It’s been awhile since I’ve been back to China. I turned 13 in Wuhan in 1996. And now, 10 years later, I’m headed back a month before my 23rd birthday. Time flies.
I’m a little nervous about seeing my family there, for reasons of language, culture, and well–just having little or nothing to say to them. I am going to be spending a lot of time smiling and nodding, but how bad can that be? Hopefully Annie will spice things up once she arrives. Plus, delicious authentic Chinese food…yum. I think I will avoid the chicken, however.
Also, I fear…diarrhea! Montezuma’s revenge in China? We live in a small world after all. It seems unavoidable, but I still hope…man. That sucks. And the squatting toilets? UGH.
As for the picture above, yes, the little tot is me. I think it’s interesting how every culture around the world likes to immoblize their babies in layers of puffy clothing. I can’t quite figure out what my mom is doing with her finger, except that it seems to be pointing “up”. Well in any case it looks like I am pretty well entertained by it. Go finger!
I would like to hear any travel advice if y’all out there got any.
I’m so excited for you! Will you be able to e-mail? When do you get back?
Comment by Chris — May 6, 2006 @ 10:58 am |
one of my favorite things i did in china was climbing taishan mountain in shandong. oh, y’all need to tote around an adorable thermos of hot water for instant noodles or tea. and i never got diarrhea in china although everyone warned me about it. anyways i’m so jealous of you two! have fun and take lots of pictures!
Comment by sylvia — May 7, 2006 @ 12:17 am |
oo, can I get said thermos in china? where does one get hot water while traveling? also, is the mountain relatively lazy-person accessible?
packing is a bitch and trying to choose appropriate clothing is difficult. hey sylvia, what did you think of the toilets?
I’ll definitely be on email. I’ll try and update this site as I go along, too. I’ll be gone May 12-June 17!
Comment by apricot — May 7, 2006 @ 8:43 am |
yes, you can gift all kinds of nifty thermoses (thermii) in china. they often have built in mesh thingies for holding your tea leaves. you’ll look very chinese toting around a thermos of tea to sip. hot water is vended in many places, like on the train for example. are you traveling by train at all?
the toilets are some of the most disgusting things i’ve ever experienced. actually they are only marginally grosser than fraternity basements. anyways, you probably know this but be sure to get those little personal packs of tissues as there tends not to be toilet paper, and hand sanitizer stuff too.
and yes, the mountain is lazy-person accessible! i climbed it on the way up, which took a few hours but wasn’t like real hiking, because there are stone steps all the way up. but i believe you can take one of those gondolier type things up to pretty near the top. at the very top, you are above the clouds and it’s freaking freezing but it’s amazing. We stayed at a hotel at the top and got up in the morning and watched the sunrise. It was speeectacular. i highly recommend this excellent vacation destination!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tai
Comment by sylvia — May 8, 2006 @ 7:54 pm |
yes, i recall these stone steps as well, flanked by people selling stuff.
maybe we should all start a travel business based on following great books/writers and great food around the world….
Comment by lakesgirl — May 9, 2006 @ 4:03 am |
oo, thanks sylvia, for all the excellent travel advice. I’ll try and make it out to the mount if I can. and the 3 gorges! (so that I can be en-gorged. ha ha.)
one more q if you’re out there: how much chinese do you need to get around? I know some basic conversational chinese as well as the general household stuff, but beyond that…anything?
annie that’s a splendid idea. Let us don our thinking caps forthwith.
Comment by apricot — May 9, 2006 @ 8:44 am |
I bet you have enough Chinese to get around. I think you will probably find that there are people very eager to assist you in your travels for just a nominal fee. There were definitely some things about mainland Chinese that I was unfamiliar with at first, but y’all’s folks are from mainland China anyways so it’s probably not too different for you anyway. Like in mainland China, a bathroom is a xi2shou3jian1 while in Taiwan it’s a ce4suo3, which in mainland China means an outhouse and is NOT an appropriate thing to ask for when you’re, for example, on an airplane. Anyways I can’t think of any useful Chinese language travel tips right now. If you wind up in an Internet cafe, I DARE YOU to Google Tiananmen Square. Do it!!!!
And take so many good pictures of the Three Gorges for me! Man, I want to go before it’s all gone. It’s not all gone yet right?
Comment by sylvia — May 12, 2006 @ 1:34 am |
No, the gorges aren’t gone yet, but water levels are rising gradually. I’ll be sure to snap a few.
Comment by apricot — May 12, 2006 @ 3:42 pm |