2 ½ hours. It was comfortable and convenient. There was a snack cart and free hot water. Chinese people love plain hot water.

We got to the hostel by taxi and even had a “conversation” with the driver. Mainly she wondered where we were from, why we came by train and why I looked Chinese. We checked in and spent the rest of the day walking around the old city. We saw quickly that it is much cleaner than Jinan and much more tourist centered. There were souvenirs (coral, sea shells and dried shrimp) everywhere.

Day 2 – We walked along the sea on the boardwalk. The drizzly day didn’t stop us or the many Chinese tour groups with their matching hats.

Day 3 – We walked out the pier with lots of other tourists and saw the algae problem

that the city is struggling with. Touristy note: For those of you who enjoy Tsingtao beer (this is the old translation of the city name), the brewery was first established by Germans in 1903. The beer is made with mineral water from nearby Lao Shan. The pagoda at the end of the pier is on every Tsingtao beer label.

We hailed a cab to go to a temple but when we showed the driver the spot on the map, he waved his hand and told us no. Huh? Since we couldn’t figure out how to ask him why not, we agreed to his suggestion for the alternative, the tv tower. So we ended up paying more than we wanted to in order to ride up to an observation deck to check out a foggy Qingdao from a higher vantage point.

After that, we tried to go to a restaurant that is recommended in our Lonely Planet guide. Unfortunately, the taxi driver did not understand my pronunciation, I didn’t have the Chinese characters for the name and she quickly gave up trying to understand me. I was able to make myself understood when I asked to be taken to the nearest landmark, the Crowne Plaza. Funny enough, I had to use the Chinese name which is much longer than the English name and she understood that!

A word about pinyin - The Chinese were thinking of doing away with characters so they started teaching the younger generation pinyin. It’s a system that uses the Roman alphabet but is not pronounced like English. What we learned during this trial run was that if you’re older (like most of the taxi drivers we met), you may not have studied pinyin and so having the address written out in pinyin does not help one bit.

We liked Qingdao. It has an international flair and has a few western style malls with merchandize we recognize. There’s something to be said about the familiar. There are lots of western style restaurants too that we hadn’t begun to investigate. Before we left Jinan, I was excited that there were Starbucks there but in the end, I preferred to enjoy the coffee on the rooftop of our hostel. The only negative thing I have to say is that the taxi service was a bit disappointing, considering that they are gearing up for lots of foreign visitors. We will definitely be back to enjoy the clean sea air.

Trial Run

We are preparing for our first independent trip here in China. We're heading to Qingdao, the site of the yachting events for the Olympics. Our plans are to go and check it out and return before the students all head home. They are just finishing their school year and will head home next weekend. In the same way that the whole country of China is on the move during Chinese New Year, all the students head home for the summer holidays. We don't want to get stuck in the crush.

With William's help yesterday, we got our train tickets. We opted for the fast train that will get us there in half the time (two and a half hours). We will attempt this all on our own even though he offered to take us to the train station tomorrow. It may not sound like much but since we've found the language barrier much more of a factor here than in Mexico, it's a bit daunting.

So we're packing up all of our travel guides and phrase books. Funny enough, while we had them in Mexico, we rarely needed them as much as we will here. I am all ready to write out Chinese characters too, in case our pronunciation is impenetrable. I'll have little slips of paper made up for the taxi driver with "train station" written out in Chinese. Along with the books, we will definitely be bringing along the electronic dictionary / translator. I have deciphered enough of the instructions to figure out how to get it to say phrases I enter. So if necessary, IT can tell the ticket agent we want to buy tickets. Then as the last resort, we'll have our students on speedcall!

We've booked a room online at a nice hostel so we know we have a place to stay. The town, because of the Olympics, will be a nice, safe place to start getting our feet wet... should be enough English spoken there. At the very least, they won't be staring at Don as much. I know he'll enjoy that for a change. I've already located Starbucks (plural!!) there. Get me in there and I'll be pointing and grunting for a tall Americano!

Stay tuned for more. J

Real Chinese Food

Yeah, a big surprise that I would be documenting our food here :)



Here are some of the goodies we got from everyone for the Dragon Boat Festival - zhongzi and hard boiled eggs.


Street Food

Here is a candid pic of my favourite breakfast ladies that I snapped with my cell phone . They are there to make me food almost every day. While I may not be their only customer, I am certainly one of their most dedicated. On the first day that I realized that they did actually take a day off, I was left spinning. Who would feed us now? Luckily, there’s another cart like theirs just behind them and they've made a pact that one of them will always be there to feed me.

One of the advantages of being a regular is that I only need to say yi ge or liang ge to tell them whether I need one or two sandwiches today. It really makes everything a bit less of a challenge. Besides, they get to laugh at my attempts at counting in Mandarin. Thankfully, I don't have to count beyond 6 in the transaction.

Here’s the rest of the process. First, I have to get over being Canadian. Here, if you wait patiently for your turn, like a polite Canadian, you starve. People are budinskis here. If you are new to the crowd already waiting, the Chinese way is to walk right up to the front and order. Never mind that I’ve been waiting patiently to be acknowledged so I can give my order. I have often been left with my mouth gaping because I don't believe that someone just cut in on me. How rude! The ladies are so busy, they just hunker down and make the sandwiches so they can’t do crowd control too. Luckily, they found out that I’m a teacher and who’s kidding who, I’m an oddity here because I look Chinese but can’t speak it. With my special status, they usually notice when I get there. But sometimes, like this morning, I had to just speak up and fight the "I'll-just-wait-here-quietly-till-you-have-time-to-take-my-order" urge.

Here is the production process. The lady on the right (with the purple apron) stands there cracking eggs and cooking the small pieces of pink “meat” on the griddle. She puts it off to the side of the surface when the food is cooked and goes on to make the next batch. The lady of the left reaches into the tan cooler box (a white Styrofoam cooler that has been “reinforced” with packing tape) for a freshly baked bun. Once, I witnessed some anxious moments when they ran out of buns and had to wait for a guy to ride his bike from down the street to deliver a new batch of fresh buns.

The buns are filled with the fried egg, some pink meat and fresh veggies that she grabs from the white trays in the cart. There’s sliced tomatoe, cucumber and lettuce. She also paints on some sauces and shakes some spices (dispensed from drink bottles with holes drilled in the caps). It’s quite a production line. There are lots of hungry students to feed so they rarely get a break. There is a white bucket in the foreground that you drop your money into to pay. If you need change, you help yourself from the bucket. This makes it more hygienic presumably so the ladies don’t have to be touching the money.

Here are a few other food options from the street right in front of our apartment complex:

These are some watermelons and unknown fruits from our fruit lady.

Then there are these noodles. In front of this couple are individual cooking elements for each order of noodles.

On a totally unrelated but funny topic, boyfriends / husbands often carry their loved one’s purses. Such gallantry! I haven’t quite convinced Don to carry mine yet. Nor have I been able to get him to agree to matching t-shirts. Another sign of love in this country.

A Day In Our Lives

We live in the foreign teachers' building in a complex of short apartment buildings. Across the way, a woman is cooking dinner in her kitchen. Yes, we're close enough to see. Their cooking area is right at the window. Often, the man in the apartment cooks without a shirt. It's hot here in Jinan. We understand that it hasn't quite made it up to the top 3 "ovens" of China yet but it's a close 4th. Thank goodness for a/c!

Our apartment complex is located on the same street as the south entrance to the university so we don't have to walk far to get to school. It's a bit of a walk to the teaching buildings though, about 15-20 minutes to get there across campus. All along the streets, there are vendors for household items, fruits and veggies and most importantly, there are food carts.

This morning, we woke up, downloaded some episodes of our favourite tv shows from the Internet and then went out on the street to forage for breakfast. We bought breakfast sandwiches from the ladies near the campus gate (about a 3 minute walk). On the way back up the street, we stopped at our favourite fruit vendor. We try to stop there as often as we can. During pineapple season, we often got big slices on a stick from her. She is our favourite because she goes out of her way to pick us the best of what she has to offer and she always greets us with a smile. Today, we picked up grape tomatoes (they are REALLY popular here), some logan fruit and some cherries. Lately, we've noticed that her family seems to have pitched a tent behind their stall on the sidewalk and are sleeping there because she is there from day to night.

We came back to the apt and watched some tv while we ate our breakfast. Instant coffee is also big in this country (it was in Mexico as well) so we've given up any pretenses and are enjoying it. We're even lazier though cause we're buying these little packets of pre-measured coffee with sugar and creamer. We only have to microwave some water. Y voila! Then we went to work marking. Ok, Don did. I watched tv. I'm slightly addicted to Gossip Girl.

When I got hungry for lunch, I went back out on the street and bought us these great wrapped sandwiches filled with cooked shredded carrots, cabbage, potatoes and spices. The nice man just cooks it on a flat round surface placed on a stack over a block of hot charcoal. Lunch cost less than $1, just like breakfast.

Now we're getting ready to go have dinner with a couple of students. It's become a bit of a regular thing these past Sunday evenings. These 2 boys, Jerry and William, are among the most eager English learners on campus. Jerry is a Japanese major who loves speaking English and William is one of Don's students. They take every opportunity to practice and we're happy to help. Bye for now. J

p.s. Just got back from our first hot pot in China. I'm stuffed!!

Dragon Boat Festival and Other Important Days

Dragon Boat Festival

We're off today to continue celebrating Dragon Boat Festival. The students have been bringing us treats of zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and shaped like pyramids) and boiled eggs. Carol just came from visiting her hometown and the sweet girl lugged home a bag of food for us. This on top of the food she brought for her roommates. Yesterday, we were invited to Cruise's home here in Jinan and his mother made us a feast for lunch. His family welcomed us into their home and fed us till we couldn't eat another bite. We felt honoured to be there enjoying the meal and the company. She even sent us off with a care package of food. Her dishes were similar to the style of food that my parents make. While it made Don & I feel quite at home, it made me a bit more homesick.


High School Exam

Saturday was a big day in China. All the high school students started a two and a half day university entrance exam. They have been studying for this exam for an entire year. Every waking moment has been dedicated to cramming knowledge in so that they can access it in order to do well for this exam. Their results will determine their future and ensure that they get into a good university and therefore a better job prospect. No pressure, huh?

I have been hearing such stories about the rigors of studying, like getting up at 5 in the morning and studying well into the evening. To make sure that their children are physically well, I've heard how some parents would never serve new food to their child in the 6 months before the exam for fear of making them ill. If you are unable to write the national exam for some reason, you have to wait for the next year. In one city, there was police presence at the school cafeteria to make sure that nobody tampered with the students' food. You see, there is great competition for the relatively few spots in the universities. When you have a population as numerous as this, you never have enough room for everyone who wants a university education.


June 1

China uses a staggering number of plastic shopping bags. So, in order to encourage people to reduce their usage, from June 1 onwards businesses are required to charge their customers for the plastic bags they use for their purchases. I paid 5 cents the other day for one bag because I didn't have my shopping bag with me. I think that it's a very environmentally responsible step and again, due to the size of the population here, a small thing like this will likely make a huge difference.


School Year

We found out late last week that the school year is being shortened by 2 weeks. It may or may not have something to do with the Olympics. We were planning to give our final exams in the last week of June, but we're now getting ready to finish the semester in the next 2 weeks. I am finished at the end of the coming week. Don will teach one more week after that. We're happy to have summer vacation start earlier but are a bit worried that we'll be aimless. We've now started to think about where we might travel to this summer and are excitedly looking at the possibilities. We'll definitely have to narrow down the list of places we want to see though. Stay tuned for those adventures.

J xoxo