Alive and in Hong Kong

I am not really sure how I made it here, but it happened somehow. I left this morning from Shantou after seeing off all of my friends. Almost all of them hopped onto a bus on the airport and drove of... without me. I guess that is the way it was meant to go.

I made my way on foot to the 39 bus and then downtown to where I was to catch the bus to Hong Kong. They threw me on a shuttle and drove me to the middle of no where and told me to get out and wait. It seemed a little strange, but the Chinese are good on their word once they make it. I waited, and the bus came. All aboard and we were on our way.

This time I remembered to take Gravol before I started the trip. The unfortunate part is that I was sleeping on and off all trip, and by on and off I mean for like 2 second increments every 15 seconds, but I still managed to catch a glimpse of the countryside. It was beautiful. The bus was more modern than most of ours and had a western style bathroom... I guess that is why it pays to book from a 5-Star hotel and not from the bus depot.

We cleared one set of customs which confused me, but that evidently was us leaving China, and then we cleared another set, which was us entering Hong Kong. I must have looked pretty confused because a Cantonese man from British Columbia (hasn't been back in 10 years) offered me some assistance. He told me to wait till the final stop on this bus, and then hop the MTR to the 5th stop, and then I could make it to the hostel on foot.

When we reached the last stop he walked with me to the MTR and then sent me on my way. It was the fifth stop and then an easy walk here. The hostel is in the middle of a seriously hoppin' walking street on the island of Hong Kong, with a great location, but it is kind of sketchy. The rooms are nice, but there are electrical cords all over, and on the front of teh building it says reidential and no hostels allowed. Evidently this place has been around for 20 years.

Since that I have been doing a little exploring, but I am taking the night off. Ever since I broke the cusp of nausea on the way to Xiamen it takes a great deal out of me to travel. I have lots of time to see the city. I am a little choked though that I needed to buy a new power converter, and that my camera was out of power... but my bank card was working again so that is a good sign.

Either way this town is expensive, but I think I will enjoy it here. My one roomate seems nice, and the other I have yet to meet.

Also, it is nice to be out of the Great Firewall, if only briefly. I may not be able to post pictures here since it the internet is very high demand, but I will see what I can do.

Tomorrow I am going to the cemetery.

I'm on my way...

Tomorrow I am starting my trip alone. I will be on a bus to Hong Kong tomorrow morning and then I am on my way.

To know where I will be at you can check out this itinerary... http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=6r0ii6roqjaruj4k4brabo5vfc%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FDenver&gsessionid=1me68FSwvHTdRBYtlGhpLg

I will try to keep posting both blogs and photos, but I think we can safely assume that I will slow down some... Either way I will try to continue posting at least once per week..

Anyways, it is time to pack...

More Photos...

Another 75 Photos Hit the Album today including the weekend trip to Xiamen. I might not have time to write, but you can still see our Adventures...

Ahhhhhh... I'm Leaving!!!

So... we went to Xiamen on the weekend and it was a great trip, but I do not really have the time to talk about it. It turns out that I am leaving in 4 days and I do not have anything booked. I have an itinerary now, which will be available for people interested in where I end up, but other than that... nada.

Actually... I have started booking today. Yesterday I tried to book my flight to Chengdu, on which much of the first half of this trip hinges, but I ran into issues using a foreign credit card in China. Today I was able to get the assistance of the staff in the Journalism School to book the flight for me and I paid for cash.

I have now inquired about two hostels (one in Hong Kong, and one in Chengdu) and I have booked one in Macau. I will be going to get my bus ticket to Hong Kong in the next few days, and once that is done then I am home free until Chengdu. Well, once I have booked everything...

Hong Kong and Macau will cost me on average about 10 times as much as mainland China which really sucks, but I have may as well see whem while I am here.

Time to go for now as I have to start sorting out stuff here, but I will post again soon.

Once I leave Shantou it will become far more difficult to post, but I will do what I can.

Until next time.

Photos Available!

With the firewall making it so that we cannot put up photos or videos directly on the Blog we have been throwing more onto the Album on Picasa. If you are interested just click on the link on this site or go to this url: http://picasaweb.google.com/alexander.c.cook/China2009#

Also, please excuse the order. They are not chronological yet... but will be after this weekend... I hope...

Still in One Piece.

So. I can imagine that some people are wondering how my back is holding up through all of these adventures, and the answer is that it is really not doing well. I did expect to have some trouble on this trip and I did expect to have more that this... so... that is a good thing. However... this is getting to be mighty painful.

I have enough pain killers to make it through... but it is going to be a long long month...

Ye Haw.

The Second Time to the Top of the World.

Class. Again… how does this keep happening?

Oh well it was over eventually and we all hopped onto a bus where we had a tour of the Shantou Daily Newspaper Syndicate. It was a good tour though difficult to hear the English translations at times. Either way, we were able so see how journalists and editors work in China.

After a brief stint of looking for food downtown (which was unsuccessful unless we wanted to eat motorcycle parts) we took the 21 bus back to the University.

Some people went for lunch and then we set off for another hike. This time we were going to take the road to the rock with the flag and then go from there. There were three of us. It was hot out, but we managed to make it to the hill. Then we were on the hill and somehow we managed to keep climbing. After a while we could see our destination and from then on morale seemed to grow. We were at the temple being constructed and then on the staircase leading up the mountain.

We made it to the top and were at the base of the great boulders with the rope and rebar sticking from them. One at a time we climbed the rope to the first landing, and then one at a time we climbed the rebar ladder. The three of us stood together at the Top of the World and looked out over everything.

There were some Chinese men who took great fascination at the two Canadian women standing on the rock, actually, they took even greater fascination watching the Canadian women struggle back down the rebar and rope. They even took the time to take pictures of the descent, but when I climbed down the cameras vanished. Evidently I am not as photogenic…

Down the rock and passed the temple. We had tons of energy and climbed to another peak. From there we found a path and began down. Our path vanished and we found ourselves scaling giant boulders down the mountain. This was a slow route but it seemed that we were making progress. It was all good until the going got tough and then the going stopped. We were standing on a bunch of boulders that had no safe way down from them and in the cracks between the boulders you could fall 10-30 feet without ever hitting anything.

The sun was getting low, and the thought that we might not make it out before sundown hit all of us.

We turned, and as fast as we could we climbed. I guess that humans are better at climbing up than down so when we started to go up it was much easier and much faster. In what seemed like not time we were back to the top of the hill, on the path, and then BAM, on the road. Then we sat.

It was dark when we had walked back home and grabbed lemonade slurpees at the East Gate. Then home and showers and then more slurpees… which seems to be a bad idea now but I have survived.

Most of our crew went to town to party but I went to bed.

A Day of Enlightment and Revenge...

So on the 20th we went to class. Anyways now with that bit of formality out of the way I can get onto the interesting parts of the day.

After class my partner and I for a project in one of our classes (the class that I am enrolled in) went to find people to interview. For the project we had to find two (at least) migrant workers that we could interview and ask if they feel that there is accurate gender representation in the forms of media that they are exposed to.

Our first interview was with a motorized rickshaw driver. He makes 40-60 Yuan ($7-10 CAD) per day. He has three children but can only afford to put one of his children through school. He doesn’t know if he can afford to continue put his son through school but he will try. He only has education from primary school. Work hours are from 7 am until 9 pm.

Our second interview was with a woman selling dvds on the street. She did not tell us how much they made, but she and her boyfriend and their son live only on the sales of dvds. They have very little money and very little security in what they do, and yet, they are happy.

On that street I saw a man playing with a kitten that could fit into the palm of my hand, and I saw a dog that looked like a dragon wagging down the street. There is no money here but it doesn’t matter, there is something else filling the streets; happiness.

After coming back from my interviews I had to do my time in the ELC. I met a student there who helped me learn how to say a few names so that I can ask for directions while I am traveling… so for those who are interested it is said ju-zy-go… I gave him a Canadian penny and he seemed extremely amazed and grateful. He said that it was the first piece of Canadian currency he had ever held, but I would not be surprised if it were the first piece of foreign currency he had ever held.

On my way home and feeling very good about the events of my day I ran into some Canadians. My roommate was among them and he told me that he was having some trouble with the lock on our door and that it seemed like it was going to break. I kept that in mind and continued telling the Canadians of my amazing day.

Eventually it was time to go and I headed towards the dorm. I went to the door and I looked at the lock. I put my key in and I turned it. The lock was working perfectly which seemed strange. I stepped into our patio area and through the door. No problem. Then my roommate yelled over and said that the problem was on the backside of the door.

On reflex I turned around but them moment I did I knew I was screwed. An entire bucketful of revenge poured off of the roof and onto me… I was soaked.

I took a step back so that I could see the two ladies and in one movement I reached to my hat and took it off.

They have won… for now.

The Great Wall.

In a fell swoop of brilliance one of the students here has found us a proxy server to bypass the Great Firewall. This means that I can now edit Blogger in HTML which means that I cannot add photos of Videos or Movies, but I can post.

This will probably be like this for the rest of the trip. However, I still have access to the Picasa Album so I will continue to post photos there for your viewing enjoyment.

We are back in action for posting even if we are only limping along…

Thursday May 14th, 2009

One attempt. One victory. One more attempt… and… victory.

We had already climbed the hill behind the University a few times now, but we needed to do it again. Why? Well, it is a big hill and there is more adventure waiting for us. This time we opted for a different route that would hopefully take us to another high point on the ridge. That would have worked great, but on the way there we saw another path that looked… intriguing… and opted to take that one.

It was a tougher path and really one that did not seem to get much use, but we went as far as we could anyways. The issue was that after some seriously sketchy climbing manoeuvres we had come to the end of the path. On the bright side we were then sitting in a beautiful patch of jasmine flowers.

Down a very steep but relatively short incline I could see a path through the bushes. Given it was my decision to take this path I felt I had to go first to see if we could reach this path. I was able to use the branches of trees to climb/slide down the incline. It was a tight squeeze through the branches and as I was almost free I did not notice the brambles wrapped around my leg. Seeing freedom I sprang from the bushes and felt the thorns rip through the skin of my leg.

I dispatched the vine before the rest of the crew came after me.

We made it to this path and were able to follow it up the hill. There were some beautiful graves and scenes as usual. The one thing that made this climb a little different is that there was more jungle. There were more vines, more trees, and more flowers. It was amazing.

One of my fellow hikers and I climbed to the top of a great boulder and were rewarded with an amazing view.

Back on the path we continued up the ridge all of the way to the great concrete path on the Temple on the other side of the ridge. We were able to take a break as we took the first time that we climbed over the ridge and then we made our way back down the long steep road.

For some reason I have been recruited onto our… amateur… dance crew made up of both Canadian and Chinese students. There is an enormous dance competition with dancers that I think would easily be considered at the professional level. We are not at that level so I know it might be shocking, but we will not be competing. Instead, we will be used as filler between performances or the opening event… kind of like… comedic filler. This is supposed to happen, but I will believe it when I see it.

Our COMS class is largely filled with guest lectures, and on Friday we had an amazing lecturer. He was telling us about Social Media and the power of it. Social Media? What does that mean? He was talking about such things as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Websites, etc.

What is the power of them? He showed us how information can travel, and how these forms of Social Media can be used to rally funds for causes, or to organise people. It can also be used for advertising and marketing. You know that when you Google something certain websites come up first? Well, this guy knows how to make it come first. He knows how to make it so that the number one search for certain keywords is whatever site he wants.

His skills as a lecturer are amazing and it sounds like his skills with Social Media are just as good. Those people who say that Blogging and the like is useless, pay attention. I am not saying that planning parties with Facebook will change the world in the ways that this lecturer can, but those forms of media, if used correctly, hold incredible power.

Classes over it was time to take the night off. There was a Fashion Show on Friday night, but instead of going to that we decided to go to our Professors house/dorm/thing to play Mah Johng. It is a Chinese game with a bunch of tiles and it is absolutely badass.

I did not know what to expect when I went over there, but after playing for a few hours I had grasped much of the basic concepts of the game and had much fun at it. There are a lot of rules and a lot of Chinese words to remember, but I think it is worth it.

We have decided that the people who were playing from Calgary need to get a set and then play it when we get home. Definitely worthwhile. It is not Settlers, but it is a good game, and with shortish rounds it makes it quite enjoyable.

On the way back from playing Mah Johng we did manage to catch a few minutes of the Fashion Show. It was very interesting to see, but really not something I could stay there for hours on end. It was interesting though and there were some very amazing outfits. I was able to take a few pictures of some of the outfits… they were definitely the leading edge of fashion.

How amazing to see such an event up close. Just amazing.



Mystery Date

Yesterday… well… yesterday from the day I am writing this post, and not necessarily yesterday from the day that it is posted. Anyways yesterday we were up early for a day of sight seeing. We went into Shantou Proper on the way to a village. When they said that we were going to a village I did not think that it would be inside Shantou, but it was. The village was small and old. True, it has since been surrounded by the city, but it is still evident that it is a village.

Most of the village was built during the Ming Dynasty (1500’sish). The buildings are built of stone and some of the houses have been owned and inhabited by the same families for hundreds of years. There used to be a wall around the village but it has since been largely torn down and the stones were used to build a bridge not too far off. Richer families had built shrines and temples inside the village and many of them stand today. Most of them were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but they have since been re-built.

We were told all of this by the famous war reporter Peter Arnett who is now teaching at Shantou University and was accompanying us on the trip.

While we were in the village we were able to walk anywhere. All of the little shrines and temples were opened to us as well as people’s houses. People were very interested to see so many foreigners walking down the streets of their village. There were dogs and cats and people everywhere in the village just going about their lives. As usual we were a disruption but hopefully a welcome one. We even came across a 94 year old woman who was happy to pose and sit in on pictures with Canadians.

We left the village and went for lunch in Shantou. More and more Chinese food, as usual. There was nothing overly exciting but one of our crew ate our fish eye. Generally when one person does it there are two more of us who have to try it… I am one of those two. My partner in crime on the eating weird stuff took her chopsticks to the fish’s eye and tried to get it out. In poking around the eye sort of… exploded… and all sorts of goo poured out. That was it. We were done. We decided that our other friend could have the title of she who ate the fish’s eye. We were content to pass. Bleaugh…

I will mention one more thing about lunch. Outside of the restaurant there was a polluted waterway. It was some kind of little river or canal or something. There are polluted waterways all over Shantou and undoubtedly all over China. I did happen to get a fantastic view of a toilet that was cantilevered over the river so that when you sat there your business would fall right into the river. Ahh… the wonders of modern sanitation. It was just something amazing.

That afternoon we drove to Chouzhou, which is another city not far from Shantou. We drove to the centre of the city where we saw the most amazing temple. This temple trumped all of the others that we have seen by far. There was one issue though where we only had 20 minutes to see it. It was huge and we were only able to see a very small piece of it. Either way, it was incredible.

After seeing the temple we went to see the walls of the city. The walls are now inside the city but they were used originally to keep the city safe. It was a great example of how the cities here have grown from little villages to enormous metropolises.

It is important to mention that the trip to and from Chouzhou was rather interesting. We did not get our normal bus driver and this one was a little… angrier. He was in a hurry and he did not seem to slow down when we came to bumps in the road. One thing that you need to know is that the back seats of busses in China are raised so that they fit above the engines. This means that you are much closer to the roof and are sitting atop the rear axle. When you have an angry bus driver who does not slow down at bumps this means that your entire back row is flung two feet into the air and head first into the roof of the bus. During this incident there were one person to escape injury, one person to suffer from a severe headache, one person to injure her neck, and two of us to crater our skulls into the metal vent above our heads and to have blood drawn. One of the two of us to have blood drawn did not actually notice for a long time, but that might be because she was in the centre seat and was almost thrown Wolverine style forwards through the aisle. Needless to say, today most of us did not sit in the back row.

Back at the university we went to a Rock Concert. The band playing was called Any and this was their last performance. Two of the band are graduating this year so they would not be able to continue playing. The concert was good. Actually, it was quite fun. On entry every person was given some glow sticks. I was quick to attach the sticks to my glorious helm so that when my head bobbed, all could see it. Chinese concerts are a little different from Canadian ones, so, we all had seats and we all sat down. This was fine for a while, but most of the Canadians had a different idea of how they wanted to enjoy this event. During a cover of the song Zombie they all stood and made their way towards the stage. There were only dancing and waving around for a few seconds before the rest of the crowd got the idea. They all stood and in a matter of minutes this concert began to look like one of our own. There is not doubt that we made an impression (the general we, as I was definitely not dancing) and I think it was a good one.

At some point the concert was over and we headed home. On the way we went to East Gate where I was tempted and seduced by a piece of… Street Meat. It was there, a piece of breaded meat on a stick and it was calling to me. It was beside a plate of beef on a stick and pork on a stick. I pointed at the breaded meat on a stick and the woman passed it to the cook. It was re-headed, thrown back on the grill, seasoned, and then passed to me.

I still do not know what kind of meat it was, but it was fantastic. I know what I will be having for supper tonight.

It was a long painful day. My head was still bloodied, and I had then re-acquired that familiar limp in my left leg as the nerves in my back/leg had been greatly irritated/squashed. What fun.

Eventually I made it to bed.




Sunday May 17th, 2009

Awake again early and onto the bus. This time, at the request of our Professor, we had a different bus driver and a different bus. That was a great relief for those of us still nursing injuries from the morning before. Nevertheless, most of us decided to avoid the back row for our own safety.

Peter Arnett was again acting as our guide, and on Sunday we were going to the Cultural Revolution Museum. When we were told of the museum we all had different images in our minds, but what we actually saw was something quite different. It was not really a museum promoting the Cultural Revolution, but instead it was a memorial so that people will never forget what horrendous acts transpired. The initial idea was meant to be good, but things skidded out of control and people were killed.

The memorial is built entirely from private donations and it beautifully tells a story of great tragedy. Photographs have been etched in stone for longevity and there is a great gong that when rung brings great luck. In a place of great tragedy it makes the world look like a very very dreary place. I could use a little luck.

I rang the gong.

We took the bus back to the University and resumed our usual activities. We played some badminton and then when we were tired we got ice cream… and then we played more badminton.

At some point there was a splash of water from one of the girls of the group to me. This spurred the idea of a water fight. Two of the girls tried to act stealthily as they left to get more water in the form a bucketful. Sensing a trap I ran to my room to get a bottle of water. Actually, I got two. I took one small bottle in my pocket and left a bigger bottle hidden outside. That way when I was running from their attack I could grab my bigger bottle without ever giving away that I knew of their sneak attack.

When it came I was ready. The main offender managed to escape the first attack as I used most of the first bottle on the accomplice. After a momentary regroup I found that my entire backside had been soaked by the water from the bucket and I was running around, outnumbered, and soaked. I did manage to get my other bottle of water and in no time at all I had evened the score. The two girls were soaked.

At that point things got nasty as one of them picked up a handful of leaves and threw it at me. Thus began a battle that ended up in a pile of people, water, and leaves. All of us were very dirty at this point, but I had proved my magnificence as I defeated them both… this time.

The tab is still open and since then I have since made a “truce” with the accomplice and have had an entire other bottle of water poured on my by the offender. This will get sorted out. It is a good thing that it is warm here…

That night we were at our best dance practice yet. The group of people who were there seemed interested in what we were doing and we all worked hard… well… most of us worked hard.

Day over. Night.




Monday May 18th, 2009

Our Professor who had come with us from Canada had invited us for a Canadian breakfast at his place. He has a kitchen so it was all possible. Some of us went early and it was a good thing that we did. He had slept in a little and had not started preparing. Some people had brought little things like juice or potatoes and all of it required some level of preparation.

We moved into the kitchen and took over. Very quickly we had both burners going in a great example of teamwork as we began to make scrambled eggs and French toast. The remaining guests would arrive soon and the food was not ready. The potatoes were an issue since they take forever to cook but we did our best. People arrived and in very small doses we began to feed them. Other than eggs and bread with were a little short on supplies but we pressed on.
After an hour of cooking we were almost out of supplies. The Chinese students there were able to try some of our staples and let me tell you it was much different than their breakfasts. One student even took her French toast and eggs and put them on her cereal to mix them in with the milk. This might seem strange but this is what they do with their cereal equivalent.

It was a good breakfast. People gradually trickled out and the kitchen staff cleaned up. We were able to grab a few bites of food along the way and at the end we had first dibs on the leftovers.

Class came and went and I was assigned my first piece of real homework. Me and one Chinese student have to interview two Migrant Workers and ask them what kind of media they are exposed to (tv, radio, etc.) and if they feel well represented in that media form.

After class we all piled onto the 39 bus and went for massages. It was gently raining at the time (and it might continue for days and days) but the weather was nice. We were downtown and at the massage place in no time. There was one slight issue, and that was that there were 7 of us and only room at present for 5.

Oh well.

Two of us volunteered to wait an hour for the next batch of massages. This in mind we had everyone brainstorm for a grocery list for Wal-Mart and we were off. Our Professor was with the massage group and lined up for his first massage. We hoped he would be ok…

In Wal-Mart we were two shopping machines. We divided and conquered, and then we conquered and then divided. The list was formidable, but we were moreso. This was our third trip to Wal-Mart anyway so we had a good idea were most of the stuff was. Really, this was a basic shopping trip except for one thing… when I grabbed a cart I noticed that it drove a little differently than our carts back home. Upon further investigation I learned that not only do the front wheels rotate, but the back wheels rotate as well!

This might not seem that special but I do have a video that should demonstrate the awesomeness of this…

After Wal-Mart we went to eat at McDonalds. After McDonalds we walked through the now heavy rain back to the massage place. We were a few minutes late and had to wait for our crew to emerge. They were out and it was our turn. We went into a room which had our Professor on a table and we laid down.

For the next hour I cannot reliably state what happened, all I know is that the Massage God (yes, the same masseuse as last time) was amazing.

Through the rain we made it to a bus stop and then realizing that we were going to be late for dance practice (which was not good since we had the leader) we hailed a cab. We were home in no time and then at the dance practice where the actual Dance Teacher from Shantou University was waiting to watch our dance.

Unfortunately there was a slight complication with resulted in my refusing to participate. I left and did not return.



Tuesday May 19th, 2009

Chicken Feet for breakfast. Gross.

For breakfast we went downtown for dim sum. I do not really know what that is (even now) so… yeah. It was like a buffet of Chinese Food. I say Chinese Food but when we say that here they make fun of us because here it is not Chinese Food, it is just Food. Anyways there were all sorts of strange things for breakfast. There were bread type things, and fruit type things… a friend and I grabbed something that looked like meat, only to learn later that it was meat and that actually that it was a bunch of Chicken Feet.

Truthfully, it did look like a plateful of feet, but we did not get a good look when we grabbed them. So, long story short, I can now add Chicken Feet to the list of strange things that I have eaten here.

On the way to breakfast we noticed a movie theatre, and on the movie theatre we noticed signs advertising Star Trek. After breakfast we walked back there to check out what was the deal. Star Trek was playing, and so was Wolverine. Some of us decided to meet back for Star Trek, while two of us decided to stay for Wolverine and Star Trek.

Either way we had time to kill.

Those of us sticking around dove into the streets of Shantou and found the most amazing market. Most of the market streets were the regular things you would find, like fruit, and fresh fresh fresh poultry, and all of the trinkets and bobbles to be found in China, but there were some other more tightly packed streets in the heart of the market. We headed there.

It turned out that we found the wildest meat market that I have ever seen. We were walking through the covered streets and then in something that resembled a parkade, but where we would expect to see cars there were individual stalls of people with cleavers hacking at meat. As we passed they looked at us ready to make a sale but we continued on. There was an entire wall of live birds in cages for slaughter on demands, and live seafood for the same thing. People were using buckets of water to wash away blood and entrails from their stalls.

It was a dark, stinky, and sketchy place but one worth seeing. It was amazing to see that kind of market and to see the different kinds of meat available. Just amazing.

We grabbed some lunch at McDonalds since it was quite convenient and then went to the movie theatre.

We watched Wolverine. It was amazing. When it was done we ran downstairs to the next show where our friends were waiting.

We watched Star Trek. It was also amazing.

I won’t talk about them here because of the spoilers… but it was fantastic.

We came home and then waited. For what? The meeting deciding the fate of our dance. Several of us had already had enough from the night before, but it was a meeting with all of the Canadians to decided if we wanted to continue or stop. The whole concept was kind of strange since there were only a few of us actually involved the dance but the meeting was held.

To reduce it to the results and hold the emotion free of this, we decided not to pursue the dance further.

After that we went for a walk to let of some steam and buy some snacks… and that leaves me here… typing and getting ready to send this to my posting angel back home…

Locked Out

t would appear that from this side of the Great Firewall that Blogger has been "Harmonized." It is possible that Blogger is just having an extended maintenance outage, but we have been locked out for over 24 hours so this seems highly unlikely.

Happy Birthday Ladies!!!

So. Today is May the 13th. Ok, so maybe its not May the 13th today, but for my purposes it is.

May the 13th is the birth date of two of the fantastic girls on this trip and so let's pretend that today is the 13th and I am not two days off on this post.

Happy Birthday!!!

Really, I am not that far off, because I am a reporter of the events here and the events were not over until early yesterday morning. So... this is my report.

It was supposed to be a surprise. The two girls whose birthday it is/was are twins and one of the guys on the trip happens to be dating one of the twins. He was the instigating factor that set the ball rolling. He went about setting up a party with all of the people on the trip and ordering a cake and a keg. Well, that was all good and fine, but when some of the Chinese students found out they had some other ideas.

In the end that little action to plan a party turned into a school event. The program had some money set aside for group events and this seemed to qualify.

After classes we all piled into a classroom for a movie from the Film Festival. We got lost on the way there but made it eventually. The movie was amazing.

After the movie we wasted a little time... blogging and the like... and then we all made our way to the East Gate for supper. This was one of the only times where every Canadian student from the program was in attendance. We were also lucky enough to have some of the Chinese students with us.

Supper was good, and at a restaurant I had not been to before. I was able to snap a photo of the group though it did not turn out very well... but... it is the thought that counts right?

Anyways, supper was over and it was time for the "school" activity to begin.

We walked over to our main meeting place, the flagpole, and all hopped on a bus paid for by the University. The bus then drove us downtown to a Karaoke club called KTV. We do not know how Karaoke should be done in Canada, but here they do. We went to a private room that had the main room for Karaoke, and a separate room for warming up. There was drink service to the room and half decent bathrooms with the coolest sinks I have ever seen.

Might I mention that this was also paid for by the University, though there was a 90% discount because of the birthday.

This is how Karaoke should be done. It was slightly difficult since the Canadian students could only sing English songs, and the Chinese students only wanted to sing Chinese songs, but it all worked out in the end. I even managed to hop on stage to sing, Piano Man, Bent, Viva la Vida, and You Raise Me Up. It was difficult singing with others, but it was fun nonetheless.

No birthday is complete without a cake... well... in this case, it was a massive cake. And when there is a massive cake, no birthday is complete without a cake fight. That small action that got this big event started was the same action that acquired the cake. The loving boyfriend of one of the twins did his job right as he brought in a cake big enough for all of us.

Cake was cut. Cake was eaten. And cake was smeared on the faces of many a Karaoke singers. I did not have cake speared on my face, I guess I just don't look like the kind of person who would appreciate that, but I did have the pleasure of watching many people have cake smeared all over.

After being full of cake and all sung out the bus returned.

I managed to grab a little sleep on the way back to school and then somehow I woke up this morning back in my dorm. I was awake somewhere in the middle to get from the bus to my bed, but its all a blur now.

No matter what, it was one of the best birthdays that I have been to. It reminds me once of a Karaoke party that I went to long ago. That party was one of the best, and so was this one.

Happy Birthday Ladies, may the years get ever better.

ELC and the East Gate.

This week there is an American Documentary Film Festival at Shantou University. Though we missed the first day (some of us missed... oops...) we were able to attend the main feature of the second day. It was a film called American Fork. I don't really know what to say about this film, but that it had that gritty feeling found in real life. When things go bad, well, they got worse. And when things got better, well, they got worse. I enjoyed the film as it showed what could be a real situation to real people and in the end of the fires of this man's life shines a bright ray of catharsis.

There were a few key moments though including when William Baldwin was demonstrating his skills as an actor by playing an actor who is demonstrating his skills as an actor by teaching others how to... act. This is best shown by his epic points about how life is real.

Put your hand on the chest of the person next to you, what do you feel? Their heart? Exactly. That is real. Then take their hand and put it on your chest so that they can feel your heart. That is also real. Really, this makes more sense if you have seen it, but it is hilarious. We were laughing hard for almost the entire duration of the movie. If you want more information check it out at: http://www.americanforkmovie.com/

Later that day (Tuesday) it was time for me and one other to do our first shift in the English Language Centre (ELC). We had gone on the previous Tuesday with the first set to do their time but this was our first "official" shift. When we arrived there were already a number of English speakers there and all of the Chinese students seemed to be talking with someone. This seemed somewhat disheartening as there was no one to talk to, but within a few minutes we were surrounded by a group of students.

We were happy to meet a number of Chinese students and even more happy to run into one student that we had met the week before. We were there for an hour and a half speaking to Chinese students and after it all I do feel like I have made a difference. They do not need us to teach them anything special; they just need us to speak with them.

I found the entire thing to be an enriching experience and one that I will not soon forget.

Our time there was completed in what seemed like moments and it was time to head home. The student that we had met before decided to walk with us since his dorm was near ours, and we convinced him that we should stop by the East Gate for some ice cream and drinks, my treat.

We made it to the East Gate and found ourselves some snacks. Ice cream for the three of us, a coke for me, and a beer for our friend. I do not know how much I have mentioned the East Gate before, but it is almost like a little town just outside of the east gate of the university (thus the name). There is a similar set-up in front of the main gate, but the East Gate is so much closer to our rooms.

Perhaps this video can explain what my words cannot...

OMFG!!!

So I went to class. In class I was standing at the back, because I always stand. The Professor asked why I was standing and I told him about the various maladies of my back. He said that I should go for a blind massage. We had heard of people getting... ransomed... at these blind massages for more money, but one of our crew had already gone and that seemed ok.

We went. There was a bunch of us and we went downtown and somehow managed to find the massage place. It was tough since the map didn't seem to line up with the street names, but after asking enough people we were there. The six of us lined up for massages and for 50 Yuan a person we got an hour of massage each. That is a little less than 10 CAD.

Half of the masseuses were blind, but the others could see. It did not matter. Mine could see, but he was a massage god and wow. It was so painful but so good all at the same time. I have heard similar accounts from the other massagees.

A trip to McDonalds and we were on our way home.

Remember that we tried to climb the hills behind campus and didn't make it? Well, this time we did.

Some people have called me an Indiana Jones wannabe, but after this adventure, Indiana Jones wanna be me!

It started behind campus the same way the other hike did. There were only two of us this time so we powered up the first hill no problem. We made it to where we were stuck before in only 20 minutes and then continued upwards. There were some pretty hairy situations as the path faded and all that was left was the steep face of the hill, but we made it. 35 minutes in and we were at the top of the hill.

It was a great feeling, but we could see that the ridge continued upwards, and while we were here we might as well have climbed to the top of the ridge too. So. We did. We climbed and climbed and then made it to the top. We found a big boulder climbed it too and then sat atop it for a break, and the view. That was a great feeling...

Oh what a feeling...

It was not until after our break that we really looked behind us. There we saw the concrete path that was the same path that we had taken to get to the top of the same ridge before. This was not new land and new terrain... but another path to the same place. Crap.

The sun was still high and we had lots of water so we were not in a hurry to climb back down, not to mention that we did not know how to get down from there without taking the concrete path. On the far side of this valley, so down the ridge on the far side and then up another there was a platform on top of the next ridge. That became our destination. We were now inside temple grounds and were able to use the paths to climb down and up in another 20 minutes.

Now we were looking down at the temple and back to the ridge that we had first climbed. Standing on the platform it just so happened that on the next ridge over there was a point higher than we were. This would not do.

Stairway to Heaven

We hopped on another path and were down that ridge in no time. There was another temple there that was under construction and it really didn't seem like we were supposed to be there... Oops.

Temple Map

I don't think we are supposed to be here...

Temple Under Construction

Me and the Man

Anyways, we had seen the path to the highest point so we walked through the construction area and to where the path should have been. It was there. We took the stairs cut into the rock and climbed to the top. We reached a plateau type structure with large boulders sitting on top of it. Attached to the boulders were ropes and attached to the highest boulder was bits of rebar making a ladder... so to speak. At the very top was a Chinese flag held high in the wind.

My fellow explorer took to the ropes and climbed the first boulder where she resolved to stay. I followed her but was not satisfied with that resting place. The final boulder awaited me and I had to keep going. I climbed to the top.

I cannot express this in words so I encourage you to watch the attached movies. It is said so much better there.

Top of the World Part 1

Top of the World Part 2

I love this country!!!

Shannon's Epic Victory

My Epic Victory

Our Epic Victory

Afterwards I climbed down. I do not know how.

The Mountain

We were down and on the road back home. Sunset was behind us as we made our way out of the mountains and out of two temple gates on the way back to the university. Back at the East Gate we were absconded for a good-bye supper.

After that... it was time for bed.

The Trip To Treasure Island.

Our first week of classes was done (phew) and a trip had been planned for us. It was an overnight trip to Nan'ao island of the coast of mainland China.

We were up early and meeting the bus at 8:00 am. We were out of the University and on the road towards downtown Shantou. On the way the bus pulled over at a bus stop and the doors opened. I thought it strange that we would stop at a regular bus stop, but then Wanli the trip coordinator from Shantou hopped on the bus.

The bus then took us through Shantou and to the ferry port. Onto the ferry and over the sea. We were able to get out of the ferry mid ride but it was rather crowded. We climbed the stairs up to the observation deck and crammed ourselves in with the Chinese. We could not see a lot but we are all celebrities here. Everywhere we go there are stares and there are people whispering about us. Its great!

Most Crowded Ferry... Ever!

The ride only took half an hour before we reached the island. The bus piled off of the boat and began driving over the island. We started in the town on the island... a town... I am not really sure, all I know is there are about 60,000 people on the island. Like before as we were driving along the bus stopped. It looked like we were stopping for no reason when a Chinese woman hopped on the bus. Now we had a tour guide.

Our first stop was the Dragon Well. This island holds a strong military position, and one of the reasons for this is because it has a source of fresh water on the island. The last Emperor of the Song Dynasty took refuge on Nan'ao Island and then had wells dug near the ocean. The wells produced only salt water. The Emperor needed fresh water so that he could survive on the island. He prayed to the gods and with some kind of miracle the water became fresh. There were three wells originally, the Dragon Well for the Emperor, the Tiger Well for the Nobles, and the Horse Well for the Peasants.

Over time the wells were lost, but in a recent earthquake one of them has resurfaced. It is believe to be the Dragon Well, and it is believe that men who drink from it will become more handsome, and women who drink from it will become more beautiful.

Naturally, we had no need to drink from the well... but... we thought it couldn't hurt...

Magic Well!

Magic Water!!!

Well drunk on Magic Water and growing more beautiful by the minute we hopped on the bus and moved to our next destination. We went to a restaurant serving all sorts of interesting foods, but that is not what made it special. What made it special is that the restaurant was just underneath the largest field of Wind Turbines (Mills) in all of Asia.

The meal was interesting. On Nan'ao Island people harvest two things primarily. The first, is a seaweed that they pull from the sea and dry on any flat surface they can find, for example, roads. This does mean that two lane roads are reduced to one lane because Dragon Whiskers are drying on the rest. The second thing they harvest... well... we will get to that later...

For lunch we had a soup with Dragon Whiskers in it (they are really just like green noodles) and then a Golden Dragon fish... that was grey. Also, they make a seaweed tea that seems to just be a scoop of sea water that has been reduced some to give it a brownish colour. I highly recommend limiting you intake of that stuff.

Lunch done we had one more site for the day. We drove on through the countryside on roads covered in Dragon Whiskers and through fields covered in rice. Oxen are still used for farming and it appears as you would have imagined it for the past two thousand years.

We arrived at our destination which used to be a military base. There was not much to see except for a few cannons and a map of what the installation used to be. Even on outlaying islands such as these the history runs deeper than the deepest springs. It is so unlike home where we have but scratched the surface of our great country.

That first week of school was brutal. Well, maybe not, but there were at least a few hours spent in the classroom, so... we needed a break. On the bus and before you knew it we were at the hotel where we were to spend the night. It was not any hotel, but a hotel with a 2.8 km beach free of rocks and pollution.

Life on the South China Sea

That afternoon we hit the beach. There was a lot of swimming in the waves, and playing Frisbee, and one of our crew even had a camel ride. It was great, though there was a rather large amount of concern about my choice of bathing suit. Wait. Concern is not the right word.

Admiration...

1. Back by popular demand, the Speedo.

2. Hello Kitty Hatband.

3. The Picturebook is Restored... and Waterproof!!!

We went back to town for supper where we ate in a floating restaurant. The restaurant was in the harbour in there were holding tanks for various types of seafood on the main floor. The tanks were connected to the water in the sea, but nets held the animals inside. There were all sorts of fish, shellfish, cuttlefish, and a whole lot of stuff I could not really identify. In another enclosure there were four of the largest Giant Sea Turtles that I have ever seen. I hope they were not for eating.

Another meal of the strangest tea and food (including sea urchins) and then we were off to town. It was a short trip but it gave us an opportunity to see some of the main foods on the island. There is only one main food. Fish. Store after store is filled with dried fish. It really appears that the market is saturated, but they have to be making money somewhere.

Back at the hotel for some drinks on the beach and then sleep.

4:50 am and the alarm goes of. I get to the beach just before 5 am and most people are already there. We sit and we wait. The sky gets lighter and lighter and then at once the sun breaks free of the haze and illuminates what we can sea of the South China Sea.

Beautiful.

I am soooo awesome... oh yeah... and there was this sunrise too...

I was locked out of my room for a few hours after that since my roommate was sleeping in another room and since he had our only key, but I wasn't the only one locked out. So, at 6 am we started to shop for the other thing that Nan'ao island produces. Pearls. Surrounding the island at various points are pearl farms that stretch out as far as the eye can see. It is something else entirely... I always just thought it was people with snorkels going to get them... you learn something new every day...

Another breakfast. Gah. This time I tried their congee (soggy rice in a bowl of watery stuff) and it was about what I expected. It tasted like a bowl of soggy rice and watery stuff. I cannot wait for a Canadian breakfast.

Finally up and away we had one more destination on the island before we were going to head back to Shantou. We drove, and we got there.

Treasure Island.

Treasure Island: The Movie

It had been used to store treasure though much of it had been found. There is still a riddle regarding treasure that is rumoured to be hidden. Pirates have used Nan'ao Island as a base for pirates many times so it seemed natural to hide some booty there. We did walk to Treasure Island but we found no gold or silver, instead we found another kind of Treasure: Shells.

Treasure Island

Booty

The bus took us back to the town and back to the ferry port. Most people were already asleep by that point. It was 2:00 pm. The ferry was not leaving for another hour so they let us off the bus. There was a temple on a nearby hill, and as long as we could be back by 2:45 pm we could go explore. We did, we being the six of us who were not asleep.

We climbed a long staircase and then were at the most beautiful temple I have ever seen. It was not a bunch of painted stone and painted concrete, but real carvings and sculptures. The two front pillars were spiraling dragons carved from a single stone, and the sculptures on the roof were made of hundreds of pieces. Each dragon scale was another piece. A call came on one of the Chinese Student's cell phones and we were summoned back to the bus early in hopes of catching an earlier ferry.

Nan'ao Temple

On the bus, bye tour guide. On the ferry. On the campus, bye Wanli. In the bed.

Nocturn.

Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day Mom, and Grandma, and Helen, and any Mother out there who has done their part to raise a child.

We are all children.

Downtown Downtown.

We have spent a great deal of time wandering the campus. It is much different than the University of Calgary. Here it is green. Here it is alive. Students here live on campus whereas in Calgary and most of the Developed World campuses house a few students but only a few. There is also a preschool on the campus here and an elementary school.

Pondfront Palisade

Engrish

We are a long way from home Toto...

There is life here in the nights. A general curfew is in place for women at 11:30 pm, though it is not really enforced, and even then, the students take to the streets. The fields are filled with games and the hidden paths are filled with the young lovers walking hand in hand. Families are taking their children around the beautiful grounds and everyone appears carefree and happy. We do not do this. We hide in our houses with our few friends and we shelter ourselves from the harsh elements of nature.

Squiggly Water

The Troll Bridge on Campus

How different these two worlds are.

This campus is alive in all ways. It is great to see such natural beauty in the ponds and trees and the reservoir. They take such care of their campus that we do not. Part of it is because of a government that must find employment for all of their citizens. Many people tend the grounds and they make a living of it. They are good at what they do.

Some of the Canadian students with us met some of the English teachers on campus and they offered to take us into town. We all joined up last night and hopped onto the 39 bus. I will try to add in prices a little so you can see how I am living here. For example, more rice than I could possibly eat would cost me 0.6 Yuan, the pork I usually get for a meal costs 4-8 Yuan, and the pop I get usually costs 2.5 Yuan. So in general a meal, and not just any meal, but a fantastic and HUGE meal costs about 10 Yuan. That is about $2 Canadian.

The 39 bus costs 2 Yuan.

We took the bus downtown with out guides and they took us into the heart of Shantou. We were near Wal-Mart when we got off the bus and then we wandered into the night. They took us to a noodle joint where you could watch them make the noodles in front of the shop. Every meal we ordered there was 6 Yuan (just over 1 CAD). We all ate like Kings.

The Noodle Shop

I was told by one of our guides that the family running the shop was from the Northeast of China and that they were all Chinese Muslims. Fascinating. I have also learned in class that I have been misled about certain things in China, such as the freedom of religion. Christianity for example I had thought to be banned, but I have found that it is not banned. Not banned... but closely monitored. This is the Chinese way. They watch everything. There are cameras all over campus, not just like the ones at U of C, but cameras everywhere.

After supper it was decided that we would go to a bar. Why not? We were walking towards it and crossing streets as is done here (by just walking... they will not hit you it you just walk. It is how they drive too. There are very few traffic signals, and very few accidents), when it was then decided that it was too far to walk. Our guides called over 5 pedal-powered rickshaws and we hopped in.

From that point on there was complete neglect of all traffic laws or rules. The drivers gave us a show as we raced through the busy streets of downtown Shantou. I have a movie of parts of it that I will be able to show everyone when I get home. It was wild. We were in traffic and out of traffic, and I think that the drivers might have minded, but everyone was more than happy to slow down and get a good look at foreigners. Shantou is not a major tourist destination so foreigners are not common. We all get stares wherever we go... not to mention that there are only two guys on this trip. Last night I was the only guy in our group with the exceptions of our guides. I can only imagine what it must have looked like to see us rampaging through the streets in our rickshaw race.

Rickshaw Races

It was too soon when we reached our destination.

Interesting story actually. Our guides had negotiated with the rickshaw drivers before out little trip but when we had arrived they wanted more money. Shocking. Our guides told me that this is a very rare occurrence but that it happens every once in a while. We were negotiating hard but in the end we were arguing over 1 CAD per every person. The bar was a usual bar. The only thing that was quite interesting was first to see how people and alcohol mixed. You cannot always anticipate who is a partier and who is not. We were able to find out pretty quickly however. The second thing was to see the enormous number of Chinese drinking games there are. They have cups, cards, and dice available for purchase at every bar apparently, and every good Chinese person knows how to use them. I observed the people there for a good long time and enjoyed a very expensive coke (2 CAD). Eventually a cab full of us were ready to go. We went out to the street and I waved us down a Taxi.

Blurry Drinking Games

He came and I negotiated with him to what we thought was a good deal. We knew that it should be 25-30 Yuan, but we settled for 35 Yuan since the people around me didn't want to drive it. That means that for 5 of us it cost about 7 CAD to get back to the university. It was a good deal for a Taxi. Most of us came home pretty early but there were two that came home at 3 am, one at 4 am, and one... well... she just never made it. Rumour has it that she slept at one of our guide' houses. I don't know what "slept" that refers to.

p.s. At some point I decided to do laundry. This was great since most of my clothes were dirty but, since I wear Tilleys and they have about a thousand pockets it was rather tricky to empty them all. Actually, it would seem that I only emptied nine hundred and ninety-nine pockets and as a result the Picture Book is now very clean. Oops, it doesn't seem to be waterproof.

Today we went to town... again. We were really going to go to town to go to the Black Market to buy bicycles, but, apparently criminals sleep in and they don't sell bikes until 5 pm. I don't like the thought of buying from the Black Market by my Chinese colleagues have asked me the rhetorical question, "Would to buy a new bike, have it stolen and then buy it?" Given the rhetorical nature of the question I did not answer. The one student who has been helping us the most had his bike stolen a few weeks ago. We will buy or give him one when this is all over.

While we were in town we decided to go shopping. I bought nothing but it was good to see how it is done. There is a lot of stuff to buy and I will do my shopping when the time is right. That time is when I am in Beijing.

Shopping in Shantou (Newer Shantou)

For lunch we went to a high high end restaurant. It name may familiar to you, and it may bring great memories of awe and joy. We went to Pizza Hut. For those of you who have seen "Demolition Man" where Taco Bell is the high end restaurant this is just like that. It really is high end and the pricing and the state of the restaurant reflects that. The prices are still cheaper than home but only just. I have been informed by one of my new friends sitting beside me that I have neglected to mention my drink of choice of this auspicious meal. I did splurge and purchase a more expensive drink but it was good and well worth my money. I ordered a "Chocolate Story." The easiest way to explain it is a chocolate Slurpee with a scoop of delightful chocolate ice cream daintily floating aloft it.

Pizza Hut the High End Restaurant

Lunch at Pizza Hut with the Group

After lunch we returned to the campus for our next great adventure. We had planned since earlier in the week to climb the hills behind our dorms. Our dorms are just at the edge of the campus and just on the other side of the glass edged walls we could see the hills. They were the same hills that hold Sauron's tower but in a different location. I thought there would be paths all over and there were.

But before I continue I must state that there has been a debate opened about whether the tower looks like Sauron's tower or Saruman's tower.

Anyways, we did find a path and we did head up the hill. The stone is a softer stone like a sandstone but with larger grains. There are enormous boulders and time has broken them. In places there are stairs cut into the stone and in places there is nothing but dirt.

We saw many graves going to the Temple a few days back, and it would appear that it is a common practice to bury your relatives in the hills. The paths lead up and it is a beautiful journey, but as we climbed we passed many many graves. There are paths leading all over the place and graves spattering the hills like stars are spattered in the skies. We did not make it to the top this time, but next time we will make it. An injury held us back, but next time we will succeed.

Graves on the Hillside

p.p.s. I have been off of martial arts for a week. That is too long... so, I bought a mop for 5 Yuan, and now I have Jo Staff, and Hello Kitty Hat Band.

p.p.p.s. So, maybe the Picture Book was not waterproof... ok... I buy that. It is now. After many hours of repairs and resuscitation we were able to resurrect the Picture Book. Now, it new, improved, very clean, and waterproof. I hope I check all of my pockets next time.

p.p.p.p.s. For those of you eager to see me educating the locals on North American Swim Suit Trends, we will be going to an island this weekend. There will be swimming, and I only brought one bathing suit...

Sauron's Tower.

From just outside our dorm we can see a tower. For anyone who has seen the Lord of the Rings, it happens to look exactly like Sauron's tower... you know, the one with the fiery eye on it? Well, since we have been here we wanted to go up there and see it, and today our wish was fulfilled.

Sauron's Tower

Mornings here are cool. We do not need sweaters or anything, but cool. There is a canteen/cafeteria near our dorms there we went for breakfast. Just let me say that after eating two breakfasts there I am considering adopting my habit from back home and not eating breakfast at all. They eat some strange foods here.

We went for a class this morning with the Professor from U of C teaching. It was an intro to Buddhism, and though I am not technically in the class I found it very very interesting. After the class was over we were to take a trip to a historical site.

The whole crew of us went walking for a long time through the now hot day and were able to see a little more of the area near the school. Right next to the school (on the side near our dorms... where ever that is) there is a large unused green area. Next to that are some homes, stores, and abandoned buildings. There is amazing disparity even in these streets as there can be private homes with gates on one side, and squatters on the other.

Making our way a little further we came to a temple. Many of their temples are mixed Buddhist and Confucius. This one was. It was amazing. It is just fascinating to see how much effort they put into these temples. It is not just the buildings that are cared for... but everything. The temple is on a hill and all the way up there are buildings. To get there we had to climb the hill and down the other side. There are steps cut into the stone and steps made of concrete.

On the way up we came to Sauron's tower. It turns out that it is in fact a war memorial, inscribed with a message from their last President. From up there you can see all of Shantou and even to the ocean. There is a haze in the air so my pictures might not be perfect, but it was beautiful in person.

Sauron's Tower

For lunch we ate at the Temple. They brought us food and we had to eat it all or else we would be fined. Waste would not be tolerated. It was unfortunately vegetarian... I did try a little of everything I had not had before and let me tell you... they eat some weird stuff in China. Fungus... mmm... Seaweed... mmm... When we had a little too much food left we did something like a team shot where we all took a spoonful of this soggy soaked peeled cucumber stuff and tossed 'er down the hatch. In the end I do not think we were fined.

Looking Down at the Temple from the Hill

Temple Behind Shantou University

We made it back and the rest of the day has just been time to relax. We have wandered campus and tried the food from the larger cafeteria. It is enormous and there must be at least 100 different types of Chinese food you can try at any given time. All of the students live on campus though so they need to eat there every day.

Canteen

Ordering at the Canteen

Twice this month each student from Calgary needs to teach English here, which just means talking to the students that are trying to learn English. Tonight was the first night and my room mate is there now. We were there too but decided to cut out early since tonight was not our designated night. I think my number is up on Thursday...

Now, I am off to bed. It might only be 8 am there, but here it feels like night time.

I will have to post pictures later... I can't figure out how to get pictures onto this Mac...

China.

Getting into China was easy for most of us as we sort of just walked in. We had to go through the gates and fill out the little form, but it seemed mostly to be the honour system that got us into the country.

Some of us had a slightly harder time. They were stopped because their temperature was a bit higher than the Chinese thought it should be, and given the swine flu nonsense they were held back. The might have been stuck there for a long time were it not for one of our professors going to speak with the customs guards. He got them out of the pinch, but it was trouble.

We made it to the campus and headed off for lunch. There were a great deal of interesting foods and I was the only one of the bunch to try fish head and fish guts. Both were... special. After a very short rest we were taken on a tour of campus and then it was time for supper and bed.

Today we went into Shantou proper where we got to see how people actually live. The disparity is amazing as there are some places that look very like home. We went to an enormous mall with its own Wal-Mart. We also went to the older parts of the city where the people are poor and they are selling meat on the streets. We saw a woman butcher a chicken and skin it in less than a minute for a waiting customer. What an experience.

Old Shantou

Driving around Shantou we also went into a Temple. I do not know who prays there, but while we were looking around taking pictures there were several people coming to light incense and to speak to their ancestors. It is amazing how much these people care about spirituality. It is not the institution that they go to, or the rituals that take place there, but it is something deeper and more meaningful that they seek. There is truth here.

While driving through Shantou there are many rivers and canals that lead to the ocean. I just caught a glimpse of a Destroyer nestled in one of these river.

The day was long and we returned.

We were introduced to the Chinese students in this program and then the University took us for supper. There was an amazing variety of food and I got to try some things out of the ordinary again. For example, I was able to try both frog and sea cucumber. I stayed away from their vegetables but the obscure meats were find. I would not recommend sea cucumber, but frog was fine.

Very long, and very tired I write these words.

Hopefully the obscure meats agree with me. I will tell you next time I write...

Hong Kong.

17 Hours in the Airport. Not good.

The flight to Hong Kong was decent. Long. My back is not in good shape for such flights, but you know that someone is thinking of you when you hear your name come over the intercom midflight and the attendants ask for you to identify yourself. I did. Turns out that they had spoken to our Air Canada connection in the family and she told them I was coming. They were very nice and tried to make my stay as comfortable as possible.

Getting into Hong Kong was easy. Evidently Canada and the USA have stricter immigration policies than Hong Kong.

17 Hours in the Airport is a long time, but longer if you are on the wrong side of security. We were on the outside side and there was only tile floor and very few seats. We found some food at Popeye's and then took some seats to be our home for the night.

A few of us slept on the seats and a few more slept on the floor. I managed to fall asleep and might have stayed that way if I were not woken up by some Chinese people yelling at me. I think they were yelling but it was hard to tell given the hour and my asleepnessness. They were window cleaners, and I was sleeping near the window. To get their scaffold-on-wheels to where it needed to be those of us sleeping on the floor had to go. 1:00 am Hong Kong time.

After that I found some chairs and was able to sleep on and off until morning.

Note: Image courtesy of Trevor. Also... you can just see me under the Tilley on the left.

Time to Go.

Everything is packed. Everything is sorted out.

It is time for me to as some would say... "make like a baby, and head out."

I am so Awesome.