"chinese" clothing

the adidas tang jacket has gone viral: article with pictures

personally, I think it's super cute and would totally wear one. tho i recently saw this short tiktok video saying there is some controversy about the jacket among Chinese people.  

that led me to a much longer video deep diving into the history of this style.  

tl;dr: this style of jacket with a mandarin collar and frog closure is taken from the Manchu peoples, which some Han Chinese do not like since they blame the Manchu for the Century of Humiliation. Also, these Han Chinese also don't prefer this style to be representative of Chinese clothing since it has a much shorter history within the country.

 

china notes 3

Gender parity - there are a lot of women doing what in America is generally considered men's jobs. Lots of ladies on the airport tarmac, in Security, and doing construction jobs, even carrying heavy loads of rocks in straw baskets on their backs. 

Minorities - cool that they highlight them but it seems a little exploitative too. 

Tibetans - that yak butter tea isn't bad and I love their traditional clothing, those simple robe-like things and long skirts? I wish I could've bought one tho really, where would I wear it?

Clothing - the women here dress so femininely. Dresses, skirts, and blouses with flowers, lace, and ruffles. After coming here I always think i should dress a little more girly, especially this year, what with the short hair. Still, there are a lot more women in sneakers now, and shorts are shorter too, tho tank tops are still uncommon. I actually went into a store with the full intention of probably buying something but just could not find anything I wouldn't feel stupid wearing. I need to satorically branch out...

Cute guys - almost a complete lack of attractive men here. And it's not just where I traveled to this time. I've thought this every time I've come. A big part of this is probably because I was brought up in a western society so my tastes skew away from east Asian guys, but a lot of the men on their TV and advertisements are good looking so where are they irl? Their clothes don't help tho, lol.

Tattoos - way more now on the young people, even the women. Still rare tho, and very few big pieces like half or full sleeves. Very little color, and mostly abstract pieces. 

Smoking - less than before, but still a lot. Don't think I saw a single woman smoke tho, interestingly enough.

I'm tall! Not by a lot, but a couple inches than most of the women here, old or young. Imma keep visiting south China, lol.

Grooming - lots of guys with long fingernails with one super long pinkie fingernail. They openly use toothpicks and also clean their ears at the dinner table. Females rarely shave. 

Kids - the little emperor thing is real. But I did see multiple families with more than one kid, which was always surprising.  

On my 6th trip to China I'm a little surprised by how easily I become Chinese again: jaywalking, cutting lines, verbally snapping at randos, I rarely even take photos of bad English signage anymore. I've been assuming this is going to be my last trip for a while. No longer being safety director likely means no thank you china trip. on paper I'm still the head of the uscdbc so who knows, tho I can't be bothered to try to earn this trip anymore. Honestly, I've seen so much of China I can't believe it. I've really tried to pack it in each time (excluding my first icdbf trip) and I'm so thankful for the financial gift of nearly every flight, and especially for the highlights of china tour in 2005 from my parents which has proved invaluable for time saving in all my subsequent trips. Coming back to xian was a bit like coming home, and that it may serve as the book ends to my China travels is so fitting. of all the cities I've seen I feel like I've done them all thoroughly enough I don't need to visit them again (excluding chengdu, which I've passed thru four times already but have yet to spend a full day there). I've seen the best of the historical, cultural, modem, and now natural side to China and I'm ready to finally cross it off my bucket list. ...tho having said that, I'd still love to return :)

china notes 2

Post office - international mail (postcards anyway) confuses them. Last year the post office didn't even have enough stamps for me. And the really old school is that the postage needs to be stuck on using separate adhesive. forget sticker stamps, you can't even lick these! I hope the more international cities are different. 

Service - apparently you can complain about anything now. We were driving to Hukou and at one toll booth was tagged for weighing too much. After getting it sorted out, our driver called someone, who picked up, and lodged a complaint. He got a call back within half an hour too. ...Service still sucks tho. Service with a smile is unheard of and you're likely to get your stuff tossed at you rather than handed to you. 

WeChat - best app ever? Texting, phone calls (video too), file sharing, social media plus you can use it for damn near anything, including paying random street vendors, friends, cabbies, actual stores, etc.

Hepatitis - bejeebus the food was good this time. I love both Shaanxi and Sichuan styles of food. But at most of my meals outside tournament week all I could think while eating was "hepatitis, hepatitis, you're getting hepatitis." Then I go back for seconds, sometimes thirds, lol. I actually bought a bag of red and green peppercorns; I hope someone will make me something! My god I ate a lot here. Even at home, I'm usually the last person to stop eating anyway (since I eat slowly) but here it was cause i always got more did than anyone else. Random side notes: yak meat tastes just like regular beef; Tibetan yak butter tea is pretty good; the fruit here, while plentiful, cheap and juicy, isn't super flavorful; the stinky tofu here is pretty good, ha; the fried chicken is damn good; xian sour milk is good too, very similar to the Peking style, just less less thick.

Loud aF - people here talk loud as fuck. And the Shanghainese speak even louder and so fast too! I don't understand like 90% of Shanghainese. And the car horns, Jesus. I get why they use them (more as a friendly "hello I'm here" and not the American "fuck you asshole") but my god they've somehow turned up the volume. And since they do use them differently, why that decibel level? they EAT loud af too. ugh.

Driving - I like how they drive here, which is actually scary as hell if you've ever seen it. But seriously, they're such efficient drivers! Really regret not taking CJ up on his offer last year to let me drive around Daqing.

Dry heat - I hate humidity. In the hostel the girls wash their socks and under things and hang them up to dry. ...or not dry, lol. Dali was nice and dry tho. My swimsuit and jersey dried each day and I actually had to put on lotion after showering. Juizhaigou too, probably cause it's so high up. 

High altitude - wasn't terribly worried about it until the tour guide went on and on and on about it. I bought a $16 bottle of oxygenated water, figuring it'd do nothing but also knowing I'd feel really stupid if I didn't buy it and got sick. (J later looked up oxygenated water, and yeah, it's bogus.) I didn't get sick, tho about a third of my bus mates did. thankfully no one threw up loudly, tho at my hotel that night I could hear painful vomiting thru the walls. Imagine trying to fall asleep to that... Anyway, good to know tho that 4200k up doesn't affect me besides a slight numbness in the fingers I messed up years ago. I did nearly 13 miles that day too, with a ton of stairs, and no big effects so I guess I'm now ready for Everest?

Food waste - HUGE problem here, omg. at I think every meal I was the only person to clean my plate. I mean, I'm often the only one to do it here too (cause I take food home), but in China the amount of food wasted was pretty crazy. Even those not sensitive to the issue (as I am) would probably notice and be surprised.

china notes 1

Airports

The check-in process at the chengdu and xian airports are the most confusing I've navigated, and I've gone thru quite a few airports, big and small. It's worse than even the train stations.

PEK (Beijing airport) is HUGE. seriously. They have buses to drive you from your gate to the plane. I was on that bus for like 20 minutes, no joke. I mean, we weren't speeding along at 60mph but it wasn't slow either. 

Security - What are all these security checks for? Transferring at PEK I had to go thru another security line were I had to get my passport, visa, ticket checked, toss my liquids (again), walk thru that scanner thing, and get a very thorough pat down. (...I should remember to go back to wearing regular bras [rather than unlined bralettes] when flying in China. They even run their hands down your legs when you aren't wearing pants.) When boarding you get your tickets scanned, as you walk thru the corridor thing to the plane another dude checks it again, and on the plane once more. ...flying out of PEK to LAX, when in the corridor thing between the gate and the plane, they physically went thru my purse (good thing I'd checked my bag) and made me toss my water which I had just filled at the water station at my gate! ugh. such a waste.

The liquid checks are getting ridiculous. They used to just scan or run a metal detector wand thing on you when you entered the subway, but now you have to take out your water bottle and they put it on some machine thing that does something; I'm not sure what. "Good thing" nearly everyone in China has either single-use water bottles or clear plastic water bottles. I think I would have difficulty with my usual stainless steel water bottle.

Trash / recycling - I didn't see any single bins, they always come in a pair. However, people don't recycle properly anyway. I often times saw single-use bottles in the non-recycle bin. I think because China has to employ sooo many people, a lot of them are trash pickers. So the regular person doesn't have to take personal responsibility for their waste. Probably why there's so much littering also, because you know that within half an hour some street cleaning person will be along to pick up after you. It's not that they think about the street cleaner, but when you litter but are rarely confronted with the consequence of it, you stop thinking about it as a negative act.

Also, I was hoping to find and bring home some leashed bottle cap / single-use bottles (as M saw in Japan). Unfortunately not only did I not see any of those, but many of their aluminum cans don't even have pop tops; they're still pull tabs!! I wish I had paid more attention to the brands, but I tried to use as little single-use anything as I could, which was NOT easy. 

They use inch-long pins instead of paper clips. Seems dangerous

Dogs - so many now! Even saw a dog park in Chengdu. Lots of weather inappropriate dogs tho, poor over-heated things

Way more fat people, obese even. 

Bathrooms - ugh. I figured out a couple years ago that handicap stalls contain a western toilet. This year I did a lot of traveling to remote scenic places tho so I knew I couldn't expect that. Still, I wasn't expecting so many of the trough style toilets. And ones with only half tall walls and no door either! Funny thing tho, from the stains on the walls, it's clear that Chinese women haven't figured out which way to face either. UGH

Tibetans

went to a section of China that has a lot of Tibetans and our tour actually arranged two seperate visits for us to learn more about their culture. one was a fake "home" visit where we were served drinks and food, and they danced and sang for us. the other was an actual home visit where a lady sat with us for an hour in her kitchen/sitting room and answered questions and their culture. some really interesting stuff! notes below:

Families live all together in a house. Kids aren't that valued; the most important person is the father. What he says is absolute. When you make money you turn it over to him and he decides what to do with it. A lot is donated to the temples. Temple monks make like bowls, vase things, spatulas, etc that they'll give back to families who donate a lot. You family's "face" is based on how much of these items you have since they can't be bought. Giving money is the easier way out tho; the best thing you can do is service. 

Yaks are traded for women. A woman's value is measured in yaks, and childbearing ability. Small waist, big hips = good for childbirth. No kids? You're fucked. Household's worst jobs are on you. Tho you can also go live in a monastery generating like 'piety points' for your family.  i didn't get the chance too ask what happens if the man is the reproductively challenged one... Stacking firewood neatly shows you are a diligent and hardworking woman.

Tibetans always keep their middle section warm. Cold legs, arms and especially belly is bad for fertility. 

After you die the village people come to vote on if you're a good person or bad, which will determine your burial (also a Llama will inspect your body). 5 kinds of burial, the worst being a ground burial. There's also water, fire, temple kind of thing, and sky. Sky is best for the common person. your body is cut into 108 peices and their up into the air for the birds gtoeat. Not because the Eagles take your soul into the sky and closer to god, but it's more of a circle of life thing. Eagles are sacred, but they don't have enough food ooh the plains of Tibet. So you give your body to them, to feed them. Which is also why Llamas inspect your body; don't want to feed the Eagles diseased meat. 

Mao is a big deal. They're apparently totally into him. Without him they wouldn't have houses or cars or other shit they also say they're not that into. "We'd still be herding yaks otherwise and living in tents on the grass and snow." but they're also like "Yaks are all you need. We're hardier than you guys cause we live with nature. All you guys care about is money. Your lives are miserable. You would be happier living like us."

2015 china playlist

much smart this year, remembered to bring my mp3 player as well as my phone. both full of music. rip had asked why i keep around my old mp3 player. it's because planes don't always let you use your phone (even when on airplane mode). and, actually, if you do use your phone on the plane, even just to listen to music, sometimes the sound comes out distorted.

short playlist this time. i really only listened to it in shenyang and harbin. in no particular order:


the weeknd - earned it
who is fancy - goodbye
charlie puth ft meghan trainor - marvin gaye
miley cyrus - adore you
shawn mendes - stitches
the temper trap - sweet disposition
the cinematic orchestra - to build a home

wish i had added the temper trap - love lost and the weeknd - the hills!!

harbin cabbie convo

had an interesting convo with my cabbie tonight. I show him the screenshot of my hotel info which includes the name and address in English and Chinese. he looks at it and says "I can't read this." I respond "i can't either!" "you can't read either?!" "nope!" he gives me a look and reads it, confirms the location, and tells me to get in.

we drive a bit in silence. then he asks "what are you, Korean?" "nope, I'm American." "oh, yeah, I didn't think you were ugly enough to be Korean." lol.

we talk a bit. where I was born, how come I know Chinese, what my parents do, how much they make, yadda yadda. I mention that my dad's retired. he asks how old. I him he's about 70. cabbie gives me a look. "I'm 32!" "you don't look it."

he thinks a bit. "you came here alone?" "yup" "aren't you married?" "nope" "why not? you're so old already. don't you want children?" "I don't think I like marriage, and no, I don't like children." he gives me a look. "you Americans have too much freedom. girls should get married and have children. in my generation, you got married and had children. if you didn't have children right away we blamed the woman. she must be sick or something. and the husband would kick her out to find another wife." I knew this, but we've had a fun conversation so far so I'm just being me when I reply "well that's stupid. what if it's not her fault? what if she wants children but *he* can't have them?" he looks at me. "we say that the woman is sick. it's like a chicken who cannot lay eggs. you kill the chicken." I laugh, "but women are not chickens!" he mumbles "it's just an analogy!"

I laugh again "good thing I'm American!" he concurs. we chat a bit more about other things. as I'm getting out of the cab he admonishes me to get married soon, before I'm too old. I laugh.

fearlessness

the Chinese are fearless. they are nonchalant about sanitation. they get too close to cliffs, traffic, and train platforms. maybe it's their history that makes them so.

i feel like i have a little of that fearlessness. touring china on my own certainly takes some courage. i can barely read or write and even my speaking and listening skills aren't that good. sure, i do a lot of prep at home (i booked all my hotels in advance this time [tho i didn't last time]) but still, i've left most things unplanned. some of it is laziness, some of it is a prudent wait and see. a lot of it is for the adventure of being alone in a foreign place. i often think "what's the worst that could happen? plausibly, anyway?"

i think you learn most about yourself when alone. and i think i've come to learn a lot about myself this trip.

ps, i get that i'm not the most brave ever, touring china. i DO speak the language, after all. it's not as if i were touring japan or wherever.

quotations

frank dikotter - mao's great famine: the history of china's most devastating catastrophe, 1958-1962

"...this book shows that at least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962."

"when there is not enough to eat people starve to death. it is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill."

"in russian there is a distinction between liudoedstvo, literally 'people eating', and trupoedstvo, or 'corpse eating'. it is a very useful distinction, one which introduces much-needed nuance..."

china quotations

vicki constantine croke - the lady and the panda: the true adventures of the first american explorer to bring back china's most exotic animal

"if god lets shanghai endure, / he owes an apology to soddom and gomorrah." - a christian evangelist in the early 1920s

chiang kai-shek said that "the japanese were a disease of the skin, but communists--who had targeted the enemies of the suffering masses, the landlords and tax collectors--were a disease of the heart.

u.s. and china

i'm reading a book right now about the great famine in china. and it got me to thinking about the differences between the american and chinese zeitgeist. the chinese govt (as it stands) could never shut down because the chinese are into collectivism whereas americans believe very strongly in individualism and therefore a govt shutdown is seen as a viable choice.

even outside of our political systems, our cultures tends towards these philosophies (and thus we "chose" our form of government).

lifestyle: independent vs dependent

there is no shame in lack of cooporation in america. if you know the other guy is wrong, you should stand your ground no matter what. forget that you may not have facts to back you up [creationism] or that this really isn't a right or wrong situation anyway [gay marriage], or none of your business [abortion], you shouldn't give in to the other side when you know you're right.

the boss

the chinese, on the other hand, don't really believe in that. they tend not to challenge the opposition [you have to respect your elders]. you shouldn't try to convince the other person that they're wrong. you should just agree with them and then do your own thing [probably why bribery, corruption, and cheating are bigger problems there than here].

problem solving

on a kind of separate topic. i never realized how much the chinese culture changed because of the great famine (and i assume the cultural revolution, etc). i know very little about chinese history. it's mostly what we learned in school (so, basically, nothing) and a few random things i picked up. this book, while not a total surprise, has certainly educated me about china and maybe why it is the way it is today. it's a good read, tho definitely hard to stomach at times (the author writes that 45million people died within the four years of the famine). i want to eventually read more about the cultural revolution and communist takeover in china. it's interesting to me, not only because i'm chinese and go to china every once in a while, but also because china seems like such a weird place sometimes. with the occasional news articles about the country, it's hard not to think of them as barbaric at times (milk scandal, smog, heartlessness, pollution...) [not to say that america is any better. we have really ridiculous and crazy shit going on here too], which is a bit hard for me to understand considering all the amazing wonderful civilized things from before.

infographics are by yang liu and in a series titled east vs west

china 9 - vancouver (6/20)

my last morning in china i didn't do anything. i ran some errands, packed, showered, and went to the airport. i was almost home! ...sorta. hahah. i had an 8 hour layover in vancouver before actually getting home. originally i had a four hour layover but i do like vancouver so much that i decided to schedule a longer one so i could actually leave the airport and see the city.

my flight was without note, except for the lady next to me. she was the most annoying person i've flown next to. incredibly nosy and completely unaware of personal space. she watched movies over my shoulder (tho she had her own working screen), put up our dividing arm rest without asking me first, kept talking to me tho i was giving her every indication that i didn't want to talk to her, bleh. at some point i "forgot" i knew chinese. i did, however, get a free cup o noodles from a flight attendant. :) it made me really happy cause on my flight to beijing i also got a cup o noodles. the whole plane did actually. i think it was their way of making up for the flight delay? whatever. i love cup o noodles!

macleod's. obviously. god, i love me a firetrap of a bookstore!

it rained the whole time i was in vancouver. bah. but at least it wasn't a heavy rain. i went to macleod's books for a bit and on the way there i found an alley filled with really great street art. macleod's was smaller than i thought i'd be. but i found a couple great books anyway. i wasn't expecting for everything to go so quickly (customs, the metro, the walk, the bookstore) so i had a bit more time that i had expected to have. before i'd left for china i'd had the vague notion of meeting up with some space people since a number of them were getting in early for alcan. but i'd never gotten in touch with anyone (i've been shutting myself out because i feel guilty about switching teams next year). also, i didn't have fb in china and that's how most of the teammates talk to each other.

love this piece! it's so northwest tribal art. fantastic!

since i was close i went to canada place and the convention center to walk around and to see the olympic cauldron from the 2010 winter games. it was cool cause i'd seen some olympic stuff in beijing too (tho not the cauldron). i hadn't been to either place since their olympics. eventually i went and had an early dinner at fatburger which makes me laugh cause i've always wanted to eat there but never have and finally do in canada tho it's a chain that started in southern california! i probably should have eaten at taco time cause i see them all the time in canada, but i can't really bring myself to cause we must have better mexican good down here in socal, no?

anyway, i eventually get back to yvr and get on home. and that was it. trip over. i've come to realize that these china trips are like summer camp. you go somewhere, meet new people, live and eat and go on "field trips" with them and after a week or so it ends.

final thoughts? china is not the place for me. much as i think it's an amazing place to visit, i could not live there. of all the things to dislike about the place: the spitting, the toilets, the unsanitary-ness, traffic, noise, lack of credit cad friendliness; there's so much more to love. but the thing that got to me was the beijing metro. at all hours of the day there are people trying to get somewhere. it's an actual river of people. i kept thinking of it like sperm. sperm swimming and rushing and i hate that god awful crush of people. esp cause there's less racial diversity there so most everyone looks alike with their black hair; it's even worse. a person could get lost there. reminds me of a line from amy tan's the joy luck club: "and he proceeded to pour a riverful of the salty black stuff on the platter, right before my mother's horrified eyes."

digital orca by douglas coupland

vancouver - still love it. i thought i might hold against it our extended layover from the first half of the trip. but, no, of course not. in some way i love vancouver even more now that i stumbled on the graffiti filled alleyway and found that i could use my credit card anywhere. anywhere. from the metro to the bookstore to the restaurants, i love it.

last last thoughts? i'm looking forward to next year. whether it be in china, singapore, taiwan, or wherever. i'll be happy to be there. :)

china 8 - beijing (6/19)

my last full day in china was spent at the 798 art district. neither alex (a harvard paddler who had stayed behind) nor i wanted to do anything super touristy so when he suggested an artists' colony i was immediately interested. even better is that soso recommended it as did both of my guidebooks.

alex and i met up late morning and spent the entire afternoon in the district just walking around. turns out we have a lot in common, so the afternoon went by pretty quickly. and after a few days of looking at the more traditional side of china, it was nice to wander around a more modern section of town.

the 798 art zone was originally state owned factories that were eventually converted to art galleries and studios. there was a ton of great and really varied art around: traditional water colors, calligraphy, oil paintings, pastels, sculptures, furniture, jewelry, mixed media, photography, graffiti... i love graffiti. seriously.

 

eventually we headed back to soso's apartment so we could all go out to dinner. soso and i had planned to get peking duck, but alex is a vegetarian (vegan, actually, but on vacation he's just vegetarian) so we nixed that. i asked soso to take us somewhere "a local would eat". so she took alex, me, and her friend edward (who does also speak english) to... a korean place. lol. i had a few dishes i've not had here before, but overall, i think the korean food here is better. :)

alex and i had talked about going to the lake district after dinner to see some of the nightlife, but it was pretty late after dinner already and the place was not too close. i also got the feeling that alex wanted to party a bit, and i was not so much interested in that. after walking him to the metro station i went back to soso's apartment where edward eventually joined us and we had a nightcap. it was a great end to my time in beijing.

funny story. when the three of us were talking after dinner, edward mentioned that when he was younger, his dream was to go to harvard. he was quite sad that it would probably never happen (he's married with at least one kid). coincidentally, when i was in taiyuan i'd received a few harvard trinkets: a jersey, a rubber bracelet, and a leather luggage tag. edward seemed so down that i went to my luggage and pulled out the luggage tag and bracelet and gave it to him. the luggage tag came in a really nice box too, so it was pretty fancy looking. edward was so surprised i had this stuff. he seemed pretty over the moon about it when i insisted he take them. (i did not give him the jersey, however, haha. it's a women's extra small and edward needs more of a men's extra large.) but i felt pretty lucky to have happened to have these things and was really happy to be able to possibly make his day especially since soso had been so kind to me.

china 7 - beijing (6/18)

tuesday very early morning i arrive in beijing and eventually "check in" to my airbnb place. it's a little bit far from the metro station, but it's so nice! soso, the appt owner is really cool, it seems like so far. smart, very friendly and casual, which i like best.

view from soso's appt

i eventually head out to find banks. including a couple on the list that the moneygram person told me about, and one that lonely planet mentions does western union, and of course no one knows what i'm talking about. at least the western union accepting bank does know about money transfers, but alas, they don't take moneygram, just western union, of course, lol. at this point i give up. at each bank i get hopeful and it doesn't work out. over and over again. i'm also tired from the weather, humidity, and walking, and hungry since i haven't had a real meal in a couple days now. i'm really just emotionally exhausted from this whole mess. i actually walk away from the last bank and start to tear up. good thing for sunglasses! i get home and call rip and tell him to get his money back. honestly i'm not upset at anyone but myself. i'm clearly the world's biggest fucking idiot for forgetting to bring a backup. but everyone has been really nice about everything. rip wiring me money, moneygram people finding banks for me (even if they don't work), tour person taking me to the bank... just wasn't meant to be, i guess.

the famous bird's nest stadium

also very famous water cube

anyway, i head out again to sightsee a bit. i hadn't done much research on beijing cause i had planned on taking it sorta easy here. i had better planned the rest of my trip and had thought to do this portion more on the fly. so i head out to the one thing i had actually planned to see: olympic stuff!

donghuamen night market

which was just okay... it's still super hot and i'm still pretty tired and hungry and the walk from the subway to the olympic stuff is pretty far and each thing is pretty far from the other and i think maybe this stuff is much better seen at night so i plan to come back later. i want to be home when soso gets back so i can properly meet her since i met her for just a minute on the street early in the morning. i get back and wait for a while, shower again, take a nap, and she still hasn't gotten back so i head out to donghuamen night market which is so crowded and kitschy. this place is "famous" for scorpions on a stick. live scorpions which they then grill dead and you eat. i do not eat. lol. of course. at this point it's getting kind of late and the olympic stuff is not too close so i go home to say hello to soso.

starfish and scorpions. normal stuff too, of course.

and she really is great. she's interesting and about my age and so so so nice! we talked about our day and i told her about the bank stuff (after the bank stuff in the morning i had decided that i could go without extra money. i knew i had enough to get me to vancouver and that's all that mattered) but she volunteered to give me money. straight up. i didn't even ask. i ended up borrowing about $45, so we're not talking about a lot here, but it was definitely enough for a day and a half. and she didn't stress about when i would pay her back. i asked for her paypal but she said she'd give it to me later. honestly, it was just that she was so damn nice. everyone i'd met on this trip thus far had been pretty cool. i don't normally need much help back home, but i wonder if people in the states are quite so friendly? i can't help but think no.

china 6 - datong (6/17)

the next morning i was at a slighter further bank when they opened. they didn't know what wire transfers were. on the way back i went to the first bank i went to, which, of course didn't suddenly accept money transfers. i went back to to my hostel and called the moneygram people, explained the situation, and got a really great rep who said she would call me back with a list of datong banks which worked with moneygram. she calls me back with the address of one bank. one. it was frustrating to say the least because the moneygram site listed like 70+ banks in the city where you could get money. anyway. i had no time anymore to get there but i told my tour people the situation and (since this is china) they were really cool and said they would take me to the bank after the tour.

hanging temple

and off we went on the tour! our first stop was the hanging monastery which is not terribly close. we hit traffic a couple times on the way there, and at one point our driver started driving on the other side of the highway. it wasn't just him tho. a bunch of cars were going in the wrong direction on the other side of the four lane highway. at some point the road narrows a bit and so we start to play chicken with cars going in he correct direction. it was pretty spectacular. the swiss couple, english couple and i were really amused. not sure what the two korean girls thought about it. but i think it's one of my favorite moments from this whole trip: rickety bus with windows open speeding along on the wrong side of the highway, driving at other cars and slipping away last moment, cars so close that you can reach out and slap high fives with the opposing drivers if you weren't worried about getting you arm knocked off but not scared cause the drivers here are so precise that you know if you got your limbs snapped off it'd be your fault entirely and no one else's.

the vertical posts don't support much

the hanging temple was kind of cool but not really too much? it's small. and it's very sturdily supported by crossbeams going into the rock tho they're hard to see and what you really see if the spindly sticks that don't look like they can hold up much of anything. but it's neat. they built it 491 which is ridiculous and that's not a typo. but they built it halfway up the mountain so the flood waters wouldn't get to it ad so it wouldn't get blown off the cliff up above.

built right alongside the wall!

after the hanging monastery we went back to town for lunch and then the tour person took me to the bank where, no surprise, they also had no idea what moneygram was. no card? no account? no money. duh! ...

of the 53 grottoes, a few were closed for renovation :(

then we went to the yungang grottoes which are pretty close to town and really quite awesome. they remind me of petra, which i really hope to go to someday.

 

the entrance to the grottoes are really weird. new stuff with indian influences. which is very strange to see in china. tho i do of course know that buddhism came from hinduism. but while very pretty, it's not nearly as cool as the grottoes themselves. they started way back in 450 it took some 50 years to carve over 51,000 statues into 53 grottoes (caves). the smallest carvings are only 2cm high and the biggest is 17m high. while there is certainly damage due to water and other elements, a lot of the carvings are still very beautifully preserved.

the grottoes are definitely the most amazing thing i saw on this trip. while i certainly love pingyao it's not awe inspiring the way the grottoes are. many of the images were carved by monks or artists employed by the emperor, but a number of them were carved by ordinary people just moved to do. it's pretty cool.

that night i got on an overnight train to beijing. before coming on this trip, this was the only portion i had "worried" about. going from xian to chengdu in 2005 the overnight hard sleeper was a room with four beds. there were four walls, tho the doorway was open, covered with a curtain. turns out that i needn't have worried. this train had 6 people in a "room." three walls and a completely open fourth "wall" that was actually the walkway for the entire car. i also think our car was completely full. the guy across from me in silk boxers was leering a bit, but i just put on my eye mask and frowned at him until i fell asleep.

china 5 - datong (6/16)

after spending two night in pingyao i was off to datong on sunday morning. i took a car back to taiyuan and then another long distance bus to datong. i was smart this time tho. rather than get yelled at again, when a gypsy bus person asked if i was going to datong i said sure. i figured that it was probably like what happens in south america where most people get on the bus outside the station, so they get discount "tickets." (honestly, it wasn't so that i wouldn't get yelled at, but by now i already knew that i was seriously short on cash).

creeper photo i took on the bus

my datong lodging was not spectacular. i was in a crummy room with two other beds (but no one else ever showed up) and the shared bathroom was on the floor below mine. two floors shared two squat toilets and a shower. i squat pooped for the first time in my adult life (i went camping a lot as a kid). and did i mention that this hostel was right next to a train station? good thing i had brought ear plugs!

lining up for fresh soy milk

after finding out how much the train was going to cost and hearing that i couldn't charge anything (hotel or train ticket) i was worried. i couldn't find my atm card which i couldn't remember if i'd actually packed or not (harry unexpectedly came over the morning i was packing / leaving for china and i got distracted cause i hadn't finished with my stuff yet). in any case, rip gallantly offered to wire me money via moneygram. i said no because i was pretty sure i would be okay once i made it to beijing (i had already paid for my lodging in advance). but rip made a pretty good case for it and the bank was pretty close so off i went with high hopes.

veggies on the ground. the ground!

...and got totally rejected. the bank people had absolutely no idea what i was talking about (wiring money is apparently not really a thing here?). after a lot of back and forth with the bank people, rip, and money gram reps, i got the address of the central bank located in middle of town. but by now the banks were closed for the day, i was leaving datong the next night, and i had pretty much a full day tour already booked. i had one hour to get money from the bank in the center of town and get back for my tour. i asked the hotel lobby person and she said the bus took 45 minutes from center of town back. not including walking time. didn't want to risk the cab money, of course. rip and i figured i figured an alternate plan and i kept my fingers crossed for the next day.

cat tied to a branch =\

china 4 - pingyao (6/15)

as i said in my last post, pingyao is great. one of the coolest things is that for ~150rmb (which is actually very expensive. i have no idea how local people can afford to travel in china...) you get access to like 18 different mini museums and to the city walls. to climb the bell tower at city center it's just another 5rmb. probably the best 5rmb i've ever spent, honestly.

"surrounded by one of china's few intact ming city walls, pingyao's streets are lined with a wealth of traditional chinese buildings, including couryard houses, temples, and more than 3,000 historic shops."

"pingyao's treasure trove of ming and qing architecture is a legacy of the town's affluent days as a banking center, which ceased when the qing dynasty defaulted on loans and abdicated, leaving the banks empty. the transferal of the country's finances to shnaghai and hong kong turned the city into a backwater, saving it from development and, ultimately, preserving its character."

"the 39-ft high, crenelated enclosure dating from 1370 is said to resemble the outline of a tortoise. its head lies at the south fate, its four feet at the east and west gates, and its tail at the north gate."

 

the walls are "more than 6km in circumference... punctuated by 72 watchtowers (lonely planet)" "every 164 ft (50m)."

 

i walked about half of the wall. not every gate has access, and of course i'd already visited (at some point or another) all of them by the time by the time i decided to get up there. did the math later and i was out for about 9 hours that day. cut a couple hours for breaks (no meals), and i probably walked 7 hours? multiply that by three (3.1 being the average miles per hour walking) and you get 21. i walked like 20 miles on saturday alone. sheesh. for a person who pretty much hates exercise and doesn't do it when i can get away with it, i sure can bang it out while on vacation!

(quotations from dk eyewitness travel guide except where noted)

china 3 (6/14)

friday morning, the first day of the trip i could finally sleep in. i couldn't. i woke up around 5:30am for no good reason, and at 5:40am fireworks started going off. for like 10 minutes. why the hell this would happen so damn early in the morning is beyond me. anyway, i eventually got up, went to the other tower to take advantage of their wifi, and later found a bus and went to see twin pagoda temple.

twin pagoda temple, obviously

after that i took the long distance bus to qiaojia dayuan. the long distance bus system in china is complicated. i had no idea what bus i was supposed to be on, so i figured out the "district" then walked from bus to bus asking the driver if this was it. a guy said yes so i boarded. a bit later the bus starts up and he checks everyone's ticket and starts yelling at me about how stupid am i to get on the wrong bus! !!! anyway, this being china, it's all fine anyway so the call the other driver who had just left the lot to come pick me up. he yells at me too. oh well.

modern addition to qiaojia dayuan

qiaojia dayuan was just eh. it's a big compound, filled with lots of things, and they actually do try to make it interesting with dioramas and displays and things but i don't know that much chinese history, nor do i care, and i don't remember the "raise the red lantern" movie, and i didn't watch the tv soap. also, nice as these courtyards as, once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all.

courtyard in qiaojia dayuan

rather than do the bus thing again, this time i took a car (with other people) to pingyao. the ride was pretty good. tho i don't believe in past lives, i have a feeling i was a dog previously. i LOVE the wind in my face. makes me so happy! i got picked up by my hostel people and holy crap harmony guesthouse was freaking pretty. it is not the nicest place i've ever stayed, but it is the prettiest! i also got my own room (which i should not have done because after talking to the hotel people about things i realized that i might be a little short on cash later). in any case, i did and it was great because it had it own kang bed.

view from my room door at harmony guesthouse

my room (minus the bathroom)

i went out to explore a bit pretty much fell in love. this is my favorite town of the places i've visited in china. it's got the city walls, which i love and reminds of xi'an. and because it has city walls and is a unesco site, there's nothing terribly modern in the city. no skyscrapers, no ugly tract apartments... yes the main drag is hella touristy but it's still pretty. especially at night.

outside south city walls of pingyao

china 2 - tourney

competition was much like any other competition. lots of confusion not much organization. oh well, we're used to it by now. this year's teams included us, harvard, toronto, kenya, "congo," russia, "europe," "korea," new zealand, china, singapore, and probably a few other asian teams. teams in quote marks are teams that are actually exchange students studying in china.

there was also TONS of cameras this year. cctv had like 18 cameras or some nonsense like that. and there was the other media on top of that. the girl we had chosen to be "media" person was suddenly camera shy so i ended up doing most of the interviews. bah. but at least we had a couple non-chinese kids who didn't mind being on tv so i'd always try to drag someone out with me. one of these kids, who is 1/8th chinese and doesn't look it at all, speaks some chinese so that was super great. (let's face it, chinese looking person speaking chinese poorly does not make for good tv [talking about me, btw])

the tourney venue was beautiful. the fen river and the surrounding area was very pretty. one of the nicest venues i've raced at. the weather also cooperated fully and it was sunny (hot and humid goes without saying) all tournament. fun fact: tournament was on 6/12-13. 6/12 was actually duanwujie. i made sure to have a zhongzi that morning!)

racing itself went pretty smoothly. there was a foul up regarding our first 200m race, which i ended up missing because i was at the opening ceremony (as a flag bearer, not just cause i wasn't paying attention). but the rest of our 200m and 500m went well (two races each). we did not get to race genders this year, which sucked, but at least it meant our kids weren't super tired. thursday was 2000m day. one race and done! it's a pursuit race, but fastest boats are released first and in 30 second intervals so there's pretty much no passing. also, we were released first. hahah. but our kids did pretty well (4th of 8).

 

after races were done was the craziness of team photos. something weird this year, i'm apparently considered quite pretty in this province. i got A LOT of personal attention this year. some guy even ran up to me and rambled off his name and phone number asking me to call him. i said no, in english, no less. but there were lots of personal pictures, which is a very weird thing for me. china has become a bit of an ego boost for me, looks department wise, haha.

that afternoon the tournament people organized a trip to jinci temple for the racers. that was really great of them to do so! i probably wouldn't have gone myself since it was a bit far outside of the city and i think a lot of the foreign teams didn't get much sightseeing time so this was really thoughtful of them. but there was another foul up there with one of harvard's paddlers missing our 5pm leaving time so most of the north american teams went to the banquet / awards ceremony dirty and unshowered (we were on the same bus). (btw, our hotel sucked. we were pretty much without water for two days. one of our kids [bless his heart!] wrangled a couple rooms in the other hotel tower for us to shower in)

banquet this year was much like last year's with the craziness of teams wanting to swap jerseys and take pictures... not much drunken debauchery this year, however, thank goodness. though of course there was too much food. they also hired a few performers, all singers i think. or lip syncers at least. at least one of them must be semi-famous because some of the chinese girls went crazy over him.

afterwards we went back to the hotel. some people went out to buy drinks (of course) and i think nearly everyone did a shot or two. most of cali stayed in to play cards so i joined them, while some of the rest of cali (along with harvard and toronto) went out to karaoke and drink some more. eventually a few of us ended up at kfc where were couldn't order a bucket of chicken. it was kind of funny cause the manager told us that "no one does that." our guy ordering for us, who was probably a bit drunk still, told him that "i'm from america and we do have chicken in buckets!"

coach scott with our 3rd place trophies & medals (500m mixed)

i was kind of sad i wasn't leaving with everyone the next morning (north america was once again traveling together and they were all talking about what they were going to do in beijing). but they were to be in the lobby by 5:30am and this was finally my chance to sleep in so i wasn't too upset to be alone.