Archive for July, 2009
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Journey to Jiangxi
After our adventures in Zhangjiajie, we took an overnight train to Jiangxi. Most long-distance trains in China are convenient, air-conditioned, smooth and quiet. Unfortunately for us, we were traveling between two rather random locations, and got stuck on a local clunker — hot, stuffy, loud and jerky. The train had no air-conditioning, just windows and [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Tourist Noobs by Caitlin
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Zhangjiajie, Monkey Day!
The second day in Zhangjiajie we took a two-hour hike through a canyon floor, where we saw lots of monkeys! Regardless of the copious signage discouraging it, the Chinese tourists fed the monkeys, and we even saw some monkeys run down from the hills and try to steal things from the tourists.
The monkey troupes had [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Creatures, Tourist Noobs by Caitlin
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Zhangjiajie, Day 1
A few weeks ago we traveled with six other young folks to China’s first national park, Zhangjiajie, located in Hunan province. The park is huge, and it’s sort of like a forested Grand Canyon. We started our first day at the park by riding a gondola to the top of the mountain. We had to [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Tourist Noobs by Caitlin
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
The Visitors
Since July 8 there have been a series of visitors to our little neck of the woods. Jeff’s mom, dad, brother, sister and brother-in-law all came to China for a week. We all had a packed week filled with Peking duck, tourist attractions and a very competitive photo scavenger hunt.
At the end of their time [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Beijing, Tourist Noobs by Caitlin
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Rejectionbook
In what I can only assume to be a response to the riots in Xinjiang, China blocked Facebook at around 7 p.m. tonight. Even during the Tian’anmen anniversary, while Youtube, Twitter and Hotmail were blocked, Facebook survived. I wonder what changed.
I guess I’ll have to start being a lot more productive now. You’ve crossed a [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Beijing, FAIL by Caitlin
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Take THAT, HSK!
Today I finally found out my score on the HSK Chinese proficiency test, which I have been freaking out about for two months because I wasn’t sure I passed.
Jeff forced me to go down to the HSK office and face the music today, and he was very smug when I found out I scored a [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Skool by Caitlin
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Oink oink, I’m in jail
So China is a little bit freaked out about swine flu, and I’m under quarantine. I don’t have a flu, or a fever, nor did I have any contact with someone who did, but just the same, I’m not supposed to leave my apartment for seven days. Apparently anyone coming from a country with swine [...]
