Holiday to Hangzhou: Part 1

I apologise for the quietness on my blog recently. The main reason is that Kimi and I have just been away for a few days. Originally we were going to Shanghai to see a concert, but after the government put a stop to that -- as I talked about here -- we decided to pay a visit to Hangzhou with the possibility of visiting Shanghai afterwards (we didn't make it to Shanghai).

After a four and a half hour bus ride, we arrived at Hangzhou. Everything seemed very familiar, nothing had changed since I lived there just over a year ago. We walked to the nearest bus stop and caught a bus to our hotel located in the city centre. The hotel itself was very modern, basic, and most importantly, clean. By this time it was already approaching 4 o'clock, and because we didn't have any lunch on the bus, we were hungry. Our plan was to go to one of Hangzhou's most popular restaurants, Grandma's Kitchen. We thought if we went early we would certainly get a table. This is what happened:

You can't even book a table here, the only option is to queue

So we waited -- for an hour and a half. It is quite astonishing how one restaurant can be so popular. Every time it is the same story, huge queues and slow service. There isn't only one Grandma's Kitchen, there are many of them scattered across the city, each of them probably as equally crowded. Once our number was called we entered the restaurant and took our table -- which we had to share with another couple. When reading the menu one thing is quite apparent: everything is cheap. I got the feeling that one of the reasons the restaurant is so popular could be due to a con of sorts. The restaurant looks expensive, the food looks fancy, but it's all a bargain. Also, the menu is extremely diverse, there's a lot crammed into the pages. You can get anything from Chinese basics like Mapo Tofu, to other slightly less desireable offerings such as Pig's brain (they didn't really need to have a picture of that one, I could have guessed what it might look like).

Our food was delivered extremely quickly even though it was almost impossible to find a waiter who would take our order in the first place. The food was delicious, not the standard Chinese food I am used to. Each dish had something different to offer, it was almost worth the wait.

Somehow we managed to eat almost all of this

There'll be more Hangzhou tomorrow, time to get ready for work now.

Street Food

Street food in action

For a foreigner living in China it is more than possible to continue having a western-style breakfast each day -- if you have the spare cash that is. When I say western-style, I mean the basics of one bowl of cereal and a piece of toast with butter (and jam if you like). It is very easy to buy milk and bread everywhere here, although 99.9% of all the bread I have eaten in China is rather sweet. Problems arise with butter and cereal. In Wenzhou these goods just aren't available in the supermarkets, the only place to buy such things is at D&L square (which I briefly mentioned here). Almost everything in the "European Supermarket" is imported, and it comes at a price. So, if money is no option you can quite easily live in China with a daily dose of home.

On the other hand, I find that a Chinese breakfast can be equally, or sometimes more satisfying than anything my toaster can prepare -- and it comes at a fraction of the price (literally). I don't particularly like going to a Chinese restaurant for breakfast, I simply cannot adapt to eating similar dishes I would normally have at night in the morning. I find the best way to eat in the early hours is on the street. Some of the most enjoyable food I have eaten has come from street vendors, the food is quick, simple, and breakfasty enough to suit me just fine. At the top of the list is Baozi, a kind of bun with pork or vegetables inside (I go for the veggie one). How much for two? 2 RMB. Next on the list is something called luo bo si bing (see above), which is kind of like a fried pitta bread with white carrot inside. How much for one? 1.5 RMB. If you are not still full yet, there are numerous other options available on the mean streets of Wenzhou, from balls of rice to sticks of deep-fried dough. To wash it down, for 1 RMB a nice bag of warm soya milk can be yours -- that's right a bag (see below). The grand total for this street-food-breakfast: 4.5 RMB (that's around 45 British pence at the current exchange rate). Or you could just have a Macdonald's breakfast for 35 RMB....

Nothing like a nice bag of soya milk to perk you up in the morning

Things to do on a Rainy Day in Wenzhou

My days off at Web had been changed since I returned from the UK in February. Previously I had managed to get Friday and Saturday which was incredibly cheeky considering Saturday and Sunday are two of the busiest days in the training centre. As they say, "If you don't ask you don't get".

Since I came back after my holiday the H.R. department had changed my days to Tuesday and Wednesday. I wasn't very happy about this, but I was promised I would have them changed back again after a month. Thankfully they have kept their word which has put a smile back on my face. It means I can go back to teaching children on Saturday and I will also be able to start having piano lessons. The downside of this is that I am now having to work seven days in a row until I make it to next Friday.

This week I had the pleasure of Kimi joining me on my days off. We planned to get out of the apartment and do something. This plan was immediately thrown in the rubbish when we looked out of the window: rain. The rain here has been ferocious and has no intention of stopping. As I write this we are on day 19 of uninterrupted rain. Apparently this is not completely natural either. There have been droughts in some parts of the Zhejiang province so the government have been using a chemical called silver iodide which forces rain clouds to dispense their lot rather prematurely. The first time I heard of such a thing being used here was for the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. Rain was scheduled to coincide with the event, so again, rockets were fired into the sky and a city outside of Beijing was flooded -- probably.

What is there to do on a rainy, dismal, and dull day in Wenzhou? There's only one answer: KTV. Kimi has been eager to go to karaoke for some time, Wednesday just seemed like the perfect day to be stuck inside. The KTV buildings are almost like hotels, you have to book a room, choose the size, and pay for how long you would like to use it for. We purchased the smallest room for a couple of hours, it was cheap at only 28 RMB. Inside, the rooms are neatly decorated with two microphones, a touch screen computer to select the songs, and a large wide-screen TV. I am by no means a qualified singer, but it is strangely enjoyable singing along to music videos in the privacy of a sound-proof room. It isn't easy finding English songs as the search function is useless. Instead you have to trawl through page after page trying to find an artist or song that is recognisable. There was a large choice of Abba, The Beatles, Westlife, and The Backstreet Boys; also some more obscure stuff like Richard Ashcroft, Cat Stevens, and The Animals were available too.

Kimi selecting a song in the "mini-room"

Somehow we managed to spend almost three hours in our room. By the time we checked out it was almost time for dinner. We had decided earlier in the day that we would go for a hotel buffet. They are more expensive than a usual dinner here, but now and again it is worth the treat -- especially as they have things like bread and butter on offer.

We arrived at The Dynasty Hotel opposite from Kimi's home just as the Buffet was starting. As we were about to enter the restaurant we noticed that the price had been raised, instead of the previous 98 RMB it was now 135 RMB. We took a look in the two other hotels close by the Dynasty to compare prices. One of the others was only 68 RMB but was full, and the second was 158 RMB, too much. Back we went to the Dynasty, only this time much wetter.

Both of us were extra-determined to get our money's worth from the meal. I immediately went for the bread and butter, salad, fruit, chips, and desserts. Kimi on the other hand went for the seafood, meat, and desserts.

Making the most out of the buffet

I felt quite sick at the end of it all which could only mean one thing: it was worth it. At least it won't be for another month or two until we do such a thing again.

West Invades East on Valentine's Day

Yesterday I spent my first Valentine's Day in China. It was quite remarkable to see, yet again, how the West is influencing China. I wasn't expecting it to be any different from any other day really, I knew Web would make a big deal out of the occasion but I thought that would be it -- I was completely wrong, again. The streets were crammed with couples, flowers were being sold at extortionate prices, and it was near impossible to book a restaurant for dinner. I know for sure that China's own version of Valentine's day -- on 7th July in the lunar calendar -- is not celebrated anything like its Western counterpart.

Kimi and I, with Johann and his girlfriend, had planned to eat together in an Italian restaurant called Naples. Kimi called to book a table but she was told that we would have to pre-pay to guarantee our arrival. We didn't do that as we had no time to get there in the day, so instead we took a chance and went to the restaurant anyway. As luck would have it, as we entered, a couple were leaving.

The food was a welcome change, we ordered bruschetta, Cesar salad, pizzas, and steaks (I had a pineapple pizza). With a few drinks added onto that, the bill came to a very westernized price too: 530 RMB (about £54), as our jaws hit the table, Johann and I quiveringly took out our wallets. The restaurant had even hired a violinist who was playing a rather unique repertoire, with tunes ranging from "Edelweiss" to the theme from "The Godfather".

Meeting the Reason I Came to China

I met up with my old friend John (Chinese name: Yang Yi) today. I originally met him while studying at Hull university. I had forgotten to pay my deposit to live in the halls of residence, and he was a latecomer to the university. This resulted in us both living together in the same house. I have mentioned this in an earlier post before, but if it wasn't for him I very much doubt I would be living and working in China now. I never would have met Kimi too. It was he who invited me to Beijing on holiday in 2004, in turn I invited my friend Richard -- who I knew would be interested in travelling there too. Richard fell in love with the place so much that he returned one year later for another holiday (I couldn't afford to go then), and after we graduated from university he went there to work. I worked in England for half a year (I talked about that here) and saved up to visit him in Hangzhou for two months. I enjoyed my holiday so much that I decided to return to live there too. In short, that is pretty much how I ended up living and working in China.

So today I met up with John for the first time since I left university, more than two and a half years ago. He is still studying at Hull where he is currently finishing a masters degree. At the moment he has so much free time that he decided to come to Manchester to see me. We didn't do much really as the weather wasn't up to much. Our first stop was China town. I was hungry so we went for something to eat there. We found the first adequate-looking Chinese restaurant and went in. I was surprised to find a couple of dishes that I recognised from China. With interest I ordered Mapo Tofu (I have mentioned this dish here), fried rice, and Sichuan style green beans. The beans at least looked the same as in China, but the taste was completely different, especially the tofu. Quite disappointing really, especially taking into account the price difference.

Gan bian si ji dou: looks the same as in China, tastes completely different

After lunch we walked around the city centre for a while. I love Manchester, it is a brilliant city. It is just a shame that a few of the people living there have to ruin it for everybody else. There seems to be a big population of uncivilized youths in the downtown areas. Because of this, Manchester and other similar cities have a bad reputation for street crime. Compared to Wenzhou, where I feel incredibly safe walking around at night on my own, I do not feel safe walking in Manchester. It is a problem that should be addressed, but how I do not know.

After having a coffee with John in Starbucks it was dark, raining, and time for him to go back home. I walked him to the station and said goodbye. I just hope it isn't another 2 and half years until I see him again.

Outside Selfridges: the big wheel in Manchester

Supermarket Shopping

Last night I decided to visit my local supermarket to buy some essentials I had run out of (shower gel, hand soap, jam etc). When visiting the Wal-Mart-owned, Trust-Mart (see above), it is quite clear that there is barely any Chinese influence remaining in the building. Walking around the isles I can sometimes forget I am almost 6,000 miles away from home. Occasionally I am brought back to reality, especially when I hear the same advertisement repeat and repeat and repeat on the speaker system (a common trait in shopping centres here, a form of audio torture I'm sure). I am also reminded that I am slap-bang in China when -- browsing for my favourite coconut soap -- I see a sign like this:

I am on a roll for bad English translations at the moment

The mundanity of the westernised supermarket has not completely taken over Wenzhou just yet. There are still many small fruit and vegetable shops all over the city, sometimes there are even trucks parked on the side of the road which have mountains of water melons or tangerines for the cheapest price imaginable. A few days ago I was waiting for Kimi on a small bridge overlooking one of the many canals in Wenzhou, when I saw a boat selling an assortment of fruit, vegetables, and eggs. It felt like I was watching a genuine part of a Chinese way of life which is all but forgotten in 2008.

This is the kind of China National Geographic told me about

Buffet Blowout

I have just come home from a birthday party of an ex-Web employee's daughter. She was one today, or should I say two today, seeing as I am in China. For those who aren't aware, as soon as a baby is born in China (in many parts anyway) they are immediately one year of age, there is no counting of days and months, they are just one for the whole year. It is just like how we count the years: we say it is 2008 now, but if we use the Western way of counting age, we are only in our 2007th year and 11th month.

We arrived at the party more than one hour late because of work finishing at 7pm today. This meant that the buffet dinner was almost eaten by the time we stepped into the function room at the hotel. It was free, so I can't complain. I wasn't very hungry anyway, Kimi had bought me Papa John's as she was so excited that it had opened in Wenzhou today (although it was paid for with my money). I hope the baby likes the gift we bought -- it is a big telephone that can speak English and Chinese.

We had a much more pleasant night tonight than last night. We had planned to go on a night out for our new teacher, Kristian from Canada. Unfortunately the planning had been left to the wrong person and nobody had a clue what we were doing. Most of the others were working so Kimi and I waited until 7pm for them to finish -- I was still only semi-conscious after the trauma of shoe shopping in the afternoon. Eventually we decided to go The Victoria Hotel for the buffet. When we got there -- just like tonight -- it was too late, and most of the food had been obliterated. I couldn't be bothered going anywhere else and would have been satisfied to sit down and start eating, but Kimi wasn't having any of it (she was right, it was not worth the expense). After some talking, we decided to go elsewhere, left the hotel and caught a cycle-rickshaw.

It was Saturday night, so things were extremely busy in Wenzhou. The rickshaw driver decided the pavement was a better option than the road for driving on. As we rushed past a crowd of people, I felt us hit something on the right hand side. I looked and saw that we had collided with a man's leg. The driver stopped, got off the bike and began apologising. The man was furious, shouting and pointing at his leg all of the time. I didn't know what I was supposed to do in the middle of this, people were crowding around and starring right at us. Eventually the driver said "sorry" for the 100th time and we drove off.

A few minutes later, we pulled up outside the restaurant of Kimi's choosing, but it looked different. My worst fear came to fruition: they had changed the restaurant into a hot pot restaurant. After eating the hot pot here, I have not had any appetite for it again. The waiters had set the table and were ready to take our order. With a little embarrassment we got up, apologised, and left. We had no clue where to go next.

After strolling around for a few minutes we ended up near a cheap noodle shop, a place we regularly frequent. They serve brilliant fried rice, so in defeat we went in. I felt terrible that we had ended up in this place and weren't with Kristian having fun. Fortunately I spoke to him and found out that he was so tired he didn't even want to come out and went home not long after arriving at the hotel. We have planned to do something after work this week which should be much less of a hassle I hope.

Kimi and I were on our way home when we decided to buy a dessert from a dessert shop inside the large Intime department store. These shops specialize in fruit desserts, especially ones containing a lot of mango and coconut. We made our order, but unbeknown to Kimi, she had made a mistake: Instead of ordering mango with coconut ice, she had ordered mango with coconut yoghurt. "Just as the night couldn't get any worse" she said with complete sincerity. I ate the yoghurt and she ordered the ice. I do hope we never have any real problems to deal with in the future.

Mango, black sticky rice, and the disaster: coconut yoghurt

Tomorrow I have been asked to go to Wenzhou university to talk to the students about how to improve their English in a short time. In all honesty, I haven't a clue what I am going to talk about. I don't even know the kind of level I should be aiming for. The only reason they are sending me is to advertise the training centre, unfortunately my sales pitch is not going to be up to scratch.

Here's My Card

After just eight months of working for Web, I have finally been given my business cards. I also seem to have an e-mail address -- wzchris@webi.com.cn -- which I didn't even know about. Business cards seem to play a big part when meeting new people here in China. I guess I can join in with the tradition now. Other than that, the cards are quite useless, unless I use them for advertising private tutoring (which is completely against the rules of my contract).

Talking of private tutoring, I had my fourth class with the primary school students today -- I wrote about my first class here. Again, I had a very pleasurable time, and also learnt that they love competing with each other. For some reason they weren't really in the mood for concentrating, and the questions weren't flowing very well. Crystal -- their main teacher, and the person's home I go to for the class -- mentioned that we could turn the questions into a competition. It was amazing, as soon as I drew a table on the board with "boys" and "girls" on each side, they started going crazy trying to trying to score points by asking and answering questions as well as possible.

After the class was over I was invited for lunch by a couple of the parents. We all went together to the same Sichuan restaurant as last time. It was delicious, one of the best I have been too. One of the boys, Philip, requested an interesting item from the menu: Goose feet. Believe it or not, chicken, goose, and duck feet are all fairly popular with some people in China. I can't imagine why, where is the meat on such a thing?

Goose foot: not for the faint-hearted

Crystal and the children's parents were very kind for paying for the dinner and giving me a lift back to my apartment. The mother who drove me home even tried to have a conversation in Chinese with me. I was quite happy that I understood most of what she was saying, although my answers were full of mistakes. I had better back to reading the vocabulary in my green notebook.

I have been invited by an ex-employee of Web to his duaghter's one year birthday party tomorrow. Kimi is meeting me in a few minutes and we are going to visit the local toyshop to see what we can buy. It is tradition in China to give money in a red envelope for this kind of thing, but considering I am a foreigner and he is a foreigner, I think a gift for the baby is quite suitable. I have also promised Kimi that I will go shoe shopping with her after buying the gift....(snore).

Food Cravings

A few days ago Kimi and I visited D&L square (see left, not to be confused with Paris).  The area houses new and expensive shops and a variety of non-Chinese restaurants.  Sometimes the square is also referred to as "European City". We have been there many times before, the food is certainly its forte -- unlike the time we tried a Macau restaurant there a couple of months ago.

Our primary aim for going to D&L was to see how the construction of the first Papa Johns restaurant in Wenzhou was going. Now, I love Chinese food, and I don't think I could live without Mapo Toufu. But occasionally I do have a craving for food that contains a lot of bread, cheese, and calories -- a food type that is almost non existent here. Pizza Hut does have a presence in the city, but it pales into significance compared to Papa Johns -- the king of American export Pizzas. All we need next is a Subway and I will be happy.

I feel like I should point out that at home in England I would feel quite guilty about frequenting such huge corporate establishments on a regular basis. But here, considering they are the only remnants of western food on offer, I gladly take complete advantage of them all.

After briefly looking at the construction of the new restaurant, we visited the small supermarket underground the D&L building that specializes in imported goods. Usually the products are overpriced and choice is limited. This time there was a big change. They actually had real cheese, not just the cheap stuff made from plastic. This was very exciting for me, I could probably over dose on cheese if I was given the opportunity. Luckily the cost is very high for a small block, so it will keep me away from addiction (and fatness). I ended up buying some Dutch smoked cheese and also a tub of spreadable butter (another first for me in China).

The next morning I made some toast and added my new purchases. It was possibly one of the nicest meals I have ever had. Unfortunately, after one week the cheese and butter are almost gone. I shouldn't be allowed near the stuff.

Butter and Cheese, I have missed you

Teaching Children....Again

On Saturday morning I started my first private tutoring job. A prospective student had visited one of my English Corners at Web, and recommended me to her friend, Crystal, an English teacher. She emailed me asking if I would be interested in helping a group of eight primary school children practise what she has been teaching them in class. It would be one hour a week on Saturdays at 10:15 am.

I thought about how much I really didn't want to work on my days off as we are sometimes worked to the bone at Web. I was considering turning down the offer when I thought about the experience, the possibility of getting my name out there for more work, and the fact it was only one hour. I sent a reply to her email telling her I'd give it a go.

On the day, I arrived at the meeting place -- outside a restaurant -- a little tired from the Halloween party the night before. I received a call from Crystal telling me that "she had sent two girls to get me". This sounded a bit ominous, I thought we might be going inside the restaurant. Seconds later two young girls came running up to me shouting hello. "This could be them" I thought.

We walked away from the restaurant, turned a corner, and entered an apartment building. After climbing a few floors we came to Crystals home. She welcomed us in with a big smile, and even said I could keep my shoes on -- usually they're off at the door in China.  I was directed to a chair positioned in front of a whiteboard in her living room. As she had mentioned there were eight children (5 girls and 3 boys). Also, a few of the parents had decided to stay for the class. I was a little nervous by this point, everything was new and nobody knew me.

I sat down and she told me, "you can just pretend it is like an English corner". At that very moment I realised I had not planned a thing to say to these students. I panicked for about a second, but then somehow my autopilot kicked in. I introduced myself, and started talking and writing on the board. Then I had a shock, they started talking back to me too.

I have become so accustomed to students of a certain age who are not willing to speak English, that to be sitting in a room with 10-14 year olds who actually want to speak English was quite refreshing. All of them answered questions and understood the vocabulary and grammar I was using. I was impressed, these children were better than half of my fully grown students at Web. It was genuinely a joy to be with them for an hour, and in no time the class was over. I didn't look at the clock once.

Crystal invited me, with the children, to go to a Sichuan restaurant, this was a good sign, they didn't want to say goodbye and good riddance. As we were walking out she told me that I was just the teacher they had been looking for. I felt very flattered and relieved that they thought the class was a success. I could not have done a class like that a year ago with such comfort and ease.  I feel that I really have learnt a set of important skills in my time here in China, none of it has been a waste.

The last time I taught children was in Hangzhou (from August 2007 to January 2008). They were a few years younger than the children I am teaching now -- and much more difficult to handle. When I worked in the kindergarten it was quite exhausting, and I could never agree with teaching 5 year old children up to 7 o'clock at night. The kids were mainly brilliant, but very often me and Bobby -- an American anaesthesiologist who came to China with his wife and three children -- had no idea what we should be doing for classes. There was no guidance or help from anybody, we were just thrown in at the deep end.

I remember going on an outing with my classes to pick oranges in a farm just outside of Hangzhou. I am in complete disbelief that this was almost one year ago to the day (I remember being incredibly ill a couple of days right after this).

Don't forget the peace signs

Blog and Beans

It's a little late now so I'll keep this short. As I arrived home tonight I almost felt like I needed to post on my blog just to keep the ball rolling. I fear that if I don't keep this thing semi-ritual then it will suddenly be three months later and I won't have posted anything. Momentum with all things like this can be difficult I think, but I really do want to continue my blog. 

The purpose for starting this diary was to keep a record of my time in China. Before I began blogging there had been too many events and experiences that had come and gone....and then forgotten. I really don't want this time of my life to end up a distant memory in the years ahead. And what better way to keep a diary in the 21st century than a blog? So far I have found this new experience to be very rewarding and also very enjoyable, I forgot how much I like writing.

Back to my week.  So far there have been no surprises (good or bad) which keeps the blood pressure down.  Most of the tutors at Web arrived on Monday with an array of new clothes, it was like being stuck in a fashion show.  It also seemed that they had followed my idea of having a haircut over the weekend because almost all of them were sporting brand new hair styles.  I think this means that Autumn has officially landed.

It's still not too cold to eat ice creams though. Today I was bought an interesting ice lolly which is popular in China but probably not anywhere else in the world. I've seen the flavour many times in the shops but didn't dare to spend my money on one. The lolly in question is of the green bean (runner bean?) variety. As it was purchased for me I had a go....and it was surprisingly -- very surprisingly -- not bad at all. A complete mixture of sweet and savoury, I can only describe the taste as sugary peas mashed together with ice (!).

A green bean ice lolly, not too blurry I hope (that's what I get for holding the phone in my left hand)

National Day Holiday

October 1st is National Day in China, a day to celebrate the forming of the PRC. It is also a time when a massive proportion of the 1.4 billion people in the country have a holiday for three or four days -- this year I was one of those people.

A rare spark of generosity meant that I had a completely free time courtesy of Web International English. The decided locations were Quanzhou and Xiamen, the latter being the place Kimi and I wanted to travel to anyway. Just like our previous outing to Wuzhen and Xitang every single detail of the trip was planned, including coach, food, hotel, sightseeing spots, and duration of stay in each place. This makes for an easy ride and fulfilling holiday, but results in a very tiring experience due to the constant moving and lack of down time to relax. We had three days to cram in our trip, here is how we did it....

Day 1

Once again Kimi and I had to wake up very early (5:40 this time) to arrive at the coach on time for it's 6:40 departure. It was much less of a rush than previously because the coach left from outside the International Hotel (where I work) which is only a ten minute walk away from my apartment. Most of my workmates from Web had come on the holiday which was very pleasant to see, although only Chuck and I from the "foreign teachers" had decided to join in for one reason or another. Everybody on the bus seemed excited, some were very excited indeed. We left promptly and the eight hour journey commenced. We watched a few films, tried to sleep, and listened to the horn....a lot. By about two o'clock we finally arrived at our first destination, Quanzhou.

As we were entering the city I began noticing a large array of stone statues, all kinds of things from dragons to emperors. I guessed this must be the trademark of the city. We were dropped off outside a stone archway which was the entrance to what seemed like a large park. Although it was quite warm the unique feeling of sea-air was brushing against my face, then in the distance I caught a glimpse of the water reflecting the sun above it. As we began our approach into the park we were introduced to some traditionally dressed Quanzhou women. Apparently the women will only show you their ears if you are married or will get married to them. We didn't see one male worker here because another ancient tradition is that the men stay at home all day and the women go out to work (seems fair enough to me).

Traditionally dressed Quanzhou women

As we walked further the genuine culture we had witnessed seemed to wear off rapidly. More and more stone constructions kept popping up: cats, books, dogs, laughing Buddha's, it was neither culturally nor historically relevant in the slightest. On top of that, all of the statues were practically brand new. These thoughts disappeared in a second when I saw the beach and the sea.

We sneaked away from our tour group and walked around some large -- mildly dangerous -- rocks (see right). This brought us to the beach, which for some reason instantly reminded me of Scarborough. It is obviously quite different, but the shape of the coastline is almost identical and they even share castle-type buildings in the distance on top of their respective cliffs (see below).

On the left, Quanzhou, China, on the right, Scarborough, England

Me filming (taken by Chuck)

Kimi's feet in the sand

Kimi looking very happy after playing in the sea (taken by Chuck)

The paparazzi found me on holiday (actually taken by Chuck)

After spending some time admiring the beach and taking in the breeze, Kimi and I stumbled upon an area of hammocks. We gave them a go and relaxed for half an hour.

The hammock area, 1 RMB for five minutes

View of the trees from the hammock

Our time relaxing by the beach was over far too rapidly and we were called back to the coach to make our way for the next stop: a temple (there are always temples). After weaving around the city for some time, we arrived outside the temple to find that it was closed. The plan was to come back again in the morning to see it. We backtracked away and headed for dinner. The pre-planned food for the holiday was identical to our previous trip: quick, easy, cheap Chinese food. I left the restaurant still feeling hungry, but next stop was the hotel, so back in the bus we climbed.

First impressions of this hotel were a little better than our previous experience in Xitang, although I've learnt not to trust my instincts too much now. When we opened the door to our brown and pine 1970's furnished room (complete with brown leather sofa), Kimi instantly saw a cockroach scuttling away from the light -- brilliant. We threw down our bags, exited the building, and strolled around the area looking for places to eat. In the end our choice was a Japanese chain restaurant, I ate sushi and deep-fried cheese rolls.

It was back to the hotel and straight to sleep, for another early rise was ahead of us the next morning.

Day 2

The plan was to get up early, eat breakfast in the hotel (more cheap Chinese food) and head back to the temple. Instead Chuck, Kimi, and I bought a McDonald's breakfast and ate it on the coach while everybody else looked around the temple. In hindsight we definitely made the right choice. By the time I had finished my Egg McMuffin they were all finished and climbing back onto the bus again anyway.

Our time in Quanzhou was over, and the short journey to Xiamen would begin. It took about one hour in all, but for most of the time the tour guide was telling us a bunch of facts about the city. For example, Xiamen is the cleanest city in China and the word 'tea' originates from the ancient local dialect. I will be googling those facts later.

First stop was another temple, if one wasn't enough for one day already. Next door to this particular temple is Xiamen university, one of the most famous in China. Once again we decided to leave our tour group and check out the local uni. It was quite spectacular, like a small fortified city. Inside the grounds there were lakes, trees, green grass, and even a private beach.

The grounds of Xiamen university

Relaxing with one of the students (taken by Chuck)

Angel and Chuck

The halls of residence -- for years 3 and 4 only

We walked through the grounds of the university with Chuck, Angel (his girlfriend) and Grace (my manager) and her fiancé. We were about to cross over a bridge to take a look at a beach when Grace received a phone call from our boss, -- who had surprisingly decided to join us on the holiday with his wife and daughter -- we were late. He told her that everybody was waiting for us. We speed-walked and ran back through the school grounds, dodged each water sprinkler, and weaved through some of the holiday traffic. Finally we arrived outside the temple entrance and found our group who were mostly wearing white "I love Web" caps.

The bus was now becoming a second home, and we piled back on and headed for a mainstay of Chinese tourism and complete ripping-off -- the tea house. I was told that this kind of activity is simply for the tour guide to make some real money off the tourists. For the third time in two days we quietly crept into the shadows and ran away. This time to an unusually quiet beach next to the tea building. Why this area was completely ignored by the guide is beyond me. The islands we could see from this beach -- and later Gulangyu Island -- are all owned by Taiwan. On a clearer day it's also possible for Taiwan itself to be seen from Xiamen.

A fortuitously calm, quiet beach

Me looking wind-swept

The strict schedule had to be kept and we weren't going to be late this time. We entered the tea house and waited for the group to come out of the money-grabbing tour. I stood observing the area and noticed a picture of a familiar figure on the wall, it was Margaret Thatcher. It seems she had visited and drunk tea at this very place a good few years ago.

For the hundredth time in the holiday, we were back on the bus and headed for the next stop: Gulangyu Island, famous for it's history of British and European inhabitants.

To get to this island we had to get on a large ferry boat that took us across the water. Usually this would be no problem, but considering it was holiday time this meant for complete chaos. Standing in the waiting area for the boat to come was what I imagine cattle feel like when they are jammed together in a farm. Worse still, when the doors opened people were barging, pushing and desperately trying to get into the boat as fast as possible. At this point I stuck my elbows out and moved with the traffic. Once on the boat it was actually quite pleasant, although it became clear that October in Xiamen still meant soaring temperatures of plus 30 degrees.

I was expecting the island to be a tour of European architecture from the
1800's -- and it was later -- but for some strange reason our group was forced into another queue for something completely different. We were queuing to see a dolphin show. I have mixed feelings about these kinds of shows, I have no idea what situation the animals themselves are in and I can't enjoy watching them thinking that their lives could be better spent in the wild. There was no way out this time, we were trapped. A short sea lion and dolphin show commenced while security guards continually shouted down mega-phones to get people to sit down on their seats for the duration. After the show ended we were taken around an aquarium which we quickly got out of -- it was starting to feel claustrophobic with so many people around. Outside we were given the opportunity to see some real interest, a group of fishing boats attempting to dock.

A group of fishing boats arriving from Xiamen to Gulangyu Island

After a long stroll, the call came through that our group should meet and proceed to the tour of British and European buildings. By this time a large majority of people had purchased some massage sticks that when hit, made a fairly annoying sound that would continue until returning back to Wenzhou ("clack, clack, clack").

At the meeting place with (from far left to right) Lisa, Erin, Candy, Pinky and Olive (taken by Chuck)

A church -- one of the many European buildings on the island

Unfortunately I had succumbed to wearing the "I love Web" cap too

We walked and walked and walked until we came to one of the piano museums which Gulangyu is also famous for. It was interesting to see so many varieties of piano -- no photos allowed unfortunately -- and it was impossible to touch any of them, not even one. Outside of the museum we walked across a small bridge to another beach. Here we could relax at last, but this was a very difficult task due to the millions of people crammed onto the sand (can you see a recurring theme here?).

The bridge from the piano museum to the beach

Not quite as peaceful as one would hope

We didn't stick around for too long on this particular beach, and instead found a quieter grassy patch to lie down on for a few minutes. Of course, as soon we relaxed the time flew by, and we were approaching the meeting time for the ferry boat back to the mainland. I was completely disorientated and had no idea where we were on the island. We began in one direction and found ourselves in an old European-looking town. All of the buildings were shops and restaurants, it was a lovely sight, even though we were running right through it.

Just a few minutes late, we managed to scramble our way back to the dock -- there were one or two people there, you could call it a bit of a crowd.

Just a quiet day at the dock (taken by Chuck)

The boat arrived and the chaos began again, this time because there were even more people it meant more pushing and shoving. By the time others had sacrificed limbs to get on board, a few of us were left freely on the dock to wait for the next one. Looking into the cage of people who were still trapped behind us, it really did make my image of cattle come to life.

Factory farming

Once back on the mainland we checked into another hotel. I was initially nervous but completely surprised by the quality of this one, it was actually....nice. We went for dinner with most of the group in a famous Xiamen restaurant, walked up the large shopping street called Zhongshan Road, and finally collapsed in bed at the hotel, exhausted.

Day 3

There really wasn't much of a third day of the holiday. We awoke at about 9 o'clock, made the most of the free breakfast buffet (they actually had toast and butter), walked around the local area looking for any interesting sights and met back at the hotel entrance at 11:30. We promptly left Xiamen and began the final eight hour journey back to Wenzhou. It was much more uncomfortable this time, backs aren't built for constant coach travel. Finally we arrived outside the International Hotel in Wenzhou at 9pm, drained and hungry.

** I am obliged to point out that all photographs were taken by Kimi and Chuck (where marked). I was on filming duties for the holiday, I hope to have an edited video finished and uploaded soon. I must stop writing these huge blog entries, I get carried away far too easily.

Butter Me Up

This morning I received a call from my manager, Grace. Since I worked in Hangzhou the sight of a colleague calling panics me because I think I am about to hear some bad news -- I've been conditioned well. The truth is, since I joined Web I haven't had any phone calls like this, and today was proof in point. I was told that my boss, Charles, wanted to have lunch with me today. Again, my mind was asking "Why?" I could only think there was an ulterior motive. Grace even remembered that I don't eat meat and let me choose the restaurant. I politely accepted the invitation and made my way to the hotel --where Web is located -- for 11:30. I met Grace first and then the boss and his wife joined us. We walked together to my chosen destination, the Hong Kong restaurant, which has the baffling title of "TFT Chamber". Things seemed ok, not awkward at all, in fact the bosses wife was speaking to me in very good English and asking many questions. Too much food was ordered -- a display of generosity for sure -- most of the dishes were even suitable for me to eat. And....that was it. No unveiling of an all-new contract, no sticky situations, not even a favour was asked, it was just lunch. Which was nice.

An example of the Hong Kong food served at "TFT Chamber" (the sandwiches make a welcome change from the norm)

All good gestures aside, I'm glad the holiday is coming up next week because I'm actually starting to feel tired at work. Some classes are beginning to completely drain me. I think it has something to do with the students. Some can give me energy and make me feel good, but others have the special ability of draining the life and soul out of me. This is why I would be so grateful to go back to four classes a day, it makes such a difference. National Day can't come soon enough.

Oh, I also saw the girl, who yesterday, asked where I get my haircut. I immediately noticed she was sporting a new hair-style....just like mine.

YouTube, Web and Indian Food

I posted the Nan Xi River video on YouTube yesterday, but found that once it was uploaded, the quality was terrible. It seems that YouTube compressed the video considerably, which is of great frustration considering I accidentally deleted the project file for Sony Vegas. This means I can't go back and render the video as a different file-type which may or may not be more compatible with YouTube. So that's it, I'm stuck with this horribly pixelated, compressed video. I hope it is semi-watchable at least.

Web is still busy for me, five classes a day and English Corner twice this week. Things should be different now the summer holiday is over, but we lost Ed --from Wakefield, who has gone to Beijing -- and Gary -- who has gone home for two months -- so our staff of seven teachers is down to five. By now our workload should be about four classes a day, which would be a great relief compared to the current schedule.

I had another English Corner today which was actually quite pleasurable for once. We talked about giving advice, I gave them some problems of mine to answer and asked if they had any to share. I didn't think I would get anything, but straight away one student began telling us of her desire to have cosmetic surgery on her nose (for some reason it seems to be a good thing to have big nose in China, especially one with a high bridge). At the end of the class a student came up to me to ask where I get my haircut, I knew the place, just not the name. I asked "Why?" She replied, "Because I want to get my haircut like yours." I think that's my cue to have a trim....

Last night Kimi and I went to an Indian restaurant, the only one in Wenzhou. It is very good, although quite different from British-Indian food. I wonder which is more genuine? I will have to find out one day. However tasty my potato curry was, I couldn't help but be slightly annoyed that there were only two small potatoes in the whole thing. If it wasn't for the deep-fried vegetables and the naan bread filling me up, I would have complained for sure (or asked Kimi to do it for me).

A Chinese-Indian

One Year Later

It amazes me that I came to China to work and live over one year ago, the time has just flown by so incredibly quickly. Something else I cannot believe is that it is exactly one year to the day that I met Kimi for first time (outside Pizza Hut, Wulin Square, Hangzhou). To celebrate this fact, we decided to go for a foot massage together and have dinner in a newly opened Macau restaurant.

Today was my first time to have a foot massage and it exceeded all of my expectations. We entered the neatly decorated building and were rapidly lead to a small private room. There were two comfortable chairs and a television which was playing an irritatingly loud Chinese play. The TV was instantly switched off and I sat back as Kimi chose the type of massage we would be having. The order was made, a man and woman entered the room, and the process of cleansing (or cleaning) our feet began (it seems that females get a male masseur and males get a female). As I watched the woman massage me and the man massage Kimi, it almost looked like a mirror image. They were working in exactly the same order, manner and timing. One hour later and I felt like my legs and feet didn't belong to my body any more, they had completely switched off. The lady put my socks on and I realised it was time to wake up. The experience was very pleasurable, she didn't tickle or hurt me at all (unlike a "blind massage" where they practically pull the bones out of your sockets).

We paid, left the building, and caught a taxi to D&L square where the Macau restaurant is located. Neither of us knew beforehand but this restaurant serves hot pot (not to be confused with the Lancashire kind), a slight disappointment considering my preconceptions of what food in Macau must be like. We ordered the soup and various items that would go into the pot. From the menu it looked slightly overpriced for a meal where you basically have to cook it yourself. Seconds later the waiters came bringing the vegetables, meat (for Kimi), and the pot -- which is placed on a hot ring in the middle of the table. We threw in some food, waited for the soup to boil, and tasted....it was disgusting. Of course Kimi liked it, but I could taste something revolting in the water and it tainted everything that went into it. Not only that, but I was sure there was meat or seafood in the "vegetable buns" and "cheese buns". The latter was especially horrible and didn't taste like cheese at all.

The Hot Pot (ergh!)

Since I became a vegetarian I have not eaten a meal that I thought was unappetizing once. Today was the first time in over four years I have admitted to disliking something. The reason for this was simple: I don't think the meal wasn't vegetarian at all.

After we paid the bill (279 RMB) and walked out of the complex, the Pizza Hut near the entrance suddenly looked more appetising than ever.