Dragon Back Rice Terrace

While I was on my trip to Yangshuo, we also went to see "Dragon Back Rice Terraces." This was an amazing place as well. You can't imagine the landscapes here and the picture doesn't do the terraces justice, however you get the idea. Unfortunately there wasn't any rice planted in these terraces at the moment. I guess we were a little too early in the year.

Ya-ya Yangshuo!

Left to right: Winnie (my cousin Liyan's best friend), Juliana, some geek with glasses.
Juli and I in the water caves
Floating down The Yulong River in a bamboo raft
Yangshuo scenery--this is how I imagined China
While floating down the Li River
西街。AKA Western Street
View from our hotel overlooking beautiful Yangshuo scenery and the Li River.

To start off, I have to mention the bus ride to Yangshuo from Guangzhou. My friend Juliana and I decided to take a trip to Yangshuo after being in hectic Guangzhou Canton fair. We decided to take an overnight bus. We bought tickets and apparently they were for 22:30 but i thought it was 23:30. We missed the bus. Shit. I did not want to stay in Guangzhou one more night because the whole city was booked out because of the Canton fair and if there was a room available, it was expensive. Luckily, there was one more bus at 23:30! I paid 60RMB to change the tickets which is less than $10 and i was happy to pay as long as i could get on the bus and go! Well, the bus wasn't going after being delayed 30 minutes they said the bus was broken and it wasn't going. I think they did this because there were only 6 people on the bus. Juli and I refused to accept our money and insisted we go to Yangshuo. Well, they returned our money for the tickets (but not the 60 RMB) and kicked us off the bus. I told them they had to check us into a hotel because we had nowhere to sleep. They took us next door and were going to check us in, but there were no rooms. So the bus station lady said wait here (in the hotel lobby) and she left us. Crap. What were we going to do? 15 minutes later she returned and said, ok we go to Yangshuo now. We got on the bus and took off for the 8 or 9 hour bus ride to Yangshuo, just the 2 of us and 2 drivers and a bus lady. Not to mention they also returned my 60rmb. After a horrible fright, we were off to a great start to a great trip (and a free bus ride)!
We arrived to blue skies, beautiful scenery and landscapes which I have never seen before! I knew this was going to be a good trip. The pictures explain themselves. This is China as I imagined it in from a story book. Floating down a bamboo raft enjoying natural scenery and good company, this has to be one of my favorite past-times.
西街, Xi Jie (west street) is a famous place which makes Yangshuo a bit interesting. As you can imagine by the name, the street is full of western restaurants, cafés and shops. We started every morning off by eating outside and having western breakfast or as I began to call it Juliana Breakfast because it is her favorite and she doesn't function without it. Then we would shop around, float the rivers, go on bike rides, explore caves and mud baths, and just relax...
After 4 days in Yangshuo, we were scheduled to leave on a bus Saturday night. Saturday afternoon we were talking about how we should stay one more night but then we thought we better get back to Zhuhai to see my family for another day before I go to back to Beijing. My cousin Liyan's best friend Winnie just arrived to Yangshuo Saturday and we met briefly to say hi before we left. She was there with about 25 other people who work at her fathers factory in the marketing department, some of whom I've met. After talking with Winnie for a few minutes she said we should stay one more night since they had extra rooms at their hotel and so we could have dinner and go out to the bars together. All I could say was "WHY NOT!!!" We ate Chinese food and then went to the bar...and drank a lot. There were about 8 of us playing "dai wa sek"at one table and I think we went through.... too much vodka... I have to note that Colombians say they know how to party but Juliana was the first to pass out over the rest of us Chinese! Winnie impressed me. It was a great time and I am glad I stayed the extra night.

Canton Trade Fair

I went to the Canton Trade Fair in Guangzhou last week and I was absolutely amazed... The first picture is the length of one of 2 exhibition halls. the second picture is a snap-shot of the depth. You can't even begin to imagine the products that were here.... but I guess almost everything you can buy was here, so if you can imagine it, it was here. It was a good experience to see all of these products and talk to the manufactures. Just being here gave me some ideas and it also answered some questions. My last year of college, I was in a class that started a business. We imported silicon iPod covers and got collegiate license for a few colleges to screen print their logo on the iPod cover. My role in the business was supplier relations. We ran into a few problems but the biggest problem were initial trust issues and time delays. One reason for the delay was because of Chinese New Year and the other was that they were just taking forever to manufacture. After speaking to some iPod cover manufacturers I found that the problem was they had to fill larger orders that came in first because around the time we ordered them there was a growing demand. Also, they had to go through screen printing which was probably "outsourced" to a different factory that had screen printing capabilities.
Over-all, I learned a lot and I now have a better idea of what I want to do....but not really.

Going Home

After being in Beijing for only one and a half months, I decided to go home. Friends in the states don't get too excited, I went home to my family in Zhuhai, China. It was nice to go have a home cooked meal by my grandma and have the comfort of being with family. Not to mention Zhuhai is much more peaceful and quiet than Beijing! It is also on the sea and there are palm trees (I love it). The massages are also cheaper in Zhuhai! There is a lot I like about it...
Most importantly, I have family here in China. Many people I meet here ask me how I plan on staying in China for up to two years without going home to see my family and friends and I never put too much thought into it (like everything else I do). I guess it is because I have family here in China and it is my second home. Also, I miss my friends but at the same time I know I will see you all again and here I have the opportunity to meet tons of people and make more friends.
(picture from left to right: my cousin Annie, Apo (grandma), and Loyee (my other cousins daughter)

The Farmers from Beijing go to Shanghai

I went on my first trip in China last weekend to Shanghai. My roommate, Davide, has a bunch of friends in Shanghai so we had a place to crash when we went there. After being in Beijing for over a month, I guess I have adapted to the life here in Beijing. I experienced a bit of a shock in Shanghai because it is much more "city-like" and much more hustle-bustle. There is obviously much more western influence in Shanghai. It was noticeable in the architecture and prices. The first day we got there, we went to a shopping center and had dinner there. I was joking around when I approached an escalator and acted as if I had never seen one before. I guess it was only funny for Davide and I. The ironic thing is that we had a bunch of farmers who all had orange baseball hats on and were guided by a tour guide of some sort on our flight back to Beijing who must have never flown before. When we got off the plane and proceeded to baggage claim within a sea of people, a little old lady walked up to the escalator and stopped dead in her tracks! She was absolutely terrified to get on the moving stairs and I thought it was the funniest thing since I felt a little how she felt when i got to Shanghai. But I do feel bad for laughing...but i wasn't the only one laughing.
China's growth is apparent in the photo above. The skyline that you see didn't exist 20 years ago! Now they are building the Tallest building in the world! They broke ground on the skyscraper around July of 2006, now, less than a year later it about the same height as the tallest building in Shanghai. 88 (more or less) floors in less than a year! Impressive.

Fresh Cut Grass

I just got the first whiff of fresh cut grass the other day in Shanghai and again today in Beijing. I must say it reminded me of home and when I was younger. I guess what the say about smell being the strongest reflex trigger of memory is true. So I must say thanks mom and dad for always making me cut the grass. I always complained, "why do I have to do it?!!" I was told it was because Ben, my older brother, grew past that chore (really quickly) and Alex, my younger brother was too young and it was dangerous...so I guess it wasn't too dangerous for me. Besides, I valued $10 bucks a week a lot more than my brothers did at that age. Thanks mom and dad for making me cut the grass, how I never thought I would smell fresh cut grass on the other side of the world and for a split second feel closer to home.

TIAN'AN MEN

This was my first visit to Tian'an Men since coming to Beijing a little over a month ago. The weather was great last weekend and my tongwu(roommate) and I decided to check out the Palace gate and walk around the square. I will have to go inside the forbidden city another time when I have all day to just walk around, relax, practice my kung fu, taichi, and meditate. I started watching the movie "The Last Emperor" the other night. Great movie and it is an easy way for me to learn a little bit about the history. I think I can rely on this movie for information the only problem is I fell asleep while watching it. I'll have to finish later.

Davide and me. In the background is Tian'an Men square and Mao's Mausoleum where Chairman Mao's embalmed body lies. His casket is raised from a refrigerated chamber for viewing in mornings and afternoons. The line is pretty long to see it and I wasn't there on time, more-over, I have never seen a dead body nor do I want to!