Have been spending most of my off-teaching time haggling for products over the last few days. Got a bag (last year, 300RMB) for 80RMB; and today another friend and I got one for 50. Got a 32GB flash drive (yes, it is that ridiculously huge) for 50RMB (last year, 2GB for 170RMB). Also bought some Foakleys for 25RMB (last year, 50) and various other things at a 2RMB shop that cost 10-20RMB last time.
Also got a tailor to make me some suits (a white tie penguin suit and a white suit for garden parties), not much cheaper than last year but I'm a little wary of haggling too hard with a tailor as I actually have to rely on their services for the week or two after purchase. Going for the fitting tomorrow.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Back to Zhaoqing!
We went back to Zhaoqing for two days on Friday and Saturday to lead a rowing session for the students (the 'Oxbridge Experience'!). No photos yet but some on their way.
There was a massive lake and a few of us stayed overnight for an early morning row in the sun. The coach there was 2 metres tall and MASSIVE - he'd been an olypmic torch-bearer not long before and we all saw and posed with his torch (they're allowed to keep them - only the flame needs to be continued).
The students got a little time on the water and we ran a rowing machine competition with prizes for the students with the best time (although I actually won, hehe)
4-hour bus ride back afterwards we sang lots of songs and made a racket.
There was a massive lake and a few of us stayed overnight for an early morning row in the sun. The coach there was 2 metres tall and MASSIVE - he'd been an olypmic torch-bearer not long before and we all saw and posed with his torch (they're allowed to keep them - only the flame needs to be continued).
The students got a little time on the water and we ran a rowing machine competition with prizes for the students with the best time (although I actually won, hehe)
4-hour bus ride back afterwards we sang lots of songs and made a racket.
Monday, 21 July 2008
The Beach
Yesterday after classes a few of the seminar leaders decided to try and find the beach. We had directions from one of the Shenzhen locals.
The beach was really nice! We got rubber rings and splashed around. My first time in the Pacific! (Does the South China Sea count as the Pacific?)
Sunday, 20 July 2008
ShenZhen
Just a quick update, arrived safely at the school (Shenzhen College for International Education) and bedded down. The accommodation is slightly spartan - in dorms of four 'beds' (read 'wooden boards') and chinese style toilets, but we get a shower between us as well and a washing machine so its not too bad.
The students are very respectful although it's not quite clear how much they understand us. I've been paid, and the other foreigners here are a lot of fun.
More to follow when I have some photos!
The students are very respectful although it's not quite clear how much they understand us. I've been paid, and the other foreigners here are a lot of fun.
More to follow when I have some photos!
Thursday, 17 July 2008
China is... wet!
China (or South China, at least) has lots of water. On the way out of Guangzhou we went over so many bridges, and it reminded me of my train journey out of Shanghai last year which was just the same. All the rivers a crawling with boats going in all directions.
Chinese has two words for rivers, Jiang for a big one and He for a small one. River number 5 (above) was only a He. All the others were Jiangs.
In addition to rivers, the who countryside was covered with these fish ponds, with funny fountain things in the middle (for food, I guess)
With all the water, its not surprising that everything is so wet (the ground, the air, your clothes, you, ...). The growth is explosive - everywhere is covered in trees, plants, shrubs and animals, particularly insects that love my legs as much as they did last year.
Chinese has two words for rivers, Jiang for a big one and He for a small one. River number 5 (above) was only a He. All the others were Jiangs.
In addition to rivers, the who countryside was covered with these fish ponds, with funny fountain things in the middle (for food, I guess)
With all the water, its not surprising that everything is so wet (the ground, the air, your clothes, you, ...). The growth is explosive - everywhere is covered in trees, plants, shrubs and animals, particularly insects that love my legs as much as they did last year.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
The Pearl Sea
We moved from Guangzhou, and have been in ZhuHai for a few days. It's a (slightly) smaller city next to Macau on the coast. It's a fairly modern development, as is much of the recent growth of Guangdong province (the richest in China, both absolutly and per capita), and many of the tourist atractions have a slightly artificial feel about them.
On our first night we took a boat cruise along the river and out to sea. It had a buffet dinner followed by dancers on the open-top, apparently with a Portugese theme, as we sailed past Macau and back (formerly a Portugese colony - a bit like Hong Kong but with more casinos)
Me as the yellow emperor, much to the amusment of all nearby people - a foreign emperor!
Another area had a great exhibition of most of the various imperial lines in China - in fact, many of the emperors were 'foreigners', Ghengis Khan's descendents who founded the Yuan dynasty and the most recent Qing dynasty to name a few. Chinese culture became very effective at sinocising various foreign powers throughout the ages, like the Greeks in the West. China had one emperess in about 700AD, and after realising their mistake they never let it happen again, although in various periods the cheif wife of the emperor was in defacto control after his death, most recently in the late nineteenth century, the infamous emperess dowager CiXi.
Downstairs was a darkened chamber with pictures of emperors in various naughty poses with wives and misteresses (and often a combination thereof) - photos had recently been allowed but none are online or for the faint-hearted!
Today we went a little further afield to the 'Pearl Spring Resort', an amusment arcade a little out of the city. After paying RMB 110 for a ticket to get in I felt slightly like I'd fallen into a tourist trap, but the rides inside were all free so it wasn't so bad (Yuan Ming Xin Yuan was RMB 120 a ticket, again the performances and things inside were mostly free, and apparently we could trade the tickets inside for a free goodie too, but we never found the place - no big loss though, it was the usual tourist bangles and jade buddhas).
Spring Pearl Resort
and the aftermath of the rollercoaster! Thankfully breakfast was some time ago.
On our first night we took a boat cruise along the river and out to sea. It had a buffet dinner followed by dancers on the open-top, apparently with a Portugese theme, as we sailed past Macau and back (formerly a Portugese colony - a bit like Hong Kong but with more casinos)
The 'Portugese' guy was very funny! Later on the people on the cruise got involved as well, and at the end there was a magician - all slightly strange but good fun!
Macao off to one side. It returned to Chinese control in 1999, two years after Hong Kong.
The next day we went to the Yuan Ming Xin Yuan, a partial rebuilding of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, burnt by invading forces in the Opium Wars of the nineteenth century (still a sore point to the Chinese apparently, in the catalogue of foreign abuses of Chinese soverignty drilled into all of them from a young age). It was very pretty and quite large - easily a day's work to enjoy fully. There were more dancing performances, including my highlight which was a re-enactment of the emperor choosing his newest wife - with the emperor chosen from the audience! Also a Chinese orchestra, after which it started to rain and we vacated (it was getting late, anyway).
There were also lots of shops selling typical touristy odditys, and lots of places with costumes selling photos that I got talked into buying one of:
Me as the yellow emperor, much to the amusment of all nearby people - a foreign emperor!
Another area had a great exhibition of most of the various imperial lines in China - in fact, many of the emperors were 'foreigners', Ghengis Khan's descendents who founded the Yuan dynasty and the most recent Qing dynasty to name a few. Chinese culture became very effective at sinocising various foreign powers throughout the ages, like the Greeks in the West. China had one emperess in about 700AD, and after realising their mistake they never let it happen again, although in various periods the cheif wife of the emperor was in defacto control after his death, most recently in the late nineteenth century, the infamous emperess dowager CiXi.
Downstairs was a darkened chamber with pictures of emperors in various naughty poses with wives and misteresses (and often a combination thereof) - photos had recently been allowed but none are online or for the faint-hearted!
Today we went a little further afield to the 'Pearl Spring Resort', an amusment arcade a little out of the city. After paying RMB 110 for a ticket to get in I felt slightly like I'd fallen into a tourist trap, but the rides inside were all free so it wasn't so bad (Yuan Ming Xin Yuan was RMB 120 a ticket, again the performances and things inside were mostly free, and apparently we could trade the tickets inside for a free goodie too, but we never found the place - no big loss though, it was the usual tourist bangles and jade buddhas).
Spring Pearl Resort
Continuing the Guangzhou themes, there were dancers and paddling boats, and lots of rides (I went on what was possibly the first roller-coaster I've ever been on, quite fun!)
dancers...
and the aftermath of the rollercoaster! Thankfully breakfast was some time ago.
And another ride, this time a vertical one with a very good view from the top.
The surrounding area was very pretty, much less clustered than the city. There were lots of fishing boats on the river/sea around the resort and the sun was slowly going down. The beaches were rocky but nice to look at (the resort itself had fake sand beaches with swimming areas, but sadly I'd left my trunks at home and didn't want to buy the over-priced ones they were selling
The resort's hotel (NOT where I was staying!)
Tomorrow we're leaving the Pearl River Delta and going a little further inland to ZhaoQing city.
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Food
There seems to be a strong inverse relationship in China between the price of food and how good it is. My favourite meal last time was the noodles that they served in the university canteen, and this time I've noticed again that you can pay a lot for fancy food that's not actually that nice, but you'd be much happier with a cheap meal at the local restaurent. We paid RMB 200 at a fancy restaurent (a week's wages for a labourer here, by comparison) for food that was alright; below cost 30 RMB and was fantastic.
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