Hugh and Mara

January 3rd we finally arrived back at our house and what to our wondering eyes did we see-smoke coming out of our chimney! The Amstutzii had started a fire for us-what a treat! And not only that, but a display of art work to welcome us adorned the kitchen table.

And the heartfelt message:

So we took their advice and enjoyed a glorious unpacking then went to their house for happy time & fine pizza dinner with good friends. It’s good to be home. Cat thinks so as well.

in front of the fire started by Karen & Paul

PS Don’t believe your eyes-Mara  is not choking Cat!

On March 5th Mara used googleMaps to show where we were in the city of Jiangyin. Check out this link: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=2&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google-mm&utm_medium=ha

It’s our last night in China. We are in Shanghai planning our departure and ruminating about our highlights. 

Mara’s: Range from the simple: chow fahn (fried rice), meeting new friends, biking in the rain, experimenting with calligraphy, seeing a China that is not just tourist China, to the complex: trying to learn something of the language-she can now identify the simple Chinese characters for exit, entrance, sky/heaven, and woman/female

Hugh’s: There are too many to pick out!

Happy New Year! Or in Chinese-pinyin: Xin Nian Hao!

Today we arrived in Guilin around noon, dropped off from the bus right across the hostel. It was incredibly convenient. At first we were too tired from the bus to really do anything, but then we decided to head out for food to a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet. We also ran into Emo from the United Kingdom (originally Nigeria) who said if it was OK she would tag along. That ended up being the ticket! After a delicious meal of eel with Sichuan spicing, pork with bean curd sauce, green beans with spicy sauce, fried rice noodles. Ahh! Well satiated we continued on our explorations. Emo and Hugh had the same idea-take lots of photos!

Mara & Emo after the meal

From here we decided to walk upriver and found a concrete path right alongside. We were delighted to see what goes on a Monday afternoon on the river.

fisherman on Li River

 Just downstream of this fisherman there was a “swim club” we decided as we watched first one lone woman get in and start swimming upstream, then 5 minutes later 3 men ambling down to the water. 

woman from the swim club

The woman swam farther and longer than the men. Breaststroke upriver, freestyle downriver. She probably swam over half a kilometer all told. Outside temps have been between 6-13 degrees Celsius, so we figure the water has not been warm.

grandfather swimming

We were impressed with the swimmers. This man was not with the swim club, but was swimming on his own, a little upriver, still very impressive. 

We also went to see Solitary Peak Park which is where that opening photo is taken. It was pretty amazing-an old palace with a wall around it plus a temple on top of some karst. It was very interesting. Following are some shots of the stroll around Guilin.

view from the temple

another view from the top

one of the gates to the walled fortress

 We had a great afternoon and tomorrow we leave for Shanghai. While we are sad we are also looking forward to going home.

we don’t need no stinkin’ helmets  

Today we rented bikes from the hostel-20 yuan for the day with a 100 yuan deposit for the both of us. And they gave us locks. So we took our raincoats, our map that has a disclaimer at the bottom that says “The content and the words might have a little difference. The publisher has no responsibilities for it…” and off we ventured.  Biking in China is not for the faint of heart, however Mara found it less dangerous than biking to work from El Portal to Yosemite Valley on Hwy 140. Here all the drivers are watching for bikes, they slow down to pass if they are coming close due to oncoming traffic, they go wide if they are roaring by, they give a warning honk way back so you know they are coming & will be passing, and when it started to rain no driver drove too close to the bikes thus spraying them with water & grime. 

Here are some of the scenes on our (about) 20-mile bike ride.

typical Chinese village house

 We had pulled off at a road and a fellow got off the bus and started walking towards the village in the near distance. As he was doing so he said “hello” and then gestured that we should ride towards the village, so we did.

on an unknown road towards an unknown village

close-up of house in village

 Pedaling just this short distance out from YangShuo allowed us to see a less developed China. We saw no other Westerners (although, for all we know, this may have been due to the impending rain!) We were greeted with many smiles and Ni hao!

sugar cane?

woman going to work in fields

On the way back, in the town of Fuli, we stopped in at the Sunday Market. Vegetables, fruits, food stands, household goods, furniture, plastic bags, music CDs, toys, trinkets (but not trinkets like jade buddhas & such), laundry detergent, shampoo, cosmetics, socks, yada yada yada. An enterprising linoleum salesman was hanging out on a corner by the market entrance and saw we were interested to go in. So he motioned us to park the bikes & lock them next to his rolls of flooring & for 2 yuan he would watch them. While somewhat hesitant-OK, mostly Mara was hesitant-we went ahead and did that, then went to lunch at the market.

Sunday Market in Fuli

Grandmother selling

weighing the produce

vegetables galore

 Being in the market was somewhat trying as it was clearly a locals market. Some folks would smile and laugh to see us, others would shake their heads in, was it puzzlement? disbelief? disagreement? We did not really feel unsafe but we also did not feel totally in our element. But then that is what traveling is about-expanding ones boundaries.

at market

street outside the market

two women chatting

The bags in the above shot are filled with silk.

Did we mention the impending rain? Well, we got caught!

us & the locals waiting in the tunnel

 It was like Iceland but about 40 degrees warmer! Eventually it let up and we made our way back to Yangshuo. After returning the bikes we went for a massage. when Bernadette and Orhan had been sightseeing with us they introduced us to the foot massage. This time we went all out-Chinese body massage! It felt good as our unused muscles needed it (but we are too delicate to mention the seats of the bikes and the results from those!)

Thus endeth our final day in Yangshuo. On Monday we take the bus to Guilin but we look forward to the interesting sights there and of course eating more Chinese food!

Overheard on the street today “It’s nothing like it was 10 years ago. Then it was just a little village”

Today our little feet are tired from walking the concrete. We did find two karst formations to go up on but unfortunately the view was so cloudy it was hard to see. It truly must be mystical when the sun shines through misty clouds. But not today. And not in the forecast for tomorrow. However it is to get a tad warmer so we are considering renting bikes.  Besides, lots of the Chinese are doing it. 

rented bikes in a mass

We noticed it takes awhile for things to get going here. 

quiet early morning (10 AM) street

We also checked out the “agricultural trade market” and had lunch there.

braised dog anyone?

our food being prepared

We had pork, not dog. However, this place is famous for dried rat and beer fish. We have not tried either one yet, but the fish is on the list. Not sure if rat is…

view from bridge across Li Jiang (Li River)

 We walked a bit today and saw many other sights, including the 2 below:

gardeners at work (west side of street)

store grand opening (east side of street)

 It is interesting to compare our travels in Peru with our travel here in China. Everything seems so much more “touristy”. Every street is lined in shops. Every other shopkeeper saying “hey, lookee, hey you, hey lookee”  ”Business is business and business must grow” said the Onceler in the story The Lorax, but it really makes one think about consumerism. Do we really need that many things?  How about another jade figurine of the fat Buddha? A silk scarf? A t-shirt that says in Chinese characters “I’m single”? Chopsticks set? Luggage? Plastic dancing zebra two inches high?

More shots of the sights we saw:

deconstruction to make room for new construction

We actually got to watch them push a wall down with poles lodged to provide leverage. Physics is amazing! No wrecking ball was used in the dismantling of this building!

shop 'til you drop

We watched this couple enter a shop, buy a jacket, and continue. An American business man we chatted with today said that in the past 2 years the one commercialized tourist nature of the town has expanded beyond the one street it used to encompass to the whole downtown and beyond for all we know.

We did, however, get Hugh’s jacket zipper replaced for less than $5 thanks to the recommendation of where to go from the Yangshuo Flowers Youth Hostel “knitting club” -the young women working here are knitting whenever they are not working! Knitting may possibly be one of two true “handicrafts” here. 

family car

Back in the dirtbag scene and it feels comfortable. Guilin Flowers Youth Hostel was our first night’s stay. Guilin is also Cathy’s hometown and she approved the youth hostel for us as well as reserved a room there and at its sister hostel in YangShou. So, today we took a river boat 4 hours down the Li River. We chose to take the Chinese tour for 2 reasons- the woman at the youth hostel said even if you pay for the non-Chinese tour there is no guarantee that you will get an English speaking guide-they might instead speak Spanish AND it cost more than the Chinese tour. Maybe you got life jackets, but we don’t know as we went on the Chinese one. As did a German couple! We ended up having a great time with Bernadette & Orhan. And if you are German and reading this and saying “Orhan es nicht ein Deutsches Nahme” you are correct (& All German grammatical & case errors are Mara’s!). Orhan is originally from Turkey but came with his parents to Germany in 1980.  

So here are some shots from the boat tour:

cruise boat

We were on a similar boat.

river front shops?

These are called karst formations. They are made of limestone. More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst

local on bamboo raft

Did we mention the forecast? Rain. So shots are more than just misty. A little sun would have been great for photography but it is still amazing.

more local river traffic

got a light?

 Once we got to Yangshuo, we found our hostel with just a few wrong turns, one “klingon” tout wanting to be our guide (she helped us take a couple of the wrong turns!), and we stowed our luggage and went sightseeing with Bernadette & Orhan.

Orhan, the master haggler

See the old Chinese man on the left? He was a spectator as Orhan went from 1 Chinese coin for 60 yuan to 10 coins for 30 yuan. He then followed Orhan around, perhaps waiting for another incredible show of the Turkish skills. Orhan tells us “It is not in the DNA, it is knowing the value first.”

 Since folks have asked us about Christmas, both our friends back home and our students here, we decided to take this picture. 

Christmas is an interesting phenomena here. It seems to be going through secularization?globalization? and why not? It is the free-market’s dream come true. Give because you love someone. Give because you can show how much you can spend. Give to show the value of your love. Give because it helps our economy. Give because it provides jobs. Bigger is better. More is better. You’ve got to hand it to capitalization, they can spread “Christianity” faster than some other proselytizing sects (or at least the concept of Christmas!)

The shot is from Shanghai on the 24th of the Buddhist Temple and City Plaza Christmas lights.

So, now the uploads work and it’s time to put closure on our time at Nanjing High School. We finished or final day with a tour of the school museum (the past), taught 3 classes (7:20 AM, 10:55 AM & 4:20 PM-the present) and in between went to visit the construction of the new Nanjing Senior High School (future)-opening this September! It was a “nice red bow on the whole package”/experience (Hi Jeff Crow!)

Professor Huang-Founder of Nanjing High School

The amusing part for us Yosemite-ites is that the high school was founded before our park! But, so as not to make us feel bad about being “younger” than a high school, Nanjing University is also younger than the high school as one of the school’s principals, after steering the school, went on to found Nanjing University.

Former principal of HS & founder of Nanjing University

Mara & Mr. Zhang in the museum

 Hey Mr. Zhang, sorry if we changed your name!  We also learned that sometime in the 1930s the school went co-ed (first photo of female students was 1933) and that from 1937-1942 the school and students were moved to Shanghai as it was safer. After the museum tour and visiting the on-campus art gallery, donation by an alumni who is also president of the Calligraphy Society, we went east about 10 km to visit the construction site of the new school. The junior students will move from their current school lodgings to the current site of the senior school. This will allow the original school site to remain part of the school. The new site will house the senior school and an international center. The school is also going to work on getting certification to teach Chinese to  foreign students so when sister schools have exchanges the Western students will get the opportunity to learn Chinese. It also means that teachers like us will not have to live in a hotel! So check out the shots Hugh took!

construction entrance

There will be 6 buildings that contain classrooms, all will have 4 or 5 stories. Capacity for the school will be 3000 students if we remember correctly.

administration building on right, teacher offices on left

The classrooms are also to the left and the teacher offices will connect to them. There are 3 construction companies working on the project and an interesting sidenote is that they all have temporary housing for their construction workers. Now, that in itself is not that unusual. When we worked at Great Basin National Park we were housed in modular units at the Border Inn along with construction workers who were working on Hwy 50-the loneliest highway in the US! And in Yosemite the contract construction workers are housed down the road from us as well. But here, not only are the construction workers given housing, but also their families. And there’s more! The construction company also provides temporary schools for the workers children-translated directly they are “peasant” schools. But each company provides their own school, so on the construction site there are pre-fab residential zones in 3 separate locations.

one of the classroom buildings

construction in action

There will also will be a sports field/track, swimming pool, dorms, dining hall, and all backed by a hill with the trees and many hectares that have the potential to be used for a hoped-for environmental sciences component to the curriculum. Funded by the government.  So, if, no, when! we get to come back it will be exciting to see the new campus all landscaped and teeming with students!

Hello Family & Friends!

We left Jiangyin this morning and are now in Shanghai. We tried uploading some pictures of our last day in Jiangyin as there were many interesting things we learned, however some glitch that remains to be solved is keeping us from uploading. Fear not, we will try again. In the meantime we will celebrate tonight with Alice’s niece, Yun Yi and her husband Jim. Tomorrow night we will be in Guilin-the south of China! Wow!

So, take care and check back often & hopefully the problem will be solved.

And the other happy wishes go to Daina, Mara’s sister on her birthday and Hugh’s parents, Jim & Sally on their anniversary!

Today we were treated to visit to the tourist destination of Zhouzhaung. It is “An ancient town in the south of the Yangtse” according to our brochure. Located between Suzhou and Shanghai it has tried to preserve the historical structures from 900 years ago. It “showcases the architecture of the Ming (1368-1644) & Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.” It took us an hour and half to get there. We left at 7:30 and it was 0 degrees Celsius out (figure it out, Westerners, it ain’t that hard to convert to metric!). By lunch it had jumped to 7C in the sun (but the shade still had frozen ice!) however that did not stop us from seeing this canal town that had been built on trading, including with India and Malaysia. 

These are, of course, tourist ferrying boats for the tour of the canals. It is said it is easier to get around by boat than by foot, however, we did fine with our feet. Being that it was a cold Monday some of the shopkeepers and attendants amused themselves playing badminton.

We preferred this to the incessant badgering of “lookee lookee, what you want” to which our friend/colleague/guide/translator said that a German fellow she had showed around had muttered in response “I want money.” The levity was much appreciated!

The “traditional crafts are practiced here” and I believe that indeed some of them are, but some are just factory made. What is interesting to us who are always shopping in Merced because it is cheaper than that tourist trap of Yosemite is that it is cheaper in the “tourist trap” than in Jiangyin or Shanghai! But, as Cathy pointed out when I was craving a silk comforter-you don’t buy here, you buy at the place where you watch them assemble the quilt so that you know it is silk and not something else.

Mara, Cathy, & the Driver

 Listening to Cathy haggling was incredible! Wish we spoke Chinese (which is what they call it here, so you folks who think what was just written is not PC-it is here!). Cathy would then turn to me and say “Oh she said we can have it for 25″ (and the written price was 35). Sure makes me wonder how we could have haggled if only we spoke Chinese!

So, being that we know an archaeologist fairly well (Hi Sonni!) we do wonder how accurate this whole place is. One thing about the Chinese-they are remarkably adaptable. We have heard several times “Where there is a will, there is a way” This is so true for the Chinese.  So, one brochure says “The town is…over 900 years old, yet it remains as it were” whereas the other brochure states “The New City offers a pleasant & lively shopping area….Many of the shops of the ancient town are, or will be moved here…meanwhile the homes that housed these shops will be returned to their original purpose serving as a perfect example of Ming & Qing Dynasty architecture.”

However, in defense of the town, this was also written in one of the brochures “In the 1950s the Temple was totally destroyed but then rebuilt in a different location on the shores of Nanhu Lake in the 1990s.” So when your culture is totally destroyed, what can you do but rebuild so as to teach the more ancient history? And so where does archaeological and historical accuracy fall in this?

For those interested in further reading there are several opportunities to study Chinese history. One juvenile novel that Mara reviewed for her Masters in Education in School Library and Information Technology degree was Revolution is not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine.  There are plenty of others, so go read in these cold winter months!