bye for now

Great Wall, August 2011 - I can't believe so much time has passed! 

Quick note: my VPN expires on December 31st, American time, and I decided not to renew it since I'm home in 11 days (!!!!!!) anyway. Psh, who needs Facebook and Blogger? So this is my last post 'til then, but don't worry - I have tons more in my little post bank to update when I get back, and lots of pictures to add to previous posts! I am SO excited to finally be going home. Lately, I've been sitting on the subway ride home from work daydreaming about the prospect of sleeping in my bed, walking Molly, going out for brunch with my parents, hanging out with friends, and finally seeing Wilson after 6 months. Crazy how when you're away from home for so long, the littlest things that you usually take for granted become the biggest things that you miss. But I'll stop there since I've probably said that, like, a bajillion times already. Thanks for following along with me, guys. See you at home :)

Weekend in Wuxi

I spent the day fighting crowds and traffic in Wuxi -- in the cold and rain. Now I know why people stay home for the national holiday - and that's what I'm doing for the rest of the week! I'm actually kind of excited -- I'm getting a permanent wave tomorrow (besides cutting it, I've never done much with my hair, so this is BIG), and I need to do some shopping for my inappropriate winter wardrobe. I underestimated how early (or late) it would get cold, as in, not this weekend. It looks like a lightweight jacket is not going to get me through until the 20th, but no worries -- another trip to the tailor's is in order.

Anyway, Wuxi is a 2 hour's drive by car to the northeast of Shanghai, where Tai Hou, a huge lake, is located. We went and saw the lake and this huge amusement park of a Buddhist temple. I'm not kidding you -- you pay about $30 USD per person to get into this walled religious complex where there are lots of gilded buddhas, temples and places to throw money and burn incense, except unfortunately, there are no rides. You are supposed to spend more money on food, incense, and luck, namely in the form of huge fountains/pagodas/bins they strategically place around the place so  you can throw all sorts of spare change in there. The pinnacle of the experience is trekking to the top of the hill, where the huge buddha is (think the Statue of Liberty) and then you're supposed to wait an hour and a half in line so you can rub her big toe for good luck. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was a place for the church (monastery?) to make money off tourists. And it is living proof that if you build it, they will come -- people were lining up by the hundreds, possibly thousands, to get in here. I had lunch in the most ridiculous, ostentatiously decorated building that reminded me of the Vatican. I mean, it looked nice and everything, but then you realize how much money it probably cost to build it and all the other better things they could have done with it.

It was a cold, wet and dreary day, but way better than sightseeing on a hot and humid day. I was so cold though, by the end of the day all I wanted was to go home (the one in Los Angeles), have a hot shower and curl up with my ridiculous pink fluffy robe with some hot chocolate and a puppy. Sometimes I ask myself, if I have all those wonderful things at home, what in the world am I doing here?  I need to get my head checked.

Also, I don't think I'm usually this pessimistic in my posts, but it might be the minor head cold and exhaustion from my religious pilgrimage today talking.

*note: I'll update with pictures when I get home and have access to my camera cord! I'm currently at my relative's house for the weekend.

Hong Kong > Shanghai

I’m writing this as I wait at the terminal for my flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai — I went to Hong Kong for the weekend to visit my relatives. I ate delicious Chinese food – I still don’t get how they take the most ordinary food and make it into something better than perfect – hung out with my aunts and uncles who I sadly do not get to see often enough, and reveled in the overabundance of shopping malls. Both my wallet and daily caloric intake took a beating. Thank goodness I do not live here, or else my self-control would be nonexistent (as well as my bank account and waistline).

 In front of one of the most touristy destinations in HK - I made my uncles pose with me in front of the Bruce Lee statue, because that is pretty much the only thing you do at the Avenue of Stars (minus admire the skyline). It was fun and they were mortified (locals just do not get caught doing this, I had to beg them). Also, I enjoyed the ferry ride across the harbor immensely, Hong Kong is just so pretty at night!

Frozen yogurt with Ian, my little cousin. He just lost 4 teeth and is the most adorable thing when he smiles (or shares his opinions about anything in general). 

Hiked down a mountain to a fish market, this place is so removed from the skyscrapers and traffic of the city! 

Fast food in Hong Kong (I know, isn't it awesome?) I got curry and my uncle Eddie got pork and rice. If only American fast food were like this!

The view of the city from Happy Valley, the racetrack. One of the few open, grassy spaces you find in the city, how peaceful! 

Melody this is for you -- went to get milk tea and buns at Tsui Hua (notice the headline on the daily, haha!) 

After being in China for 2 months, it’s funny how I could instantly notice the subtle differences between Hong Kong and the mainland. I definitely think that Hong Kong is the more livable of the two cities when compared to Shanghai – the public transportation system is much more complete and convenient, the people more helpful and polite. Did I mention that its much cleaner and the food is safe to eat? There are normal toilets, and the people have actually heard of bleach (and use it)!!! Needless to say, Hong Kong was such a welcome break from always being on the alert in Shanghai. Having family around does make such a difference—I felt like I could relax and not worry about whether or not food was safe to eat, if I could trust someone, if I could find my way around without getting lost, or if I was ordering the right thing on the menu. Not that I consciously worry about these things in Shanghai, but I have to say that my stress level went down significantly this weekend. Now its back to the usual grind, but I’m sure once I get used to living in Shanghai (and my Chinese gets better) I’ll have a much easier time of it. I’ve recently made some friends in Shanghai that are also here from California, and a friend of mine will be arriving tomorrow to study until December, so I’m really excited to have some company! It’s amazing what a difference friends and familiar faces can make on the whole transition/adapting process - definitely makes it a lot easier.

I'm alive!

On the Great Wall with some lovely girls from England that I travelled with.

I am probably now known across the web as the girl who does not update her blog, ever. I have a valid excuse, I promise. Here it is: up until I got an internet card a week ago, blogger, twitter, and facebook were all blocked on my computer. Thanks a lot, vpn that I paid for! And by I, I mean Wilson, who I will pay back with silk panda ties (sorry love, I’m not kidding, it’s sitting in my suitcase) as well as a fobbed-out wardrobe when I return for being a dear and dealing with my wanderlust ways.

Hopefully you’ve all been getting my emails or emailing me in the meanwhile because you miss me so freakin much. Anyway, after a month in Haining teaching primary school/high school and 2 weeks traveling around China (to answer your questions: Hangzhou, Suzhou, Beijing and yes, the Great Wall was mind blowing, but more on that later), I am finally back in Shanghai and here to stay. My plan was originally to be here until October but I’ve recently decided to extend my stay until January because the position I was offered at the university was conditional on me staying until the end of the semester, and I figured, why not? I have a place to stay, a wage I can live off of, and yet-unknown but probably infuriating and shocking experiences with Chinese culture to have in the near future (there are so many stories to tell I don’t even know where to start). Oh, and I’d like to perfect my Mandarin skills, obviously on the forefront of my agenda in China. Now can you see why an extended sojourn in Shanghai won out against my better judgment of going home and being a grown-up?

There’s much to catch you all up on, and I’ll start tomorrow -- after I tell my students about college life in the states, because slideshows about the educated, partying youth of America do not make themselves.

Bartholomew in a classic Chinese watertown setting. He's on a [classic chinese river] boat!

Hong Kong

Seeing as I was 12 the last time I visited, I wasn't sure what to expect this time (don't even get me started on Macau). I remember a blur of lights, noise (mostly unintelligible cantonese), good food and good shopping, but nothing specific. Gosh what a waste, remind me never to take my kids traveling until they're in high school. This time around though, it was almost an overwhelming of the senses, where every experience is sharpened because it is familiar, but at the same time not.

This is how they deliver vegetables?

Bartholomew in front of Victoria Park (equivalent of NYC's Central Park)

First off, I don't speak cantonese. And I certainly don't read chinese, which puts me at a huge disadvantage when it comes to bargaining at night markets (very important), communicating with my aunts and uncles (so I can tell them about my exciting life back home and how much I have grown - and NOT physically- since they last saw me), and finding my way around the maze-like roads (when i'm not risking my life looking lef-right-left). Unlike Europe, where life is like a pretty picture and things just seem to fit into the landscape (maybe I'm just used to westernized culture?), Hong Kong is full of interruptions. It's colorful, bright, and loud-- not just the language. Buildings are so tall you can't see the end of them, and people live in such close quarters its really quite claustrophobic. People are everywhere, ants moving from place to place, just like in those fast-forward clips of Times Square in Tokyo.

Hong Kong at night

And the food-- it's like the chinese food you find in LA, except hyped up on steriods, better than you thought your dimsum/chow mein/roast duck experience could ever get! Flavors and textures of foods I grew up with are more refined - and also foreign, in a way, to what I know. I've discovered that there really are gourmet chinese restaurants, not the hole-in-the-wall places in LA that seem to have questionable preparation methods (eat, don't question). Don't get me wrong, still still have that in Hong Kong, but at the same time you can buy lunch for less than $3 USD. Clean, elegant restaurants with fishing boats hanging from the ceiling, better soup dumplings than din tai fung (not to mention the people in the window making them are actually Chinese), and tastefully hung paintings. Who woulda thunk?

  The best duck I have ever had!!

dim sum-- it looks the same as the stuff here, but it certainly doesn't taste like it.

Shop selling lots of dried goods that I would never eat.

CAMELS!

In Morocco.

I RODE A CAMEL TODAY.

(I'm the one in the very front.)

it. was. awesome.

As you can see, I've been getting some vitamin D into my sunlight-deprived skin.

I also went off-roading. I never knew that driving over sand dunes could be so bumpy... good thing I don't get car sickness anymore, otherwise that wouldn't have ended well. We got to drive along the coast and see all the fishing villages. Here, the desert and barren wasteland turn into sand and shore, not like the marshes and lagoons we have in San Diego. I'm a little bit wary of going into the water after seeing a decaying dead dog on the beach yesterday. While its wonderful to be by the sun and shore again, I have to say that I've been spoiled by SD, and being here makes me miss it a little bit.

Coca Cola cans in Arabic and English!

Stop sign

Chicken and vegetable couscous. You can also get camel. Except Camel meat is expensive.

A normal street view of buildings and cars.

They cook in these clay pots. Our plates of food came with the fluted clay lids on top.

A snack bar at the airport. I love the mosaics and patters I saw in Morocco- so insanely beautiful!

Random shop I saw on the street.

The fountain inside the hotel. I've developed a new love for blue and white patterns.

How Agadir, Morocco is NOT like SD: Everything is in Arabic, if its not in French. There are still crepes and delicious bread, but there is also couscous and meat in clay pots. The scenery? Sensory overload-- beautiful arches and mosaics, blue and white patterns, kiln baked pottery... its so foreign and lovely. The cultural gap is a little weird though-- walking the streets without a burka like other women warrants stares from the locals. They call out and holler "Suede?" at my friends... and as for me, I haven't seen another Asian person since landing here. When I walk by vendors at the market, i'm followed by endless ni hao and konichiwa's. They don't seem to understand that I can be American yet Chinese at the same time. So here, I'm just Chinois.

amboise

The clock tower in the village of Amboise

Uber-late post, but better late than never, right? I went to Amboise way back in October, which is in central France, in the Loire Valley. It was kind of like Germany in that there are SO many castles around here... I got the chance to visit 3: Chateau Loire, Villandry, and Usse. They were quite impressive, and they weren't even the huge main ones (Chenonceau is a pretty well-known chateau in the area), and I was cheateau'd out. 

The village

Amboise is TINY- compared to Paris, at least. Its walkable in about 5 minutes, and most of it is residential. It might be because we stayed in the old village near the castle, but my main impression of Amboise was it being small and quiet. Think quaint countryside village.

My trip to Amboise was lovely- except it was SO COLD that weekend! It was around freezing-when we were not out visiting chateaux, we were huddled inside or seeking warmth. On the bright side, it wasn't tourist season so we were pretty much the only ones walking around. 

In the region, there are lots of rocky mountains/cliffs- many houses are carved into the cliffs, which I thought was really cool. I saw entire apartment buildings carved into the mountainsides- complete with balconies! Imagine living in a cave house. 

Loire Valley/Amboise, taken from the tower of Chateau Amboise

Chateau Villandry- prettiest gardens I've seen while i've been here! 

This place was HUGE- and very manicured.

My favorite was the love garden. If you look closely, the four squares are different, symbolizing the 4 different types of love (tender, passionate, fickle, courtly). Get me one of these in my yard...

View of the chateau from the end of the love garden

Then we went to Chateau Usse- the inspiration for sleeping beauty. More commonly known as Sleeping Beauty's castle. The guy who wrote Sleeping Beauty actually stayed here for a while, and it was his inspiration for writing it. Its beautiful from the outside, but the inside is an absolute freak show- complete with mannequins of sleeping beauty and prince charming. And the evil witch and her cauldron at the top of the tower. It resembled a disneyland ride, but done very badly, and with mismatched period dress. Random. They could have done a wayy better job with the interior. And lose the freaky looking mannequins.

All in all , the Loire Valley was beautiful. The French royalty built chateaux all over the Loire Valley to get away from the bustle of Paris. In fact, most of the French royalty ruled from here, and not in Paris. That way they weren't harassed/taken prisoner by their constituents. Good times. There's not much to do here besides enjoy the countryside scenery, which I can only do so much of. What can I say- I'm a city girl!

perfect.

exactly what this week has been. Wilson left for the states on Friday morning- quite bittersweet. I'm elated that he came to visit, but then there's always the downer of parting ways. But at least we'll always have Paris, right? I managed to give him a thorough tour of Paris with the time we had- hooray! Here's some pictures of our adventures in the city of light. 

they were setting up the Christmas tree in front of the Notre Dame

recognizing our asian culture in front of the arc du triomphe

the ceiling of the arc du triomphe!

The Galeries Lafayette all decorated for Christmas

the HUGE tree inside

what better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to go to the Louvre? 

Note: If you ever go to the Louvre, go when it opens at 9am- its far emptier than if you go at, say 11am, and the experience is just so much more enjoyable when you don't have to fight through crowds. We went in around 9 and were out by 11, and had lots of fun laughing at the swarms of tourists trying to get into the Louvre as we waltzed out. 

Inside the atrium

preparing Thanksgiving dinner at my place :D

we had chicken, pasta, apple crumble, and peach champagne. yumm. 

Thank you for an amazing week, Wilson! 

marche aux puces

In French, that literally means "flea market." There are a few in Paris that are every weekend, and they sell anything you could possibly think of -- furniture, books, clothes (including your grandma's old minks), toys, keys, silverware, you name it. It was like the vendors had uprooted a messy attic and transplanted it on the sidewalk to sell. I didn't see much that I would actually ever buy, but it was fun going around and looking at everything. 

This was a great opportunity to walk around with my camera and just experiment with taking different shots. These photos were taken at the antique market held one weekend right across the street from my building (back in September), and a few were taken at the flea market at Porte de Vanves (I went last weekend), which goes on every weekend. 

   

random statues and old toys

Some of the vendors specialize in just postcards, or leather chairs, but the majority of them have tables with anything and everything sprawled out with little organization. 

  

Babar! and suitcases upon suitcases of old books. 

The prices of these items can go from ridiculously cheap (10 embroidered handkerchiefs for 2euro) to unbelievably expensive (one picture frame for 200 euro). I ended up buying some patterned scarves for 3 euro each- half the fun was digging through the box and seeing what I could find. I also got some nice jewelry for only 5euro. 

   

A pretty pink chair I wanted- only 20 Euros! Too bad I have no way to take it home. 

and a little statue of Rodin's "Thinker"- I found it sitting on a tiny table with its own doily. Funny to think that I saw the actual version at the Rodin Museum in August. 

  

A box full of billiards balls and animal rubber stamps 

If you ever get a chance to visit Paris, I would definitely recommend a trip to the marche aux puces- it captures a bit of the spirit of the city. The old is mixed with the new, and you never know what you're going to find. As they say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."