Venice of the East

Many towns in China claim to be the Venice of the East but I think this one really is! Xitang is a small water town about an hour, by bus, away from Shanghai. Today was the last of my five days off and I didn't know what to do with myself. I've had this dream of biking around West Lake in Hangzhou, but my roommate Justin suggested going to Xitang instead. So I did!

I got up this morning and took a bus from Shanghai to Jiashen and then hopped on a local shuttle bus to take me to Xitang. I had read that it was not obvious exactly where the old part of the town was but I gathered if you walked around you could find it. My first clue that it was near was a large billboard advertising the beauty of the old part of the town. The billboard also reminded everyone that Xitang was used for the filming of some of the scenes of a recent James Bond movie. After wandering around for a bit I managed to stumble upon the old town. Wow. It was really beautiful. 'They' were right. It really was the Venice of the East. Normally, there is a fee to get into the old town but once again it pays to be in the off season. Not only were there no crowds, there was no entrance fee! And the weather was spectacular, not like the oppressive heat you get here in the middle of summer. I spent most of the afternoon just walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying the peace and relaxation.

Walking around Xitang is like stepping back in time. The only vehicles in the old part of the town are boats that run up and down the canals and the odd bicycle. Everyone else is walking. As in the rest of China, there were numerous groups of people playing mahjong or cards. Everyone seemed really relaxed. Even the shop owners didn't really hastle me. Maybe because it's the slow season. Maybe they need a break too from constantly hounding foreigners to buy there wares.

Here are a few pictures. If you want to see more you can check them out, and some more of my adventure on Yellow Mountain at www.flickr.com/photos/china-su.

Yellow Mountain Part II: Let the Adventure Begin!

Now for the real adventure.... Yellow Mountain. This Chinese rave about this mountain. They say things like "You will find viewing another mountain no longer worthy after you visit the Five Sacred Mountains. Nor will you find viewing the Five Sacred Mountains worthy after you visit Yellow Mountain". Don't ask me who said that. They jury is still out on it being the most spectacular scenery EVER, but it sure was nice! I read that they filmed, at least some of, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on the mountain.

It was really beautiful and it was a different experience than hiking up any mountain of been up in North America for a few reasons. First, I wasn't hiking on a dirt trail. All of the trails have been laid out in stone, mostly stone steps since you are usually going up or down. I think this was originally done by some emporer so that he could go up the mountain. And by going up the mountain, I mean sitting in a sedan chair whilst someone carried him.

Secondly, there`s a shop every 0.5 kms or so selling drinks, snacks, kitch, batteries (thank God, mine ran out!). Not only are there small shops, there are numerous hotels throughout the area, some located within an easy walk of a cable car. So you run into people in dress shoes and fairly formal attire along the trail, which is a bit funny.

Thirdly, there was music (or should I say muzac) and public service announcements being broadcast from various locations along the way. It was quite annoying. The English portion of the announcements had to do with not smoking in the non-smoking areas. It was very loud, I could hear it from quite far off, and it was interspersed with the song Please Mr. Postman from the 60s.

Here are some interesting things about the mountain. I`m pretty sure everything that goes up or down the mountain is down by sherpas. That means if you are building a hotel, people carry everything you need up the mountain. When I was there, 300 meters of fiber optic cable were being carried up in 100 meter sections by about 40 men, or so, per section. It looked like hard work.

I also saw mattresses going up the mountain. Who knew one man could carry two twin mattresses up the side of a mountain. There is a constant stream of sherpas going up the mountain bringing food, Christmas decorations, you name it. When the come down, they are literally skipping down and I swear some were singing! They must feel like they are walking on air.

It looked like a really hard job. Going up the mountain and walking behind them I could see they had calves the size of my thighs. But even with legs of steel it was hard. You could see it in their faces and they would have to stop frequently and rest. They typically carried two loads, each at opposite ends of a long stick that they carried on their shoulder. They used another stick to help with the carrying and to use to rest the load on from time to time.

Once I was up near the top I started noticing sedan chairs for hire. Wow! And they started at only 100 RMB (about $15) depending on how far you wanted to go. I know what this lady is thinking. That sedan chair is looking pretty good right about now!

Have you watched The Amazing Race? Do you remember when they went to China? Remember the locks? Here they are!

Yellow Mountain was great. The senery was beautiful and even though I went in December, once the sun came up it was beautiful and warm. I`ve seen pictures of the trail during peak season and it doesn`t look like my cup of tea. Too crowded! Here are some random pictures of my day at Yellow Mountain.

Yellow Mountain Part I: Tunxi

Sunday night I found myself in the strange predicament of facing 5 days off. I had forgotten that I had annual-use-it-or-loose-it leave to take before the end of the month and my boss had booked me off this week. But... what do to??? I went home and talked to my roommate and he suggested Yellow Mountain. I'd heard good things about it and I needed to get out of the city for a while so off I went.

I took an overnight train to the town of Tunxi where I stayed at a youth hostel for about $7.00 a night. Nice place but not much heat! When I arrived at the hostel I couldn't help noticing that the staff were wearing their winter jackets... indoors. As I walked around the town I realized this was normal. People in the grocery store, the department store, all decked out in cold weather gear, at work. Also, every available woman seemed to be busy knitting a new winter sweater. Yikes! I need a bit of heat!!

I figured I would spend a day in Tunxi, then go up the mountain the next day. The highlights of Tunxi included a food street (yum!) and a street I think they called the old street. It was kept in the old traditional style, no cars, nice old buildings. I bought lunch, did a bit of shopping, then went for a walk around the town.

There was a nice old stone bridge and being a bright sunny day, everyone was out doing luandry. Many people seem to still wash their clothes in the river that runs through the town. Not sure how clean the water was!

The street running along beside the river had clothes and bed covers all out drying and airing out in the beautiful sunshine.

I’m not much for nightlife and the town seemed pretty quite at night, except for the ubiquitous KTVs (karaoke bars). There was a small park in the center of town in which one group of ladies were doing a fan dance and another were practicing. In front of one of the banks another group of ladies were doing a traditional dance. All dancing was done to traditional Chinese music. Cool!

This pagoda, that was very nice during the day, looked even better at night. It had red lanterns running up and down the inside that were all lit up. Hard to catch it on film with my point and shoot. Sorry the picture is so dark.

My Chinese Class

This is my Chinese class. We started out with six students, but something happened along the way. Now we are down to just us three. From left to right the students are John from New Zealand, me and Damon from California. The Chinese lady is our teacher Fan Ling Ling, from China. I would like to point out the it was my day off, and I rode my bike to school. That's why the boys look so much better dressed than me.

John, Damon and I all work for Wall Street (and Wall Street is paying for our classes) but we don't all work at the same location. Only Damon and I actually work together. Damon made me brownies for my birthday, which he served warm, right out of the microwave, topped with vanilla Haagen Dazs ice cream. Yum!!

Damon is also the star student, but he pays for a private tutor on the side (which is almost like cheating!). John and I struggle along. But even though it's a bit of a struggle to learn, I'm really enjoying it. In fact I think I'd like to continue my Chinese lessons when I return to Canada, or JiaNaDa as we like to say here in Shanghai.

I Ate this for Dinner Last Night

And I'm not sure what it was! I think I've even seen them in the grocery store in Canada, but I've never tried one before. I saw one split in two and wrapped in celophane on the discount fruit counter and I couldn't believe what it looked like on the inside. Wow! I had to try it! So I went and bought one that wasn't past it's best before date and took it home. It wasn't bad. A mild flavour. The inside was a soft pulpy sort of stuff and the black things are teeny weeny little seeds. Not sure if I'll buy another one. I'm sort of hooked on yellow (gold) kiwis. They are to die for!

Century Park

Shanghai's answer to Central Park. (And you didn't know it was a question.) Century Park is probably the largest park in Shanghai. It is located in Pudong, which is across the Hangpi River from where I live in Puxi (pronounced Pushi). Yesterday was a warm, sunny day with a predicted high of 18 so I decided to go and check it out. I had heard that you could take a passenger ferry across the river so I made finding this ferry my challenge for the day. I set out on my bike bright and early, around 11:00 a.m. I rode to the center of town and did a bit of shopping then went off in search of the ferry. It didn't take long to find it.

Back in the old days a ferry boat was the only way to travel between Pudong and Puxi. Now there are numerous bridges and tunnels. But I still counted three separate ferry services running between the two sides. As long as there is foot, bicycle and moped traffic I hope the ferry service continues.

Before I say any more I want to describe the Huangpi River. I still haven't taken any pictures of it but I will. It's something very much like the Queensway, or any other highway. There is a constant stream of bumper to bumper traffic, only this traffic consists of freighters, barges, floating billboards and tour boats. The boat traffic going up and down the river never seems to end. And to top it off, there are small ferry boats shuttling people across the river. Have you figured out the problem yet? The large ocean going vessels, which probably take the length of a few football fields to stop, are traveling up and down the river and these smaller ferry boats are cutting back and forth across the river in between these big behemoths. Does it sound dangerous? It should because I think it really is! But is was a really great ride. I couldn't go out onto the small open deck because I wanted to stay with my vehicle (i.e. my bike),but I peered out from between the bars of the gate and watched.

Once I got across the river it took me about an hour to get to the park (on my one-speed bike). Of course I took the long route. I always do the first time I go somewhere in Shanghai. It only took me about 35 minutes to get back to the ferry later in the day. The park was really nice. I paid 10 Yuan (about $1.60) to get in and spent an hour walking through the pathways and enjoying the relative solitude that existed there on a Wednesday afternoon.

Here are some pictures that I took while I was there. Not sure what this boat was for, but it was pretty.

The park had many small bridges. You could rent a small boat and toodle around in the waterways if you so desired.

Along with boat rentals, the park had a small amusement park, bicycle rentals and paddle boat rentals. You could rent a tandem bike or even one built for three! You could also rent bikes for two or four people in which you could sit beside each other and be covered with a canopy. They seemed to be quite popular! This is the lake on which you could paddle around in a paddle boat (or is that peddal boat? Not sure.)

The park had many quiet places where you could sit and relax.

There was one garden on the map that had to see. It was called Montreal Garden. I think I found it. There was no sign, but I think this was it. The maple leaves were a good clue!

All 'n all it was a good adventure. The park was nice, but I wouldn't want to live in Pudong. It is the newer, more modern side of Shanghai. The streets are wider and the character and charm that you can find in the small alleyways and neighbourhoods in Puxi seemed to be missing in Pudong. Mind you, they will all be gone soon on the Puxi side too.

What's in a name?

One of the first things I noticed after arriving in China, was that the students in our school adopted some very strange English names. I used to think that it was wrong to take on an English name if you are from another culture. I thought it was akin to eating hamburgers instead of a local dish like noodles or watching Friends on TV instead of... oh I don't know... instead of doing something less American. I used to think it was a sign of English imperialism. I used to think it was a sign of being consumed by a dominant culture. But maybe I`m wrong.

Now I'm getting sort of used to the idea, and many of the Chinese names are so hard to pronounce that an English name makes it much easier for me. Maybe I have warmed to the idea partly because the Chinese typically do not choose your typical English name. They choose English names that are distinctly Chinese. The Daves, Johns and Marys are few and far between. They have been replaced with names like Apple and Zero and Grass.

I have been making a list of the interesting Chinese names I have heard. Now if I could only find it.... Well, here are some of the interesting names I've heard:

Apple
Cherry
Orange
Fat Joe (he likes rap music)
Morning (a guy!)
Rambo (a skinny guy!)
Kathy (she can't say 'th', comes out like Kacey)
Grass
Rainbow
Echo
January (she was born in....)
Vivi (and you x-Coreleans thought there was only one Vivi in the world!)
Zero
Even
Miracle
Smile
Haze
Queenie
Ice Cream
Hymen (I`m not making this up)
Boner (Really, I`m not!)
Snow
Summer

I`ve been facinated with these names since I arrived and in talking to the students I`ve learned a few things that may shed some light on their choices. In China a person`s name can come from words such as beautiful or lovely or echo. In fact you can take two words that you like and take a written symbol from each, combine them together and form a name. It works. I think they try to do the same in English, however since we don`t have the same system of writing, they cannot mix and match like they do in Chinese so they just pick one nice word. I`m not sure if they pick the name based on what it means or how it sounds. I suspect some do one and some do the other. Sometimes I think they pick a word because it sounds like their Chinese name. Whatever the reason, I like it! I`ve been here for three months and I am still coming across new and interesting names.