August 4th to 13th travel plans
I’m not sure if I posted my travel plans with Kyle yet so here it is. To preface the actual plan, Kyle is coming to China on August 4th, we’re then spending 10 days travelling on the way back to Linfen where we’ll spend Jesstival, then spend 2 more days travelling after to one more city, then back to Linfen to soak up the local culture for 2 weeks.
So, the plan is as follows. I am leaning more towards bringing my laptop now, so I can upload pictures at the end of each day.
August 4 – 7 – Shanghai
Shanghai will be our first stop and our meeting place. We’re spending an extra day here because August 5th will likely be a very lazy day due to jetlag. August 6th is when we should be seeing the major touristy things, with August 5th keeping us tethered to the hotel and maybe doing a bit of light exploring on foot or by bus. Never fear, every day will be packed full of adventure! We’ll ride a magnet train, go to the 100th floor of a building, maybe party with some Shanghai girls.. who knows? Shanghai is going to be hot. Right now it’s 19 degrees in Linfen with 75% humidity. Shanghai is 25 degrees and 94% humidity. Some days Linfen is hotter, but regardless it’s going to be a little different. British Columbia is very mild in comparison to my region of China – it was a shock to get used to both summer and winter but I’ve had a month in the summer heat already. Kyle got a haircut which will help, I need to get a haircut soon, maybe today.
In Canada the train is extremely expensive. It’s less used as a method of transport and more used as a tourist attraction or for people who just want a few days of relaxation instead of taking a plane. The trains are considerably more expensive than planes in Canada, often costing up to 2x more and taking much longer. The train company uses the scenery as justification for this outrageous price and as a result I haven’t been on a train – like many Canadians – in many years. don’t actually know if/when Kyle has been on a train, but that’s the preferred method of travel for most people in China.
Trains here are cheap. They’re also crowded and often their Air Conditioning isn’t enough for the large number of people (and in the winter the heat isn’t enough). Despite all of this riding on a train is a very pleasant experience. There are usually friendly people who will say hello, sometimes children will come up to take pictures with you. I haven’t been on a train in about a month but I usually have a good time.
Kyle and I are going to ride enough trains that it’s likely even I won’t want to ride them anymore. After we finish in Shanghai the plan is to take a train over to Beijing.
August 7 – 9 – Beijing
Beijing wasn’t part of the original plan but then Kyle informed me that he had a professor who was in Beijing in August. Now it turns out he might not be there but given our other destinations Beijing still makes logical sense. Being in Beijing will allow us to simply travel Southwest and hit all the cities I wanted to visit one by one on the way back to Linfen instead of having to go through Linfen and double back on the way home, wasting time.
I’m not sure what we’ll do in Beijing, but it might be nice to see the Great Wall. Everyone always talks about that and although I’m not a history kind of guy, it might be worth seeing since we’re going to be there anyway.
When I came to China I flew into Beijing. I was overwhelmed and tired from the flight so maybe I couldn’t appreciate it as much as I should, but Beijing is a place I’ve little interest in returning to. There’s nothing wrong with the city, it’s just that Shanghai and other cities offer me more of what I want to see. That’s not to say I won’t enjoy Beijing, I’m sure that I’ll love it. There’s a reason it was chosen for the Olympics and there’s a reason it’s a huge tourist destination. I’m doing Shanghai on the same trip so I can’t possibly feel that I’ve wasted anything.
Upon the conclusion of Beijingtime we begin our tour of the Shanxi province – the province I call home. Our travels will take us to three cities besides Linfen, with the most time spent in Linfen. Part of Kyle’s trip was that I wanted him to be able to experience the life and culture of Chinese people outside of the tourist destinations that everyone who goes to China visits. I love China not because of Beijing or Shanghai but because of smaller cities like Linfen, and things like villages buried up in the mountains. The sorts of things you don’t really get to see if you travel to Beijing.
August 9 – 11 – Datong
The process of selecting cities to visit wasn’t made based on their positions on the map, but rather by how many students I had in those cities and how much I liked the students from those cities. Datong was selected because I’ve had students inviting me to Datong since I came to China. I’ve got a number of really great students from Datong who I look forward to seeing in a few weeks. I don’t know very much about the city, but I’m told they have a massive statue of Buddha and all sorts of old Chinese architecture in the city. Linfen has some of the older (Ming dynasty) architecture but there are some small cities where it’s much more visible and I believe Datong is one of them. I could be wrong about that, my students might have exaggerated the beauty of their hometown, but either way I look forward to visiting this city almost as much as Shanghai.
When I asked my students how many days they felt I should spend in their hometowns the response was usually between 4 and 14 days. I explained that I only had 10 days to travel and at most I could set 2 or 3 days and I’d have to just miss a few of the things that city is good for. 2 days per city is still enough to see the really cool things and to eat the local specialty food.
Most cities in China (especially smaller cities) have some sort of unique food that only their city has. In Linfen it’s ultra-spicy meatball noodles. In Taiyuan they don’t actually have their own food, but they have their own vinegar to put on everyone else’s food (and the vinegar is crazy good). Part of travelling to these cities is going to be trying their traditional food. I think also we’ll be eating free food as several students want us to meet their parents.
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August 11 – 13 – Taiyuan
Taiyuan was originally a 2 day stay because of Amy – otherwise I wanted to simply pass through it. But after we broke up I found out I had several students from Taiyuan anyway and even though it’s a dirty city it IS the capital of my province. So two days there seems like a good idea. Taiyuan doesn’t have too much for the tourist that I am aware of, but I’ve spent some time there and never managed to be bored so I’m sure it’ll work out.
August 13th we will take a train back to Linfen to begin Jesstival. As our core group is smaller this year I’m not too sure what Jesstivities will take place, but that’ll be discussed at a later time (probably tomorrow) and much of it will happen spontaneously anyway.
August 17 – 19 – Jincheng
I don’t have any pictures of Jincheng. All the pictures I posted previously I stole from Google Images and it seems that Jincheng is also a brand of motorcycle. I don’t know the Chinese characters for the city and I’m too lazy to try so you get pictures in a few weeks instead.
Jincheng was included in the plan because it is Angela’s hometown. Angela has been my student since I came to China and of everyone in China she has made the most signifigant effort to becoming my friend. We are good friends now and more than anything I wanted to visit her in her hometown this August.
However, it turns out she has a class in Linfen in August and won’t actually be in Jincheng. But in the process of planning for the city I started talking to Rose, a girl from another class who has also been my student for a long time and she’s from Jincheng. I invited her to my birthday when I knew I was going to Jincheng with the plan that her, Angela, Kyle and I would all take the bus to Jincheng on the 17th. Now that Angela has a class I asked Rose if she still wants to stick to the plan and she does – so it’ll still be happening minus Angela. Rose has accepted the challenge that she needs to keep us occupied for two days by herself (in every other city I have many students to help) but she said she’s up to the task. 加油！
So there it is. It’s very likely that my laptop will accompany me on the trip and so hopefully I’ll be posting pictures every night as well as daily writeups as travel progresses. Hopefully Kyle doesn’t get swine flu.
