Final Trip

I am currently sitting in the first-class lounge at the Beijing Airport. The comfort this adds to traveling is well appreciated. My flight boards in 35 minutes so this blog will have to be short. This is unfortunate as there is so much to tell, especially about the last week I have spent in China. During the last week our program here at Peking University brought us to a few of China's famous and beautiful destinations. We visited the Qingdao Beer factory, Confucius' temple and home town as well as climbed and slept in a hotel on top of Mount Tai. We also got up at 4:20am to watch the sunrise. The view was incredibly beautiful and brought with it a feeling of peace and serenity. I took very many pictures so I hope you will be able to experience partially what the view was like. The picture is one of many I took that morning.
I am now very excited to be heading home and not too terribly excited about sitting in planes for the next three days :P
I have to board the plane now. I will write one more blog to conclude this trip once I return to Canada. I hope you have all enjoyed reading along during the past 2 1/2 months.

The End at Last

With the final exam, Chinese classes have now drawn to an end. Tomorrow morning a last formality in the form of a graduation dinner and ceremony remains to toast to a successful summer semester. Once the ceremony is over, later that afternoon we begin our end of the program trip. The itinerary is something like this: Qingdao City, Qin Island, Qufu City, Mount Taishan (Confucius' birthplace), Jinan City and then back to Beijing on Saturday July 21st.

The names by themselves probably don't mean much, but the main event include visiting the Qingdao beer factory (famous beer here in China) and Mount Taishan, on which we will be sleeping the night. The view from Mt. Taishan is said to be quite nice and I believe will prove even nicer at sunset and sunrise (I hope to get pictures of both).

Aside from these attractions to visit, I believe the trip will bring other benefits such as relaxation and the relief from going to class :D I think it will also be a nice way to end my stay here in China. I admit I will miss the culture and being surrounded by all that is Chinese (Chinese characters and all). Being home, however, is irreplaceable!
Here is also a last call out to anyone that has any particular requests of items of such that they've always wanted from China. You can either leave a comment on here or send me an email. I'll do my best to get it :D

Other things that have happened since the last blog are a swimming competition, of which there are some pictures on Flickr. I did not participate in the competition as I am not quite that advanced, although we had two McGill teams participate and one of them won the competition. Wahoo! Last week I also went to eat some Korean BBQ, it was quite delicious. It is actually the second time I eat Korean BBQ here, but this time the cooking was done over a bowl of charcoal: very cool! That's also the picture for this blog.
That's all the news for now. More after I get back from my trip.

While trying to upload this blog my internet connection seems to have been cut off. It took me a while to get it back after seeing the reception desk and other problems. The internet will be cut off while we are on the trip. I will hopefully get another day of internet access right after the trip so I can blog when I get back. At the latest I can definitely write an update from the lounge at the airport.

See everyone soon!

Beijing Aquarium and Zoo

It has been far too long since I've written a blog. Much has happened since the trip to Shanghai, although my visit to the Beijing Aquarium and Zoo proved to be significant enough to finally post another blog.
After coming back from Shanghai I first had to get re-acquainted with eating 3 yuan ($0.50) Ramen noodles and settling for the scenery of my hotel room. The times of splurging on delicious food and views from an 87th floor bar were left behind in Shanghai. Nonetheless, I was happy to return to my home away from home here in Beijing, where all my current possessions awaited me.
Classes have continued at the usual vivace tempo and required my catching up what I missed while in Shanghai. With some diligent effort all was well and my dictations and quiz did not suffer in the department of grades.
I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I also got my first hair cut here in China. It was quite the interesting experience. It came with a straight-blade shave and all together only cost 20 yuan ($3).
Last Sunday I went to visit the Summer Palace. It was a really nice and hot day, so walking in the sun was a bit of a chore, but the ice cream vendors on the paths up the hill helped out with that. The Summer Palace is an elegant scenic spot. It is right by a lake and from the top of the hill the view extends up till the Great Wall on a clear day. I spent a good hour an a half sitting in the shade on some pagoda with a beautiful view studying in my Chinese book. It was very relaxing.
Now to the Aquarium and the Zoo. Yesterday, I successfully carried out the first activity on my own since I've been on this trip. I have had a need for some self directed adventures for a little while now, since most activities tend to take place in a group. I took the bus from our hotel bus stop (颐和园路东口) "yiheyuan lu dongkou" to the metro station (五道口) "Wudaokou" then the metro to Xizhimen station (西直门站) "Xizhimen zhan". From there I walked to the Zoo. What I did not know at first is that to get to the Aquarium you have to go through the Zoo. So I also went to visit the Zoo. I felt like a little kid all over again, looking at all the animals that we usually do not get to see on a daily basis. Of course the most famous attraction particular to the Beijing Zoo is the Pandas. I went to see them, but then also many other animals: ostriches, zebras, giraffes, elephants, monkeys, birds and many more.
At the Aquarium I saw many different kinds of fish and also watched a dolphin show. That was also very entertaining. In the Coral reef section of the Aquarium I also reconstructed scenes of the movie Finding Nemo. I found a clown fish with an anemone and a glowing blue fish that looked like Dory. So if you look at the aquarium pictures you should be able to piece together the characters of Finding Nemo. :D
Finally, at the end of the day I beat the rain home and headed straight for my bed to have a little rest. I began my trip that day at around 11am and came home at 7pm and most of that time I was walking, so a little rest was just the right thing.
Today in class we had our last quiz (in class test) only 4 days left and on Monday we have our final exam. It has gone so fast.
I will write some more later. There is still one more trip at the end of the program that will surely incur many pictures. Hope everyone is enjoying their summers as much as I am :D
Till next time!

Shanghai

I returned to Beijing from Shanghai this Tuesday. Ever since I have been catching up with life here in Beijing. I feel that now finally I'm back on track with the rest of the class. Even though the hotel here in Beijing isn't home, it was nice to return to familiar places after our 5 day stay in a youth hostel in Shanghai.
Wednesday, June 13th at 8:35pm our train (T104) left the Beijing main train station. It was a 12 hour ride till we arrived in Shanghai the next morning. The ride was quite comfortable as we had beds to sleep on, which I might add were almost more comfortable than the hotel beds. If only the flight back to Canada was that comfortable the 14 hours plane ride would pass quickly.
The first day in Shanghai it rained most of the time. We found our youth hostel dropped off our bags and despite the rain to the subway to the downtown area and walked around a bit.
That evening we went for supper in the French Concession area of Shanghai and had Hong Kong style food...very strange, I know: Hong Kong style food in Shanghai and out of all places in the French Concession area...but it was quite good. The rest of the evening was not too eventful we took a stroll around the French Concession and then returned to the hostel.
The next day Olivia and I took the subway to the Pudong area of Shanghai, that is the business district with all the tall skyscrapers. It was amazing to walk out of the subway station and see the buildings growing to be taller and taller. We eventually ended up at the river front (the Huangpu River 黄埔江). We were hungry so we chose a random restaurant at the river front called BundView. We were very pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. The set lunch only cost 88元 ($15) and it included: a Salad, soup, bread, main meal and dessert. It was really fancy and good tasting food. Later that day we met up with the rest of the group and we all decided to go to the BundView together. It was quite the feast and we got treated like VIPs. We all had big meals for supper and bought several bottles of wine to go with the meal. After what seemed like eating all day we ended up at a club/bar called Windows Too which was quite strange as there were many westerners there and I was very used to seeing a lot of Chinese people.
The next day was also really fun. Olivia, Isabell and I went to visit a Buddhist temple. It was very neat to see all the people there practicing their faith. We also got to see a Buddhist service, the monks were singing and chanting. After this we all met up and decided to visit the tallest building in China (at the moment the Jin Mao Building) which also has the Cloud 9 bar of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt hotel. The view from the top was amazing. A few of us decided to go to Cloud 9 for a few drinks to enjoy the view at this exclusive location. From the top we could look down on both the skyline of the Pudong district as well as the well known Bund district. As they do every night there were fireworks launched from a boat on the river and the moment at Cloud 9 seemed to be something out of a James Bond movie (drinking a Martini and all).
Later that night we went to a club called Bon Bon, in the French Concession area. There happened to be a well known DJ from abroad hosting an event so the music was quite good. The next day was a very relaxed one as we had spent so much energy the night before. We ended up back at our favourite restaurant the BundView and sat there to order lunch. Lunch turned into afternoon which turned into night and we were still sitting on the comfortable cushioned chairs ordering a bottle of Champagne (Moët & Chandon wich would usually cost $264) but we got it for 680元.
Shanghai was a nice contrast to Beijing. Now it's back to my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but the adventure in Shanghai sure was a memorable one. Above, a picture of the Shanghai skyline and many more pictures of the other adventures on Flickr (Shanghai Museum, little side streets, boat rides, losing and finding Chuck Norris -aka. the Gnome-, etc...)
Shanghai was a wonderful destination. I'm glad I have lots of pictures to remember it by.
Now it is Friday and another weekend begins (it is Charles' birthday this weekend so no doubt there will be a party). Only 32 days left in China, although classes finish on July 13th, then there is a final exam and a week long end-of-the-program trip.
More later when I go visit more places.

Trip to Shanghai

The first big trip during my stay here in China is about to commence. This evening at 8:20pm a group of us (Lorelei, Olivia, Alex, Jake, James and Isabelle) are hopping on a train headed for Shanghai. The trip should take approximately 12 hours, so our overnight stay in the train will save us the cost of another night at the hostel in Shanghai. I'm not quite sure yet exactly what kind of attractions await us in Shanghai, but I do know there is a beautiful garden and of course the city itself is a marvel to see. There are also little cities with beautiful scenery close to Shanghai to which we can also travel.
The last few days - since my last post - have been quite ordinary. Classes are going well as usual, and leisure time with friends (aka. strolling the streets in the evening) keeps the schedule busy. A few days ago I discovered a new part of the ever grand city of Beijing; an area that houses the Bell and Drum Towers. This place was more relaxed than most of the hustling and bustling downtown roads. There were lots of little side streets known as Hutong(s)胡同. There was also a park in this area and the picture for this post is of a flower from there.

The most recent exciting event was last night. Josh, a student in the program received a gift from his parents back home. Through another student's parents who came to visit us here in China they sent along a huge piece (5lbs. or more) of smoked meat from Schwarz (a famous smoked mead joint in Montreal). We all gathered like hungry animals and enjoyed the feast with mustard and bread. It was really funny. In this sense we are adopting the Chinese culture, because here too many people gather around on the street, chat and eat food. So here we were all sharing this communal meal. There will be pictures of this event later on as I did not use the camera (my stomach overpowered my will to get the camera :P ) But I will get the pictures from others who took them.

I'm packing the last few things (Gnome (aka. Chuck Norris), camera and charger included), then we will make our way to the train station. I will take lots of pictures so stay tuned for Monday when I return. Hope everyone is doing well back home.

Also an advanced Happy Father's day to all dads out there since I will be gone till Monday.

Cuandixia 爨低下

It has been a while since I wrote a blog, but my adventure of this weekend is definitely reason to write a blog. Let's see, where to begin....
Originally this weekend Olivia, Jan and I were supposed to go on a trip to NE China to the city Harpin in a province of China that borders with Russia. We paid for our train tickets at the student travel agency only to get a call back on Friday afternoon letting us know that there is no room left on the train. We still wanted to go somewhere for the weekend so we looked in one of the Chinese tour guides someone brought to China and decided to visit the little village of Cuandixia. This village has only 100 people living in it and apparently dates back all the way to the Qing and Ming dynasties. So the deal is, you take the metro (line 1) all the way to the end then a 3 hour bus ride and then from the destination city a taxi to this little village. We decided we would be up for that.
Saturday morning at 8:30 we went with our classmates on the organized trip to the Temple of Heaven (pictures on Flickr) and after visiting the temple we went to the closest metro stop to begin our journey.
After about a 45 minute subway ride we get out at the Pinguoyuan station and quickly realize we are the only westerners within sight. Before even getting out of the metro station there is already a throng of zealous taxi drivers offering us rides to our destination. After much effort to shake off most of them we reached a deal to go with a friendly gentlemen for 120 yuan. So instead of taking the bus we figured a taxi ride all the way to the village will make things easier and it also cuts our travel time from 3 to 2 hours. This is all the more amazing when you realize that all of this is taking place in Chinese. The taxi driver only spoke Chinese, but we conversed a little and he said once we arrive at Cuandixia he would help us find a place to stay for the night.
We were warmly received by a Chinese family and after getting settled in we wasted no time an went for a long walk. We climbed a few mountains and explored the surrounding beautiful scenery.
After our 3 hour long walk we returned to our host family and had supper. This began our saga. We had a few beers for supper and then we proceeded to venture from place to place in the village to have a beer here and one there. One place we went to we thought was another bar or place that served drinks...it ended up being this family's balcony, but they received us warmly and sat and talked with them for over an hour. (again this is all in Chinese, although we do not always understand everything :P )
As most of the people at this 'party' started going to bed we ventured to the next place with lights and people...there we were invited to join a big table with 15 or so people. They were great. They were in the middle of playing a drinking game (spin the bottle type thing) where if it pointed to you, you had to take a drink. This was really fun and funny, as we had no clue who these people are but we fit right in. After some fun we chatted a little and they told us they are all in a Camry Club (Toyota Camry) and this was their group outing. Then one gentlemen and his wife offered to drive us back to Beijing the next day.
We got up at 8:30am to eat breakfast and meet our new friends to drive back home with them. Before this point we had not realized what the significance of them being is this club is. They have beautiful black silver lined Toyota Camrys all spanking new. Turns out there were seven of them and they all got together and we drove back to Beijing in a convoy of Black luxury cars with the 4-way flashers on and the front car had a siren and a horn to make people get out of the way of the convoy. This included oncoming traffic so we could pass slower vehicles in our lane. This was really cool! Still don't know exactly what these fine people do, but they appear to be quite important.
There is so much more to tell about our trip, but the above is it in a nutshell. The amazing thing about the trip is that it was so unexpected that we would have all of these experiences and so it was well worth the mere 100 yuan ($15) the whole trip ended up costing (because of all the luck we had along the way).

37 Degrees

Today is the hottest day I have witnessed in a long time. It was 37 degrees today and the weather channel says it 'feels like' 39 degrees. Basically you really want to melt. Nonetheless I took advantage of this nice weather. A group of us decided to go downtown and explore a little, go for a walk and look at the embassy district. The embassy district is really neat. As you walk down the road every building is the embassy of another country. We walked by the embassies for Morocco, Qatar, Germany, Canada, Australia. We found the German Embassy and also the Canadian Embassy. Though I didn't bring my passport I was still let onto the property (I had my student card that says my nationality on it). However when I got to the building the people at the desk were confused as to why I was there and told me to leave. *lol* I suppose I didn't really have a reason for going anyway, I also did not have my passport. It was still fun to be on German property and let into the gates with the Chinese guard at the front.
After walking around for what felt like days due to the heat, we made our way to a museum. I decided to go back to the hotel with a few people so I could get some rest, study and do computer stuff. I've uploaded more pictures. We went out to eat at a delicious restaurant last night where they have tasty chicken sticks. From there we went back to the hotel and then went out to a club in Wudaokou (a district here in Beijing).
I have also added two videos to my YouTube account. These are from the day we went to the Great Wall.
On Monday we have our first exam and it covers 4 chapters in our books. Back at McGill we usually took one to two weeks to study one chapter. But I feel that I will do well. I will spend some time today reviewing for the test.
I haven't mentioned yet that last Monday evening I went to a really fancy restaurant to eat Beijing Duck. My roommate has a friend that moved to Beijing a while ago and knows his way around. He brought a group of us to this restaurant and it was incredibly delicious. The Beijing Duck even came with a certificate :D The buildings around the restaurant were nicely lit up at night. Today's picture is of a fountain over there.