Baby Pants

Babies don’t wear diapers. The wear pants with a slit in them for easy use. It can be quite a surprise when all of the sudden you see a bare baby booty, or worse. I am quite interested though, to see what happens with the whole no diaper thing when it starts snowing outside.

Chinese Break dancing

Apparently, they love break dancing here. It is not something I really expected, but if you go to the clubs and bars, you can see em, spinning away. And they are actually quite good! They even have teams, and have dance-offs. I have yet to see one, but I am looking forward to it!

KTV

KTV is Chinese Karaoke. No idea what it stands for, but it is fun! You rent out little rooms by the hour, and just go nuts. The songs are mostly Chinese, but there are some classics and new songs to be found. The Chinese love Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson, so those are easy enough to find!

Tissues

When traveling in China, you should always carry around tissues. Why? Because 8 times out of 10 wherever you are going won’t have toilet paper. I know, ew. But such is life. They sell packs in pretty much every store, so never to fear if you forget yours at home!

Seasonal Snacks

On the streets you can find vendors selling everything from tissues (see above!) to yoghurt to socks. My favorite things to find them selling so far, however, are the seasonal snacks. When I arrived in the summer months, they were selling cooked corn, and ear for 2 yuan (about 30 cents). Now in the autumn, it is cooked sweet potato, anywhere from 2-10 yuan, depending on the size of the tater. Pretty awesome. Can’t wait to see what the other seasons bring!

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a three day celebration in September, when everything corporate shuts down to participate in the setting off of fireworks and eating of mooncakes (I am no expert, please wikipedia for more info if you want it ☺). It also means that the school takes us on another vacation-yay! That being said, I am afraid the entry on our break will be rather brief, as it was awhile ago and I have been to busy to write.
The trip started with us meeting up at the school bright and early at 7am. Sounds terrible, but it’s not so bad when you get McDonalds provided for breakfast! We set out on the buses for a town in the mountainous region near Beijing, called Longqing Valley. The bus ride as supposed to take about 7 hours, but thanks to the ridiculous and consistent traffic on the highway from Hohhot to Beijing, it took 13. Needless to say, when we arrived we ate dinner, had a few brews, and went to bed. Our hotel very pleasantly pleased us, mostly in that it was a hotel, and not some tent on the side of the road. It even had enclosed showers, the first I have seen since I have been in China! It really is the little things in life that make me happy.
The next morning we were made to get up again, at 7am. It turns out that when you go on a Chinese vacation with a tour guide, you are under that guides command. We first went to the actual Longqing Valley, which was very beautiful, but also pretty touristy. The area surrounding the mountain reminded me of Duloc from Shrek, it was that pristine and orderly. You enter a the lower part of the mountains, and take escalators, enclosed in a plastic, yellow dragon (seriously, check my pics on Facebook) to the top. When you get up there, a large dam creates a beautiful lake in the Valley. We took boats around the lake, surprisingly very cold in the high climate and rainy weather. It was here, in this valley, that I went Bungee Jumping.
Yup, that’s right. In China, where the entirety of my instruction was that I should fall forward, and, no I couldn’t fall backwards, I went Bungee Jumping. Yes, I do know this was a very dangerous place to do such a thing. They actually told us at first that we would not be able to go, because of the rain, but after it dried off a little, they remembered they could make some money of the crazy Westerners, and let us do it. Out of the 30 or so of us on the trip, only 4 us went, and one was actually one of the Chinese staff! It cost 100 yuan, which is the equivalent of $15. What a deal, huh?! At first, I was the only one who was going to do it, but then of course, the men couldn’t let me show them up! The bungee cord was strapped to my ankles, and I was told to walk out on a mini ledge that was about 5 inches long. The guy had me put my arms out, and held me by the belt loop of my pants. The next part happened very quickly, but I do recall the man counting down from 3, and giving me a slight push off the ledge.
Yes, a push. Not a shove or anything, but enough that I couldn’t have stayed on the ledge if I wanted to. I am actually kind of grateful that he did, otherwise I would not have gone off the ledge so easily! The initial fall happened quite quickly, and yes, I screamed the whole way down. After that it was more of just an upside sightseeing trip. It was tons of fun, don’t get me wrong, but man, the blood really rushes to your head! I didn’t feel the jolting of the bungee cord, that part was actually quite smooth. The most interesting thing, though, was how I got out of the bungee cord. We were hoping the wouldn’t just drop us into the water, originally because of the whole cold weather thing, but upon upside-down closer inspection, the realization that there was a layer of rocks under the water, right where we bungee’d. Luckily, the Chinese are quite crafty. They pulled a boat up under me, where I grabbed onto a long stick and was pulled down into the boat.
Later that afternoon, following more boats around the Valley and lunch, we went to a Safari Zoo. It was really neat; we stayed on a bus and drove from to animal enclosure to enclosure. We got to see a variety of animals, lots of lions and tigers and bears (oh my!). We also saw things like domesticated dogs (a cocker spaniel, etc) in cages. Chinese zoos are cool is some aspects, but in others, are quite sad. Unfortunately, there were no Pandas at that zoo.
After the zoo we headed to the Great Wall at Badaling. It is one of the most touristy areas of the wall, which means it is also one of the most well-kept. And let me tell you, it is a Great Wall! Some of the areas have steps, and some ramps. Some areas are almost flat, and some are really steep. One area had steps as long as my femur (a guestimate, obviously, I do not know much about anatomy). We only spent about an hour there, but really, that was enough. It has some amazing views from the higher sections, and it feels great to be surrounded by history, but after about an hour, it is still a big wall. There is an escalator down from one point, and we all decided that a slide would have been way cooler. Only 4 of us really tried to tackle as much of the wall as possible, the others sort of dawdled along. We did get involved in a race with a Chinese man at one point, but that quickly ended.
After that, we headed back to the hotel, had dinner, and after some exciting Chinese television, we went to bed. We had to again get up the next day at 7, so we could make our way back to Hohhot. The ride back only took 7 hours, largely in part to our drivers leaden foot. All in all, the trip was 2 days traveling and one of sightseeing, but we got to do so many cool things on that one day that it was all worth it!

So, obvi-duh, you need a visa to come to China. When I accepted the job here, they told me to just get a tourist visa, and we would get the work visa when I got here.. Translation: Sarah gets a mostly free trip to Hong Kong!
The main reason for this trip was to get my Z Visa*, which took about 3 hours total out of the two days we were there. When I say we, I mean myself and one of the other teachers, Michiel from Holland. Here is a run down of my fabulous trip:

Tuesday: Left Hohhot at 10 pm (had to take the late flight because of classes during the day). Arrived in Beijing about an hour later. Now, when you land in Beijing, they land the plane wayyyy out on the terminal and you have to take a bus to the main airport area (which means you shouldn’t book a flight to quickly after your flight is supposed o land, you won’t make it!). We finally got all our bags and things, and got onto a bus around midnight. Our flight to Hong Kong wasn’t till the next morning, so we decided a little middle of the night tourist time was in order. The bus dropped us off in central Beijing, and we wandered and then found some food (yay for 24-7 KFC!). We then headed to check out the Forbidden City (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/forbidden.htm). It is huge, with guard standing outside the main entrances at all hours. We managed to get a few pictures outside the gates, then gave up on the idea of getting closer due to the glaring of the guards and the communication issues that would ensue. Then, we crosses the street (well, under the street, actually.. the Chinese are all about underground walkways) and attempted to check out Tiananmen Square. This was also difficult, as the minute we walked up to the gate to get a few pictures, a guard shooed us away. There were a group of people in the Square (it was then 230am), so it seems that some special permission must be had to check it out afterhours. We then headed back to the airport to grab a couple hours of sleep before our flight. All in all, the romp through Beijing was short and didn’t really allow us to see much, but still interesting.

Wednesday: Left Beijing about 8am, arrived in Hong Kong at 12. After traveling through customs and such, we hopped on the train to take us to the city. See, the airport is on one island, part of Hong Kong is on the mainland, and part is on another island. Traveling betwixt the mainland and island is quite cheap, and something we did several times. Our first stop when we got into Hong Kong was the visa office (which is on the island). We had to wait in line outside for about an hour before we could go wait in line inside (another hour). We had to get pictures taken and papers needed to be filled out, but when our numbers where finally called, we spent less than five minutes each with the visa agents and then were sent on our ways. After that we headed to Kowloon, which is a part of the city on the mainland. We decided to stay at the Chunking Mansions, which are a couple huge buildings full of different hostels. They were decently cheap and clean, and we had no problems finding a room even though we didn’t book one. You can book rooms on the internet these days, but if you wait until you get there you can barter for a better price. Everything in Hong Kong is about haggling! After we showered and changed and everything (very important after a night in an airport) we headed out into the city. We checked out the Night Market first, which sells anything and everything, and is only open from 4-midnight every day. It was a decent walk away, but the night was nice and gave us a chance to check out to happenings of the city. Of course, I can’t go into a market without buying something, so I walked out with two paintings for my apartment, and a marvelous new (fake) Dolce & Gabbana bag. After that we headed out to Victoria Harbor to check out the light show. It is done every night at 8pm, and different buildings along both side of the harbor participate. The best place to watch it is from the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong’s version of the Hollywood Star Walk. It only lasts about 15 minutes, and while it isn’t the most amazing thing you have seen, it is worth taking a few minutes out of your night to see it. I managed to convince Michiel that for dinner we needed to check out the Outback Steakhouse, and am so glad we did! It was great to find that slice of home over here, especially since it is my favorite restaurant and I didn’t get a chance to go before I left home. It was a great end to the day, only made better when I found Gatorade (Go Gators!) at the shop by our hotel. Yup, Hong Kong’s got it all.

Thursday: I decided to take full advantage of my one full day in Hong Kong, and am glad I did. I woke up and was out of the hostel by nine. My first stop was Kowloon Park, which is an amazing little sanctuary within the bustling, noisy city. The park has an aviary, Chinese Gardens, Sculpture Garden, even a maze (which I never did manage to find, though I think the joke might have been on me because the whole park was pretty maze like). On the outskirts of the park there is also a soccer field, sports complex, and crystal clear swimming pool- it took everything I had to not jump in it fully clothed (partly because the rabid heat, partly because I miss pools)! I then wandered up to the Jade Market, which is a really neat place to visit. Everything you could want made out of Jade, in all different shades, can be bartered for and purchased there- I took advantage of this and bought loads of Christmas presents! I then headed out to find my western stores I had been waiting for. The main stores I was interested in finding were H&M, which I found with no problems, and Sephora, which I wandered around the city for an hour looking for. I even found the building it was supposed to be in (which is actually harder than it sounds), but no Sephora. Only later did I find out that it had been closed a few months before- broke my heart! I did manage to pick up a couple girly things from the major beauty supply shops in Hong Kong, Sassa and Bonjour. They are no Sephora, but they were better than nothing. After this I headed back across town and onto the island to meet up with Michiel and get our visas. This endeavor took a quarter of the amount of time of the day before, and after picking them up and paying, we were on our way. We then headed to the US Consulate, where I wanted to get some papers notarized.. turns out you need an appointment, and that can only be booked online- important thing to know for anyone who needs to go! Even though that ended up being a fail, we were right by the tram peak so we decided to try it out. It’s been turned into a tourist trap now, with a Madame Tussauds at the top of the peak and everything, but it was still a really cool experience. Going to the peak gives you a great view of the city and surrounding areas. Not to mention there is a Burger King up there, which was a nice little plus! We then decided to head out to one of the local beaches, and got a taxi out there. The town we went to was called Stanly, and it was awesome. It is a small place that is touristy in an off-the-beaten-path sort of way. The views were incredible, and nothing makes me happier than digging my toes in the sand, which that town allowed me to do.We relaxed on the beach for a little while, watching the sun city over the sea, drinking a cold Corona- bliss! Then we headed back to the city, and to an Irish pub for dinner. It was pretty funny having Chinese servers, in a pretty authentic Irish pub, in the middle of Hong Kong! After that we headed out for a little late night shopping (more souvenirs and trinkets), and then back to bed.

Friday: We planned lots of things for Friday, but didn’t end up doing anything, sadly. I wanted to go back to the Consulate, but they didn’t have any appointments early enough. Michiel wanted to buy some electronics, but none of the shops he was planning on going to that early in the morning were open. We headed out sort-of early, planning on going to Big Buddha on the island that the airport is on, but that again, didn’t work out. Instead, we relaxed in the airport, awaiting our trip back home. We finally got back to Hohhot about 11 pm that night, and I got back to my apartment at midnight. Overall the trip was a lot of fun, but I could definitely go back to do tons of things I didn’t get a chance to do the first time!

1) It can be spelled lots of different ways.

Hohhot. Huhhot. Haohuhate ( or something). These are all spellings you can expect to see for my city. All are correct. All are used. Weird, huh?

2) Not everyone in China is against the whole facebook-blocking thing,

I actually talked to one student who made a good argument for it! He told me that in China, a lot of people are not very well educated. This means that they will believe whatever people tell them. So, some people use sites like Facebook to push their ideals that are against the government, and they will probably be able to garner some backing because of the uneducated. How sad L

3) Pencils in china don’t have erasers.

Like, none of the pencils. You never really appreciate the ease of having your eraser attached to your writing instrument until it is not anymore. Maybe they realize they can make more money by selling the erasers separately, and making them look like Disney characters? Who knows? I do know, however, that not having an eraser on the pencil leads to the kids sharpening both ends of the pencil and little broken bits or eraser all over my classroom floor.

1) Do drink a lot of water!

It is verrrry dry here, something a girl from the good ‘ole humid Florida knows little about. Within a couple days I had lost my voice. Most people here buy humidifiers they turn on while they sleep. I have actually yet to get one, and am ok thus far (other than that first couple days). But with or without the humidifier, water is a necessity here.

2) Do check out one of the roadside Barbecues.

When the weather is decent, many of the restaurants take over the cities sidewalks with plastic chairs and open grills. I have yet to go to one of these without someone who speaks Chinese and English, so I do not know how difficult it might be without one. I do know, however, that the food is pretty good, and the experience is awesome. Food is brought out in the order it is cooked, so you could get thing brought out at random times (this happens a lot in China). If you indicate that you want mushrooms, for example, (at the barbecue we went to it was a form you filled in, like a sushi menu), they will come out, roasted, on a skewer. Best thing we had there? The bread, which had been slathered in honey then roasted over an open flame. Yum.

3) Do take time to check out all the little shops on the streets.

Unless you can read Chinese, the little street shops can be very daunting. From afar, they all look the same, and the people sometimes standing outside them don't make the places look to welcoming. But if you have the time (and possibly another foreigner, you will be bothered less if there are more of you) you can find plenty of diamonds in the rough! Most are little restaurants or mini stores selling Bijo (chinese alcohol of choice) and soda. We have found some awesome toy stores, dvd stores, and florists though, too! As long as you are aware that someone might follow you around the store, and speak to you as if you understand them, you can have quite an enjoyable shopping adventure-there's nothing like finding a shop that sells shirts for 30 yuan- about $4!

1) Don’t drink the water.
Even the locals do not drink it without boiling it. As someone who loves tap water back home, this is rather irksome to me. But upon some evaluation, I can see why it does not bother the Chinese to have to boil their water. Tea. They love tea, and drink it all the time. Not iced tea, boiling hot tea. So, they would be boiling the water for the tea anyway, so no time wasted for them! To make it easier for us crazy cold-water drinkers, though, most places have water coolers. “But you have to pay for that water! Water should be free!” you might say. Yes, I agree, but when one 18.9 Liter container of water costs the equivalent of $1.50, it is not too bad…