The Final Countdown

Only 2 full days left in China before heading back to Atlanta. This last week has flown by in a whirlwind of fun, but I have become increasingly more ready to get back to the USA. I completed work last Friday, so I have had a week for traveling and relaxing and spending time with friends. On Saturday, I had a visitor all the way from Georgia Tech. My friend Matt was visiting his father in Tianjin and had his driver bring him out to TEDA to visit me. It was very nice to see a face from home on this side of the world. The WeiHa hosted a pub crawl on Saturday night, so I saw some more of TEDA's nightlife. On Sunday, I finally ventured to the botanical gardens with a girl from my lab. Monday, I went back to Beijing for the day to check out the pearl market and do some exploring with my friend Sarah. We ventured to a very western friendly area for some vietnamese food and some shopping. The rest of the week has been spent hanging out with friends. Tomorrow, I depart for Beijing and then Sunday, I fly out of Beijing at 9am. I arrive in Atlanta 24 hours later at 9pm. I can't wait to get home! I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends, eating mexican food, and breathing in some fresh air!

Xi'an, Huashan, and Beyond

This past weekend, I ventured to Xi'an, the ancient capital of China, in the Shaanxi Province. I departed TEDA for Beijing on Thursday night via bullet train. Nothing should surprise me anymore in China, but I was surprised to see many grown men on the train without shirts on. I am used to seeing this phenomenon on the street, and it was a scorching hot day, but I was still a bit irked to see such on a train. I arrived at my friend Sarah's apartment and went straight to sleep in order to wake up at 5:30 am to get to the airport.

Day 1:

My friend Andrew and I were supposed to be flying out of the Beijing airport at 8 am, but air traffic control in China is notoriously bad. We boarded the plane on time, but then we sat for over an hour on the runway, which by China standards is actually not so horrible. Upon arrival in Xi'an, we took a taxi to Xi'an Jiao Tong University to meet up with some friends in our program and drop off some of our stuff before venturing to Mount Huashan. We took a city bus to the train station, then a charter bus out to the mountain, about 2 hours outside of the city.

Stocked with snacks and bottled water, we began our ascent of Mt Huashan, one of China's 5 sacred mountains, complete with 5 peaks. We started hiking around 3:45 and made it to the first peak (the North peak) around 7:30pm. We were very lucky that there were very few other hikers, as parts of the path were extremely narrow. There was a group of 3 Chinese students that we spent a large portion of the hike with, including the 1000 Foot Cliff, which is an 80 m stretch of extremely steep stairs.

Traditionally, many people hike up the mountain overnight to arrive at the East Peak for sunrise. We also wanted to be part of the sunrise tradition but were not keen on the whole hiking up a steep mountain in the middle of the night on no sleep part. Instead, after the North Peak, we ventured to the Central Peak for a hearty meal at the mountain's "best" restaurant. By the time we ate, it was about 9 pm and completely dark; we purchased flash lights and continued on to the East Peak, where we reached our lodging for the evening, the East Peak hotel, which is really a sparsely furnished hostel with minimal electricity and an outhouse. Our room assignment was a 10 person room filled with bunk beds and 5 Chinese people. After hiking all day in the heat and humidity, I was ready for sleep and a change of clothes. Unfortunately, I was sweating so much that my sweat literally soaked through my bookbag and my spare clothes were damp. Either way, I slept surprisingly well.

Day 2:

In order to see the sunrise, we woke up at 4:45 and checked out of the hostel, along with a large group of dutch women and pretty much every other hostel guest. The climb up to the East Peak only took about 5 minutes. It was amazing how many people were there that had hiked up overnight. We met up with some of our friends that had braved the overnight hike, and apparently it had been horribly crowded. After sunrise, we hiked to the South Peak, which is the highest peak at about 2150 meters. We then moved onto the West Peak and finally back to the North Peak, where we took a cable car down from the mountain. By the time we made it back to the North Peak, my legs were literally shaking from 2 days worth of steep stairs. At the base of the mountain, I saw a kid with a Georgia Tech hat on, but he didn't know what Georgia Tech was, just that his uncle had sent it to him as a gift from America. Due to our early start, we were down the mountain by 10 am and back into Xi'an by 1 pm.

Upon arrival in Xi'an, we met up with our friend Kyla to tour the Muslim Quarter. Xi'an is host to China's largest Muslim population. We ate a delicious lunch of spicy eggplant and hot and sour potatoes. Muslim street food consisted mainly of meat on a stick, which I found to be less than appetizing. The Muslim Quarter is host to Xi'an's big street market, which sells a lot of silk products due to Xi'an being the historic start of the Silk Road. We also toured the Great Mosque while we were there, which interestingly looks much more like a Chinese temple than a Mosque. We also caught a glimpse of both the bell and drum towers.

After the Muslim Quarter, we checked into our hostel and finally changed clothes before continuing onward with our sight seeing. Kyla took us to bike around the city wall after dark. It's a very popular tourist activity to bike the city wall at night, and with good reason. The entire wall, which surrounds the old part of the city, is lit up by red lanterns at night, and all of the guard towers are lit up as well. Kyla and I biked around on a tandem bicycle, which was a lot of fun.

After biking, we were famished again and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant near the Big Goose Pagoda. After dinner, we met up with other group members in Xi'an at a bar. One of the Xi'an students is actually a grad student at Georgia Tech!

Day 3:

A group of 5 departed for the Terra Cotta Soldiers at 8:45 am. After a 1.5 hour bus ride, we arrived at the site, where we then had to walk half an hour through touristy shops before actually arriving at the soldiers. The Soldiers are in a huge pavilion, which was roasting hot and full of people. Seeing the soldiers was pretty amazing, but unfortunately, the site provided very little historic information. There were 3 chambers of soldiers total, but the first one was the most impressive. We spent a few hours there and then caught the bus back to Xi'an. After a late lunch and some rest, we ventured to the Xi'an Folk House. The folk house is basically a tea house and an artist commune where many local artists have studios. We attended a tea sampling at the tea house, where we got to try 6 different teas. Around 6:30 pm, we had to venture back to the Xi'an airport. Overall, it was a great trip; we got to see some cool sites and spend time with friends. It was definitely a nice break from the lab.

Camping in China?!

Last weekend, I had the ultimate outdoor experience in China. I went backpacking with a group of 6 other American students and 2 guides, and we literally camped on the Great Wall. We departed from Beijing on Saturday morning and drove about 2 hours outside of the city to the mountains. At the base of the mountain, we had some lunch at a small, dilapidated bed and breakfast before venturing up the mountain. We ignored the signs that claimed this section of the Great Wall is closed to the public.

The section of the wall that we hiked is called Jiankou. This section of wall has not been restored, so there are loose rocks and sections that have fallen, which made for a more adventurous hike. We even got to do some rock climbing.

We set up several tents near an old guard tower on the wall and cooked dinner over an open flame. There were very few other people hiking this section of wall, but a couple of Italians passed through and joined us by the camp fire. Our guides, in addition to food rations, also packed some Great Wall wine, produced at a vineyard near the Great Wall.

The next morning, we did the more intense section of Jiankou, which included going up the Sky Stairs (a narrow stairway that is at a 70 degree incline) and reaching the Eagle's Nest, which is the highest point on Jiankou. The views were breathtaking; unfortunately the breeze wasn't strong enough to blow away all of the pollution though. Sadly, even in the mountains here, you still have permanent smog.

Saturday Trip to a Cave and the Great Wall

Saturday morning, along with my friend Kyan and his coworkers, I hopped in a van for a day trip to a nearby (2 hr drive) cave. Well, 2 hr drives in China are never actually 2 hrs, closer to 3 and involving many winding mountain roads. The views would have been really pretty had they not been obscured by smog and fog. Upon arrival, we trekked up some stairs and waited in a packed room just outside the cave for a tour guide. Peter (one of the guys in my group) and I were the only 2 westerners on the tour. The tour was given by a young girl that screamed into a megaphone in Chinese the whole tour. Needless to say, I did not catch much of what she was saying. The cave was underwhelming at best. It was really big, and allegedly millions of years old, but it had been subjected to neon and LED lights placed throughout, detracting from the authenticity of the experience.

After the cave, we went to lunch en route to the Great Wall. We had lunch at a very traditional chinese restaurant. There was a picture of a deer on the menu, and one of my group members ordered donkey meat. It looked like sausage and apparently was extremely processed and not good; subpar by donkey meat standards. I stuck with mushrooms and onions. The menu was nearly 10 pages long, so there is no telling what other delightful things were available.

After lunch, I made my first venture to the Great Wall. I am going this weekend to a much more remote section of wall for a camping trip, but on Saturday we did about an hour hike and got some good views. The people watching was also pretty spectacular: several women in heels, a lady in a see through lace top and green spandex capris, and old chinese men with their shirts lifted over their belly. Men literally walk around town like that, and it's not uncommon to see old men walking around without shirts on.

Chinese Foot Massage

It's been a slow week in TEDA. The World Cup showed here at 2:30 am Monday morning, so watching it entailed staying up all night Sunday night. Between staying busy in the lab, proofreading another 53 page Chinglish manuscript, and attempting to catch up on some sleep, there hasn't been much to report. Taryn's mom has been in town all week, so last night, we finally ventured to one of the many Chinese massage parlors in the area for foot massages. The 3 of us had a group room with extremely comfortable chairs and we started with a hot mineral foot soak. Originally we considered getting pedicures, but after much discussion and having to call a friend to translate for us, we realized that there was only one pedicurist and thus it would take an extremely long time. Instead, we opted for a package that included a foot, arm, hand, leg and back massage... for a grand total of about $10 USD each. 3 masseuses came in and got to work. The back massage was so intense that it almost felt like it left bruises. The foot massage was the best part. The guys did not speak much english but Taryn speaks some chinese; they were all quite curious as to what 3 American women were doing in TEDA. The whole spa experience lasted for over an hour and we left feeling relaxed and refreshed. Taryn and I are already planning a return outing next week, and next time we're thinking of adding head massages.

Great Wall Beach Party

On Saturday night, along with 9 other people, I boarded a mini bus to attend the annual Great Wall Beach Party. The bus ride was expected to be about 3 hours and the party lasts all night, so we left TEDA around 8pm. 5 hours and several pit stops later, we made it to the spot where the Great Wall meets the water. When we arrived at 1 am, the party was in full swing. DJ's spinning and lots of people dancing, and as soon as I walked in the gate, I ran into my friend Sahil, who I have already visited in Beijing. Neither of us knew that the other would be there and the party was huge and chaotic, so the odds of us running into each other were so slim, but it was an awesome surprise.

The people watching at the party was insane. The party was literally on the beach, so lots of people were in swimsuits and kept running into the ocean. While it was warm enough to swim, the water was a frightening shade of brown and less than alluring. The sand was also brown actually. It was an interesting mix of both foreigners and Chinese people of all ages, including an old Chinese man tripping on X and dancing by himself like the karate kid.

Our mini bus departed at 5 am, which was when the party was starting to die down. It actually gets daylight here around 4:30 am, but we couldn't really see the sunrise due to all the pollution. We were all exhausted and for the first few hours of the ride home, I managed to sleep, but woke up in a horrible sweat to slamming brakes. We hit a horrible traffic jam on the highway and the bus driver had shut off the AC due to the fact that we were nearly out of fuel. The highway was literally at a standstill and we did not have enough fuel to sit til we made it to the next exit. Good thing there are no traffic laws in China... our driver just pulled a u-turn and drove the wrong direction in the emergency lane, after first reversing in the lane for 2 km. We then drove the wrong way up an exit ramp and ended up on some gravel backroad, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We found a gas station that looked like it had been shut down since the 1950s, but apparently was still open. After refueling, we at least had AC again, but at this point everyone was awake and cranky and anxious that we were lost and not getting back anytime soon. We then hit a traffic jam on the backroad, so our driver literally took us off-roading on a weird farm road. Unfortunately, the road ended in a closed gate guarded by tattooed local gangsters. Our driver had to get out and negotiate a fee before we were allowed to pass. After getting through, we hit the ultimate traffic jam. We were on a 3 lane road, but cars in all three lanes were going the same direction. About 1 km ahead, all three lanes of traffic were going the opposite direction we were, thus resulting in a face off of vehicles and a dispute over money. Apparently, these traffic jams are quite common and sometimes take all day to resolve. We all got off the bus and walked around for a bit; some locals gave us popsicles to eat and we definitely got more stares than normal. We called the police and a couple of hours later, they resolved the situation. In those 2 hours, we moved a total of about 20 meters. By this time, it was already 11:30 and we were still nowhere near home. The driver refused to attempt the highway again, so we took backroads home. We ended up making it back by 1:30, after 8.5 hours in a bus and staying up all night. It was exhausting, but such an experience.