Emei Shan

     Last weekend a group of 6 of us decided to go to Emei Shan.  I did not plan on going until I got a call Friday morning at 11 asking if I wanted to go.  They said they were leaving around 3 and I thought it sounded like fun.  I really didn't know what Emei Shan was but I figured it'd be a fun weekend trip with some hiking.  We took a bus from Chengdu and it took about 2 and a half hours to get there.  Friday night we slept in a hostel at the base of the mountain and then Saturday morning we got up early and started hiking.  I looked up the weather before we left and it said the high was 28 degrees F and the low was 15 so I packed a lot of warm clothes.  I was kind of nervous because it's been in the 50's in Chengdu and I've never been so cold!  There is no heating inside south of the Yangtze River in China so it's freezing inside.  It's literally colder inside than it is outside which is absurd to me.  I am always bundled up, especially inside my apartment.  Anyway, I was pretty scared for this cold weather so I bundled up a lot.  We started hiking and we walked for about 30 minutes upstairs and then found out we went the wrong way.  I was kind of mad because it was difficult to walk straight upstairs for 30 mins.  Anyway after that I was pretty warm so I took off a bunch of layers of clothes and we continued on.  There were more stairs and I just hoped they would end soon.  After a few hours we reached the monkeys!  The monkeys jumped all over everyone.  It was kind of cool but they warned us to be careful because they steal things.  It turns out they were right because a monkey stole Kolby's gatorade.  I was turned around and the next thing I know a monkey had jumped on my head and then jumped from me to Jason and then it disappeared.  I got some pretty good pictures with monkeys though so I was excited.  We kept hiking after the monkeys for a little while and then we found a small little outdoor restaurant and we decided to stop and eat lunch.  After lunch, the hike was brutal.  It was literally all stairs!!  I kept thinking at some point the hike has to level out a little but after a few more hours I realized that was never going to happen.  I kind of wanted to cry because I was overwhelmed with all the stairs.  Around 5 pm, after a full day of hiking nothing but stairs, we came across a Buddhist monastery.  We asked them how much longer it would take to get to the next monastery and they said around 2 hours.  The sun sets around 6 and there was no way we were going to get there before the sun set.  My legs were literally shaking from all the stairs and there was no way I could keep going for another 2 hours so we decided to spend the night at this monastery.  We ate dinner there and were asleep by 8 pm.  We were exhausted.  The monastery was above the clouds if that tells you anything about how many stairs we climbed.
     The next morning, we got up early to start hiking again.  Fortunately, Kolby said he didn't need to go to the summit and he'd be happy to catch a bus back down with me once we got to the bus stop.  I gladly agreed because I was so over hiking stairs at this point.  It was about another 4 hours to the bus stop though.  Of course, it was also all upstairs.  We were so high up that it started to snow!  It snowed a lot and it was beautiful!  We made it to the bus stop around 1pm and the group planned to split up and some of us go back and some go to the top.  Once we reached the bus stop though it was so unbelievably cold that nobody wanted to keep hiking so the whole group took a bus down.  It was about 3 or 4 more hours to the top but you could take a cable car if you wanted and it would cut off about an hour and a half of hiking.  I found out most people just take a bus to this point and then hike up.  It was really foggy/cloudy though so we figured even if we got to the top, we wouldn't be able to see anything.  It was a fun weekend though, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into with all the stairs.  It was worth it to see monkeys and snow though!

This is the Buddhist monastery we stayed at for the night.

the group

Xian

     The first weekend in November we went on a field trip to Xian.  We left on Halloween and took an overnight train to Xian.  It was about a 16 or 17 hour train ride but we had sleepers so it wasn't bad at all.  We arrived in Xian Thursday around noon and we checked into the hotel and then went to go ride bikes along the city wall.  It was really fun but the wall was extremely bumpy so it was kind of difficult.  We had orientation that night because some people decided to get credit for the field study.  UGA won't give me credit for it so I audited the trip.  USAC has 2 programs in China, one in Chengdu and the other is in Shanghai.  For the Xian trip the Chengdu and Shanghai students were together so it was kind of cool to meet people from the Shanghai study abroad group.

     On Friday, we got up early and did a lot of sightseeing.  The most exciting thing of course was seeing the terracotta warriors.  There were 3 rooms full of the terracotta warriors.  Next we did a lot more sightseeing.  We saw some temples and other things that I honestly can't remember.  Nothing else was all that exciting.  That night we had a jiaozi (dumpling) banquet and saw a show.  We were supposed to eat before the show and we were all starving but apparently they decided to feed us after the show.  The show was ok but nothing special.  I just really wanted it to be over so we could eat.  After we got back from our tour, a bunch of us went to the Muslim market to go shopping.  They had a bunch of cool food to try and there was a big market where you can bargain and buy souvenirs.  I was really excited about this because sadly there is nowhere to bargain and buy a bunch of souvenirs in Chengdu.  

    The next day we drove out of Xian and visited a village and cave dwellings.  We ate lunch there and walked around and I honestly thought it was kind of a waste of time.  I would rather have had the day to explore Xian on my own but that's ok.  I'm just not a big fan of tours usually.  Anyway, that night we were finished early and we were free to get dinner on our own so a bunch of us went back to the Muslim street because it was awesome.  We ate dinner there and shopped a lot more.  We had to leave the next day at noon to catch our train back to Chengdu.  We got into Chengdu Monday morning at 5 am and they expected us to be in class at 9 am.  Fortunately, my class is awesome and everyone decided together not to go so there couldn't be class.  I felt pretty sick when we got back so I was glad everyone decided to skip class.  I had to teach Monday afternoon but at least I was able to get some sleep before I had to teach.  I really liked Xian though.  It's definitely somewhere I would like to go back to and spend more time.       

Minority Village and Bipeng Valley

     Last weekend we went on a field trip to the Taoping Qiang Village and Bipeng Valley.  We were just gone for two days but it was a great trip.  The Taoping Qiang Village was in a Tibetan area.  It was pretty touristy but it was supposed to show you how the local people lived.  It looked pretty new but I guess it was a replica of the traditional houses.  The area we were in was badly damaged by the earthquake in 2008.  Over 90,000 people died during the earthquake and it was felt in Chengdu as well.  The damage in Chengdu was nothing like the damage experienced in this area though.  One of the towns we passed had to be completely rebuilt after the earthquake.  We were only at the village for 2 hours but it was kind of cool.
     We drove a few more hours to our hotel and then had dinner.  Our hotel room only had a squat toilet so I wasn't too happy about that.  After dinner, a group of us walked around town and explored for a little while.  As we were walking, we saw some fireworks so we decided to stop and watch.  There were a bunch of people out dancing and there was a little fire going.  We ended up dancing with them.  Everybody was holding hands and dancing in a circle so we joined and it was so much fun!  Garrett bought some marshmallows and we roasted them over the fire and then continued dancing.  We found out a little later that it was a wedding reception we had crashed.  We had the best night dancing and talking with these people!

     The next day we got up early and went to Bipeng Valley.  The line to get in was madness.  Chinese people don't believe in lines so it was a massive crowd of people pushing and shoving for at least an hour.  It was crazy!!  Once we made it to the valley though we were surprised by how beautiful it was! Chengdu is so polluted and we rarely ever get to see the sky so it was refreshing to be able to breath in unpolluted air and see the blue sky!  We had a few hours to walk around and there a bunch of trails to hike.  It was just what we needed.  The mountains were snow capped and the leaves were changing colors.  I felt like I was out west in the United States.  It was beautiful and I wanted to stay there longer!  It was such a wonderful day!  We headed back to Chengdu that afternoon and I think it took us close to 7 hours to get home.  Apparently a bus was broken down on the road in front of us and it was smoking really bad so nobody could go past it because they were afraid it was going to explode.  It was pretty crazy and we were stuck for a few hours.  Everybody got off the bus and just hung out on the road.  We ended up getting back pretty late that night and I was exhausted but it was great to get away from Chengdu for the weekend.  I like Chengdu but it's full of concrete and there's no grass anywhere so it's nice to get away every now and then.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

     Chinese National Holiday was this week so we had the entire week off from school.  A group of 8 of decided to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge to go hiking for a few days.  The group included my roommates Anna and Lauren and then David, Kyle, Gillian, Garrett and Max.  Max went on Semester at Sea in the spring of 2011 which was the semester after my voyage!  So cool!  We left Friday afternoon and took a 22 hour train ride to Kunming.  When we got to Kunming we checked into the hostel and tried to book tickets to get to Lijiang.  We couldn't get tickets to Lijiang for the next day so we ended up spending 2 nights in the hostel in Kunming.  The hostel was really nice all 8 of us fit into one dorm room.

We walked around and explored the city a little and then ate dinner.  The next day we went to Xishan and hiked to the Dragon Gate.  It was a really pretty hike but it was a lot of walking up stairs and I was kind of sick of stairs by the end of it.  The views were great and it was a pretty hike.  It took us most of the day to hike up it.

The next day most of the group decided to rent bikes but Anna and I went to the zoo.  It cost like $3 to get in and see the aquarium and the zoo.  We saw a seal show and a mermaid show at the aquarium.  It was kind of a joke but we were pretty entertained.  The mermaid show was in a really small tank where a couple girls would swim back and forth one at a time.  We walked around the zoo and the exhibits were pretty small and sad.  We saw a raccoon exhibit though, which we thought was hilarious.  We definitely got pictures with the raccoons.

We met the rest of the group back at the hostel and ate dinner and then caught a night bus to Lijiang.  The night bus was quite an experience and I was kind of excited because it reminded me of the night bus on Harry Potter.  It was really crowded though.  There were 3 rows of bunk beds and I think close to 35 people fit on the bus.  We were in the very back and the back row was essentially a big bed where they squeeze 5 people.  The crazy thing was that there were 5 beds above us so it felt really tight since you couldn't really sit up.  I was in the middle so I was pretty squished.  The people by the windows kept getting cold and closing the windows but the middle was painfully hot so it was kind of uncomfortable.  Apparently the bus drivers take breaks during the drive and the bus stopped for 2 and a half hours in the middle of the night.  At first we thought something was wrong with the bus but Lauren had been on a night bus before and she assured us it was just the bus driver taking a break.

     The next day we arrived around 6:30 am and we took another bus to Qiaotou, which took a little over 2 hours.  We ate lunch in Qiaotou and then began our hike at Tiger Leaping Gorge.  The first day was definitely the longest but it was beautiful!  The guys ran ahead and hiked pretty fast but Lauren and I took our time and enjoyed the view.  The 28 bends was the hardest part of the hike and it took a few hours to get to it and it was fairly challenging.  We were carrying our backpacks with all of our stuff that we packed for 8 days and they were pretty heavy so that slowed us down.  The views were incredible though and definitely worth it!

There are hostels along the trail and we booked a hostel but it was kind of far away so we tried to see if we could stay at a closer hostel but they were full.  By the time we made it to the closest hostel we were about 2 hours away from our hostel and it was near 5 pm so we had to hurry to try to get there before dark.  We made it to our hostel as the sun was setting and we were worn out!  We ate dinner, showered and fell asleep by 9:30.  We slept for a good 12 hours.  The hostel was nice but the bathrooms were interesting.  It was a trough toilet.  We went a good 3 days without seeing a western toilet.  Fortunately, there were bathrooms along the hike.  Some villagers had outhouses they would let you use, which was convenient.  I definitely saw my share of sketchy bathrooms.  There were a few public restrooms where there weren't even doors on the stalls.  Anyway, it's nice to be back at my apartment where I have a western toilet and I don't think I will be phased by a normal squatty potties anymore.
     The second day of hiking was a nice day.  It was easier than the first day and we hike for about 4 hours.  There were more beautiful views and the hike was mostly downhill that day.  At first I thought that sounded nice but it was a little more difficult to go downhill that I expected.  It was slippery and hard to keep my balance.  I did slip at one point but fortunately I didn't get hurt.  We made it to our next hostel called Sean's Guest House.  We ate some food, dropped off our backpacks and then went out hiking again.  We tried to hike down to the river but didn't make it too far.  Apparently you have to pay if you want to hike all the way down the river but it was getting dark and it wasn't a good idea to hike in the dark.  We hung out with a few other backpackers we met and then went to bed.
    The next morning we were on our way out by 8 am.  We arranged for a van to pick us up and take us back to Lijiang at noon and we had a 3-4 hour hike ahead of us.  The hike was mostly along the road and we were supposed to find a ferry to take across the gorge in order to meet our van.  It was really difficult to find the ferry but we eventually found it and made it to the van.  The van took about 4 hours to get to Lijiang and then in Lijiang we took another night bus back to Kunming.  The night bus took about 12 hours and I actually slept the whole time.  This night bus was much better than the last one because there wasn't a giant bed in the back.  Instead we all had our own beds, which was so nice.
     We arrived in Kunming the next morning and went back to the hostel we stayed at the first couple nights.  We ate breakfast at the hostel and a lot of people showered.  Several of us went out to explore the city a little more and a few people stayed behind and watched movies in the hostel.  I walked around for a little while and then David and I decided to go rent a paddle boat on the lake.  We were so tired and we were avoiding stairs all day since we were sore.  Once we got in the paddle boat we realized it wasn't the best idea since we were sore.  We kind of just floated for a little while instead of paddling but it was still fun and relaxing to be out on the lake.  We met up with the rest of the group in the afternoon and headed to the train station where we caught a 20 hour train back to Chengdu.  The train ride wasn't bad at all.  I slept really well all night and it didn't seem long at all.  We just got back to the apartment and I'm worn out but it was a great trip!  We had tomorrow to do homework and study and get ready for school on Monday.  I have a final in my Chinese class on Thursday so I definitely need to study.  Since I'm taking 9 hours of Chinese we have a final every 5 weeks or so.

Settling into Chengdu

     I finally feel like we're settled in and have finally gotten used to everything.  I'm getting to know the area better and I'm figuring out how to get places.  Classes are going well and I'm just really liking China.  2 weekends ago we went on a field trip to a museum and then last weekend was the first free weekend we had.  We went shopping at Jinli street and it's basically a tourist shopping street with traditional buildings but it was really cool.  I went with Gillian and my roommate Lauren.  We shopped for a while and then got some pineapple rice served inside half of a pineapple.  It was pretty delicious.  We sat down to eat it and this old man came over and started taking pictures of us.  Gillian and I have blonde hair and Chinese people love blonde hair.  A few girls came over and started taking pictures of us too and then before we knew it there was a huge crowd of people (mostly teenage girls) taking pictures of us.  People started sitting down and taking pictures with us too.  It was hilarious.  We took pictures with people for a good 15 minutes and then Lauren suggested that we try to  make our way out or it would never stop.  As we were walking around I saw people turning around and taking pictures of us on their phones too.  We were pretty amused.
     I started teaching English last week.  I have a class of three 7 year olds once a week and then I teach 6 middle school classes.  I have a little trouble with the 7 year olds because it's hard to keep them focused and on task but I really like the middle schoolers.  This was my first week teaching middle school and I had 3 classes of 8th graders on Monday and 3 classes of 7th graders today.  I really like that age because they actually listen and participate in class.  The classes are 40 minutes each which isn't bad at all.  The middle school classes have 40-50 kids in each class so they are pretty big classes.  Today I asked the kids to introduce themselves and one of the little boys told me his name and his phone number and then said call me.  It was so funny.  Several little girls have come up to me after class to tell me how pretty my hair is because it's blonde and curly.  When I walked into each class for the first time all the kids gasp and just stare at me.  I guess they aren't really used to seeing blonde people in China.  People on the street wave and say hello to me too because I'm western.  It's usually only when I'm walking alone but it happened at least 3 or 4 times today.
   Next week is Chinese National Holiday so there's no school or work for a week.  I don't have class on Friday so my holiday starts today.  Tomorrow a group of 8 of us are leaving to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge to go hike for a few days.  The gorge takes 2 days to hike and then we're planning on doing some day trips.  It's a 22 hour train ride from Chengdu to Kunming and then another 9 hours to Lijiang.  We've got a hard sleeper on the train so we have beds, which is great.  From Lijiang we'll take a 2 hour bus ride to get to the gorge.  It will be a lot of traveling but I'm excited!  I've taken a 24 hour train ride before from Hong Kong to Beijing and I slept for a good 12 hours so it wasn't bad at all.  I have a book, homework and some sleep to catch up on so I should be set.  I'll be back in about a week and I'll try to update about the trip!

Week 1: Pandas and earthquakes

     I have now been in Chengdu for a little over a week.  It's been a lot of fun so far.  My classes are going pretty well.  Nothing too exciting but I definitely feel like my Chinese is improving already.  I've been able to speak briefly with a few people in Chinese when ordering food or buying things, which is exciting.  This past week there was an earthquake in China's Yunnan Province.  I think it was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake and something like 50 people died.  It's pretty far south of Chengdu but I woke up and felt my building swaying.  At first I thought it was the construction they are doing on the building but later I figured out it was an earthquake.  Most people didn't even feel it here though so it wasn't a big deal.
     On Saturday we had a field trip to go to the Panda Research Base and we got to see baby pandas!!  It was kind of amazing!  They were so small and adorable!  You could hold a panda and get a picture taken with it for $200 USD but I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much money just to hold a panda for 5 minutes.  We spent the morning with the pandas and then in the afternoon they took us on a bus tour of the city.  It was nice to see what all there is to do in Chengdu and we're definitely planning to go explore the city more.
   Yesterday my roomates and I decided to thoroughly clean our apartment since it looks like it's never been cleaned.  We probably started around 1pm and cleaned all day.  At about 6:45 I headed to my room to study and the power went out.  It was only our apartment that lost power though.  We called Wentao (the program director) and she called some people to try and fix it.  We had 3 different people come work on fixing it but nobody could.  At 9:30 I decided I needed to go study before it got any later since I had a quiz today.  I went over to someone else's apartment to study and spend the night because it was really dark in our apartment.  When I woke up this morning their power had gone out.  At least there was some light coming through the windows but the bathroom was really dark so I had a hard time getting ready.  I got back to my room today though and the power is back on!  So exciting!

Chengdu

     I arrived in Chengdu on Saturday.  I was picked up from the airport and taken to my apartment.  I'm really surprised by how big and nice the apartment is!  It's kind of dirty but we're planning on cleaning it really thoroughly on Sunday.  I have 2 roommates and we each have our own room.  Anna is from Washington and Lauren is from Alabama.  We get along really well and I'm definitely liking the apartment.  We have about a 20 minute walk to campus everyday, which isn't ideal since the people in the dorms live in the same building that we have class in but I'm glad I'm in an apartment.  I'll have to post pictures soon because it's pretty awesome.  We had about 30 minutes to get settled into our apartment before they took us to the store to get things for our apartment.  When we got back from shopping a bunch of us went out to dinner got hot pot.  Chengdu is known for hot pot and spicy food.  Hot pot is essentially a giant pot (sort of like fondue) where you cook all your food.  It's insanely spicy though and we got the mildest one.  My lips were burning for quite a while.  I'm going to have a hard time getting used to the spicy food.
     The next day we had orientation at 9am.  I was pretty tired and still didn't feel like I have caught up on sleep and adjusted to the time change yet but I think they are trying to keep us busy so nobody gets bored or homesick.  We had orientation at a hotel during the morning and then in the afternoon they sent us on a scavenger hunt.  My group's task was to ride the bus and go find IKEA.  We ended up shopping for a little while.  When we got home that night my roommate Lauren found a mouse/rat (still not sure which one) in her room!!  They told us at orientation not to leave our windows open because mice get in but we had already left the window open.  The mouse was on her window sill so I got a broom and knocked it down and Lauren tried to catch it.  It was ridiculously fast and managed to get inside her drawer and we lost it for a while.  Eventually we got it out we stood on the bed screaming and trying to hit it with a broom.  After what seemed like forever Lauren managed to kill it with the broom.  There is now blood on her floor and she ended up sleeping in another room last night.  We're kind of traumatized by the whole situation.  Then today we found a mouse had eaten through our bread, cereal and a tomato.  We bought traps today so hopefully they work.
    Today was the first day of class.  I have Chinese 3 days a week for 3 hours each day.  I only had Chinese today and it went surprisingly well.  My teacher is awesome and I couldn't believe how much Chinese I understood!  After class a big group of us went to Carrefour, which is a big supermarket.  We picked up a bunch of things we needed for our apartment and I was able to get a Chinese phone.  I'm exhausted and hoping to catch up on sleep later this week but I'm really liking Chengdu!  It's a cool city and a lot nicer than I was expecting!