safari ni hatua

Finally back in Yantai.  I'll be brief: the holiday was awesome in about every way imagineable, I'm exhausted beyond belief, and now I'm going to bed.  Oh, and there's a boatload of new pictures in the gallery, so check em out (to be labeled at a later date, when I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard).  The Shanghai gallery has also been updated with pictures from my second visit, including my ride on the world's fastest train.  No, I don't mean those now-antiquated TGVs in France - I'm talking about a maglev.  That's right, a magnetically-levitated train.  Besides the obvious "wow, that's freaking cool" factor of riding on a train that literally floats, it has a top speed of, uh, 431 km/h.  For the metrically-challenged, that's about 268 mph.  But I'll write more about that experience later - now it's time for bed.  And Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Hangzhou was awesome - might be my favorite place after Beijing (and now Wuyuan).  I've already commented on it a bit, but I think it deserves to be mentioned again.  It's one of the biggest attractions in China for the Chinese, but is pretty unknown by Western tourists.  As I said before, the main attraction is the Xi Hu (West Lake), around which are lots of attractions both big and small.  Though the modern city encroaches on a couple sides of the lake, it's actually a very pleasant place.

My first day consisted of a walk around the entire lake, which took quite a long time.  It's a great walk, though, with lots of little sights along the way.  The big one was Yue Fei's mausoleum - he was a famous general during the Song Dynasty.  The whole compound was very impressive, with several large halls, lots of sculpture, and a nice forested hill to hike around.  I didn't really go into any other sights that day, because it was getting late (as it was, I didn't get back until after dark).

The next day I went out to the Lingyin Temple complex, which is still my favorite in all of China.  It's a Buddhist complex, meaning the buildings are very colorful and lively.  There's lots of stuff to see, and you could easily spend the better part of a day (which I did) there.  The main temple houses an enormous statue of the Buddha, and the temple itself is huge.  There are quite a few other buildings, though you can't go in them all because renovations are ongoing.  Still, there are lots of sights to see while walking up the hillside the complex is built on.  There are also caves with Buddhist carvings, and a pretty tall hill that you can climb that has nice views from the top.  I actually met a very friendly Chinese man on the way up who wanted to talk to me.  He was quite nice, and his English was very good - always a big plus!

The other major sights I saw in Hangzhou were the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, and the Botanical Gardens.  The museum was fairly interesting, and most of the buildings (it's actually a complex of smaller buildings built in ancient Chinese style) seemed to have been recently renovated.  Plus, the museum is FREE.  Maybe that doesn't seem like such a huge deal to some of you - especially those of you who've been to Washington D.C. - but that's pretty amazing for China.  Even if there had been an admission fee it would still be worth a visit.

The Botanical Gardens were a nice place to stroll around for a couple hours, and the bamboo forest in particular was quite nice.  The funny thing is that, in parks and other recreation places in China, you'll often see equipment in certain areas that looks like a playground for kids.  But it's actually exercise equipment, and somewhat mimics stuff that you'd find in a gym in the U.S.  I sat around for a while and watched people come and use the equipment for 10-15 minutes, after which they'd go on their merry ways.  Seems weird, but my guess is that there are few (if any) gyms in China - of course, you'll also see a whole hell of a lot less fat people in China than in the U.S., and even the fat people are really just "pleasantly plump" by our standards.

I think that's about it for Hangzhou - I really, really liked it, and would recommend it to anyone coming to China.  Plus, it's only a few hours from Shanghai, so it's quite easy to get to.  Next up: Nanjing

Y'all are going to get your money's worth of posts today :)

Nanjing was a pretty interesting place, though I'm glad I only spent a couple days there - I think I would've gotten bored had I been there longer.  There's not a *whole* lot to do there (though much more than, say, Shanghai), and the city itself is pretty unattractive.  Zijin Shan was definitely worth the trip for the pair of mausoleums (Sun Yatsen's and Hongwu's), and the scenery.  It's outside the city, so you can get away from the noise and insanity, and the surroundings were gorgeous.  Lots of trees, gardens, plum blossoms, and not that many people (though I'm sure that has more to do with the time of year I visited). 

I'm glad I visited Sun Yatsen's mausoleum first, because I don't think it would have seemed as impressive had I gone after Hongwu's.  Still, the buildings were quite imposing, and the verticality of the building progression (read: lots of stairs) gave the whole complex a very monumental feel to it.  I still find it a little strange that the man who was most responsible for ending China's dynastic tradition wound up being buried in a mausoleum modeled after that of the first Ming emperor (Hongwu), but I'm sure most Chinese have far fewer negative feelings about the Ming Dynasty, unlike the Qing.

Hongwu's mausoleum was quite a sight - not as physically imposing as Sun Yatsen's, but then again the complex was finished in 1383 (and, like most ancient buildings in China, has been rebuilt repeatedly).  The most impressive of all were the massive gate at the entrance to his burial ground, and the wall that surrounds it - there are pictures of both in the gallery.  I'm not sure if there are any plans to excavate the burial mound, but it would certainly be interesting to see what comes out if it was.

I didn't see much at the Linggu Temple complex because it was getting late and it also started raining, but I did see the Beamless Hall and a pagoda built as a memorial to KMT (Kuomintang) troops.  The Beamless Hall was interesting because there are very few old buildings like it in China (since it used vaulted masonry ceilings, instead of ones supported by wooden beams).  It was part of a temple that was demolished and moved by Hongwu when he built his mausoleum, so it's actually quite old...kinda helps when the structure isn't made of wood :)

The next day I went to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, which I already wrote about.  It was quite disturbing, and certainly worth visiting, since you leave with a greater perspective on an event that most of us never learn about.  Doesn't quite have the impact of the Holocaust museum in D.C., but the experience is similar. 

I also saw parts of the Ming-era wall that still partly encloses part of the city, and Zhonghua Gate.  It's an impressive piece of military engineering, including 3 secondary gates behind the main one, hidden corridors from which troops could surround an enemy that actually managed to get inside, and other nasty surprises for any enemy trying to get through on foot.  Plus, the view from the top is pretty nice...

My last day I was feeling kind of lazy, so I skipped out on a couple things that I might have liked to see, but wasn't really incredibly interested in.  I did walk around the Fuzi Miao area, which is a big pedestrian shopping area (complete with a McDonald's and KFC on opposite corners) surrounding the Confucian temple.  I did go inside, but wasn't impressed.  Confucian temples in general tend to be very bland, and aren't much to look at.  Daoist temples are a bit better, though Buddhist ones are my favorite.

Guess that about wraps Nanjing up - it was probably my least-favorite place after Shanghai (when I say least-favorite I don't mean I hated it - it's just hard for most places to compare to Beijing, Hangzhou, and Xi'an), but I'm glad I went.  If I had more time I would've liked to have gone to see the cave sculpture at Luoyang, the old city of Kaifeng, and Shaolin Temple, but since I didn't, Nanjing made a nice alternative.  Just a few of the many things I'll have to see the next time I come back :)  Next up: Xi'an...

I also labeled all the new pictures I uploaded (in the Wuyuan and Shanghai galleries), so take a look...

Finally getting these last 2 summaries out of the way, so I can actually tell you people what's been going on here in Yantai (imagine that - it only took 7 weeks!).  I've already written about the Terracotta Warriors, in this post, so you can check that out if you didn't read it the first time.

The other big thing I did in Xi'an was climb Hua Shan, one of China's five major sacred Daoist mountains.  It was rough, to put it lightly.  I did it as part of a one-day tour, so there wasn't enough time to climb all the way from the bottom (thank God).  The tour was actually for Chinese tourists, but luckily there were 2 other Westerners on it, a young Belgian couple.  That was nice, because I at least had someone to talk to.  We took a cable car up to the lowest peak - there are 4 - and then hiked to one of the other three.  Hannah and Yannik (no idea if those are spelled right) didn't make it all the way up, as Hannah was getting a bit scared of the stairs.  I spent a total of about 4.5 hours hiking, and way more than half was spent going up.  Unlike Tai Shan, which has nice, even steps, the ones at Hua Shan stink.  They're uneven, rough, and generally very steep. 

Despite the grueling climb, the views were definitely worth it.  Spring hadn't really come there yet, so the foliage was still rather brown, but the mountains were spectacular.  And the higher I climbed, the fewer people there were.  When I reached the peak, I actually had about 20 minutes of total solitude before I had to go down to get the bus back.  Besides the much-needed rest, it was wonderful to sit in total quiet eating the hard-boiled eggs I had saved from breakfast, while enjoying the view.  I would have liked to sit there longer, but I needed to get back for the 3.5 hour ride to Xi'an.  'Tis a shame, because you learn very quickly here to enjoy any time you can get away from the masses of people...

Other things I saw in Xi'an: the Great Mosque, the Muslim Quarter, the Forest of Steles Museum, and the Shaanxi History Museum.  The Great Mosque was interesting, mainly because I got to see part of an actual prayer service.  I was a bit disappointed that the architecture didn't have more of an Arabic style to it - aside from the predominant use of blue, green, and purple colors (whereas most temples are very red), and the occasional Arabic inscription, I just felt like I was in another temple.

The Muslim Quarter has by far the best street food I've had in China, and the night market is a great place to stroll around for a couple hours (in the midst of stuffing your face full of awesome and ridiculously cheap food).  Seeing Chinese walking around wearing the white Muslim skullcaps is a fascinating sight, since the rest of China - or at least the parts I've seen - looks so culturally homogeneous. 

The Forest of Steles Museum purportedly has the heaviest collection of books in the world, and it's not hard to see why, considering the "books" are massive stone slabs on which historical accounts, Confucian classics, poetry, and other writings were recorded.  I obviously couldn't read any of them, but it was neat to see the various styles of Chinese calligraphy, some of which don't even look like Chinese!  There was also a small but rather interesting museum housing other artifacts, including various funerary objects.  There were several sarcophagi, and also a couple of complete tomb structures (which look like miniature houses).  The most fascinating was a gravestone shaped like a giant tortoise, which had the history of its owner inscribed on its shell.  Unfortunately, most of the funerary objects had "no pictures" signs on them, so I only got a couple shots in.

The Shaanxi History Museum was okay - probably would have been much better had I not gone to the Shanghai Museum.  The building is a bit older, and it's obvious that it needs renovating.  The quality of artifacts on display was certainly high, but unlike the Shanghai Museum, English captions were sorely lacking, or nonexistent.  However, I did have an interesting experience there.  Almost immediately after I entered the first exhibit hall, I was approached by a Chinese girl who said she was a university student.  She wanted to follow me around the museum, so that she could practice her English with me.  At first I thought this was some kind of scam, and that she would try to get money out of me at the end (it's amazing how jaded being a tourist in this country will make you).  But it turned out great, because she was being honest. 

She followed me through the whole museum, and basically was a free tour guide - she told me a lot of information about the artifacts that I would otherwise never have known, and all she wanted in return was for me to correct her English if she said something wrong.  That turned out to be a good deal for me, because her English was really good!  I kept telling her that, but she kept disagreeing (typical Chinese modesty).  When I questioned her as to why she was spending her Saturdays in a museum (she's a telecommunications major), she said that if she can improve her English, she thinks she can get a better job.  She chose the museum because lots of Westerners go there, which makes sense.  I was totally blown away.  I mean, this girl could have been hanging out with her friends, or doing a million other more fun things on the weekend.  But instead, she chooses to hang out in a museum, giving free tours to people in exchange for being able to practice her English.  Her dedication really impressed me, and she isn't just an isolated case - many other Chinese have similar work ethics.  Though, part of it is born out of necessity, I think.  There are so many people competing for jobs in this country (and there's a lack of work to begin with), that those who want the best jobs have to work insanely hard.  That's true everywhere to some degree, but is especially true here.

So did I like Xi'an?  Quite a lot.  The city itself is kind of dirty and not much to look at, but the sights are very impressive.  As they should be, since Xi'an (once called Chang'an - eternal peace) at one point rivaled Rome for the greatest city in the world.  I also met quite a few other Westerners there, so socially I had a much better time.  And now, time for Beijing :)

I just uploaded a whole boatload of additional photos, so take a look!  Only a few are new - most are ones from a while ago.  Since there were lots of pictures I wanted to upload but didn't, and I was still well under my 300 picture limit, I figured why not :)  I'll leave the pictures at the end of each album for now, so you can easily find the new ones.  Labels should be coming tomorrow, after I write the Beijing entry...

So I got an e-mail today telling me my Peace Corps application status has been updated.  I go to take a look, and lo and behold, I FINALLY have medical clearance!  And it only took a grand total of, uh, seven months for them to review a few forms.  Nice.  And then later, I get this e-mail from a placement officer (notice the name spelling):

Hello Kristofer -

I hope this email finds you well. I'm writing to you from the Peace Corps Placement Office in DC. We have reviewed your file and identified a few things that need follow-up.

The first item we need is a final copy of your transcript that shows your B.S. degree was completed in full. An unofficial copy is fine.

Second, as a reminder, you have been nominated to a classroom teaching position. However, your file shows no record of any teaching or tutoring experience. It is in your best interest, and the best interest of the program, that you gain as much teaching or tutoring experience as possible this summer.

The transcript should be faxed to 202.692.1897. When you're ready to send the fax, please send me an email or call to let me know to expect it. You can also email it to me directly.

When you have identified a teaching/tutoring opportunity, please contact your Placement Officer, Reuben Marshall, at rmarshall2@peacecorps.gov to give him an update, or send him an updated resume with a description of your plan to gain additional experience.

Please contact me via phone or email if you have any questions. 

What the heck is that supposed to mean?  To me, that looks like they won't give me an assignment until I get teaching experience.  Which I'm getting, but I was never told up front that I *had* to have teaching experience.  Grr.

But it doesn't really matter, because (and I don't think I've mentioned this yet) I will most likely not be joining the Peace Corps now.  I'm sure that will be a relief to many of you :)  There are several reasons for my decision; namely, being here has made me realize just how long 2 years is, I do miss home more than I thought I would, and I don't really want to wait any longer to get my career started.  This last point is especially important - I would be 27 when I finished my PC service, after which I would most likely be looking at more school.  If that schooling involved getting a PhD in physics, I would probably be ~32 when I got it.  Add in a couple years of postdoctoral work, and I'll be on my way to 40 before I have a real job and making real money.  Not that money is a personal concern of mine, but when you want to have a family it does become rather important.  Unless I marry a rich girl...any wealthy ladies want to help a guy out? ;)

I've also decided (for now) against going to Thailand.  Partly because I don't have much money left, partly because I think 3 months of English teaching is enough, and partly because I have a renewed sense of purpose with regards to starting my career.  I'll certainly be going at some point in the future, I just don't know when, or if it will involve teaching English. 

The best laid plans, and all that...