Another weekend at Hangzhou

Well, this week we have final exams at school.
I spent about 1 minute with each student asking them questions from the last 5 units.
I then gave them grades based on their pronunciation and speaking ability in general.
Most of the students did very well.
I am quite impressed with the grammar and spelling abilities of these kids.
The only thing they lack is the knowledge of how to pronounce some of the words.
Even the teachers have trouble with pronunciation sometimes.
Some of the teachers will come up to me between classes and ask me"How do you pronounce this word?"
Or "What does this mean?"
I am more than happy to help the teachers. In return they help me with my Chinese.

The students also put on a performance last week.
Some sang, some danced and some played various musical instruments.


My girls doing "TheVogue".


It seems that the Chinese have a national holiday during the month of February.
They call it Spring Festival.
As a matter of fact it is pretty much the whole month of February.
So I have 4 weeks with no teaching...Time for another trip!
My shoulder has still been bothering me a bit so I think I will go back to Yang Shuo and get some more acupuncture done to it.
As much as it hurts having needles jammed into my shoulder...it seems to help.
Anyway, I love that place and I thought I would spend some time mountain biking around the little villages in that part of China.


Last weekend I went to visit my friend Jaer in Hangzhou.
We visited the Lingying Temple Saturday.
They had a whole mountainside that had Buddhist statues carved right into the side of the mountain.






This at the top of the mountain.
A good place for a Kodak moment.


We also spent some time walking around West Lake.
Here are some statues we found on the West side.





Sunday morning we went to what is called "English Corner" at West Lake.
It was crazy!!
Chinese people meet at a place beside the lake and talk with English speaking foreigners.
Some were from the UK and some from America....even a French guy.
I was surrounded by Chinese people asking questions about life in America and my experiences in China...It was a lot of fun!!
I met a Chinese guy named Kobe and he said he was going to Guilin for Spring Festival.
I mentioned that I was going also, so are going to travel together.
It will give me a chance to work on my Chinese and him his English.
Plus, traveling with someone who speaks the language always makes things a little easier.

We also met a fellow by the name of Hanson.
He invited Jaer and myself to lunch at a wonderful restaurant in a park by the lake.


They had a pond with some fish that were bigger than the kids feeding them.




Here is a photo of the Pearl Tower at night.
I took this last time I was in Shanghai.
I just found it in my camera and thought it was blog-worthy.


So, by Friday or so I will be taking a train South to Guilin and then a boat down to yang Shuo.
I think I might even try to go down to the southern coast of China to Macau and check out the South China Sea.
Maybe I'll get a chance to do a little SCUBA diving?

Jim

Xi'an and Beyond: Final

That night, on the way home we saw a wake that had been going on for three days.
But tonight they had priests doing a ceremonial thing.
Right there in the street, next to the Kodak shop.


The next morning I was up with the sun, taking more morning photos.


Laundry time.






Someone is taking an early morning bamboo boat ride.


Boats heading up river.



I love the effect of the morning fog on the river.
A shot from my balcony.


These ladies get up every morning before sunrise to do their laundry in the river.


What a beautiful, quiet, peaceful morning.


And then BOOM! Fireworks explode in the middle of the street.


It seems that today was the day of the burial for the person that the wake was for.
This wasn't something put on for the tourist. This was a traditional funeral.
Dragon costumes.


Music.


And the monks.


Carrying the casket.


The procession must have been two block long.

It was quite an experience just to see in real life.




After that exciting event we went to a great little restaurant next to the river and had a wonderful breakfast with an outstanding view!



After breakfast we rented an electric scooter and took a ride in the country.
This old lady was selling these flower things and Gloria bought one.

The old lady wanted me to buy one to, so I had to show here how ridiculous I looked with it on.
She agreed.

"What are you laughing at Granny?"


We made a few stops along the way just to relax and soak up the ambiance.


This is how they fix duck here in this little town. I've never seen this before.


The scenery was just UNBELIEVABLE...everywhere you look.
These pictures just can't capture the real beauty of this place.


Local mother and child.

Gloria with a case of the perm-a-grins.


We were just cruising along in the country, and smack out of nowhere...water Buffalo.
You just don't see this back home!


Just grazing along side the road...They didn't give us a second look.


Long arm shot.

Fisherman.


Taking a break.


After we got back into town we decided to have an early dinner and then go to see the acupuncturist.
You tell by the look on my face that I'm a little nervous about what's about to happen after dinner.

Back when we were in Guilin we met this couple from Canada.
They said that they were going to Yang Shuo also, and we might run into them there.
We ran into them every day...Great people.
He had mentioned to me one day that he was seeing an acupuncturist while he was there, for some back problems he was having.
I told him of my shoulder problems and he suggested that I gave a shot.
He even had one of her business cards for me.
Here they are...I saw them walking by one day as we were having lunch in a local cafe'.


And so during dinner I called Dr. Lily and asked if she could stick me in this evening ?
(pun intended)
She said sure any time I was ready.

Here she is checking my shoulder...you know...does it hurt when I do this? How about this?
Yes and YES!!


Then she proceeded to insert the needles.

And after putting about 10 or 12 needles in my shoulder she hooked up some electrodes to the needles. Hey, I wasn't aware that this was part of the procedure.
Now there are two things I really hate in this world. One is being stuck with a needle and two is being shocked.
Well this was both.

Then you add some Chinese medicine and a heat lamp and baste for 30 minutes on each side till well done.

Hmmm...roast shoulder, with Chinese herbs.


Well I went through that whole procedure three different times while I was in Yang Shuo.
And as much as I hated the whole thing...It really helped my shoulder.
I've gained quite a bit of mobility in my shoulder, but it still has its limits.
I may go back to Yang Shuo in Feb.
It seems that there is a winter holiday and I don't have to teach for 3 or 4 weeks.
What a better place to hang out.
And get my shoulder treatment.

Xing Ping

The next morning we decided to go to a nearby town called Xing Ping.
It was up river about 30 minutes by bus.
So we hit the bus station and got on a local bus for Xing Ping.
Local bus means we're the only Americans on it....And it was packed!!

Xing Ping is a sleepy little town...or I should say big village?


This town is probably going to be like Yang Shuo in about 5 or 10 years.
It seems Yang Shuo was founded by hippy type people some years ago and it has become too touristy.
So this is the next unspoiled little place to hang out and get your Karma fix.


Just more great scenery!





Another unbelievable place in China.





We found a quaint(that's what Gloria calls it)little place to relax and have lunch.


One word....Ambiance!

They had another place in town that served ring neck pheasant.


And what the called Bamboo Rat. In America we call the Muskrats.


There were several places along the way where people would have bee hives set up and selling honey

The place was "BUZZING".



After walking around for most of the day we decided to take a bamboo raft back to Yang Shuo.
Several ladies have been following us on and off all day trying to get us to take bamboo boat rides so we started haggeling. By now, I'm getting pretty good at it!


We told them we wanted to go to Yang Shuo.
They said they couldn't...Territorial thing I think.
I met some Chinese girls that spoke some English and they helped with negotiations.
I broke out my map and they said the bamboo boat could take us just past Yang Shuo and we could catch a cab or walk back.
OK..no problem...I think?!


And the sun sets with our friendly water buffalo grazing in the river.


Another cruise down the river.


Well, the boat never makes it to Yang Shuo and the guy pulls over and motions for us to get off.
Now Gloria is PISSED and a bit scared.
It's getting dark and we don't have a flashlight.
I tell her not to worry, we'll just follow the path down stream along the river, and hopefully find a road and a cab....or water buffalo.


I'm just loving the whole thing!
Lost in this unbelievable Chinese countryside.


Well after about 45 minutes we start to see signs of civilization.
We could see lights along the river about a mile down stream and Gloria calms down a bit.
Fortunately, I had walked down this road on one of my morning walks, so soon I started to recognize some landmarks.

Once back in town we walked around looking for a place to have dinner.
We found this street market that only appears at night.
It was mainly for the locals but we saw a few foreigners eating there too.

Now I've eaten rabbit before (in France) but this just wasn't appealing to me.



We opted for a place that served Latte's.
I can eat all the local Chinese cuisine I want back in Changxing.
I ate my fill of western style food here while I could!


I'm not sure, but I think we spent a whole week in Yang Shuo.
It was my favorite!

The next day we took a bus back to Guilin (1 hr) and then flew to Shanghai. (2 hrs.)
From there we took a bus to Huzhou .(3 hrs.)
And a taxi back to Changxing.(30 mins.)
It was still a long day of traveling!

Anyway here it is almost two weeks later and I'm finally done posting the trip.
I still have more photos that I couldn't fit in, so I may post them at a later date.

Meanwhile...Last Saturday Gloria and I went to Shanghai.
She was scheduled to fly back home Sunday, so we spent some time kicking around Shanghai one evening.
We had a wonderful dinner in the Jin Mao tower.(fourth tallest building in the world)
Then Sunday we headed off to the airport and had coffee before her plane headed off.

Thanks for a wonderful time Gloria!
Not only are you a great Tour Director, but a great travel companion!

Jim