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2010 China Travels: Part IV – Beijing, Guilin, & Yangshuo

// April 21st, 2011 // No Comments » // China, Chinese, Dancing, Taiwan, Travel, Uncategorized

Wow, considering I wrote Part III back in November 2010, I’d say it’s about time to finish writing about my 2010 China travels! I was doing well keeping up with it all, but then classes started in Taiwan and things got busy (read my last post if you want to know what kept me so busy in Taiwan). So now I’ll take the time to finish what I started. Where I left the story last, it was Halloween and I had just landed in Beijing.

Beijing

I spent 4 days in Beijing, and while I was originally not planning on making a stop there, one thing changed my mind: The Cangelosi Cards. One of my favorite jazz bands of all time, it just so happened that the Cards were in town that weekend and were getting ready to play two shows back to back in Beijing. Since the last time I saw them was in Virginia Beach back in 2007, I decided I couldn’t miss it.

Tianjin Eye

The first day in Beijing, I joined in the Rocky Horror Picture Show party being put on by Beijing Swing, which was a riot to say the least! The next day was the Cards’ first show, and as soon as I entered the venue I ran into Tamar, the singer, who instantly recognized me. I couldn’t believe it, but she remembered seeing me the last time in VA Beach, because at that time we had talked about how I had just started learning Chinese. Here I am 3 years later and we meet in Beijing! The rest of the night was incredible, dancing away to their music till late in the morning.

The following day we did it again, and this time even better! The Cards gave an epic performance, and some of the dancers performed some routines live to the music. It was two of the best nights of dancing in a row that I’d had in a long time! The next day I headed to Tianjin to visit for a day and met with some professors at Tianjin University who showed me around the city. At the time I was considering working with them come spring of 2011 (though I ended up working in Beijing where I am now). I found Tianjin to be an extremely beautiful city, one very different from others I’ve visited, and it seemed a lot less crowded. It seemed like a city I could enjoy living in for a while.

Guilin

Guilin

I left Beijing in the morning, but my flight to Guilin was booked from Shanghai, so I spent one more night in Shanghai surprising all my dancer friends when I showed up. I flew into Guilin airport on November 5th and took a bus to the middle of the city where I went to Guanxi Normal University to meet with my buddy Robert’s girlfriend who was letting me spend the night while he was out of town. Robert and his brother run a school there, the Chinese Language Institute, and showed me around. I have to say I am very impressed with the program they have set up, and if I had the time I would considering studying there myself. I explored a tiny bit then crashed and prepared to visit Yangshuo in the morning.

Yangshuo

On the Li River

In the morning I went down to Yangshuo along with some of the CLI students, accompanying them on a field trip. We rode motor boats down the Li River marveling at the Karsts, then hiked through the small town of Xiping on our way to Yangshuo. We arrived in the evening, dropped our bags, and headed to a grand theater built on a lake where we saw Zhang Yimou’s famous show “Impression” (刘三姐). It was quite a fantastic sight to see, as most of the performance was done on small boats on the water. The choreography was breathtakingly complex and timed to a perfection that can only be achieved in China.

Climbing the Wineglass

The next day we rented bikes and rode around all over town seeing the many beautiful sites Yangshuo had to offer, including a famous mud cave where half the students stripped to their bathing suits and jumped in the mud. I opted to chill in the hot springs myself instead of freezing mud! Later that day, the students all went back to Guilin, but I decided to stay for one more day so I could do some rock climbing. I found a small climbing store, “Black Rock Climbing,” and booked a day with a couple Norwegian girls also looking to climb. In the morning, our guide, Weihua, brought us out to a cliff face called Wineglass and showed us the ropes. We spent the whole morning climbing, and in only a few hours we were pretty beat. It was an incredible experience though, because as you climb higher and higher you can see a remarkable view of the hundreds of karsts surrounding you. I now understand why the whole world talks about Yangshuo as a mecca for climbers.

On top of Moon Hill

Moon Hill

In the evening I headed over to Moon Hill mountain, famous for the huge hole in the middle, which was also full of climbers. I hiked past the “warning don’t go here” signs and got all the way to to top, where I caught an unforgettable sunset amongst the karsts. Later that night, I went over to The Giggling Tree hostel, a place I had heard of the very first time I visited China and had been wanting to see for years. It is a small place owned and run by a Dutch couple who bought the land and converted 17 different farm houses into a hostel. It is on the outskirts of Yangshuo in the middle of farms, and by far one of the most unique hostels in the world. It was also one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed at in China, and quite affordable for a dorm room (only 50 RMB a night!). A night at The Giggling Tree was the perfect end to my 2010 backpacking adventures in China.

The Giggling Tree

I headed back to Guilin and hopped on my 20 hour train back to Shanghai, and while everything started nicely, things took an unfortunate turn for the worse. About 10 hours in, I got horribly sick…vomiting sick. Throwing up on a Chinese train for 10 hours has got to be one of the worst physical challenges I’ve endured in my life…and things only got worse. When I arrived in Shanghai, I at least had a day to recover at Bruce and Julia’s before boarding my flight for Taipei in the morning. In the morning, with nearly no strength left in my body, I managed to make it to the airport, only to find my flight had been delayed 3 hours. We boarded the plane, and waited another 2 hours before even taking off. By the time I landed in Xiamen, my connection to Taipei had left, and I was stuck for the night, sick, weak, and frustrated. Luckily I still had one extra day on my visa, and the airport put me up in a nice hotel. All in all it took an entire 24 hours until I got back on a plane for Taipei. When I landed, I was extremely relieved to find JC and Mindy waiting on me in the airport, and my Taiwan adventure began.

While it was a rough last 2 days traveling from Shanghai to Taipei, the previous month was full of incredible experiences and moments I will cherish forever. I had danced for 9 days in Shanghai and visited Hangzhou, Huangshan, Nanjing, Beijing, Guilin, and Yangshuo. I experienced so much in such little time I had to write about it in 4 parts, and didn’t finish it until now, 4 months afterwards! When I look back at the time I spent, I realize how lucky I am to have been able to see so many amazing places in this world, and it makes me very thankful to have had these experiences.

Taipei First Impressions

// November 19th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Taiwan, Travel, Uncategorized

I have now been living in Taipei for exactly one week.  Of the few observations and experiences I have thus far encountered, a few have stood out and left a notable impression.

1.  Taiwan is “nice”

…or maybe I should say, “nicer” than mainland China.  When I lived in China, nearly everyone I knew who had been to Taiwan always used the same phrasing to describe it.  It was always, “oh you’ll love it – it’s much nicer there.”  I never knew what they meant, but after one week it is quite clear.  In general, things seem a bit cleaner here and better kept, but it’s not the physical setting that makes it nicer–it’s the whole culture of the city.  Here are a few examples:

• Cars don’t continuously honk their horns (in fact, they rarely use them at all, like in the States).
• People are more polite.  They don’t shove in a crowd, and they actually cue up for things!!!  Getting on the metro is such a pleasure compared to China.  Here, they follow the international convention of standing aside while people get off the train, and then in single file fashion getting on, even during rush hour (proof that it can be done, so the whole “there’s too many people” argument in mainland just got ousted).  If someone does bump me, they often will politely say sorry, and if I ask for directions they will gladly help and sometimes even walk me there if it’s nearby!
• People smoke politely.  Yes, there is a polite and impolite way to smoke.  Polite is to actually obey the no smoking signs everywhere, and even if there is no sign to perhaps step outside if you are in a crowd or public area.  In mainland, people smoke wherever they are whenever they feel like, regardless of any signs, restrictions, or other people (I’ve seen students light up in the classroom before!).  It’s really nice to not have all my clothes smell like cigarette smoke all the time for a change.
• People say thank you.  In mainland, it took a long time to adjust to not saying thank you, and in many ways I never got used to it.  Often times, especially in service-related circumstances (such as waiter-to-customer in a restaurant), you never say thank you.  You just take your food, and then try and look for something to complain about.  I always felt so bad for waiters or people in any service job in mainland China because they get treated so poorly.  In Taiwan, it’s like the States – you say thanks, and it’s nice.

2. Language Adjustments

There is of course the obvious problem:  mainland uses simplified characters, Taiwan used traditional.  I didn’t think it would be too big a problem, and so far it really hasn’t been, but I can tell once classes get going it is going to be difficult to read and write at a normal pace.  I’ve been preparing by studying a dictionary, and it has helped a lot so far, so that will come with time.

The harder thing I’ve run into thus far is all the different vocabulary.  I find it to be remarkably like the differences between the States and England/Australia.  We say “trash can,” and they say “rubbish bin,” and if you studied English in one place and went to the other, you would sound funny to the locals (but they would still know what you meant).  It’s just like that here (in fact, both places use entirely different words for “trash can” as well).  Other completely different words: “subway” (like metro vs. underground), “bicycle,” and “landlord.”  Many common day nouns are called different names, so I am having to adjust a lot of vocabulary to sound more normal.

3. Weather

It rains. Everyday. Always. And not like Florida rain where it comes and goes in and hour – it’s been raining for one entire week now.

4. Kings of the City:

Transportation King:  Scooter.

Gas-powered scooters are everywhere in the city!  I’ve never seen anything like it.  At red lights, they all scoot (no pun intended) past cars to get to the front, and when it turns green a symphony of buzzing is released into the air like a thousand weed-wackers harmoniously cutting grass.  At times there are hundreds waiting at the lights, and the streets are lined as far as the eye can see with parked scooters.

Convenience Store King: 7-Eleven

7-Eleven: Taipei King of Convenience Stores

Go figure, 7-Eleven has conquered yet another territory in the name of “convenience,” but this time they truly stand by the word. Besides the fact that at any moment a 7-Eleven is probably within a half-kilometer radius, 7-Elevens here are literally your everything one-stop shop.  You buy your phone card there.  You get cash there.  You get food there.  You even pay your bills there!  You just hand them the bill with cash and they give you a receipt and boom!–bills paid.  I’m telling you, if someday I’m married and living here and my wife is pregnant, I know where I’m going when the baby is due.

I’m sure there is much more to the city, the people, and the culture here, but these observations and experiences will always remain my first impressions.  They’re quite different from those of mainland China (and much more positive), but perhaps that’s because I lived in mainland first.  I can’t help but wonder how people who’ve never been to mainland China experience Taiwan?

2010 China Travels: Part I – Hangzhou

// November 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

After a 9-day dancing streak in Shanghai, I began yet another travel adventure through China.  This time I spent 20 days visiting many places I have wanted to see for a long time, mostly in south/southeast China.  The map below shows the path I took:

Clearly I didn’t plan the most logistically logical route, but in retrospect I wouldn’t have done it any other way. The trip took on a path of it’s own, and I was just along for the ride. In addition, while I encountered countless once in a lifetime experiences over the past 20 days, I also had to use a lot of Chinese to do it – much needed practice before starting this winter semester at National Taiwan University. For Part I, I will write about my experiences from the first leg of the trip: Hangzhou.

On Saturday, October 23, 2010, I boarded a train from Shanghai to Hangzhou, a comfortable 2-hour ride next to a lovely older Chinese couple who were very eager to speak with the young laowai (foreigner) who could speak Chinese sitting next to them. While the train was great, the weather unfortunately disagreed, because at that exact moment Typhoon Megi was passing through southern China after pummeling Taiwan. A few hours later I was at the hostel talking with the receptionist about what to do in Hangzhou when, to my surprise, the same older couple from the train walked in! I could not believe the odds that in all of the hotels and hostels in Hangzhou we had booked the same one. We chatted a bit more, and then I went back to my room where I met a Chinese student who was getting ready to go out.

He was headed to a rock concert (turns out I apparently picked the weekend of the biggest rock music festival in Hangzhou, and nearly every Chinese person in the hostel was there for the show). I went with him, but when I got there the tickets were too expensive, and I really didn’t feel like standing in the rain the rest of the day, so I went back to the hostel where I met an English girl names Laura Dykes who was on a year-long trip through Asia and an interesting young Chinese guy who spoke really good English with a British accent (he was studying English literature…go figure). After getting dinner together, we spent the rest of the night planning much of our trips. I had heard from my friend Leru in Beijing that the [Cangelosi Cards] (one of my all-time favorite bands from NYC) were coming to Beijing, so I decided right then to add Beijing to my list of destinations.
In the morning, I met an American from LA named Will Vanderwyden who was on his own trip through Asia, so we ventured to the Leifeng Pagoda together by Hangzhou’s famous West Lake. It was still raining, but I managed to get a few decent photos from the top of the pagoda. Everyone told me I was lucky, because they say the West Lake is more beautiful in the rain and fog, but I’m not so sure I agree. Maybe next time I’m there I’ll get a good comparison. We walked around the lake and had a nice talk about China from both of our perspectives. Will had only been in the country just a little while, so it was interesting to hear his first experiences – very similar to those I had 2 years ago in Dalian.

After a while, I split off and checked out of the hostel to catch the worst public bus experience I’ve had in China. I had to get to the bus station at the complete opposite end of town, and what should have been a 30 minute ride ended up taking nearly 2 hours through rush hour. I couldn’t have picked a worse time to leave the hostel, and it didn’t help that it was still raining. I finally got to the bus station and took a 2-hour bus to Huangshan. Will was on his way there too, but not for another day. Overall, while my time in Hangzhou was very short and the weather was terrible, I could see why people all over China acclaim Hangzhou for its beauty. Besides the rush hour madness (which is basically inexactable in China), Hangzhou seemed like a much more relaxed and friendly city, and I wished I had more time to explore it. That night I arrived in Tunxi, the closest town next to Huangshan, and went straight to the hostel where I began the second part of my trip.

Swing Out Shanghai & The Shanghai World Expo

// November 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // China, Chinese, Dancing, Shanghai, Shanghai, Travel, Uncategorized

Currently writing from Yangshuo, one of the most unique and beautiful little towns in all of southern China. This is the first time I’ve had a chance to write since leaving Shanghai two and a half weeks ago. I’ve now been back in China for 3 weeks, so I thought I would sit down and reflect a little my first week back since leaving in August of 2009.

I landed in Shanghai on October 13, 2010, around 1:30 pm Beijing time and proceeded to have the absolute smoothest travel experience of my life. I honestly couldn’t believe how well things went – my bad even came up just as I walked up to the baggage pick up. I got through customs with almost no wait, picked up a SIM card in the airport, called my friends Bruce and Julia who were hosting me in Shanghai, and hopped on the metro to their place. Everything seemed so familiar this time, and despite a year of living in the States, I immediately jumped back into Chinese. Bruce and Julia were a big part of that smooth transition too, because in addition to providing a very comfortable setting to get over the jet lag, they were great company and overwhelmingly helpful in every way. 5 stars to L’hotel Julia!

The very next night, I went dancing at the Melting Pot, and there is simply no better way to get over jet lag than to stay up late dancing with old friends who I haven’t seen in over a year! It was a huge reunion for me, and it began an unforgettable 9-day dancing streak. The next night (Friday) officially began “Swing Out Shanghai,” the city’s first ever international swing dancing event. Two years before in a bar in Hong Kong, the idea for the event was first hatched, and two years later it finally came to fruition.  For the next two days, it was non-stop dancing in Shanghai.  The opening dance was at C’est La Vie restaurant, followed by Saturday afternoon at Hengshan Park in the French Concession, then later that day at the Music Hall Court, then that night at the House of Blues and Jazz, and then finally the last dance at the Melting Pot Sunday night.  Friends from Beijing, Singapore, and Taiwan all came to the event which doubled our numbers and really made it a full blown lindy exchange.

As the chief DJ and music coordinator for the event, I was in charge of keeping the dance floor full, and my team of DJs really pulled through throughout the whole weekend (huge thanks to Akiko, Sam, Brian, and Chad).  The event ended, but then Monday night we were dancing again at the usual Monday night dances in Shanghai, so it sort of just kept going…and going, and going, and going, and…

…and then the Shanghai Expo performances began, called “Swing For All”featuring the Hong Kong Big Band.  It was Hong Kong week atthe Bao Steel stage, so the week was dedicated to a multitude of Hong Kong performers, which included the band and us, the dancers.  The band gave two performances on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.  Throughout the show, the dancers social danced down in front of the stage to the music, and a select few gave a few special choreographed performances as well.  At the very end, we did a jam to “Sing Sing Sing,” and the very last performance the crowd rushed the stage and cheered and clapped along with us.  It was by far the most fun I’ve ever had during a dance performance, and one of the most unique dance performances of my life as well.  I was so proud of all of the dancers and musicians there and so happy to share a small piece of the happiness we all experience when we are dancing with the local Chinese people.  Photos and videos of both SOS and Swing for All can be seen here.

So then it was Thursday, and once again we danced at the weekly Thursday night dances (day #8 of dancing if you’ve been counting).  And then it was Friday, and a few Shanghai dancer friends and I decided to visit the Shanghai World Expo.  After all, we all had our VIP “performer” passes that were still good, so we figured we should make use of them and try and get into as many country pavilions as we could.  In order, we went into USA, Peru, Columbia, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, Germany, and finally Spain.  The whole thing was quite arbitrary – we just started walking and asking who would let us in as VIP (only Chile denied us…freakin stiff Chilean door guard).  Over all, I was so glad we did not have to wait to get into any of the pavilion, because none of them were worth more than 30 minutes.  Some were better than others (Germany, Canada, Spain), but in general there wasn’t much to see or do that was truly amazing.  It was kind of like a lousier version of Epcot without rides.  The most fun we had was when Akiko and I crashed the Argentina pavilion by totally faking some Argentine Tango (see video below).  Right in the middle there was a large open space, so when they started playing tango music we started doing really smooth swing, and kind of pulled off a tango-esque feel.  By the end, hundreds of Chinese had circled us, snapping photos right and left.  They all seemed to think we were part of the show (in fact one of the actual Argentina workers asked us afterwards what style of tango it was because had never seen it before!).  We finished the night by crashing an outdoor concert at the Australian pavilion as well where we danced right up in front of the stage.

After it all, I headed back to Bruce and Julia’s then caught a train to Hangzhou first thing Saturday morning and began my 3-week trip backpacking through China, which I am just now finishing up.  It has been quite an adventure, and there will be a massive amount of writing, photos, and videos to come soon.  I leave for Shanghai tonight and then fly to Taipei Thursday to begin my studies there for the winter.  Still, it is only just now hitting me how significant the whole first week of dancing in Shanghai was historically.  It was the first of its kind, and hopefully the beginning of much more to come.  Maybe fifty years from now people will look back at the origins of swing dancing in China and write about us!  Heck, we even made the LOCAL NEWS!

Montana Summer & China Plans

// August 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // China, Chinese, Dancing, Travel, Uncategorized

Wow the summer is going by fast! I cannot believe that I took my big road trip to Montreal 2 months ago! I guess I’ve just been having such a good summer I never realized that it is almost over. Since returning from my road trip to Montreal, I have spent the majority of my time working near Livingston, Montana, as an off-road driving instructor driving and working on H1 Hummers. It is not the job I would have ever guessed I would be working after graduation, but it has been the most fun and well-paying job I have had. The job itself is already pretty great – I’m outside all day, I work with people, and I drive Hummers on the side of a mountain.  But the best part by far is that I have been living in the northern Rockies all summer!On my days off I go hiking, camping, fishing, shooting – if it’s outdoors, you name it and I’ve probably done it this summer. Since I have never been out west, it’s been an invaluable opportunity to experience some of the best the western US has to offer.

Another great feature of my job in Montana is that every month I get a week off and my company flies me anywhere I want to go in the US, so I have been able to attend a couple dance events here and there as well.  The first I attended was “Hot Mess” in Philadelphia on July 9-11, 2010.  True to the name, Hot Mess was one of the hottest weekends of the summer in Philly and the focus of the event was all fast dancing, accentuating the messiness.  Nonetheless, it was one of the most fun events I have attended in a long time and it was a good to finally work on my fast dancing, which has always been a week point for me.  The second event I attended was “Southern Belle Swing Bash” in Atlanta on August 13-15, 2010.  Another fantastic event by Michael and Jaya of Asheville, NC, SBSB was an event made specifically for follows.  All of the workshops were for follows only, and as a result leads were invited to join for free as long as we volunteered to help with the workshops.  I felt guilty for not having to pay for the event because it was so much fun for leads!  Besides the wonderful company I enjoyed staying with all weekend and the countless dances, I also competed in the open Jack & Jill and actually made it to the finals (check out my videos page to see the finals warm up dance).  While I did not place in the top 3,  it was my first time in a finals competition for a lindy hop J&J and I learned a lot from it.  Hopefully there will be more to come in the future!

Since the summer is coming closer to an end, I have already begun planning my next trip to China.  I will be flying out on October 12 to Shanghai to attend the first ever international swing dancing event there called “Swing Out Shanghai.”  When I lived there two years ago, the ideas for the event started to emerge, and now in the middle of the Shanghai World Expo the event will finally be held.  One of the best parts about it is we will actually perform on stage at the World Expo, making history for the whole world to see. After a few weeks in Shanghai, I will move to Taipei in Taiwan to begin a long and concentrated study of Mandarin.  All of my previous trips to China limited me to only 3 months of study at a time – just enough to get somewhere and then forget it.  This time, with the help of a 3 month scholarship by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, I will spend 6 months studying, giving me the much needed time to hopefully make some large strides with the language.  I will return home May 24, 2011.  It will be a long adventure, but I am confident that the investment I will make in Taiwan will be well worth it later in life, if not for the language skills, then for the life experiences I will encounter.