Shang-ri-la felt like the Chinese version of Vail or Breckenridge minus the ski lifts and snow bunnies.  There weren't many people and the view of the mountains was incredible.  The change in altitude was definitely noticeable, however and for the duration of our stay there Sean and I always had small headaches.  The heavy Chinese smokers simply sucked on bottled oxygen sold in all the small shops to stay comfortable.  The coolest thing about Shang-ri-la was that most of the people living there were not Han Chinese but rather Tibetan tribes.  We saw many groups of older women walking around in their traditional clothing with baskets on their backs.  We also saw a lot of monks around town in their maroon robes.  Instead of goats, cows or sheep, the most prevalent hoofed creature out and about was the yak.  Influence of the yak was everywhere from yak meat and jerky, yak yogurt, cheese, leather and fur.

 

The biggest thing to see in Shang-ri-la besides the mountains was the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa – a 300-year-old Tibetan monastery that still houses about 600 monks.  It's pretty easy to find and get to since there are only about two local buses in the whole town.  After breakfast and a nap Sean and I headed south of town to check it out.

 

The monastery itself was huge and beautiful with lots of gold glinting sunlight from all sorts of angles. There were prayer flags everywhere and it seemed that around each corner was another temple. We toured around it for a bit and then had a late lunch behind it further up in the mountains at a hotel.  It was a really nice day and the sunshine, dry and clean air and blue skies were a welcome change from urban Changzhou.

After spending some time in Kunming we booked an overnight bus to Shang-ri-la – a twelve hour trip northwest.  We had budgeted plenty of time to try and take local buses to the train station but, like as is common for us, we ended up getting completely lost and after wasting time fighting about it we had to take a taxi.  The local bus would have only cost about 15 cents each and we had thought that the taxi was going to be super expensive, but fortunately it was only about three bucks.  I know that blog posts can sometimes make it seem like everything is perfect and hunky-dory all the time when traveling or between Sean and I, but we have our moments. When we do fight it's almost always about directions/getting lost, money or how early to get up in the morning.

 

Though overnight buses have advantages like being incredibly cheap and allowing you to save money by not paying for a night's accommodation, they have some distinct disadvantages such as being a little dangerous because of driving at night, people can steal your stuff easier and you never really know how comfortable you are going to be.  This bus was decent with three rows of bunks stacked two high.  Unfortunately, each bunk was only about 5 feet long – perfect for the average Chinese person but really short for us.  Add the fact that smoking is allowed on the bus, it smelled like stinky feet and spicy chicken claws, there were a lot of babies crying and loud talking on cell phones and the whole 12 hours can make your nerves a little raw.

 

But it was fine.  We read and listened to music and slept a little bit while our bus bumped and jangled over crazy roads.  By the time we reached Shang-ri-la, we had increased in altitude significantly and our guidebook warned us to be careful of altitude sickness.  The scenery was amazing up in the mountains – there were views unlike I had ever seen in China before.  Once we reached the bus station we walked the two or so miles into town and checked into "Kevin's Trekking Hostel".  After a huge breakfast and a hot shower we collapsed into our bunks and napped for the remainder of the morning.  I know that the town of Shang-ri-la is just China's claim to the mythical paradise, but so far this tiny mountain village with the smallest number of people I have seen in months certainly feels like heaven to me.

Obviously, one of the most enjoyable things about traveling is trying all the new and different foods.  Noodles are probably the most famous type of food in Yunnan and before we came many people in Changzhou told us to make sure we ate a lot of noodles. I assured them that this wouldn't be a problem; I love noodles and they are a much welcome change from rice.  Here they are usually served in a broth with chunks of meat on top.  Another specialty of Yunnan is mushrooms – there are loads of them here and they are all cheap and delicious. 

 

The most well-known and interesting dish, however is a specific type of noodles called "Across-the-bridge-noodles".  When you order this, you get a bowl of really hot soup that has a thin layer of oil floating on top.  On the side you get lots of small plates filled with thin slivers of pork, beef and chicken.  We also got vegetables, a raw egg and a bowl of noodles.  We didn't know what we were doing at all when we ordered this dish and the waiters quickly instructed us to dump the meat and egg in the soup followed by the veggies and the noodles.  Then you can add some different spices and seasonings, wait a few minutes for everything to cook and eat your soup.

 

Sean was a little apprehensive about the safety of this dish since we put everything raw into the soup and then ate it soon after but we didn't get sick and the soup was pretty good.  The restaurant was packed with locals so apparently the Chinese enjoy it as well without getting sick.

 

According to my Lonely Planet guide book, this dish got its name because a woman married to an imperial scholar always had to bring him dinner.  Legend has it that the scholar liked to study on an isolated island only accessible by a bridge.  The wife had to get creative with the hot meals she brought her husband and apparently the noodle-soup dish was his favorite.  Thus it was named "Across the bridge noodles" in honor of her daily commute.

Yunnan used to be a province for banished Chinese officials but now it's considered to be one of China's gems because of the natural beauty and history here.  It's also home to more than half of the country's ethnic minority groups and is one of the places closest to Tibet that you can get to without actually entering the region.  While Sean and I really wanted to go to Tibet it can be tricky for foreigners to get in, it requires a lot of paperwork, you have to go with a group and it can be quite expensive.  Yunnan is a popular alternative.  While we have been here we have seen a lot of Chinese travelers and many Western ones as well who have simply continued on up on the 'banana pancake' trail from Vietnam.

 

We flew into Kunming, a very laid-back city of about one million, where the climate is about perfect all year round.  We've enjoyed hanging out here as there are a lot of parks, trees and plenty of places to walk without motorbikes or cars.  One of the places we walked to was the Tang-Dynasty Pagodas which were both in quiet parks filled with Chinese grandmas and grandpas looking after chubby babies, drinking tea and practicing Tai Chi.

 

After that we headed to Green Lake Park which was a huge area filled with ponds, walking paths, cafes, tea houses and street performers.  The weather was cool and dry and it was a great evening for walking around.  When we got back to the hostel we booked an overnight bus to Shang-Ri-La for the next night and spent the rest of the night playing cards (Cribbage and Rummy) and relaxing over some Beer Laos and spring rolls.  Sean specifically said that this trip he didn't want to stress out and try to see too much so we are trying to slow things down a bit and take it easy.  So far so good!

The wedding party was a blast but many people couldn't attend because of the crazy amounts of rain in Changzhou lately as well as in other parts of China.  Campus was flooded in many areas and I heard storms and heavy drops pounding on the roof of my house for days.  I'm going to write about my birthday party and the Chinese wedding bonanza when I am back in Changzhou, however, as it involves quite a few pictures.  Right now Sean and I are in Yunnan and I am using the Gmail à Blogger function which is limited in what you can post. We'll see how it works.

 

Daniel flew in from Xinjiang on Thursday night and it was so great to see him and catch up.  Saturday afternoon we three traveled together to Shanghai where Daniel got a hotel room in preparation to fly back to the U.S. in a day or two and Sean and I got a late-night flight to Kunming.  The trip from the apartments to the main gate to catch a cab was not at all fun as it involved wading through shin high water filled with who-knows-what.  We covered ourselves in rain ponchos or in Daniel's case, a garbage bag.

 

When we arrived at the airport we were sad to see a board full of red "delayed" or "cancelled" signs because of the heavy rains – it was out of control.  Fortunately our flight was only delayed about a half an hour and we reached Kunming at around 1 in the morning very tired and ready to sleep.  We took a cab to a hostel in the center of town called the "Hump Hostel".  It was recommended to Sean by many Frisbee players and had a great central location.  The only downfall to the place is that it's super noisy at night – at least they give you free earplugs when you check in.  Other than that we have enjoyed this place immensely; there's great food, a fun atmosphere (every room is booked) and the staff is very helpful in giving you directions to places in and around Kunming.  The weather is dry and clear and we are already feeling relaxed and ready to enjoy a couple of weeks of exploring Southwest China.

Blogging has taken a backseat lately to goodbye parties, wedding celebrations, final grades, birthday parties, trip planning and packing. We leave today for Yunnan province in Southwest China for two weeks and will be back in our city on July 1 or 2. I found this new Google application that lets me post to my blog from my Gmail account (which is helpful since Blogger is blocked here) so I will be trying that out on my trip.

Check out what one of my students made for me!

On Saturday morning I caught an early train out of Changzhou to Shanghai to catch the last of Sean's morning ultimate frisbee games in the Shanghai tournament. The tournament was held at a beautiful rugby football club on the outskirts of the city and it took me longer on the subway to get there than on the actual train.


Now, I'm an average fan of frisbee but I think it's safe to say that most participants of the sport are full-fledged fanatics. The interesting thing about the game is that it's become its own sub-culture with a serious language of uniquely frisbee jargon, strange and entertaining dress codes and a never-ending pursuit of a good time. Ultimate frisbee is also known for its great parties which I think has a lot to do with the rapid growth in popularity of the sport. . .


Don't get me wrong, the guys and gals that play seriously are super intense and lots of fun, but it's hard not to feel like a bit of an outsider on the sidelines with the other girlfriends and wives when we listen to odd shouts of advice and encouragement from the sidelines such as: Force home! Nice bid! Chilly chilly! No break! Tighten the cup! etc. I've also encountered quite a few downright crazy freaks; for some reason the sport seems to consistently attract some weirdos (one team name at the tourney was "Freak Show") but one thing every player has in common is an undying love for the game along with a beer in one hand.


The first rule of frisbee that I learned the hard way is that you don't call it a "frisbee", you call it a "disc." And it's not just any disc; the official one should be 175 g. What I learned as a fun game in gym class or on the beach is now an ultra-competitive league sport with its own strategy, uniforms and rules.


Sean played really well at the tournament; the only problem that he experienced was when his duck-taped cleats broke again - looks like it's time for some new ones. There were teams from all over Asia including several teams from China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. The final game was between the Philippines and Beijing with Beijing being the tournament winner. This game was especially interesting to watch as the handsome and popular soap opera star Derek Ramsey was a star player on the Philippine team. Every time he stood on the line ready to play you could hear shouts of "take it off!" or "we love you Derek!" etc. I got a few shots of him myself - pretty exciting.

These days have been going by in a blur and it seems that every space on my calendar is chock full of activities along with to-do lists a mile long. Here's some free advice: don't ever try and plan a wedding a half a world away but if you do make sure you have an amazing mom to help you. Fortunately, I do. Thanks for all of the endless help Mom! Let's be honest, I could have never done all of this without you.

Tomorrow morning, Qin Chen and I leave bright and early for the Shanghai International Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. Sean has already been there since Thursday afternoon practicing and partying with the team - all in the spirit of team bonding of course. We got our passports back in the nick of time, literally. While on his way out of the school's gate, Sean passed by our supervisor who handed him his freshly stamped right out of the police station.

Next weekend, Daniel, a good friend and former JSTU teaching colleague returns from the far West of China to join in our Chinese wedding celebration on Friday the 17th. So far there are about 36 people coming, but as you are not required to RSVP to weddings in China, who really knows for sure.


On the 18th, the day after the celebration, Sean and I fly to Kunming to travel for two weeks in Yunnan, a beautiful province in southern China. We had originally wanted to go to Hong Kong but since we couldn't with our new visa, Yunnan is a highly-recommended second choice. We are hoping to see Shang-ri-la, Tiger Leaping Gorge and lots of mountains and rice terraces. On the way back we might spend a few days in Hangzhou, a famous and historic Chinese city that we haven't made it to yet. Then on July 5 we fly back to the states!

These days on campus the students are feverishly studying for exams of all kinds. An acquaintance from my hometown is also in China and her blog is fantastic! For a great post on the Chinese college entrance exam check out this post and to read about the methods Chinese students use to dominate the American GRE test check out this post. I found her well-written commentary insightful and highly entertaining. In addition, a former JSTU English teacher turned Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan describes a really cool teaching idea to motivate students in his latest post - check it out!

The experience of a foreign male teacher is very different from a foreign female teacher in China, in my opinion. But I don't know, maybe it's just me.

Take Sean for example, the number of female freshmen students that have pretty obvious crushes on him is getting out of hand. They send him emails, they follow him around after class, they watch him run on the track, they wave, giggle and call hello whenever they seem him, they request frequent photo shoots and they bring him gifts. Don't ever let a guy try and tell you that it's tough being an English teacher in China. It's actually like being a rock star.

This phenomenon is not a new thing; many other previous male teachers had similar experiences at our school and the other guys that I work with at Web are also enjoying the benefits of being both male and American. Being a female foreign teacher, however, you do not get nearly as much attention, unless of course you count the numerous times a day that Chinese people point, whisper and stare at your chest if you are even a hair over a B-cup.

Students at English Corner love to talk about Sean and about love/relationships in general. It's like an obsession or current fascination right now and somehow our conversation always finds its way back. Just the other week I had a student of Sean tell me a quick story from her life. She said she had always wanted to marry a foreign man but her parents didn't want her to and refused to even consider such a crazy idea. Sean's student secretly took a picture of him during class and brought the picture home to show her mother. Her mother said that she could marry a foreign man but only if it was this specific man in the picture because he was so handsome. The student was literally grinning with delight in front of me as she told this story. I hear these stories a lot and it's getting a little old and then I have to remind Sean that if we ever work in South America, the tables might turn.

However, since the students often bring Sean gifts, I do benefit from these not-so-secret crushes in some ways. Consider the following email from one of Sean's devoted fans:

Hello! Sean:
How are you doing these days? I just came back to
school from home. As you know, today is Chinese traditional
Dragon Boat Festival and I brought some rice dumplings to
share with my roommates. I also brought some for you to try
. I know they are easy to come by in supermarkets
recently but I really hope you can try some home-made rice
dumplings. And I want to give them to you ASAP because the
earlier you eat them,the yummier they are tasted. Plus, I
have a new clue about a healthy dieting recipe, which is
different from what you've learnt, what you guys are told.
In a word, please respond to me as soon as you see
the e-mail. I don't know where your department is, what your
phone number is so it's hard for me to give them to you
now.
PS: please don't refuse my kindness because I'm not
gonna take NO for an answer and in return, I promise you
that they're really really delicious. Good Night!

A big thank you to Sean's student - they were delicious and we enjoyed them immensely!

Today (Monday) is a national holiday in China and as I write this, fireworks are going off and everyone is happy (including me) that we don't have to go to work or school today. The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a holiday during which people race dragon boats or watch dragon boat races and eat rice dumplings. I asked many students if they were going to see some races but nobody I talked to was actually going to watch. It seems most everyone prefers to stay at home, gorge themselves on rice dumplings and alcohol and watch some of the races on TV.


Unfortunately, I haven't seen a dragon boat race either but I've been watching them all day on TV. It's kind of like crew/rowing except that two rows of people sit in a boat that looks like a dragon and each person only has one paddle to use on one side. There is a person in the front of the boat who bangs a loud drum to signal the rhythm of the paddlers. Some of the races require the boats to make turns which requires some skillful maneuvering - it's actually quite an interesting spectacle to watch even if it's just on a television screen. Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

One of the things that my Chinese students really like to do is go out for hot pot. Hot pot is basically the Chinese version of fondue except you boil vegetables and meat in soup that you can actually drink. While the pot boils right in the center of your table you can drop cabbage, mushrooms, slices of meat, dumplings, tofu, potatoes and squid into it and then dip them into special sauces like garlic and peanut after they are done cooking. It's delicious!


At first, like many foods in China, I didn't like hot pot and avoided participating whenever a group was going. I thought it was annoying to have to do everything myself and then wait for my food to cook. I was also a little afraid that I didn't know how long to cook things for them to be safe to eat. In addition, cooking hot pot makes you really warm and sweaty not only because the food is spicy but also because there's a big vat of hot soup steaming and simmering at your table for hours. When you leave, your clothes and hair smell like hot pot so much that other people can sniff you and know exactly where you'd been.


However, this semester for some reason I've been craving hot pot. I like to choose my own foods, I love the taste of the soup after everything has been boiled in it and it's fun going with a big group and just hanging out while taking a long time to eat. In addition, I've finally gotten the hang of what's best to order and how long everything should cook.


Last week Thursday night I really wanted some hot pot so Qin Chen and the German teachers Annika and Cornelia and I decided to head out to eat some. When we arrived at a favorite place near campus, we were surprised (but not really) to see that it was being gutted and remodeled to be a shoe store. This is one of the annoying things about China - it's changing so fast that you can literally see your favorite hot pot place from the bus on your way home from the bus and then later that evening it's become a shoe store.


We simply went to a different hot pot place and got a pot that had a spicy side and a non-spicy side (thank goodness!). We ordered: mushrooms, beef, cabbage, pumpkin balls, shrimp balls, lots of tofu, potatoes, quail eggs, rice noodles and squid along with four icy beers. We had a blast and the food was incredible! It's a little tricky grabbing slippery things from the pot with chopsticks but nobody cared if we were clumsy or not. I really wish we had hot pot in the states because I know I'm going to be craving some in a month or two.

Goodness, I've forgotten what it's like to work full-time. It's exhausting. Now that my classes are finished I've been teaching at Web, a private English training institute, for 5 teaching hours 5 days a week. The frustrating thing is that they need help at a center that is far away from campus which requires an hour commute by bus each way. My lack of free time has nosedived and suddenly I'm having trouble finding available hours to correct finals and calculate grades, wedding and trip plan, study Chinese and hang out with Sean. It's been a rude awakening back into the working world.

Another frustrating thing is that we have to have our Chinese work visa renewed because ours is set to expire June 10 and we don't leave China until July 5. Normally that isn't a big deal but apparently our school is having some "problems with the government" according to my supervisor and I won't get my passport back until mid-June (I gave it to him a week ago). Unfortunately, to do a lot of things in China as a foreigner you need your passport. For example, Sean, Qin Chen and I have booked a hotel room in Shanghai so we can watch Sean play in the Shanghai ultimate frisbee tournament June 11 and 12. However, every single hotel in China requires foreigners to present their passports for inspection upon check-in. They don't accept copies - we've tried and failed before. We are not sure what we are going to do about this and after a rather tense meeting with our supervisor during which we complained and explained our problem, he didn't seem to think that there's anything he could do (even though all three of us are well-aware that there's no problem a little guanxi or bribe couldn't solve here).

Building on this, when we do eventually get our passports with new visas back, the visa extension doesn't allow re-entry into China. Again, normally this is not a big deal but Sean and I were planning on visiting Hong Kong before heading home. Although Hong Kong is considered part of China Chinese people need a special visa and passport to go there and if we enter Hong Kong we are considered to be leaving China. Our new visa extension does not allow for this which is a huge bummer. China is a huge country and there are plenty of other places to visit but we were kind of looking forward to checking out Hong Kong.

In other frustrating news, I got an email with a newsletter from the U.S. embassy in Shanghai that read "News: Foreigners may face rail ticket delay." The email went on to explain that due to new rules, foreigners will now be required to show their passport when buying train tickets and that they will not be allowed to buy tickets from automated machines anymore (an easy, convenient and fast system). The rule, which also requires Chinese people to scan their ID card upon ticket purchase, was put into effect June 1 and is supposed to cut down on the number of scalpers while improving railway station security. This is going to be a pain for expats as lines to buy tickets are already long and most tellers don't speak English. In addition, the new rule makes it risky for people to get tickets for you (as we often do) as one person will have to go with all of the ID cards and passports. As you can see, we are kind of in a bind here as well because we won't get our passports until mid-June. Sean is on his way to Shanghai now to play frisbee since he bought his ticket in May, but he's wondering how he's going to get a ticket back to Changzhou tomorrow morning. . .

Alas, it's not always fairy tales, rainbows and sunshine living and working abroad.