A funny thing happened on the way to the train station..

[I know it's been a while since I've posted anything about my travels back in January and February. You probably thought I forgot about it. Rest assured, I didn't. I've just been busy. Now back to posts on my winter break travels.]

In the last post about my trip, Leslie & I were in Hangzhou. Our plan was to travel from Hangzhou to Shanghai via the high-speed bullet train that connects the two cities, however we were only semi-successful in completing this goal. However, before we get to that, I have a funny little story about our cab ride from our hostel in Hangzhou to the Hangzhou train station.

As I mentioned, Leslie and I took a cab from the area our hostel was in to the train station. Since our hostel was located off a pedestrian street, we had to first walk out to a larger intersection with cars on it to flag our cab. After a short while, we were able to hail a cab, get in and let the cab driver know that we wanted to go to the train station. The driver, a woman, nods her head and says okay and takes off in the direction of the train station.

After driving a minute or two, we stop at a red light and the driver begins speaking to me. At first, I thought she was perhaps speaking to someone on the phone via a bluetooth or a hands-free device (that's what New York cab drivers are always doing), however after a split second I realize she's talking to me.

She asks me if I would mind and if we weren't pressed for time (we weren't), if she could stop the cab at the convenience store across the intersection so she could run in and use the restroom. She went on explain that at the train station, there's no place for her to pull over and run to the restroom. Since Leslie and I were in no rush, and I understood her urgency, I said it was fine (she also promised to stop the meter so we wouldn't be charged for her bathroom break).

During this entire interaction, the cab driver was incredibly polite and gracious. It just further shows how nice the people of Hangzhou were to use. However, since this entire conversation was in Mandarin, I can only imagine what Leslie first thought when the driver pulled over & ran out of the cab towards the restroom at the convenience store. After I explained it to her though, we had a good laugh.

It's definitely a good anecdote of our trip though.

Now back to the trains. Earlier, I mentioned that Leslie and I wanted to take the high-speed bullet train (the G train0 that allows you to travel a distance of roughly 190 km (118 miles) in a mere 45 minutes. However, since the train ticket agents we purchased the tickets from in Beijing weren't the most helpful nor clued-in of train agents, we ended up on the second-fastest train (the D train) that takes you the same distance in 1 1/2 hours, which is still impressively quick if you think about it.

D Train

Interior of the D train

Regardless, Leslie and I got to Shanghai just fine, despite a mess up about which Shanghai train station we were going to. (The previously mentioned clueless train ticket agents had said we were going to the Shanghai South Train station, but we ended up at the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport train station. Good thing Shanghai's metro system is very thorough.)

For those of you fretting about our missed opportunity, don't worry. Leslie & I made up for it by take the Maglev train, a high-speed electro-magnetic train that goes from Shanghai out to Pudong Airport, when we were leaving Shanghai. Although on our trip to the airport the train speed only climbed up to a "measly" 289 mph (465 km/hr), during it's fastest runs (which are normally in the afternoon), it can go up to 315 mph (507 km/hr).

Maglev Train

Speaking of snow

Look at the snowy scene I awoke to this morning:

You can't really tell from the picture above, but it was snowing as I took this picture.

It's supposed to snow off and on all weekend here in Beijing. While I'm not exactly thrilled---winter's not exactly my favorite season---I know any snow, however little, is a relief to the farmers and government who are worried the looming (very likely) possibility of a drought this year.

So bring it on, snow. Show us what you've got.

The Journey to Laoshan

In all my previous travels in China, I’ve never actually been to an actual mountain in China. I’ve always stuck pretty close to the cities. So when Leslie suggested that we visit a mountain range while she was here, I agreed. We picked Laoshan (崂山), since it is close and easily accessible from Qingdao.

Laoshan (aka Mt. Lao, and Mt. Laoshan), is a large coastal mountain on the Yellow Sea coast. During the height of Taoism, it was the home of nine palaces, eight temples and 72 nunneries. Today, only a few survive, including the oldest and largest of them all, Taiqing Temple. Laoshan is also renowned for it’s spring water, which is supposedly has healing powers and is what gives Tsingtao beer it’s good taste. 

So, after hearing all of that, how could we not go? 

Determined to go visit Laoshan, we asked the staff at our hostel about the best way to get to Laoshan the next day.  However, the look of shock that greeted us in response to our question was shocking to us. Too bad I didn’t have my camera ready to capture their expressions. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: “Excuse me, we want to visit Laoshan tomorrow, what is the best way to go out there?”

Hostel receptionist [look of shock on her face]: “You want to go to Laoshan? Really?”

Me: “Umm…yesss…? Is that possible?”

Hostel receptionist: “It’s going to be very cold if you go to Laoshan.”

Me: “I know. But we’re already here in Qingdao, so we might as well visit it.”

Hostel receptionist [looking perplexed by my insistence]: “Okayyyy…”

I should preface this by saying that at this point, I think the people at the hostel (and possibly the other people of Qingdao as well) already think we’re very bizarre for traveling to their summertime city in the dead of a very frigid winter. In fact, for a while Leslie & I were semi-convinced we were the only two tourists in the entire city. Ha ha. (We were most likely the only two guests at are our hostel though.)

Despite our hostel receptionist’s confusion, she was able to tell us which bus to take out to Laoshan and that night we prepared for a cold hike around Laoshan the next day.

Love locks attached onto a bridge at Laoshan

Now, before we go any further, I have to point out that Leslie & I were basically clueless about what we were going to do when we reached Laoshan and even about how to get there. We were basically completely reliant on the guidance and instructions of others.

 [More of our journey & pictures after the break]

Tsingdao Brewery

Of course, no trip to Qingdao would be complete without a trip to visit the Tsingtao Brewery, home of what it likes to boast as China's number one imported beer. (Never mind that I'm pretty sure China doesn't import any other beers anyways.)

Now this was not my first trip to a beer brewery (nor my last, I suspect) and I have to say that the brewery tour for Qingdao was a bit lacking. The exhibits and models at Tsingtao were about on par with other breweries I've visited; however, if we're going to be honest here, visiting a brewery is really all about the beer tasting at the end. Leslie & I were very excited about the tasting and were hoping that we could get the chance to taste the other types of beer they produce, since they're harder to find outside of Qingdao. But when we got to the tasting room, we only got two very tiny glasses of their basic beer that you can get anywhere. We were very disappointed.

However, they did have a drunk simulation room at the end of there brewery tour that almost made up for the lack of variety in their tasting room. If you're wondering what exactly a drunk simulation room entails, it's basically a room tilted at at 30 degree angle, which sounds simple enough until you try to walk up the slope. Now that's a challenge. Needless to say, the drunk simulation room proved itself to be very entertaining.

Later that night, to make up for the pathetic beer tasting at the Tsingtao Brewery, Leslie & I conducted our own tasting in our hostel room. We ended up tasting three different types of Tsingtao beer, all of which I had never seen anywhere else besides in Qingdao. Sadly, they were poorly labelled so Leslie & I aren't exactly sure what we were tasting. We do know one was a Tsingtao stout, or as some people know it as, the black Tsingtao beer. As for the other two, all we can say is one had a red label & one had a yellow label. Overall, we really liked the Tsingtao with a red label and didn't really care for the other two. Although, the stout did have a really strong coffee after taste.

Sadly, our pictures of our little beer tasting using coffee mugs are lost on Leslie's stolen memory card/camera. (Stupid pick-pocketers.) So you guys are going to have to use your imagination for that. However, here are some pictures from the brewery tour, including one from the drunk simulation room! Whee!

Apparently, the Tsingtao brewery has the same slogan as
many universities.
Then again, beer & college do go hand-in-hand, at least in the US.

Don't be fooled by the picture.
Objects in the photo are smaller than they appear.

Leslie's drunk! Just kidding.
Welcome to the drunk simulation room, where you laugh so hard
you blur in the photos.

Qingdao

The first stop on my winter break travels was Qingdao, which is located on the southern most tip of the Shandong peninsula in northeast China. Leslie & I took the overnight train from Beijing to Qingdao and stayed in a hostel near the center of the old town. We had booked ourselves into a shared four person dorm; however since it was low season, we ended up having the entire room to ourselves the entire time we were there.

Now for background on Qingdao:

From 1897 to 1922, Qingdao was a German and Japanese concession city and as a result, much of Qingdao's old architecture still retains a German flair. In 1919, protesters in Qingdao headed the May 4th Movement against imperialism in China, with particular regards to the Japanese presence in Qingdao after the end of WWI. More recently, Qingdao hosted the sailing portion of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and it remains a popular summertime destination because of it's many beaches.

Some thoughts on my time in Qingdao:

• Qingdao is definitely a summertime city. Many things when Leslie & I were there were closed. Some of them might have been closed down early in anticipation of the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year, but I suspect some of them only do business during the summer catering to tourists. Plus, many of Qingdao's attractions revolve around the beach, which isn't a very hospital able place to visit when mercury is hoovering at freezing every day. 


• Qingdao is a hilly city. You know you've been in Beijing, which is a very flat city, for too long when your legs are sore after spending a day walking around Qingdao, even though the hills aren't really that steep.


• If you only stay in the older portion of Qingdao, it seems like a very small town. It's not until I took the bus out to the newer, more recently developed areas that I remembered that it's actually a city with a population of 8.1 million people.


• Despite claiming to be a big tourist destination, I don't think Qingdao sees many non-Chinese/ non-Asian tourists, which is ironic considering Qingdao used to be a German concession city and hosted a portion of the 2008 Olympics. Where ever we went, people were gawking at Leslie. I think we could count on one hand how many other Westerners we saw during our three days there. When we were at the Qingdao airport waiting for our flight to Hangzhou, a young Chinese woman actually exclaimed very loudly, "There's a foreigner here!" I don't think she expected me to be able to understand what she said.


• At least in the older part of the city, Qingdao has really maintained a German feel in their buildings. While some of the buildings were probably built when Qingdao was still a German concession, I suspect at least some of them were built later to mimic the more European styles of architecture.


• In the newer parts of Qingdao, it's obvious that Qingdao is still very much a city in transition. As we walked around the city, Leslie & I saw entire city blocks that were fenced off in anticipation of being demolished and rebuilt. There also a lot of signs for the metro system they're currently building.


• Things in Qingdao get started much later than in Beijing. Leslie & I arrived on the overnight train from Beijing at 8 AM. Coming from Beijing, we didn't think we'd have a problem checking in at our hostel and finding food. But we were wrong. Luckily though, we were able to call the hostel staff and wake someone up to let us check into the hostel. We soon figured out that morning that things in Qingdao didn't really seem to get moving until around 10 AM.

Now for the pictures I know you've all been waiting for...

The Protestant Church

May 4th Monument

St. Michael's Cathedral

  

Zhanqiao Pier

And I'm off!

Being the regular blog readers I know you all are, I'm sure you all realize I'm finally now on my winter break. Better late than never, I say.

Two days after my finals, my friend Leslie came to town. This past week, we've been fitting the bitter Beijing cold and wind and visiting Beijing's major sights. And when I say bitter cold...I really do mean bitter cold.

Tomorrow, we're leaving to travel for a total of ten days to Qingdao, Hangzhou and Shanghai. On the 30th, we'll head to Hong Kong, where we'll be spending the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival. I'm excited (as always) to return to Hong Kong to see family and friends again.

Not to mention that Hong Kong is a food lover's paradise and I love food. Plus, Hong Kong's much warmer than Beijing right now.

Since I'll be on the traveling through the 30th of this month, there will most likely be a decrease in blog posts until I reach Hong Kong, at least. I do hope to get some posts up while I'm on the road, but in case I don't, I hope that everyone has a good rest of January!

And for those of you reading in Hong Kong, I hope to see you soon!

If that doesn't look cold to you, you're crazy.
Summer Palace, Beijing

PS. For those of you going through Living-in-Cultural-Limbo-blog withdrawal (which I know is all of you), at least you know when I return, you'll have lots of pictures and things to look forward to. :)

Christmas in China

If you quickly Google "Christmas in China," most likely you'll be greeted with link after link saying something along the lines of the number of people referring to themselves as Christian in China is growing and Christmas is a becoming increasingly more popular, particularly with the younger generation and those living in the cities...blah, blah, blah.

Though this isn't completely false, there can be a religious aspect to Christmas celebrations and Christmas is indeed only mainly celebrated by the younger generations living the cities, Christmas here is basically Valentine's Day in December.

Typically, in China on Christmas, the pressure is on the male counterpart of a relationship to demonstrate his affection for his female counterpart through gifts and a special date of some sort. Pretty different from American Christmas traditions, right?

(Side note: LGBT acceptance, at least from what I've seen, still seems dicey in China). 

Now, for the most part, I at least try to keep an open mind about other people's traditions that differ from my own, but I have to admit that if this Christmas-as-Valentine's-Day tradition is not one that I care for very much (and no, it's not because I'm bitter and single either).

To me, China's version of the holiday reeks of consumerism. For all the slack Christmas gets in the United States about over-commercialization and consumerism, I have to say China's version of Christmas seems at least 10 times more guilty than the American version of the holiday.

At least at the end of the day in the United States, when all the shopping and present opening is said and done, Christmas really is about gathering with those you care about to for the sake of being together and being grateful to have one another. Or at least, that's what I've always felt like Christmas meant to me. But to each their own, I guess.

As for me, this Saturday, I will be going out and hitting all the shopping hot spots in hopes of observing Chinese people celebrating Christmas (in a non-stalker, non-creepy sort of way). It should be interesting and hopefully, I'll have something to report back to you  guys about.

Now, New York is a city that always does Christmas right.

Forget Jack Frost,

...have you met Jack Ice?

Please excuse the clutter that lives on my windowsill

This is what I woke up to this morning--a icy window. Just to clarify, my window is frozen from the inside.  And yes...the heater was on last night.