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| At the Bund in Shanghai with U21ers |
I feel like it's been ages since I wrote, and yes, it has. So what have I been up to that has caused such terrible neglect?
I left during the first week of July to attend a food security summer school organized by the Universitas 21 network. Twelve days in China went by so quickly, and I wish I could have stayed just a bit longer to tour around this amazing country.
I wanted to update everyone on my trip, but (surprise, surprise) Blogger is censored and I was unable to access it. And the minute I stepped off the plane in Vancouver, to my shock and frustration, my computer died; so instead of uploading my pictures, I had to begin shopping for a new laptop. I'm not gonna lie, I am loving my brand spanking new laptop!
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| University of Nottingham Ningbo, China. A beautiful, green campus. |
The summer school took place at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China. Ningbo is located approximately three hours south of Shanghai, and I was told by the locals that this is a rural city. Sure, if rural means 5 million people!
The first difference that I noticed the minute I stepped off the airplane at the Shanghai Pudong Airport is the difference in climate. It's so humid over there! For the first couple of days, I felt that I was being slowly smothered by a blanket every time I left the air-conditioned buildings. It's something that one must definitely be acclimatized to, and it was difficult at first to adjust to this 30+ degree weather + humidity.
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| Downtown Ningbo |
The next thing that struck me was the modernity of China. Considering the fact that this is considered a third-world country, there are several parts of China that are much more developed and modern than Vancouver and the rest of Canada. At the same time, there are many other parts that are very rural. There is a more obvious gap between the rich and the poor.
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| Bella, one of the several amazing buddies from UNNC |
The UNNC "buddies," mostly international studies students who participated in the conference and were there to show us foreigners around were, without a doubt, some of the most genuine, kind, and hospitable people I have met in a long time. Even after a long day of running around to make sure the conference was running smoothly, our buddies always accompanied us to town if we wanted to go out and not get lost (because if you don't know Mandarin, you're kind of screwed!). They brought us to their favourite dumpling eateries and shopping malls, helped us bargain with market vendors, treated us to a night of karaoke...the list goes on. They were just amazing people who expected nothing in return from us. The buddies watched over us through the entire two weeks, asking us if we needed anything, and always (at least in my experience) advising us to "be careful!" particularly when crossing the streets in town.
Ah, yes, traffic. My dad warned me before I left that the drivers would be more aggressive than they are in Australia - and yes, Aussie drivers are scarier than Canadian drivers (just saying). But in China, it's a whole different ballgame. Those of you who have been to China are probably laughing at me for being so naive, but the driving really did shock me. Why bother having traffic lights and parking spaces if they're not being used? That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but take, for instance, the taxi drivers in Ningbo. No seatbelts, driving at 100 km/hr on the city roads, running through several red lights, chuckling at us foreigners crammed in the backseat for screaming..you get the idea. Crossing the street is like suicide. As one of my buddies told me, "You just have to go. Don't hesitate or wait for them to stop, or else you'll never get to the other side. Just go!" There is no concept of the pedestrian having the right of way. You will walk in front of a car, and it will keep ploughing forward.
And the food! Here is a sample of photos of my food adventures...
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| Yang Mei |
Yang Mei is a delicious berry-like fruit that has a growing season of just 2 weeks in the Ningbo region. Luckily for us, we arrived during its season, and had handfuls of this sweet fruit at every lunch.
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| Xiao Long Bao |
Xiao Long Bao. Very disappointed. I didn't have time to scope out a good xlb joint in Shanghai, so ate at the first place I saw. I think I will go out for some xlb this weekend in Richmond, haha.
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| Fried Green Onion Pancake |
Fried Green Onion Pancake. A Shanghai specialty, and one of the best street food items I had while I was away. There was a couple with a small cart - the woman rolling out the dough, and the man frying the pancake right beside her.
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| Stinky Tofu |
Stinky Tofu. My parents were so pleased to hear that I tried this. You can smell it miles away from you, and it really does smell of old socks. The taste isn't all too bad, though.
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| Bei Lei and Yoon with the Da Niang dumplings |
Da Niang Dumplings. A dumpling chain in Asia, and some of the best meat and veg dumplings I've had in a while.
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| Duck Tongue Duck Tongue, marinated in a soy mixture. It was a bit chewy in texture, but the flavour was good.  Fried Seaweed and Cashews Fried seaweed with cashews. It sounds weird, but the flavours really work well together.  Fried Fish with Chilis Fried fish with chilis. Too spicy for me, but was a beautiful dish. So what did I do other than study food security and pork out at fancy restaurants?  Rural village near Ningbo We visited a rural village near Ningbo. This village in particular is famous for its honey peaches. 98 percent of the village depends on the peach economy as their source of income. The villagers were so excited to meet us and welcomed us with open arms and many peaches ready to eat. Apparently, they spent a week preparing for our arrival. They fed us peaches, took pictures and videotaped us, and even let us pick our own peaches (which was a bit risky for them, because if an unripe peach is picked, it may ruin the entire tree!). In the end, they send each of us home with a basket of 5 delicious honey peaches.  Eco-friendly farm |
We toured an "eco-friendly" farm. Beautiful and sustainable as it was, with its on-site tofu maker and mixed crops of corn, rice, melons, and more, it had a few flaws. Take, for instance the circus act, where we witnessed small dogs being whipped and forced to jump through small hoops. Or the bear that was on a leash and trained to walk on just its hindlegs on rollerblades. There was also the acrobat show, which ended up being mainly composed of young children, under the age of ten. It broke my heart having to see these small kids do pretty terrifying gymnastics acts with little safety and security, knowing that this was most likely not a job that they willingly applied for.
We went to Hangzhou, the capital of the province of Zhejiang. It's a very famous city, and we went to one of its most famous destinations, West Lake. It's basically a lake with some pretty views and very historical landmarks. Unfortunately, there is so much pollution in the water, which is brown, as well as in the air that it's hard to appreciate the beauty of the lake. However, West Lake is one of those "must-sees" when you're in Hangzhou.
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| West Lake |
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| Dragon Well tea farm in Hangzhou |
We also went to a gorgeous tea farm. The Hangzhou region is famous for its Dragon Well tea (Longjing, a type of green tea). We learned how the leaves are hand dried in a wok at 180 degrees F (you've gotta have thick hands to do this job!) and got to taste the tea. I bought some for home. It tastes so much more fresh than the Lipton's green tea bags you find in Safeway, and you can even eat the tea leaves. The woman at the tea farm told us that your stomach will get smaller if you drink green tea everyday...
And of course, I did a little bit of bargaining. You can't go to China and not have a turn at bargaining. It's a whole lot of fun and kind of ridiculous, seeing as how the prices are generally already cheap. But who doesn't like getting an even better price?
And of course, I did a little bit of bargaining. You can't go to China and not have a turn at bargaining. It's a whole lot of fun and kind of ridiculous, seeing as how the prices are generally already cheap. But who doesn't like getting an even better price?
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| O Canada...not really worth waiting in a 5-hour lineup, unless you've got a passport on hand.. |
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| If you don't like crowds, you're better off skipping the Expo! |
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| View of downtown Shanghai from the Bund |
We were only in Shanghai for one full day, so didn't get to see much of the city apart from the famous Bund. Still, it was a beautiful city from what I got to see.
And yes! I did go over the famous trans-oceanic bridge, the Hangzhou bridge, on the way to Shanghai. Can you believe there's even a hotel located on the bridge?
I witnessed the ups and downs of China, and that's what I really got out of my short trip to the motherland. I was able to reflect a bit on my life and how different it must be to grow up in a country where information on the outside world is censored in school and online (I even suffered facebook withdrawal!), where cities are developing at an exponential rate, so fast that the poor can't keep up, and where there are people everywhere and not a breath of fresh air or blue sky even at 35 degrees C. I realized what it really means to be hospitable, that it's cool to sing karaoke (mic included) on a bus, found kindness from those who may not be as fortunate as myself, and have returned home with a fresh outlook on life.
This was a fantastic experience, and I'm so glad that I went. I met amazing people from all parts of the world, got a taste of the culture in China, and am eager to go back in the near future.
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| Some pretty cool people |
This was a bit of a ramble, but that's what happens after a full month's worth of no blogging! In the next few weeks I will be busy preparing for my 8-month exchange to Sweden. I leave mid-August, so now's the time that everything starting to come together - rather - everything is supposed to be coming together. In other words, it's chaos/go crazy time, which you'll be hearing about for the next little while :)
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