Saturday, February 10, 2007

Yunnan Trip Itinerary

Yunnan Province
February 11th - 25th
Temperature Information
Feb. High & Feb. Low
Kunming 64 42
Jianshui 54 36
Xishuangbanna 72 46
Dali 64 42
Lijiang 54 36
Zhongdian 40 16
Day 1 Feb. 11th
Fly from Beijing to Kunming
Check into Green Lake View Hotel
Theater Show
Day 2 Feb. 12th
Wake up call 6:30 am
4 hour bus ride to Shaochong
Learn Dragon Dancing
Party with villagers
Overnight stay with host families
Day 3 Feb. 13th
Wake up 7:00am
Hike Mountain
3 hour bus ride Jianshui
Free evening
Day 4 Feb. 14th
Wake up call 6:30am
3 hour bus ride Yuanyang
Hike rice terrace Fields
Hani song and Dance performance
3 hour bus to Lvchun County
Day 5 Feb. 15th
Wake up call 6:00am
10 hour bus ride to Menlun County
Free evening
Day 6 Feb. 16th
Wake up call 8:00am
Scavenger hunt in Botanical Garden
1 hour bus ride to Ganlanba
Overnight with host families in Manruandong Dai village
Day 7 Feb. 17th
Wake up call 8:00am
Visit monks at village temple
one hour bus ride to Jinghong
Rafting on Mekong River
Fly from Ganlanba to Dali
Walk to restaurant for Chinese New Year Eve Banquet
Day 8 Feb. 18th
Sleep in!
Free morning
Free afternoon
Free evening
Day 9 Feb. 19th
Wake up at 7:30am
Bus to Shaping Bai Market
Boat tour and Three-Course Tea
3 hour bus ride to Lijiang
Free Evening
Day 10 Feb. 20th
Watch sunrise at Black Dragon Pool
Pictograph class at Baisha Naxi Village
Basketball game with Villagers
Lijiang old town scavenger hunt
Free evening
Day 11 Feb. 21st
Wake up call at 6:30am
2 hour bus ride to Tiger Leaping Gorge
Hike Gorge
Take bus to Qiaotou Market
3 hour bus ride to Zhongdian County
Arrive at Huangshan Tibetan Village 10,000 feet above sea level
Party with Villagers
Over night with host families
Day 12 Feb. 22nd
Wake up at 8:00am
Bus ride to Songzangling Monastery
Lama chanting ceremony
Bus to see horse-racing
Free Evening
Day 13 Feb. 23rd
Wake up call at 8:00am
Hike mountain
Visit Tibetan Orphanage
Free Evening
Day 14 Feb. 24th
Wake up call at 6:00am
Fly from Zhongdian to Kunming
Free Evening
Day 15th Feb. 25th
wake up call at 5:30am
Fly from Kunming to Beijing

Monday, February 5, 2007

Monday Morning Super Bowl

Who gives a test during the Super Bowl, honestly? My Chinese teacher and a few others in fact. The Super Bowl started at around 7am Monday morning here. A few of my friends here skipped class completely to see the game. There are a few bars that were playing the game. My class started at 8 and ended at 9:40. I told the taxi driver to step on it as we weaved in and out of morning traffic to arrive just in time to watch the entire 4th quarter. Americans were all over the place and seating was limited. However, when the colts intercepted the ball and ran for a touchdown in the 4th a few seats opened up...weird? This bar catered to westerners and was kind of expensive. We ordered some nachos which were a good attempt, but far from what anyone was used to. It was a good time and we talked to a lot of American business men that were working in Beijing. I got back and checked out all of the commercials at http://www.youtube.com/superbowl it has a good way of ranking the commercials.

I like the "snickers- do something manly" and the "sierra mist- come over beard" commercials the most. Bud Light had some really funny ones too.

Snowboarding


I have found a few people here that like to keep busy. This past weekend we went skiing in the mountains just north of Beijing. We joined a group of about 40 Chinese students and bussed our way about 2 hours north of the city. The Chinese students sang karaoke the entire trip there and back. They just kept singing the same 10 songs the whole time, by the end I was at least humming along. Every now and then a song would throw in a "Yeah, Yeah, Baby".

We got there at about 10 am and pushed our way through the lines and onto the slopes. I rented a stylish green snow suit. I really only wanted the pants, it was about 50 degrees out and the shirt came off for a couple runs. Five of us snowboarded while two others skied. We were easily the best people there. I think Chinese people like to take dramatic falls. They aim straight for the bottom of the hill and about 5 seconds later a ski and pole explosion occurs. It was pretty humorous watching this. The mountain was pretty easy, but the ice kept us on our toes... literally. We mastered the same run each time and there were no lines to this lift, because no one there was good enough for that hill. All of us met at 4 and loaded up the bus. This trip cost me a total of about 200 yuan or about $25. There is also supposedly an indoor ski place in Beijing that we are looking to try. I have uploaded a few more pictures that can be seen at the following link.http://www.flickr.com/photos/85224480@N00/


Thursday, February 1, 2007

Beijing World Cup

I am feeling the effects from yesterday's international soccer skirmish. I guess I am a little out of shape. Not quite in shape enough to contend with players from Denmark, Spain, Iraq, England, Germany, and a few more Chinese. The AstroTurf field can cause some pretty big rug burns on the knees. It was about 40 degrees and the smog from the city wasn't overwhelming. Most people brought their soccer cleats with them from home, but I was left sliding around in my street shoes. We played America vs. the rest of the world. Soccer vs. Football. We represented America well and pulled off a victory. It was a close game and I managed to sneak in a few goals. The sport will now be referred to by everyone here as Soccer.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Beijing Hikers


About 15 of us decided we wanted to get out of the city and do some hiking. I found a group online that goes hiking every Sunday. You can read about the hike we did and some others they offer at the BeijingHikers website. The hike was very intense and some parts were pretty scary. I may not be able to walk to class tomorrow morning. We were up in the mountains and climbed about 2000 feet. We were hiking for about 5 hours and covered 21km or about 13 miles. The weather was great and it was almost too warm to wear a jacket while we climbed. We passed a lot of coal mines and some very remote villages. The occasional mountain goat would cross our paths from time to time. It was a lot of fun and nice to breath some fresh air.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Kro's Nest

Last night about 30 of us headed out to a very cool pizza place that this American guy runs. Very cool place and very good pizza... lots of cheese! The owner, Kro is a young guy who sports a mohawk and speaks Chinese fluently. I am not sure what his life story is, but he seems pretty happy where he is. This will be a great place to come back to when I need a familliar taste.


Today, my roommate and I headed out into the city. We just started walking with no real plan or sense of direction. We made our way to the subway station and just got on the next train. We passed a lot of run down, poor areas in Beijing. Some areas of the city smell terrible, because of excess garbage just piling up along the streets. After getting off the subway we ventured down a street dodging traffic. Crossing an intersection here is probably one of the scariest things I've done. We walked through a large park and saw some men doing their tai chi. Then we made our way back to the subway and back to the University. This whole expedition with lunch cost me about $3.


Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Today was quite the experience. First I went to lunch with about 7 others. We used the pictures on the menu to order. In all we ordered about 10 plates of different food. The bill came down to about $1.20 a person. Pretty crazy. Also a 20 minute taxi ride costs about $1. The driving around here is intense. Lane lines mean nothing and traffic signals are more of guidelines.

The above picture was not taken by me, but this is where I went shopping today. It is a 6 story building that has all sorts of things. Silk kimonos, ties, rolexes, designer bags, custom made suits, gloves, belts, electronics, pearls, basically anything. (99% of the stuff is fake, but still its pretty nice.)

There are NO set prices, which means you must bargain. I bought a leather briefcase/bag for my classes here. They started the price at about 300 Kuai which is about $50. All you have to do is say tai gui le (too expensive) and the price slowly drops. It really drops as you begin to walk away. I got the bag for 90 Kuai or about $11. They are not afraid to grab a hold of you either. I had one chinese women pulling me to her store and another to the store opposite. It was pretty funny and it is a lot like a game.

My friend who is asian walks in front of me and they don't say a word to him. I guess I must look like a sucker. He is good at bartering and helped a lot of us, the chinese people got mad at him a lot for telling us we could still go lower. It was quite the experience and a lot of fun. Let me know if anyone wants anything while I'm here.