Some field trips and exploration! Part 4

I’m am getting a last post in before the week long National Holiday (celebrating the PRC and its independence from the ROC) and my travels take me to a province to the south of Sichuan, called Yunnan.  The scenery there is supposed to be spectacular.  Definitely some amazing pictures coming your way next week when I come back.

As for now, I have to admit, I’ve been super busy.  This last week, we’ve been bombarded with exams and tests before the national holiday.  And then I’ve been extremely neurotic and looking up routes to and from Chengdu so we get back in time for classes.  And I love to over-prepare for travel.  I know I promised some pictures of China to a few of you (Sorry Mrs. Wakefield and class!), but it doesn’t look like I will be able to get to it this post.  There’s actually so much to talk about in the topics that you’ve proposed to me (seeing the inside of a supermarket and products that we are familiar with in the US found here in China) that I want to do it right and make it pretty substantial so you see what I see!  And now we know I'm just making excuses because we all know I can't manage my time and should have been able to do it.  Thus - I fail.  But hopefully I can regain some life points when I come back with that extra special scavenger hunt post and my Yunnan trip post!

So, I shall leave you all with some pictures of our field trip to Yellow Dragon Town (黄龙溪镇).  This town is about 2 hours outside of Chengdu and is an Ancient Town dating all the way back to the Three Kingdoms.  A lot of the buildings and structures from later periods have been preserved, so walking around you get a small taste of what China was before the fall of the last dynasty in 1911.  Interesting fact, because Yellow Dragon Town has preserved so much of its ancient architecture, it has been used to shoot hundreds of period films in China.  Neat, right?!  I really enjoyed it.

Here we go.

A structure built to overlook the stream that flows through the town.

The main street of the town, restaurants and shops all the way.

One of my friends here in the USAC program, having fun on the stepping stones!

!!! This place was really great.

A building we found in the back alley.  More authentic for it.

Some field trips and exploration! Part 3

I’m just going to skip ahead and tell you about my latest journey (this past weekend), since it is definitely still fresh in my mind.  This time, instead of Daoist, it is Buddhist, and we went to Big Buddha at Leshan.  Everything there was huge!  I’ll show you my pictures, but I gotta say (just like in my last post) you can’t really know until you go to these places yourself. (Ailene blatantly promoting China)

We started out at 7:30 am, when all we all wanted to do was sleep in on a Saturday morning.  =/  But it had to be done.  We wanted to go to Leshan before the weather turns too cold for us to go many places.  (We've heard many times that winter here is unlike winters anywhere else.)  So we head to the bus station in a taxi (using my rudimentary Mandarin) and are soon on our way to see Big Buddha (乐山大佛).  Two hours later we arrive in Leshan, but definitely not near the mountain where Big Buddha is located.  I don’t think that we would have known where to start.  However, there was another bus waiting to transport a bunch of tourists like us to the mountain for a small fee (1 CNY = US$0.15).  Generally, I would always say, “I don’t think so,” but I am learning in China that beggars cannot necessarily be choosers.  We’ve lucked out and haven’t been too swindled thus far.   I guess they only want their money and know that there are some desperate people out there.  =)  And they never lead us to shady places, which is nice.

Inside the park we definitely got to see some amazing carvings and sculptures.  It’s extraordinary that so much has survived over the years.  There’s something to be said for some things that are enduring.  Here are some of the favorite things I saw in the park.

After exploring the park, we finally got to Big Buddha.  Oh my goodness!  The crowd here was so large!  That was definitely where all the Chinese tourists were at.  We didn't want to be crushed, and we had no idea how to get a boat so we could take pictures from a safe distance.  But alas, we wanted to see him so we followed the crowd to go down the cliff.  Lol  40 minutes in line.  20 minutes to get down the cliff.  Kind of like lines at Disneyland.  But it was worth it.  If you Wikipedia Leshan Big Buddha and look at the picture provided, we were in the line of people on the right.  It was a press of bodies I’m getting more and more used to since there are so many people everywhere!  Here are a progression of photos as we go down the cliff.  It was really neat!

We didn’t expect to spend the entire day in this one area, but it was a really nice surprise that we were able to.  Here’s to hoping for many more pleasant surprises.

Some field trips and exploration! Part 2

So true to my nature of procrastination and dread of doing even the simplest things, I haven’t been blitzing you with posts like I have promised.  But this week will more than make up for it.  Especially since October 1 marks the week long holiday the entire country gets!  I may not be able to make any posts that week, as I might be traveling, so I gotta make this week count.

The great thing about my study abroad program is that it sets up field trips for us to go on.  From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like a lot of programs do that, so I lucked out with having such an excellent program right on campus.  And as amazing as those field trips are, I am actually going to use this post to talk about a day trip that my new friends and I have taken outside of the program.  And these are the experiences that you can’t really get unless you are a little bit adventurous.

I’ve found that on our field trips, while we get to see new things, sometimes we just aren’t given enough time to revel in the culture and the surroundings.  That is what the day trips we have taken are for.  Like my earlier experience in Beihai Park, these are things that I want to see personally or know that I will not get the chance to see if I don’t take the initiative and go.  And every time it has been rewarding.  There hasn’t been a moment that I have regretted.

The first day trip that we took was on our first weekend in Chengdu.  We went to Qingchengshan, an ancient Daoist mountain about an hour outside of Chengdu.  This is the moment that I was waiting to say, “This is the type of scenery in China that you only see in magazines and television.”  Soaring mountains hidden in the mists (let’s pretend it was all mist), temples interspersed on the mountain for Daoist worship, distant farms showing the agricultural activity that is never far from the city.  Like a lot of other sites, it was full of tourists.  But unlike other sites, there were practicing monks on this mountain.  People live this life - of worship and devout belief in the Dao. 

Heading up the mountain

View from the lift that brought us to the top of the mountain.  Gotta love modernism.

Can you see the city?

And they had a temple dog – a little in need of a bath, but still treated well from the looks of it.  =D  

Being at this mountain, you realize this isn’t just something that you read about, but something that is real and vibrant and something that has meaning beyond what we experience in our everyday lives.  But I suppose you could say that about any religion you find in the world.  Myself?  I’m not necessarily religious.  But I do believe that religion – any religion, done the right way, really is something worth believing in.  And there are moments here in China, where I enter a place so sacred, that I can feel that there is something more out there.  A reverence, a certain resonance in the air that holds the beliefs and hopes of thousands of others before me.  That is something that I can’t deny.       

Being here in China, it is easy to forget that some of the amazing and beautiful things here started out as a way to connect to something greater.  That’s why you won’t see a lot of pictures from me that show places where people actually pray.  I’m not saying that it’s wrong, but it just seems more respectful to not take pictures at places where people are sending up prayers.  And this way, just maybe it might encourage you to see some of these places yourself.  =)

In front of the entrance to one of the temples with my friends.

Some field trips and exploration! Part 1

Since I’ve actually been here for about 3 weeks, my apartment alone isn’t the only place that I have gone.  So instead of making this one massively long post, I am going to blitz you all this week with some of the adventure and experiences I have thus far.  All right…ready…go!

The first week here was kind of hectic and a little bit overwhelming.  On the first day that we got here, we went to Carrefour, basically a smaller French equivalent to Wal-Mart.  And that’s when I got the sense that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.  Holy crap.  I have never felt as bombarded by being foreign as I did that day.  I can barely read the Hanzi (Chinese characters) and people are coming at me like I am a national.  And all I can do is just shrug helplessly and look pitiful, and I think they get the fact that I can’t really understand what they are saying.  I was done with that place in about 10 minutes.  But after a couple more trips (less hectic since we kind of then knew our way around), our apartment is finally almost completely set up. 

Yes.

School started, now we are barreling our way through some Chinese grammar and vocabulary.  Dictations every day.  Homework every night.  So much reading for my other classes.  Procrastination still lives in these veins.  lol  But it seems like it is getting a little bit better.  A few of you might be glad to know that my timeliness has improved.  I will be going home, knowing how to be at a place on time.  lol  Most of the time.  But the Chinese mentality here is that whatever doesn’t get done today, can be done tomorrow.  So timeliness actually isn’t a ginormous deal here.  (And I just wrote ginormous in Microsoft Word, and it did not tell me that it was incorrect.  This day just keeps on getting better and better.)  Chinese time - kind of like Spanish time.  A lot of places even take long breaks in the middle of the day.  Like a siesta but just a little bit shorter. 

This guy was sound asleep on a busy street.  Too cool.

 

Some of the first things I noticed when we were riding around Chengdu was:

1.     They drive crazier here than in Beijing.

2.     There are less people than in Beijing.

3.     It is a little more relaxed than Beijing.

4.      Things stay open way later than Reno.  Restaurants, convenience stores, shops.  (This one I noticed when we went out the other night.)

With the exception of #1.  I definitely prefer Chengdu.  Guess I chose a city just right for me.  =)

Finally - Chengdu!

Blue skies!  Holy crap, there were BLUE skies today.  I woke up this morning, and I could not believe it.  It was like a whole new world.  So amazing.  I honestly did not think I would have the chance to see blue skies again until I got home.  We have been in Chengdu for almost 2 weeks and that week in Beijing and almost every day was humid and the skies were “overcast” so I never saw any blue skies.  But I guess those really were clouds (for the most part) here in Chengdu.  I caught the tail end of a really beautiful day for you to see!  For you it might be ordinary sky, but for me it was a miracle.  Appreciate it people.  You don’t know what you have.  Missing those open blue skies surrounded by mountains at home.  Among some other things.  Lol  I figure I’ll have a list in a few weeks.  I’ll share with you when it is a little more substantial.

I only caught the tail end of it, but it was completely clear this morning...I swear!

The weather here is really great though otherwise.  It has been raining at night the past couple nights, leaving the city a lot cooler with less humidity.  If only every day were like this weather.  Perfect.  Not too hot, but not so cool that you have to put on a jacket.  And barely any humidity.  That’s the best part.  Lol

So a few of you have been curious, so here is what my apartment looks like.  Captions included.  

Stagnant water on the building next to mine after a rain shower.  Can you say disease?

Apartment buildings are definitely the norm here.  View from my bedroom window.

My bedroom!  I lucked out and got the biggest one.

One of the bathrooms!  With a jacuzzi AND a sauna room that doesn't work.  How's that for you?

Super tiny kitchen.

And the other bathroom.  Shower and toilet all in one space.  Let's just say bathrooms here are an experience. 

 

 

 

 

 

The maid's door...what?!  lol  These apartments were intended for rich people.  The maid has a separate entrance to keep her away from the rich folk.

And for some reason the maid's room is shut off from the rest of the apartment.  No access.  And kind of creepy.

Our living room. In the side of the picture you can see the rack where we dry our clothes.  No dryers here.  Luckily no handwashing though.

This apartment is A LOT bigger than what I expected.  My classmates in the dorms even have really big single rooms.  And by Chinese standards, we are in big spaces.  In the Chinese dorms at school, it is 4 to a small room with no heating.  We are definitely just as lucky here as we are back home.  Our particular apartment is a little bit run down but we are definitely okay here.  We even have an extra bedroom since there is only 2 of us!  Ever drop by in Chengdu during the semester and I have a place for you to stay.  lol

Whelp, I figure that’s a pretty good introduction to life for me here in Chengdu.  Definitely more to come!