wonders_seen

A Word of Welcome!

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:50:13 GMT

A word of welcome to all my readers in Internetland, including those from VCU and those not. This blog is meant as a basic description (and illustration)of the VCU 2007 Sumer Study abroad trip. For those of you who are interested in taking the trip and are using this for ideas, be aware that this trip can and probably will change, especially in 2008 during the Beijing Olympics. This blog has been put up by topic, and is pretty easy to navigate.

Any questions or comments can be left as comments to these posts, and I'll try and answer them as soon as possible, or you can email abroad@vcu.edu for more official answers. All troll comments will be deleted, end of story. Other information on China can be found at lonelyplanet.com, and in their very good China book. There are also plenty of travel forums that can help you.

More Resources on China:

State Department :GO HERE! Up to date security alerts, passport guides, and information on vaccines and drugs you need to take.

Chinese Embassy in Washington DC : For visas, and some interesting news from China.

Hangzhou

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 04:09:16 GMT

Hangzhou was probably the most beautiful area in China that we went to. There's a huge lake in the middle of the city, surrounded by trees and greenery. The rest of the city was also very well laid out, and they had Harry potter on July 21st, which was ~~incredibly important~~ pretty cool.

Most of the sights surround the West lake, and if you take a boat ride across, you can see them all. Just remember your sunscreen, it gets pretty hot when the sun comes out. There are also some great gardens, such as the Dreaming of the Tiger Spring, Yue Wang Miao (A temple to a famous General), and Leifeng Pagoda. Many of which have the typical good luck traditions and legends that are pretty common around China. This particular fountain gave you virtues such as a good career, wealth, or many children if you could flip a coin into the middle of it.

Other sights include a Song Dynasty recreational village, which was a very rough Chinese Williamsburg. There were random parades down the street, as well as a stage show and a mini water park.

There were some nice restaurants too, and plenty of Starbucks stores. This was probably my second favorite excursion, behind Datong. The scenery was just fantastic.

Zhujiajiao, Suzhou, and Nanjing

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:50:14 GMT

Zhujiajiao

An ancient water town not far from Shanghai, also called "Shanghai's Venice". It's really pretty, and quaint, and people still live in these very tiny rooms. It's really cool.

It's worth a day trip, and you can meet some really nice people there.

Suzhou

We came here as a part of our weekend excursion to Nanjing. This city is known for its Chinese-style gardens and its canals. We spent a day here, mostly exploring gardens and a complex called Tiger Hill. This hill has a pagoda similar to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Nanjing

Nanjing's a great Chinese city, but due to a mix of a bad tour guide and bad luck, we didn't necessarily have such a great time. The entertainment district is easily the most interesting part of this city, with a mix of old style buildings and a very active nightlife. Great shopping here, and lots of neon.

As for historical sites, we weren't able to get into the Museum of the Rape of Nanjing because it was under renovation. We did, however, get to go to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Mausoleum.

We also ended up going to the Communist Martyrs museum, with a great hill to roll down and an interesting (if biased) museum dedicated to the first communists killed by the KMT.

We also explored the City gates, some pretty impressive structures hung with red lanterns and giving a good view of the city. More stairs, but it was pretty cool to stand on structures as old as they were. Didn't quite beat the entertainment district, but it was all really interesting.

Shanghai

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:00:07 GMT

Hey look, Shanghai! The biggest city in China, its main economic center, and completely different from Beijing. This place is huge and sprawling, and you can only come close to seeing it all on a clear day (which never happens) from the Jinmao Tower or possibly the Pearl Tower. Speaking of, this is what it looks like on the ground.

...with the base cut off because it's just that big. This is a city that's very humid, lots of mosquitoes, but more malls and shopping than I have ever seen. You'll find more familiar stuff here than you did in Beijing, though.

They don't have deodorant either. But there's a lot to do here, just not as much history to look at. Shopping districts include Huaihai Rd., Cheapo Lu (like Pearl and Silk Markets, only much pushier!), and Nanjing Rd. They have a lot of western stores, but with Chinese sizes, and it's not much cheaper than western prices. The Old City also has some shopping, although more souvenirs than good stuff.

Good restaurants can be found in the French Concession (including a great place called Simply Thai. Go there.), but they tend to be expensive, and are an expensive taxi ride. But the place is very pretty, and needs to be seen at least once.

Fudan University is VCU's partner University there. It dominates its part of Shanghai, with the Twin Towers.

This University is one of the best in China. There's also a lot of people who know VCU there, as well as plenty of foreign students there. You won't be looked at quite as often around Fudan, and you may even see the other westerners. They're also very accomodating with English at the nearby mall. There's American fast food and Dairy Queen if you need it, as well as some internet-enabled coffee shops and a Starbucks. :)

The Summer Palace and Datong

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 02:31:08 GMT

The Summer Palace is another of the popular sights around Beijing. Some beautiful pictures around here, as well as a lake and a bit of an escape from hot hazy downtown. If you can get out of the press of the crowds, you'll see the lake and the summer lotuses.

As well as Cixi's Stone boat.

There is a huge pavilion here, just make sure you don't get lost. (Long story) But take the boat ride across the lake, and enjoy "The Long Corridor"

Datong and the Yungang Grottoes

Datong is a coal mining town, with some facinating tourist spots nearby. it alwo used to be the final town before you would enter the frontierlands of inner Mongolia. The buildings here are stained with the coal that burns in the winter, and you'll see plenty of coal trucks going back and forth. This is also a 5 hour bus ride from Beijing, so you'll be wanting to stretch your legs. This was our best excursion, because we had a great tour guide and good weather to enjoy it in. {lus, the sights here are more than just the usual temples.

This place is huge and GORGEOUS! You'll be going through ancient Buddhist carvings, including a whole cave filled with the life story of the Buddha. There are more than 51,000 carvings in the area, many painted and pointed out with the bright light. There's also the usual assortment of vendors and cheesy knickknacks to buy. It's really impossible to describe this place, so you'll just have to see it for yourself.

The Hanging Monastery is also a really great sight near Datong. You're hanging off the side of a cliff on some very skinny thin poles. It's a bit freaky, and not really made for taller and larger Americans.

Finally, we visit a pretty familiar spot, the Great Wall. Not the restored brick parts I already showed you, but the "wild" Great Wall. Not much more than a huge pile of dirt, it was the wildest thing I've ever climbed (and ruined a good shirt in the process). Just don't try coming down while the ground is wet.

The Great Wall and Taishan

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:12:03 GMT

Yes, the Great Wall. The big #1 tourist spot in China. This will probably be a day trip, and a really interesting look at some of the countryside and villages around but completely separate from the big city of Beijing. BRING YOUR CAMERA, and bug spray would be a good choice. You'll be climbing some peaks, and there are some BIG flies and bees around here that get attracted to the sweat.

We went to a less popular section of the wall, called Mutianyu instead of the more popular (and more crowded) section at Badaling. It's on top of some really nice forested mountains, with a little vendor setup at the bottom of the trail up. There are some interesting souvenirs here, including the typical "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts. Also food and beer here, which you may need by the time you come down.

This was our first encounter with a main theme in China. Narrow high stone stairs. Anyone with altitude breathing problems, or just problems with stairs in general need to be aware. But once you get up there (and collapse for a while), it's a great experience. Sometimes you'll get lucky (like we did) and avoid the crowds. It's rarely sunny, so you won't get shots that show everything, but they still impress people.

That last picture you see there? Yeah, there's a slide to go down the Great Wall, including one yuan for insurance. This is China turning their cultural relics into tourist traps at its worst (or best, once you try it). You take a toboggan all the way down the mountain, with a little hand brake keeping you from shooting off the side of the slide. And a few guys yelling at you to slow down. Best. World. Heritage. Site. Ever!

Tai'an and Taishan

This was our first big excursion, and was a overnight hard sleeper train ride. A hard sleeper car was basically six beds, three on one wall, with a light and a hook to hold your stuff. You sleep in your clothes here, and bring snacks, since there's no dining car. But Tai'an is a pretty generic Chinese city. It's got the very common concrete skyscrapers, and very little nightlife, at least that we saw. There's the usual foot massages and night markets, but the mountain is the big draw here.

Taishan is a day of climbing stairs. High narrow stone stairs. Consider the Great Wall your practice flight. We went on a hazy rainy day, but the ponchos and long shirts soon came off after the first hour of climbing. You'll be seeing tons of carvings, pagodas, characters, and statues on the way. Also, tons of people climb this mountain (one of the five Daoist Mountains, and the most famous mountain in China) from old grannies to men carrying huge packs of water for the shops on the way up. All of them will make you feel very out of shape.

Hey, you made it! There is food up here (good thing too), and now you'll start feeling the cold. But there are some beautiful temples, and more great pictures. And according to the legend, you'll live to be 100 years old. And you've also climbed more than 6,000 stairs, and yes, there is a cable car to get back down. But

Qufu

Not quite as exciting as climbing mountains, but much more important to the literature and philosophy buff is the town of Qufu. This town is the ancestral home of the Kong family including it's most famous member, the sage Kong Fu Xi. Otherwise known as Confucius. He had his students here, he lived here, he's even buried here. And you see them all on one ticket.

It's all pagodas and temples. Very beautiful scenery, although there were way too many tourist groups when we went there. :( And know your Confucian texts when you get there, so you know what's going on.

Beijing

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 02:28:46 GMT

Beijing, unless they change the trip in 2008 for the Olympics , is probably going to be the first Chinese City you'll get to see. It's a huge sprawling city, with parts that are much older than anything you'll see in a United States city. It also has some great new buildings, but most of them are marred by the constant menace of the pollution.

Yeah, the pollution is really bad. Every time we went out, we'd come back in at night feeling like we were covered in a film of sweat and dust. Most of this pollution comes from the manufacturing that goes on there, but some comes from the desert Beijing is on the edge of. Either way, stuff you need that the orientation may not tell you:

1. Sudafed. Helps with sore throats and sneezing. I personally had much more trouble with that than anything else. Any other non-drowsy sinus medicine should work as well.

2. Visine if you have sensitive eyes. Not a problem that I had, but I know some people do.

3. Stick deodorant. They didn't tell us this at the orientation, but after the trip I went on several travel forums and they stress the same thing. CHINA DOES NOT HAVE STICK DEODORANT! It's hard to find deodorant in general, but we didn't see any stick.

The Dorm

This is where we stayed, Building 7 on the campus of Beijing Foreign Studies University. It's a decent building with a room for every two people, hall showers and bathrooms. They don't have toilet paper, so you'll need to buy your own. You could be sharing your hall with Chinese students, Japanese, Swedish, Russian, Finnish, or even Graduate students from UVA. We met all of these people. The campus is nice, with some really nice restaurants in the back of the second campus across the street. There are really easy to access convenience stores as well, with quick snacks and breakfasts. water is also available there, which you'll need.

Places to Go

1. Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City

This is the big tourist place. Lots of great pictures, but be ready for LOTS of walking. You can get lost very easily here, and be ready to split if you're in a big group. People will want to take pictures with you in Tianamen square as well. Go ahead and do it, it's fun. Just, be intelligent with what you say and do here, there are police around (and you can get some decent pictures of them if they aren't looking). Lots of scams around here too, especially "art students" wanting you to look at their art. You have to pay, and the art is usually the same prints you see everywhere else in China. Just keep looking straight ahead and pretend to ignore the hawkers. Don't buy anything here, it's all low quality and expensive. Come here for pictures and to say you came. Not much else.

Also, don't miss the park behind the Forbidden City. It's where one of the emperors hung himself, as well as some nice pavilions and another smoggy view of Beijing. Lots of walking though.

Wanfujing Shopping District

VERY Western. Lots of high end shops here, as well as well dressed people. Really good food here though, as well as an expensive, but good tea house. Very worth going to, especially for electronics, DVDs, and english language books.

Silk Street and Pearl Markets

You want to get souvenirs, as well as a bag to put them in? You get them here. You can find puses, designer jeans, shirts, electronics, shoes, luggage and tons of Jewelry at these places. Silk Street is the touristy one, Pearl is more earthy and closer to the Temple of Heaven. Bring your bargaining skills, folks, and be ready to be shouted at and poked and pushed into booths. Best deals are on jewelry and purses though, especially on stuff for your friends.

Temple of Heaven

Some really iconic pictures here, but crowded and another heavy tourist spot. It is possible to walk from here back to BFSU, though, some of our group did it, although it's not recommended.

Lucky Street

Not really in the guidebook, but some GREAT (and expensive) restaurants here near the Lufthansa Center. Go here if you need a quick Italian food fix, or go to the Nashville Bar, or to the many Japanese, Indian, and Thai places. The Organic Grocery Store here is also good, with American Cereal if you need it.

These are just a few suggestions, and be aware that all of these places require a lot of walking and/or stairs to get to. Bring water and a good map, and you'll be okay.

VCU China 2007 - Introduction

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 02:56:37 GMT

So, you're looking into VCU Summer Study Abroad? Or maybe you're just looking for anything to satisfy a major requirement, or maybe you just want something to do next summer.

Well, I'm here to give you an account (with pictures) of VCU's Summer Study Abroad in China. Maybe I can even convince you to consider going. But I'd like to put in the basics first, so you know exactly what you're getting into when going to China.

Basic Statistics

1.China has more than a billion people, with huge crushes of them in the cities. Be prepared to go to areas filled with Chinese, most of them staring at you (if you're any ethnicity other than Asian).

2.There are 11 major ethnic groups, and more smaller ones. They all have their own resturaunts/villages. Most of them are spicy food.

3.The Government is still communist, but the economy is not. This is why everywhere you go, you will have people trying to sell you something (including pay bathrooms), while you can't sing the Star-Spangled Banner in the middle of Tianamen Square on the Fourth of July. Keep that in mind.

4.There are Christian churches in the cities, including churches for ex-pats and visiting foreigners in Beijing and Shanghai.

5.The Great Fire-Wall of China is still in effect. As far as we could find, some Wikipedia pages, all Livejournal pages, and the BBC webpage were blocked. All essential sites (banks, other news sites, AOL/Yahoo/Google/Hotmail, and even VCU's webpage) all work.

I'm going to continue on in this blog with posts about all the major places we went to Summer 2007, as well as pictures and some comments. I hope this will help give you a sense of how China is, but be aware, a lot was under construction because of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. It could be totally different when you get there. But then again, that is China. :)