In honor of Chinese New Year, I thought I'd post my update from Chinese New Year 6 years ago . . . enjoy.
Last you heard I was hopping a train to Hong Kong. And now that I’m writing again you know I made it safely, if not sanely, back to Sanming. I came back early with plans to visit some of my students from last year in their hometowns. But as soon as I stepped out of the taxi a colleague informed me that I we were starting early because of inspections. So a new semester started with a fury of polishing everything from the floors to the lesson plans. This meant extra meetings, practice teaching, and wasted time, all for an inspection that lasted about 10 minutes for the whole English department. But my vacation was wonderful--relaxing, fun, refreshing. It was all a vacation should be, along with a few surprises. I’m including a translation or the nickname of each city, so not only will you be informed and entertained, you’ll be educated!
Hong Kong--Fragrant Harbor
I spent the first five days of my journey in Hong Kong with Leigh, a friend from college who teaches there. Dawn, another Amity teacher, whom I often travel with, was also in there, so we meandered around the city in the daytime while Leigh was teaching. Mostly, we shopped. I spent five days in a shopper's paradise but have nothing to show for it besides a stamp in my passport. Five days of mall hopping and all I bought was food: Italian, Indian, Thai, and American. I drank enough Mountain Dew to last me until next Christmas, but when I tried to smuggle it back over the border in my backpack the customs agents detained me and made me drink it all. I never noticed the Dew listed on the dangerous substance lists before.
Yunnan Province--South of the Clouds
Kunming--Spring City
This year’s Amity conference was held in Kunming, also known as “the city of eternal spring” by the Chinese. After a short flight from Shenzhen and an argument with taxi drivers, Dawn and I decided to take a bus to our hotel. We knew we were close. What we didn’t know was the name of the hotel or, as we’d eventually find out, the correct address. After two hours of wandering, calling, and asking random police officers, we dragged our luggage into our hotel and collapsed. The remainder of the conference could be nothing but refreshing after the afternoon we spent trying to get there.
The most memorable part of the conference was a trip to Wuding, a small village of Christian families about three hours from Kunming. We visited the village, made up of mostly Miao minority, to see other projects sponsored by the Amity Foundation. We were greeted with curious stares, warm food, and a children’s choir. We toured the new library, medical clinic, primary school, and church and sat down for a meal with the villagers. After eating our fill of rice and vegetables, we joined together to sing hymns, everyone singing the same familiar tunes in many different languages.
Xishuangbanna--12,000 Pieces of Land
Having had our fill of tour groups and schedules during last year’s Spring Festival, travel pals Dawn, Grete, and I planned our own vacation. The only plan we had for this city was to stay in the bamboo hut hostel. We made it through one night. Just as we were ready to go to sleep, we pulled out the trusty Lonely Planet guidebook and read the description of our hostel: Known for the occasional rodent visitor. Grete, who was sleeping on the floor that night due to a lack of vacancies, claims to have been visited in the middle of the night. The next morning we found a new hotel.
We couldn’t have picked a better spot to just lounge. And for 7 days that’s about all we did. We moved from restaurant to restaurant, eating and reading, and then back to our hotel to sleep. Don’t call us lazy just yet. We rented bikes twice for a ride along the Mekong river and through the countryside. The weather was beautiful, the food was recognizable (most of the time), and the company was agreeable. After six days of lounging, Grete took off for the rest of her exotic vacation, and Dawn and I saw her off at the airport then took a long walk back through the rice fields. We stayed another night in the ratty bungalows and hopped a plane bound for Dali the next day.
Dali--Great Order or Big Fish
A turbulent flight and a shaky landing later we arrived at an airport atop a mountain and found our only way down was by taxi. We quickly befriended two Japanese tourists who shared a cab ride to our hotel. Dali turned out to be the most Western-influenced traditional Chinese town I’ve ever seen. They had bagels! And homemade ice cream! And the strange shoe man who we saw in three different places on three different days. He came up to me each time, pointed at my shoes, looked at me with a huge smile on his face, said “shoes!”, and walked away. The first time it was strange. The second time it was bizarre. By the third time we had become old friends, and now I kind of miss him.
Our three-day stay included shopping, eating, and touring Er Hai (ear lake) and surrounding villages. We lucked up on a private taxi deal that took us where we wanted to go for a day. We visited temples, had a 4-course tea party, and shopped at a huge market that was appropriately named Xiaping(pronounced just like shopping). This was an open-air market spread across a bare hillside where people came to sell everything from vegetables to clothing to antiques. I got caught at an antique booth by a woman selling woodblocks for printmaking. She didn’t convince me they were from the Tang Dynasty, but she did convince me to buy three before Dawn pulled me out.
Because we were staying in a youth hostel we had two roommates, who, fortunately, were a middle-aged Chinese couple. We’d use all the Chinese we knew at night to try to talk to them. By the end of our stay we’d become close enough for them to invite us to spend next Spring Festival at their new home in Dali.
Lijiang--Beautiful River
We had heard from another Amity Teacher that Lijiang is like Disney World. I was a little disappointed when there was no Space Mountain, but there was a breath-taking snow capped peak visible from almost everywhere in the town. We spent our days there trying to keep warm by navigating through the maze of alleys filled with souvenir shops. It was definitely touristy. And it was definitely cold. And our hotel definitely did not have weather-stripping on the doors or windows. The hotel was an old family compound with a courtyard in the middle. At night we warmed our feet by the pan of fire in the courtyard. By the time we got back to our room they were cold again. So we slept with our clothes on. And tried to block the wind breezing through the cracks in the old wooden doors.
Broke and cold, we headed back to Kunming to meet some friends, and the following day I flew back to Fujian province and hopped a train to Sanming. The past few weeks have flown by. I’m becoming acquainted with my new students and trying my best to stay in touch with the old ones. They’re in and out of class trying to find jobs, worrying over interviews, and moving on. And my life in China goes on--morning firecracker wake-up calls, mad dashes to catch the bus I just missed, words tumbling from my brain to my tongue and out of my mouth, confusion. Ah, to speak freely using polysyllabic words!
I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the sights and smells of a new spring.
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