Dadonghai Beach

The next morning we woke up and we were still cockroach free J

We all got ready for the beach and headed out to make the 5-minute walk. Along the way we bought some suntan lotion (which ended up not working so well). The beach was gorgeous!!! The sand was white and the shades of blue in the water were unimaginable. The bay was surrounded by mountains, absolutely a breathtaking view. We walked for a short while until we picked a spot. The sand was hot, and the air was even hotter. It was the sort of heat that you are just standing still and dripping sweat. The humidity was almost unbearable but since we had the sea…we were okay J

We laid on the beach for a couple of hours and then walked the boardwalk area and eventually picked a place for lunch. The food was only mediocre but the view was spectacular. Also, it was nice to get out of the intense heat for a while.

After lunch it had cooled off, relative to a tropical climate—I guess I should say the heat became less intense, and we went back down to the beach. I ended up falling asleep and woke up just in time to see the sunset. There wasn’t much of the sunset to see because of the mountains in the way but the colors were still gorgeous. It is interesting to note that around this time is when the beach started to get really busy. All of the locals had come to the beach—they are smarter than sitting out during the intense sun.

As darkness was falling I headed back to the hostel to shower. We all got ready and went out to find some dinner. We ended up eating at a place about a block down from where we were staying. The food ended up being really disappointing. We had heard coconut rice was a very local dish so we tried it….and it was not good. It was eatable but not desirable. The coconut was cut into slivers, as if you were eating a melon, and those slivers were packed with gluttonous sticky rice. There was really no flavor to any of it. It was quite a disappointment. After dinner I grabbed a beer and the guys grabbed some tender coconuts to drink the water. We headed down to the beach and just talked, while listening to the water crash against the beach.

Arriving in Sanya

So it was a Monday night and 3 of us decided we wanted to get away for the weekend we threw around a couple of different destinations but the obvious one prevailed…Sanya, China. It is in southern part of China and it is called ‘The Hawaii of China’. It is on a tropical Island with gorgeous beaches and constantly warm weather. It took us a few days to figure out the cheapest flights and living arrangements but on Thursday night we were headed south for a tropical getaway.

After a three-hour flight we landed in Sanya-It was 12:10AM. The minute we stepped outside we could feel the humidity. We took a shuttle bus, that didn’t have shocks so we were bouncing the whole ride, to the Dadonghai beach area. We got off and we were hoping for the best. We were very fortunate we found where our hostel was very quickly.

We checked into our hostel and went upstairs to checkout our room. When we got upstairs the guys went in first and immediately told me that I can have the middle bed (we had a 3 bed room with our own bathroom). I was wondering why such a quick decision so I entered the room with caution. I take maybe 3 steps in the room and there was a HUGE flying cockroach sitting on the pillow of the middle bed! I was going to have nothing to do with that so I stayed in the doorway. The guys were just as scared by it as I was. After just looking at it for a couple of minutes we went downstairs to tell the lady that checked us in. She told the guys to kill it because she was afraid!! So we went back upstairs. It was no longer on the pillow when we got upstairs so the guys were cautiously looking under the bed and then without any warning Abhinav decides to flip the top pillow to see if it was under it. It was! And it started flying, it flew right on to Keans leg…Ooo it was so gross. We all ran into the hall closing the door behind us. At this point the lady found us another available 3-bed room and brought us the key. We entered our new room with extreme caution. We fearfully looked under the beds and we were all clear…no cockroaches J The last room and this room were actually really nice, I guess you just can’t control the tropical bugs J

We were all sweating so we turned on the a-con and just relaxed for a while. Then we headed out to the streets to get an extremely late dinner and to buy some water. By the time we bought the water and headed down a block by the street food it was close to 2AM and the streets were packed! There were tons of people out without a worry in the world, just drinking a couple of beers and eating. We all ate some food and then headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.

Shanghai Formula 1

While Purdue was starting there Grand Prix week some of us were headed to the Shanghai Formula 1 qualifiers.

We took a shuttle bus from the indoor stadium to the track…it was about 45 minutes away. Then we had to walk ½ way around the track just to get to our gate (the track is over 3 miles long). When we got there it was early and some other races were going on. I don’t remember what type of cars they were but all of the guys seemed really interested!

I knew nothing about car racing, and I actually didn’t think I would enjoy watching it but I ended up loving it. Some of the guys that I went with are really into formula 1; they track it and know all the rules so they were able to explain things. I ended up learning a lot and loving it!

One of the things that surprised me the most was after the practice time…all the information about the cars and how they were driven is collected by the team and sent back to Europe to be analyzed. Then the results and changes that need to be made were sent back to Shanghai so the teams can make the changes; all within a very short time frame…the power of technology is amazing.

We sat right by one of the turns so it was awesome to hear the cars shift down really quickly to make the turn and then shift back up on the straight away. The sound was loud but honestly not as loud as I was expecting.

This is not something I would watch on TV but I would definitively go to another race in person. It was a lot of fun and great learning experience.

Chinese Cookout

On one of our Friday afternoons we headed to the north part of Shanghai. It took close to 3 hours to get there by subway—it was far. Our destination was a park that had grills you can rent for a cookout. We had some Chinese friends with us and our teacher, Weiqi, came with us.

The park was really nice however the grilling area was less than clean, we actually joked that it would be equivalent to cooking out in a dump back home. There was trash everywhere and remnants of food were scattered all around. This would not be someplace I would cookout back home, I would definitely think twice about my location.

A few people went to the store previously so we had a bunch of food with us. When we got there we washed the vegetables and started putting things on cooking sticks…like the street food people. We had mushrooms, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, corn, chicken wings, beef, buns, and a lot of snacks…there was so much food! We covered the tables and the benches with plastic so we had a nice clean surface to lay the food on.

At first the cooking took a while. It took a while to figure out the most efficient way to grill things, but the food was delicious! Everything in China is cooked with oil and there is no exception to that at a cookout.

The cookout was an all day event because it was tiny pieces of things being cooked at a given time, just a taste. There were only two small grills and about 20 of us. We all just hung out and enjoyed each other’s company.

There was a young girl (who all of the American’s thought was a boy, but the Chinese assured us that it was a girl) who was digging through the garbage’s with her mom. She kept watching the guys play Chinese hackey-sack and observing what we were doing. We eventually offered her food and at first she was really resistant to accept it but Weiqi eventually talked her into it. After that she immediately warmed up to everyone and even started playing tag with some of the guys. The mom looked so happy to see her little girl running around and enjoying herself, as if, for a minute she forgot their circumstances.

As we were packing up to go home we realized how much food we had left, there was no point for us to take it all the way home since we don’t cook in the dorms. So, Weiqi talked to the mother of the little girl and we gave them everything we had left. It was a feast for anyone, whether they were poor or not!!! I still cannot get over how much food we had left. The mom was so grateful she even tried handing us a small sum of money, which, we did not accept.

It was a great day. The Chinese style cookout was a ton a fun and a bit of a surprise, I wasn’t exactly sure how it was all going to come together but it did. J

Easter Sunday

Caitlin and I dressed up and went to Church. We had to wait a while to get into the church because the French mass was just being let out. When we finally got in and got settled Church was packed!!! The airflow in that church is awful so it started to get really hot too. The service was nice. The church wasn’t decorated in any special way. Everyone was dressed up but no easter bonnets. It was a nice mass and you could tell everyone was in that happy Easter Sunday mood.

After mass we decided we were going to have our own Easter brunch at City Diner. When we got there and saw the menu we both ended up ordering sandwiches…That is one thing I am craving a lot, just a plain sandwich—like a turkey sandwich…mmmm!!! I had chicken, tomato, bacon with ranch sandwich, which was delicious! And they were giving away free desserts since it was Easter Sunday. I had a carrot cake muffin, with a homemade frosting on the top J It wasn’t brunch like we originally planned but it was a great Easter lunch!

After lunch we headed for the subway to go shopping!!! We were headed out to the science and technology underground mall area. We spent a lot of time walking around and even more time looking at all of the spring knock-off bags. There were some really cute ones! We bargained a lot and of course got the prices we were wanting, not the rip off prices they start us at.

After shopping until it was late, it was time to head home. We got back on the Subway and endured the long ride back to Minhang.

Some Random Things From April

One day a group of us went into the city and went to Madame Tussauds House of Wax. These wax sculptures are definitively a work of art. All of the wax sculptures are life size replicas of famous individuals. It was a good thing our Chinese classmate, Jinni, came with us because there were a lot of famous Chinese people that were replicated and we would have had no idea who they were. There were different sections for different types of people; musicians, actors & actresses, politicians, athletes etc.

After the house of wax we tried finding a sushi place we read about online. We arrived and it wasn’t sushi but a super cute expat area!! They had everything there, including Tex-Mex. Since we have all been craving Mexican we chose that place for dinner. Inside was the cutest restaurant. It was an old house that was transformed into a restaurant. The atmosphere was really warm and welcoming. There were a number of expat families enjoying their meals. The food was excellent, it actually tasted like Mexican food and the margaritas were good too J

I have gone out a little bit, being so far away from the city it has become and inconvenience to go out. In addition, the engineering classes that we are taking don’t really permit us to go out that much anymore. We have been back to Windows and Bulldogs a few times. Always great times at those bars and see some people we know but also continue to meet new people.

The weather in Shanghai has been gorgeous over the last month. We were told that the weather would go from really crappy to really good overnight…and it did. We have consistently been in the 70 degree range, just beautiful outside. There is a small little pond on campus, by the main entrance. There is a lot of green area around that pond. I have gone out there to enjoy the sun a number of times. On the weekends the area is crowded with students and also families. Many people fly kites while others just sit and talk. One day Caitlin and I were sitting out there, trying to get a little bit of color and we saw a little kid get taken out by a kite. The kite came crashing down and the string got wrapped around the kid’s neck, ultimately it threw him to the ground causing him to hit his head. It was scary to watch. The worst part of that situation was those people kept flying the kite in that area, they should have moved to a less crowded area especially since they were struggling to keep the kite in the sky.

The Three Gorges Dam

Monday March 30^th…

I woke up to find out we made it through the rest of the ship locks with success.

I grabbed a quick breakfast (of course it had to be quick because I decided to sleep in J). After breakfast it was time for our excursion to see the Three Gorges Dam. We got off of the ship and loaded onto buses. The buses took us over to the dam.

We had to go through a security check and then we were permitted to go to the lookout area. Seeing the dam was a big disappointment. Yes it is huge…after all it is the largest dam in the world but they didn’t allow us anywhere near the dam. We were only able to go to two different lookout points. I am glad I got to see the Dam in person, however the statistics that go with the dam are much more remarkable. For example, 20 towns were flooded and relocated (about 1.3 million people) to complete this project.

The main dam wall is made from concrete. It is 2,309 m long, 101 m high. The bottom of the wall is 115 m thick and 40 m thick at the top. Overall the project used 27,200,000 cubic meters of concrete, 436,00 tons of steel and moved about 102,600,000 cubic meters of the earth. When all 34 generators are installed the estimated annual electricity generated will be over 100 TWh. 32 of the 34 generators will be main generators, each with a capacity of 700MW. The remaining 2 generators will be plant power generators each with a capacity of 50MW.

A few more generators need to be installed and the ship elevator needs to be built but other than that the Three Gorges Dam Project is virtually complete. They are literally creating a water elevator to have in addition to the ship locks. It is projected that the elevator will be able to move one ship in 45 minutes…the time of one ship lock but it will cover the same height as all 5 of the ship locks put together.

Like I said the statistics that go with the dam are much more exciting to learn about rather than just looking at a big slab of concrete.

After the excursion was over we got back on the ship and headed into the 3^rd gorge, Xiling Gorge. We weren’t able to stay on the sundeck long because lunch was being served but the Gorge was slightly different than the others. This gorge had many more flat faced stone/cliffs at the base of the mountains. It was a different form of beauty but still out of this world to be floating down the river in-between two cliffs.

After lunch was over it was time to get off the ship. Our cruise down the Yangtze was over. We had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the dock. He took us to the airport in Yichang. This airport was the smallest airport I have ever seen. There were cows roaming on the front lawn and there were only 4 gates in the whole airport. Needless to say, with only 4 gates and a small runway, it was the quickest take off ever!! It was nice not to sit on the tarmac for an hour before taking off…I felt like the door to the plane was hardly locked and we were already in the air – it was great.

I loved the cruise. We were very fortunate with the weather and I saw a lot of China I would not have seen any other way besides floating down the Yangtze River. It was unprecedented beauty!

Two of the gorges and the ship lock

Sunday March 29^th…

The morning started with another great breakfast. After breakfast there was an information session on pearls. I learned all the tricks on how to tell if a pearl is real or not. It was informative but I felt bad for the presenter, she was so nervous to give a presentation in English she stumbled over her words a bunch of times and at one point I thought she was going to pass out, she turned so pale. But she made it, and I was able to even learn something from the presentation.

So it was turning out to be a gorgeous day! We went up to the sundeck and laid down to just enjoy the beautiful day. We had some time to kill so Caitlin ended up taking pictures with the Chinese people. She was having her own little photo shoot, all of the Chinese men wanted a picture with her. It was very entertaining to sit back and watch.

About an hour or so passed It was time to enter the first gorge. The first Gorge is Qutang. It was stunningly beautiful!!! There were mountains and rocks along both banks of the river. When we first entered the gorge we were in-between rock walls. Everything was extremely green. Every once in a while we would see a random house or a small village tucked away into the mountainside. We were able to see some farm fields and every once in a while there would be a small waterfall.

There was a short break in-between the first gorge and the second one, so I was able to get a shower in and then head back up to the sundeck. The second gorge (Wu Gorge) was just as beautiful as the first. The mountains were hovering on both sides of the Yangtze. The colors were vibrant and the sun was shining. These gorges are really unlike anything I ever could have imagined. Everything was so remote and it’s hard to imagine all of the families/cities that had to be relocated because of the Three Gorges Dam Project.

We had a quick lunch and then we got off the boat for an excursion. We transferred to smaller boats to go up a tributary of the river. We went to Shennong Stream. First we got on a smaller motorboat. The gorge narrowed and we passed hanging coffins and local hillside villages after about 40 minutes the gorges widened ever so slightly and we transferred to smaller boats pulled by teams of ‘trackers’. The ‘trackers’ took us on a little tour while rowing this small boat. ‘Trackers’ were once the main method of pulling boats along parts of the Yangtze River. After tracking upstream, the boats were released to cruise back down with the current before joining the ferries. The stream that we went through was extremely remote and magnificent; it was one of those things that I never would have experienced on my own, so thank God for going on that cruise!!

After a great excursion we were back on the ship and it was time for dinner. We had another great meal and then went upstairs to enjoy a talent show. Guests of the ship and some of the staff sang and danced and everyone seemed to really enjoy him or herself. Besides Caitlin and I there was only one other American on the ship. He sang karaoke and it was hilarious. If more people on the ship spoke English everyone would have been going crazy. He had a good way of getting the crowd going and personalizing the song to make it fit with our cruise.

Just as the entertainment for the evening concluded we were preparing to enter the first of the 5-step ship lock at the Three Gorges Dam.

The ship locks were incredible. Talk about modern marvels!! We were the first ship in so we had to wait about an hour for the other 4 ships to get set up. Watching these ships get parked so close together was unbelievable. After all of the ships were situated the gate behind us closed and the water level decreased. It was a rather quick process to get down to the water level of the next step…at which point the front gate opened and all of the ships moved as a unit into the next lock. Each lock took about 45 minutes by the time all of the ships got situated and the water was let out and then the ships moved out of it. I stayed on the deck and watched the first 2½ locks but it was getting late and each one took so long that I couldn’t last any longer. I finally decided to call it a night after a gorgeous day surrounded by brilliant beauty.

First Stop - Fengdu, China

Saturday March 28^th…

We started the day with a buffet breakfast, a little mixture of western and Chinese food. It was a rainy day so we were less than excited to watch the view pass by from the sun deck so instead we went to a massage/acupuncture demonstration. They talked about main pressure points, it was interesting to hear but I wouldn’t recommend that anyone rush to hear it. After the demonstration I took a shower and fell asleep watching the view pass by from our open balcony doors.

I was only asleep for a short while before it was time to wake up and eat lunch. Lunches and dinners were Chinese food. They were good. Most of the food was more American Chinese food rather than traditional Chinese food, but it was still delicious.

After lunch we headed out for our first excursion. We stopped in Fengdu. From the dock we could see where the old city of Fengdu was in rubble and mostly under the rising Yangtze waters. The new city was built high on the hill. Many cities just like Fengdu had to be relocated because of the Three Gorges Dam. Most of them were just built higher on the hill but some of them crossed over to the other bank of the Yangtze. Millions of people have been relocated because of the Three Gorges Dam Project, but many have been given better housing accommodations than what they had. The down fall is that most of those people were farmers and now there farm land is underwater and they are not trained in any other profession so they are struggling for jobs.

In Fengdu we climbed many stairs to reach the Temple of the Emperor of Hell, also known as the Ghost City. This is where people were judged to determine if they were going to heaven or hell. The difference in China is that hell is high on top of the mountain and heaven is down low. Also the myth goes that all ghosts from all over the world end up on this mountain area. The weather was rainy so it really obstructed what would have been a great view.

After the excursion we got back on the ship and dried off/warmed up and changed and then headed to the Captains welcome dinner. After dinner there was evening entertainment by the staff. They did a few different dances from around the world and a short skit. It was cute Chinese entertainment. After the entertainment was over we all danced for a short while to songs such as the YMCA, the macaraina, and the chicken dance…it was a lot of fun dancing too all of these songs with the Chinese people on board. It was very entertaining.

After all of the entertainment was over the 5 of us cracked open a few beers and eventually headed to the sundeck since the rain had subsided. It was super cold with the additional wind from the moving ship but we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately there was cloud cover so we were unable to see the stars. We stayed up there just talking, joking and laughing for a few hours; it was a great night!

Chongqing

Friday March 27^th…

Caitlin, Helen, Abhinav, Andry, and myself woke up early to take QQ’s to the Pudong airport; we were headed for Chongqing, but just for the day. After a day in Chongqing we were going to get on a ship to float down the Yangtze River.

After arriving in Chongqing we took the airport bus to the city. On this bus ride we were able to see how different Chongqing was compared to other cities we have seen in China. Chongqing, like most cities in China, is huge! 31 million people! Chongqing is a municipality (The highest level of classification for cities used by Chinese governments with status equal to that of the provinces). Chongqing is built right into the side of the mountains. There is no subway system but the taxi drivers are even crazier than QQ drivers. The city was spectacular, nothing was clean, most buildings were old, and people were everywhere, foreigners really stood out. There was a very laid back feel, to this city with so much character.

So we got to the city and we walked around for a short time and then grabbed some lunch. Lunch was not so great, very oily and a weird sourish taste to it. After lunch we got in a few taxis to head to the zoo. This taxi ride was by far the most intense car ride I have experienced…ever! He was weaving in a out and turning across multiple lanes of traffic…quite frankly I am surprised we made it alive, but that is the thing about China drivers, there seems to be an understanding of looking out for people around you, and being more aware of your surroundings rather than relying on a bazillion laws.

We arrived at the zoo and it was dead. There was no one there. We went through the kids area with rides and things, and there were only old people walking around. It was bizarre. I realize I am not a zoo enthusiast but I thought there would be a few more people there. Later on in the day there were but when we first got there it was dead. After wandering for a little while we made it to the Panda Bears!! Man, were they adorable! They really don’t do anything; they sat and ate bamboo the whole time we were there. But they were so cute. I realize they are bears but they looked so cuddly.

In addition to the Giant Pandas, we saw a Lesser Panda…yes that is actually the name. It was really small…kind of like a raccoon with a red back. Very strange. They were climbing in the trees and down the trunks like squirrels.

We saw all of the other standard zoo animals. It was a beautiful zoo that weaved up and down the hillside. It was very green and I am sure in a couple of months it will be blooming with flowers. The cages where the animals were kept were kind of sad. The worst one was where the black bear was kept. It was literally a cement plateau with a really nasty 4-foot diameter pond in the center. I felt so bad for the little bear. He was a cutie and still wandered around the cement, but looking at the area you couldn’t help but feel bad for the bear.

After we were done at the zoo we headed to the city centre and saw the people’s Liberation Monument. It felt like Times Square being in the middle of everything, with lights and big screens everywhere. We walked around for a while and eventually went to a Sichuan restaurant for dinner. Sichuan province is next to Chongqing and the food is known for being very spicy. I didn’t eat the really spicy food that we ordered since it was Friday, and I was not eating meat, however the others said it was very intense.

After dinner we needed to get down to the river to board the ship. When we got down there we didn’t see our ship, we actually only saw ships that didn’t look like they were going to float. Some of the ships we saw before we saw our ship was what I was expecting. I was expecting some old rusted boat with bugs running around the floors but thankfully that is not what we got. Our Ship was gorgeous!!! It was called President No. 1. There were 5 decks and a sundeck. Carpet and molding throughout the whole ship…just gorgeous. Our room was really nice; two extremely hard twin beds, a bathroom, and a balcony with a fantastic view.

We were all exhausted from an early start so we just had a beer on the balcony and talked for a short while and then went to sleep.