July 22, 2023
Hey there folks -
it has been a long time since you have heard from me….again….BUT things in China were still crazy this past year with their zero covid policy and things just got strange after they dropped all of the rules….this had happened as i was writing to you all last time….but the craziness continued with no rules as well…..after the rules were dissolved, my school was super busy, packing three years worth of experiences into three months….which was awesome for the kids, but exhausting for everyone involved….
However, i did get some final travels INSIDE of china before leaving and was able to do many of the final things i wanted to do to say “goodbye” to china and all of the amazing things there…from food, to landscape, to history, to culture….china is one of a kind….but i am not sure i will make it back….the last three years have been hard on a few different levels…..as always i will miss certain things and of course the people that i will not see again, but overall, i know my time in china has come to a close….too much weirdness, and a few different reasons about why i should not return…..so, it is on to Paris, France I go!!!! Which i am super excited about!!! I know i will be there for two years, i know i will be there and attend some olympic games next summer and i know lots of folks are interested in coming to visit…..so let me know if you are headed my way and i will try and do my best to meet up and help with anything you want to do while visiting!!!! Vive la France 🇫🇷
But of course I would be remiss if i did not include my pictures from the last 6 months of my stay in china…from chengdu with the pandas, to chongqing - the biggest city in china, to shanghai for chinese new year, to zhnagjiajie - also known as the avatar mountains, to the shaolin temple with students and all of my fun experiences in beijing…..china is like no other country….and i am thankful to have spent time there getting to know all the different aspects of it….i did miss a few key places after six years, but i am not sure i will get the chance to return…..xie xie china….and thanks for an interesting, challenging, life-changing experience…..on with the pictures 😎
This past year I had christmas in Chengdu with the pandas….everywhere we went there were pandas and rabbits - because this is also the year of the rabbit! 🐼🐰 don’t worry, this bus did not move and was located in the center of town….
We went to see the pandas one of the mornings we were in town and got there before the multitudes…it was chilly, but definitely not cold, and there was no snow, which was kind of a bummer, because the pandas love playing in the snow….
Pandas spend much of their day eating…they became endangered because they are very specific with the types of bamboo they eat….there are over 1500 species of bamboo in the world, but pandas will only eat 20 of them….and bamboo is not very nutritious, so they need to eat a lot of it per day….here is one panda who was enjoying breakfast when we arrived…they are in a glass enclosure, but all of the enclosures have outdoor space….
The other activity pandas love is sleeping….and they can sleep anywhere ;) even in the trees….
The baby pandas were so roly-poly and fun to watch…this one kept playing with the basket…
Many of the spaces have platforms for the pandas to climb on and sleep on, like the one above….they also tend to share the outdoor space with other pandas in their families….it is a pretty impressive research facility and they have increased the numbers of pandas in the world considerably….so much so that the panda is no longer considered endangered…..
I was very excited that i got to return to chengdu and see the pandas…they are amazing animals…it was fun trip with friends for the holidays….
This is a picture of the crew i was with for xmas morning…we celebrated with stockings for all and fun glasses and hats…the chinese waitstaff loved it as well, as most chinese do not celebrate christmas…..
After chengdu i then headed with two friends to the city of chongqing….this is one of china’s biggest cities, if not the biggest….there are 30 million people located in the greater chongqing area…it is HUGE….it is also the location where a metro car actually goes through an apartment building….and yes, folks really do live in this building above the metro stop…..
Chongqing has a whole section of town dedicated to graffiti….if you have been to china or know things about china…they are not a place that embraces graffiti, so this was quite surprising and amazing to us…the murals on the buildings above and below, were my favorites on the street where all of this art is located….
The mural above reminds me of all chinese towns and cities i have been in….you can always find chinese folks playing games around a table….whether mahjong or go or a myriad of card games…they can get quite competitive….love this mural…..
Chongqing also has this really amazing building that starts on the water front and goes up the side of a mountain…it was called the Hongyadong Shopping and Eating area…although it rained the whole time we were there….we did have a good time and ate some amazing dan-dan noodles, which the region is known for….slurp!!!! 🍜
Chinese New Year was quite close to Christmas this year, and i still was not able to get a flight out of china to another location….due to crazy prices and a lack of flights leaving china…this would actually plague me even up to and including the flight i took out of china in june….travel to and from china is still not back to normal after all of the zero-covid rules….bleh….so for chinese new year, i headed south to shanghai to catch up with friends and hang in the city i love…..here’s to the year of the rabbit 🐰
Of course there were tons of rabbit decorations and red lanterns and good luck door couplets and fu good luck characters….this huge lantern was on sale, but i did not think i could bring it back with me on the train ;)
And of course there were rabbits everywhere….this one was in yuyuan gardens, which we visited on a walking tour during the day before it got super full in the evening….
This picture is of a man hanging the traditional door couplets for good luck and prosperity in the coming year….these are always red for good luck 🏮
Also, on the first day of the new year…the big shopping district held lion and dragon dances for good luck and prosperity in the coming year….even though it was raining…people really felt the need to have these this year after the craziness of covid in china….
This shot is taken down nanjing lu….the huge shopping street that leads to the bund!
Once back in beijing, i was able to experience a great art installation by teamlab….they had an entire room of bubbles that you could go play in…if it comes to where you are, you really should go check it out and have fun!!!
During the last part of chinese new year, i took my last trip to the wall with some friends…we rented a huge house and spent two nights up there…it was spectacular….unfortunately at this point, the wall was closed due to covid….still….it really did mess up plans…but we had a great time hanging out, cooking, playing games, reading and being in each other’s company…..activities with other folks like these are really what helped me get through the tough covid times in beijing/china over the past three years…..
This was my daily covid testing booth for many, many weeks this past year…at one point we had to be tested daily….and then over night, at the end of december, china dropped the zero-covid policy…it happened so fast with no plan…it was insane…..when i took this picture, it was a few days before the booth just disappeared…crazy!!!
One of the other trips i took in china before i left was to zhnagjiajie….also better know at the location of the avatar mountains…..it was just for a long weekend, but was amazing….
These were some of the multitudes of karsts we saw while visiting…and because it was not a chinese holiday, it was not super crowded…our guide was awesome and also knew where to take us in the park that chinese tourists did not really visit…it was amazing!!!
This was my favorite one…it was in the same area as the karst that was the main inspirational one for the movie…i love that this one looks like stuff is on the top of it!!!
And of course i tried the local beer….this place, where we had dinner after a busy day walking and exploring, was incredible…the woman who did all of the cooking loved that i wanted to add spicy sauce to everything….she said we were like twins, because she put her homemade sauce on everything…it was delicious 😋
For our second day, we went to tianamen mountain….also known as the gateway to heaven….this is the same area as the avatar mountains…in the shot above, leah and i are standing on a glass bridge….which went around the edge of the mountain….it was super cool…..and you could see all the way down….
This is me at the base of this part of the mountains….you can see the “gateway” behind me….the top of the arch had actually partially fallen about 6 months before and they were in the process of shoring it up….in order to get to the top of this area, we had to take the longest gondola in the world….it was over 20 minutes long to ride it….
I had to include this funny picture….everywhere i end up, i always find some friends to buzz cut my hair…this time around it was first Josh and then it was Heather & Maja…in china there is a place you can literally buy anything and have it shipped to your house, called taobao…heather found this “cone of shame” on taobao that was specifically for cutting hair….definitely made cleaning up a lot faster 😂
One thing china does well is landscaping…the flowers and colors, along with many of the older styled buildings and spaces makes it a beautiful backdrop…my school did this as well….this was the pathway i walked once being dropped off at the front gate…this was our chinese garden…just lovely!!! I will miss the bluebird sky days with this as a backdrop to walk to my classroom….
Before the year ended we took the 8th graders on a trip to visit the shaolin temple for four days….it was an intense time, where our students were tutored in a kung fu routine by students at one of the kung fu schools on the way to the temple….here are some of the students running through their routines….
This was the group of little kids….students can start at the age of 5….there were 12,000 students training at this school….about 10% of the trainees were girls….
This is one of our students with the shaolin masters….he was in the show with them…the shaolin masters & temple is what kung fu panda was designed after…it was cool to see this part of the country and the training center….
We also went to a cultural park, where they put on an evening show….these are always spectacular experiences…this was one of the final scenes and i was seated right where the lights made it look like the boat was going down a tunnel…it was a cool effect….
I got one last trip into shanghai before the end of the year to say goodbye to this awesome city and to a bunch of friends….some of whom have now left to teach in different places and some who have not….this statue above is always one of my favorites and reminds me i am in the french concession…love it….
I also made it to the bund on my last morning to take this picture of this iconic skyline….i really loved my time in shanghai, but of course that was before covid…things have changed and at times were super challenging…but this city remains my favorite of all time….
So much so that i had some new ink done by a teacher in beijing, based on the picture i took above…i loved what he did in his home studio…
I did do a few last things in beijing to say goodbye…one of those was watching the flag raising in tiananmen square at sunrise…this happens every sunrise and sunset and is extremely patriotic for the chinese….this shot above is the night before as the lights were coming on…so we could kind of see the flag in the distance going down for sunset….
The shot above is me holding the 100 RMB note, with the picture of the building i am standing in front of it….it is the Chinese Congress Building where the really big meetings happen once a year….it is called the Great Hall of the People….this was after the sun rose and we were getting ready to head out….
This is the crew that braved the crowd of hundreds of folks to see the red flag behind our heads raise at sunrise…it was a once in a lifetime adventure….but only once ;)
The shot above is one of the last times i crossed the bridge at school…it was the evening of the 8th grade celebration….WAB really does have a beautiful campus…
The other way i celebrated beijing was by going out for a last meal with most of my important crew to my favorite place….Black sesame…we decided to eat in the hutong courtyard and enjoyed every bite of this amazing food….
Black Sesame, my favorite dish is the five spice eggplant…..this meal is one of my all time favorites in the world…my beer is in the shot too…but the dish is more important this time around….bye-bye beijing!!!
So there you have it…my final post from china….quite possibly forever….we’ll see…never say never….this summer i have been hanging in the States with my mom catching up on sleep, swimming in her new compound’s pool and meeting up with family and friends i have been unable to see the past three summers due to the zero-covid policy i had to live by for china….it has been relaxing and rejuvenating….at this point i am now starting to get things organized for paris…i head out in about 2 weeks….yahooooooo 😎
Per normal….i am sorry i have not been in touch from china, but i just could not be motivated to write the post due to not being able to get out of the country…it was really frustrating…but onward and upward ;) i will be looking for an apartment when i get to paris and hope to see some of you visiting france while i am there….my contract is with the American School of Paris and runs for 2 years to start…who knows if i will be there longer, but i am super excited for the olympics in paris next summer and have already procured tickets with friends for some of the events…woot!!! I have also signed up to volunteer…we’ll see what happens…..Vive Le France 🇫🇷
I hope all of you have had a great start to your summer or winter season depending on location….thanks as always for reading what I write and hopefully i will get back to traveling the globe now that i am not dealing with a zero-covid policy….the next trip i am planning for the fall is to morocco…let’s go!!!
Peace out…..dani ⭐️
No comments:
Post a Comment