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Around China in One Week

Readers, one and all:

    Sorry it's been a little while since my last post, I've been travelling extensively across the length and breadth(sp?) of China this past week, and I've seen some cool stuff. So here goes.

     After departing from Beijing (good riddance), we caught a train from the massive Beijing train station to Xi'an, the capital of western Chinese province, Sha'anxi. To be honest, there's not a lot to see in Xi'an except for the famed Terracotta warriors. These warriors proved to be pretty cool, the most interesting part might have been the museum. The museum had the letters UNESCO written on the inside. In case no one gets it, UNESCO is the U.N. arm of heritage site preservation around the world, and being in Xi'an is I believe the first time I've ever been to an official UNESCO site, totally awesome. I'd put pictures up, but this stupid internet cafe doesn't allow USB drives. Anyway, on to the journey.

     After seeing these lovely warriors, we left Xi'an the same day we had arrived to go to Hangzhou, a semi-coastal city between Nanjing and Shanghai. We flew in at night and weren't really able to see the city at all. One thing we learned was: Southern China is really, really hot and humid. If anyone knows me, they also know those two words should never go together in my book. Anyway, the next morning I awake to an amazing city. Hangzhou is by far the most attractive city I've seen in China. The streets seemed cleaner, the sky bluer, and the city friendlier than anywhere else I have been in this country. Unfortunately, this experience was short-lived, as we bused out to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) purportedly the most beautiful mountain in China. As we drove, the countryside became more beautiful by the minute. The air here was the clearest I'd seen since arrival and that was a welcome difference when taking pictures from our speeding bus. Moving on, we stopped at a smaller village just before arriving in huang shan, called Hong Cun. Now for the uninitiated (which means everyone except me, I think) this village was home to one of the most famous movies from China: 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. The village was really cool, with the period look from movies that I really love. I think I was able to get some great shots, especially of the bridge into the village, which is seen in the first scene of the movie. After a great time there, we finally arrived in Huang Shan.

     The next morning, we arose at 6:30 to prepare for the climb we would be attempting. The set up was this: a cable car ride to the "top" and then 4-5 more hours of climbing until we reached another cable car to get back down. Hands down, this mountain rocked. It was nice when we got to the middle section, but it was when we were scaling this crevice-like path that I realized how awesome this growth of rock was. While climbing steps more than a foot high, I felt exactly like Frodo Baggins (shut up) climbing the endless stair into Mordor. Mist had settled onto the mountain and the chill combined with the fog gave the feel of Middle Earth and the Quest to destroy the ring of power. Once we reached the peak, the sight of wind-driven mist flying over the crest into the opposite valley was awe-inspiring. Coolest place ever. Nothing could detract from the feeling I had sitting on top looking at the rest of the world and feeling content. After that, nothing really need be noted about Huang Shan.

     The next day saw our group racing across China again to return to Hangzhou for one more night before our arrival in China's fastest city: Shanghai

     Since it was July 4th (happy belated independence day!) we opted to watch an epic film that only America could create: 'Team America: World Police'. Nothing could possibly be more stereotypically American than this epic use of supermarionation in Hollywood film making, it would make the Thunderbirds proud. We celebrated our entry into Shanghai with the completion of the film. F*** Yeah (couldn't help it).

     Shanghai definitely lives up to its reputation as the most western city in China. unfortunately our location on the city outskirts did not help being able to tour the Pudong district (business district) a lot. We woke up early to head over to the most famous landmark in Shanghai, the Pearl Tower. Since Shanghai is in the "Deep South" of China, the weather is even HOTTER! despite these tepid conditions, we made it into the tower where there was lovely AC. In short order we went through security and took an express elevator to the big middle ball. Here there were droves of Chinese tourists all jockeying for position on the windows. Also, many cute Chinese girls asked to take pictures with me, and I dutifully obliged....We then took another elevator to the top of the tower and got some more shots of the same city scape, and I realized the need for a UV filter on my camera, it would help tremendously. Cool thing: the Pearl Tower has a band!!! And being a band nerd, I snapped some photos to show all my band friends! Hooray for band!

     After various and sundry other outings, we arrived to the cool part of the day: the night. We got on a boat for a leisurely tour of the river side, with all the big buildings lit up at night, it was awesome for a couple reasons. 1, I was finally able to make use of my tripod on my camera. I bought a too-small tripod for travel use that proved invaluable on the boat tour, the only problem being the presence of other people. Toughing out the crowds, I got some great shots of the riverside at night and am overall really happy with the outcome!

     And tomorrow we leave this fairytale westernized place for Weihai, our final location for the trip. The excitement of solid residence and finishing up classes too is incomprehensible. That and being able to be an adult again. Being in this program sometimes makes me feel like a stupid 5 year-old. Not that I know EVERYTHING about China, I think I have enough common sense to get around here. Being 20 again will feel great.

     I hope that all is going well in the states! I miss everyone and can't wait to get back to the simple comforts of home.

    Zaijian,

        Patrick