Yes, I managed to sprain my ankle in China. It was a horrible experience and I am still suffering the consequences today. It all started with the combination of three curses put on my by three different Chinese tourist attractions because I pissed them off by taking illegal pictures of them.
Confucius – we visited his temple in Wuwei City and were allowed to take pictures in the temple grounds and most of the temples except one. This temple belonged to Confucius and was the most awesome temple of all. There he was, Confucius, in all his glory and we were not allowed to capture his mightiness. Well, of course I thought that was a bunch of bull so I snuck a few pictures. Consequence: cursed by Confucius.
Sleeping Buddha – we visited the Dafo Temple of Zhangye which houses the largest reclining Buddha in the world measuring 34.5m in length and 7.5m in shoulder width. I know, that for the common American you probably have no idea about how BIG that actually is, well it is BIG. In order to prove to my friends and family the magnitude of this sleeping Buddha, I again had to sneak some pictures for proof. This of course again was highly illegal; there was even an attendant watching for picture takers like myself, but Lucy (New Zealand gal) helped me to cover the camera and get some good shots. Consequence: curse #2 by Buddha.
Rewi Ally – at some point in Time a New Zealander named Rewi Ally came to China, joined the Communist party, was loved by all, and set-up a school in Shandan county (located in Gansu, near L.Jo). Well, we visited his museum and tomb because the Chinese love him. Well, Lucy being our token New Zealander, decided she wanted a picture near his tomb. I took a normal one for her, but seeing that she was wearing an awesome Grim Reaper gray coat I decided for her to pose in front of the tomb in another picture in which she resembled the Grim. It was all in fun and hilarious, but the consequence: curse #3.
After having built up three curses I knew it was a matter of time before something happened to me. In total Carlos fashion I began taking lots of jumping pictures with great success in various tourist attractions throughout Gansu. The curses finally had an effect during a jumping picture at the Great Wall of China in Gansu. I jumped and made an awesome pose, but landed on an uneven stone tile (Who knew that the Chinese tiles would morph after 5000 years or so!). I twisted my ankle so bad that is immediately swelled up to the size of a pumpkin and I could barely walk. So the delegates took action – Markus (Swiss man) used his Swiss army knife to cut the sleeves off his shirt to make a bandage for my leg. Helena (Swedish gal) tied the bandage to my foot. Lucy served as my personal assistant and carried my things. Tim (Aussie guy) helped Markus to carry me to the police golf cart that drove me back to the bus.
That evening I visited the Chinese emergency room, where I had an x-ray and discovered that my foot wasn’t broken and that I needed some ice. Then I was in crutches for three days after which we returned to Lanzhou. Now I am just limping around the city with a swollen foot, but each day it gets better. I even danced some Zumba in front of 200 hundred students in it. Nothing can stop me!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Carlos’ Guide to Chinese Hotels
Being the fancy dude I am, I would never stay at a hotel if it weren’t four or five stars! Well, my dreams came true in China, for our weeklong trip around Gansu Province was full of fancy dinner, hotels, people (me in particular), and visits! Below you will find a personal scale of different aspects and qualities to judge a Chinese hotel by:
1. Can the Hotel spell ’extinguisher’ correctly?
Through out my journey I have learned many different spellings for the word(s) fire extinguisher. Usually the Chinese seem to think that ‘extinguisher’ is actually two or sometimes three words. Example: Fire Extin Guisher. This is an easy mistake to make, but when the simplest words are misspelled such as ‘water’ (often spelled Watel – I doubt any of you would drink cold watel), then that is bad news bears.
2. Ice availability.
Ice is such a luxury good in China. For some reason the Chinese are weird about eating, drinking, or creating anything that is cold (Maybe because they aren’t as ‘cool’ as the US). Something about ice being bad for the body or carrying germs (Who knows why, really?). Ice in the hotel you are staying at has ice then you have really found a good one. Don’t be fooled though, many of the hotels will have ice containers, but it may just be a trick to make you think they have ice. Example: When I sprained my ankle on the trip the doctor recommended that I put ice on my foot. I called the reception desk and asked for ice, to which I was told that they didn’t have ice just cold water.
3. Bedside weather report.
Whenever you visit a city don’t you always want to know what the next day’s weather report is going to be? Well, in China only the god hotels give you a little note card on your bedside table with a detailed weather report. It should include temperature highs and lows, sun forecast, wind speed, and rain chance. The catch to whether your hotel is five star of not is whether you see the attendant slip the note card into your room. If you do, then that is bad, but if it seems to magically appear in your room without you noticing then that is five-star-service.
4. Internet access.
There are four types of hotels when it comes to Internet access and I stayed at all four. One, no Internet, two, Internet that you must pay for, three, Internet access that is free, and four, Internet access and a full on computer in your room! You can probably decide for yourself, which is the five-star hotel!
5. Fifth and final - amenities.
Is there a pool, a bar, gym, spa, massage room, ping pong room and VIP massage room. The catch is to look for what is free cause most of the three star (or below) hotels will charge for all of these things. We thought we had hit the jackpot in JiuQuan City because there was a pool (and then the Foreign Affairs Office convinced then to keep it open late for us), but little did we know that there was a catch. One, we had to wear a swim cap (which meant that we had to buy it from them, 30 yuan), two, you have to pay to swim! Yes, 68 yuan per person for an hour of swimming. Ridiculous!
So there you go, next time you travel to China and are looking for a hotel make sure to check this list to ensure your stay is five star!
1. Can the Hotel spell ’extinguisher’ correctly?
Through out my journey I have learned many different spellings for the word(s) fire extinguisher. Usually the Chinese seem to think that ‘extinguisher’ is actually two or sometimes three words. Example: Fire Extin Guisher. This is an easy mistake to make, but when the simplest words are misspelled such as ‘water’ (often spelled Watel – I doubt any of you would drink cold watel), then that is bad news bears.
2. Ice availability.
Ice is such a luxury good in China. For some reason the Chinese are weird about eating, drinking, or creating anything that is cold (Maybe because they aren’t as ‘cool’ as the US). Something about ice being bad for the body or carrying germs (Who knows why, really?). Ice in the hotel you are staying at has ice then you have really found a good one. Don’t be fooled though, many of the hotels will have ice containers, but it may just be a trick to make you think they have ice. Example: When I sprained my ankle on the trip the doctor recommended that I put ice on my foot. I called the reception desk and asked for ice, to which I was told that they didn’t have ice just cold water.
3. Bedside weather report.
Whenever you visit a city don’t you always want to know what the next day’s weather report is going to be? Well, in China only the god hotels give you a little note card on your bedside table with a detailed weather report. It should include temperature highs and lows, sun forecast, wind speed, and rain chance. The catch to whether your hotel is five star of not is whether you see the attendant slip the note card into your room. If you do, then that is bad, but if it seems to magically appear in your room without you noticing then that is five-star-service.
4. Internet access.
There are four types of hotels when it comes to Internet access and I stayed at all four. One, no Internet, two, Internet that you must pay for, three, Internet access that is free, and four, Internet access and a full on computer in your room! You can probably decide for yourself, which is the five-star hotel!
5. Fifth and final - amenities.
Is there a pool, a bar, gym, spa, massage room, ping pong room and VIP massage room. The catch is to look for what is free cause most of the three star (or below) hotels will charge for all of these things. We thought we had hit the jackpot in JiuQuan City because there was a pool (and then the Foreign Affairs Office convinced then to keep it open late for us), but little did we know that there was a catch. One, we had to wear a swim cap (which meant that we had to buy it from them, 30 yuan), two, you have to pay to swim! Yes, 68 yuan per person for an hour of swimming. Ridiculous!
So there you go, next time you travel to China and are looking for a hotel make sure to check this list to ensure your stay is five star!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Updates on L.Jo.
Nothing too exciting (besides the fact that I am living in China) has happened in my life here in Lanzhou since my last blog post, but I thought I would update you on a few interesting happenings.
1. Singing and Zumba! So, there is going to be an international student festival where we are suppose to perform something. The University has decided that we learn a song to perform – little did they know that everyone in the program has no singing skills at all. Also, as class leader I was instructed to come up with another performance because as Iris (Chinese teacher) said “one song just isn’t enough.” Then, my hips spoke to me and said, “You should teach some Zumba!” So I did, a total of six delegates are learning a zumba routine to Shakira’s waka waka and it’s amazing.
2. Halloween! I’m going to miss Halloween, but I decided to make up for it by throwing a Halloween party here. Costumed required! I can’t wait to see what everyone will wear because I set some rules on costumes already. (1) No dressing up as a person from your country, such as, “I’m a Romanian.” (2) If you don’t wear a costume then I get to paint your face however I want and dress you however I want. (3) Don’t be lame cause I will be so upset.
3. THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE IN OKLAHOMA AND I WASN”T THERE!
4. We are going on a weeklong trip next week to explore the Silk Road and other parts of the Chinese desert (desert, not dessert as much of the other delegates refer to it) area.
5. It is so hilarious to hear everyone speak English. I am constantly correcting people because it’s so funny. Here are a few examples of common mistakes:
-- The pronunciation difference between ‘corpse’ and ‘crops.’ You can image my surprise when Theres informed me that the villagers keep their ‘corpse’ on the roof of their house.
-- The Amazon verses Amazon. There is a restaurant named Amazon that we go to when we are tired of Chinese food cause they have Italian food. Well, many of the delegates refer to it as ‘The Amazon.” “Do you want to go to The Amazon tonight?” “No, I hear that jungle is dangerous these days.”
-- Persons and people. Do persons really use the word ‘persons’ ever? Thanks to Whitney for the clarification on this subject.
-- Have you ever been to the “obstetrician” to get your eyes checked? Last time I checked that was the “optometrist.”
Love you all and miss you so much! Happy Fall!
1. Singing and Zumba! So, there is going to be an international student festival where we are suppose to perform something. The University has decided that we learn a song to perform – little did they know that everyone in the program has no singing skills at all. Also, as class leader I was instructed to come up with another performance because as Iris (Chinese teacher) said “one song just isn’t enough.” Then, my hips spoke to me and said, “You should teach some Zumba!” So I did, a total of six delegates are learning a zumba routine to Shakira’s waka waka and it’s amazing.
2. Halloween! I’m going to miss Halloween, but I decided to make up for it by throwing a Halloween party here. Costumed required! I can’t wait to see what everyone will wear because I set some rules on costumes already. (1) No dressing up as a person from your country, such as, “I’m a Romanian.” (2) If you don’t wear a costume then I get to paint your face however I want and dress you however I want. (3) Don’t be lame cause I will be so upset.
3. THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE IN OKLAHOMA AND I WASN”T THERE!
4. We are going on a weeklong trip next week to explore the Silk Road and other parts of the Chinese desert (desert, not dessert as much of the other delegates refer to it) area.
5. It is so hilarious to hear everyone speak English. I am constantly correcting people because it’s so funny. Here are a few examples of common mistakes:
-- The pronunciation difference between ‘corpse’ and ‘crops.’ You can image my surprise when Theres informed me that the villagers keep their ‘corpse’ on the roof of their house.
-- The Amazon verses Amazon. There is a restaurant named Amazon that we go to when we are tired of Chinese food cause they have Italian food. Well, many of the delegates refer to it as ‘The Amazon.” “Do you want to go to The Amazon tonight?” “No, I hear that jungle is dangerous these days.”
-- Persons and people. Do persons really use the word ‘persons’ ever? Thanks to Whitney for the clarification on this subject.
-- Have you ever been to the “obstetrician” to get your eyes checked? Last time I checked that was the “optometrist.”
Love you all and miss you so much! Happy Fall!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Yak butter smells weird.
This past weekend, we went on a trip to Gannan and Linxia. This was part of our cultural experiences because we had previously had a lecture about minorities – now it was time to go and see how these minorities lived. The good thing about traveling with the Gansu foreign affairs office is that we don’t have to pay for absolutely nothing.
We traveled by bus and first arrived in Linxia. Linxia is a Muslim minority city with about one mosque every 10 feet, no joke. Our first stop was the main mosque (mosque cathedral, if you will) and the girls were rather disturbed when they weren’t allowed to enter the mosque. All the men took their shoes off and entered the mosque, interesting experience for I had never been inside a mosque before. There was really nothing to interesting on the inside, but the outside structure was spectacular. Then, it was lunchtime with the mayor and other important government peeps. They took us to a hotel where we had a feast. Started off with a steak and broccoli and boy was I happy to see a knife and fork (there is really no proper way to eat steak with chop sticks). At first, I was a little confused as to why the Chinese man next to me was waiting for me to start eating and watching me so closely. Soon enough, I found out that he actually was waiting to see how I was eating my food with a fork and a knife so that we could do the same (oh, the tables have turned sucka). This activity of mimicking my eating style happened throughout the whole meal. At one point I really wanted to do something ridiculous to see if he would follow, but we were at a formal lunch, so I had to behave.
After lunch, we toured a few houses (rich man’s house first and then the ‘average’ man’s house.), visiting the library (I tried to figure out their cataloging system – I think it was some form of the Library of Congress cataloging cause they used letters at the beginning.), ate some old pears (kinda gross, but you must accept everything they offer and eat it too), and then we were off to Gannan. Gannan is a village where there is a huge monastery and home to a Tibetan minority group. At dinner, we had some wonderful Tibetan performances with a mix of traditional songs and dances. After we had some bai jiu, wine, beer, and tea the real party began. The delegates started performing songs as well and we danced the night away Tibetan style. I don’t know what it is, but when it comes to singing, dancing, or making a full of one’s self I always seem to get nominated by the group. Maybe it’s because I have no shame to look like a fool in front of strangers…
The next day we toured the monastery. We learned all about Buddhism, smelled the wonderful smells of yak butter sculptures and yak fat candles. Heard some monks pray, visited an “art museum” (all with art painted by a Tibetan monk – one piece was worth 2 million Yuan), and over all took in the country life. The village we were in reminded me so much of the Mexican pueblo my uncle is from. It was like we had traveled back to the past because there were donkey hitched wagons, wells, and free roaming sheep, goats, pigs, and cows. Overall, it was really interesting to get to see how fast China is developing, but at the same time see how much work needs to be done on the countryside.
We traveled by bus and first arrived in Linxia. Linxia is a Muslim minority city with about one mosque every 10 feet, no joke. Our first stop was the main mosque (mosque cathedral, if you will) and the girls were rather disturbed when they weren’t allowed to enter the mosque. All the men took their shoes off and entered the mosque, interesting experience for I had never been inside a mosque before. There was really nothing to interesting on the inside, but the outside structure was spectacular. Then, it was lunchtime with the mayor and other important government peeps. They took us to a hotel where we had a feast. Started off with a steak and broccoli and boy was I happy to see a knife and fork (there is really no proper way to eat steak with chop sticks). At first, I was a little confused as to why the Chinese man next to me was waiting for me to start eating and watching me so closely. Soon enough, I found out that he actually was waiting to see how I was eating my food with a fork and a knife so that we could do the same (oh, the tables have turned sucka). This activity of mimicking my eating style happened throughout the whole meal. At one point I really wanted to do something ridiculous to see if he would follow, but we were at a formal lunch, so I had to behave.
After lunch, we toured a few houses (rich man’s house first and then the ‘average’ man’s house.), visiting the library (I tried to figure out their cataloging system – I think it was some form of the Library of Congress cataloging cause they used letters at the beginning.), ate some old pears (kinda gross, but you must accept everything they offer and eat it too), and then we were off to Gannan. Gannan is a village where there is a huge monastery and home to a Tibetan minority group. At dinner, we had some wonderful Tibetan performances with a mix of traditional songs and dances. After we had some bai jiu, wine, beer, and tea the real party began. The delegates started performing songs as well and we danced the night away Tibetan style. I don’t know what it is, but when it comes to singing, dancing, or making a full of one’s self I always seem to get nominated by the group. Maybe it’s because I have no shame to look like a fool in front of strangers…
The next day we toured the monastery. We learned all about Buddhism, smelled the wonderful smells of yak butter sculptures and yak fat candles. Heard some monks pray, visited an “art museum” (all with art painted by a Tibetan monk – one piece was worth 2 million Yuan), and over all took in the country life. The village we were in reminded me so much of the Mexican pueblo my uncle is from. It was like we had traveled back to the past because there were donkey hitched wagons, wells, and free roaming sheep, goats, pigs, and cows. Overall, it was really interesting to get to see how fast China is developing, but at the same time see how much work needs to be done on the countryside.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Please excuse my torso pushing against you - May I buy you a drink sir?
I just returned from my trip to the capital city of China, Beijing! I don’t think you have really experienced the real China until you visit Beijing. Let me tell you though, everything that you have heard is true -- Thousands and thousands of people (18 million), cars everywhere (remember the 10-day traffic jam?), foreigners all over (Many of them speak French), and Chinese that I can actually understand.
Let me just warn you that I’m just going to blog about certain parts of my adventures because even though I was only there for four days, all fours days were packed with new experiences and exciting things that I can’t possible describe in writing! I visited all the important Beijing sites such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Beihai Park, Lama Temple, and the Olympic Stadium to name a few. But everyone already knows about those places so instead I will chronicle my adventure on Beijing’s public bus, for it is more interesting.
The group and I had just finished our visit to Beihai Park and it was time to head to dinner. Some of the group took a taxi home, but I took the bus instead with Theres, Rickisha, and Markisha (I knew Markisha & Rickisha from high school and we had a small reunion in Beijing). The bus was already crammed when it got to our stop. There we were, standing at the bus station eying the other 100 Chinese passengers that were going to compete with us for the 50 spots in the bus. The doors open and immediately everyone turns into bus monsters that will do anything for a spot on the already stuffed bus. Parents pulling there children into the bus, women yelling at each other because one was pushing the other, and others desperately pushing themselves through the crowds to avoid getting left behind. After some struggle, a few elbows to the stomach, one or two evil eyes, I finally made it onto the bus. Let me just say that I have never been touching so many people with my body ever in my life. I could feel hands and body parts touching me from all over. I’m pretty sure the man in front of me thinks I own him a drink after the amount of my body touching him and pushing against him. Of course all of the touching was unintentional (at least that is what I kept telling myself).
But a crammed bus full of people wasn’t enough to stop the 100 other people at stop numbers three and four from forcing themselves onto the already over populated bus. The doors open and again I found myself being squeeze closer and closer to the people all around me. The smells, the people, and bad breath got greater and greater as the space became smaller and smaller. Getting on the bus and surviving the ride was only half of the battle. The second challenge is getting off the bus at your stop because once again you must squeeze yourself through the crowd of people trying their hardest to either stay on the bus or get off the bus. The secret is to yell at the top of your lungs “Xia Che” and elbow push yourself off the bus. Once off you can breath again and you reflect on how many times you got felt up by different people.
The pubic transportation is really reliable in Beijing and you can get anywhere in the city by means of bus or subway! This is all good, but you must be ready to be face-to-face, booty-to-booty, back-to-back, and close to many people all at once. Beijing was great for four days, but I’m not sure I could do that everyday if I lived there.
Let me just warn you that I’m just going to blog about certain parts of my adventures because even though I was only there for four days, all fours days were packed with new experiences and exciting things that I can’t possible describe in writing! I visited all the important Beijing sites such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Beihai Park, Lama Temple, and the Olympic Stadium to name a few. But everyone already knows about those places so instead I will chronicle my adventure on Beijing’s public bus, for it is more interesting.
The group and I had just finished our visit to Beihai Park and it was time to head to dinner. Some of the group took a taxi home, but I took the bus instead with Theres, Rickisha, and Markisha (I knew Markisha & Rickisha from high school and we had a small reunion in Beijing). The bus was already crammed when it got to our stop. There we were, standing at the bus station eying the other 100 Chinese passengers that were going to compete with us for the 50 spots in the bus. The doors open and immediately everyone turns into bus monsters that will do anything for a spot on the already stuffed bus. Parents pulling there children into the bus, women yelling at each other because one was pushing the other, and others desperately pushing themselves through the crowds to avoid getting left behind. After some struggle, a few elbows to the stomach, one or two evil eyes, I finally made it onto the bus. Let me just say that I have never been touching so many people with my body ever in my life. I could feel hands and body parts touching me from all over. I’m pretty sure the man in front of me thinks I own him a drink after the amount of my body touching him and pushing against him. Of course all of the touching was unintentional (at least that is what I kept telling myself).
But a crammed bus full of people wasn’t enough to stop the 100 other people at stop numbers three and four from forcing themselves onto the already over populated bus. The doors open and again I found myself being squeeze closer and closer to the people all around me. The smells, the people, and bad breath got greater and greater as the space became smaller and smaller. Getting on the bus and surviving the ride was only half of the battle. The second challenge is getting off the bus at your stop because once again you must squeeze yourself through the crowd of people trying their hardest to either stay on the bus or get off the bus. The secret is to yell at the top of your lungs “Xia Che” and elbow push yourself off the bus. Once off you can breath again and you reflect on how many times you got felt up by different people.
The pubic transportation is really reliable in Beijing and you can get anywhere in the city by means of bus or subway! This is all good, but you must be ready to be face-to-face, booty-to-booty, back-to-back, and close to many people all at once. Beijing was great for four days, but I’m not sure I could do that everyday if I lived there.
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