China : Wuhan

March 6 -7, 2011:

Good Morning Wuhan! It is 7:30 AM here in China, and 6:30 PM in America. We started off the day with a trip to the Hubuxiang Market. The food was amazing, especially the hot-dry noodles, a dish unfortunately specific to Wuhan. The atmosphere was not one for a germaphobe, and not really the atmosphere for a vegetarian either. Today was the day when I realized that if you have blonde hair, everyone in China will stare at you.

Tree Socks

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Hubuxiang Market

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Colorful Sweet buns

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Famous Hot-Dry Noodle Man

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Squid

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

View of the Street

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Mikaela, Yoga, and I

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

After an amazing breakfast, we hopped on the bus for a tour of Wuhan. Our first stop was at the Guiyuan Temple, also known as the Temple of 500 Buddhas. The temple was really amazing. This is where I found my obsession for ceilings and chinese babies. I am also sure to have bad juju for taking pictures of Buddhas when I was not supposed to. After picking "our Buddha", mine being the one with the cat, we headed to our first chinese meal. It was an interesting meal. There was a lot of really good food, and a fish staring at me.

Lighting on incense

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

I'm going to have bad juju for taking this photo

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

My Buddha

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Yoga and I with the Big Buddha

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

First Meal

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Staring Fish

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

After lunch we went to a park on the banks of Yangtze River. Upon entering the park, there was a sign permitting practically all fun from being had. In the park we saw an amazing sculpted wall, and many statues. We then went to a Temple next to the park, and then the Hubei Provence Museum. While in the museum taking photos of ancient artifacts, Alex informs me that people are pretending to be taking photos of the artifacts, but really they are taking photos of me! We also were fortunate enough to see a performance of ancient bell songs. Then back to the bus for a quick stop by the HuaZhong Normal University, a high school of 6,000, to meet our host families.

Tree socks on Yangtze

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Linda and the nine tailed fox

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Ceiling in temple

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Tomb of Emperor

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Once at the high school, we meet our host students, Polaris. We take the twenty minute drive to her families apartment on the tenth floor in a high-rise community. We are served a traditional chinese meal of pigs feet, cow stomach, some sort of fish, a few other meat dishes, green beans, and rice. Myself not being much of an adventures eater nibbled on a little bit of the fish dish, a few bites of chicken, and lots of rice and green beans. Emily, being a vegetarian, did a lot better then I did, trying the pigs feet, cow stomach, and the fish. Polaris then showed us her families prized possessions, a dinosaur egg, a few pieces of beautiful ancient coral from the Yangtze River. That night Polaris, and her mother took us to the indoor/outdoor mall we had visited the night before. We spent our time walking around, getting coffee, playing with a very cute white fluffy puppy, and seeing the movie I am Number Four. It was a interesting experience, I started watching the movie as a "Non-American" seeing American culture, and as the movie progressed I lost the outside view and got sucked into the plot line. Once the movie ended and the lights turned on, I had forgotten that I was in China and I had this weird wave of realization come over me. We took a quick ride back to the apartment, and hopped into another solid bed, and had another "comfy" night sleep. Good Night Wuhan, Good Morning America.

Indoor/outdoor mall

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Chinese version of Jonas brothers?

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Emily, Polaris, and her mother

Wuhan, China

Photo:b.wisniewski

Fluffy pup

Wuhan, China

Photo: e.snyder

On Monday morning we arrived at HuaZhong Normal University to meet Steve's class of tenth graders. HuaZhong Normal University filled with the brightest 6,000 minds in China. We spent a little time getting to know the class of 30 excited students, then it was time to stand in front of 4,000 of the students during a flag raising ceremony. We were supposed to introduce ourselves saying “Ni Hao, Wuhan, Wo Jiao Blythe and I am studying Business at Champlain College." Luckily, the students were not informed of this introduction, and the students were dismissed. I do not think I will ever forget the feeling of close to 5,000 eyes burning into us.

Books on students desk

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Loyalty

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Half of the crowd of students

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Flag raising ceremony

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

China: The Beginning

March 4 -5,2011:

The adventure began Thursday morning at 7:15 AM in Burlington, VT and ended at 1:00 AM Saturday in Wuhan, China. I arrived at the airport at 4:00 AM Friday, after making the mistake to not go to bed the night before. (I was afraid I was not going to wake up and miss the flight!) After a bit of waiting around at the Burlington Airport, our the trip to China began with liftoff at 6:30 AM to Newark, NJ.

Newark Airport, NJ

Photo: b.wisniewski

Our airplane

Photo: b.wisniewski

After the hour and half flight, we had a four-hour layover until we got onto the plane for our fifteen-hour flight to Beijing, China. TAKEOFF! I felt like we were in the air for an eternity, luckily I had a window seat and was able to amuse myself by looking out the window. During the flight I watched a bunch of movies, ate really bad airplane food, took photos, and took a little nap... and there was still hours left on the plane.

Our flight path

About 6 hours into flight

Photo: b.wisniewski

Sunrise over Russia

Photo: b.wisniewski

Mongolian mountains

Photo: b.wisniewski

WE MADE IT! I couldn’t believe we were in CHINA! After going through customs, getting out luggage, and exchanging money, we were ready for our next flight to Wuhan. We had a quick twenty-minute layover, and before the plane took off I was asleep. After getting our luggage, we met up with Steve, and our tour guides Lily and Linda, and got on a bus for the hour drive to the hotel. Once at the hotel we checked into our room (150 REM/night, $20), and then left for a tour of Wuhan at 10:00PM.

Leafless trees

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

While beyond exhausted, it was amazing to see the city at night. On our little adventure, we walked through the new Spanish Street, the indoor/outdoor mall, got coffee and stopped at a street vender to get some amazing hot-dry noodles. There were a few things that really surprised me about Wuhan. One of the major things being all of the construction, everywhere you looked a new building was being built. A lot of the construction is due to the fact that Wuhan is a fairly young city, only about 20 years old. The other reason a lot of construction is happening is because the Chinese would rather tare down an old building and build a new one, then renovate an old building. One of the other things that was surprising to me was the diversity of buildings on the street. We would pass a construction site, then the housing for the migrant workers building the building, then a beautiful new outdoor shopping street. After all the traveling, and walking, all I wanted was a nice big cup of coffee! Unfortunately coffee is very hard to come by in China, but we found a Starbucks. (One of four in a city of 6 million!) Then the weirdest thing happened, I was able to order a grande latte with ease, but the man had to walk around the counter to see what I was pointing at in the case because he was unable to understand me wanting to order a bottle of water. ( We were told not to drink the water while in China, to use bottled water for drinking, even brushing our teeth.)

Indoor/outdoor mall

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Starbucks

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Once we returned to the hotel around 12:00 AM, we were told of our 7:30 AM wake up call. Emily and I turned on the TV for a few mins and Justin Timberlake appeared singing Sexy Back, then we feel right asleep. After traveling for about 32 hours and being awake for nearly 50 hours, it didn't even matter that the mattresses felt as if they were made of wood.

Hotel room

Wuhan, China

Photo: b.wisniewski

Ni Hao China!

Goodbye America!

Ni Hao CHINA!

Photo: r.williams

Wow. I really can not believe that in 10 hours I will be arriving at the airport in Burlington, Vermont to start my journey to China. It is surreal! I still have so much to do to prepare for the trip. I'm currently at the laundry mat, praying that my cloths will dry quickly so I can get back to my house and start to pack. I'm just hoping that I do not over pack, since I am a notorious over packer. I'm also super pumped on the warm weather forecasted for China. With a high of 14 degrees F today, 50 degrees is going to feel like a summer day. Maybe I should pack a pair of shorts?

Photo: weather.com

CHINA HERE I COME!

Protests in China

While I am so excited to be leaving for China in 2 days, I am a little nervous because of an article that I read in the NY Times today. The article is about the Chinese government establishing "no reporting" zones in Beijing and Shanghai. No protests have occurred as of yet, but the government is preventing foreign reporters to cover any potential public protests. The article states that, while not official yet, Beijing's main shopping square, Wangfujing, is either going to be off limits or will require a special permit to take pictures and conduct interviews. On Thursday, March 10, we will be staying in the Jiangou Garden Hotel, which is a mere 6 minutes from the hotel. Hopefully everything will be resolved or at least calm on Thursday. Especially since Wangfujing is know for being the main shopping district.

Photo: maps.google.com

Lost In China

While looking for some current event in China, I can across this National Geographic series, Lost In China.

Jeff and Peter Hutchens, both filmmakers and photographers, make their way through China. Their goal with this series is to go beyond cliche that people have of china. They travel to more remote parts of country and show you how diverse the country really is. Here is a link to the National Geographic site. The episode that I am really interested in seeing is the one in the on the Three Gorges Dam. As soon as I find a link to a video I will post it.

Here is another episode I found. In this episode Jeff and Peter travel into North Western China.

Photography

Middle River, MD

Photo: b.wisniewski

While in China I will be documenting my experience though photographs. I will be using my Nikon D30, along with my dad's small digital camera. In addition to bringing my camera I will be bringing my computer to store all the photos I take, and I will most likely bring a hard drive to back them up just incase. It is my goal to take as many pictures as I can. I am really excited to take photos from the Royal Gorge boat trip we will be taking. I really enjoy taking photos over the water. The picture above is an example of a one of my favorite photographs i've taken of my backyard. When I arrive back to Vermont I am going to upload the pictures that I think best describe my trip. I really hope to capture what this trip to China will mean to me.

Karaokeee!

During class the topic of karaoke in China was brought up.

The first thing that I thought of was the scene from Rush Hour 2.

In China karaoke bars, called KTV's, are very popular. The culture around karaoke in China is very different from the US. In China a common KTV has multiple room in which karaoke is sung. The rooms are generally small, 6,12,or 20 people. This keeps the atmosphere fun and private, and allowing the people not to get to embarrassed singing in front of a room full of strangers. I have also found that KTV's have come under the unfortunate stereotype of being a front for brothels. But as long as it says KTV and the name of the place, and there isn't a line of only men waiting outside you should be fine. (More Info. on KTV's) I am hoping that while we are in China we will have a chance to go to a KTV. Maybe one of the nights we are in Beijing?!

I found a video of some karaoke we can practice with in class.

Doesn't singing Little Mermaid at 8am sounds great!