Blogspot is Back!
After close to a week of Blogspot being down (i.e. censored in China), it's now back up for business! I can still publish posts when it's down, but I can't easily look at other blogs. Now I have to reading to catch up on.
*Update: it seems that Blogspot is 'down' again after being up for half a day. Here's an interesting article about a Chinese official who claimed at a UN summit that the internet is not at all censored in China.

Weekend in Beijing...
*I've put up lots of photos on my Yahoo site. If you don't know the address, or you've lost it, send me an email or leave me a comment.
I finally made it to Beijing, and I don't know why I didn't go earlier (maybe the crowds and heat?). According to my trusty Lonely Planet the size of the Municipality of Beijing is larger than all of Belgium, and there are at least 7 million more people in Beijing! One bus I took was so crowded (fill the bus to overflowing, then push in 10 more people) that there was no need to hold the hand rail. If the bus were to roll, we'd stay right where we were standing.
Around 7:30 on Saturday morning I headed out on a tour to the Ming Tombs (十三陵) and the Great Wall. There were three Spanish on the group who spoke some English but understood French (so I translated), and an Austrian girl studying in Wuhan with her father. Later in the evening, I quite randomly ran into the two of them by Tian'anmen of all places. The tomb was quite interesting and the guide did a great job of explaining things. We had a few 'factory tours', aka buy our products, and ate lunch before heading to the wall.
We visited the Great Wall at Juyongguan (居庸关), which was a strategically important pass because it's so close to Beijing. I didn't realize until after, but if you've seen the TV show The Amazing Race, I went where the contestants went this season.
It was less crowded than I expected, and I'm glad I didn't climb it in the middle of the summer heat. The views were really beautiful, and it's crazy to think that you're actually walking on the Great Wall of China. OK, I know where I was had been renovated, but still.
Back in Beijing I decided to walk from my hostel (which actually had toilet paper -a rarity in Chinese bathrooms) to Tian'anmen. It was about a 45 minute walk, but the evening was warm and there were people on the street playing cards, talking, fishing in the moat, etc. I ended up buying some postcards from a lady out front of the Forbidden City. We chatted in Chinese a bit (I was having a good Mandarin day), and I ended up buying a Chinese-English version of Mao's collected works. I'm in China for a year and she gave me a good price, how could I not?
I kept walking, went through a short tunnel, and realized that I had walked into Tian'anmen Square (天安门广场) with the portrait of Mao right above my head. It was really quite amazing to see the square for the first time.
Sunday morning I headed to the Summer Palace (颐和园) and Kunming Lake, which were packed with tour groups. It was gorgeous, but I didn't really enjoy it with the people everywhere pushing and shouting. I'll have to go back very early one day.
In Mandarin class last year, we learned about XiangShan (香山) and the red leaves that you can see in autumn. I decided to head there, since it was also in the far northwest of Beijing. Big mistake. Me and tens of thousands of Chinese (I only saw three other foreigners) wanted to see these famous red fall leaves. First you walk through a gauntlet of shops trying to see you any and everything. There are cars trying to drive down the lane, and people everywhere. The photo shows one tiny section of the path to the ticket booth. Luckily I've learned how to 'line up' Chinese style, though I was pretty exhausted by the time I got my ticket.
I didn't really see any red leaves, though I didn't go far enough into the park I guess because I didn't have enough time. But I did get to see the Azure Cloud Temple (碧云寺) which was really impressive.
I really enjoyed Beijing, and I'll have to go back to see some more of it. Not to mention the food and bargain hunting/shopping.

No Daylight Savings...
One nice thing about China is that they don't have Daylight Savings. Although you don't get an extra hour of sleep in the fall, you also don't lose an hour in the spring. Apparently they tried it for a couple of years, but it didn't go over too well so they scrapped it. All the better I think.
Beijing stories and photos to appear shortly!

Off to Beijing!
Beijing, the capital city of the most populous country in the world, is only 90 minutes by train from my city. Despite being in China now for two months I haven't made it yet. But I'm off to Beijing this afternoon! I bought a ticket and made a reservation at the Lostus Hostel, recommended by a travelling friend when I was in Xi'an, which is near BeiHai park just north of the Forbidden City. I'm hoping to make it to the Great Wall on Saturday (it's an all day trip, and I want to go before I have to hike up in the dead of a -20C winter). I'll only have time to see a fraction of the city this time, but I've still got the whole rest of the winter to explore the ins and outs of Beijing.

Chinese Hair Cut...
I hadn't had my hair cut in over two months, so it was about time. I put off the inevitable for a few weeks and asked around to find a decent place to get my hair cut. Somewhere they wouldn't just put a bowl on my head and cut. A Chinese friend recommended me a good place, along a street that several other people had mentioned.
A quick rinse was followed by a lot of snipping and hair falling everywhere. It looked like a normal cut, and the girl rinsed my hair out after. The lady at the desk charged me 20Yuan ($3.00), which I'm sure is the foreigner rate because I know that students get a cut for 5-8Yuan, and a normal cut is 10-15Yuan. Even a Chinese friend said that I probably got charged the foreigner price. I should have negotiated before hand. Live and learn.
But today the hair isn't falling right. I've got wings, the back is too long, and my sideburns are uneven -all of which I've tried to fix slightly. Now I know why two of the 15 male foreigners have just shaved their heads. As one of them said, "they just don't know how to cut hair that's a bit curly or wavy". Maybe I'll just let my hair grow long this year?

Dizi...
On the weekend I bought myself a dizi (笛子), a traditional Chinese bamboo flute. I thought that it might be good to give me something to do in my spare time, and at the same time learn a Chinese instrument. It was quite cheap actually, and I got a book (in Chinese) that teaches you how to play and gives a lot of simple melodies. The Chinese system of music notation is quite different from in the West. Instead of the notes (A, B, C, D, etc) they have numbers -1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7- to represent the different notes, and dots above or below the notes to indicate the octave. The numbers are written all on one line, with dashes and lines to represent the length of time that you hold each note. Now I just have to learn how to play more than three notes, and how to get the bamboo membrane attached to the second hole.
If you want to hear what it sounds like, here's a few free sample songs, and here's some info if you want to learn how to play.

Living in China is Like...
One of my favourite China blogs is TalkTalk China, which posts some of the best, and most comical blog posts. Their most recent post is entitled "Living in China is like...", where people are allowed to leave their comments. A few of my favourite responses are:
-Shopping those insanely chaotic crowded sales the day after Christmas/Thanksgiving…on acid.
-Living in china is realising how much you really are a misfit in this world, and realising that doubting your sanity is a good thing to do!
-Watching a badly ripped DVD where the sound, picture and subtitles don’t quite match.
-Dying and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and realizing it’s actually a picture of Mao.
-Groundhog day. You have the same conversations day after day.
Do you have any to add...?

Yi, Er, San, Si...
Every day at my school the students have group exercises in the morning. They all line up and do a set routine to some military type music, which is actually quite catchy. The photo only shows about 1/3 of the students at the front of the school. The yard in the back of the school is full of students as well. Just imagine 5000 students, some with more and some with less enthusiasm, doing exercises all at the same time. It's quite impressive.

Going Postal...
One thing that makes China interesting, is that everyday things in Canada end up being adventures in China. Let's take buying stamps for an international letter for example.
On Monday I decided to buy some stamps to mail two letters to Canada. I figured this would be relatively easy since I had a standard sized letter, and I wrote the address in English with the Chinese characters for Canada beside it. I walked to the China Post branch closest to my school, in the outskirts of the city, figuring they would be able to help me. I was probably the first foreigner ever to step foot in there, despite the large poster on the wall telling people how to correctly address a letter to their friend in Kansas (no joke).
When the guy saw that the letter was going to Canada, he had to call someone at the main office. Then he weighed the letter, and flipped through a book looking for something. He said he only had slow mail, so I asked how long it would take to get to Canada. He didn't know so he called somebody at the main office. After mumbling something, and not giving me an answer, I asked again. Normally I don't have so much trouble understanding people -I think he was speaking the local dialect because all of his words sounded funny. After calling the main branch a third time, a couple came in who could speak some English. It turned out I had to go to a larger China Post branch, since he didn't have enough stamps!
Tuesday morning I went to what I thought was a branch of China Post, but which turned out to be China Post Savings (same logo and colours). The lady told me to go down the street a bit, and sure enough a few doors down was another China Post. The only problem is that this branch contained wedding photos that were being put up on the wall. I guess it had recently been sold, but the sign hadn't been removed yet. The lady pointed me towards another branch of China Post, beside the train station.
Bingo! I was able to understand the Mandarin, they had large enough stamps to send my letter abroad, and they stamped it with 'Par Avion'. The lady could even tell me that it should take 8-10 days to get there. Now I just have to wait to see if they get there or not...

Chinese/Canadian Thanksgiving...
Yesterday, October 9th, was Thanksgiving in Canada. Being in China, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, although they all know that we eat turkey and pumpkin pie. Anyway, we were able to get most of the Canadians from Baoding together for Beijing Duck (北京烤鸭).
There were seven of us, so we decided to get the fanciest and most expensive duck that we could, as well as a few other dishes as well. The duck was excellent. They start by showing you the whole cooked duck (in the photo), then slicing off some of the crispy skin. Next comes slices of meat that you wrap up with a sauce and shallots and eat like tacos, before a dish that looks like stuffing made with duck and veggies in sesame buns. My second favourite part of the duck was the crispy bones, which have some meat and some seasonings on it. They put the head of the duck, sliced in two, in the middle of the table. There wasn't much meat in it.

*I've broken my trip into three parts (Xi'an, Luoyang, Xi'an) for easier reading. I've put up a lot of photos (including a bunch with me in them) on my yahoo page. Let me know if you want the site address.

Part 1...
After taking a 12hour ride in a hard sleeper from Baoding to Xi'an (西安), I arrived on National Day (Oct. 1), at 6:30 in the morning. Luckily someone from the youth hostel was there to pick me up, or I'd probably have gotten lost in the crowd outside of the train station. The youth hostel was really nice, in a traditional Chinese building, and the staff were great. When I came back from Luoyang they remembered my name, and welcomed me back! I would highly recommend it if you're travelling to Xi'an (and no, I'm not getting commission).
I met up with Gary (a Chinese friend from here in Baoding) and his girlfriend Kitten in the afternoon, and we had lunch in the Muslim quarter before wandering through some of the lanes and doing some shopping. I got one of those name chops that I've always wanted, as well as some other touristy things. At first I wasn't so fond of the bargaining, but I love it now. When you realise that the vendors expect you to bargain and enjoy it (especially when the foreigner speaks some Chinese), it's quite fun. It's also interesting to hear the different prices quoted, depending on if you're Chinese, a foreigner who can speak some Chinese, or if you're fresh off the plane.
My second day in Xi'an was a crazy 12hour tour of the Eastern sites, including some museum, LiShan (骊山), the Tomb of Qin ShiHuang (秦始皇陵), a museum where they guess what his mausoleum might look like, a "Jade Museum"， the famed Terracotta Warriors (兵马俑), and finally Huaqing Pool (华清池). We spent more time in the "Jade Museum" than anywhere else, excluding the warriors. We were told that it was a special museum only for Chinese, and not foreigners -quite strange since the lady quoted us prices for pearls in US Dollars!
I had heard mixed reviews of the Warriors, but I loved them. I've wanted to see them ever since I learned about them in elementary school, so it was really cool. They had a museum off to the side, which had an exhibit about the creation of the museum. A museum about a museum?
One great thing about travelling is the people you meet. As happened most nights in Xi'an I stayed up much later than I had planned to, chatting with fellow travellers. They often have interesting stories, and good advice about what to see or skip. For the National Holiday and for the Moon Festival the youth hostel showed us how to make fried pumpkin cakes (南瓜饼), which were pretty good.