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...