Dehang 德巷 Miao Minority Village, 100 Years, I love China, I hate China

Tallest Waterfall in China (according to the sign)

I am very very far behind, I blame the tightening of internet security which made accessing this blog nearly impossible.  So while I was offline....

I went to a magical place called Dehang.  It was out by Fenghuang.  It was beautiful, it is a village populated by the Miao minority.  It is in the middle of a park you have to pay to get into, 60 yuan for regular people.  30 for me with my old student id, thank god for small undeveloped sights in China.  They never check your cards too closely.  It was in the middle of misty mountains, and you can see construction everywhere, where they are threatening to build up yet another eyesore like Fenghuang.  A place built to see tons of people, at least Dehang is smaller and isn't there yet.  The women and men were pleasant and there weren't many people there as the weather was fairly miserable.  We took a walk to the tallest waterfall in China.  And did a treacherous climb up another waterfall, it was beautiful and interesting.  The best part was discovering a kindred spirit in my site mate!  We travel so similarly.  It was nice to see green, and smell fresher air!  I tasted and bought some local alcohol, and watched them picking bee larvae out of a bee's nest to cook their specialty.  I was not even tempted to try eating bees or their larvae.
Then Halloween,  Which was awesome!  I made a haphazard costume of a devil.  I was a 洋鬼子, which is an old impolite term for Foreigners.  The English translation is "Foreign Devil."  I went out and partied with an interesting mix of foreigners and Chinese people.  It is interesting to see Chinese people celebrating American holidays, they seem to really enjoy Halloween.  But only feel comfortable celebrating it in the company of Foreigners.

Then comes the thing I really want to talk about.  The 100 year anniversary of Yi Zhong.  This was an amazing thing to witness.  They spent a week decorating the campus, building a giant stage on the football field.  They built amazing towers of walls of flowers that spelled messages of Yi Zhong's greatness.  They built a new statue and had it covered with a sheet awaiting the unveiling.  The schedule that weekend was amazing!  Saturday Morning there was the unveiling of the new Mao statue.  That night was a huge show, complete with a play about Mao's time at Yi Zhong, Communist dances about the revolution, and student's and teachers dancing.  My favorite was the Wushu demonstration!  It was amazing.  We also had a famous comedian Dabing (who is on a bottle of baijiu), and is coincidently an Yi Zhong alumnus, give a show!  It was really interesting.  It was impressive, I didn't understand any of the talking, but it was big.  The next day the clubs gave a presentation, then there were boring speeches, and then a huge lunch!  Which was delicious!  Finally that night, another show.  Somethings were the same, some were different.  My dear site mate rapped about Yi Zhong with a student, it was quite adorable.  Heart full of love for China I went to my Chinese Lesson.

Now to what I hate about China.  My Chinese teacher has to change houses, because her house is on the property of the Provincial Museum which is going to expand.  She tells me calmly, "I don't mind leaving, it is troublesome but I don't mind.  But they won't give us a proper amount of money for our house."  So now these people have resorted to bullying her and her family.  They threatened to take away her husband's job, and then took him out for dinner and tried to give him very expensive perfume.    She is strong, and will not leave until they give her the proper amount.  But the fact that they are bullying people into leaving with not enough money to buy a place of equal value, makes me see red!!!

More to come!

Food Poisoning

I was very lucky, minus a small stint of food poisoning in Laos.  Last year I experienced no major food catastrophes.  This year I was lucky enough to experience 'pharohing'.  If you don't know what this is, imagine the "walk like an egyptian dance" and food poisoning and that should describe it to you.

I ate some lunch that day, and I went to the gym.  Then went and ate a huge meal of dumplings.  About a half an hour later, I had to kick people out of my house so I could get sick in peace.  I spent one whole night 'pharohing'.  Luckily I didn't have class the next morning.  So I slept in and then went to class in the afternoon.

But this made me reflect.  Developing countries and developed countries are not so different.  You can get food poisoning in both, though people in developed countries like to pretend their food safety is much better.  You are more likely to get food poisoning in a developing country, but if you are careful you should be fine.

Mid-Autumn Festival, Meishan Longgong

Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th Day of the 8th lunar month.  China's national day is October 1st, it makes sense that the two might overlap every once in a while!  This year, they did with a vengeance. September 30th was the Mid-Autumn Festival, a festival where everyone gives moon cakes wrapped in beautiful boxes!  The boxes are beautiful, but most people are not fans of moon cakes.  Moon cakes are similar to fruit cakes, everyone once in a while you can get a good one but it is rare and most people would rather just move on!

Well, for my Mid-Autumn Festival I was delighted to be invited to join an ex-student and his family for dinner in a restaurant.  They came to pick me up, as I slide into the back seat with my ex-student I couldn't help noticing the military style hat on the dashboard.  The hat with the pin of the CPC proudly displayed on it.  Richard then smiled and said "Let me introduce you to my parents.  My father works high up in the government, I don't know how to say it.  My mother works at Yuelu Mountain, if you ever want a tour let me know."  I think I gulped really loudly at this point, but no one seemed to notice. We went to a dinner and I have to say, this was the smoothest dinner I have ever been to.  Richard translated almost everything to the best of his ability, I toasted people and impressed them with my ability to drink red wine.  Which to those of you who know me from home know my tolerance is not particularly impressive.  But it turns out Richard's godfather is a high up from Guizhou Provence and they have invited me to visit them in Guizhou Provence and I think I will take them up on it.  Here is the part of the evening where I realized just how important Richard's father was.  Richard had to crop his dad out of all my photos from the evening!

 So national day I took it easy and prepped for a week of my friend Andy.  But once he was here it was a week of eating, games, and visiting Changsha. My favorite excursion and possibly the most difficult was the trip to Meishan Longgong, Something Mountain Dragon Palace.  It was beautiful.  It took 6 hours to get it and was the most draining trip I have been on in a while.

Here was our transportation for the day:
1. Taxi to the Train Station only to find out there were no tickets to Xinhua.
2. Taxi to the West Bus Station.
3. Bus to Xinhua (5.5 hours)
4. Bus to Meishan Longgong Parking lot
5. Ferry Boat
6. Bus to the Cave
7. Boat ride in the cave.  (Watch your head!)
8. Bus back to boat
9. Boat back to parking lot
10.  Bus back to Xinhua.

11.  Bus from Xinhua East Bus Station to the regular Bus Station
12. Bus from Xinhua Reg. Bus Station to Changsha South Bus Station.
13.  Taxi home!

For one hour at a cave it was a bit much.  But the cave was awesome!  It was lit up on the inside with tons of colored lights.  Some of the other tourists (We were the only foreigners) were grating on us a bit, they were smoking, touching the walls that said "Don't Touch", and of course climbing over railings to take pictures.

So we walked and commented but did little else about it.  It was an enjoyable cave, but the trip down was terrible.  The trip back was almost worst, because there were no movies only Chinese KTV.  The weather was bad, but it was important to see the countryside I think.  Seeing green things growing is so healing for me.  Also remembering that not all of China is flashing lights and big cities full of money.  There is a lot of poverty in the countryside and a lot of places that look like they can't even dream of what and Ipad, let alone ever dream of leaving the country.

Sports Day: No class

Schools in China are notorious for forcing their students to study and be in class for extremely long time periods.  When they get a day off, it usually  means they have to have class on Saturday or Sunday to make up for the day off.  So this friday we didn't have class, but only because we had made it up two weeks ago on the saturday of all the protests.  Instead we had a giant sports meeting for the kids.  This is a time for the students to relax, cheer on their classmates and cut loose a bit.  It is really nice to see, all these smiling faces that are normally fighting to stay awake in class, or studying furiously in a classroom.

Friday morning I woke up to them testing the P.A. system, playing patriotic music over and over trying to practice some of their last minute marching.  As you may recall from my blog last year, sports day involves an opening ceremony where all the classes march past the stage by class, they are graded on how in synch they are, how original their chant is, and I am sure other things.  Last year I watched from the sidelines.  This time however, Chris and I were invited up on stage to sit with the principal and other office members.  So we stood and clapped for every class that went by.  There are 24 classes of Senior 1s (sophomores), 21 classes of Senior 2s (juniors) and I think 22 classes of Senior 3's (Seniors).  So by the time they finished we were all super sweaty and dying, sitting in the direct morning sun!  But then we had the best view for the full demonstration of in synch morning exercises done by the Senior 1s.Watch it Here

Then we were asked to run with the teachers, 800m.  I hate running, but was talked into it by Chris.  So  I reluctantly was lead to the starting line which was surrounded by students.  They were all like "Patty, you are going to run?"  I reluctantly nodded, and the shot was fired and we all ran part way around the track, through the school and then back on to the track.  My students were cheering for me, it was fantastic, thrilling, and completely mortifying!  Odd how often those three happen to me in China!  After I ran I walked around to talk to my students and was able to see some of the other events.  High jump, long jump, running, an obstacle course relay and more.  My favorite to watch was the obstacle course relay, it was intensely amusing.  The students had to run and crawl under those three bars, jump over a desk,

run across a balance beam go around a post and run back jumping over two green squares.  Some of the people would run and try to slide across the astroturf and slip under the bars.  I only saw one successful attempt at this, the rest just looked really painful.  I was a little sad to leave sports day, but enjoyed the rest of the afternoon working on my apartment and listening to the cheers from afar.  I have to admit, seeing my students this happy makes me happy.  This also inspires me to try and make my classes a little more challenging and a little more fun!  My students are intelligent, creative young adults in their own right, and days like friday just serve to remind me of how awesome they are, and why I do what I do!

Friendship Award, KTV

This week has been extremely busy for me!  I love being busy.  It is my favorite.  I would rather be super busy than bored!  Feel free to remind me of this later in life when I am complaining about lack of free time.

Place setting at the honoree table!

On Tuesday we were invited to a fancy lunch, and informed it was formal.  So we went, having no idea what to expect.  Well what it was, was a big lunch for foreigners honoring some winners of the Hunan Friendship Award!  It was amazing to see so many foreigners and to see how fancy the main table was!  Geoff, Becky, Chris and I were all invited by Yi Zhong.  We attended with Estelle (the french teacher at Yi Zhong), Damien and Khan (teachers from the international department), Claire (a senior 2 teacher who is Chinese but now holds a German Passport), and Sunny (our liaison).  We all got so dressed up, but in true Chinese style many of the Chinese attendees who were not sitting on at the honoree table were wearing jeans and polos!

Me, Sunny and Estelle

So there were speeches, awards given and then dancing.  Of course most of it was minority dances, China loves to reveal in their diversity.  But more on that later...  Anyways, so there were many speeches given.  A speaker was introduced, turns out he was the governor of Hunan province!  So we waited for a lull in lunch, and asked him for a toast and a picture!

Me, Geoff, Becky, The Governor!!, Chris, Claire and Estelle

That was fun and it was even more fun teaching my next two classes in that ensemble!  (Not)

Then that Wednesday was my friend Liao's birthday.  I had invited him to dinner earlier and he had responded with an invite to his birthday dinner.  Because I was unable to attend, I decided to go to KTV with them after my dinner.  It was hilarious!  The teachers of the international department were wasted, singing and eventually throwing cake at each other!  That was when I left.  But props for me, I got an entire KTV room to do the conga with my rendition of Waka waka!

Yueyang

This weekend my friends and I traveled up to Yueyang, Hunan.  This town is about 1hour and 40 minutes away by train.  The train ride was easy, nothing too difficult.  There was a little child on the train who became a bit notorious.  He was such a little emperor.  If you don't know what that is, google it.  It is a growing problem in China, and we all wanted to smack him.  We arrived, dropped our stuff off and headed to see the sights.  We were up there partially to see our friend, partially to visit the town.  Our friend was busy until about 6.  So we headed to Yueyang Tower.  It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful pagoda's in southern China.  It has been burnt down a ton of times, and now is a rather nice park.  Not worth the 80 yuan they charged us.  They wouldn't give us a student discount.  Disappointing really.  Every person in Hunan talks about Zhangjiajie, Fenghuang, and Yueyang tower as the 3 main things to see in Hunan.  Now I have done all them!  It was a little surprising how anti-japan Yueyang was.  Little signs were all over the stores and every single Japanese car had either Chinese flags all over it, or anti-Japanese signs or both.

It was very odd to see.  And we were all made a little uncomfortable by it.  It is odd to be in a country where they feel really strongly against a country.  To wonder what exactly is going to happen between these two countries and these islands.  Especially when you think about the situation with Tibet.  If you don't know much about the Diaoyu islands and how they might possibly have something to do with Tibet.  Here is an interesting article I read on Shanghaiist.

http://shanghaiist.com/2012/09/22/tibet-ccp-sovereignty-legal-argument.php

Anyways, so the sights of Yueyang.  The tower was pretty cool.

And the weather was awesome!  The pollution was pretty bad, it was almost impossible to see the lake. Dongting lake, which is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in China!  The 1st is Qinghai lake.  This pagoda is the Yueyang Tower, it is not worth 80 yuan.  But beautiful.  Junshan island was amazing, the bus was a mere 5 yuan,  and drove us the long way around.  We started out being the only people on the bust, we were in the back.  The bus filled up, but no one noticed us.  Estelle and I were the only white people on the bus, obviously.  But at one point there was a bug next to us, a really big terrifying bug.  So we screamed and slid really far away, every single person on the bus turned and stared at us.  Then continued staring because we were foreigners.

But at one point we were driving on a road that should have been a one way, but they were driving both ways.  The road was a raised cement road that had water on both sides, the bus was swerving around fishermen and other cars.  But we arrived finally, and slipped in on a student fare.  30 yuan.  It was nice.  It was beautiful and quiet.  There were tons of temples, and statues and gardens.  Then we all met up, ate a fabulous yueyang dinner, sang KTV and danced the night away.
Which involved being groped by a drunk girl.. but I will talk about that more later.

LongXia (Cray fish in spicy sauce)

Opinions, Creeps, Strange Students

As I have been speaking to more and more Chinese people about the protests.  I am realizing that the average Chinese person doesn't think much of the protests.  They think it is a bunch of unemployed people causing trouble.  They know that these protests don't actually mean a whole lot.  One of my friends had their Japanese car destroyed.  Who does that hurt? Not the Japanese, but the poor person who owns the car.  Some of my friends are even embarrassed, thinking that this reflects poorly on Chinese people.  Granted most of my friends are graduated from university.

So moving on from that, I love China.  I love the fact that most guys are far too shy to approach me.  I don't get hassled almost ever, if I do it is someone saying "hello" then giggling incredulously with his friends that I said "hello" back.  Very non-threatening, almost amusing some days.  Other days I pretend not to hear, or not to speak English.  There is a young man named Tommy who lives near Yi Zhong, I guess he thinks he knows me well enough to step up his creepy.  Tommy is the young man who last year told me he doesn't like Chinese girls because they only care about money.  Michaela bless her heart piped up with "American girls are the same, we only like money."  At first I thought it was funny and a little rude.  Now I wish I had been a little less nice.  He cornered me in a store and asked me,

"We are friends, why I don't have your phone number?  why I don't have your qq?  Why you and me no go clubby drinky."  As I squirmed uncomfortably looking for my usual American standard blow off.  "you are my girlfriend.. friend."

"NO, I am not your girlfriend.  I have a boyfriend."  I said defensively, "I don't like clubby drinky. I have to go."  I ran off to the restaurant where I was meeting friends a few store fronts down.  I order and sit, who walks up... Tommy.  To harrass me once more.  To tell me I must like hamburgers, because I am fat.  And tell me he doesn't like his mom because she doesn't give him money.  "Get a job"  I respond.  He doesn't get it, luckily Geoff shows up.  And the situation melts into the background.

Then I forgot about my troubles as I saw my students playing the most bizarre game that involved making people kiss.  As far as I could tell it was elimination rock-paper-scissors.  If you lose you go on to the next round, if you lose all the rounds then you have to kiss someone.  I fled the room laughing about how crazy my students are.

That night my dear friend Lee called me.  He had had a rough day, and was telling me about how he wants to go to America.  How he hates his school, and how he thinks they have lied to him.  But when he asked about me, I asked him gently.  "What do you say to a guy who won't leave you alone?"
He paused.  "You tell him to Fuck off.  You are too nice, you don't need to be nice to everyone."

This is very true, I wonder if I can be strong enough to say it.

Diaoyu Islands and being a Foreigner!

Business as usual despite the protests down the block

 I was prepared for the worst yesterday.  Yesterday was September 18th, the day of the Manchurian Incident.  An incident that the Japanese used as an excuse to invade northern China back during WWII.  So I was prepared for really terrible anti-japanese protest, but when the day came all the universities practically locked their students on campus.  Our school kept their gates closed most of the day.  Around mid-day I heard the protesters from my apartment.  They were walking up Yingpan Lou towards the huge public park, Martyrs Park.  Which makes sense, but the anger and the sheer craziness of the protests seemed a little less.  Maybe once again I was protected by the school, or perhaps I was just expecting really extreme craziness.  But needless to say, my Jiuyibashibian (九一八事变) passed without too much excitement.
That night I was speaking to a friend, he just started university in Guangzhou.  He was telling me that he wants to leave China.  He proceeded to tell me that if you have money and relationships you can do anything you want in China.  If you don't you are screwed.  He wants to leave, become a soldier in another country.  To be strong.  He thinks that the government in China needs to change.  I told him how I like China, and it has bad things and good things.   Then he said something that made me think.

"You are a foreigner, you don't feel it because of your face."

It is true, my experience abroad is my own.  I cannot possibly understand what it means to be Chinese.  I can never truly be Chinese.  I am not sure I would want to be Chinese.  But I am a guest in their country, and they treat me as such.  People can be so patient with me, but I must never forget that they give me special treatment.

I have never felt as foreign as I have during these protests.  While I vaguely understand why they are protesting, I really don't get it.  I don't think I ever could.  So today at clubs day there were students working on a sign that proclaimed their feelings about the Diaoyu islands.  I was cringing hoping they wouldn't ask me to sign the signs.

The above sign says "爱国护岛卫我主权" (aiguohudaoweiwozhuquan).  Love country protect islands guard our sovereignty.  The students all signed it, and took pictures in front of it, and were chanting anti-japan sentiments. Ignoring the fact that you can study Japanese at Yi Zhong.  I was able to stay away from it, but as Becky and I were translating the sign when the students went to eat.  Some students came up to us to ask us to sign it.  Becky smiled sweetly in her precious Becky way and answered.  "This is just for students."  "no, anyone can."  "We are not students"  Then we booked it to the safety of their office.

Later I was approached by a student of mine for last year.  This kid has amazing English, and I think of him as a worldly fellow because he has facebook.  Not because he has facebook, but he can access facebook and therefore can access news outside the "Great Firewall."  He asked me "Have you signed your name?"  Without missing a beat, I said " I am a foreigner, this is for Chinese."  It is true.  This is China's mess, if something happens between China and Japan.  I will have to leave.  It is my friends in China who will pay for whatever goes down.  Needless to say, I don't think anything will happen but I am keeping my fingers crossed that Japan and China figure their shit out in a non-violent way.

Diaoyu Protests

This is Baiyi Lou, with the protests.  They were peaceful for now...

I don't know how many of you know what the Diaoyu islands are, but I sure knew nothing about them before I came to China.  Sometimes I am surprised how ignorant you can be of the world and world issues, then suddenly you step outside of your comfort zone and realize how big and real these issues are.  In the USA, it is easy to feel like world issues are so distant and far away.

Picture from: http://www.morningwhistle.com/html/2012/Macro_0910/213955.html

These islands are claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.  They have some prime fishing waters and access to natural gas.  For years there has been some official disagreements but no official action, as far as I can gather.   I have no real knowledge of the actual situation.  But what I do know is recently Japan somehow produced a contract saying they own the islands.  I don't know anything more than China does not recognize this contract.  The people in China have been whipped up into a very strong anti-japanese mood.  Yesterday there were to be protests, protesting Japanese businesses.  In Changsha the people were going to march from one Pinghetang (a japanese import grocery store) in the west to one in the east.  I first heard about the protests from a friend who was trying to get to the Train Station.  They had shut down Wuyi for the protests, she had been stuck on the bus for about a half an hour.  Then I was walking to a restaurant for lunch,  my friends and I were surprised to see the protest walking down the road between us and our food.  We crossed quickly, taking a few pictures.  But it was peaceful, just people walking with banners with pro-China, anti-Japan signs.  We arrived at the restaurant, I called a friend of ours to see if he was still coming.

Zhuzhou, Photo by Diana Linay Lopez Ruano

"I am sorry, I can't come.  I am stuck" was what I was able to hear over the noise of the restaurant.  It wasn't until later that night that I was able to understand what exactly that meant.  Although sitting in the teacher's office between my classes, they were all discussing the protests.  Chris helped translate some of what they were saying.  Apparently a car had been set on fire by Carrefour for being Japanese.  Then I went into class number 1.  I was teaching a lesson on "What do you want?"  "Why should you get it?"  A lesson geared towards having them tell me why they deserve to do something.  When I invited students up to the board to write what they wanted I got some cute answers.  "I want an iPhone 5," "I want to get married," and "I want to play DOTA."  But I also got some interesting answers from students.  "I want the Diaoyu Islands."  "I want to kick the Japanese president's ass."  I was surprised and totally unprepared for this.  I handled it badly, and had them practice saying them but didn't even ask them to justify why they wanted it.  But after that, I hopped in a cab and headed to dinner with Teresa and Becky.  We saw no signs of protests, but did smell smoke when we passed Carrefour.

Changsha, Photo by Phil LePoidevin

After dinner we were going to head over to the West side of Changsha and meet up with a friend of Teresa's.  This friend was afraid for her car, which was a japanese car.  Her friend's car had been flipped apparently.  So we went to the south end of Buxingjie.  I saw no signs of the protests as I relaxed and got my frozen yogurt!!  Then we went to get a massage, our masseurs asked us (of course) "Ni shi nali ren?" (What nationality are you?).  We responded "American."  They then commented to each other, "Good thing they are not Japanese."  Then we went to Mr. Beer, to have a beer.  We met up with one of my friends who had to miss lunch.  It turns out he was actually stuck in his building.  Protesters were clashing with police who were trying to contain some of the violence that had broken out.  He had amazing photos from up in his building.

This morning things have returned to normal, Pinghetang was looted.  Cars were flipped, schools are making students go to class to keep them from any further unrest.  Whether this will have an impact outside of China remains to be seen.

Zhuzhou: Photo by Diana Linay Lopez Ruano

Drinking in China

Drinking in China is very different than in the states.  In the states friends can go out grab a drink, drink it and catch up.  In China drinking is all business.  Friends will go out and drink, but only in the form of drinking games that cause people to drink waaay beyond their ability.  The most common source of drinking is a business dinner, wedding party, or banquet.  People will cheers a table, or an individual person.  First the host will propose a toast to the tables, all the ones that are there.  Then the guests will toast their host, either one at a time or a whole table at a time.  You can see where it is easy to get very smashed very quickly.

The most striking part of this drinking culture is how early they learn it.  At this particular dinner, I was sitting with the teachers and officials of the international department.  My friends son, was already well versed in making toasts.  He is 8 years old now.  He had his glass of pepsi and was cheers with everyone else.  The one thing I will say is if you are a woman, it is much easier to get away with drinking juice or tea instead of alcohol.  But then the students came in with beer, juice, and pepsi and began to toast their teachers!  In the USA this is unacceptable, these students are 15, 16, 17.  It was interesting to see the teachers reactions, or lack their of.

Drinking in China can be very fun, but is a completely different animal than in the states.

New A/C

Well my new A/C has arrived.  Three young chinese guys came in.  One carried a huge heavy box with the new A/C in it.  I gasps and said "so strong".  I think if this guy would have blushed, he looked really taken aback.  Oops cultural differences anyways.  Words cannot describe how they fixed my A/C so enjoy some pictures.  PS:  I live on the 5th floor!!

Chinese Tests of Patience and Persistence

I have been in China for a week now.  This week has been one of the most physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining weeks I have experienced in a while.  Friday, my ankle was hurting, but I dutifully ignored it and continued off having fun.  Saturday it hurt a bit more, so I got some ice.  That didn't really work and I was limping like an idiot.  Sunday I limped into Ayi's tea shop, and she asked "Did the ice help you ankle."  I shook my head pathetically and she looked at my ankle and immediately said "You have to go to the hospital."  I don't really blame her and really must thank her.  My foot was super swollen.  So Becky took me to the hospital that afternoon.

As you may or may not remember the hospital is like a giant mall.  You show up, go to one kiosk to register and pay, then go to see the doctor, then he writes instructions and you go pay for all the procedures then have to go find where you get all the procedures done.  Simple right?  Well you are wrong.  Even without the language barrier the hospital procedure is confusing and ridiculous.  4 and half hours later, I had seen a doctor, been prescribed a medicine that wasn't in the pharmacy in the outpatient side of the hospital, gone to the emergency side, been sent back, gone back to the emergency side, registered, bought medicine, carried it upstairs got an allergy test done, gone back downstairs paid.  Finally, after arriving at the hospital at 2, at 6:00 I was sitting in an iv room having some sort of medication pumped into my veins.  An Iv room is exactly what it sounds like.  A bunch of chairs that have a place to hang your IV, and everyone sitting in one room.  The nurses wheel in and out, bringing medication and sticking needles in people.  The guy sitting next to me had to get a shot in his butt, in a room full of people.  Privacy is a thing of the past, I thought as I let the guy next to me read my hospital book.

Monday, I had to cancel my classes to go get a blood test that I couldn't get on Sunday.  Then I had to do something else, but I had no idea.  Luckily, Simona, who is wonderful, came to the rescue.  Speaking Chinese and getting me my medication so I could get not one but two IV's a day.  After 2 hours I was leaving the hospital, heading to Yi Zhong's infirmary to get my injections done.  I arrived in the infirmary and was told they couldn't do it.  All the stress and anger and frustration started to pour out of my eyes.  I looked at the horrified nurses and couldn't help starting to sob.  I sobbed out "Buhaoyisi"  I am sorry/I am embarrassed.  They immediately pulled out their cellphones and called Sunny.  Then in Chinese they told me Huang Laoshi was coming, I nodded trying to stop crying.

End of the story: Sunny to the rescue!  She took me to the hospital just down the street, not as nice as Xiangya, and set up my injections for the next week.  Chris my new sitemate came and sat with me as I got my first injection of several.

  Then that afternoon I went with Papaya back to the hospital to get my bloodtest results, and have her translate between the doctor and I.

Diagnosis:  I have an infection in the lymphnodes of my foot/ankle.  They have me on antibiotics, and made me get an allergy test cause I have an allergy to penicillin.  So now I have to do this for a week and see what happens!

Result:  Thank you Ayi, Becky, Simona, Sunny, and Papaya.  And I realize now how important good friends and good people are no matter what country you are in.

1st Graders

China has tested me, and found me strong!  As a treat, today I was able to teach 4 of my new 5th grade classes!  They were all adorable and loved my stupid games!  I also saw many of my old 5th grade students, who are now 6th graders.  They are all about 6inches to a foot taller!!!  I ran into many of my old 6th graders who were coming home from military training.  Also had a student ask me:

"Are you a handsome boy, or a beautiful girl?"

As a final thought here are some pictures from my route between 长沙市一中学 and 一师二付小!  (Yi Zhong and my primary school)

Chinese Police and Little Girls

My Usual Breakfast (5 yuan)

After a late night of Tiger Beer, Foosball, and catching up, I wasn't feeling too well.  So I forwent my usual giant bowl of noodles.  I ate a banana, grabbed some yogurt and was given some pink bread.  The label just said it was bread, not sure what kind it was.  I took my yogurt and my bread to the local park, Martyrs Park.  The park was decorated with red signs all over that said something about all people harmoniously using medicine.  There was a stage that had two people talking, I can only assume about the pharmacy that had set this up.  I avoided that and went into the coolness of the trees.  Even at 9am I was dripping sweat down my back.  I sat there and quietly ate my yogurt, watching the old people gathered around the tables.  I listened to the mixing of Erhus and the dance music coming from the stage.  There was a little girl walking around me, slowly creeping closer.  She was carrying a poster advertising a kitchen, she kept hiding behind it.  Eventually she got close enough and I said "Ni hao".  She ran away, and a few seconds later came back and started asking me what I was eating.  "Mianbao (bread)"  Then she put her poster down and started talking to me, and telling me how to say the numbers.  Shortly there after two older women came over and started asking me what I was doing, where I was from and what I did.  They wandered off eventually, and the little girl just said "I am going now" and walked off.  As I walked home smiling to myself I couldn't help but think, this is China.

In contrast I woke up this morning, went to get my usual breakfast and sat down.  I was eating and chatting with an old man, who asked me how much money I made.  He was impressed by the amount, I made.  But as we were chatting two police in uniform came up and started speaking to the owners, the owners took their sign about noodles off the sidewalk outside.  Then the police started talking to the vegetable sellers who were selling their vegetables on tarps.  I kept my head down and ate, the vegetable sellers were slowly packing it up.  When another man walked in carrying a stick, he looked like the guy from Gangam Style mixed with Mao.  He started yelling and waving the stick.  I saw the communist patch on his sleeve. The veggie sales people packed it up and left.  I finished stood up to pay and the owner said to me.  "Tomorrow we will rest, don't come here tomorrow"  I wonder if the two were connected.  As I walked home, I saw all three police officers sitting at the noodle place next door.

Back Again!!!

I am finally back in the Middle Kingdom (China).  This definitely did not hit me until my 2nd day of traveling.  I slept on my way to Chicago, slept on my way to Seattle and watched the movie.  Then in the Seattle airport it started to sink in as I spoke to other waiguoren (foreigners, for those of you who may have forgotten) about why they were traveling there.  The amount of waiguoren who study and live in China is amazing.  They all have their reasons and seem to have a hard time leaving.  That flight was hard, Hainan airlines has no leg room.  But the food and flight was relatively painless, when I arrived I got my first taste of things I hate about China and things I love about China all at once.

First I spoke to a girl who was coming over to teach, she had no better instructions than "get on a bus at the airport to go to your site."  She spoke no Chinese, there was no one to meet her, no one to help her. I did my best, to call the lady and try to get better instructions.  That is so classically Chinese, at the same time here I am being given a hotel room for my 16hr layover in Beijing.  As I was herded along towards the minibus, I felt for the girl.  My desire to punch the lady only grew when she called me again while I was on the way to the hotel to ask me to help the girl get on the right bus.  Why didn't they send someone to wait for her, collect her.  Or give her really explicit directions in Chinese she could show someone.  OH CHINA!

As the minibus careened around corners, and other cars, towards the hotel, I couldn't help but relax.  I was used to this, this felt normal.  I don't know what that means but I am sure it isn't good.  The hotel staff all spoke English, so I wasn't forced to delve deep for my Chinese just yet.  I woke up the next morning went to the airport, still not feeling like it was China.  Then just before I boarded my last flight, a man with wide eyes stared at me and said "Hello!"  I smiled and responded "Hello".  He and the other people sitting all chuckled.  Then it hit me.  Welcome back to the Middle Kingdom!

The first few days of Changsha have been ridiculous.  It has been eating, cleaning, unpacking, sweating, climbing a million stairs, sweating (did I say that twice, yeah because it has been that bad), and seeing old friends.

I no longer have to pay at the convenience store apparently because I brought my favorite guy some american cigarettes.  7 cups of tea has been redone, there is room to sit and they just put Wifi in.  I almost made my Aie cry when I gave her the gifts I had brought from America.  And truly the best memory for the week so far (besides seeing all my friends), is walking to breakfast at 6:40 only to pause and watch the road completely covered in fireworks go off for Zhong Yuan Jie (spirit day).  Then I walked into my noodle place, the owner smiled and started making my usual order.

I love Changsha and look forward to another year of Chinese inconsistencies, travel, food and friends!

QingShuiTang 请水糖

请水糖 Qingshuitang road is where I currently reside.  I have my favorite restaurants, least favorite restaurants, my work (although I won't be working there start may), my friends and the people I don't like.  Let me first start by confessing I don't know any of these peoples names.  So I have just given them monikers for the purpose of talking about them with my foreign friends.  And I have so many!

7 cups of tea staff: Husband, Cutie and Auntie!

First there is 7cups of tea Auntie.  She is so nice, and she puts up with my terrible Chinese.  She talks to me, slowly and helps me understand many other people.  Despite her thick Hunan accent (or should I say Fulan), she is the easiest person for me to understand because she genuinely wants to communicate with me.  She and the other people that work there are extremely nice.  She actually took me and Kirsten to lunch one day!  Needless to say I never feel guilty about getting my 3rd smoothie or milk tea of the day!

Then there is my FCH (future Chinese husband).  He is so nice, but is always joking with me.  He always has a smile and a chunk of betel nut shoved in his cheek.  He is usually holding a cigarette as he doles out change from his change box.  "Hallo" is how he always greats me, then usually adds in a "Ni hao."  He speaks limited Chinese and has a super thick Hunan accent.  He loves to offer me cigarettes and then laugh when I turn it down.  He and I have a special relationship and he loves giving me free ice cream!  Which we all know how much I love ice cream!  His favorite thing to say to me is "I am not well, I haven't seen you lately"  Or at least I think that is what he is saying!

Catch Up Blog: Fenghuang, KTV, Spy Play, and Dubbing

I haven't written in a while since this seems to take me longer and longer to write an entry.  More thought and time then I have felt like putting into this.  But several things have happened that I will at least try to summarize less I forget them!

First, I went to Fenghuang.  Which is one of the sites they say to visit when you go to Hunan.  It was ok.  The overnight train was not as much fun as it sounds.  Although talking to a gentleman who told me I couldn't be American cause I wasn't fat was interesting.  I arrived there after an overnight train and a hour and half long, very bumpy and windy, bus ride.  It was extremely commercial, and the minority that lived there has been reduced to selling trinkets.  The city is no longer truly old, the buildings are built to look like they are old.  There are people everywhere, taking the same pictures at the same place.  The food is expensive, and walking down the streets you see tons and tons of stores selling the same things.  A few things I recommend you try if you go: the ginger candy, the pizza at the soul cafe, and rice with spices they serve around the streets.  The ginger candy is pulled like taffy, by burly men.  They pull it and pull it, working the sugar and ginger together.  I definitely saw a few attractive men pulling sugar, and some cigarette smoking old guys.  But once they finish pulling it, they pull it very thin and break off pieces and let is solidify into a crunchy deliciously spicy candy.  One of the over priced places we ate was the "Soul Cafe"  They had pizza, delicious pizza!  Missing sauce like most Chinese pizza.

It was fun to travel around, you can find reasonable food.  But it takes some looking.  I think that you only need a day to see Fenghuang.  Of course after I returned I found out there was a section of the Great Wall (souther part) not too far from here.  As well as Dehang, which is a Miao village that is being turned into another kitchy tourist site.  The 7 hour train ride home coupled with the 2 hour bus ride to the train station seemed to make my week start out with no energy.

So Monday and Tuesday were the story of me being sleepy and unproductive.  But the trip was worth it.  Monday night I met an American man who was working for the Embassy in Beijing.  He was in Hunan to ask about land issues.  We went to dinner (late) followed by Shaokao.  Delicious tasty bbq veggies and meat, covered in spices that come out of a waterbottle.  It is probably all MSG, and that is why it is delicious.  Matt was interesting, he is doing a year here then going on to learn Arabic and work in the Middle East.  Tuesday, we went to lunch and then went to Yi Zhong and caught a soccer club game versus another school.  Complete with cheerleaders from the other school.  It is still strange to hear how silent the crowds are when watching a game.  No heckling or cheering.

  Wednesday came around, and one of my favorite students, Challenging, had invited me to his show.  Thomas and I showed up and were given seats right up front.  It was all in Chinese, but it was easy to figure out what was going on.  There was a lot of double crossing and shooting.  There were 3 bodies on the stage at the end.  It was bizarre to see the students wearing fancy clothes and out of uniform.  Challenging wasn't in the show, he either wrote the play or directed it.  He wasn't able to say that, and got very flustered trying to tell me what he did.  So I dropped it.

Friday was the first nice day all week, I spent the morning in my 5th grade classes playing games to help them review for their tests.  I figured out why I didn't like one of my fellow teachers.  She pinches the kids and swats them.  It drives me crazy, there are better ways to deal with naughty children.  And these children aren't even that naughty.  But the kids loved the game, and loved the team names I gave them (Rain, Sun, Lightning, Rainbow).  Then I ran to Yi Zhong to catch the dubbing competition.  This is the 2nd dubbing competition, this was was amazing.  Most were in Chinese, but one was in English.  It was Sherlock (The new tv show), they did a good job.  The guy who did Sherlock couldn't quite keep up with the speed of his speech.  But this wasn't just a dubbing competition.  There was a Yo yo show, trick yo yoing.  And a magic show/performance piece by one of the gentlemen who was in the spy play.

I really wish they would let the students have more club days.  They seem to love them so much and they need them.  Speaking of fun things, I have started a new hobby.  Going to the gym and doing Yoga, Belly Dancing and now Pilates.  I am going to try their Zumba class next and maybe Hip Hop!

Marilyne and Papaya!

Finally KTV.  My friend Papaya, got a discount ticket to a KTV place.  We got a room from 2pm until 6:30pm for 40 yuan.  Papaya, Marilyne, Maureen, Jerry ( a friend of Teresa and Papaya's) and another friend of Papayas and I rocked out from 2 until 6:30.  Although only Papaya, Marilyne and I made it the whole time.  We sang everything from "Waka waka" to "Hey Soul Sister" to "Brown Eyed Girl" and several Chinese songs I need to go find.  KTV has recharged me and made me ready for my coming week!  I also finally found what is left of the old wall of the city!!!

Scary Drivers and Mexican Food!!

Drivers in Changsha are crazy.  They really are!  Friday, I watched as my dear friend and boss was nearly run over by a bicycle and then a bus.  We were running for the bus, and a bicyclist came out of no where and smashed into Teresa, she went flying and rolled a bit.  She tucked her feet up and nearly avoided being hit by the bus.  We were both shocked and she was quite hurt by the bike, which was ridden by a teenager.  She proceeded to ream him, quite appropriately.  He was like "i have to go to school."  She replied "You almost killed someone!"

Needless to say this put a bit of a damper on the afternoon, especially since she couldn't laugh due to the bruise that was forming.  But then my friend Garrick got into town.  He came up and smiled and said. "There was an accident in the parking lot"  I shrugged. "Oh ok."  "Someone drove into the plants"  "Oh really... China...  Oh Teresa almost died..."  Then I launched into the above story.  We decided to take a walk in the park due to the lovely lovely spring weather.  We walked out side and this is what I saw.

I was shocked! Needless to say.  And Garrick was like, "i was wondering why you weren't more shocked!  With that we went on to have a fantastic walk, followed by an evening of Mojitos and Mexican food.

Other Waiguoren

The first few months here, I was always excited to see other foreigners.  But now when I see them, there is a moment of "What are you doing here... here in my part of China?"  I am not sure when this shift happened.  I think it happened when I started to see tons of foreigners, and not just regular foreigners.  The foreigners who have Chinese girlfriends they treat like crap, the ones who clearly couldn't get a girlfriend in the states.  This is not to say that all foreigners in China are like that.  My fellow volunteers clearly don't fit into this group!  All my foreign friends do not fit into this group.

But as I may or may not have mentioned, I have become friends with the International Department teachers and students.  I was thrilled when I was invited to go to dinner in the country for a student's birthday party.  The whole department, teachers and students, went to this student's family's villa.  It was amazing!  Huge!  All the houses in that area screamed money, and were based off western designs.  Terrible for the rain though, slippery ass stairs on a rainy day.  They had tons of Shaokao (BBQ) for us to BBQ.  The students went crazy and cooking my own food quickly became impossible.  But if I hung around the students who were having more fun cooking than eating would give me food.  The parents immediately supplied the two foreign teachers, Nick and Lawrence, and me with cognac.  Very pleasant cognac.  The students went crazy 'toasting' Lawrence with Budwisers (expensive imported beer) that has materialized.  Lawrence was mostly saying no, but drinking a bit.
*Sidebar about drinking in China.  It is not really socially acceptable to just drink, people toast each other or play games*
Soon enough though both teachers were smashed, embarrassingly smashed.  I was mortified listening to them howl the Beatles and putting their arms around everyone.  Everyone else was just calmly watching and chuckling shaking their heads.  How do you not feel like Chinese people judge you based on the few drunken foreigners?

Liao and a student!

The evening was fun, the ride home with Liao was interesting.  He was quite drunk, sitting in the back seat with me.  Trying to get me to come work for his department next year.  Nice guy, I don't think I could cut it!  Too much work.  As he himself said "Right now you are free."

Sea Moon Water Palace

Women's day is celebrated all over the world, and in China.  The day is celebrated by giving some women a half day of work, and people buy flowers and presents for the women in their lives!  I am all for celebrating mothers, but how about those of us who don't have children or don't want them!  So my primary school invited me to a "Water Palace."  I said "Of course!"  Lucy was excited, and her excitement was infectious.  The next day I met her and we walked to the "Sea Moon Water Palace."  It was a fancy spa, after 3 attempts I finally got some sandals that fit.  Then we walked into ladies room, a big sign that said "Males Stop" in English was proudly displayed.  We went to our lockers and changed out of our clothes.  It wouldn't have been so awkward if the other teachers were trying to hide their bodies.  I shrugged and went with it.  There were showers, two giant baths with TVs playing soap operas.  One had water massage in it, beds with jets that you could turn on.  Then there was a sauna and a steam room.  Both with windows so you could watch TV!

"Do you want to have a hot towel massage?"  Asked Lucy with a smile, I looked confused so she immediately said the Chinese phrase of "You can have a try." This is what my dear friend Lucy says to me every time I look apprehensive about something.  So I get led to a massage table, the lady puts down saran wrap and tosses water over the table.  Then gestures for me to shed my towel and lay down.  I do so and she tosses water over me, opens a towel from a bag.  And starts to scrub the shit out of me, then I realize she is ripping all of my skin off.  With a hard scrubby towel!!  It hurt, and made me giggle, then made me really uncomfortable as I saw the rolls of dead skin accumulating on my arms and legs.  Then I got to flip over, and man, she did everything.  I felt like she had just rubbed off all my skin.  Which of course she had.  Then a shower and then into some pajamas.  XXL (and they were still a little small)  It was too early for dinner, so we went up to the 3rd floor.

The 3rd floor had low lighting and rows and rows of comfy chairs.  There were personal TVs for each individual chair. But Lucy and I chose to chat and eat watermelon.  Our conversation flew over all the place, talking about mothers and daughters.  And my teaching and my plans for the future.  Then to a buffet it was terrible... then home.  I was finally warm.

Cross Cultural Exchange

Little did I know how much I would enjoy today!  Today has been a very eye opening experience.  I went along with about 10 high school students from New York.  As they came into a class in Yi Zhong for a good cross cultural exchange.  Be prepared, parts of this had me hiding my face trying to avoid the train wreck.  Other parts were priceless.  But one thing is it put into sharp relief how immature Chinese students are by American standards.  Standing in front of these students the American students looked so mature, but they were all about a year younger than the Chinese Students.

The first minutes when the students walked up, I heard very clearly "black people" and the class erupted into laughter.  I wanted to hit my head against a wall.  But a moment to discuss Chinese people's perceptions of black people.  They are extremely racist, but not from a stand point of hate.  Their entire understanding of Western culture comes from movies and tv shows.  Then think about how they are portrayed, and how few black foreigners come to China.  The more that come, the less racist future generations will be.

But anyways, so the Americans were nervous and mumbling.  Which made it difficult for the students to understand.  They asked each other questions, some were interesting.  Some were awkward "Are you a boy or a girl?" was pretty awkward.  The Chinese students went crazy when someone asked "are you allowed to date?"  And two of the American students cozy-ed up to each other and said yes.  It was chaos.  It was hilarious.  There was also an awkward moment where a student was asking about basketball, directing it at the black student.  But overall a good exchange.

Laos Encounters

I want to back track and talk about an interesting person I met.  I was walking around the COPE center and learning about UXO's(Un-Exploded Ordinances) and what it is that COPE does.  If you don't know you should look it up.  It is a center that gives prosthetic legs and arms to victims of UXO's.  While I was walking around I couldn't help but hear the beach boys being played from a computer.  A western man was introducing a young Lao man to the Beach Boys.  It was my song "California Girls."  So I clearly had to go over and say hello.  As I walked up I became aware that the Lao man did not have hands, and was blind.  I introduced myself and hung out while they played music.  Then I wandered off to give them time alone.  Then I went back and talked to this man.

His name was Peter Kim, he is my brother's age.  I felt like I had been kicked in the chest when I thought of that.  What if something like this happened to my brother?  What if I lived in a country where my brother wasn't safe walking around, what if he could come across unexploded bombs?  How would that change how I live my life?  Peter seemed pretty optimistic about his life.  He was a break dancer.  He showed me a clip, and then teased me that I didn't believe him.  Which I totally did.  Now as I sit here remembering him, I am sad that I copied his e-mail down incorrectly.  I wish I could wish him happy birthday.  If by some reason he managed to find this, Happy Late Birthday man!  You changed my life!

Scary times in Changsha

I have learned a valuable less, that I never want to forget.  Chinese people are not all smiles, they never let their aggression out.  So when they get drunk sometimes they are mean.  And over the top.

Teresa and I had gone over to Jerreau's house.  We were sitting and there was a knock on the door.  We were expecting more people.  So he opened the door and saw 3 random Chinese people.  He was afraid they might try something, he didn't know them so he shut the door.  Jerreau has two doors, an outer "Steel" door that has bars and a lighter inner door.  So he opened the inner door and shut it.  The men started yelling and beating against the door.  They were kicking the steel door.  We were panicking and Teresa called the police, as Jerreau called his liaison to call the front desk.  The men broke the lock off the steel door and bent 3 of the bars.  Then they wandered off.

Michaela knocked on the door shortly there after, after securing who it was we ushered her in.  She said she saw three drunk chinese guys.  Then the police came and did a report, and said they would block the doors downstairs so the guys couldn't leave.  It was an unsettling evening.  We will see what happens.  Jerreau gets a new steel door tomorrow, hopefully one that is more solid!

Laos: All in Due Time

Fishing the Mekong (Vientiane, Laos) (mine Copyright me)

Things in Laos move at their own pace.  You can't rush them, there is no reason to get frustrated.  Life just is.  Take it or leave it.  Laos hasn't been corrupted by over-tourism.  But it is well on it's way.  There are many beautiful stops, I was only able to stop at two of them.  Vientiane, the capital, and Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Both I highly recommend.  Laos is the perfect place to relax.  Assuming you miss Vang Vieng.

I took the overnight train from Bangkok to Nong Kai.  That was fairly pleasant, there was a bed.  It never really got dark, which was ok because my tummy was unhappy with me!  We arrived in the morning.  I hopped on a tuk tuk with two travelers.  60 baht total to the friendship bridge.  He tried to drop us off at a place that did Visa's.  I said. "No thank you, we want to go to the bridge."  And he took us there, a bit grudgingly.  20 baht later I was across the Mekong and at the border. $36 dollars later and a swanky pink visa was stamped in my passport.  I went through with two teacher who lived in Vientiane.  They negotiated our price, we took a Song-Theay (sp?). 

Which is basically a truck with a covered back that is high enough to allow people to sit.  They put two benches in and call it public transport.  Then I was in Vientiane, being harrased by tuk-tuk drivers.  I followed the directions given to me.  Paused to take a picture of something and was yelled at by someone in uniform.  (Turns out the US embassy was right there, oops).  I kept walking, stopped for breakfast.  Fruit smoothie, baguette with butter and jam, hot tea.  I was so happy and surprised how well the woman spoke English.  I then walked around looking for a hostel or guest house.  I was told 200,000 kip at one place (Which is $25).  I kept walking and headed to a place recommend in the lonely planet.  Their prices were off, their book is 2 years old and was pretty much off.  50,000 kipp (about $6) for a dorm room.  The priciest I have paid yet, but the beds were warm, clean, and had a top and bottom sheet!  I could see 3 temples from the window.  I was down the block from the park pictured above.  The park was right on the Mekong.  Watching sunset there was so peaceful.  Watching the locals walk around, do aerobics in the park, children playing and riding bicycles.  Everything is so relaxed.  There was a night market but I avoided it.  The "Lady, you buy" of the Cambodians still ringing in my ears.  But later when I shopped, I found the Lao people to be much more willing to let you browse at your leisure.  I walked around, went swimming and read the first day.  I visited the "arc of triumph" for Vientiane, the famous Wat.  Although in the beginning of my trip I eagerly sought out wats, I now found that I was tired of them.  They all look the same after a while.  Then back to the hostel, where I played cards with 4 Australians.  I taught them hearts, they taught me drinking games.  We played with many people, and they went off to continue drinking and causing problems.  The law against gathering past 11:30pm definitely made the hostel quiet.  Later that 2nd night, as I packed to head to Vang Vieng.  I met my roommates and we talked.  Then, I broke out in a fever.  I shivered all night, canceled my bus the next day.  The guest house was trying to get me to change it so I wouldn't lose the money.  Something about my feverish look must have convinced them to drop it.  There is something about a fever in a tropical area that makes me really, really nervous!  After feeling sorry for myself I went to the doctor, and was seen quickly.  The English was amazing.  Better than in Changsha.  (I did go to the international clinic to be fair.)  They weren't concerned it was Dengue or Malaria.  It was just food poisoning.  Probably from the street bought Lap I ate.  Lap being a meat salad with spices, mint and cilantro (delicious although I will never be able to eat it again).  So I stayed two extra days and relaxed.  Vientiane is perfect for relaxing!  So a few days later I flew to Luang Prabang.  Skipping over Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng's claim to fame is being a place to party, get drunk, do drugs and tube.  Tubing is where you rent a tube, get some alcohol and float down the river.  Many people die there from mixing alcohol and tubing or from trying the dangerous rope swings and jumps.  A man had died only 2 days prior to my canceling of my trip.  Tales of the buses whipping around on these bumpy jungle roads.  The man who said his mini-bus hit a scooter cemented in my mind that maybe I didn't want to bus it.  Also when you travel in Laos 6 hours could mean 12.  Plan accordingly!!  But my flight from Vientiane to Luang Prabang was cushy.  I was sweating when I saw the puddle jumper with propellers.  But that left to some place I have never heard of and a sweet giant Air bus pulled up.  The flight was 20 minutes.  But they gave us chips, water and I had more leg room than first class on Air Asia!

Luang Prabang was beautiful!  The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is tourist heavy.  ATMs, Guest Houses and Travel Agents are everywhere.  The beautiful palace turned into the National Museum was wonderful.  It was simple for a king, the size of a large house.  But the throne room was decked out with red walls, with mirror mosaic designs.  I was unable to take photos inside the museum but it was beautiful.

A temple in Luang Prabang (similar to the Throne room)

I stayed at the SpicyLao the first night, and left the next day.  Paying 60,000 at a guest house for my own room and the quiet that comes with it.  It was fantastic.  My favorite part was the waterfall I visited.  It was a pleasant climb and a pleasant swim.  I will return there some day to eat my weight in French Pastries!  But one morning I woke up and there was no power for the entire city.  Did this slow down the city.  Nope.. they kept moving along in easy Lao time.