The China Diaries 2004

My actual China diary that I kept while there got lost in the post after I sent it home with my Vietnam photos and other sentimental things. This blog is reconstructed mostly from old emails to my parents.

February 2004 - Culture Shock at it's most intense.

China would prove to be the most challenging place I'd ever been and ever will go (though it did closely rival India!). Two weeks after my 23rd birthday having just handed in my Masters thesis I jumped on a plane and moved to Changzhou - a small industrial city two hours from Shanghai. Dirty, smoggy, polluted and cold, Changzhou would be my home for the next year and slowly over the first few weeks its charm would eventually grow on me. The following are taken mostly from old emails.

9 February 2004 FIRST WEEK IN CHANGZHOU

I'm starting to like it now. Last night our group of flats (there's 7 of us in this one place) went looking for food and a supermarket. The supermarket was shut but we found this random Chinese steamboat restaurant where none of the waiters spoke English but luckily Natalie speaks Chinese so we tried to order reasonably decent stuff.

Everything was good... except the pig brains that happened to end up with our meal... Only one of us was daring enough to try them and she immediately spat them out - it was like an episode of fear factor! After that we had a walk around where we live and we found this amazing little food market where all the locals stared at us like we were some form of aliens. Everywhere you go the locals blatantly stare at you. I keep telling myself they're just inquisitive but can’t help but wonder what they’re really thinking. 

10 February 2004 FIRST GROUP EMAIL

We arrived here on Wednesday afternoon. It's a complete culture shock, much more than we were both expecting and it's taken a couple of days to settle in. We arrived at Pu Dong airport and were met by these two teachers who don't speak a word of English so we sat in silence the entire time we were in their van.

The drive was 2.5 hours and we drove through intensely poor areas - poverty that both of us had never imagined being from safe and comfortable New Zealand. There were tons of rice paddies and heaps of rubbish everywhere. The drive itself was scary as there appear to be absolutely no road rules here so they just do what they want on the road - we lost count of the amount of times we thought we were going to crash!

When we finally arrived in Changzhou the sun was setting and the smog was really heavy. We first went to the school and got met by our liaison lady who is really sweet and nice and she took us to our apartment which is about 25 minutes bike ride from the school. The apartment is nice actually - we're sharing a 3 bedroom between the two of us. Our neighbours who are other English teachers arrived a few hours before us. They don't really talk to us but we're trying to make the effort and hopefully soon they'll warm up to us. That night reality set in and both Natalie and I were a bit of a mess missing home. 

The next day we went to school and things perked up a little as we met all of the other English teachers who live next door to school - they're really friendly! Our mate Dave from NZ has become our best buddy so we've formed a bit of a 'kiwi alliance'. After signing our contracts and stuff we got a tour of the school, saw some of the kids - who are SUPER CUTE - and then went home. 

I'm trying to make a point to get out as much as possible to learn the names of food (so I don’t ever have to eat another pig brain ever again) and get to know a bit of the local culture. Where we live is very far out from anywhere so I think that makes the people really friendly and a lot less likely to rip us off. Tonight I went to the local market and brought a piece of garlic roti for only 50 Chinese cents and some pineapple too. Yesterday we went into town to check everything out and so we could buy a warm jackets - it's FREEZING HERE. I think the average is about 6-8 degrees during the day. 

February 13 Hospitals and Kids...

An entire week in the place…- Culture Shock Phase 1. Kids, Hospitals and Chinese People (Many many)

Well, I've been in this place for a whole week now and I've fallen in love with it - it's amazing! Such a change from last week when I was ready to hop right back on the plane. This week I have done so much. China is the weirdest place on earth, it is also one of the quirkiest and nicest places I've been to. Once you get over the smog which does not go away, and the fact that people spit all over the street, on the bus, in hallways and wherever they see fit, and the fact that if they need to pee, they just don't care who sees them do their business on a fence, then it's actually quite cool!

The people here are AMAZINGLY FRIENDLY, happy, charming and downright cute. It's so odd being the only blonde for miles, being tall and being big by their standards... (actually, come to think of it, back then I was rather big anyway!)…

I'm still getting used to the fact that everywhere I go I get stared at big time but it's not in a sleazy way at all, they are very inquisitive. Half the time I'm not sure whether they're thinking "wow, an alien" or "dumb foreigner who can't ride her bike properly"... They're very funny and will always try to say hello, or "Haawrro!" if they know how. I've gotten into the habit of saying "Ni Hao" back to them, or just waving to them and moving on.

Tuesday was the first time I've felt really scared since we arrived and I got over my pathetic bout of homesickness. At 8am we were picked up and taken to the hospital where we were supposed to get our medicals done. Everything was fine until we walked in. The hospital is absolutely REVOLTING. People smoke in the corridors, there are used cotton buds all over the floor and again, they spit everywhere so you have to watch where you're walking. We immediately got taken to the bloodline to get our blood taken. It's just a desk in the corridor. So we lined up and then we saw the desk - there were just a bunch of open needles in a huge pile on it - you couldn't tell if they were clean or dirty or anything so we immediately walked out all going 'no way are those coming anywhere near us'. So that was left until Friday.

On Wednesday I started teaching!!! It is SO MUCH FUN. The kids are so cute. I'm teaching 8 year olds and they are super willing to learn and are very very cool. The day started great because I walked into the class and said "HI Guys, I'm your new English teacher!" and this girl pipes up "OHHHHH, My new English Teacher is Very Beautiful!!!" - A+ for her in the exams!!! I just started by playing hangman to see what they knew and they loved it. They are way too cool.

Thursday was a disaster!!! SO FUNNY. I turned up to my first class thinking that I'd taught them the day before. I was 10 minutes late because I couldn't find the room and then I got there only to realize they were completely different kids to the day before...

Anyway, I found out their names and taught them a Beatles song, left the class in utter confusion and went to lunch. I then bump into Natalie and we compare roles and realise that the class I'd accidentally taught the day before had been her class... oopsie. 

Friday... Oh my god. We got picked up again at 8 and taken back to the hospital. Again we stood in the blood line but we had our interpreter with us this time. She brought a supply of clean needles with her and I asked her if she could ask the locals to please leave us alone while we get our blood taken and she did. The needle was massive and I pretty much had a panic attack when I saw it but at least it was clean. Then we were taken into the next room. All the locals tried to crowd in to watch us be poked and prodded by the doctor but our interpreter again managed to convince them that we needed privacy so that was fine. Then we get taken to get the ECG and an Ultrasound! This time there is no door in the room, just a curtain to divide the room. Again, the locals all come in to watch us foreigners but the thing was that we actually had to strip somewhat! The guys all go first and then it's time for us girls... Suddenly the local guys are staring at us very intently waiting for us to take our tops off so I get up and say, "Please go away and let us have some privacy!" followed by our interpreter saying the same thing in Chinese. It must have sounded very rude but there was no way we were going to strip with all these men watching!!! They got the picture. So I get up first on the table and the lady is scanning me and everything - the next thing she does is put these metal pinchers all over me - very odd but hilarious! They hurt!!! Then finally our ordeal at the dirty hospital was over. We get in the van and go home.

Tonight we went to the local French Pub called "The Jungle Bar" - strange place but I had the best burger I've ever had in my entire life. I really don't think I've ever appreciated a burger so much. I'm having a great time here now. My favourite parts are just the everyday simple activities of biking to and from work (a good 40 minutes of exercise a day) on the scary roads, going to the market and getting to know the local people. A lady in my apartment block has asked me to teach her and her daughter English so I'm going to get back to her and tell her that I'll teach her for free providing she takes me to the market and teaches me the day to day language of buying fruit and veggies and basics that you can only learn from a local.

Changzhou is amazing but not in the ways that people normally associate out of the way places with. The people are something else, they're so generous and friendly with the biggest smiles you'll ever see. I think I'm finally getting what the beauty of this place is about. Thanks for all the emails and the support. This is turning out to be a much bigger adventure than I originally thought it would be. It's great fun.

February 24: Colds, Taxi Rides, School Lunches, DVDS

This week my Internet is down so bare with me if half of this turns out to be in Chinese characters as I copy it once I'm back on line...

Well, I'm in the middle of week 3 now. Starting to settle in big time and it definitely has its ups and downs. At the moment I'm sick & managed to catch a cold from one of the kids I teach... Joy. Being sick in a country where you can't read the labels of cough medicine is not exactly the greatest fun ever. I went to buy something for my sore throat the other night & it worked, just not where I wanted it. It was this little green and white pill that the pharmacist promised me would cure my sore throat. Well, it would have cured a sore tongue had I had one!! My tongue went completely numb for a few hours, dinner was no joy and my throat still hurt just as much as before I took the little green pill.

So yesterday I went to the school doctor to fix my throat, which by that time was killing me, and to get out of teaching, as I couldn't talk without wanting to kill one of the kids... On the way there I was in a car accident! My taxi collided head on with this motorbike. The guy on the motorbike lands on the bonnet of the cab, the driver gets out and punches the guy and they have this huge fight right in the middle of a very busy intersection!!! Meanwhile this other girl and I got out of the cab and catch another taxi. If I wasn't feeling so crap I think it probably would have bothered me quite a bit more but I just didn't care, all I wanted was something to fix my throat and a note to get out of school... So I get to school, the doctor takes one look at me and sends me home. I managed to make it back for my afternoon classes. Two of the classes were extra nice to me and the others seemed super loud. I have a feeling they were being no louder than normal but when you've got the cold from Nam everything seems so much louder!

So far, two people have had their bikes stolen, one girl's wallet stolen on the bus, everyone has at least once flooded their kitchens as the sinks don't work properly, all our loos stopped working at some point, and our internet has been down since Friday. This is China... I love it here but it would be so nice to have an entire week where NOTHING GOES WRONG.

Since I last wrote I've had quite an interesting time here. I'm still going to the market most days. Natalie and I can eat for 3 days if we cook ourselves for under 10Y (NZ$1.70) from just buying veggies from the local market. I absolutely love Chinese veggies, they're so yummy and I think they're quite good for you too! We still eat out quite a bit, as it's really cheap. We've found this restaurant around the corner where we can get a meal for 2 for only 15Y (NZ$2.70?), which includes two dishes plus fried rice. We took our neighbours there the other night and the restaurant owners were so excited that we brought our friends back! The neighbours went back last night and said that they got a discount. I think we've found our local... To occupy ourselves at night Natalie and I have bought a DVD player. Pirated DVDS are super cheap here. They're as good as normal ones anyway and only cost 7Y (NZ$1.20?).

I've had to stop eating at the school. The food is actually unbearable. I thought it was bad at my boarding school but at least we didn't have to eat liver or pig's trotters! The food at school is in one word: VILE. Last week we had fish heads, some evil tofu dish that even the Chinese teachers didn't eat and the one that really did it for me was beef and liver. The beef itself was fine until I took another bite and this stuff just dissolved in my mouth. I have never ever tasted anything SO GROSS in my entire life. The worst was that I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth all afternoon. So from that day I decided that it just wasn't worth taking my chances on having lunch at school so I've been living on noodles for lunch. That was a good decision. On Friday Natalie comes home and says "I'm joining you in no longer eating at school, the rice is always cold, the veggies aren't nice and today we got served pigs hooves. Charming.

We have been having a great time hanging out with the other English teachers. There was a huge party a couple of weeks ago and some people bused for 5 hours to get to Changzhou for it! It was really fun. I was rather happy on this Chinese wine called Dynasty; not exactly for the wine connoisseur but it did the trick anyway. Then, my friend brought over this foul smelling stuff called 'Bijou' a Chinese version of vodka. It reeks and the taste is nearly as bad as the smell. So I was drinking this stuff for a while and suddenly felt very antisocial and not so flash. It was after I was ill that I was told that it's 60% alcohol... Needless to say, the following day was not one for living happily. The idea of reliving my bijou experience just doesn't appeal to me very much at all.

When you're hungover the last thing you want is to be stared at constantly. We made the mistake of going to the supermarket that day. We were stalked everywhere in it by these Chinese people who kept picking up stuff in our trollies and saying foreigner, foreigner.…Usually it wouldn't bother me but when you're tired and hungover it can be really annoying. Since then it's gotten on my nerves a bit as you can't even go the supermarket and buy loo paper without having every single move watched. We've definitely learned to appreciate our privacy. The other night we went out for dinner and were sitting in the window. It was like we were sitting in a fishbowl, as there was this crowd of people on the other side of the window watching us eat!! I thought it was funny but I think we've both thought of dying our hair black several times in the last couple of weeks. It's quite funny when we go into town as I have a tendency to walk off into random shops. Natalie goes to me "Don't worry about getting lost because I can spot that strawberry blonde hair from miles away in this sea of black." 

February 25: Culture Shock at its Worst

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! FRUSTRATION!! So sick of being stared at constantly. We went to the train station just before to buy tickets to Shanghai, we went to buy a timetable and these guys are pushing against us trying to see what we're doing. They don't know what lines are so they just push right in front of you, then when you buy your tickets there's a massive group crowding round you just to see how you're buying them!! For crying out loud, we're not THAT interesting!!! Even in McDonalds they have to scrutinise every move you make as you're buying a medium coke!!!

Did go out for an excellent meal tonight though. The best Chinese meal I've had yet by far. I'm getting rather proficient with these chopsticks. It cost us 23Y (about NZ$5) - very expensive you know! Train ticket for Friday was quite expensive (39Y one way) - we may have been ripped off but apparently they range from 11Y to 40Y depending on the time and train. 

I'm looking forward to some retail therapy and being a bit more anonymous in Shanghai this weekend. We're staying right in the middle of everything - the sites and the shopping. Yay, the kids go home tomorrow for 3 days.

February 29: Shanghai and Hairdressers

RETAIL THERAPY IN SHANGHAI, AND A SEX MUSEUM...

Had an absolutely awesome weekend in Shanghai. Spent far too much money but the good time totally made up for last week's shitty times! On Friday we arrived and went big time shopping - which is amazing. That night we met up with Erin (the American) who was staying with a friend of her uncles. We went up the stairs of this random hotel because someone told us there was a great view from there - they were right but we got kicked out. Then we went in "The Bund Tunnel" which is supposed to be this psychedelic ride under the river - ok but would be better if you were 10. After we got across the river we went to the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which is also the tallest building in China to the bar on the 88th floor and had some extremely expensive cocktails but they were by far the best cocktails any of us have ever had... After arguing with the waiter who tried to charge us the cover charge for not staying in the hotel (Y100) which we won - blonde hair and a pink coat can get you more than you think... 

Anyway, that night we went to bed at Captains Hostel. Captains was really cool. Very cheap but clean and comfortable. Only 55Y per night (NZ10?) and the bunks were more comfortable than our beds at home. We had the hottest showers since we've been in China - I think I'd go back there purely for the showers as ours is luke warm at best. On Saturday we got up and met Erin and the lady she was staying with at this market - amazing - we spent 4 hours there!!! Natalie did well in getting a Gucci Bag and matching wallet for only 150Y and I brought a hat and a Christian Dior wallet. I can't quite remember what Erin got but she got tons of stuff - Americans like to shop... Then Erin got food poisoning so she went home for the night while Natalie and I just hung out at our hostel's bar and had burgers. We went to try and see a movie but discovered they only play one English movie per day so we walked around and got drenched. My sneakers are completely stuffed so we had to go and get me a new pair otherwise I would have gone barefoot today so we walked and walked and went back to the department store where I got my coat the day before. I managed to get an amazing pair of leather boots that were on big time sale for only Y180 (NZ35?) having been around 700Y. So my feet were dry and we walked back to the hostel. We fell asleep at 10pm having walked non-stop for 2 days in wet shoes. Shanghai POURED AND POURED AND POURED. The rain did not let up.

So today we got up, checked out of our good hostel (will definitely stay there again), and went to find the Shanghai Museum of Ancient Chinese Sex Culture. HILARIOUS. I found out things I most certainly never knew before - some of the artifacts were very very very funny. 

Anyway, we finished with the sex culture museum - random as. Then got on the metro to the train station and caught our train back to Changzhou - it took forever but now we're home and I'm about to go to bed. It's bucketing down with rain and it's cold. I had such a great weekend in Shanghai - definitely one of my favourite places so far. I should try and get a job there because I was totally in my element. We'll definitely be back there soon but first I have to save some money because it really is a shopper's paradise.

23 March 2004 The Hairdressers...

Oh my god, I feel ridiculously good.I just went to the hairdressers - cut not great (they didn't cut much off at all!) but wow, I feel amazing.

So I go in there armed with the piece of paper my Chinese liaison person here wrote for me that said, "trim". They take me into the main part of the salon take my bags and jacket and put those in a locker (give me the key) and then put this robe on me. Next thing they usher me to the washbasins where there are beds, not seats, and my head gets shampooed for about 20 minutes. Then they start on the conditioner and give me the best head massage of my life... but wait... it gets better! They wrap a towel around my head and the next thing I know the guy has taken my arm and starts giving it a full massage, like a back massage! He shakes out my shoulders and does the other arm - the arms take another 15 minutes. And just as I think it's over, no no... He motions for me to turn over and gives me a full back massage! That lasts for ages and I nearly fall asleep except for the fact that I am in so much heaven. WOW. If only hairdressers at home were like this!! I've paid serious money for good massages before - if only I knew that all I had to do was go to China...

So my hour of heaven is over and I'm taken to sit down. They bring me some tea and then the hairdresser - this older guy with amazing hair - red and this strange boof but a full head - starts cutting my hair after blabbering away in Chinese at me and figuring out that I want a couple of inches off. He cut about an inch off. He seemed very cautious about cutting my hair but he did quite a good job anyway! All the other stylists are standing round watching him cut this blonde hair and I'm not quite sure where to look at this point. He then blow-dries it off into a do, which would look good on someone about 20 years older than me (big fat bob curled under) I walk out, pay, redo my hair and walk back to school.I seriously expected it to be awful but that was definately the 2 most pleasurable hours ever spent in a hairdressers. If only I could go home now and fall asleep because I am SO relaxed right now.

APRIL 11 2004

Hangzhou, and overnight boat ride and Suzhou

I've just come home from a very interesting weekend. We went to a place called Hangzhou, which is about 5.5 hours, by train away. But it took us forever to get there on Friday. Originally we were going to catch the bus but that was going to cost us a ridiculous amount of money (only NZ$35 but in Chinese terms that's nuts) so we went to get a train instead (NZ$5). We found out we couldn't get a direct train ride until late that night so we thought we'd go to Shanghai and bet on getting a cheap and quick train from there. So, we jump on the train which turns out to be the really reallly really slow one - what would usually take 2 hours took nearly 5...

We get to Shanghai at 6pm (we had started this whole thing at 11am) and book our tickets to Hangzhou, which turned out that we would not be leaving til 8:30 pm so we decide to book a hotel... We couldn't get one... So, we brave the 3 hour journey to Hangzhou and get there at 11:30 pm thinking we'd be able to find an info counter that would lead us to some hotels that aren't in the Lonely Planet... big mistake. So, we're sitting at the train station wondering what on earth we are going to do for the night when these people come up to us and say that they can take us to a hotel. Well, they did, but the hotel was booked out, so they drop us back at the train station and we're left thinking what the f are we going to do now? This is at 12:15am. So this very old guy on a bicycle approaches us and says that he can find a hotel for us. We agree to take him up on his offer and after walking around for another hour stopping gat 6 different hotels that claimed they had no vacancy, we find one. It turned out to be a really nice hotel and we bargained it to quite a good price so yay (NZ$18 each). Natalie and I shared a room and Dave and Irena went next door. We got 2 rooms for the price of one so that was cool.

The next day we get up and decide that we should take an overnight boat from Hangzhou to Suzhou to save on accomodation and to make the train ride somewhat quicker on Sunday. So we booked it (NZ$15) and spent the day walking around Hangzhou, which is an absolutely gorgeous city. It's very clean and it's set on a lake and some canals. I really liked it. The blossoms were out too so it looked extra nice. We walked around, got on a little wooden boat ride out into the middle of the lake where our boat driver (I don't know the word) decided that it would be absolutely hilarious if he rocked the boat heaps so the dumb foreigners would get scared. So that was fun.

We walked around a bit more, got bored and went to do some shopping and as per usual for me on the weekend I got my nails done (hey, it's so cheap, why not) which actually resulted in us running very very late as the lady took forever (it should have taken 20 minutes but took an entire hour). So, with everyone pissy at me for taking forever, we ran as fast as we could looking out for a cheap food place so we could eat before getting on the boat. We didn't find a food place but we made it to the boat with 5 minutes to spare. Luckily we had some crackers and a few bits of fruit left over from random snacks during the day.

Anyway, we got on this boat and it's a bit of a dump but it was workable. It was full of cabins and we took 2nd class which meant that the 4 of us shared a very tiny room with rock hard bunks. There was enough room for a very small table in the middle of the bunks so we sat up most of the night (well, until 9:30 when the lights went out) playing cards and eating what little food we had. Lucky for Dave but not the rest of us, he had 2 packs of tuna... So the cabin was very smelly and very small - not a cool combination. But we survived. The sunset on it was absolutely amazing and I'm hoping that I've got some very cool shots now - will pick those up sometime soon. Until the sun went down completely we just stared outside watching people on the canals and random boats passing us by. It was a really really cool experience.

After a very restless night of sleep with random noises outside the window - mostly drunken sailors on their barges and tooting boats going past, it was dawn and we were in Suzhou. I think I had about 3 hours sleep. Canals look amazing when they're lit up at night. I'd definitely recommend the overnight boat ride, which by the way is very cramped - they don't like to waste space in China - but I think it's something only to be done once. So after bumming around Suzhou which I've been to 3 times now, we had McDonalds for breakfast and did a bit of shopping (I brought shoes again...), we hopped on a train (again, the sloooowwwww train) and finally got home. We're all very smelly and feeling rather crusty and our shower has no hot water. However, I think I'm going to have to go and brave it, get clean, have some dinner and have a very good night's sleep - luckily it's stinking hot so the shower won't be too bad. On Tuesday night 6 of us are taking an overnight train to this place called Huangshan, also known as Yellow Mountain which is supposed to have some of the most spectacular scenery in China. I'm looking forward to it heaps. We'll be there til Saturday. Gotta love midterm exams when you're an English teacher - time off.

April 17 "Yellow Mountain"

Just got off the overnight train back from Yellow Mountain (actually a big mountain with a huge series of peaks). Am sitting here typing this while watching my washing machine to make sure it doesn't flood the kitchen. It's 6:30am - much too early for a Saturday morning but hey, when you've just climbed a mountain everything gets outawack.

On Tuesday night 8 of us caught the midnight train to a place called Huangshan, known in English as Yellow Mountain. As we start to pull in at 8am, a little man called Mr. Yellow, a stubborn Chinese tour guide with this personality that outshines anyone I've ever met, sent by the government comes up to us and offers us his services. At first we tell him to go away but he doesn't leave us alone so we decide, what the hell, let's just go with it. He turns out to be the best part of our week - hilarious!!! He was a rice farmer before he got bored so decided to randomly learn English from magazines and 3 years at middle school to become a tour guide... He couldn't understand why we had to bargain EVERYTHING but he came round in the end.

So he drops us off at the Eastern Cable car and my student card comes in handy to get me half way up the mountain for half price. We get to the half way point (the cable car doesn't go further) and we climb to the hotel area with our packs. Having declined Mr. Yellow's offer of finding us a very cheap hotel room we realise we'd made a mistake and end up bargaining for this little shack where there are no loos except a very stinky concrete ditch in the ground and bunk beds with wood for the mattress. W deal with it and the realisation that our next shower won't be for another 2 days and get climbing. We walk up and down a trillion steps, see some awesome peaks and then realise it's dinner time. Do you think we can find a cheap meal? No. So we settle for instant noodles - shit - the washing machine has flooded my kichen...

20 minutes later

Ok, so we settle for instant noodles after eating any snack food that we had and then find a bar and drink for an hour before being sent back to our shack (the Chinese go to bed very early, we weren't being rowdy). We all manage to crash very early. Just as well because the next morning we got up at 4am to climb a peak and watch the sunrise. Climbing the peak was fun in the dark. There was no sunrise because it was raining but the rain cleared and a huge cloud of mist came around the mountain, which made the peaks look incredible. We then debated whether to go back to bed or just start making the trek down the mountain thinking it would take all of a couple of hours. After climbing a zillion steps UP HILL over 2 hours, we finally reach a point where it's time to go down hill thinking "yay, we've done the hard work, lets go home"...

noooo.... The climb DOWN lasted 10 minutes, then we had to go up and down for a couple more hours til we reach the Western cable car, which we decide to flag in order to save money thinking the climb down would be all of 30 minutes. 3 hours of excruciating climbs down very steep and narrow staircases with vertical drops below us if we put a foot wrong, we reach Mr. Yellow at the end - 1pm, having been walking since 4am. He then tells us that we've walked down at least 21,000 steps and over the 2 days we walked around 50-100,000 steps... Am just about faint at this point and then... he leads us to more steps to climb down! I never ever thought I'd see the day where I'd say that I hate climbing down steps and prefer going up... well, I have now. My calves are killing me, much more so than my thighs, which have gone completely stiff.

He took us to this really cool village which dates back to some of the ancient dynasties, we look around, flirt with the locals and take pictures, then he finally took us to a great hotel for cheaper than the filthy shack at the top of the mountain. We had a great cheap meal which we also brought for Mr. Yellow and his little wife Mrs. Yellow, have some good tea, then its back to the hotel for a long hot shower and an even longer sleep. The next day we got up, spent the afternoon in a market, had dinner, took a pedicab back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff and caught the overnight train back to Changzhou.

I had an awesome time. Yellow Mountain has been by far one of the best experiences of my life so far. I cannot believe that I managed to do all that climbing in 2 days, keep it together and have such a fantastic time. Time to go and develop my 7 rolls of film now from the last 2 weeks of traveling. I think it's about time I got with the times and brought a digital camera. 

P.S. They say that if you climb Yellow Mountain you get to live to 100. I certainly don't want to live to 100 if it means climbing that ever again. Mr. Yellow claimed that he's climbed Yellow Mountain at least 47 times... Legend. 

In Between Times: There is nothing here because life became rather mundane for a while as I started to settle into life, try to plan my summer holiday and argue with the school over my contract and air tickets... Went to Nanjing for a day which was cool but mostly hung out in Changzhou doing the same stuff, eating the same food and watching all the episodes of Sex and the City ever made. I made up for my lack of doing anything in the Summer though when I travelled extensively throughout China as well as doing a stint of 2 weeks in Singapore and Malaysia with James.

June 29: Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong

Well, here I am in Singapore. James is playing games with some Chinese dudes while I sit here catching up on my emails. We're having an awesome time even though we're both sick. We're staying in this really cute little hotel, which I'd recommend if anyone ever comes to this place with no money like myself.

Our week in KL was really fun. The first few nights we stayed in this amazing 5 star hotel with a great pool. Then we had to move to this place called the Dynasty because I'm broke. The Dynasty online looks like this amazing 4 star hotel with all you could ever ask for - not the case. It was the nastiest hotel ever and the air con wouldn't work. The loo wouldn't flush and the place hadn't been renovated since the 70's. However, we hung in there and ended up enjoying the dump in the end. We mostly hung out with my friends Andrew and Uma who live in KL - really cool.

We went to the Hindu Caves on our first day where there were heaps of scary monkeys which freaked the hell out of all of us - luckily I was with 2 boys who were quite keen on chasing them away.:-) The other days were spent mostly shopping and hanging out by the pool -my ideal life really. Then on Sunday we came to Singapore. We're having so much fun here it's not funny. The best part about Singapore is the fact that it's SO CLEAN, and the FOOD. The food here is intensely good. On Sunday night we went to Little India for dinner and had this curry served on banana leaves - it was the best meal both of us have ever had. Last night we went to China town where I had barbequed Sting Ray and James played it safe by having black bean Chicken. The Sting Ray was definitely the right choice - it was amazing and I would make no hesitation in having it again. We've also both become addicted to Satay - it's SO GOOD HERE.

Yesterday we spent the day at the Singapore Zoo, which is something that everyone must do at least once in their lifetimes. Singapore zoo is awesome as there are no cages and they've made it as close to their own natural habitat as well as a zoo can. The zoo is made for animals, not people so you kind of feel like you're walking through their environment, which is a nice change to concrete and cages. 

I'm stocking up on books and magazines here because I won't be able to get anything in English once I get back to China next week, and I've now added yet another pair of shoes to my ever growing shoe collection. Tonight we're going to Raffles Hotel to pretend to be rich while having a Singapore Sling (cocktail) in their bar.

In between Malaysia and Guangzhou: HONG KONG

Basically said goodbye to James on July 4th and went to Hong Kong for 2 days, didn't do an awful lot except lots of window shopping, checking out the view and spending an afternoon in Madame Tussards Wax Museum. Hong Kong was cool - way too hot though due to monsoon season... Went to Guangzhou for 2 days where I was freaked out by thousands of American couples walking around with Chinese babies (nearly all of them girls) and the unbearable heat...

JULY 12 : CHENGDU Buddhas and Pandas

Well, here I am in Chengdu having quite a good time but a little worried as we're finding it really hard to find a train ticket out of this place! We're due to be in Dalian on Friday and can't actually get a train to anywhere at the moment... I'm sure that'll all sort itself out. I arrived in Chengdu after a 40 hour train ride here which I'm sure I've rambled on about already. I got ultra ripped off by the pedicab driver and had a massive argument in the middle of the street with him but got over it by the end of the day and vowed never to go in a pedicab again. It wasn't very good but my friends Clare and Al turned out to already be in Chengdu so I've basically hung out with them since arriving. Sharon arrived the following day.

Yesterday we went and saw the Giant Buddha (apparently the world's largest one). It had rather large ears, feet and hands. Gave Prince Charles a run for his money with those ears anyway... But it was really nice there with peaceful surroundings (apart from the millions of Chinese tourists) nice gardens and random trails to get lost on only to find other Buddha.

The day before we went to another temple where we sat in their outdoor tea house and drunk fresh green tea for quite a long time. When we were at this temple we saw the most amazing old man I've ever come across. If you've seen old Chinese ornaments there's usually an old fisherman with a really long white beard and a bald head - well, this guy was a clone of him smoking out his equally long pipe. I became Chinese and just couldn't stop staring at him... Got a cool photo of him though.

The highlight so far though has definitely been this morning when we went to the Panda breeding centre - the only one of it's kind in the world. THEY WERE SO CUTE. I just wanted to pick the little ones up and take them home - slight problem though - they get big and they eat a shit load of bamboo. They are definitely the cutest things I've ever seen in my whole life. The grown pandas were pretty cool too. Did you know that Pandas sleep for 18 hours a day and pretty much eat the rest of the time? In my next life I'm going to opt to come back as one - sounds like the perfect lifestyle.

                 Nb> In a reply to this email Juliet Taylor put my panda experience very accurately: "Why is it that such cute furry harmless animals are facing extinction the population of commitment phobic men is on an ever continual rise?"

Chengdu's not so bad. It doesn't have much going for it but it is quite peaceful and we don't get the constant stares and "harrow!'s. You don't really come to Chengdu to go to the city itself - it's a good entry point to Tibet (where sadly I'm not going) and there are heaps of attractions "around Chengdu". The air here is remarkably clean and is not as polluted as the rest of China. Must go now and actually find a way to get out of Chengdu. With no money I can't fly to Dalian and to bus is not so easy so I'm going to have to use my charms and blonde hair and somehow find a train ticket.

Later on: In order to get out of Chengdu having tried for 4 days to get tickets we finally found a friendly travel agent who told us it was not at all possible for us to take the train out of Chengdu to Dalian~ So Sharon cries and magically he has tickets for hard sleepers the next day...

July 19 - Dalian and Poker

Learned how to play Poker last night. Actually won my first 4 rounds but then the cheap Chinese beer sunk in... Watch out Poker World - here comes Kat of the Orient. Dalian is good. I'm really liking the fresh air. The bars are full of Russian prostitutes and it's really obvious that they are. Apparently I will get asked when I'm walking to the grocery store "how much"... Will have to use my latest round of Chinese swearwords that I've been taught by my fellow English teachers. The only Westerners in this city are English teachers or Russian Pros - the latter far outnumber us legal workers. One of my new kids tried to give me a Chinese name yesterday but he couldn't keep a straight face so I asked him what it really meant and he said "Good For Nothing" - will have to keep an eye on that one.

August 21 Beijing and Inner Mongolia

The highlight of China so far.

Well, I've finally made it to Inner Mongolia after an awesome week in Beijing. Baotou (the town on the edge of the Gobi) is the most miserable bleak and annoying place I've ever been. It's raining so we can't get to the Gobi Desert. Instead we are stuck indoors and looking for a place to get a massage so we can kill time for at least one hour. Tomorrow we are taking a 2 day train to Xian on a hard seat so we can get outa this place! So there you have it, don't ever go to Inner Mongolia (Laura and Leona, I know you are thinking differently here!).

On the plus side however, this last week has been one of the best weeks of my life. Beijing is really cool! I liked it heaps! It is the ultimate symbol of communist China yet it has this really cool charm about it and there is soooo much to do.

We arrived there on Monday having endured an overnight sleeper bus, which wasn't so bad apart from the snoring men and the bad toilet stops. We checked into our hotel quickly, had showers and spent the afternoon in the forbidden city which is this really amazing ancient place where the various dynasties were based for years and years and years (and I'm talking Chinese terms here). It was off limits to the commoners, penalty of death. What disturbed me though was that in this awesome very old place, smack bang in the middle they had a Starbucks! Like come-on, why not put a McDonalds, a KFC and a Nike store in there too??? So we left the Forbidden City after succumbing to a frappucino, met up with everyone else and had Peking Duck in the hutongs (traditional Chinese settlements in the city) which was awesome.

Tuesday was by far the best. I CLIMBED THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. So awesome that a silly email cannot describe so I'm going to leave it by saying we had a picnic and a beer at the top, took loads of pictures and took it all in - it's amazing. I loved it. Definitely the highlight of my trip. That night we went to the night market where Paul, Douggie and Melissa ate scorpion on a stick (I chickened out but wait for it later) and I went to Haagen Daz to have a taste of the West which is not something I get often if you don't count McDonalds. Anyway, You had to be there for the looks on their faces while they were chowing down those scorpions... The other options were cockroaches, lamb balls or sea horses. pass, pass, pass thanks.

On Wednesday we woke up early and went to see Mao Tse Tung's dead body. Totally weird and strange experience that I have no desire ever to repeat. It was so strange. We had to wait in line for an hour and get ushered through like sheep. The line actually goes all the way around Tianamen Square. When you get inside they try to sell you flowers, which you put in this room, wait til you go through, and resell them to others down the line... So we left Mao and went to something much more positive and money draining - the pearl market. AWESOME. I spent way too much money there - NZ$5 for a string of real pearls. I don't even like pearls but maybe one day I will... At least certain members of my family now have Christmas set for them.

Left the pearl market and went to the Summer Palace, which is where all the emperors used to take their holidays. If I was an emperor (ess?) I totally would have governed from here instead of the forbidden city (which is nice too). It was set on a lake with nice temples and pagodas everywhere. I had a very nice time and it was good to get away from Beijing for an afternoon. That night we went back to the night market where I finally worked up the courage to eat a scorpion. Well, actually, I ate 3 in a row. The first one I couldn't bare to eat the tail, the second one tasted like crunchy chicken skin, and I had a 3rd one left which I ate whole. My mouth went numb afterwards for a while but they really weren't that bad! The giant starfish that I ate next however was another story - NASTY. Don't ever have one.

 mmm... tasty...

Thursday we mucked around and went to the temple of heaven which wasn't that exciting, then said goodbye to Paul and Douggie. That night we went for foot massages which were awesome. Totally put my toes right which I keep managing to bump into corners of chairs and trees - must stop being so clumsy will be 2005's new years resolution... Also went to Tianamen Square where I flew a kite and got it tangled up within 10 minutes - but it was definitely the highlight of the day. Tianamen Square is so much better at night than during the day.

Yesterday we said goodbye to 3 more friends and suddenly it was just me, Jessica and Melissa. So what do 3 girls do when they're bored in Beijing? Go back to the pearl market where I spent another NZ$20 on 5 sets of pearls - but this time cool ones which I'd actually wear. After doing a whole bunch of nothing, we finally got on the overnight train, said goodbye to Beijing where we had an awesome week, fell asleep and woke up in Baotou. Don't ever come here. Spend your time and money in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu or better places. Hope I haven't sent y'all to sleep. Next I'm going to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors which are meant to be fantastic, then back to Changzhou for another semester. Will next start planning my trip through South East Asia before moving to London in February to tackle Europe. Am loving this travel bug, can't get enough of it, even though I am the brokest I've ever been. I've had so much fun and am meeting so many neat people while seeing some incredible things.

Embarrassments in Inner Mongolia

So it's official here. Katherine has had her most embarrassing moment ever...

And 2 years later it was taken off the site in case potential employers ever read it! 

September 11, 2004 - Odd.

Today is the anniversary of the attacks 3 years ago. I was in DC at the time. It's strange reflecting on it... Here I am in China 3 years later, a place that couldn't be any more different from the States. Now would be a good time to reflect on what I've actually done in the past 3 years but instead I'm just going to leave it at sounding like a Miss Universe contestant hoping for world peace some day when people stop killing each other.

Hello to my DC girls. I don't think any of us could have got through that day without the support we had for each other. I miss you all.

Since I last wrote in this I finished off my big summer excursion by catching a 30 hour train to Xian. Initially we were supposed to be in a hard seat but I managed to befriend a policeman who got us an upgrade to hard sleeper - thank goodness. We got to Xian, mucked around for the day. Went to a gay bar where we were plied with whiskey by this very rich Chinese lady, got the worst hangover of my life. Saw the terracotta warriors, which are awesome and everyone should go and see. Did some souvenir shopping and ate in the Muslim quarter, spent another day mucking around and having fun with the girls and then got on a 24 hour train to Nanjing - soft sleeper - it was lovely. Then got on another train to Changzhou where I am now. School this semester is cool and I have a great new class full of internationals. The new teachers are great and we had a wicked party last weekend. All is good. Now planning my next big trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand