happy chinese halloween

the branch had it's annual halloween party tonight. i went as a pu sa (Buddhist statue). easy! and didn't cost more than $4.00. all you need is a red rain coat, some ribbon from the shoe repair vendor, and a packet of incense - voila, pu sa. the branch president said that he may have to re-interview me to see if i could still hold a temple recommend. hope everyone has a wonderfully scary (and fun) halloween!

NAME THAT TUNE

have you seen the ghost of john?
long white bones and the skin all gone....
oooooh, ooooooh
wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?

back in nanjing

i'm finally back home. whew! it was a long and very fun 10 day whirl wind tour of China, and even then we only saw the hot spots (terracotta soliders, xiaolin temple, longmen grottos, tiananmen square, Olympic venues, forbidden city, the great wall {see photo to left} ~ and more). myself and the students were wiped out when we pulled in early sunday morning to nanjing. we traveled on overnight trains and then toured around in buses in the respective cities we visited (luoyang, xi'an and beijing).

it's now tues morning and i'm finally back in the swing of nanjing. to start the day i made my first of 10 visits to my new acupuncture doctor. in october, while shamefully eating at a mcdonald's, i met a guy from Portugal who is here studying acupuncture. he has been under the tutelage of one of China's best acupuncture doctors for 2 months now. i was pretty excited to meet him as i've wanted to have some serious acupuncture done on my lower back. (for those who are unaware, i suffered a major injury to my lower back 2 years ago and it's not quite been the same since).

now that life is back in a quiet rhythm i met my new friend Joao this morning and he took me to the clinic. later i learned that the place lines up with people starting about 6:30am. i walked right in and was immediately given a table to lay down on. of course everyone was shocked and awed that i could speak mandarin, so after going through that conversation i tried to explain in my very limited medical chinese vocab the problem. fortunately, there was a female student, Miss Sun, who knows enough medical terms in English that we able to get through the moment.

i then laid face down on the table while the doctor proceeded to insert about 10 needles into my lower back and light up the moxibustion (little burning things on the top or each needle). it didn't hurt, just felt a little weird. while i lay there for a 1/2 hour the whole area heated up but didn't burn. once the needles had been removed, another, younger, doctor came over and gave me a good rub down. after that came the fun part of sucking bamboo cups to my back. they heat them up so a suction effect is created, then release and then re-suctioning them on. it was funky! almost hurt, but not quite.

most of the other waiting patients in the clinic were unabashedly watching the foreigner with her bum 1/2 exposed get the treatment. i found it a lot of fun, especially when they kept asking questions about if one can get this in the states, how much it costs, etc. everyone in china does this for health healing. it's great. most hospitals here have both western and eastern medicine practices available as a standard.

after finishing up (and everyone watching me pull my clothing back together), the doctor told me to come back every other day for 10 times. then he wrote up the bill for 10 times --- it costs a whopping $75! i went to get acupuncture once in the states, and it wasn't even as good as this clinic, and it cost me $65 (which is why i didn't return).

the dr. thinks that within 10 visits i should be as good as new. even after 1 treatment today i feel better and have more energy than i've had in years. it's remarkable. i'm so happy to be in china right now! be assured - he used needles clean from a package ~ that's the special foreigner treatment.

china in 10 days

china in 10 days

through china

i have been traveling with my student group from nanjing to 3 different chinese cities and ending in beijing. it is part of our program - 10 day study tour. i have so much to complain about my job!

i will post a lot of my photos later as limited on what internet access i have these days. for the most part our trip has gone swimmingly. speaking of which, we visited the famous olympic buildings here in beijing yesterday. it might sound strange, but they seemed 'smaller' than i expected. the bird's nest (the olympic stadium where the opening ceremonies were held) is as big as any large sports arena i've been too - BYU football, UofU stadium - and indeed looks like a bird's nest. the water cube is VERY cool a 5 minute walk right across the way from the bird's nest.

china never ceases to surprise me, which is probably why i like it here so much. after spending the equivalant of the US's annual budget on their olympic venues it seems no one is quite sure what to do next. i had expected that all the tourist stuff would be set up in the strict way that it has every other tourist spot wired.

once we showed up our bus was unclear where to park. after driving around for a time that was finally figured out. no signs were posted as to how and where to access the entrance to the bird's nest so we just followed the pods of people wearing red tour group hats and their flags. even our own tour guide was running around trying to find out where and what to do. finally, we walked about as far away as you can get from the parking area to a make shift ticket station and entry.

once we were in the bird's nest complex it was a free for all. people swarming all over the stadium. which is really unusual for China as most tours are very scripted and regimented. the track was covered where people were crossing to get onto the field, and the field itself was covered in large swaths of fake turf. none of this seemed to be truly protecting the grounds. in the middle of the field was a couple of blow up cartoon character mascots that we saw in the olympics then on each corner of the field were manicans sporting the various costumes of the opening ceremonies. (the manicans wearing the fuffy prom dresses had blown over by the wind and where taking a lay down break).

people were swarming everywhere while the music sound track from the olympics played. some were snapping photos, others walking around enjoying seeing the stadium from the ground level and many others were just sitting on the ground in the sun. we joined them sitting in the sun and myself, along with several students, took the moment to enjoy a nap.

as one of my student's put it "sometimes china won't let you touch a thing and other times the kids are pee'ing on it." it never makes sense. it would be a shame if china can't figure out what to do with these beautiful buildings, but i have no doubts that within a year the tourist industry will be have a full blown infrastructure of tours and memoroblia to sell.

i didn't have time to go into the water cube, although i would like to someday. it is not in the cards for this trip, but i will be back in december with my friend on our dec. travels so perhaps then. i am just happy to say that during my life time i took a nap in a chinese bird's nest.

xi'an - children

this time to China has been a journey of new discovery and joy for me. today was no exception. church was held in a small hotel on a local campus here in Xi'an where we are currently staying for a couple of days. while there we met a wonderful woman, Amanda. She has opened a foster care home for orphan babies, most of whom have severe health problems. in the 3 years that she has been open she has successfully adopted out 15 little ones to foreign families who willingly take on kids with such issues as spina bifada, brain damage, hydrocephalus, cleft palates, etc. (featured photo is one of my guy students holding a 1+ month old little guy with a cleft palate.)

her foundation survives on the good graces of volunteer workers, financial donations, goods donations and volunteer medical assistance.

while we were scheduled to see all kinds of 800 year old historical places after church, i instead worked it out with our tour guides to make room for an hour visit to her foster home. we filled the small apartment that acts as the foster care home, it was already teeming with 20 children and their caretakers (aunties). my students asked a few questions of Amanda, who then rushed out the door to finalize an adoption with a couple from Holland. we then spent over an hour holding the babies, playing with them and touched first hand small people's lives who start out with so many difficulties. i have 13 big strong American guys in my group, and the most touching part was to watch them tenderly hold these little ones in their big arms.

on the way to dinner there was much talk of "what to do." so far some of the students plan to come back to Xi'an in November to volunteer work for a few days, we are going to eat as cheap as possible for a week when we return to Nanjing and donate the extra funds to the foundation, and much more. after talking and brain-storming we sat for about 15 minutes of silence on the bus. my thoughts turned to what i could do - the first thing is to invite any who read my blog to consider spending some of your Christmas gift funds in support of Amanda's cause. you can visit her website to learn how to assist:

http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/

hua shan

I haven’t had a lot of time lately, but once again I am on trains, buses and hotels traveling this time with the student group. But before I catch everyone up on the present there is more to tell about our trip to Xi’an during national holiday.

My friend Chris requested a “Chinese” experience while in China. Which meant doing as the Chinese do no matter where we were or what we were doing. This included eating breakfast at the local shops, finding back alley noodle shops for lunch and riding the buses and trains with the locals (for local prices) instead of following the more expensive and foreigner ridden tours. 2 hours out of Xi’an is Hua Shan (Hua Mountain). There are 5 famous mountains in China (Yellow Mountain is not one of them as it stands on it’s own), and their history is riddled with famous historical figures climbing, worshipping, committing suicide, etc from these peaks. The Chinese have as saying that you can climb all the 5 famous mountains in China, but once you have been to Yellow Mountain nothing else compares. Since I started out with the best first it only makes sense to visit the others and see for myself if they really pale in comparison. Chris, had suggested we spend one of our Xi’an days hiking the place so I enquired on where to catch the necessary transportation and we started early with our Chinese breakfast in hand.
The only indication we had that it “might” be crowded when the girls at the hostel mentioned that waiting for the cable car to the top was taking 2 hours of line waiting and that all the tours were full. Nothing could have prepared for what we encountered. Arriving at the transfer bus station in Hua Shan village we saw tall cattle fencing partitions set up to funnel a snake line into the arriving buses. These buses are dedicated to carting tourist to the trailhead/cable car area. The buses were moving fairly quickly, so we only had to squish in the line for a ½ hour making friends with a family from the North of China who were also tourists in town. We were the ONLY white people in this line.

Once we arrived at the trailhead and waiting another ½ hour in line at the bathroom we headed to the cable car line thinking to save our energy and hike around the top trails/peaks instead. A loud speaker was blaring informing the crowd that there was a 2-3 hour wait for the cable car ride. After a quick discussion we decided that at least hiking we would be doing something instead of just standing around, plus the hike was rumored to be only 2-2.5 hours.
Off we went to stand in line to head up the hill. Again, stone steps, straight up and the trail was more narrow that Yellow Mountain had offered. It was slightly hot so it didn’t take long before I had the sweat pumps moving. We had made a friend on the bus from Xi’an to Hua Shan, Emma, a college student from Sichuan province so the 3 of us hiked (staired), passed people in front of us, dodged other resting in the middle or the side of the staircase, rested, took a few photos and plugged on. The 1st 1.5 hrs was doable then we came to the part where hiking became scaling up an almost 80 degree staircase gripping the rusting chains fastened to the side of the rock (thankfully) and not looking back. The scramble up was unnerving in an of itself, but then factor in people in front of you, behind you and to the side coming down the opposite direction (refer to photo).

Now consider that as we neared the top and scrambled several more of these steep stair cases all those who were on the cable car were clogged at the top where those who we hiking were merging. It was a traffic jam of people to get to the top ridge. I actually waiting in line on the side of a steep stone mountain to get somewhat near the beginning of the top. IT WAS NUTS! The best part was that everyone kept complaining about how many people were there, how long it took to get to the top, etc etc. No one thought that perhaps they were contributing to the situation.

Also along the way we made several friends, Li Mama and her niece. Li Mama had her little black purse in one hand and a plastic bag of fruit and food in the other. She was 62 years old, she bragged. They had left the husbands at the bottom with the kid to wait in line for the cable car. We tagged teamed with them on the ascent stopping to talk and share food, and they would give us the update on the wait time for the car below. By the time we all made it to the top the husbands were still at the bottom in line for the car.

By the time we squished, shoved and wiggled our way to the top we were starving. A few enterprising Chinese were selling hot ramen-like noodles for 10 yuan a bowl ($1.50) and they could barely keep up with the demand. We slapped down the money and tried to find a spot to sit that wasn’t “too” close to the bathroom that they had set up shop. Plopping down on a small piece of cement slab I consciously ignored the heaps of garbage that had been left by the crowds and plugged my nose if the bathroom smells happened to waft our way. Near the end of our meal I happened to notice and promptly forget that there was a good sized pile of human excrement under a little tree not more than 10 feet from us.

After lunch, since we still hadn’t reached any ridge to speak of, Chris and I climbed up the steepest run of stairs yet and were able to snap a few photos and see the other side for about 45 minutes. But time was of the essence since now it was 2pm and whether we waiting (for 4 hours) for the cable car down, or hiked down we were barely going to make the bus back to our transfer station. After a bit of debate and some advice from Li Mama and her niece we all decided to hike it down together.

Again, I waited in line for 2 hours as the crowd slowly, step by steep step made their way down about 5-6 steep runs of carved steps all the while pushing through oncoming traffic. Several times I had to remind the people behind me to not push as – well - pushing someone on a steep mountain might result in serious injury if not death.

It took us nearly 2 hours to get to the section of the trail that was less steep and therefore less crowded. This section is about 2/3 of the total trail. Total it took us about 3 hours to hike down. Li Mama carried her purse the whole way, never complained and not once mentioned that her feet hurt in what we would call house shoes that she wore all day.

As we made it out to the bottom of the trail we cheered ourselves and other on, took a lot of sweaty tired photos and slowly made our way back to our transfer buses. Where we thankfully sat down and then transferred to our bus back to Xi’an. Both Chris and I could hardly move and going down any amount of stairs for the next 4 days was painful. But as Chris put it, “Probably not something I would do again under the same circumstances, but I’m so glad I did.”

(PS: Chris and I only saw 7 other foreigners the entire day – otherwise it was a sea of Chinese. THAT is a Chinese experience.)

hua shan photos - the "big climb"

more chinese messages

little bow peep:

danger!

i had forgotten how concerned with danger the chinese are. the topic is frequently discussed as to what is dangerous. things like traveling to the States is dangerous because everyone there has a gun waiting to shoot at you as soon as you step off the plane. traveling in China, to anywhere outside of where one lives and is familiar with, is dangerous.

and yet! the seat belts in taxi's are rarely used and most of the back seat belts are either cut off or completely covered up by seat covers. i have watched pedestrians not even look both ways and wander out into oncoming traffic fully trusting that that big bus will slow, or barely miss them (which they always do!). or like my friend in the photo, and all his construction buddies on the project of my 6 story building, climb around on metal pipe scafolding with tennis shoes, no safety harnesses and no platforms between bars. washing dishes at a public street eatery means rinsing out the bowls and spoons with cold water and leaving them stacked, wet, on the counter top that has been wiped off with a towel that has never been washed - ready for the next customer to use.

over the past week i noticed that the stove top in my kitchen smelled of gas. i told my maid who commented on how dangerous that was. she contacted the landlady who immediately called the gas company. the gas guy sure enough detected a couple of leaks and shut off the pipes telling me all the while that this was very dangerous. then my handman showed up this morning with the stove guy to replace the old stove and fix the problem. the handyman spoke fast and furious saying the work "dangerous" about 20 times.

they were planning on just replacing the stove top since it was old and seemed to have the most obvious leaking problem. but the day before the gas guy had also detected a dangerous leak near the turn off valve on the pipe system, and i wanted to make sure that was addressed as well - since this is very dangerous. to validate that there was a leak there too i showed the handyman the document that the gas guy has written up about the situation (lots of scribbly chinese with gas lines vocab - nothing i could read).

mr. stove guy was all the while busy installing the stove. after hearing our discussion and mr handyman guy saying some things to him, he pulled out his cigarette lighter fired it up and put it right next to the turn off valve where the leak had been detected. "nope, no leak here" - then he put the lighter next to the back of the new stove to test that spot... still OK.

i hurriedly backed out of the room and went to my office, the furthest part of the apartment, and closed the door. about 5 minutes later mr handyman (telling me not to turn on the gas at all cause this was very dangerous and it needed to be fixed properly) informed me that the new stove top also had some leaking problems so he and stove guy would return tomorrow with a new stove top, and new piping to fix the turn off valve area. i'm not sure what changed their minds - but their high tech testing methods must have shown some leaking as they will be back tomorrow to fix my most dangerous situation. no hot oatmeal for me in the morning.

soliders

so i won't explain the terracotta soliders much except to say that they were originally over 6,000 of them and Mr. Qin Shi Huang (China's first real emperor) had them built in 221-207 BC in order to guard him and his tomb in the hereafter. they were discovered in the late 1970s and the farmer who first pulled a head of one from a well was paid a handsome sum of 30 yuan for his efforts (about $4.50 us).

once Mr. Wang (the farmer) discovered the guys the CCP reclaimed the land, that was already theirs, and began excavating the area. since then they have built a fully equipped tourist viewing complex the largest of which is about the size of a football field. i always like visiting one of the 7 wonders of the world, but never again during Chinese holiday.

again, LOTS of people everywhere. herding, herding, pushing, shoving, elbowing, stepping on toes, squishing between each other, violating my personal space bubble over and over, sweating, pushing, elbowing - that about sums up my experience at the solider's home this time around.

at the enterance to complex 1 hangs a sign forbidding the use of flash or tripods when taking pictures - since everyone else ignored the sign, and the guards just looked on, i freely used my flash and got several good shots. after standing my ground at the railing for as long as i could stand it, i finally had had enough and went outside to breathe some un-recycled air and have sit where no one would push me off my place. there are 3 complexes of the excavation and 1 museum. seeing the displays was difficult given the crowds so we eventually just ended up outside.

before you enter the complex there are several women in nice purple suits offering to guide you around and give a tour (for as small sum of course). one of these fine ladies was standing off to the side of a doorway and i had a quesiton that i can now not remember. she enthusiastically answered it and before i knew it was on a tour! she mentioned that Mr. farmer Wang - yes! THE guy that found the soliders - was that very day signing books in the book store.

this peaked our interest so she dragged us over there, telling us all about the soliders, all about Mr. Wang and how he used to have dark hair, but now he had turned grey. he had met Pres. Clinton when Clinton visited China, we could look at the guy, but we couldn't take photos.... etc etc.

when we walked into the bookstore a mob of people were pressed up against the table behind which sat Mr. Wang, with a helper on either side of him. as promised he was elderly. there he sat while hoards of people squished, pushed and elbowed to catch a look. he leisurely smoked a long pipe while open books were put in front of him to sign. a large photo of him shaking Clinton's hand hung behind him for all to see as a verification that this was indeed "the man."

our newly non-hired tour guide swept us over to the side of the table where stacks of books and postcards were being sold - and if you bought the package for 200 yuan ($30.00) Mr. Wang would sign your copy. my friend, Chris, didn't want a chinese copy of the book as - well she couldn't read it - so i was trying to figure out how we could get an English copy for her. they didn't have English copies in the stack and the mob was getting anxious. as i'm trying to figure out how to get an English copy, ms. tour guide is telling me to just buy a Chinese copy and swap it in the bookstore, (which i had my doubts could would happen), the woman selling the books starts yelling at ms. tour guide and the crowd starts squishing me up against the table - all the while Mr. Wang sits behind the table with all the space in world smoking his long pipe and signing if he feels like it.

finally, i had had enough, i shoved my way backwards through the crowd and tried to ditch ms. tour guide. it didn't take long before she found us - since were some of the few foreigners around. "follow me! follow me - i'll help you get an English book then he can sign it" and she headed towards the book store thinking we would follow. chris and i followed her about 10 steps then took a sharp right into the crowds and out the door. not only do think she was going to later tell us that we owed her a tour fee, but i believe she was getting some kind of kick back from the book sales.

i sat on the ledge of a flower garden while chris took a deep breath, waited long enough for ms. tour guide to fade away and then plunged back in to find the english copy and get a signature. while sitting on the ledge i started a conversation with the Chinese guy next to me about life and where he was from, etc. of course the topic turned to Mr. Wang and this lucrative practice of signing books. my new friend told me that since the soliders had become so popular the government took good care of Mr. Wang, as they should. then he said "but i have my doubts if that's even the real guy." i asked him why he felt this way, he didn't have a solid reason, just that it was possible and most likely.

chris made it out alive with an English copy of the book and a large illegible signature in the front of her book. at that point we were done with crowds and needed a bathroom. after looking at the map and doing some deductive logic we decided to head for the bathroom on the further most reaches of the complex next to the movie house. for once we actually outsmarted the crowds as no one was there and we didn't have to wait in yet another line (or mash into a crowd).

after taking care of business we wandering into the movie depicting the soldiers, their creation and eventual demise that is shown in a round-about movie theater. it was actually one of the best parts of the whole day. coming out of the movie we were funneled, not surprisingly, through the gift shop. it was time for an ice cream so i rewarded myself with one. when i asked the very bored, and not so service minded service lady where a garbage can was she pointed down to the floor behind the counter. then i asked her if she could help me throw away my ice cream cone paper, she said no, it's his - and pointed to some guy sitting next to her. (wouldn't it be nice to have a garbage can dedicated only for your personal use?)

i hadn't noticed the fellow before so i looked over and there sat an elderly Chinese guy and on the wall above him was a photo of him motioning to the soldiers in the background. not one person was talking to him, or near his table but there were plenty other people like myself looking at him wondering what it all meant. i asked the "service" lady who he was. "He's the guy that discovered the soldiers." i then said "I thought that guy was over in the bookstore signing books." she held up her hand, all fingers showing, "There were 5 of them." huh, but he hadn't shook Clinton's hand otherwise there would have been a photo ~ so it seems that Mr. Wang has several friends who also come around and sign books for 100 yuan a pop. just as long as you are an old Chinese guy with a photo of you and the soldiers it seems there is some cash to be made. i'm forever amazed at the enterprising spirit of the Chinese, even at some of their most prominent National tourist attractions.

chinese holiday

as mentioned, the CCP (chinese communist party) allowed the whole country a week off ~ which translates into everyone in 1/4 of the world's population traveling around and seeing stuff. i'm not sure what thought processes went into my decision to join them, but i had time off, my friend was here from the States and so why not get squished, jolted, bumped, elbowed and stepped on for a week?

while in Xi'an we had a fully planned out schedule but no matter how much i gazed into my "how to avoid the crowds" crystal ball there was no way around it so we brazenly dove in. the first night we got there we headed to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. this was built some time long long ago and housed some famous monk(s). since it's construction a long long time ago the CCP built a tiered water fountain show off to the side of it consisting of about 6 large 1/2 acre platforms that are equipped with water spouts that shoot up out of the ground and every which way dancing to music and narration that is blared over loudspeakers. apparently, we weren't the only tourists/locals who had heard about this cause it seemed that the whole town, the surrounding countryside and a few other million people came to see the show too.

we staked out a spot on the ledge around the top tier and watch as the crowds grew, and grew and grew. just before it was supposed to start someone decided there was the smallest of entry way right next to Chris and so people kept pushing their way through the rabbit hole to get into the inside in order to see better. finally we spread our feet and held ground which then resulted in us being pushed from the wall of people behind us. we did let a few kids squeeze through, but adults were held back. it was only annoying if i let it be.

when the water started spewing it caught some people out in the middle - most entertaining - and then for the next 30+ mintes water ran, people ran and everyone stood out by the water for a photo moment - because i'm part Chinese i too had a turn, and even got it with a tall military guy - see photo. it was the first of our crowd adventures. it was only got more crowded as the days went on.

on to xi'an

xi'an china is most famously the home of the terracotta soldiers. the soldiers reside about an hour bus ride outside of the city in an open countryside surrounded by pomegrate groves and rice fields, but there is so much more to see in xi'an than our guys in dusty grey.

xi'an was a long time capitol of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) and it has the last remaining fully in-tact city wall in China. it is also the end of the silk road that came across China from the west. via that route came buddism and other Western cultural ideas, people and goods.

we stayed at the Xiang Zi Men youth hostel near the south gate of the city - the biggest and most famous of all the gates. the hostel is a beautifully restored building in the style of Ming dynasty. one of the cleanest and well-run places i've ever stayed in (bar a 5 star hotel).

after our overnight train ride to arrive in xi'an (we shared a 4 person soft sleeper compartment with our 3 yr old Ding Ding, his mom and his grandma - he was so cute, very chatty and went to sleep early ~ whew!) we checked in to the hostel, ate and showered then headed for the south gate.

in the court yard of the south gate a stage was set up for some type of cultural show in celebration of the Chinese National Holiday. there were guys dressed in traditional Tang dynasty warring wear, another group dressed in Tang dynasty courtyard outfits and lots of other people milling about. it looked interesting, there were seats available so we sat down for a watch. first the guys in uniform did a military re-enactment. then this troupe of Chinese yo-yo performers came out and did an amazing show for us with their toys. after that the Tang concert group performed their music. (see below for photos). it was as lot of fun and i took about 150 photos just to get a few good ones.

after that we wandered to the top of the wall and pushed our way to the front of the line to rent some creaky bikes to ride the circumference of the wall. 100 minutes for 40 yuan. pretty good deal! we set out on our bikes for about a 7 mile ride. the road on top of the wall is made of large bricks which makes for a bumpy ride and the seat post of my bike felt as though it had bumped along this journey so many times that any time it threatened to come up through the middle of the seat. i sat lightly and rode hard.

it was a beautiful day - and it was one of the most fun things i have ever done in China. see below for all our photos.

xi'an south gate performance

training for a century on the wall

on top of the xi'an wall

shanghai

October 1^st is the Chinese National Holiday, a celebration of the Communist take over of China in 1949. This was year 59. Since Oct 1^st fell on a Wednesday everyone originally had Wed - Fri off work and then of course the weekend. About 2 weeks after we arrived here it was decided by the biggies in Beijing that the country deserved a whole week off. So everyone worked and went to class on Sat/Sun to make up for missing Mon/Tues then the country mobilized starting starting Sunday PM.

Getting train tickets anywhere was an experience in Chinese bureaucracy in and of itself that involved a lot of decoding of the system and the frequent use of words like “what ? why? How?” More than anything it was a class in cultural training that no powerpoint presentation could attempt. We all managed to use our magic language skills to acquire the appropriate transportation and made our way out into China. My students went every which way and I boarded a train for my first stop on Sunday after church - Shanghai.

A Deer Valley co-worker, Chris Rock, took me up on the invite to visit China while I am here. She was scheduled to arrive 3.5 hours before my train pulled in. We were to be greeted by some of her friends who live in Shanghai and teach at one of the local colleges, Fred and Joyce. About 4 days before I left I had emailed Fred, but he had not replied with a phone number to call or plans to connect. Besides email I had no way of getting ahold of him. The train was leaving regardless, so I joined the herd of Chinese at the station and hoped for the best. Fortunately, I had given Chris my cell number.

It has been 14 years since I have been to Shanghai ~ and the train station is still the crazy zoo I remembered. With the trains completely packed, and everyone exiting at once, I could only walk slowly to the exit. From observation, I was the only white person in sea of Chinese. It is difficult to describe exactly how many people are in this country, but it is almost scary to be with so many people in a tight space. Somehow I escaped to the outside and began wandering. Since I didn’t know if Fred had my cell, and I had no knowledge if Chris had actually arrived, my back up plan was to get a hostel somewhere and get on the internet to try and at least email them.

About 15 minutes after coming out of the craziness the station to the outside craziness my phone and wandering around like a lost tourist dragging her suitcase around my phone rang ~ it was Chris, et.al. They had begged a phone off a Chinese guy who spoke minimal Enlgish. After a few more calls, some deciphering of the Chinese guy's unintelligible English and a quick ride on a motorcycle taxi to the other side of the station we finally connected.

(I have to say that I was impressed with Mr. Wang’s (my motorcycle taxi driver) ability to strap my suitcase to the back of his motorcycle, along with his knowledge of the fine American sport of WWF wrestling. I did have to bald face lie that I didn’t have a cell phone that he repeatedly requested the number for. I passed up a fine opportunity for him to call me later and show me around the town. He did, however, give me his number just in case I wanted to see places in Shanghai that no one else goes to.)

My first night in Shanghai was spent eating at an Isreali restaurant and then breezing through the knock-off market to see what China is copy producing these days for the interested consumer. North Face Jackets, Gortex ski pants, Spyder wear for kids – these were the things I was most interested in.

It wasn't until the next morning that I pulled out the cash but even walking by a shop is mildly dangerous to even glance or stop briefly at a shop. The sales person will practically accost you and drag you in all the while telling you in English about the good quality, prices, etc. An expressed interest, or touch to an item immediately produces several versions and sizes being dragged out for your viewing pleasure. Then comes the bargaining:

“you like? 300 yuan, I sell you good price – 300 yuan”

“I’ll give you 100 yuan”

“oh lady! That too little! This good price, good quality, OK OK, 280 yuan – good price”

“No, I think 100 yuan is OK”

“I work so hard, this good – you see you see here, good quality, good sewing, fabric special and North Face”

(I start to walk away)

“OK OK OK – (pulling me back into the store) I sell 210 yuan”

At this point I stick to the 100 yuan price and just start walking away and down the hallway.

(Running down the hallway to catch me and physically drag me back to the store) “OK OK – you come here, you speak Chinese so good, from America – big country. I give you special price, 130 yuan”

“100 yuan” (cause I really don’t want to get it for more and there are 20 more shops with the same exact stuff)

Look of distress - “OK, OK! 110 yuan, that best price, 110 yuan”

At this point it’s $1.50 US more than 100 yuan so I agree. I pull out my cash from my secret passport pouch while they wrap it up in a big bag for transport. I have no idea what their profit margins are, but I feel I got a deal and they made something otherwise they wouldn’t have sold it to me at the 110 yuan price.This was our Monday morning was spent, as my friend Chris put it, “like a cow in a Parana stream.” Treasures were found, and the prices were good but I worked for it.

Our plan after shopping was to ascend to the 100^th floor of the newest tall bldg in Shanghai the Financial Trade Center. (the bldg pictured to the side with the hole in the top) We arrived at the center into the first of our upcoming week’s experience in Chinese tourist travel – lots of people.

The line outside didn’t look too bad, however there was a sign placed at the snaky line entrance advertising that the wait to the top would be 2 hours. OK – we lined up with everyone else. We waited for 30 minutes to be allowed into the downstairs ticket issuing area where we waited another 45 minutes to buy tickets. After scanning our bags, etc and doing the safety check thing we waited in another line for another 20 minutes to watch the “preview show.”

We were stuffed into a dark space-agey room. In the center was a large replica of the building enclosed in a round plexiglass casing. All the lights dimmed, the building started to spin then more things spun and laser lights flashed while cartoon fish and other cutesy animals swam around it. If you watched it long enough you began to feel like you were a cute fishy swimming dizzily around spinning building. The purpose the "preview show" was never clear but everything stopped spinning and flashing we waited a little while longer to get in the elevator that took us to the 97^th floor feeling a little dazed sick.

Once on the 97^th floor, where we could view the city almost as well as from the 100^th floor, we realized that we had to wait in another 1 hour line to take the special elevator up to our destination the 100^th floor. By this time we were invested, but I was so hungry (as it was 2pm) the my patience for Chinese people in general was gone and all I could think about was how I was beginning to hate being 97 floors in the sky. To avoid losing it I sucked on a few Altoids. By the time we got to the 100^th floor, took all our photos and did the appropriate ooo aaaah over the height and the newness of the place we immediately descended to the bottom and found the nearest bathroom – all the while wondering if it was worth it.

The toilets in the bathroom were more equipped and had more "cleaning" options than my local car wash. First of all the seat was heated, very nice. Then, off to the side of the bowl was a full panel of buttons offering you cleaning of your choice, TP was only required for drying. A stream of water would shoot up from inside the toilet, and depending on what you preferred, you could select front back or middle with complete adjustable options in both strength of stream, temperature levels, timer, on/off switch, etc. All three of us women took more than our usual time in the stall (see side photo for visual). It was only then that we decided that the 150 yuan and 3+ hours spent on the tower was worth it just for the bathroom and that perhaps that should be advertised as the grand finale. I’ve experience more diversity of toilet options in China than anywhere I’ve ever been. This was far cry from that open stall ditch I was using 2 weeks ago in public toilet down in Anhui province.

From there we ran around for another 2 hours essentially looking for a place to eat and finally (after I was near passing out from hunger) ended up in Chinese restaurant in the French Concession area of Shanghai (an area that the French developed back in the early 1900s). It was one of the best, and most relished, meals I’ve had since arriving here.

From there we made our way to Old Town and then to the Bund. The Bund is a section of downtown Shanghai on side of the river that features large business buildings built by all the foreign country occupiers of the late 1800s. Across the river is the modern architecture of Shanghai featuring its Pearl Tower and other bldgs that have been built in the last 15 years (see photo below). It was a wonderful night of wandering around old China, colonial era China and modern China. Several vendors along the Bund walk way managed to convince us to buy a few toy’ish items and other flashy wares. We finally made it home about 10:30pm exhausted and happy from a full day tour of Shanghai. I will be returning in November – there is more to see, do and buy, but I think that ascent in the tower was a once in my life time experience.