The Chinese way

First of all, I haven't forgotten that I have still to post on the rest of the Sichuan trip - I'll do it soon. This is just a quick post, but I had to write about it.

We were invited for lunch at the home of one of the Chinese teachers. In fact, she doesn't do a lot of teaching, but does timetabling etc. Her home is just out in the countryside, so we took a taxi from town to get there. Unfortunately, despite being with some Chinese people we got out of the taxi in slightly the wrong place and had to wade through quite a lot of mud to reach the front door...

Anyway, the meal was fun (despite my not being able to drink alcohol due to illness yesterday and the day before).

When it came to the time to leave, we had to wait a little while, and I presumed that we were waiting for a taxi to arrive. But no, it turns out we were waiting for the return of a car which was already dropping some other people off.

Now, Rick and I often joke about the police cars here always being used for driving friends and family around and not for actual police work. [Can you see where I'm going with this?]

Yes, the car that arrived to drive us back to Pingxiang was in fact a police car. We did laugh a bit (especially Rick, as he was a bit worse for wear!) It had the special kind of horn that you only really get on police cars, government officials' cars etc. Rick also got to turn the siren on!!!

And so, by getting a lift home in a police car we're just that bit closer to becoming Chinese. The hair and eye colour might still give the game away a little bit though.

Happy 'Niu' Year!

So, the Chinese New Year has begun and the first day dawned... full of snow! It snowed all day yesterday and it was very foggy, so I'm afraid I did very little. There didn't even seem to be that many fireworks - I suppose it was too cold for a lot of people to venture outside...

Just to explain the title of this post to those non-Chinese speakers out there: 'niu' (牛) is the Chinese word for cow and this year it's the the year of the... well, you get it.

We spent New Year's Eve round at the house of some Chinese friends, which was really nice. They've both been working in another city since September, so we haven't seen much of them. Their daughter is three and half years old now and my honorary niece. We spent quite a bit of time playing 'shop' which was interesting, what with my bad Chinese and her extortionate prices!!

Anyway, today needs to be a day of activity after yesterday's inactivity.

Have a good one...

Winter holiday (part 1)

As you will probably know, it's almost the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) and we're on holiday - yippee!! We currently back on campus and it's fantastic - clean and quiet. Why can't it always be like this? Oh yes, because the students have to be here too... tee hee.

Anyway, we went on a short trip to Sichuan, which was great. We went to Chengdu first on the train. I normally really like taking the train in China - there's a big network of railways and [if you can get a ticket] you can get a bed and sleep for as much of it as you want. On the way, we got a ticket. It was very cheap, only 170 RMB. However, the train was a bit dirty and old and not as nice as some I've been on.

We stayed in a lovely place in Chengdu: Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel (www.gogosc.com) A bit more pricey than some of the places we stayed, but lovely clean rooms, a good bar and restaurant and a good travel service. While we were in Chengdu I stocked up on Western food - burger and chips, pizza, sandwich, coffee... and we bought some camera-related equipment.

After a couple of days we left for the mountains. We were heading for Songpan to go horseriding, but we were told that the bus from Chengdu to Songpan was not running (we never really got a clear explanation for why...), so we decided to get a bus to Pingwu and then a tourist spot called 'Jiuzhaigou'. We had initially not wanted to go there as Rick knew it as being a very popular place with the Chinese and thought it might be overrun, but we decided it was worth the risk at this time of year.

Early start, to the bus station and we successfully arrived in Pingwu. This is one of the places affected by the earthquake in May last year. The only real evidence we could see was in the blue tents that were still there and also some other temporary housing.

We found a hotel - a bit damp, but cheap, got some food and explored.

Next morning we got up early to stand by the side of the road and wait for the bus that we were told would go to Jiuzhaigou. Now, we'd been told 9am and 10am by different people, so we made sure we were out there just before 9.39am. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. And it was COLD. Eventually a woman in a nearby shop came out to ask us where we were going and when we told her, she explained that we were in the wrong place and that the bus stopped somewhere else along the main road. We duly found the right spot. And waited. And waited. Fortunately someone else was waiting for the bus, so we knew we were in the correct place. Eventually the bus arrived and we had to wait while the people on it got some lunch, snacks etc., and then we finally set off.

It wasn't a very nice bus - lots of sick on the floor etc., but we managed to find a couple of clean-ish seats.

Oh, and then the bus stopped and picked someone up exactly where we'd been waiting... never mind!

We arrived in Jiuzhaigou, but we needed to be a bit further along the same road, so we (eventually) negotiated a price with a random guy with a car and set off. We found the hotel we wanted to stay in, but just before that, our driver had spotted some people looking for a hotel. He offered (I think!) to take them to some hotels and so we sat in the car while he took them to a couple to look at. Eventually they decided to go to a completely different one, so he followed them to see where they would go(!) and then tried (I think) to see if that hotel would do some kind of commission thing with him if he brought them guests... I think he was also trying to do the same at the place where we stayed, but sadly it was a very cheap place and clearly not in the market for that sort of thing!!!

Anyway, our hotel was absolutely fine, if a little cold (see picture). More later...

Sleeve Protectors

Sorry I haven't posted for a while - end of term exams and then a short holiday in the mountains (more of that later).

Anyway, we were doing some cleaning yesterday and I thought I'd write about sleeve protectors (see photo).

Now, in China these are very popular for women, children and anyone working in the catering industry and other dirtyjobs. The seem to be worn mainly in winter, as far as I can see, and come in an array of colours and patterns. Lots of women wear them, even very smartly-dressed women, and you can get them decorated with ribbons and all sorts.

We got ours mainly for cooking (avoids oil splashing on your sleeves), but they're equally good for washing up and cleaning. They are, sadly, not the most fashionable (especially ours, being bright green and covered with pictures of small dogs!!!) but they're damn useful.

Small children wear them as matter of course through the winter and I think this is a very good idea. I've even seen them used on their legs as well...

So, what do you think? Disastrous and unfashionable or useful and practical?

And should they be re-named 'arm gaiters' for extra credibility?!!

Answers on a postcard please...