Last month I had a conversation with Abby which really got me thinking. She was telling me about how she's reluctant to go to Korea (she got a scholarship to do masters there next year) because there are so many rules there and that she won't feel free.
She was saying that she feels so free in Vietnam. She can do whatever she wants and people won't bother her. In developed countries, there are so many rules: stand in line, keep quiet, dress like this, don't spit, etc.
I found it quite interesting to see how from a Western perspective, developed democratic countries are the most free and that people in socialist countries lack freedom because they can't say whatever they want if it would upset the government. On the other hand, she lives in a country with a one party government and she feels more free because she doesn't need to abide by so many rules all the time. It shows that everything is relative, even concepts one would think universal such as freedom.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Random Facts
I bought a pink bicycle
I live a double agent life: pretend to be a business woman while living on poor student standards. I go to company meetings riding a pink bicycle and wearing business clothes. Makes the locals laugh
Apparently in Finland, they have business meetings both men and women all naked together in a sauna (information coming from our UK CEEDer who did a CEED in Finland last summer)
There's a bottled drink that is the colour of piss, and is appropriately named "Number 1" (never tried it)
Our MC has the nicest office for an expansion country. And it's so close to home. Yay for in-kind!
I live in a "2 bedroom" apartment: a bed in the kitchen is the first room, then the attic is the 2nd one (finally we decided to put all beds in the attic, which is now a big dorm that will host 3-5 people at a time)
I spent St-Jean-Baptiste at a British networking event
I drink beer almost every day
We're hosting our national conference at the beach
I live a double agent life: pretend to be a business woman while living on poor student standards. I go to company meetings riding a pink bicycle and wearing business clothes. Makes the locals laugh
Apparently in Finland, they have business meetings both men and women all naked together in a sauna (information coming from our UK CEEDer who did a CEED in Finland last summer)
There's a bottled drink that is the colour of piss, and is appropriately named "Number 1" (never tried it)
Our MC has the nicest office for an expansion country. And it's so close to home. Yay for in-kind!
I live in a "2 bedroom" apartment: a bed in the kitchen is the first room, then the attic is the 2nd one (finally we decided to put all beds in the attic, which is now a big dorm that will host 3-5 people at a time)
I spent St-Jean-Baptiste at a British networking event
I drink beer almost every day
We're hosting our national conference at the beach
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Vietnam for a year
I guess most people know this by now, but I arrived in Vietnam for a year last week. I'm gonna be working as MCVPX for AIESEC Vietnam's first ever national team! Right now I'm in Hanoi coaching the LC. Me and Laura (the Australian girl who's gonna work with me) took a bus here from Guangzhou, China where we attended the Asia Pacific MC Transition Camp. It was an awesome conference with about 50 people from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia, as well as the other internationals like me and Laura. Good times.
Yesterday I raised my first internship in Vietnam! Woohoo! So if anyone is looking for a job in social marketing, let me know. Me and Laura also attended the first day of the Global Summit of Women because there was a Doing Business in Vietnam forum. The event was quite boring, a bunch of feminist speeches hehe, but there were some very high profile people there such as the prime minister and many CEOs. We also got a bunch of free goodies: 1GB memory stick, Vietnamese hangbag and silk scarf, Miss Saigon Elegance perfume and a conical hat. I love going to events for free and getting free stuff. We went there so randomly: when we arrived in Hanoi we saw all those banners across the city and looked it up on the Internet.
Tomorrow we're taking a plane to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) where we're gonna live for a year. I haven't been there yet. I'm excited about seeing the rest of my team again (Hanh and Phoebe, both Vietnamese) and starting to work with the full team!
Yesterday I raised my first internship in Vietnam! Woohoo! So if anyone is looking for a job in social marketing, let me know. Me and Laura also attended the first day of the Global Summit of Women because there was a Doing Business in Vietnam forum. The event was quite boring, a bunch of feminist speeches hehe, but there were some very high profile people there such as the prime minister and many CEOs. We also got a bunch of free goodies: 1GB memory stick, Vietnamese hangbag and silk scarf, Miss Saigon Elegance perfume and a conical hat. I love going to events for free and getting free stuff. We went there so randomly: when we arrived in Hanoi we saw all those banners across the city and looked it up on the Internet.
Tomorrow we're taking a plane to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) where we're gonna live for a year. I haven't been there yet. I'm excited about seeing the rest of my team again (Hanh and Phoebe, both Vietnamese) and starting to work with the full team!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Back in Asia!
When I told people I was going back to China, I don't know why but so many assumed it was because I met a man there. It's not! I'll explain the decision making process so your curious minds can be satisfied.
Before I went to China the first time, I told myself after China and Toronto I would probably know what I want to do with my life. But then in November I was having post graduation anxiety and didn't know what to do in January. The Tuesday right after CEED debrief weekend, I called my sister and she was telling me about her trip to Mongolia with our friend Virginie and how they were flying through Beijing because it was cheaper (1000$ round trip!) and that Virginie was staying longer because Plo (her boyfriend and my good friend) was joining her and they would tour China together. So I told her why don't you do the same and I'll join you and we tour China together. So we talked about it and decided to do that, but she was buying the plane tickets the next day. So she bought the ticket with the later date we had said so I had no choice to go too! That's how I bought a plane ticket for Beijing less than 24 hours before deciding to go. Most spontaneous decision of my life! Before arriving I was thinking 'what the hell am I doing going back to Asia' and thinking maybe if I were to buy the ticket now I wouldn't. But when I got out of the airport in Beijing I felt so good! I'm glad to be here. At NC Tova told me 'don't come back, if you come back you'll leave again'. We'll see what happens.
So I spent the first few days in Beijing at Antoine and Michel's apartment. I witnessed Virginie's and Nicole's first Chinese experiences. We went 'ice chairing' on Hohai lake with Charles and his friend and also made dumplings with his parents. I took a train to Shanghai last Sunday and arrived Monday morning. I spent the week doing nothing, just chilling with AIESEC friends, that's all I wanted to do hehe. Shanghai in the winter is so cold! Damn warm countries where they don't insulate. I stayed at Susan's place Tuesday and Wednesday and now I'm at Sinky's. Wednesday I went to Shanghai Science and Technology museum with Susan and her meimei. I think we're a bit too old for it. Then there was an alumni gathering so I saw some old friends like Stefano but many trainees are now gone. This weekend is NatCo until the 30th. Then on the 31st I fly to Guangzhou and I'm gonna stay at Fish's the first few days then at Julien's (a friend of Verona, I don't know him yet). Then after Chinese New Year I shall head to Vietnam! I contacted AIESEC there and I'll do a mini CEED in Hanoi. I'll have a homestay with some member's family. So cool! It's exciting because AIESEC Vietnam started in October 2006 and LC Hanoi in April 2007. It's so young. As for the rest, it's not planned yet. Maybe I will go to Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. I plan on getting back in China through Yunnan and Sichuan. Visit Xi'an maybe and drop by Shanghai again and go to Hangzhou. We'll see then. Hopefully I'll see Simon from NYC in Guangzhou because he is studying in Hong Kong this semester. And Jingle too as she left Shanghai the day I arrived. Her hometown is close to Guangzhou.
Before I went to China the first time, I told myself after China and Toronto I would probably know what I want to do with my life. But then in November I was having post graduation anxiety and didn't know what to do in January. The Tuesday right after CEED debrief weekend, I called my sister and she was telling me about her trip to Mongolia with our friend Virginie and how they were flying through Beijing because it was cheaper (1000$ round trip!) and that Virginie was staying longer because Plo (her boyfriend and my good friend) was joining her and they would tour China together. So I told her why don't you do the same and I'll join you and we tour China together. So we talked about it and decided to do that, but she was buying the plane tickets the next day. So she bought the ticket with the later date we had said so I had no choice to go too! That's how I bought a plane ticket for Beijing less than 24 hours before deciding to go. Most spontaneous decision of my life! Before arriving I was thinking 'what the hell am I doing going back to Asia' and thinking maybe if I were to buy the ticket now I wouldn't. But when I got out of the airport in Beijing I felt so good! I'm glad to be here. At NC Tova told me 'don't come back, if you come back you'll leave again'. We'll see what happens.
So I spent the first few days in Beijing at Antoine and Michel's apartment. I witnessed Virginie's and Nicole's first Chinese experiences. We went 'ice chairing' on Hohai lake with Charles and his friend and also made dumplings with his parents. I took a train to Shanghai last Sunday and arrived Monday morning. I spent the week doing nothing, just chilling with AIESEC friends, that's all I wanted to do hehe. Shanghai in the winter is so cold! Damn warm countries where they don't insulate. I stayed at Susan's place Tuesday and Wednesday and now I'm at Sinky's. Wednesday I went to Shanghai Science and Technology museum with Susan and her meimei. I think we're a bit too old for it. Then there was an alumni gathering so I saw some old friends like Stefano but many trainees are now gone. This weekend is NatCo until the 30th. Then on the 31st I fly to Guangzhou and I'm gonna stay at Fish's the first few days then at Julien's (a friend of Verona, I don't know him yet). Then after Chinese New Year I shall head to Vietnam! I contacted AIESEC there and I'll do a mini CEED in Hanoi. I'll have a homestay with some member's family. So cool! It's exciting because AIESEC Vietnam started in October 2006 and LC Hanoi in April 2007. It's so young. As for the rest, it's not planned yet. Maybe I will go to Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. I plan on getting back in China through Yunnan and Sichuan. Visit Xi'an maybe and drop by Shanghai again and go to Hangzhou. We'll see then. Hopefully I'll see Simon from NYC in Guangzhou because he is studying in Hong Kong this semester. And Jingle too as she left Shanghai the day I arrived. Her hometown is close to Guangzhou.
Last days in Shanghai, Hong Kong and London
The week after Xinjiang, I felt depressed and lonely. I was bored and felt I didn't really have anyone to talk to. Good thing Sinky came back from Canada and she told me all about her trip. I felt homesick and I think I hit culture shock. It seemed I had trouble dealing with Chinese relationships. I needed close friends! I talked with Jingle and then with Allen so it really helped.
My last week I went to the tailor market with Rearn and then had delicious hot pot with trainees. It was amazing to be with people all from a different country at the same table, speaking English while none of us had it as a first language: French Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Italy, France, India, Norway, China, Japan, Taiwan, Hungary, the Netherlands. This is the multiculturalism of AIESEC and of Shanghai. Then we went to Zapatas and it was really fun! The Uygurs we met on the train came because Chris invited them. On Thursday we burnt in the sun doing recruitment during club day at Fudan. I had hot pot with my meimei Susan. I spent the afternoon doing cold calls for education traineeships. It's really easy in China! Then there was an alumni mixer at Barbarossa and it was time to say goodbye to many people as I was leaving the next day. We then went for all night long KTV! Everybody was sleeping haha.
On Friday I got up and packed. Then we had lunch with a few friends and Allen saw me off at the airport. Arriving in Hong Kong, I tried following the bus directions Maryse had given me but I couldn't find the place, and she wasn't picking up her phone! I was homeless on the side of the street. Finally I managed to reach her and we went to her apartment. We chatted a lot with beer and popcorn. It's crazy how we have both identified to our respective part of China. We were comparing Shanghai and Hong Kong saying 'you' and 'us'.
Saturday she had a cultural activity with her Cantonese class, most of whom are AIESEC trainees, so I joined them. We got up very late and went to a Cantonese restaurant. Lunch was paid by the government, yay! Then we went to a temple and they had their future predicted with little sticks. What a scam! After that we went for a massage. Fortunately it didn't hurt as much as the first one in Beijing. That was it for the cultural day. We went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant and then me and Maryse hopped by Lan Kwai Fong, the bar district, just so I could see it. There is a restaurant named cul-de-sac where they serve poutine!
On Sunday we went to see the giant buddha. I think this is a funny tourist attraction. We then wanted to go to the beach but the bus driver forgot to tell us when we were there so he didn't stop. We walked like half an hour down the hill because that's how far the next stop was. It was the perfect temperature for the beach: hot but with clouds so I don't get sunburns. We stayed there for a while, until it got dark. We were talking about Haiti and dreaming to start AIESEC there. We then went to some trainees' apartment and cooked Quebec food for them: sheppard's pie and pasta salad.
The next day was my last day in Asia. I went downtown alone since Maryse was working. I visited Hong Kong Park. There is a SRAS memorial there. You can see SRAS has had a tremendous impact on Hong Kong. They are a lot more serious about hygiene there. You can get a fine if you spit in the street. I also went to the Teaware museum. It was so cool! They had a contest of teaware making and there was an exhibit with all the entries. Some were so original! Then I took the train to the Peak. Such a tourist attraction. It was foggy so I couldn't see that much. On the way back I stopped by the bank building where you can admire the view from the 49th floor. Then I went back to Maryse's place, we had dinner and I left for my plane.
My plane arrived in London at around 5-6 AM local time on Tuesday the 18th of September. I took the subway to downtown and got to Westminster at 7 AM. When I got out of the subway station, I really loved the feeling. The sun was coming out behind the buildings. The air was fresh and cold. There were very few people in the streets, some doing their morning jog. I walked to St Paul's cathedral and then went to the British Museum. I found it funny that so many people were lining up for an exhibit about terracotta warriors for which you had to pay 12 pounds whereas I didn't even care to go to Xi'an when I was in China. I chatted with some old lady while waiting for the exhibitions to open and then wandered around. After the museum I went back to Westminster and had 'Asian' food. My first Western Asian food in a while! Then back to the airport for a long wait and I finally arrived in Montreal around 7 PM. Family picked me up and then home sweet home for a few days before moving to Toronto.
This is the end of my CEED tales. I told myself if I missed China too much I could always go back in January and here I am now. I shall update you in an upcoming post. Good luck to the future AIESEC Canada CEEDers in China and I hope you make the most out of your experience.
My last week I went to the tailor market with Rearn and then had delicious hot pot with trainees. It was amazing to be with people all from a different country at the same table, speaking English while none of us had it as a first language: French Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Italy, France, India, Norway, China, Japan, Taiwan, Hungary, the Netherlands. This is the multiculturalism of AIESEC and of Shanghai. Then we went to Zapatas and it was really fun! The Uygurs we met on the train came because Chris invited them. On Thursday we burnt in the sun doing recruitment during club day at Fudan. I had hot pot with my meimei Susan. I spent the afternoon doing cold calls for education traineeships. It's really easy in China! Then there was an alumni mixer at Barbarossa and it was time to say goodbye to many people as I was leaving the next day. We then went for all night long KTV! Everybody was sleeping haha.
On Friday I got up and packed. Then we had lunch with a few friends and Allen saw me off at the airport. Arriving in Hong Kong, I tried following the bus directions Maryse had given me but I couldn't find the place, and she wasn't picking up her phone! I was homeless on the side of the street. Finally I managed to reach her and we went to her apartment. We chatted a lot with beer and popcorn. It's crazy how we have both identified to our respective part of China. We were comparing Shanghai and Hong Kong saying 'you' and 'us'.
Saturday she had a cultural activity with her Cantonese class, most of whom are AIESEC trainees, so I joined them. We got up very late and went to a Cantonese restaurant. Lunch was paid by the government, yay! Then we went to a temple and they had their future predicted with little sticks. What a scam! After that we went for a massage. Fortunately it didn't hurt as much as the first one in Beijing. That was it for the cultural day. We went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant and then me and Maryse hopped by Lan Kwai Fong, the bar district, just so I could see it. There is a restaurant named cul-de-sac where they serve poutine!
On Sunday we went to see the giant buddha. I think this is a funny tourist attraction. We then wanted to go to the beach but the bus driver forgot to tell us when we were there so he didn't stop. We walked like half an hour down the hill because that's how far the next stop was. It was the perfect temperature for the beach: hot but with clouds so I don't get sunburns. We stayed there for a while, until it got dark. We were talking about Haiti and dreaming to start AIESEC there. We then went to some trainees' apartment and cooked Quebec food for them: sheppard's pie and pasta salad.
The next day was my last day in Asia. I went downtown alone since Maryse was working. I visited Hong Kong Park. There is a SRAS memorial there. You can see SRAS has had a tremendous impact on Hong Kong. They are a lot more serious about hygiene there. You can get a fine if you spit in the street. I also went to the Teaware museum. It was so cool! They had a contest of teaware making and there was an exhibit with all the entries. Some were so original! Then I took the train to the Peak. Such a tourist attraction. It was foggy so I couldn't see that much. On the way back I stopped by the bank building where you can admire the view from the 49th floor. Then I went back to Maryse's place, we had dinner and I left for my plane.
My plane arrived in London at around 5-6 AM local time on Tuesday the 18th of September. I took the subway to downtown and got to Westminster at 7 AM. When I got out of the subway station, I really loved the feeling. The sun was coming out behind the buildings. The air was fresh and cold. There were very few people in the streets, some doing their morning jog. I walked to St Paul's cathedral and then went to the British Museum. I found it funny that so many people were lining up for an exhibit about terracotta warriors for which you had to pay 12 pounds whereas I didn't even care to go to Xi'an when I was in China. I chatted with some old lady while waiting for the exhibitions to open and then wandered around. After the museum I went back to Westminster and had 'Asian' food. My first Western Asian food in a while! Then back to the airport for a long wait and I finally arrived in Montreal around 7 PM. Family picked me up and then home sweet home for a few days before moving to Toronto.
This is the end of my CEED tales. I told myself if I missed China too much I could always go back in January and here I am now. I shall update you in an upcoming post. Good luck to the future AIESEC Canada CEEDers in China and I hope you make the most out of your experience.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Xinjiang: Going West to discover China's ethnic minorities
I am back in China since Jan 16th but this post will be about my trip to Xinjiang last August which I said I would post about but never did since I got busy and lazy. Now that I've graduated and that I am allowed to do nothing while in China I will tell you the tales of my wanderings!
So me and Chris left Shanghai on August 19th at 8:48PM to arrive in Urumqi on the 22nd at 3:15PM (1:15PM local time: the official time is Beijing time but the locals use local time. So government offices are open from like 10 AM to 8 PM which is like 8 AM to 6 PM local time. You use Beijing time in all official matters like train times but all the locals use local time). The train ride was horrible. Hard seat train is basically tight like a city bus but with longer back rest which is very straight. I have yet to understand the etiquette of hard seat train. People who have standing tickets are in the hard seat section and sit on the free seats. It seems people switch seats all the time. There was an annoying guy in front of me who kept putting his feet on my seat. Even though the ride was not so enjoyable, we still witnesses magnificient landscapes in this 42.5 hour long journey. We went through Suzhou, Bengbu, Xi'an and Lanzhou among other cities and saw mountains, brown rivers and deserts.
When we got to Urumqi, we got picked up by Ray, a former colleague of Chris who is from there. He took us to some really nice Uygur restaurant where we ate many delicious things, including sheep lungs. It's so good! The owner of the restaurant came to sit with us and started this lengthy conversation about his ice cream (he owns a famous ice cream chain) and how he wants to buy a machine to make his ice cream as good as Haagen Daaz or something. He was really nice and kept giving us stuff because he wanted to convince us that Urumqi has the best food in the world. We then went to Ray's house. The first day gave me a really good impression of Xinjiang people. They were really nice. It is weird to see arabic and Chinese written together (and sometimes Russian too because many Russians live in Urumqi) and also very weird to speak Chinese with white people from Central Asia. In Shanghai I'm used to if I see a white person I will speak English to them but in Xinjiang they don't speak English. Also, there are many mosques in the city.
The next day (Wednesday) we got up and Ray's mom had cooked for us. The common thing to have is an egg with sugar on it and some hard bread with jam and tea. Really good! The smell in the house reminded me a lot of when I was in Germany. Maybe it's because of the climate outside. We then went to Pingtian Resort office. It's an American company starting a ski resort in the mountains close to Urumqi and Chris's father had a contact there so we figured we'd visit and see if we could go to the mountain. We couldn't go with them but they explained to us how to get there and arranged transportation for us for the next day. In the afternoon we went to Huangshan park in the middle of the city on a mountain. We had a nice view of Urumqi from there. The city is surrounded by mountains so it's really pretty. It's a Chinese city I wouldn't mind spending my life there (if I were Chinese) compared to Shanghai or Beijing. You will see for yourself if I ever decide to sort through my Xinjiang pictures and upload some.
After the park we went to have coffee with Devrim, an AIESEC US alumnus who works for DHL in China. He moved from Shanghai to Urumqi in hopes of improving his Mandarin skills because it's too easy to rely on English in Shanghai, but it didn't work. On the other hand he now speaks fluent Uygur because it's vey similar to Turkish and his mom is Turkish. He can pass for a local. Lucky him. It was really interesting to chat with him because he seemed to have a different version of the reality of Xinjiang in terms of the percentage of the population that is Uygur and the history than what Ray had told us. I had the impression that the Han teach a different version to the minorities to better assimilate them but maybe it is just because I don't know much about it. We met with Devrim so we could have his feedback on our travel plans since he has traveled a lot around Xinjiang. We decided to go to Kashgar (Kashi in Chinese).
We then went to a bazaar and THAT was different. You feel like you're in another century. People selling all kinds of stuff, metal workers, all kinds of food. It's hard to describe but it's the kind of thing that make me glad I went to Xinjiang. For dinner, we went to a Russian club where Ray likes to go with his friends. Once again, the food was SO GOOD. I find Uygur women dress in a very sober way but are nonetheless very elegant. No need to be sexy and to show skin to be attractive. We watched some dances at the club. It was quite entertaining. Then people got on the dance floor and started dancing Uygur dances. I was thinkng of Nicole because I know she would have loved to see that. Outside, we could see the stars. Different from Shanghai!
Interesting fact: contrary to other countries, in Urumqi, the woman HAS to sit in the front after 10 PM (because cab drivers don't want to have drunk men disturbing their driving).
The Thursday was the day we went to Pingtian mountain. We had a 300 kuai taxi for the whole day. The drive was about an hour and a half. We stopped by some village to buy nan (bread) and vegetables. When we got there Chris left to walk up the mountain as I was trying to bargain the price of a horse ride. These Kazakhs are tough to bargain with! I finally accepted their price and had a kind of boring horse ride to the mountain. There I could admire many yurts and the remains of the first attempt at a ski center. I was trying to speak Chinese with the little Kazakh girl who was leading the horse. At the mountain she was saying the horse had to go back because it was tired but it was only halfawy to where the man said they would take me so I told her I would walk up and she can go back alone and I'll deal it with the man. So I walked further to admire some nice views on the mountains. Splendid! Then I came back to the Kazakh yurt and tried to explain my claim for half my money back to the man in charge but he was ignoring me. So rude! This other guy was just laughing in my face. I was not very happy. Finally the taxi driver convinced them to reimburse me by saying I am a friend of Bill (from the resort). We then waited for Chris for an hour while eating some lamb. After getting home, I had my first experience in an Internet cafe in China. So geeky! Everybody's playing games such as WoW.
Friday was another transportation day with a 24 hour train from Urumqi to Kashgar (Kashi in Chinese). In the train, I played cards with some Chinese. It reminded me of the activity we did at CEED preparation weekend in March where we had to play a card game without talking. I had to figure out the rules by observing and with the little Chinese I know. It was successful and I think they enjoyed playing with a laowai. They shared delicious nuts with me and the views by the window were once again very beautiful. I saw mountains, deserts and camels. I managed to sleep until 7 am.
On Saturday we finally arrived in Kashgar. It was nothing like I had ever seen. No skyscrapers in this city. Maybe Pakistan looks like this? It's very close to that border after all. We tried to find the Noor Bish hotel which Lonely Planet said was very cheap. When we finally got there, we only saw two old men we couldn't understand so I guess they don't really rent rooms there anymore. We settled for the Seman hotel. The city kept reminding me of the movie Aladdin. At the hotel there was a wedding going on with traditional music and dances. I also met a group of 3 Swiss bikers who were on a 7 month journey from Switzerland to Beijing. How exciting! At the hotel bookstore I noticed they were selling The Alchimist in French and I was wondering why and the guy told me Kashgar and the region is where the story takes places. I didn't know that.
The whole experience in this city made me feel as if I was traveling in time. You have to see it to understand. Children are playing in the street with tires. There are old men wearing dirty pants and shirt pulling their cart. There are barbers on the street. But the huge screen in the open space in front of the mosque where they play KTV for the masses reminds you you're in China. Women here are wearing gorgeous sparkling dresses in beautiful colors. Some women have a brown cloth covering their whole face, others cover their head but show their face. In Kashgar people really aren't shy to stare at you. There isn't any subtlety. I guess they don't see white people as often as in Shanghai. Other interesting fact: there are dentists EVERYWHERE. I swear you cannot do 200 meters without seeing a dentist. It must help because I haven't seen anyone in Kashgar with bad teeth, whereas there are plenty of Han Chinese with horrible teeth in the East.
Uygurs used to learn latin letters but this gave them an advantage over Han Chinese in learning English so they went back to learning Arabic script. Here too there is a huge statue of Mao.
The next day we tried to get a bus ticket for Sayram lake. The bus station was crowded and there were some people standing next to the ticket window just to know where people are going. People are so nosey! I guess they have nothing better to do! We then went to the animal market where people are selling sheeps and cows and other animals. Nothing like I had ever seen before! Once again this requires to be there to understand. Then we were off to the Sunday market. More time warp feeling with metal workers and lots of people with donkeys. Everybody shouting "boisch!" to pass. We walked to People's Park and there I sat down to write postcards. Some old man sat next to me and just looked at what I was doing. Some kids did the same too and I gave them some postcards. There were happy. We had dinner in a Pakistani restaurant and there was Christmas music playing...
Kashgar is very alive. There is music everywhere. It seems very communal. This city was very eye opening for me. I didn't imagine there were cities (not rural areas) in China where they lived in such contrast with modernity. Language is a barrier for me and I wished I could interact with the locals. I felt lonely.
Monday the 27th, we got up very late and went to the Internet cafe. Then we proceeded to check-out and the woman wanted to charge us an extra 5 kuai and we didn't understand what. She said we used it. We didn't understand what. She said there was a thing on the night table and we used it but we had no idea what she was talking about so Chris went to the room to see and it turns out she was talking about a condom! We had no idea cause we didn't have one in the first place. It was funny. Then we went downtown and bought some food for the road and then I waited in the open space in front of the mosque while still being stared at. I observed the call for player and all the men reminding me of Aladdin getting into the mosque. I was also amazed to see that some tourists actually dress up like the stereotypical tourist: nylon pants and shirt, backpack, sunglasses, boat hat and camera around the neck. And then we left for a 36 hour bus ride!
I had never see a bus with beds before. It fits 42 beds. We need to get that in Canada. We stopped to let 3 hitchhikers in at some point. I didn't really get it at first but apparently it's normal for drivers to just stop for people on the side of the road when they have free beds and they get the money. We went through deserts and mountains once again and there were little brick and earth houses. After not even 1 hour, we stopped for the third time. Drive-in food time! ie people come around the bus and sell us all kinds of stuff by the window: mostly fruits and drinks. For entertainment in the bus, we had a music video of some short and fat singer with close-ups on his eyes to show how they are wet of emotion. Around 10h30 PM, we stopped for dinner/toilet break. I don't understand a word of Uygur so I just followed the women to know where the toilets were. I thought they were going to the washroom but then they went behind a building in a dark corner and lifted their skirts and squatted. So I did the same. Those buses don't have a toilet and we only stop every 4 hours. Gotta be able to hold it in! The place we were at was a major bus stop full of restaurants. There wasn't much light in the streets. The darkness with the moon and the mosque were really pretty. We left and I fell asleep looking at the moon and the stars over the sand dunes.
I woke up with the sun, orange light between the dunes. I have to share another toilet experience. We stopped at this rest stop place which consisted of a room with 3 holes and no separation. The floor was full of shit, toilet paper and pads. It was so gross! People preferred doing their thing outside than in this room. I'm glad that's the only one I've ever encountered in China.
We arrived in Sayram on Tuesday the 28th at 6 AM (so 4 AM in local time). Everything was dark. So Chris and I decided to hike a mountain to see the sunrise. I lost him on the way. I reached the top of a hill and there were kinds of rocks. I got closer and the rocks got up. They were sheeps! There was also a horse eating. So I sat down further away to observe the beauty surrounding me: moutains as far as you can see, trees, sheeps. Down, a huge blue lake and dozens of yurts. I watched the sunrise. I stayed very long on the hill sleeping in the sun. At 2 o'clock, me and Chris started our hunt for a yurt. We found one who was offering us a night and meals for 30 kuai each. Lunch consisted of nan, cheese and butter and a soup of tea with hot water and cheese. We learned a little bit of kazak while also teaching the woman some English. Then we went for a swim in the lake, my first time swimming in China! I needed that. The landscape around us was just so splendid. Then I went back to the yurt area to wash my clothes. Chris was gone hiking and we had dinner when he came back. The Kazaks were really friendly. They took a bunch of pictures with their cell phones. We had rice for dinner then we had a "disco" ie party in the other yurt. We danced and drank too much baijiu.
The next morning I got up with a hangover. I only had tea for breakfast because I was unable to eat so I decided to go by the water to rest in the sun. I decided to go for a swim and the two teenage girls joined me. We then went back to the yurt and had grapes. Their little brother was really cute. At that point I was thinking I'd really like to stay in a place like this for a long time because life is so peaceful, the nature so beautiful and the people so friendly. I showed some of my pictures to the girls and then we had "dinner" ie soup and bread. We now had to leave to hitchhike a bus and now the man wanted 150 kuai each instead of 30. We got screwed. Me and Chris were really pissed off to see that all this friendly attitude was so fake and they only wanted our money. At the road, all the Kazaks wanted to "help" us get a bus, for a commission of course. We really didn't need them but they ended up making a 100 kuai commission on our back. I was hating all Kazaks because of my experience at Pingtian and now this. I was really angry and just wanted to leave and be home (Shanghai). At least in the bus there was a nice girl who gave us fruits.
On Friday we arrived in Urumqi way too early. I was tired and irritable. We went to an Internet cafe and I saw Sinky's pictures of her visit to my family and it made me homesick. Then lunch and museum. The museum (about the minorities in Xinjiang) was quite interesting but I was finding it way too patriotic. I don't know if it's only because I was tired. We went to People's Park, which is quite ugly compared to the People's Park in other cities. There were couples taking wedding pictures. I waited there until it was time for me to go to the train station. I almost missed my train because I wasted so much time with the bag lock thing at the supermarket and then I couldn't find a cab. Luckily I convinced some cab who was done with his shift to take me to the train station anyway. That was close!
The ride home was much more fun than the ride to Urumqi. The locals on the train were really friendly and interested in talking to us. We shared some beer. It was very communal and interactive in the wagon. I did witness some weird things though. First, the woman who chews some noodles and spits them in the mouth of her baby like birds do. The little boys were pantless and she was petting their penis. Actually, many people in the wagon seemed to be having fun poking the little boys' penises with random objects such as magazines. There was also this guy making 'jokes' of threats with a knife on the little boys. It is also normal for babies to piss on the carpet in the train it seems. Twice I saw a mother holding her baby so that it can piss on the carpet. WTF? And people sleep on the floor at night... The train employee who had to sell random useless souvenirs was making quite a show. Some Uygurs invited us to their Xinjiang restaurant in Shanghai. It was a nice ending to this 2 week trip. Dan picked us up at the train station and we got home. I was exhausted. All in all, it was a great experience although not always fun. It was definitely worth it and I learned a lot.
So me and Chris left Shanghai on August 19th at 8:48PM to arrive in Urumqi on the 22nd at 3:15PM (1:15PM local time: the official time is Beijing time but the locals use local time. So government offices are open from like 10 AM to 8 PM which is like 8 AM to 6 PM local time. You use Beijing time in all official matters like train times but all the locals use local time). The train ride was horrible. Hard seat train is basically tight like a city bus but with longer back rest which is very straight. I have yet to understand the etiquette of hard seat train. People who have standing tickets are in the hard seat section and sit on the free seats. It seems people switch seats all the time. There was an annoying guy in front of me who kept putting his feet on my seat. Even though the ride was not so enjoyable, we still witnesses magnificient landscapes in this 42.5 hour long journey. We went through Suzhou, Bengbu, Xi'an and Lanzhou among other cities and saw mountains, brown rivers and deserts.
When we got to Urumqi, we got picked up by Ray, a former colleague of Chris who is from there. He took us to some really nice Uygur restaurant where we ate many delicious things, including sheep lungs. It's so good! The owner of the restaurant came to sit with us and started this lengthy conversation about his ice cream (he owns a famous ice cream chain) and how he wants to buy a machine to make his ice cream as good as Haagen Daaz or something. He was really nice and kept giving us stuff because he wanted to convince us that Urumqi has the best food in the world. We then went to Ray's house. The first day gave me a really good impression of Xinjiang people. They were really nice. It is weird to see arabic and Chinese written together (and sometimes Russian too because many Russians live in Urumqi) and also very weird to speak Chinese with white people from Central Asia. In Shanghai I'm used to if I see a white person I will speak English to them but in Xinjiang they don't speak English. Also, there are many mosques in the city.
The next day (Wednesday) we got up and Ray's mom had cooked for us. The common thing to have is an egg with sugar on it and some hard bread with jam and tea. Really good! The smell in the house reminded me a lot of when I was in Germany. Maybe it's because of the climate outside. We then went to Pingtian Resort office. It's an American company starting a ski resort in the mountains close to Urumqi and Chris's father had a contact there so we figured we'd visit and see if we could go to the mountain. We couldn't go with them but they explained to us how to get there and arranged transportation for us for the next day. In the afternoon we went to Huangshan park in the middle of the city on a mountain. We had a nice view of Urumqi from there. The city is surrounded by mountains so it's really pretty. It's a Chinese city I wouldn't mind spending my life there (if I were Chinese) compared to Shanghai or Beijing. You will see for yourself if I ever decide to sort through my Xinjiang pictures and upload some.
After the park we went to have coffee with Devrim, an AIESEC US alumnus who works for DHL in China. He moved from Shanghai to Urumqi in hopes of improving his Mandarin skills because it's too easy to rely on English in Shanghai, but it didn't work. On the other hand he now speaks fluent Uygur because it's vey similar to Turkish and his mom is Turkish. He can pass for a local. Lucky him. It was really interesting to chat with him because he seemed to have a different version of the reality of Xinjiang in terms of the percentage of the population that is Uygur and the history than what Ray had told us. I had the impression that the Han teach a different version to the minorities to better assimilate them but maybe it is just because I don't know much about it. We met with Devrim so we could have his feedback on our travel plans since he has traveled a lot around Xinjiang. We decided to go to Kashgar (Kashi in Chinese).
We then went to a bazaar and THAT was different. You feel like you're in another century. People selling all kinds of stuff, metal workers, all kinds of food. It's hard to describe but it's the kind of thing that make me glad I went to Xinjiang. For dinner, we went to a Russian club where Ray likes to go with his friends. Once again, the food was SO GOOD. I find Uygur women dress in a very sober way but are nonetheless very elegant. No need to be sexy and to show skin to be attractive. We watched some dances at the club. It was quite entertaining. Then people got on the dance floor and started dancing Uygur dances. I was thinkng of Nicole because I know she would have loved to see that. Outside, we could see the stars. Different from Shanghai!
Interesting fact: contrary to other countries, in Urumqi, the woman HAS to sit in the front after 10 PM (because cab drivers don't want to have drunk men disturbing their driving).
The Thursday was the day we went to Pingtian mountain. We had a 300 kuai taxi for the whole day. The drive was about an hour and a half. We stopped by some village to buy nan (bread) and vegetables. When we got there Chris left to walk up the mountain as I was trying to bargain the price of a horse ride. These Kazakhs are tough to bargain with! I finally accepted their price and had a kind of boring horse ride to the mountain. There I could admire many yurts and the remains of the first attempt at a ski center. I was trying to speak Chinese with the little Kazakh girl who was leading the horse. At the mountain she was saying the horse had to go back because it was tired but it was only halfawy to where the man said they would take me so I told her I would walk up and she can go back alone and I'll deal it with the man. So I walked further to admire some nice views on the mountains. Splendid! Then I came back to the Kazakh yurt and tried to explain my claim for half my money back to the man in charge but he was ignoring me. So rude! This other guy was just laughing in my face. I was not very happy. Finally the taxi driver convinced them to reimburse me by saying I am a friend of Bill (from the resort). We then waited for Chris for an hour while eating some lamb. After getting home, I had my first experience in an Internet cafe in China. So geeky! Everybody's playing games such as WoW.
Friday was another transportation day with a 24 hour train from Urumqi to Kashgar (Kashi in Chinese). In the train, I played cards with some Chinese. It reminded me of the activity we did at CEED preparation weekend in March where we had to play a card game without talking. I had to figure out the rules by observing and with the little Chinese I know. It was successful and I think they enjoyed playing with a laowai. They shared delicious nuts with me and the views by the window were once again very beautiful. I saw mountains, deserts and camels. I managed to sleep until 7 am.
On Saturday we finally arrived in Kashgar. It was nothing like I had ever seen. No skyscrapers in this city. Maybe Pakistan looks like this? It's very close to that border after all. We tried to find the Noor Bish hotel which Lonely Planet said was very cheap. When we finally got there, we only saw two old men we couldn't understand so I guess they don't really rent rooms there anymore. We settled for the Seman hotel. The city kept reminding me of the movie Aladdin. At the hotel there was a wedding going on with traditional music and dances. I also met a group of 3 Swiss bikers who were on a 7 month journey from Switzerland to Beijing. How exciting! At the hotel bookstore I noticed they were selling The Alchimist in French and I was wondering why and the guy told me Kashgar and the region is where the story takes places. I didn't know that.
The whole experience in this city made me feel as if I was traveling in time. You have to see it to understand. Children are playing in the street with tires. There are old men wearing dirty pants and shirt pulling their cart. There are barbers on the street. But the huge screen in the open space in front of the mosque where they play KTV for the masses reminds you you're in China. Women here are wearing gorgeous sparkling dresses in beautiful colors. Some women have a brown cloth covering their whole face, others cover their head but show their face. In Kashgar people really aren't shy to stare at you. There isn't any subtlety. I guess they don't see white people as often as in Shanghai. Other interesting fact: there are dentists EVERYWHERE. I swear you cannot do 200 meters without seeing a dentist. It must help because I haven't seen anyone in Kashgar with bad teeth, whereas there are plenty of Han Chinese with horrible teeth in the East.
Uygurs used to learn latin letters but this gave them an advantage over Han Chinese in learning English so they went back to learning Arabic script. Here too there is a huge statue of Mao.
The next day we tried to get a bus ticket for Sayram lake. The bus station was crowded and there were some people standing next to the ticket window just to know where people are going. People are so nosey! I guess they have nothing better to do! We then went to the animal market where people are selling sheeps and cows and other animals. Nothing like I had ever seen before! Once again this requires to be there to understand. Then we were off to the Sunday market. More time warp feeling with metal workers and lots of people with donkeys. Everybody shouting "boisch!" to pass. We walked to People's Park and there I sat down to write postcards. Some old man sat next to me and just looked at what I was doing. Some kids did the same too and I gave them some postcards. There were happy. We had dinner in a Pakistani restaurant and there was Christmas music playing...
Kashgar is very alive. There is music everywhere. It seems very communal. This city was very eye opening for me. I didn't imagine there were cities (not rural areas) in China where they lived in such contrast with modernity. Language is a barrier for me and I wished I could interact with the locals. I felt lonely.
Monday the 27th, we got up very late and went to the Internet cafe. Then we proceeded to check-out and the woman wanted to charge us an extra 5 kuai and we didn't understand what. She said we used it. We didn't understand what. She said there was a thing on the night table and we used it but we had no idea what she was talking about so Chris went to the room to see and it turns out she was talking about a condom! We had no idea cause we didn't have one in the first place. It was funny. Then we went downtown and bought some food for the road and then I waited in the open space in front of the mosque while still being stared at. I observed the call for player and all the men reminding me of Aladdin getting into the mosque. I was also amazed to see that some tourists actually dress up like the stereotypical tourist: nylon pants and shirt, backpack, sunglasses, boat hat and camera around the neck. And then we left for a 36 hour bus ride!
I had never see a bus with beds before. It fits 42 beds. We need to get that in Canada. We stopped to let 3 hitchhikers in at some point. I didn't really get it at first but apparently it's normal for drivers to just stop for people on the side of the road when they have free beds and they get the money. We went through deserts and mountains once again and there were little brick and earth houses. After not even 1 hour, we stopped for the third time. Drive-in food time! ie people come around the bus and sell us all kinds of stuff by the window: mostly fruits and drinks. For entertainment in the bus, we had a music video of some short and fat singer with close-ups on his eyes to show how they are wet of emotion. Around 10h30 PM, we stopped for dinner/toilet break. I don't understand a word of Uygur so I just followed the women to know where the toilets were. I thought they were going to the washroom but then they went behind a building in a dark corner and lifted their skirts and squatted. So I did the same. Those buses don't have a toilet and we only stop every 4 hours. Gotta be able to hold it in! The place we were at was a major bus stop full of restaurants. There wasn't much light in the streets. The darkness with the moon and the mosque were really pretty. We left and I fell asleep looking at the moon and the stars over the sand dunes.
I woke up with the sun, orange light between the dunes. I have to share another toilet experience. We stopped at this rest stop place which consisted of a room with 3 holes and no separation. The floor was full of shit, toilet paper and pads. It was so gross! People preferred doing their thing outside than in this room. I'm glad that's the only one I've ever encountered in China.
We arrived in Sayram on Tuesday the 28th at 6 AM (so 4 AM in local time). Everything was dark. So Chris and I decided to hike a mountain to see the sunrise. I lost him on the way. I reached the top of a hill and there were kinds of rocks. I got closer and the rocks got up. They were sheeps! There was also a horse eating. So I sat down further away to observe the beauty surrounding me: moutains as far as you can see, trees, sheeps. Down, a huge blue lake and dozens of yurts. I watched the sunrise. I stayed very long on the hill sleeping in the sun. At 2 o'clock, me and Chris started our hunt for a yurt. We found one who was offering us a night and meals for 30 kuai each. Lunch consisted of nan, cheese and butter and a soup of tea with hot water and cheese. We learned a little bit of kazak while also teaching the woman some English. Then we went for a swim in the lake, my first time swimming in China! I needed that. The landscape around us was just so splendid. Then I went back to the yurt area to wash my clothes. Chris was gone hiking and we had dinner when he came back. The Kazaks were really friendly. They took a bunch of pictures with their cell phones. We had rice for dinner then we had a "disco" ie party in the other yurt. We danced and drank too much baijiu.
The next morning I got up with a hangover. I only had tea for breakfast because I was unable to eat so I decided to go by the water to rest in the sun. I decided to go for a swim and the two teenage girls joined me. We then went back to the yurt and had grapes. Their little brother was really cute. At that point I was thinking I'd really like to stay in a place like this for a long time because life is so peaceful, the nature so beautiful and the people so friendly. I showed some of my pictures to the girls and then we had "dinner" ie soup and bread. We now had to leave to hitchhike a bus and now the man wanted 150 kuai each instead of 30. We got screwed. Me and Chris were really pissed off to see that all this friendly attitude was so fake and they only wanted our money. At the road, all the Kazaks wanted to "help" us get a bus, for a commission of course. We really didn't need them but they ended up making a 100 kuai commission on our back. I was hating all Kazaks because of my experience at Pingtian and now this. I was really angry and just wanted to leave and be home (Shanghai). At least in the bus there was a nice girl who gave us fruits.
On Friday we arrived in Urumqi way too early. I was tired and irritable. We went to an Internet cafe and I saw Sinky's pictures of her visit to my family and it made me homesick. Then lunch and museum. The museum (about the minorities in Xinjiang) was quite interesting but I was finding it way too patriotic. I don't know if it's only because I was tired. We went to People's Park, which is quite ugly compared to the People's Park in other cities. There were couples taking wedding pictures. I waited there until it was time for me to go to the train station. I almost missed my train because I wasted so much time with the bag lock thing at the supermarket and then I couldn't find a cab. Luckily I convinced some cab who was done with his shift to take me to the train station anyway. That was close!
The ride home was much more fun than the ride to Urumqi. The locals on the train were really friendly and interested in talking to us. We shared some beer. It was very communal and interactive in the wagon. I did witness some weird things though. First, the woman who chews some noodles and spits them in the mouth of her baby like birds do. The little boys were pantless and she was petting their penis. Actually, many people in the wagon seemed to be having fun poking the little boys' penises with random objects such as magazines. There was also this guy making 'jokes' of threats with a knife on the little boys. It is also normal for babies to piss on the carpet in the train it seems. Twice I saw a mother holding her baby so that it can piss on the carpet. WTF? And people sleep on the floor at night... The train employee who had to sell random useless souvenirs was making quite a show. Some Uygurs invited us to their Xinjiang restaurant in Shanghai. It was a nice ending to this 2 week trip. Dan picked us up at the train station and we got home. I was exhausted. All in all, it was a great experience although not always fun. It was definitely worth it and I learned a lot.
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