Surreal Bowl XLVI, China-style

(Ed. Note: This is a special posting from Randy Hoover, geography teacher at D-S Middle School and 2004 Exchange Group member, currently on sabbatical in China.  Last week, Randy spent some time with our group in Kunming.  He sent this piece to NPR's Only a Game, where it aired on February 11.  See their website or listen to the audio HERE!)

It was already halftime by the time I got up and out of my apartment, rode my bike across Kunming and finally found O’Reilly’s Irish Pub, which to my knowledge was the only public establishment in the city that was screening Super Bowl XLVI, a.k.a. the revenge match-up between my beloved New England Patriots and the nasty New York Giants. As if it wasn’t disorienting enough to be going to an Irish pub in China to watch American football – my first and only game of the NFL season since arriving in August to teach English here for a year -- it really seemed weird that the air was not cold on Super Bowl Sun…make that Monday; a 7:29 a.m. start, China time – the 15th and final day of Chinese New Year celebrations.

A Day of Amazing Food in Xi'an

(Emily)

Today was a day of amazing food. Richard took us to the Muslim quarter for dinner--highlights included sticky rice with rainbow sprinkles, deep fried persimmon cakes, and indescribably delicious eggplants that Mel and I determined we could eat forever. They were in some kind of sweet, spicy, tangy, garlicky sauce, and melted in our mouths.

Free Coptive Anlimals (sic)

(Emily)


I was rather afraid that I would experience furry animal withdrawal while in China, but the country has exceeded my expectations and offered many animals, furry and otherwise, for my enjoyment. In Lijiang we went to a market that featured more vendors for the Lantern Festival. There were turtles, both large and small, for sale, as well as parakeets and another kind of bird that looked like a large wren with long tail feathers. We also saw a cage full of small Russian hamsters, which I hope were for pet purposes only (I have been telling myself that they are too small to be worth eating). One street vendor was selling live chickens, and many others were selling live fish who swam little circles in buckets on the streetside. One man had a cart with a cage full of live rabbits. On our way home we passed a girl and her mother feeding lettuce to a fluffy white baby rabbit who was about the size of a fist. It was incomprehensibly adorable.

Cultural Revolution II

(Andrew)

The morning started with a highly anticipated breakfast. For days all of us have been craving a western breakfast. Although all of the Eastern breakfasts we have had have all been excellent, nothing beats fruit and/or yogurt. So, as Mr. Hoover, and team GOAT entered the dining room, we all headed towards the yogurt and fruit. And it was delicious. The yogurt tasted just like Dannon yogurt, and it hit the spot nicely.

After our satisfying breakfast, Mr. Hoover led us to Wal-Mart.

Deep In the Shibao Mountains

(Allen)

The past couple days have all been a blur as we moved from one traditional Chinese city to the next, spending no more than two days each. For me, having been in China a couple times already, many of the things weren’t so foreign. Temples, caves, busy metropolitan areas are all great but it was nothing new…that is until went to Shaxi village.

Shaxi, located in the heart of the Shibao mountains, is packed with history and culture. To give you a little history about the village, Shaxi used to be a pivotal stop along the Tea and Horse Caravan Road, which is an important branch of the Silk Road. So it still has that border-town kind of feel, with many of the same cobble-stone structures that were originally built over a thousand years ago. It is the oldest and most culturally preservative of all of the villages in the Shibao mountains.

Mr. Wu's Wild Ride

(Joseph)

Dear Reader,

So much has occurred in the past few days, and my experiences have been so varied, that I cannot focus on any one topic at present. Thus, I apologize in advance for this somewhat scattered, stream-of-consciousness blog entry that will touch upon various topics.

Mr. Wu’s Wild Ride
So far, driving in China has been 99% off-road, 99% of the time, and not even the best of car shocks will cushion the ride, so I think the Chinese don’t bother with shocks. No, the true shocks are apparently left for the tourists. Navigating the roads is semi-organized, nail-biting chaos. The roads are most often extremely circuitous and rife with rocks and pits, which makes for a fairly uncomfortable riding experience. I’m not quite sure there are driving laws or “rules,” actually.

The Outskirts of Dali/Shaxi Village

(Mel)

Hello again!

Yesterday was largely another travel day (this time by car) from the center of Dali to Shaxi Village (the outskirts of the Dali area). We woke up at a beautiful hotel in Dali, one that’s completely covered in artwork with scattered courtyards and koi ponds, where we ate a quick “western breakfast” picked up our laundry and got in the van to start our journey to Shaxi.

Dali

(Emily)

Today we arrived in Dali at about 6:30 in the morning off the sleeper train from Kunming. Before getting on the train, we had dinner with Mr. Hoover, who is on sabbatical and teaching in Kunming, and his girlfriend Pei Wei, who coordinates exchanges between Chinese and American high schools. They were incredibly helpful in getting our train situation sorted out--Pei Wei was able to get us into two compartments right next to each other--and I think that had they not been there we would still be in the Kunming train station!

Trains, Planes, Boats and Minibuses

(Andrew)

The day started with a literal bang. For at least five minutes, firecrackers exploded on a street near our hotel. Though our windows were closed, it seemed that the firecrackers were going off right outside our hotel. Because Allen and I have been waking up a little late every day, it was a nice wake-up call to start the day.

After packing the rest of our luggage and eating another delicious Western/Chinese breakfast in our hotel restaurant, Ricky took us back into our min-bus for another day of adventure. Our first stop was a rural “Shangri-La” village where the Dong minority lives. Inside this gated village, everything was beautiful. Because the village is located near Yangshuo, rolling hills painted the background, and a crystal clear river cut through the village. To complement this natural beauty were the Dong’s traditional painted wooden buildings. While at the village, we took advantage of the river, and rode a boat through the village. The ride revealed the Dong people’s real modern homes which starkly contrasted with their traditional rituals and buildings at the front of the village.

The Journey of the Four Goats and the Wolf

(Allen)

I can’t believe it but I’m finally here, bringing you a blog update about the journey of the four goats (greatest of all time) and the wolf. After getting off the plane in Hong Kong, I think I can safely say that Hong Kong is probably an even bigger melting pot than the entity known as America. The city, divided by the gorgeous South China Sea, consists of two parts: Kowloon and mainland Hong Kong. The area outside the hotel we stayed at was a bustling sphere of wealth and prosperity. Walking down the street at 11:00 PM, the city vastly resembled a Times-Square-esque feel. With flashing neon lights, bright green Ferraris, classy Louis Vuitton stores, and magnificent skyscrapers, heck, it was nicer than Times Square. Surprisingly, the city had a very clean feel, with hardly any trash on the ground and clear-ish skies. The night air was very breezy and vibrant and almost felt like day, due to all the light pollution, which isn’t so much a bad thing. What struck me the most was the amount of diversity in the Asian metropolis. You couldn’t take five steps without seeing multicultural faces, be it Caucasian, African, or Indian, among the sea of Asian faces.

Don’t Drink the Snake Wine. Please.

(Joseph)

The Li River boat trip from Guilin to Yangshuo was misty, but enjoyable nonetheless; I can’t complain, as it was supposed to rain. We saw some huge limestone rock formations, Chinese workers and home along the riverbanks, and the occasional water buffalo. Also remarkable were the “river” vendors: balancing on five large thatched sticks of bamboo (which makes for a very narrow raft and, I’m sure, and no easy balancing act), these eager sellers paddled towards our boat, tied themselves onto it, and sold their produce to the cooks on our boat while the cooks prepared our buffet-style lunch. Such vendors are ubiquitous, and we saw at least a few hundred of these boats either in motion or tied up along the riverbank. Thousands of Li River families earn their living doing this, which is fascinating, but also creates for fierce completion, I imagine, since most of them are selling the exact same produce. In fact, this seems to be the case in at least much of Yangshuo, where we have stayed for the past two days.

Hong Kong: A Place of Contrasts

(Mel)

Hello!

So here on full-day two we’ve just landed on the main land (Guilin) after spending a day and a half in Hong Kong. I’m not sure how much of this post will overlap with Mr. C’s so I’ll keep the beginning short. We arrived in HK late thursday night and after checking into our hotel we went out to grab a bite to eat but didn’t really get to exploring the city until the next day. Friday (yesterday) we spent the day walking around Hong Kong- a city that’s completely manageable as an English-speaking tourist but completely overwhelming as someone who has grown up in Sherborn.