We have finally made it to Chengdu

On Sunday morning we watched our train pull away from the platform while we were standing on the opposite side. Yes, we missed our train by a few minutes, but were able to get an 80% refund and buy a new ticket for the next day. So we hung around in Guangzhou before returning back to Foshan for the evening. The next day we made it to the train on time. We spent 33 hours on the train watching the countryside, playing cards, reading and sleeping. We arrived at the very busy Chengdu train station were we navigated our way through the crowds to the ticket booth to buy a train ticket to Lhasa, Tibet. Travelling to Tibet is quite complicated. Unable to buy the tickets we decided to find our hostel and see what we could plan at the hostel/travel agent. After much planning we have booked a plane, permit, and 4 day Mount Everest tour to Tibet at a much higher cost then expected, but I think it will be worth it.
Oh, yesterday I vistied the Panda breeding and research base. The Giant Pandas are so cute. Did you know that they also have red pandas? Pandas eat only 20 species of the 300 species of bamboo in China. They are in danger of being extinct but the reserach base has been sucessful in their efforts. A baby panda was born 3 days ago. We couldn't see it as the mother would shelter it from the live video camera in her den. The pandas are very funny creaters who sleep for most of the time. We arrived at feeding time so we could see them awake and playing with each other.

Our bags are packed and we are ready to go

Well tomorrow we are officially on holidays. So this will probably be the last entry for several days until I find some internet cafes on our journey. First Deanna and I are heading of to Chengdu were we will be getting the necessary paperwork and documents in order to to head of to Tibet. We will be spending two weeks traveling around Tibet. We plan on taking the scenic train into the region. From there we will spend a couple of days in Lhasa, the capital before takinga trekking tour over to Mt. Everest Base Camp. After Deanna leaves to return back to Canada on July 16, I will spend some days relaxing in Guilin and Yangshou before meeting my dad in Beijing. I well then be traveling with my Dad from Beijing to Xian, famous for the Terra-cotta warriors, and to Shanghai. Lots of sightseeing + lots of adventures = lots of fun + photos.

Canada’s Next Top Traditional Chinese Model

How’s that for a catchy title. Just over a month ago I had a photo shoot in Traditional Chinese style clothing. It was a neat experience. At 9:30 Jane, a teacher from the school, and I arrived at the studio. First we had to choose our two favorite dresses that we would be using for the shoot. It took some time, as there were over a fifty to choose from. Finally, we narrowed our selection down and made our way to the dressing room. Next, came the make-up, hair and nails. They thought of every detail down to the fake decorated pink nails with rhine stones, black hair pieces, black hair spray, for those who do not have natural black hair (like me), earrings, and a million jeweled hair pins. After being primped and pampered for nearly an hour we were turning into ancient Chinese beauties. The photo studio itself was in a large warehouse type room that was divided up into different scenes. It was quite dark and hard to see, but I guess that works better with the lighting and camera flash. While one of us was having our photos taken the other one was getting ready for the next outfit. It was a little difficult listening to the instruction of the photographer has he only knew some simple phrases such as “a little smile” and “Oh yes baby”. Unfortunately I had to redo one of my photo shoots because the had some problems retrieving the pictures from the camera. Luckily, they realized right away so I did not have to come back at a later date. 7 hours later, hungry and tired we finally fished our photo shoot. Well what do you think? Could I pass as being a Traditional Chinese beauty?

See you...

The English Club students hosted a farewell party for me yesterday. They put together a slide show presentation of pictures, preformed a skit, taught me a Chinese tongue twister and then I had to teach them a tongue twister, they demonstrated the art of bamboo painting, played a game were the loser had to eat wasabi and hot sauce cracker sandwiches, and a fruit cake to top it all off at the end.




I am going to miss all these hard working students...so long, aideu, au revoir, sayonara...

Thanks for the comments. I will have to read them later when the blog is working on the internet. For the past week I have been trying to visit different websites and friends blogs but they have all been restricted. Something that is not uncommon here in China. Right now I can only add to my blog but I cannot view it. Happy reading.

Chinese Paper Cut

...and not the wound that happens on your hands from paper made in China but the handicraft art form. This past weekend I visited the historical museum, for the second time ( it was free and I realized I missed the entire second floor) and was again drawn to the Chinese paper cut exhibit. This ancient art from uses cutting tools to cut thin paper into a decorative design. They are especially popular to decorate ones windows and entrance ways during festivals. Several women were demonstrating this technique. They sure do have lots of patience to sit there and carefully make thousands small incisions. At least they had about 20 stapled tother and were not doing them one at a time.

Hair wash and massage for 10 RMB

You can’t find a cheaper way to relax and ease the tension in China then to stop at one of the billion hair salons for a hair wash which usually includes a a neck and shoulder massage and if you are lucky a back, arms, and leg massage as well. I have been several times and will not refuse any chance that i may have to go. Like today for example, during school hours Christine invited me to join her for a trip to the hair salon. We spent over two hours at the place enjoying a hair wash, massage and a hair conditioner treatment.

Several days ago I ventured to the flower, fish, and bird market, which Christine had showed me once before. I didn’t end up bringing any pets home, besides who would look after them when I leave in a week. Yup that’s right, I only have one more week left of teaching before summer holidays. I have some travels plans in the works but will save those for another entry.

Dragon Boat Festival

The 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar marks the Dragon Boat Festival. A celebration that began with a legend two thousand years ago and includes rice dumplings, boat races, drums and gongs. The story goes like this. “A famous poet drowned himself after his state was captures by opposing forces. The local villagers attempted to save his life by beating the water with their oars and sounding drums and gongs to scare of the fish trying to eat him. Rice dumplings were thrown into the river to lure hungry fish away from his body.” Today the festival is celebrated with annual dragon boat races up and down the rivers. Rice dumplings are also eaten during this time, I had two mini dumplings for breakfast. Flavored sticky rice first thing in the morning would certainly take some getting use to.

To celebrate, several of the young teachers went to a restaurant for Hot Pot, very similar to fondue. One large pot is sunken into the middle of the table over a gas powered element. The pot is divided into three sections, the middle is for the beef broth soup, and the two outer portions contain cooking oil, one super super spicy, and other one is just plain. An assortment of vegetables and meats await on a tray beside the table until we are ready to cook them. We had many things that I was unable to identify. Some tasted good while others really didn’t have much flavor. I later found out the stuff that looked like tofu was actually ducks blood in tofu form, I steered clear of it for the rest of the meal. We also cooked leaf lettuce, baby greens, and cilantro in the Hot Pot, they tasted the best even though I would never have thought to boil lettuce. It was a nice evening even if we did have to consult the portable electronic translator every 5 minutes.


Answers from previous blog pictures
Photo #1 The lock to my apartment door
Photo #2 An upside down clay pot for a plant (those are drainage holes)
Photo #3 Incense, they are located outside everyones door except for mine
Photo #4 Rice Dumplings
Photo #5 A basket used to catch fish