Wo jiao Li Bai!

Yesterday, I recited a memorized poem from the famous drunk-ass poet Li Bai in front of the school for the Mandarin language competition.  The student council set it up for the foreign teachers who were interested in presenting their skills in the Mandarin language.  The name of the poem was called Zeng Wang Lun. I think I did pretty well.  Cathy and her coworkers told me to speak slowly.  My gestures should be somewhere between being deep in thought and utterly tanked.

The competition was intended for groups.  After my group bailed on me, I went in solo with only a day's notice.  The students were going crazy, especially after the first group.  I realized the kids don't see us Canadian expats speak their language at all.  Actually, they probably don't see many foreigners speak putonghua in general, which is a shame because we are in their country. I also realized learning foreign languages is usually a one way street.  People learn English, and English speakers don't usually learn other languages.  When they do, it's a bloody miracle.  Must have been a novelty for the kids to see us foreigners speak Mandarin.

Anyways, I thought I did fairly well.  It definitely made me want to learn more Mandarin, that's for sure! The kids went berserk when I started talking. I even scored second place behind a group of colleagues who speak fluent Mandarin.

Here's the pinyin and rough translation for the poem:

Li Bai cheng zhou jiang yu xing
(Li Bai was about to disembark on a boat across a big pond)
Hu wen an shang ta ge sheng
(When he heard a ballad from the shore; it was his friend who came to see him off)
Tao hua tan shui shen qian chi
(The large pond is very very deep) 
Bu ji wang lun song wo xing
(But the friendship between us (Wang Lun and Li Bai) is much deeper)

Fattening up for winter

Cathy and I have made a hobby to cook awesome food and eat out at great restaurants around Wuchang.  I call it "fattening up for winter," but realistically, I suppose it has to do with my reaction to the cafeteria food getting worse and worse.

Ever since coming back from Sanya, Cathy and I have hosted a number of dinner parties and ate at pretty awesome restaurants.  So far, some highlights we've cooked are chicken pesto pasta, brownies, Chinese chestnut chicken, and a local favorite, Central Chinese hot pot.  I also have a routine of making crepes on Saturday morning.  I've managed to find unsalted pralines. Last week, I made pecan maple syrup crepes. Delicieux! Hao chi!

Some restaurant highlights include various hot pots, Italian, Thai, local spicy fish stew, countryside food, a revolving continental buffet restaurant (which Cathy and I ate at for our 1 year celebration of being together), and American Thanksgiving.

We plan to cook increasingly complex recipes each time we cook.  But before doing that, I should probably try to master my own fusion dish, Mr. P`s Scotch Whisky Flambe Stir Fry.

Eating at the revolving restaurant. Imagine the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancity, but make it cheaper and with more choices. Crazy delicious!

One of many Cathy`s turns at cooking dinner. Notice the Baron Phillipe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet Bordeaux on the right. Oddly enough, Wuhan is blessed with fine selections of wines.  Maybe it has to do with the fact Wuhan is Bordeaux`s sister city...

Meiguo de Gan En Jie (American Thanksgiving) gen wo de tongshi zai Hanyang de Aloha Restaurant.  Turkey, mash, and all the fixings.  I had 3 entree rounds, 1 eggnog steamer, 2 coffees, a slice of pumpkin pie, and some apple cider.  And Cathy came along for her first Thanksgiving!  It was American, but what the heck, eh?

Sanya!

During our first full day in Sanya, Cathy and I took the bus to one of the the 3 major beaches in Sanya.  We went to Dadonghai Bay, the beach that was closest to the downtown area.

For reasons that elude me, there are a lot of Russian tourists in Sanya.Cathy and I stopped at a Russian restaurant that looked out over Dadonghai Bay.  I had borscht and dark beer.

Our first hotel, Sanya Jia Cuo.  It overlooked the water in an isolated area of town.

The next day, we went to another beach called Yalong Bay.  It was lined by posh hotels with clean washrooms.  Unfortunately, it rained a bit. We got our jeans soaking wet and ate at an outdoor barbecue joint instead of a hoity-toity hotel lobby restaurant.

After Yalong, Cathy and I ate and drank at the Dolphin Bar, as suggested from my friend Stephanie.  It was like a sports bar from back home! We even met up with a bunch of my colleagues from Wuhan!

Dolphin Bar's American food was EXCELLENT.

Shanghaied...again

I'm sort of scared to put my external hard drive into my computer. I think I have a virus that affects external storage devices, so I'll just write for now...

Lijiang was a great experience. I think my parents and Jim really enjoyed themselves there.  I certainly did.  Ok ok, it was a bit touristy at times, but it had it's charming moments that were priceless.

After Lijiang, we flew to Shanghai.  Like the first time I was in Shanghai, the taxi driver took us a bit of a "detour" just to up the price.  Jerk.  Shanghai - the city of thieves!  A friend of mine got his wallet stolen there.  My camera was stolen on Nanjing Dong Lu.  And now I was ripped off a second time by cab drivers?

Whatever. I love Shanghai.  And I didn't let bad experiences like that ruin my awesome stay.  We stayed at a hotel with a rich history north of the Bund called the Astor House Hotel.  Great place...and the price is right for what you get.

Met my friend Jake at the hotel.  It was great seeing him.  Last time I saw him, we went on a trip to the Okanagan in 2009 before my practicum.  He's almost finished his final year in university at U of T.  We definitely caught up with each other.  2 nights in a row just drinking beers and talking until 3 AM aught to do it!

We toured the China Pavilion, Pudong, Nanjing East Road...among other places.  Jake and I broke off from the 'rents and Jim to go explore the French Quarter.  I brought him to the Propaganda Poster Museum.  Last time I was there was with my traveling partner Nick.  It was a headache to find, since it's in the basement of an apartment building.  Jake got a lot more out of it (being from Harbin) than I could have imagined.

I also got to hang out with my old colleague Hedy, and even Jake and Jake's father.  Good company, good times.

Shanghai was the last stop for my father and Jim.  They left for Vancouver after 3 days of Shanghai.  Mom and I continued to Wuhan on the same day.  She would meet Cathy and see the school...

Wo xiang Cathy

Vancouver, week 4.  I've been enjoying my time here in my native Vancity for the last few weeks, although it's been pretty busy.  So far, highlights include relearning how to drive, seeing my childhood friends, hanging out with colleagues here and in Victoria, purchasing a PS3, seeing the old Sage Bistro crew at UBC, purchasing an Cannon SLR camera, seeing my buddy Anthony and visiting my old Toastmasters club.  I also threw away a lot of junk from university, although it hardly made a dent in my junk pile at my parent's house.
 In the next few days, I plan to buy shoes that actually fit me (Chinese shoes do not fit my feet at all), and an MEC frame pack.

I'm also really beginning to miss my girlfriend Cathy.

All my friends and family told me they want to meet her.  I want her to come visit my hometown and see the people who raised me and hung out with me through the years.  Unfortunately, she isn't here by my side.  It will be very hard for her to be here with me. You might say, "Paul, just pay for her plane ticket! What the hell, man?! You're a privileged Westerner!"  Well, it's not so simple.  I'd love to do that, but I must respect the fact that Cathy wants to be independent.  But let's say I do get a plane ticket for her.  There's an even bigger issue...

The visa application of my department head's girlfriend was rejected.  It was a simple visitor's visa, and yet she still got nothing!  Her English is as good as Cathy's.  She has a job and family in China.  The big issue was travel experience and money.  According to Immigration Canada, you need money and international travel experience coming from China to Canada.  It's more or less saying that if you are Chinese and don't have money, you can't visit Canada...even if your boyfriend is a Canadian.

Before I left Wuhan, Cathy and I did a bit of research.  We learned that single people seeking visitor visas (who speak English and have had no travel experience) are sometimes deemed a bunch of gold-diggers and freeloaders with immigration tenancies, so rejection of a visa application to such people is very high.  I would be very offended if my government categorized her as a freeloader.  Cathy is part of a Canadian offshore school community and one of the hardest working staff members.  Hell, she's even hung out with and understands more about Canadians than many immigrants in Vancouver! She works harder than a good chunk of them too.  Not to be hating on immigrants in Canada, but Cathy's a cut above many of them for sure.

Anyways, I guess I have to take a chill pill and just go with the flow on this one.  I already knew Canadian immigration is oft subjective and even accused of some officials as discriminatory...no big surprise there.  I'm sure we'll will get through this one somehow.

Fuji-San

On my last full day in Japan, I did two things.  First, I splurged and stayed at a nicer ryokan, which was friggin' awesome.  Second, I went to see one of the most unmissable sights in Japan - Fuji-san.  It was a bit confusing to find the bus from Tokyo to a place called Kawaguchi Lake, which has a great lookout point of the mountain. I wanted to climb Mount Fuji, but many red flags advised against climbing it in winter.  I also didn't have enough time, nor was I prepared for a snowshoeing trip.

Kawaguchi was pretty much dead.  Many places were either not open, or empty.  There weren't that many people, and there was a lot of snow.  However, it was a clear day.  All the mountains and trees around the Fuji-san area were a nice break from the din of Tokyo.  I walked to the gondola that went up to the lookout.

Mount Fuji is an beautiful and epic sight to behold.  When I saw it, I realized why it was of national importance.  It is one huge-ass mountain.  It also is very wide.  None of my pictures could do it justice at all. 

Lucky nothing like this happened to me on my backpacking trip.

After I came down, I walked around Kawaguchi Lake.  It was getting really cold, and the few places that were open were closing up shop.  However, I stumbled over a nice outdoor onsen that was open.  Had it to myself for the whole time.  Excellent.

Getting back to Tokyo late because the bus was late to arrive, hot tea was waiting for me in my room.  Once I saw that, I just smiled and thought to myself that it was worth splurging on a better ryokan.

Traditional Japanese breakfast

Well, that more or less sums up my travels through Japan, HK, Macau, and Guangzhou.  It was one of my most memorable trips.  I had total control over where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do, which is the advantage of doing a solo assault.  But, next time I do Japan, I want people to come with me for sure.

Tomorrow, I go back to Vancouver for about a month.  I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and friends who I haven't seen in over 9 months! Oh, the stories I have to tell them!

I'll miss all the places that I've seen here in Asia so far.  I'll miss my colleagues that are leaving Wuhan, especially my travel buddy Nicolas.  We've traveled all over China with each other: Wuhan, Shanghai, Wudang Shan, Xi'an, Beijing and Chengdu. Our adventures together are over, but mine are not. I will have more, and perhaps find a new travel partner.

What awaits me when I come back to China in August?  I don't know.  Keep checking my blog.  It might be out of action for a while when I'm back in my native Vancouver, but rest assured, it'll be back in full swing by the time I get back to China.  Part one of my adventures in Asia are over.  Thanks for reading and have a great summer!!!

Chengdu

Chengdu, Sichuan.  Nicholas, Anthony and I ditched Cindy, Em and Conner in Beijing to head to Chengdu, home of the Giant Panda Base and Sichuan hot pot.  The hot pot nearly burned my bloody tongue off!

The Flag in Chengdu

 

Chengdu is a great city.  Much cleaner and a hell of a lot more organized than Wuhan.  The city was easy to navigate, and the weather was good.

At the Giant Panda Base, we saw a lot of pandas (obviously) and also many peacocks, which are annoying little buggers.  I heard a story that one time a panda got fed up with a peacock and chased it down.  Once caught, the panda took off the peacock's head.  As adorable as the pandas were, I always had to remind myself that these bears could probably smack a human around like it was a plastic straw.

Not as well-known as their giant panda buddies, these "red pandas" were nonetheless cute as hell.  They were pretty lazy. Most of them were sleeping in a tree the whole time.

I was really impressed by the Giant Panda Base.  I was expecting really ragtag treatment of animals, but I was happy to see that the pandas get taken care of very well and have plenty of room.  Most of the time they just sit together eating or wrestle with each other.  They don't really utilize all the room they're given, but at least it was given to them.

The Flag at the Giant Panda Base

At a Buddhist temple

At Du Fu`s Cottage

Garden at Du Fu's Cottage

After the Panda Base, we went to the cottage of the famous Chinese poet Du Fu, a good friend of the Romantic poet Li Bai.  All I know of these two guys is that they both shared a really close friendship (perhaps somewhat like Wordsworth and Coleridge in Britain), and that Li Bai really liked the fire water.

We ended our 2 day adventure in Chengdu at a Tex-Mex restaurant near Sichuan University. It was one of the best non-Chinese meals I have had in Asia.

Kung Fu Fighting and the English Arts Festival

Today some of my colleagues and I went to Kung Fu lessons.  My instructor Carol kicked the crap out of us...as usual.  By the end of the lesson, my left arm was ready to fall off.  I've been having some muscular pain in my shoulder as of late.  Probably just a minor rotater cuff injury.

After Kung Fu, I went to my school's English Arts Festival.  The kids and volunteer teachers put in a lot of care and work into the production of this year's play The Jungle Book.  I was really impressed, especially with the shadow puppet show the art teacher spearheaded.  My role this year was helping with the speech competition.  Out of the 40 students that competed for the speech cup, a grade 9 girl came out on top. When I saw her speak at the finale earlier today, I was so proud of her.  Her English was better than some of my grade 11 and 12's. She used many techniques outlined in my Toastmasters CC manual...without any formal training. Wow.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures.

More Beijing Pictures

"Men at Work"

The Flag at the Imperial Throne Room

Silly Forbidden City Antics

"You're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall" - Mao Zedong

Anthony basking in his Great Wall manliness

Cindy and Myself becoming manlier!

THIS IS CHINA!!!!

Great Wall After Shot

Roller Coaster Slide!!!  Definitely the best way down the Wall.

Kerosene...I mean baijiu.

Beijing Breakfast Crepe

Head-bopping calligrapher

Jenga!!!

Final evening in a chill hutong bar - cards, Jenga, Leffe Blond, and Paulaner Oktoberfest