Nanji Dao （南麂岛)

We got to go on this awesome field trip to a really cool, not so popular, island called Nanji Dao. It was really cool!

We started off on this past friday afternoon, just after we finished our Mid-term writing exam and headed to a hotel in Rui'an(瑞安). The purpose of the first leg of the trip was to preform our mid-term oral exams, which were little skits. That part sucked, but they next day we hit up some beautiful springs, did some hiking （The Various 9 springs were all located along a particular mountain trail), and then finally hit up Nanji Dao.





I finally got to meet some of my classmates who i had missed out on meeting on the first excursion...i forgot to mention anywhere that i arrived to Hangzhou about 2 days later than everyone else :)　We also got to get up early and catch a beautiful sunrise, and then spend the afternoon on a very nice beach...it's not Nantasket Beach, but it was damn nice! (pics are coming... i promise)

After that we had to head back to school...6 hrs later, at 1:30am we arrived to campus and made arangements to NOT cancel classes. It was a particularly nice Monday, even the teaches were practically sleeping at the chalkboard!

Well that should bring everything up to date. At present i am planning to do some homework and start studying for my exam on friday... how fun!

LALALA Enjoy

Hangzhou

So i got to Hangzhou and started school safe and sound. Ihad some crazy travels on the way, got really sick twice, and had some great experiences STANDING on long train rides...but it was all good fun. I saw some great places and met some awesome people, but now i am only doing weekend trips from Hangzhou, until i head up north for school that is. I plan to hit up a few places along the way, although i'm not sure where yet.

Back to Hangzhou. The school is pretty good, the dorm is nice, and the people are cool...but i hate school :) I always hate school. Studying chinese 24/7 is hard. i still can't speak for Sh*t. We cover as much material in a one day here as we do back home in a week! it's that crazy! Plus... we're not allowed to speak English...anywhere. We can type in english, and listen to english music through headphones, but that's it. No speaking English! AAAHHH!! Sadly, i think it's not too bad, i feel bad for all the poor chinese people that have to try to understand my incredible poor chinese though. :)

Oh yeah, and my roomate is pretty cool, although he reminds me a bit of my frehmen year roomy... loves to play on the computer...all day long...all day damn it...all freaking day!!

My next door neighbors are cool too.

And one final thought, the teaching situation is so stange i think. Ihave never been in the situation where the teachers are so friendly with the students out of class. In class they are very strict, but as soon as class ends, it's like there old friends...it's pretty cool.

Enjoy, for now.

Byebye

It's been a long...long time...

It's been quite some time. I want anyone reading this to keep in mind that i can no longer review what i have typed (i can but it's a pain), because i can actually see my blog page in china. it's blocked!

Anyway, allow me to catch everyone up on my situation.

So i finally decided to leave Hong Kong with my newly met friends, Mac and John, and head to Lijiang(丽江), a city famous for it's beautiful scenery. We started off via MRT to Shenzhen(深圳), went through customs there, and then hoped a train to Guangdong Station（广东火车站). About 30 min. from the station the fun began, as the train folks decided to stop. So we had to gather our belongings, get off at Guangdong East (广东东火车站) and take the subway to Guangdong Station. That done, we purchased tickets to get us about 1/2 way to are final destination, and headed off to Nanning (楠宁). At Nanning we rested abit and prepared to head to Kunming Station (昆明). On arrival, we immediately hoped a sleeper bus (yes the bus had beds) to head to Lijiang.




Before i continue, let me type a few words about train travel in china. It sucks. It's not that it sucks, it's just a hassel, trains like to not move, and you can never seem to get a ticket directly to your destination...even though the train goes through that destination!

...back to Lijiang... Lijiang was beautiful. My traveling companions were great, but i got sick again and missed out on some great excursions :( I got to spend more days than i wanted to in a hotel eating rice pourridge, steamed bread, and popsicles. On the up side, Lijiang's "ancient city (古城)" is pretty cool, and Lijiang has a plethora of good food (when you're not sick).

After about 5 days we, headed back to Kunming， and i got to experience the worst bus ride of my life. Have you ever had diarrhea and had to ride a bus for 8 hours?? IT AIN'T FUN!!! I had to request special stops on the side of the road to avoid making a mess of myself and the bus. It was terrible.

Anyway, after arrival in Kunming, i headed off the Shanghai, and Mac and John back to HK.36hrs. on a train later, i arrived in Shanghai and was greeted by my friend Wang Fei(王飞), who i met last year studying Korea. I stayed in his dorm, and he showed me around a bit. The only problem i had was that he loves to "arrange" and "plan" things, and if things don't go the way he intends, he just gets whinny...*SMACK*
OOHH i also got to catch-up with my housemate from Korea, Xu Run (许润), that was alot of fun.

Three days later i was off the Bo Zhou (亳州), Wang Fei's hometown...why...i'm not too sure. Oh, never heard of Bo Zhou？？ No one in China has either!! It's a small city with some great history and good food, but i got so fed up with all the damn arrangements and planning, that i found it difficult to really enjoy the city.


Four (long) days later, i was on my way to Hangzhou (杭州) to start school. I arrived at 1 am and greeted by friends of Wang Fei's family. They were great! They took me to eat, and to a hotel. Then the next day they took me to the West Lake （西湖) for ice cream, and finally helped me settle into my dorm...the very same dorm in which i am presenty typing.

Now on to the Hangzhou situation...see the next post