Pictures from Independent Travel

How the majority of my time was spent

In Beijing, outside of the Forbidden City. So many people!

Front of the Forbidden City

Great Wall

Just for size, also in the Forbidden City

At the Temple of Heaven

Our flight from Sanya to Beijing.

You have to have Peking Duck when in Beijing

Independent Travel Week

Sorry guys! I actually had my independent travel week September 28th through October 4th. Normally we would be doing our group travel during this time, but because things booked up so fast our program advisor had to move things around. And I am just posting about it now because I have been sooo busy [aka too lazy] to sit down and upload photos. But fear not! I will post pictures all over the place this time!!!

The first part of our independent travel a large group of us, 13 people, went down to Sanya, China. This little town is the second most furthest city in China, and is often referred to as the "Hawaii" of China. Fun fact: most of the signs were in Russian and Chinese. I guess this is also a hot spot for Russian travelers. Not such a great place for English speaker, but alas... it made us use our Chinese that we have been trying to pick up.

We basically spent 5 days laying on the beach and soaking up the sun. One of the days down there we went on an organized tour with our group to a remote town. There we kayaked on the ocean to a snorkeling spot, went on a short hike, then kayaked back to the private beach to have a barbeque. Fun day, but also very tiring.

The second part of the trip was spent in Beijing. The group broke up after this. It was just me and my four other girl friends out and about. All blond. Lots of attention. Should have charged people for all the pictures we had taken... We did all kinds of fun stuff. Saw the Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and went to the Hongqiao Pearl Market. Lots to see in little time. But hey, it was great action-packed fun. We took a high speed train back to Shanghai and proceeded to sleep for hours.

Our routine thus far has been basically the same. Chinese class Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 am to noon. And of course my Management class on Wednesday and Economics on Thursday. We have also had some small field trip like adventures around Shanghai that I will share more with later. (Can't talk about everything I have done in this post... I wouldn't have any more stories to tell later on)

Hope you enjoy my new videos and pictures!!

 

 

 

 

First Vlog (Video Blog)

So I am now going to start uploading some videos along with other pictures and blog posts. I feel like it adds dimension and character to my overall blog. And I feel that you get better first hand experience on my life in China! No worries, it won't be just video based, just a bunch of random things that I want to share with all my family, friends, and anyone else who is following my journey.

Hangzhou

Pronounced hong-joe :)

So the weekend of September 22nd and 23rd my friends and I made a quick weekend trip to a nearby city. Famous for its Temples, Pagodas, and of course the West Lake!

Early Saturday morning we loaded up a high speed train and ventured to the beautiful city. It was really breath taking in its serenity. The main attraction being the lake, we all walked around the lake and made rounds in the city.

Sunday morning we woke up early again and made way to the Lingyin Temple. It was so huge, the scenery was gorgeous. There were several smaller temples inside as well as several tea fields growing. My friends and I didn't really know what to do when we would walk through a temple and awkwardly watch as Chinese people prayed. One of the Chinese roommates was kind enough to explain the different temples, and the different statues and what they meant or did.

Where you go to pick out what food you wanted

Around noon we were famished and made way back into Hangzhou for some food. We found our way to an interesting Chinese restaurant. As we sat down the waiter came by and told us to follow him... confused we followed to see what he wanted. He led us back to a room filled to the brim with tons of live fish and crab and various still alive marine creatures. Apparently you are supposed to pick out what you want, they cook it for you, then you eat it. I stuck to fried rice and shrimp, the others had some crab, fish, and noodles.

After the interesting lunch we finally got to the lake. Paid for a boat and floated on the river/went sightseeing for about an hour.

Boat Tour

The last and final stop we made was to the Chinese Traditional Medicine Museum. Everything dating back to the beginning of Chinese Medicine was to be found in this place. Unfortunately by this point I was so tired that nothing could interest me more than the sight of my bed, after walking all day I was ready to be back in Shanghai.

The trip to Hangzhou was a short, simple, and sweet getaway that is just what we needed. It is nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of such a large city. You take for granted not hearing the subway or the sound of car horns.

Well... That's gonna be it for now, I have another Chinese Test tomorrow that I need to study for.




Still to come are my most recent trips to Sanya, China (the "Hawaii" of China) and then Beijing. And in a couple of weeks our whole study abroad program will be going to Hong Kong, Macau (the Las Vegas of China), and some hot springs.

Part of the hike to the top of Lingyin Temple