A Short Interlude:

It's true! Your favorite blogger is unable to view her own blog! I can post things, but I can't load the page. Your Favorite blogger (The "YFB", pronounced: why-eff-bee) is also taking mid-terms this week and is very busy. So, between now and whenever the Great Firewall decides I'm not a threat, the blog is going to change focus a bit. It will be a short interlude between blogging about how weird China is, and blogging about other stuff.

I only have two addictions: coffee and sugar. In the States, I drink at least a pot of coffee a day. When I finish the pot, I often take to drinking Diet Coke and tea to satisify the constant caffeine craving. I want it because I need it. I want it because I like it. I want it because I'm bored. I want it because I'm thirsty. I want it when it's cold out. I want it when it's warm. I take coffee instead of tylenol. I take coffee instead of food.

This addiction came to a head when I realized I had stopped drinking water. I never drank it. Not even once. I knew that by coming to China, I would have to give up this addiction or at least severly curb it. I wasn't giving up without a fight though, I brought a can of instant coffee in my carry on, and received a coffee maker on my birthday.

The coffee maker is half the size of the one I have at home, and I drink half the pot. I've cut down signifigantly on my caffeine intake, now I'm feeling the need to cut back on my sugar addiction.

According to some so-called "scientist", sugar withdrawal is sometimes marked by symptoms similar to those of drug withdrawal. I'm not sure how much validity there is to this argument (they don't either), but I intend to find out. Starting tomorrow, I will be kicking the sugar habit. I ate three bags of M&M's today, two pieces of banana bread and a piece of cake. I'm craving the stuff like I've never craved it before, and I think it's time to stop. For the pleasure of all those out in blogland, I will be documenting my detox.

In order to start this thing off right, I looked up a twelve-step program. Here they are: (I'm a big fan of number 12.)

1. Stick to foods that are closest to their original form. Instead of eating corn from a can, eat corn on the cob. Banish white bread and embrace wheat bread. Forget fruit juices; go for the actual fruit. The closer a food is to it's original form, then less processed sugar it will contain.

2. Eat protein with breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but do you know why? Breakfast is the meal that will make or break you for the rest of the day. Your first meal must create blood sugar stability that will carry you to the next meal without sugar cravings.

3. Eat protein with every meal. As soon as your blood sugar is thrown out of whack, you will be off the wagon again. Eating protein with each meal prepares your body for the increase of seratonin production and keeps your blood sugar stable throughout the day.

4. Read Labels! It's incredible how many things we put into our mouths without the slightest idea what is in them. The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely sugar is going to be included on that list.

5. Don't starve yourself in order to reward your restraint with a donut or a Twix. Not only is this bad for your body, but you won't lose weight. Your body will just go into starvation mode, storing all your calories as fat. So that slice of chocolate cake you eat after a seven hour fast is going straight to fat.

6. Keep a journal of what you eat. You will be surprised, and probably shocked, by the amount of sugar-filled snacks and extras involved in your diet. Write down everything, down to those five M&Ms or that tablespoon of teriyaki sauce.

7. Brown is beautiful: brown rice, wheat bread, brown cereals, etc... Brown foods give your body the positive effects of carbohydrates without unbalancing your blood sugar and creating cravings.

8. Be active and keep busy. Most of us snack the most when we are bored and inactive. Go for a walk. Go shopping. Organize your entire house. Anything to keep your hands busy and away from the cookie jar.

9. Eat a potato before bed. Before your head explodes from the thought of eating a starchy, carbohydrate-filled potato right before bed, consider this: when taken with the right vitamins, that spud will increase your production of seratonin, balancing your blood sugar levels. Besides, it's better than eating ice cream before bed.

10. Try a detox program. Detoxing isn't just for yoga yogis and Enya junkies anymore. There are dozens of detox programs designed for health enthusiasts of all levels. Some last two days, some last two months. But they all have one thing in common: after the initial overwhelming sugar cravings, your body adjusts and you won't even want the sugar anymore.

11. Drink water constantly. The more water you drink, the more your body will be fooled into thinking it is not hungry. Plus, you can rest assured that there is not a grain of sugar in water.

12. Don't get down on yourself if you slip and eat a desert every once in a while. It's okay to reward yourself, just don't start the addiction all over again. There are always healthier options for deserts. Eat berries with some low-calorie whipped topping. Snack on a couple of graham crackers. Maybe you would be healthier if you cut out sugar altogether forever, but people who do things in moderation get the best of both worlds. Enjoy your life, but don't overdo it.

There's a couple of these steps that I am going to skip. I am NOT keeping a journal. I am NOT eating a potato before bed. I won't read lables, and I'm NOT going through a real detox program. That cancels out four of the steps, making my job a third of the way easier. I'd tell you all how much I weigh, but the only scale in the house is in kilograms.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes. Once again, I apologize for the irregular blogging of these past few weeks. Things will be getting back to normal soon.

Testing...

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... If you can see this, please post a comment. I've been unable to get around the Great Firewall, and am not sure if this is actually posting or not.

It's Sunday!

"But Laura," You ask, "Where have you been? It's been nearly a week without a new post, and we're starting to get worried."

So am I, so am I. The truth is, I think I've been b@nn3d. I'm having a hard time accessing the blog to post anything. Some b@nn3d websites work on my computer, some don't. My pr0xxy hasn't totally failed me, but I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I can get onto blogger.com, but viewing anyone's blog is out of the question. If anyone knows of a way around the Great Firew@11 of China, please send me an email. For now, I've written a poem to commemorate this sad failure of my proxy:

B@nned, schmanned!
If only I had planned!
I would like to have manned
the pr0xyy with my hand.
B@nned, schmanned!

Hopefully, this will actually post. Someone please write a comment (blogger emails me when you do this), and let me know if you can see this post. I've written another poem:

Comment, schmomment!
You folks are my abutment!
Do you know what abutment meant?
How 'bout additament?
Comment, schmomment!

There's a bunch of interesting articles about the Great F1rew@ll. There seems to be a lot of debate about how it works. Some argue that the Great Fir3wa11 isn't there at all; it's really the result of government pressure on different internet companies causing them to moniter themselves. Others argue about the technicalities of how it works. Still others are constantly working to circumvent it. Here's some links to articles I found particularly interesting. You should all read the article about Google mirror. Type that into your Google search box, and click the first link. You'll see what I mean...

Read this first.

Google Mirror If you want to search anything, remember to type the words
backwards.

This isn't my favorite news site, but it's a good article.

Why this blogger loves the USA.

Update:

There's a mosquito on my ceiling just waiting for a visit from Patton. This is a war, and I'm winning.

It's Tuesday!

Yay! It's Tuesday, meaning it's sign language class day! I've been attending for a couple of weeks now, and find that learning a second sign language is much easier than the first one. Sign languages are hard to wrap your brain around, they force you to think of language in a completely different way. How can you convey the abstract in a sign language? What about subject-verb agreement? Is it as fast to use as a spoken language? Is it universal? Why not? All these questions and more are answered more through a trial and error process than from direct teaching. In order to use sign language effectively, you must learn to think in visual terms. You must learn to listen with your eyes, and shortcut the thoughts from your mind to your hands.

Sign language class has been good, so far. There are about a dozen native users who attend, and about 100 students. One thing I find interesting is that the teacher teaches word-for-word Chinese signs. My textbook has a small section on what is termed the "Natural Sign Language". As I follow along with the teacher, the deaf participants often interrupt me to show me the "real" signs. Even though these participants use a natural sign language, they still teach others the word-for-word Chinese. Trust me, there is a huge difference between these two sign systems. The Signed Chinese feels awkward and clumsy. It's slow and cumbersome, many signs consisting of three or four parts. The natural sign language seems to flow more smoothly. Some of the handshapes are hard for me (handshapes not found in ASL), but overall it feels okay.

I mentioned to someone at last week's class that I was in Chengdu conducting research. I mentioned that I wanted to research sign language, but I didn't go into any further details. Everything has worked out well, but now I'm feeling nervous about approaching with my research idea. I think I'll wait a few more class sessions, and then bring the topic up. I want to show that I am sincere, and that I am not trying to expose any wrongdoings or down sides of this community.

Some Serious Health Concerns to Discuss--

Before leaving the States I made a first-aid kit. I hardly ever get sick, and I didn't want take any chances in China. I was given very detailed and graphic descriptions of the types of diseases I could get, and how I should prepare. "You'll be sick the ENTIRE time. Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Or my favorite, "A Pepto a day keeps the doctor away!"

With this motto in mind, I trudged off to Costco to buy a year's supply of Pepto, and whatever else I could shove into my new first aid kit. I bought enough supplies that I could probably care for half of China in the event of a bird flu outbreak. Then I packed the kit and lugged it half way across the world.

I haven't even felt a twinge of sickness. I eat everything, I drink boiled water, and I spend a lot of time in close quarters with other people. I haven't had reason to crack the first aid kit open. My good health aside, there is one thing I didn't count on being an issue: mosquitos.

The problem didn't start until my second week here, after I had moved out of the student dorms. At the apartment we leave our patio door and windows open-- there are no screens. I live on the third floor of the apartment building, and had not anticipated having a problem with the mosquitos. On my second night in the apartment, I slept with the blankets off. The weather had been unbearably hot, and the cool air felt good. The next morning I woke up with nearly twenty mosquito bites on my legs. Describing them as mosquito bites isn't quite accurate; they are mosquito welts, and they itched like hell. By the end of that week, nearly half of my anti-itch cream had been used and bandages covered my legs. I closed the window in the bedroom and made sure I ALWAYS slept under the blankets. That system worked fine for a couple of days. No new bites, and the other ones were finally started to heal.

About a week later I had another bout with the mosquitos. That time, I woke up with mosquito bites covering half of my face. I had one on my eyelid that made my eye feel heavy and swollen. I was a little more patient with these ones, and within a couple of days they were gone.

I spent some time that week looking up the Chinese words for mosquito bite, mosquito spray, and kill, kill, kill. After my Chinese roommate saw my face and realized the problem, she gave me a fan to use. If the fan was blowing on me at night, the mosquitos would be unable to bite me. This seemed to work pretty well for a while. The only problem is that they are ever present during the day. Every morning when I take a shower, there is the inevitable mosquito flying around the bathroom. (Ooh, I just love killing them with the shower spray!) Everyday when I eat meals or do homework, there is always a mosquito buzzing just out of my reach.

What make this situation all the worse is that I seem to be the only one with this problem. Oh, others do get bit, it's just that their reaction is much smaller, if noticable at all. My mosquito bites are huge, and last for days on end.

I finally went shopping and bought a mosquito killer plug-in. I'm not sure if it really works or not, but having it on makes me feel better. I still use the fan and refuse to open my window, so it's hard to know what to attribute my reduction of mosquito bites to.

The week before last was the first week I didn't have any new bites. (I've taken to counting them to see how many new ones I get everyday.) I thought that I was finally on the road to a mosquito free existance, when it happened again. I was shopping for some bootleg DVDs at the time. The DVD stand was in the shade, and as I stood there reading the labels, I could feel pricking on my legs, and an intense itching. I must have been absorbed in whatever I was reading, because for some reason it didn't register in my brain what was going on. It was only when I started using one foot to scratch at the other leg that I realized there was a problem. I looked down: at least a dozen mosquitos had already attached themselves to my calves and were happily sucking in my blood. Back to wearing long pants again...

AAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've developed a method recent days to deal with the mosquitos that bite me at night. Whether I see them or not, they seem to be always present. When I'm ready to go to bed, I lay back and wait. In the evenings, the mosquitos get hungry. If I lay still I can watch as they come out of their hiding places and land on my wall. I just know they're waiting for me to close my eyes. I've found that heading them off at the pass has been the best method. I wait until they're on the wall, and then I take a DVD case and proceed to smoosh 'em. I've chosen the DVD "Patton" to do the job. Patton is a pretty tough guy, and the mosquito blood--my blood--blends in with the red on the picture. I wouldn't want to mess with Patton; he's a man carrying a crop-whip.

My other method of mosquito deterance has been a daily dose of vitamin B. Apparently, people who don't have enough vitamin B get mosquito bites more often. I was also told that people with blood type B also attract mosquitos. I don't know what my blood type is, but I now have a strong suspicion.

Oops, one just landed above my head-- gotta go!

Wow! What great news!

I got this article in my inbox this morning:

Wal-Mart Said to Be Acquiring Chain in China

By DAVID BARBOZA and MICHAEL BARBARO

SHANGHAI, Tuesday, Oct. 17 — Wal-Mart Stores , the largest retailer in the United States, is laying the groundwork to become the biggest foreign chain in China with the $1 billion purchase of a major retailer here, according to people briefed on the deal.

The move represents a large step for Wal-Mart's strategy in China, allowing the American retailer to more than double its presence in a country that, despite its size and growing middle class, remains largely untapped by foreign retailers.

Though the size of the acquisition — of a Taiwanese-owned supermarket chain called Trust-Mart — may be modest for Wal-Mart, it is a critical one because the Chinese market is becoming much more pivotal in the retailer's overall international strategy. For Wal-Mart, China represents an opportunity to tap a vast and fast-growing market abroad at a time when the company's sales are lagging elsewhere and it has run into obstacles to expansion at home.

"China is the only country in the world that offers Wal-Mart the chance to replicate what they have accomplished in the U.S.," said Bill Dreher, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities.

Wal-Mart expects to close the deal for Trust-Mart by the end of the year, but it still needs approval by Chinese authorities, according to a person briefed on the transaction.

The acquisition is likely to trigger an intense battle among foreign and domestic retailers to gain a strong foothold in the world's fastest-growing economy.

The deal puts Wal-Mart neck-and-neck in China with Carrefour, the giant French retailer, which also bid for Trust-Mart. Wal-Mart, which has only 66 stores in China compared with Carrefour's more than 200, outbid not only Carrefour, but also Tesco of Britain and one of China's large retailers, Lianhua.

The purchase also highlights the staggering reach of the $300 billion Wal-Mart empire. The company started in rural Arkansas 45 years ago and has become the largest foreign retailer in Mexico and Canada. In numerous other foreign markets, however, Wal-Mart has been stymied, pulling out of Germany and South Korea, or has met strong challenges, as in Japan, where it has struggled to gain a share of the market.

By acquiring Trust-Mart, Wal-Mart will not only be able to match Carrefour, but also to compete with much bigger Chinese retailers, like China Resources and the Shanghai Brilliance Group, which are the country's largest retailers with more than $3 billion in sales and more than 8,000 stores combined.

Trust-Mart has more than 100 stores with 30,000 employees in more than 20 Chinese provinces, but it operates mainly at the low end of the supermarket chains. One challenge for Wal-Mart will to determine where it will position itself in the retailing market.

China's economy is expanding at a rate of 10 percent to 11 percent a year, making it by far the world's fastest-growing major economy. Retail sales are even more robust, jumping by about 15 percent a year for the last several years.

Big retailers are fairly new in China, which for decades has been dominated by small regional chains. Indeed, China has no dominant national players in the retail market, which is why Wal-Mart and other international retailers are battling aggressively to expand there.

"China's a very fragmented market and very diverse," says George Svinos, head of Asia Pacific retail at KPMG's office in Australia. "So in order to get any penetration into that market you'd need to make a big move."

China, however, is a tricky market for American retailers. Chinese consumers spend less than Americans when they go into stores, but they shop more frequently.

The average Chinese shopper spends about $4 at Wal-Mart, compared with $20 for the average American, according to Wal-Mart.

But Wal-Mart and other retailers hope to lure the middle-class Chinese, one of the fastest-growing segments of the population. Already, middle-class shoppers crowd into Carrefour, Wal-Mart and Ikea.

Other retailers, like Toys "R" Us, Home Depot and Best Buy, have just announced plans to open outlets in China.

The government has opened its retail market to foreigners, but at the same time, it has also encouraged Chinese companies to merge. In one example, the Shanghai Bailian Group struck a deal with Dashang, which operates the second-largest chain store group, to create new stores.

Moreover, China's biggest state-owned retailers and a handful of aggressive entrepreneurs are pushing to create national chains, like Beijing-based WuMart and Gome, the country's largest consumer electronics store, which is owned by one of the country's wealthiest men.

Carrefour, which is the largest foreign retailer in China by sales, with more than $2 billion, has been expanding much more aggressively than Wal-Mart. Carrefour plans to open 100 new superstores this year, which will raise its total to more than 300.

Analysts say that Wal-Mart's expansion has stepped up only in recent years. Up until now, they say, the retailer has not had great advantages over its bigger competitors. It has had high costs in China because systems for purchasing, transportation and distribution are clogged and complicated in a country that is still largely inefficient and without a strong national highway grid.

Wal-Mart appeared to smooth the way for expansion in China in July when, for the first time, it allowed employees to form a trade union, the company's first in China. The retailer has long battled unions in the United States, arguing they will make the company less efficient.

In the United States, where Wal-Mart has more than 4,000 mostly suburban stores, its performance has begun to trail that of major competitors, like Target, particularly in sales at stores open at least a year. And Wal-Mart has encountered growing resistance to locating new stores in urban areas.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Beth Keck, declined to comment on the Trust-Mart transaction.

Wal-Mart entered China in 1996 with a supercenter under its own name and a Sam's Club in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. In a departure from its practice of buying domestic chains with strong local name recognition, Wal-Mart started by building its business in China on its own.

But the pace of Wal-Mart's growth in China has been slow. A decade after arriving, it has just 66 stores, failing to crack the list of the country's top 20 retailers; hence, the move to acquire Trust-Mart.

Wal-Mart operates stores in 13 countries, including Brazil, Japan, and England, but foreign sales represent just $64 billion, or 20 percent, of its more than $300 billion in annual sales.

In several countries, it has discovered its American formula for success — rock-bottom prices, zealous control of inventory and a wide array of products — simply does not translate.

In Germany, for example, Wal-Mart never established comfortable relations with the powerful unions, which dominate retail in the country. In South Korea, it failed to satisfy the tastes of finicky local consumers.

Thus, in a stinging admission of defeat, Wal-Mart pulled out of Germany and South Korea this year after failing to turn around poor sales.

Wal-Mart, however, remains committed to Japan, where it operates stores under the name Seiyu, despite lackluster performance.

A major obstacle overseas for Wal-Mart has been building a big enough network of stores to compete with local chains and to secure low prices from suppliers. That may explain, in part, why Wal-Mart is eager to grow in China.

Mr. Dreher, of Deutsche Bank, expects Wal-Mart to expand aggressively there. By the year 2010, he predicts the company will have as many as 400 stores in China.

David Barboza reported from Shanghai, and Michael Barbaro from New York. Keith Bradsher contributed reporting from Hong Kong.

Leshan

On Tuesday, Sichuan University took us foreigners on a field trip to Leshan. Leshan is the site of the world's largest Buddha, which is carved into a cliff overlooking the Dadu river. The Buddah hasn't always been the largest, Leshan owes the Taliban for that favor.

We were asked to arrive at SU's East Gate at 8:00 to load up the buses. In the beginning of the sememster, we were given a list of places we could go free of charge on school sponsored field trips. This one was by far the most popular, with most of the foreign students turning out.

We drove several hours out of Chengdu before arriving at large park (I don't remember the name) in a small town (still don't know the name). In true Chinese fashion, we were given a half-hour to take pictures of the important stuff, and then rounded up for the next leg of our trip.

The Chinese have the Americans beat when it comes to parks. In the US, when you go to a park that is say, in the woods, it will look like the woods. Not so in China. Every park I have been to has been meticulously planned. The scenery is stunning, the plants are beautiful, and the buildings look as though they are a part of nature.
Leshan was still an hour away from the park, so after grabbing some snacks, we loaded into the bus and took off.

Leshan's only claim to fame is the giant Buddha. Construction was started in 713 AD, it took over a decade to complete. It is over 500 meters in height, and the cliffs on either side are dotted with smaller Buddhas.

In order to reach the Buddha, we had to climb down a switchback trail. Along the way, we could see hundreds of Buddhas that had been carved along the way. Some were very intricate in design, others had weathered away to mere stumps. When we arrived at the bottom of the trail, we were able to see the full scale of the Buddha. It was HUGE, and worth the hike!













Later that afternoon, I met up with one of my classmates, a Korean whose job sent him to Chengdu for language training. He and his wife invited myself and another classmate to join them for lunch on Sunday. It should be fun. I seem to be really busy with these kinds of get-togethers. I always appreciate that people are willing to take us newbies in. On Friday I'll be having dinner at one of my neighbor's homes, and Sunday evening I will be cooking spaghetti for a Chinese family that has taken me in.

I still think my toilet is the best--

But mine doesn't have the tongue feature.

Wal-Mart!

I believe I've posted before about how much I like Wal-Mart. Oh, I know it's not the most well liked or politically correct place to hang out, but I still love it. The crowds of people, the cheap prices, the stuff scattered across the floor... It's just great!

There's several Western type stores scattered about Chengdu. The one I frequent the most is called Trust Mart. Century Mart and Carrefour run a close second. Although all three of these stores have more of a "Western" feel to them than say, your average street vendor, they are still distinctly Chinese. Because of the crowds, these stores are almost overwhelming to shop in. This is only worsened by the sales people who shout the day's special using megaphones.

I'd read somewhere that Wal-Mart was advancing on China, but I had no idea there was one in Chengdu. Then, one day I was staring at my Chengdu map when I saw it: in the far corner, in the opposite direction of my house, there was a little notation, "Wal-Mart".

After assertaining that Sarah was indeed willing to come with me, we set a date. Wal-Mart is on the opposite end of town, but we figured we would just bike there and see how long it took us. Biking everywhere has helped me gain an understanding of how the city is laid out. For that reason, I like to bike whenever I get the chance. The day arrived, we pointed our handlebars in the right direction, and headed out.

It took us over an hour to get there, but we arrived in one piece and without getting lost (this is a feat in itself!). Wal-Mart was actually a part of a larger shopping complex, which included several Chinese clothing stores and a KFC. It seems wherever there is a Western store, there is a KFC nearby.

We manueverd our bikes toward the bicycle parking lot, noticing a group of Wal-Mart employees smoking near the entrance. I commented to Sarah, "The don't look too disgruntled." She agreed, and we made our way into the shopping center.

Wal-Mart was an escalator ride up, and a short trip around the corner to find the entrance. There were no Wal-Mart greeters, and all the employees wore bright red shirts instead of those silly vests they wear in the States.

Wal-Mart had the best variety out of all the grocery stores I've been to. I picked up some banana bread, spaghetti noodles, dried coconut, and a couple of storage bins. What made Wal-Mart nicer than some of the other stores was the lack of crowds. The aisles were wider, and although there were a ton of people there, you didn't feel suffocated like you do in Trust Mart. Best of all, there were no megaphones to be found. The prices were good, the variety was good, and the people were sort-of friendly. What more could you ask for?

It's Saturday!

Ahh, Saturday. A day to relax and catch up on all the blogging I haven't been doing. I usually have a list of things I wish to blog about, but when I sit down to my computer, I only have the energy and time to blog one or two things.

It's been yet another exciting week in the good ol' PRC. My bike, "The Batmobile" has been holding up fairly well since I bought it. While I was riding my bike to school, a car actually scraped my front tire. I was riding through an alley way that I take (the "secret way" is what Sarah and I call it). When I came to the mouth of the alley, I stopped my bike to wait for an opportunity to cross the street. The mouth of the alley is on a narrow two-lane street. About fifteen feet from where I stood there is a sharp, 90-degree turn. That morning there was a large, overloaded truck trying to negotiate that 90-degree turn while the cars heading in the opposite direction either stopped or tried to use the sidewalk as a passing route. It looked like I would be able to make a clean break through the traffic as most of the cars had come to a stop. Horns were blaring, and people were yelling. I slowly pushed my bike out into the road when something caught my eye. A car was trying to squeeze around the right side of the truck. I pulled my bike back a few inches to let the car through. As he passed, the front wheel of my bike scraped along the side of his car. SCHREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I stood in fascinated horror as the rubber from my tire painted a black streak across the new VW.

A little later that week, my front tire popped.

I think I saw one of these yesterday--

It was in a restaurant.

If you value your sanity--

Do not even think about clicking this link. I've warned you.

WARDEN NOTICE: Possible Nucle...

That's what me and many other Americans woke up to find in our email inboxes. I've posted the contents of the email below.

WARDEN NOTICE: Possible Nuclear Test in North Korea

AmCitBeijing to undisclosed-re.
More options Oct 9 (12 hours ago)

On Monday, October 9, U.S. and South Korean intelligence services detected a seismic event at a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea. North Korea has claimed it conducted an underground nuclear test, but these reports are unconfirmed. The United States Government is monitoring the situation closely. As of the morning of October 10, the Embassy has received no information from any source indicating that there are health dangers that pose a risk to American citizens in any areas of China.


Actually, this was just an email from the consulate. I get them fairly often, but this one made me laugh. Honestly, the potential of a second head or glowing skin didn't even occur to me until today. And now I'm freaked out.

I still like my toilet better--

But it's lacking that personal touch.

Baijiu

This would be my vision of satan.

Mysterious English of the Holiday Break, So Far--

What caught my attention was the "No Crowding." They should put a "Drive Safe" sign next to it.
Then, I looked up and saw this beauty--

This one is especially for you, Sarah:

Pink Barbie boots are back--

It's Monday!

I didn't shower for three days, and my fellow passengers were starting to stink.

We started our trip early Sunday morning. Leaving our apartment in the dark of the morning, my roommate and I walked to the street corner where we were met by a cab. We shoved our bags in the back, and directed the driver to Sichuan University. He dropped us off a few minutes early, so Sarah took off to see if our other classmate, Matthew was awake. We'd been calling him all morning to make sure he woke up on time, but so far had no luck. A bus was waiting for us; I hopped in and pointed the driver in the direction Sarah had just run. Pretty soon we were all nestled in the back of the minibus driving around Chengdu picking up fellow passengers.

After about an hour, we pulled up to a bus stop and were directed to a larger bus. We threw our stuff underneath, and again piled into the back.

The bus ride from Chengdu to Chongqing was about four hours. Every hour or so, the bus would pull over and let everyone out for a squat pot break. The highway passed through farmland and towns, we went through small valleys and over large hills. After living in no-hills Chengdu, the change of scenery was a welcome one.

Chongqing (pronounced Chong Ching) lies sprawled out over several large hills overlooking the Yangtze. It was foggy the day we arrived, but I suspect that like all the places I've been so far, it's "foggy" most of the time.

We were met at the bus stop by an English speaking guide. In reality, she was a travel agent who was there to sell us on all the different tour options we could buy. It worked out well though, we booked a tour of the Three Gorges Dam, train and bus tickets from her. After taking care of business we left in search of Carrefour, the French version of Wal-Mart.

We bought a ton of supplies and made our way back to the travel agency where we were led down to the river by one of the agents.

Because the water level is rising, the ships are not moored onto permenant docks. Instead, there is a series of barges roped together. You must walk barge-to-barge, and then ship-to-ship until you can board your own.

We opted to take one of the cruises designed for Chinese tourists. The Westerner cruise takes place on the classy Victoria. We however, sailed on the #7.

My classmates and I booked a third-class cabin, meaning we would be sharing with three other people.

The cruise wasn't large; maybe four-hundred passengers in total. It had a small restaurant and bar that were only open at meal times. The ship was old; the steel floors were warped and uneven. One got the impression that the ship had already sunk, and was somehow hauled back to the surface to be put to use once again.

A mother, father, and their daughter whose English name was Lily were our fellow cabin mates. Lily is in sixth grade, and wants to be a singer when she grows up. At one point during the trip she even sang for us. She was good. Really good.

We left Chongqing that evening. The city's skyline was an amazing show of laser lights and neon. We all crowded out of our rooms and pushed our way out of steerage to the upper decks. I stood on the second floor deck and let the wind blow across my face.

"You can't come up here. You don't have the card." I looked to my right. A steerage cop stood there, glaring at me. She had the look of a hardened lunch lady. She'd seen all the tricks, and there was no way I was going to get past her. She stuck her hand out, "The card is 55 kuai."

I snorted and retreated back to steerage. I waited for a moment and watched as my classmates were also kicked out. We stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Let's just sneak past her. I don't see why we should have to pay. Honestly, sneaking past her will make this trip all the more fun." We waited a few minutes, and then proceeded back up the stairs. This time, we were allowed to stay on deck a few minutes before we were finally sent back to steerage.

It wasn't until the next day that we discovered that we needed the 55 kuai card in order to enter the bar, have a seat on deck, go to the restaurant, or spend any amount of time outside of steerage. Eventually, the lack of seats in steerage drove us to forking over the money.

The first stop we made was at the Ghost City Temple. Here's some pictures:




The rest of the first day was spent on the boat. We were the only Americans on board. There was one other Westerner, a teacher named Jess. She's from Great Britian, and had already spent the better part of a year in China. We fast made friends.

Life on the upper decks is pretty casual. Everyone sits on plastic stools and sips tea as they watch the scenery go by.

We were pretty popular, and made a lot of new Chinese friends. Actually, if we stood around for too long, we became the subjects of people's photographs.

Everyday we were awakened early in the morning by our tour guide who rounded us like cattle and made sure we got off the boat on time.

The afternoon of the third day we went on a tour of the Little Three Gorges and the Little Little Three Gorges. That morning we had passed through the first of the Three Gorges.
We were taken off the cruise ship and led to smaller boats that would take us into the small gorges. They were beautiful! 
 
 
 On the return trip, several of our fellow passengers just had to talk with us. One man from Harbin kept asking questions about American politics. He spoke with such a heavy accent, that even if we could answer him, we still wouldn't have understood him. After about five minutes of him yelling questions about Bin Laden and George Bush at us, some other passengers came by and started "interpreting" what he was saying. Pretty soon we had a crowd of Chinese people all yelling at each other and at us. My classmates and I just sat and stared. I kept trying to look away and make it obvious I didn't want to talk, but they were having none of it. All was not in vain however, we were invited to join them for dinner on board the cruise ship.

We met the gentleman(?) in the restaurant. There was already a table full of food, and I noticed he was carrying a bottle of Chinese rice wine (Baijiu), also known as "satan's brew." I'd heard of this tradition before, and was warned that I would probably have to take part in one of these rice wine drinking banquets.

As we sat down to eat, he pulled out small plastic cups and filled them to the brim with baijiu. Then he started toasting us. I took a tiny sip of the wine and recoiled in horror. The stuff was painful. It didn't quite burn, it was almost sweet. I continued taking baby sips, each one tasting worse than the one before. Finally during one toast, Sarah and I looked at each other and gulped the entire thing.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was very near drunk. Meanwhile, our host had broken out the preserved meat products and was using his chopsticks to fill my bowl with them. The dinner went on like this for about another hour. By the time I felt steady enough to stand up, our hosts were paying the bill. I pushed away from the table, waiting for the sloshing in my stomach to settle, and walked outside.

It was strange, I was clear-headed but I could still feel the baijiu sloshing around in my stomach. I sat on the back deck amid the smokers, while the boat rocked, and my stomach churned with spam and alcohol.

We got off the boat early the next day. We had bought tickets for a tour of the damn dam. Once again, we booked one of the Chinese tours, meaning we spent the morning running around from scenic spot to scenic spot, taking as many pictures as we could manage before we were herded back onto the bus.

Here's a picture of me beautifying the dam. The last day of our trip was spent in Wuhan. We read up in a guidebook that Mao Zedong had a villa in the city. We asked our hotel clerks about buses, and headed off in search of Mao's pad. As it turned out, the place was closed. I did get some good pictures of the road to Mao's place and the city.  
 
 
 Just a side note: heres the Captain's Quarters on the #7:

You can all see the pictures of a Baijiu advertisement I saw above.