China part II

So the second part of our trip in China was to a little town about 4 hours southwest of Shanghai. Here, we met up with Mr. Wu, a 70 year old retired English professor. This was definitely a highlight of this trip. Mr. Wu showed us around his town of Quzhou, and then we spent a day in the village where he grew up about 40km  from Quzhou. Interesting fact, the first American in Quzhou wasn't until 1987! So again, we were starred at a lot. The village was really interesting, as most of the young people have left to find jobs in the cities, and all the older people still farm their land. There is running water and electricity, but that is about it for modern conveniences. Since most of Mr. Wu's family (sisters and brothers) still live in the town, as well as his cousins and uncles, we were able to meet a lot of people. And by meet I mean wave hi and stand there and smile while Mr. Wu explained in Chinese why we were there. After walking around the town, his sister cooked the most delicious meal I have had since being in Asia. As you can see from the picture, there was a lot of food.
Oh and they had a dog. So I naturally asked its name and was then laughed at and told he doesn't have a name. I brushed that off, but wondered why they would have a pet and not name it. During lunch, I figured it out. In China, most meat is cooked with the bone in and fat still on the meat, so you have to pick through it, with lots of difficulty. When I asked what to do with the leftover bones and any other pieces that I needed to discard, he told me to throw them on the ground. The dog was the vacuum cleaner!
After lunch, Mr. Wu and his nephew took us to the three brothers monument where we hiked for about an hour and learned more about the cultural revolution and how it was to live through all the recent changes in China. We then were taking to another town, and hosted to a large dinner (only 4 hours after our large lunch). We ate Chinese style, with the turn table in the center and picking at food and it swiveled by. The food was of course, excellent. I'm convinced that in China, you will ONLY get the best of the best  if you can speak Chinese, so if you ever come here, meet up with some Chinese friends to get the true food experience.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing experience to spend time in such a remote area and be hosted by such a generous man. After our 5.5 hour experience in the train on the way there, we decided to try the fast train back to Shanghai which, thankfully, only took 3.5 hours. Dad spent one night in Shanghai then headed to Singapore to pick up my luggage for me and continued on back to the States. I'm still here in Shanghai, and I'm about to head to the airport to go to the Yunnan Provence for 6 days with Kyle to hike and get some fresh air!  I won't have access to my blog while in the west part of China, but ill update you on Shanghai and the west when I get back.

Ill add more photos on Facebook with better descriptions when I get back to the States, but its too difficult here in China since I can't seem to get constant internet access. Hope you all have a great rest of the week.

Love you and miss you!

China Part I

Hello from the land of the not so free! Bear with me for a bit, this is going to be a long one.  As I’m sure most of you know, Facebook is banned in China, and for whatever reason, so is access to my blog, so I will post when I can get access.  Here are my impressions and travels of the past two weeks in China.

First stop: Beijing. AMAZING city. Beijing is the political and cultural center of China, while Shanghai is financial center. Needless to say we visited A LOT of temples and learned more history then I’ll ever remember.  Dad and I stayed in Beijing for 5 days, and for three of them we hired a guide, which made life very easy. She was 26 so her and I had a great time talking about life for young people in China and she knew more history than Dad (if you know my Dad, that is hard to do), so she kept him happy with new facts.  We of course visited the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Bell and Drum Tower, Summer Palace, Night market, Ming Tombs, Tiananmen Square, Lama Temple and my personal favorite and most famous, the Great Wall. All were amazing, and all were larger than I could have imagined (Discovery channel does not give justice to these places on TV, even in HD).  We also had a chance to meet up with some of my friends from my MBA program who were studying Chinese (similar to when I studied Spanish in Spain), and who are now doing their internships in China. We went out two nights with them. The first was a typical Chinese dinner where you sit 10 people around a table with a swivel in the center and order as many dishes as the host feels necessary.  Between 10 of us we had about 15 dishes including Duck wish was Dad’s favorite. Best of all, it only came to about $25 USD per person.  I will certainly miss the great food prices in Asia. The next night the food wasn’t great, but after dinner all my friends and some locals and I went out for drinks in the night area. Dad being awesome, decided it was a night with my friends so we put him in a cab and sent him back to the hotel. Best part of that was no official cab would take him cause it wouldn’t have been a large fare so we had to find a ‘black’ cab (these are guys who drive around late at night and are not licensed drivers, just looking for some extra cash) and pay him double the price just to get him to the hotel safely.  As my dad is driving away, my friend screams at me to give my phone to my dad just in case…and then they drove off….

So Dad ended up getting home safe, I got home after a few hours, and then it was off to our next stop.

Second Stop: Xi’An. This is a check it off your list kind of place. This is the famous town where the Terracotta Warriors were discovered. There are supposedly about 6000 soldiers in this area, but only 2000 have been discovered and assembled. Truly amazing site considering it was constructed in 210 BC

Glad I did it, won’t feel a need to go back.  Upon leaving Xi’An to go to Shanghai, our plane got delayed due to landing gear malfunction. Under normal circumstances when issues arise in an airport with an airplane, I can fix it pretty quick. However, when you throw in a wholatta Chinese and a lil English, the world changes on you. Ironically, it was my Spanish skills that somehow got us out of the airport and kept us from being stuck overnight.  See there was this group of Spaniards (none spoke English) and they were trying to talk to a Chinese airline employee who had little English, so I offered to help. During my Perfect (ha, right) translation, I figured out that we could get on another airline. And because I kept trying to help the airline employees with the crazy Spaniards we got on an airplane!  See Karma works people, I’m telling you!

After the 5 hours in the airport, we finally arrived in Shanghai, and our plan was to catch a train to a small town called Quzhou.  Of course we landed too late and had to find a hotel in Shanghai for the night. Not a big deal, just that somehow, Shanghai airport has less signs in English than any other place in China. 

Oh and I forgot to mention, if you have been following my blog since I’ve been here, I bet you can guess what I’m going to say next……..

Yup, I’m sick again! Coughing my lungs out the past few days! Started the day we went to see the soldiers, got worse with the nasty pollution in Xi’an, now getting better thanks to good ol’ Dad bringing a Z-pak from home! Love my parents and them being prepared like a hospital.

Wake up Tuesday morning feeling horrible, but excited to meet up with Mr. Wu (more on him later), and see a side of China most people don’t get to see.  So we make it to the right train station and we have 30 minutes before we can buy tickets. Knowing just getting tickets could be an adventure we follow our fellow Asians lead and start lining up at the counter with 25 min until the counters open. Lucky for us, there is an ‘English Speaking Counter’, so we decide our best bet is to stand in that line. Turns out they only open two lines that day, and one of them happened to be ours, so with all our bad luck the day before, we were first in line and had an English speaking person to buy tickets from. With three cities in China named the same, I was just happy that we had tickets that said the correct name in English!

After a 5.5 hour train trip, in which I’m pretty sure my Dad and I were the only Caucasians on the train, which turned into 5 hours of getting starred at, and another 30 minutes of them watching Dad do Sudoku and trying to talk to us, we made it to our destination only a day later than expected, but with Mr Wu waiting happily for us at the gate!

I can’t wait to tell you about the rest of this trip. But that will have to be part two. I’m now in Shanghai and heading to brunch with some friends. Miss you all!

MBA'er

Well I am almost an MBA graduate! Technically I’m done with classes, but I still have one more paper to turn in, but I have until July to complete it. I can’t believe it has already been 2 years.  But before I have to go to the real world, I’m traveling around Asia for one more month. My Dad got to SIN last Monday and we just took a two day trip to Cambodia (second trip for me).  I still love the country, and the people are amazing! I know there is a lot of countries I haven’t seen yet, but I hope I get a chance at some point in my life to come back here.

Next stop is China for a month. I was going to head to India for a wedding, but I’m a slacker and didn’t apply for my visa in time, so I decided I’m going to stay in China for an extra couple weeks. So I’m heading to Beijing, Xi’An, and Quzhou with my Dad. Then I’m hoping to hit up Tibet and Mongolia with Kyle for the final two weeks in Asia. Then it’s back to the States the first week of June, and an attempt to find a job and join the real world again. So first stop when I get back…Chipotle! Although, ironically, I convinced dad to eat at this Mexican restaurant in Cambodia, and it was actually really good! Chicken Chimichanga and real salsa, mmm mmmm mmmmm! Really, if I could find affordable, good Mexican food all around Asia, I don’t know if I would come back to the States, except for family of course J

I miss you all very much and hope you are all doing well!

Yup...I'm a slacker

So I just realized its been over a month since I last blogged! I really have no idea where the time has gone.
When I last checked in I was in Chaing Mai Thailand with two other friends, and had one of the most amazing experiences. I know I say that every time, but this really was amazing. I spent a day with my girlfriend Kim at an Elephant Mahout Camp, which is a training camp for Elephants. We spent most of day learning about these amazing animals and learning how to speak a bit of Thai so that we could get them to lift their feet to get on them bareback, walk them around and have them go left and right.  Did you know a full grown elephants eats 200 kilos (450lbs) PER DAY!!!!! I couldn't believe until I realized that at not point of the day with them did they stop eating. We also got to take them to a pond and bath them, which really ended in us getting soaked as our Elephant sprayed water on herself to cool down while we were on her!
The rest of the trip was really nice as well. My friends and I took a Thai cooking class and I can actually cook some Thai food now! Ill have to experiment on my family when I get back to see if its edible :)

After that trip I took a trip two weeks later to Bankok, and Phuket (an island off Thailand). I was with Kyle so the trip was fun, but honestly, I wouldn't suggest either of those places to visit. We did rent a motorbike for 3 days while in Phuket and visited the largest Buddah statue I have ever seen, and found an amazing waterfall. This waterfall actually puts Seven Falls in Colorado to shame. Mostly because unlike in the States, Thailand doesn't seem to care if you happen to fall in. We were able to climb about a mile up the waterfall and play in the water, nothing was off limits, and we were the only ones on the 'trail' until the very end!

I also happened to be recovering from food poisoning a day before we went to Phuket and happened to catch an infection almost as soon as we landed. If my parents taught me one very valuable thing about traveling it has been to carry drugs with you that you can read the instructions on. Well, I didn't listen. However, thanks to them, it is easier for me to remember drug terminology. Its amazing how easy it is to walk into a pharmacy (without first seeing a doctor) and ask for antibiotics if you can just remember its Azithromycin (Eyrithromyacin in Thailand). At least if you don't speak the language of the country, drug names always work.

After this, Kyle and I came back to Singapore and took the ferry over to Batam Indonesia with some friends for one night. This was another flop. There was absolutely nothing on this Island, and of course true to my form, I got sick again. I guess after visiting 6 countries and twice as many cities in Asia, I was destined to find at least a few places I don't like, right?

 

Procrastinating

I have now been in Thailand for a full 24 hours by myself, and its been wonderful. This is the first time I have traveled on my own, and its really fun!However, I will be joined by two friends in about an hour. Both are from USC, but one is coming from the States and the other  one is studying with me in Singapore, so the solo traveling wont last for long, but I'm really excited to see them.
First, the flight over here was wonderful. I sat next to a Singapore Air Cargo pilot who has lived in Chiang Mai for 12 years. Of course we talked aviation, but he is also building a kit airplane and invited me over to see it. I think my schedule is full while I'm here, but it was great to talk planes with someone again! He also gave me great insight into how the aviation industry works in Asia. The most important point I took from it: employees don't get flight benefits! So, although I had thoughts about working in the aviation industry here in Asia, that pretty much sold me on not doing it right now. I mean I love the industry because it fascinates me, so benefits aren't the only reason, but if your going to receive less pay for the same job function in another industry, there had better be some good travel options involved.
On to my day. I rented a bicycle today for about a $1.50 and let myself navigate through traffic,get as lost as possible, and it was wonderful. I really suggest renting a bike in any new town as long as its flat. Such a great way to see the city. Typical of Thailand, I found A LOT of temples (Wat's). Although I had the bike for 24 hours, after about 4 hours, my bum was numb and my legs were aching,  so I decided to turn it in and walk around for a bit. I found a quite tea house with local tea that was amazing, although it made me really miss my Mom since I know she would have loved the patio with the pink orchids, full trees and the waterfall, not to mention the delicious tea. I also had my first REAL salad since i've been in Asia. I'm surprised how much I miss simple veggies. After that I found some more temples and best of all, a massage place! less than $10 for an hour massage....I think Ill be going everyday!
I have to say although traveling alone is great I really wish my cousin Chad was here. For those of you who don't know my cousin, he speaks (or use to, not sure if he has used it in a while) fluent Thai. I think it would have been fun to be shown around a city by someone who has such a passion for it.

Well since I've basically used this post to procrastinate on the paper I should be writing, yes I still have to remember I have homework even when I travel, I think its about time to face real life again. Love you all!

Home sick

So its official, I'm home sick. How do I know you ask? Well, I just spent $27 on a box of Peant Butter Cap'n Crunch, soy Silk milk, Smucker's strawberry jam, Prego Spaghetti sauce and.... a 6-pack of Coke. Of course the American brands are way more expensive, but I really couldn't stand the thought of more fish noodles in my stomach. I know what your thinking, and nope I'm not physically sick. Everything is staying down and solid (no worries Mom). I do know its completely psychological, because I can put down quiznos, subway, and KFC with no problem, but once an Asian dish is in front of me, I loose my appetite. So I hope my splurge of American products will suffice for this week, as I go to Thailand next week and I'm really dying for some street Pad Thai. I also get to meet up with my friend Kim there  (my roommate from my first semester at USC), so that will be some much needed girl time! I know ill make it through, and I'm not counting down the days till I go home, I do miss all my family and friends SO much right now.

Thoughts

So I just found out my Grandma Billock figured out how to find and read my blogs! Hi Grandma!  Next goal: get Nana to read it, which might actually be achievable as I just found out she just got her first email address!

I think my last post was a bit negative in terms of me not liking Vietnam. In fact just the other day I was telling my good friend Bobbi that I really don't like the country. Nim Binh changed that a bit for me as I got to interact with locals in a quiet environment and gain a better understanding about their life. I still do not like Ha Noi, and after visiting a few other Asian countries, the Vietnamese were very cold.

While I was in Nim Binh, I hired a driver and a motobike to take me around to all the sites. I was lucky to get a driver who spoke really good English, so I used the opportunity to ask him some questions. The first being about the dogs. As I said before, it didn’t seem that common since there was only one lady in the market selling dog, but a lot more selling chickens, vegetables, and fish. I also noticed a lot of people let their dogs lay around in what we would call a back yard. So I asked my driver if it was common to eat dog, and he replied its very common, and children tend to get a puppy and raise it (similar to cattle). He then proceeded to ask if I would like to try it and with my most polite no thank you, I spent the rest of the afternoon contemplating this. At first I was really bothered by it, but then I thought, would it be that horrible if I didn’t grow up with dogs as pets? I mean it would be a bit hypocritical of me to say it’s wrong and then go eat a hamburger. So, although it is impossible for me to see a puppy, or for that matter, cats and monkeys (I don’t know if they do in fact eat them, just saw a few tied up) in this country and not think about their fate, I accept it is what they do here.
So go give your pup a big hug and let them know they should be grateful they were born into a western society!

The way back to Ha Noi involved a new experience of waving down a bus to jump on it as it slowed down, more stares from all the locals, and in general, feeling like a movie star as people wanted to take pictures of us, touch our hair, and see if we were single. In general, I had some great times in Vietnam, but didn't connect with the country. Furthermore, the food wasn't that great, which was a huge let down for me as I love to eat my way through a country!

Ill do my best to catch up on the Philippines and Cambodia soon, as well as get all my pictures up on Facebook!

Its going to be a rough week, so if you all get some time, I would love to hear about what is going on in your life!