Tuesday was the least eventful day out of our vacation because ILP gave us the OK to leave YangShou and head back to Zhongshan. For the morning and afternoon we just shopped, ate food and watched movies. It was nice to relax though because we were so tired from the previous days! When we were about to leave, the hostel owners took lots of pictures with us and left two spots on the wall for us. The owners are a young couple who are about 30 years old. I decided it would be really cool if I started a hostel in the States because you would get to met so many cool people from around the world, but then as I thought about it there aren't nearly as many cool things to see in the States then there are to see in China.
As we started heading to the bus stop to get on another sleeper bus it started pouring rain again. It was unfortunate because we were all wet on the bus so it was a little stinky. We made it back to Zhongshan safely but as usual we looked liked a massive mob of stinky sleepy white people walking through the city.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
gongyuan - park
Monday morning we relaxed all morning and did some shopping. Majority of the group left to see the cave we had found yesterday, so the rest of the group and I decided we were going to go hiking in Xing Ping. If you look on the back of a 20 Chinese dollar bill you can see where we hiked to. Once we got to Xing Ping we started hiking up the mountain. The hike consisted of very steep stairs and ladders we had to climb up. It took us about 30 minutes to hike up but it was TOTALLY worth it. It is definitely the prettiest view I have ever seen. As we got to the top it started pouring rain! It made the hike even better though. Although, as we started hiking down the stairs got super slippery. It was a little bit dangerous but we made it down safely. When we got down the mountain we chilled inside a hostel for a while and ate pizza. Then we caught a bus back to YangShou. We were completely soaking still so we took showers and watched movies in our hostel.
shui - water
Sunday morning we went to the bakery to get breakfast and then we rented motor scooters. I was too scared to drive so I made Anna drive me. Anna, Brittney, Mckenna, Trent, Zach, Sabriana and I all rode on motor scooters and drove back to the same bridge jumped off of on Thursday. It was awesome because we got to see more of the city! I eventually got brave enough to drive the scooter... almost crashed a couple of times, but I got really good! As we were exploring we came across this really cool cave that was filled with water. I still had a cold but the other kids I was with jumped in the water and swam in the cave. We did some more exploring and after a while we stopped to get lunch and then headed back to the hostel. As we started driving back it started raining and was super windy... we got a little piece of the typhoon.
xia zai ji dian - what time is it now
When we woke up on Saturday we were told that we wouldn't be leaving that day because of the typhoon. They said the typhoon was going to hit while we would be traveling back. Zhongshan was supposed to get hit pretty hard and all the buses and shuttles would be shut down. I was very excited we would get to stay longer in YangShou, but some of the other people were mad because they wanted to see the typhoon hit.
After hearing about the good the news we went on a bamboo raft ride. It was a 45 minute bamboo raft down the river. Along the way we saw Chinese guys swimming in the river looking for valuable along the river floor. When we got halfway we motioned to our driver that we wanted to hike along the shore. He some how understood our charades and so we stopped along the shore a walked around for a little bit. We were scared he was going to leave us so we couldn't go far.
After the awesome bamboo raft we got breakfast, did some more shopping and took a much needed nap. After our naps we rented some more bikes and biked to the mud caves that were about 40 minutes away from our hostel. When we made it the mud caves they took us on a 15 minute tour of the cave. The cave was lit up with lights and during one part we had to bow to a Buddha. I didn't know what they were saying to me but I bowed three times with an incest stick they gave me. Once we made it far into the cave we jumped into the pool of mud! It was pretty cold but it felt like swimming in thick chocolate milk. It is every kids dream to swim in chocolate milk! After soaking in the mud for a while we rinsed off and headed to the hot springs. The hot springs were in the cave as well but we had to walk a little while to get to them. The hot springs made the whole experience! We relaxed a while in the hot springs and met some people from Australia. After we biked back to the city and got some really good dumplings. It was definitely one of the funnest days I had in YuangShou!
After hearing about the good the news we went on a bamboo raft ride. It was a 45 minute bamboo raft down the river. Along the way we saw Chinese guys swimming in the river looking for valuable along the river floor. When we got halfway we motioned to our driver that we wanted to hike along the shore. He some how understood our charades and so we stopped along the shore a walked around for a little bit. We were scared he was going to leave us so we couldn't go far.
After the awesome bamboo raft we got breakfast, did some more shopping and took a much needed nap. After our naps we rented some more bikes and biked to the mud caves that were about 40 minutes away from our hostel. When we made it the mud caves they took us on a 15 minute tour of the cave. The cave was lit up with lights and during one part we had to bow to a Buddha. I didn't know what they were saying to me but I bowed three times with an incest stick they gave me. Once we made it far into the cave we jumped into the pool of mud! It was pretty cold but it felt like swimming in thick chocolate milk. It is every kids dream to swim in chocolate milk! After soaking in the mud for a while we rinsed off and headed to the hot springs. The hot springs were in the cave as well but we had to walk a little while to get to them. The hot springs made the whole experience! We relaxed a while in the hot springs and met some people from Australia. After we biked back to the city and got some really good dumplings. It was definitely one of the funnest days I had in YuangShou!
ke min - Camille (my Chinese name means smart)
On Friday me, Trent, Carmen, McKena and the camera a crew decided to go to the rice fields. We were the only ones that wanted to go because the others didn't want to go on a three hour bus ride to get to Guilin. We had a bus pick us up at 7:30 in the morning and we drove for three hours until we got to Guilin. Once we got there we decided to pay extra to visit the Long Hair village. At the long hair village there are a bunch of women with hair as long as 2 meters. They did a few dances and acted out one of their bridal ceremonies. Afterwards, they showed us one of their homes. It was a cool cultural experience, but we were a little rushed during the whole thing. We immediately got on a different bus that took us to the rice fields. Once we got to the rice fields we started hiking up to the top with our tour guide, but a long the way I got distracted... I saw some cute bracelets that I wanted. Trent stayed behind with me to look at them too. It took a while to buy the bracelets because I had to barter with the lady. Once I finally purchased the bracelets Trent and I had completely lost the group. We wondered around for a while looking for them, but we had no luck. We didn't know what time we had to be back at the bus so we decided to just hike to the top of the mountain by our self. It was very pretty when we made it to the top... of course! However, once we made it to the top we were scared we were going to get left so we hurried down. As we were headed down we found part of our group and they didn't even know we had been left behind. Trent and I felt really loved...not. Since we headed down early we stopped to get some lunch. After lunch we had another three hour bus ride back to YangShou. Once we got back to YangShou it was around 7:45 so we met up with others for dinner. It was awesome because we found this place that sold hamburgers! I got a hamburger because I can't remember the last time I ate protein. It wasn't very tasty but I felt like I had a lot more energy after eating that much protein!
xianxin - careful
Once we arrived in YangShou we walked in a huge line along the side of the rode till we made it to our hostel. When we got to our hostel it was about 6:30 am and we wern't allowed to check in until 1:00. So we decided to rent bikes and bike a river. Ever since I got to China I told myself I would never drive, because of how crazy it is here. There are no rules to follow when it comes to driving and there are zero cops to enforce laws. However, when we rented bikes I broke that promise I made to myself... when we were in the city there were defintely a few close calls. We all swevered in and out of the cars, motor scooters, and people. After getting out of the city a little bit though it was very pretty! We made it to this beautiful river with bamboo rafts all along it. We saw a bridge over the river and decided it would be a great idea if we jumped off it. It was pretty funny because there were so many bamboo rafts floating in the river we had to wait for them to pass and then hurry and jump in the water! Once the first person jumped in the water we had a huge crowed of tourists and Chinese people watching us. The Chinese on the bamboo rafts were so excited to see us jumping off the bridge they would tell us to jump while they were right below us in the water. We tried explaining to them that they had to move before we would jump, but that language barrier is still an issue for us. After bridge jumping for a few hours we ate some lunch and biked back to our hostel. Once we got back we showered and went shopping. While we were in YangShou, China was celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival, so there were a ton of people! YangShou is tourist city so they had a lot of shops and vendors a long the street. After shopping for a while, my friend Carmen and I got seperated from the group and had to find our way back to the hostel.
Later that night we went to a fish show. It was very interesting because we piled onto a bamboo raft when it was pitch black outside. As we started driving away another bamboo raft with a small light pulled up along us with a man standing up rowing it. Attached to the front of his raft were about 10 ducks. The ducks would swim for a while under the water catching fish and then would come back up to breathe. After a little bit the man rowing the raft would grab a duck, squeeze it's neck and empty all the fish into a basket. Apparently the ducks don't sallow the fish because they have a rob tied around their necks. Our tour guide was a very loud and funny man which made the experience even better.
Later that night we went to a fish show. It was very interesting because we piled onto a bamboo raft when it was pitch black outside. As we started driving away another bamboo raft with a small light pulled up along us with a man standing up rowing it. Attached to the front of his raft were about 10 ducks. The ducks would swim for a while under the water catching fish and then would come back up to breathe. After a little bit the man rowing the raft would grab a duck, squeeze it's neck and empty all the fish into a basket. Apparently the ducks don't sallow the fish because they have a rob tied around their necks. Our tour guide was a very loud and funny man which made the experience even better.
On our bike ride we passed this health clinic with people sitting outside with their IV's
On our bike ride to the bamboo river. The mountains in Yangshou are amazing!
wǒ xiǎng nǐ - i miss you
Alright I am way behind on my blog, but that is because I have been in YangShou the past few days and didn't have access to my blog. I will re-start my blog from last Wednesday.
Last Wednesday I was told by my head teacher that I would be changing classes. Apparently ILP has a rule that every teacher should only be teaching 8 kids. Since me and a few of the other girls have more than 8 kids, ILP had to hire 2 more teachers. These teachers are not ILP teachers, so they get paid, don't teach the kids through the ILP method and are allowed to teach more kids at a time. The two hired teachers are from London. On Tuesday and Wednesday one of the teachers watched me teach all day because he would be taking over my class. Wednesday was my last day with my Junior A class and my Chinese teachers were super upset. They kept grabbing my arm telling me not to go. I kept telling them I didn't want to leave their classroom either and I told them to convenience my head teacher to let me stay!
After school on Wednesday we headed back to our apartments and packed for our vacation. We met up with the Kiayin group and headed to the bus stop together. We all made it to the fruit market on one bus, but we had to separate onto different buses when we got to the fruit market. Everyone made it to the bus stop expect one group. We had no clue what to do because we couldn't get a hold of them and they only had 15 minutes to get to the bus before it left. It was scary because one of the girls that had gotten lost had all our tickets for us girls. Thankfully, they made it the bus stop with 30 seconds to spare.
Once they arrived we all crammed on the sleeper bus. This was our first experience on a sleeper bus. The bus ride was 12 hours from Zhongshan to YangShou. I wasn't able to get a picture, but the inside of the bus had two levels of beds. The beds are very skinny and are a little shorter than me. I ended up getting the bed in the very back corner. It was actually a lot better than I expected, but during the middle of the night the ride got extremely bumpy. So bumpy that I caught air as I was laying in bed. I thought I was going to throw up but fortunately I kept it together and didn't throw up. While I was a little sick I looked out the window to the BEAUTIFUL landscape. I can't get over how pretty it is here...that's saying a lot since I have lived in Canada.
Last Wednesday I was told by my head teacher that I would be changing classes. Apparently ILP has a rule that every teacher should only be teaching 8 kids. Since me and a few of the other girls have more than 8 kids, ILP had to hire 2 more teachers. These teachers are not ILP teachers, so they get paid, don't teach the kids through the ILP method and are allowed to teach more kids at a time. The two hired teachers are from London. On Tuesday and Wednesday one of the teachers watched me teach all day because he would be taking over my class. Wednesday was my last day with my Junior A class and my Chinese teachers were super upset. They kept grabbing my arm telling me not to go. I kept telling them I didn't want to leave their classroom either and I told them to convenience my head teacher to let me stay!
After school on Wednesday we headed back to our apartments and packed for our vacation. We met up with the Kiayin group and headed to the bus stop together. We all made it to the fruit market on one bus, but we had to separate onto different buses when we got to the fruit market. Everyone made it to the bus stop expect one group. We had no clue what to do because we couldn't get a hold of them and they only had 15 minutes to get to the bus before it left. It was scary because one of the girls that had gotten lost had all our tickets for us girls. Thankfully, they made it the bus stop with 30 seconds to spare.
Once they arrived we all crammed on the sleeper bus. This was our first experience on a sleeper bus. The bus ride was 12 hours from Zhongshan to YangShou. I wasn't able to get a picture, but the inside of the bus had two levels of beds. The beds are very skinny and are a little shorter than me. I ended up getting the bed in the very back corner. It was actually a lot better than I expected, but during the middle of the night the ride got extremely bumpy. So bumpy that I caught air as I was laying in bed. I thought I was going to throw up but fortunately I kept it together and didn't throw up. While I was a little sick I looked out the window to the BEAUTIFUL landscape. I can't get over how pretty it is here...that's saying a lot since I have lived in Canada.
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