Riots in town!

Sitting in the taxi back from the bus station the driver said there was a problem in town, that the main shopping center was closed to buses and taxis, I presumed a fair or event of some kind and made a vague statement about it being busy, to which the taxi driver looked a little confused. 

Getting home I saw on the bbc that the town center was home to a protest in ningbo center, this is just to let you know. AM fine, it hasn't affected me or Chris at all our in the university district but we will stay out of the town center for a few days just to be sure! Crazy!

Chinese buses

At times you forget you are in china, then sitting on the bus as happy as could be and the man in front reaches out holding his small girl over the aisle bin to urinate into it, at the start of a six hour trip and actually at a damn rest stop! This is china! 

Huangshan to ningbo

Had a nice lie in and met the girls at 9 and we asked at reception, they had sorted a bus for us and we had only to come and meet it at 12, giving us a few hours free. we got a taxi to the town square where we heard there were some coffee shops we could hit for breakfast and found a very nice and swanky coffee shop that did egg, toast and a bacon roll (that turned out to be pigs in blankets) with a coffee for £2.50, despite the rest of the menu being crazy expensive! We had three f them and then walked down and over a nearby bridge to spend the last half an hour, on the bridge were many children playing and so I got some photography practice, Chinese parents seem more than happy for people to photograph their children, a great resource for practicing! And I got what I hope will turn out to be some nice shots. 

After the bridge was an old and frankly quite scary faire, with grotesque twisted Disney characters everywhere surrounded by uncaring children. I took a few more pictures before getting a taxi back to the hotel.

We checked out and then a woman met us and took the price for the tickets from us and then passed us onto a nice old man who hustled us into a taxi across town to a street corner where, half an hour later, the bus eventually we arrived. Needless to say our bus fair never went through the company and instead went into the drivers pocket money fee, but we got the bus anyway and so it wasn't too big a deal! 

The bus back had Mina trying to doze, Yuki feeling travel sick and me thanking my lucky stars for dodging that bullet, rather asthma and hayfever than travel sickness! The bus also gave. He time to sit down and write my blog, I find travel in china relaxing, the distances are long, there is Ning you can do but sit back and relax and chill with music or a book until you get there, and being able to read on the bus is a life saver!

Huangshan Shan day two

There are two famous things in huangshang, one is the 'cloud sea ' as you see the clouds from above flowing around the mountain, and one is the sunrise. The first day was pretty clear so we had a great view from the mountain and took lots of cool pictures but there was no cloud sea, for the second day if it was cloudy we had a chance to see the cloud sea, and if it was clear a chance for the sunrise, the forecast said cloudy but we nevertheless hoped we might be able to see both! I slept ok in the crazy dorm bed with 20 others, a few snorers but no trouble, the toilets were among the wort I had ever seen but sometimes you have no choice and just try not to touch anything, and the complete lack of showers was less than ideal!

The worst thing about trying to see the sunrise is having to get up to watch the damn thing! We went to bed early and I was asleep around 11 but the guys I met the night before persuaded us that instead of going to the nearby sunrise viewing spot war should walk to the higher 'Brightness peak', for a better view, this was however 2km or so around the mountain back the way we had walked yesterday! 

The sunrise was at 5.30-6 so we got up at 4am and met up outside at 4.30 and set off. The guys had walked the way yesterday so we initially trusted them, five minutes later it turned out they had no idea how to get there and so it was down to us, luckily I remembered the way and led us back, the guys helping with the girls bags so early in the morning, we stopped for breakfast half way back in a dense fog in the pitch black, the cloud cover was low, a bad sign. We arrived at the peak around 5.30 so had an hour or so to wait before the sunrise and as we sat near the peak in the cold and waited more and more people came. This was not high season but by 6 there were an easy 100people in this tiny area alone, let alone the many other such more accessible spots! The guys the night before had joked about seeing only people's head if we arrived late, now I knew they weren't joking!

W sat around together and chatted, sharing snacks and breakfast and making jokes about how sad we would be as we gradually accepted that it just wasn't going to happen, I also took the chance to take some amusing pictures of all the Chinese people swaddled in many layers and sleeping bags looking confused at me in my tshirt and hoody!

The appointed time came and went and the dense swirling cloud cover increased in hue but never cleared to let us see the sunrise, again! It seems sunrises and sunsets are the hardest thing to see in china! The guys we met had to leave then to catch their tour, we stayed another 20 minutes as people left to let the mountain clear and in the hopes that the sun would burn the mist off, no such luck, and left a bit later without seeing it, next time!

Walking on we walked in e direction we had come from with the intention of climbing the highest peak of the mountain which we had skirted around the day before on account of the girls being pretty damn tired! Today war got to the path split and ate a second late breakfast and looked at the beautiful clouds rushing down the mountain next to us and in the occasional gaps we got a sing of the cloud sheathed peaks surrounding us, but the sea looks best when it sinks and leaves you standing above it, not from inside like we were! We thought hard about whether or not there was in any point hitting the highest point in such thick cloud but decided in the end that if we didn't we hadn't really 'climbed' huangshan, just looked at it! 

We set off up and got some great pictures of the cloud covered trail with very few people so early in the morning, as we climbed higher th mist didn't abate and we summited to a small disk of rock with way too many people on all trying to take pictures with the top stone in typical Chinese style, we three all dived in for a quick picture and then got the hell back down! We climbed in the opposite direction than most, with a nicer incline and a very steep descent, mostly stairs still but at a 90 degree angle and with some very long drops! I was ok if cautious but poor Yuki was very scared, but to her due held up very well! Mina however was loving it! Crazy girl! The way down was however so busy, with us stuck in a queue to get down behind fifty others climbing down, and with hands going past us on the way up! Down tiny and narrow steps it was very dangerous, I'm surprised there are not more accidents! When we got back onto the main path we met even more tour groups with megaphones heading hundreds of Chinese tourists this way and that, we stopped to let one past and watched six different groups all clumped together trudge past with different guides shouting the same silly stories through their megaphones as loud as they can, ruining the peaceful feel a bit, thank god they hadn't all gone for the highest peak! 

We made it down to the cable car station around 10 and decided to head down as we had already been climbing for a good few hours, and hadn't slept much the night before, the girls especially were also pretty tired for the first mountain climb!

We went to be cable car and were the only people going down, we walked past signs for 2 hours from here, one hour, right up to the car, with a constant stream of Chinese going the other way, and straight onto the car down. We were however a little sad, the day before was clear and beautiful, today misty and beautiful, but no sunrise and no cloud sea... 

We sat in the cable car in the mist seeing little except cars going the other way appearing suddenly out of the mist until suddenly we dropped below the cloud and out into a cloud free section! There below us writhing like waves on the sea was a dense layer of cloud whipping in the wind as it ebbed and flowed against the sides of the mountain, the cloud sea! Just as we were leaving the mountain decided to show us its most famous sight! We took pictures as best we could through the glass as there were no opening windows but I didn't mind, we got to see it, and for a chance to photograph it I will have to go back!!  

As we neared the bottom we passed out of the cloud break and back into the cloudy morning below but very happy to have seen it looking so beautiful. 

When we got off the cable car we still had to walk 200meters or so to the bus station and the way back, the whole way we walked past a sea of people, at least 5 to 8 people wide and over two hundreds meters of continual people, men woman and children all waiting for the cable car up to the top, I took pictures as I walked and its just a sea of people and faces, amazing. When we reached the end of the line I asked how long they had to wait, they said around three hours from end to end! Around the same as walking!! And there are three different cable cars around the mountain all equally busy!! Thousands upon thousands climbing the mountain every day! And this wasn't even high season!!

We walked past the sea of faces and out to the bus and got a ticket back to the village we stayed in the night before, arriving there we just stepped off when a minibus to tunxi, the nearest city and the place with the bus to ningbo arrived, we jumped on and headed back, getting dropped off at the bus station an hour later, I had a nap on the bus and so arrived feeling refreshed but desperately in need of a shower! 

We saw a nice looking 'fashion hotel' nearby and went to ask, they were very friendly and discounted their premier rooms to 160rmb a night, and £16 a night seemed ok for a nice room and the rooms were nice, very nice, with a lovely looking walk in shower with a huge shower head and that really sold it for us! We got two rooms and wasted no time in splitting up for a much needed shower, I felt sorry for the poor girl in the lift with us three! After a shower we regrouped feeling much more human and went down to reception. Asking about bus tickets they offered to help us sort it and asking about somewhere to eat, the second important task they said to get a taxi to the old street for 70p, which sounded like a good plan! 

We got to the old street and wandered around for a while before stopping for some food at a cheapest place, the food was tasty and a much needed proper meal with rice and all after more than a day of snacks and junk food, I missed real food but on the mountain it was just too expensive! 

Afterwards the third order of business was a coffee shop, a latte followed by mina and i going for a Bombay Safire and tonic as a reward for a hard few days work! 

We walked through the old street but it was pretty much the same as all the old streets in china except for a predominance of paint brushes and calligraphy equipment, a local speciality! The only thing we picked up was a set of UNO cards! Something I hadn't seen much in china, for a reasonable 15rmb. 

After walking around the town we went back to the hotel and looked around for something for dinner, unfortunately we didn't find anything that looked great and Yuki really fancied KFC, so we grabbed a taxi downtown and back just to go and pickup some KFC and some beers and had KFC, some local stuffed pancake type things and drank beer whilst playing UNO until bed time! A very long day when I eventually slept at 11 but really good fun, and ready for the trip back tomorrow!

Huangshan day one!

A later start for an eight o'clock breakfast in the hotel of eggs and rice porridge before checking out and walking down the road to the bus station , buying our bus ticket in and away we went! The lady in the hotel had warned us that staying on the mountain was expensive, 380 for a dorm, but she could help us pay only 230, we decided to risk it though and declined. 

We got the bus and I tried on the bus to book a dorm room, however the website only accepts Chinese credit cards and ID so that was a no go, ah well we will see! On this bus I was sat next to an older Chinese woman, 60+ if not more, who with her husband had rented a camper and were driving from their home in the north to hainan, the most southwest point, she very nicely explained all about it, making me very envious! 20days each way according to her, not bad! 

Getting off the bus we were at the entrance and after paying our 230rmb entrance fee, we had a choice, cable car or walking, we chose walking, which we knew to be a pretty grueling walk up the 1800m peak! We started out and Mina straight away hit a wall, feeling dizzy and needing a goodness after not 40mins, however after a bit of food and some water we were on our way again through beautiful mountain scenery. We walked for three hours and made the top of the cable car way with amazing views down the mountain and across. All the way up we were overtaking porters carrying yokes with huge quantities of vegetables, food and drink in buckets and packs, all the things needed to support the big hotels at the top and the huge volume of tourists . I overheard a Chinese guy being told they get 200rmb, £20, a trip for carrying huge boxes up. Amazing, and quite annoying when they block the whole path! I wondered why they didn't just run a cable car or two of food at the end of the day and early morning but apparently not... Strange... 

As soon as we reached the top of the cable way there were so many people it was crazy, especially considering this was the quiet season! It seems mot took the cable way up and then wander about at super slow speeds in huge groups clogging all the paths! very chinese! We decided to leave the tallest peak until tomorrow skirted around looking for a place to stay, a process of continually rising and dropping a few hundred meters into an out of various valleys around the mountain top. The top of huangshan, far from a peak, is a whole Forrest of peaks with paths trails and hotels nestled in amongst them. Huangshan was also the supposed motivation for the avatar landscape, although truth be told I think zhangjiajie I went to before looks much more like it... 

We walked around to the north cloud sea area and found the most famous hotel there, the North Sea hotel, and after asking there (full) went to the one opposite who had only suites left, at 3000rmb (£300) a room, ouch! I asked if they had anything else and they said they had a "many people room" for 120 a person each. I thought it sounded cheap but would be an adventure so accepted. Considering it was more expensive than our private clean twin last night it showed just how expensive the mountaintop places were. We showed our passports before being walked around the building to the back to a grubby little entrance to the chefs toilets, past the chefs toilets, just past, were two medium sized rooms, each of which had 11 bunk beds in for a total of 21 beds!!! We shared the two cubicle chefs toilets between the rooms and there were no showers but hey it was cheap!   when we arrived only a few people though which was good, In for a penny I thought and paid the woman for our nights stay and then went out to take some pictures and get some food. We went a restaurant and asked to see the menu but were soon scared away, 4 dishes at 80-120rmb each was a poor quality £60 meal, fair enough I guess as everything was hand ported up the damn mountain. 

We found some very overpriced snacks and had a rice ball and a beer on top of the mountain as the sun went behind the mountain  and the moon came out, lovely! We then decided to get some instant noodles for dinner, we went to the first shop and asked and they said no, we went to a second shop, more out of the way and they didn't have any on display, but when we asked they said they did have some, behind the counter hidden away, for 15rmb each instead of the usual 3rmb. It was still much cheaper than eating in the restaurant though so we agreed, then the man said they weren't actually allowed to sell them, to push tourists into expensive restaurants, so he asked for a back pack, took it out back and came back three noodles heavier, 45rmb lighter we left the shop and walked back. We went outside to eat our contraband smuggled noodles sitting on a wall. After we ate we were sitting on the wall when two Chinese boys came and introduced themselves asking if I spoke Chinese, we got chatting, they are from hangzhou, and speaking chinese, Japanese and even a bit of English!! The girls retired to bed first and left me chatting with them for another half hour as a couple more friends joined them, and a few people came to listen to the foreigner speaking chinese.  we all then decided to hit the sack as to get to the sunrise watching place means a 4am start!!! I'm in bed now and the place has filled up, now there are 16 or so people, I can't imagine what it's like full! Not too bad though except a couple of snorers! Night all!

Sports day!

This week is sports week, so Thursday and Friday are free days! Giving a four day weekend! Taking full advantage of this Mina, Yuki and i are heading off to try to see huangshan , one of chinas famous mountains, the problem is we normally teach in term time, and out of term time it iis way too busy, hopefully this is the ideal solution!

The day before we went to get the tickets for the bus and booked one for the next morning and neglected to book any sort of hotels, relying on turning up and finding some.... Fun!

We got up pretty early, 6.30, for the 9.05 bus which takes about 5-6 hours, the bus was not too busy which was good, and after my 23 hour bus 6 hours is ok....

After a pretty painless six hours we arrived at the back entrance to a large and mostly empty bus station in huangshan town, a couple on the bus were staying on and going straight to the mountain but alas our ticket finished here, so off we got. Huangshan town is an hours drive on the motorway from tangkou and immediately a nice man came up offering a ticket for 20 rmb, we chatted and he said come back if we needed one, a nice man. We walked into the bus station proper and found out about tickets back, (9,1.30 and 3) and then found the official way onto the small bus that would take us to tangkou.

After 40mins or so we arrived in the small village of tangkou which, twenty years ago must have been a handful of houses and nothing more, but which is now a monster of a town made mostly of hotels and overpriced restaurants! We walked around on Thursday night and the place was empty! The restaurants empty, the hotel owners outside trying to grab any business they can find. We chose one and the room seemed clean, and at 110 a night (£11) for a twin room it seemed a good deal. We booked in and walked down to the old street for food, we found a place and had an ok meal for double what it should have been, such are tourist towns I guess... 

We wandered all around the town as some exercise after the long journey before retiring to the room to relax and play cards before bed.

A bit of culture!

We wanted something to do one bored day in ningbo so we decided to go and appreciate some culture, the Japanese girls Mina and Yuki, as well as Chris and I all got the bus to laowaitan, the foreigner street in ningbo, which in the day is restaurants and coffee shops, different from the pubs and drinking every night, we had a nice coffee in a coffee shop there, which was pretty weird in itself being in someone's house, you walkthrough their hall past a few of their rooms and into a coffee shop.... 

After coffee we went to the art museum nearby which was interesting, some lovely photography and some gorgeous paintings, the calligraphy section was cool as Mina's mother does that calligraphy for a living! Giving a unique inside view... 

After some more silliness and picture taking we went for a walk by the river and some dinner before wandering back, fun! :)

Photos of Ningbo downtown

A few photos of down town Ningbo at night, I want to take my tripod
down and take some long exposures, I just keep forgetting! This has
the advantage that its free!

My new house!

This is my new flat out in China, pictures are of it freshly cleaned
and lovely! A bedroom, bathroom, living room and a tiny kitchen and
balcony / utility. All in all, nice! After a heavy clean that is!

Just arrived photos

Just arrived in a new place, tired from carting around heavy heavy
bags and what do we find under the sink, 4 cockroaches, picture is of
Chris using my meat clever to dismember a cockroach in the sink and
some stupid time of night! Some memories just don't fade.....

Proof HongKong likes me!

A picture of me on Nathan Road as is customary, and the best named
diving centre yet!

HongKong pictures 3

The hong kong star ferry.
A picture on HongKong island with the beautiful clear sky.
A huge apple store right on the waterfront and the HSBC lions, these
were taken by the japanese during the war and used as target practise,
hence the bullet wounds, and found after the war lying in a scrap yard
in Japan before being restored to their rightful place.

HongKong pictures 2

A helicopter taking off from the hongkong waterfront just as our ferry
got in, very cool! and as we were on the tram they were digging up and
renovating the tram, with no halt in service! the digger would just
rumble between the two lines as the trams came and let them slowly
edge across! very cool!

HongKong pictures 1

On the bus over the border looking over to hongkong island and as soon
as we arrived we knew we wern't in China anymore, people where
Queueing again!! Colonial rule still leaves its mark.

Long time no blog!

Wow it really has been a while since I blogged!
Lots has happened since the last post, I've moved to a new city,
Ningbo, and had all the madness of getting settled in and sorting out
everything that needed sorting, I've also realised I don't think I put
any pictures from HongKong up and we have lots of them so I will try
to do that too!

I'm now working in a University in Ningbo, the second largest city in
this province, I'm not sure the exact current population but somewhere
around 8 + million people seems to be what people say, from a couple
of years ago! So quite big....
I'm living on in a flat provided by the university and its pretty
nice, a small lounge, a equal sized bedroom, a bathroom and a tiny
kitchenette off the lounge, a TV (wow!) and a small utility with a
washing machine etc. There is loads of storage and it seems pretty
comfortable.
When I moved in it was of course filthy, some parts having not been
cleaned since it was built 20 years ago! I was removing building site
rubble from some window sills! Now its cleaned its much nicer, and i'm
only on the 3rd floor which is great, Chris is here in Ningbo too but
stuck on the 6th floor! The exercise is good for him but the water
pressure that high has had a huge effect on his shower and so everyone
else gets a sad looking Chris visiting sometimes looking for an
acceptable shower!

I teach first year university students oral English for 5 classes a
week and then two writing classes to second years, Chris teaches the
same but all to second years. I teach writing to two of his oral
English classes! The classes here are all double classes so an hour
and a half long with a 5 minutes break, it's pretty different and you
certainly run through material like nobody's business! The Oral
English I think I can get a grip on O.K. but the writing is a pain I
could do without, nevermind! A learning experience!

The town centre is an hours bus away down town for 18p or a £3 taxi
ride, not bad, and there are some shops and whatnott around the
university, the remains of small villages now turned into shopping
markets servicing the university!

My teaching building is nice, I teach in the International Studies
department (not the foreign languages department) and so instead of
English Majors I teach the less abled students who study business for
two years in China before travelling to Canada for a year to finish
their studies.

The classes seem split into 4, with classes 1 and 2 being at a much
lower level than 3 and 4, not bad as long as you are ready for it!
Just like teaching in the two schools back home, the material plays
out very differently! I miss my old students and still speak to some
of them online with is great, I will try to go and visit at some point
soon!

O.K. enough writing, I will throw up some photos of the last month and
then try to get back into the swing of blogging again when things come
up, more soon!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival began last night as the sun set below the horizon and celebrations began for Mid-autumn day.

It is traditional on this day for Moon cake to be gifted from Friend to friend.