Crazy Signage

Wow, this is Post #100 on my blog. To celebrate, here's a compilation of the crazy signs we've seen in China. It's obvious why they need English speakers, no?

First, from our own city of Qinhuangdao:

Classic

Then we move to the Shanghai World Expo, which had a lot of interesting interpretations of English.

I didn't realize there were so many old, disabled, pregnant women

Nope, really don't understand this one

I think they mean "no stamp"

In line for the pavillions

That means "no cutting." If only this sign had been effective...

Not sure what it is made from

The saddest part is that spitting is a BIG problem in China

Extra spermy???

To be fair, this is Costa Rica's slogan, not China's

Now, on to transportation in Shanghai.

This is amusing, because in China, the pronunciation sounds like "lousy men"

True Blood fans, anyone? If you're looking to hook up with a vampire, head here!

Glad to see airport security is still pretty tight

Guilin also had some interesting signage.

This is difficult to read, but it refers to the toilet seat as the "butt plate"

Near a waterfall

At a national park

As long as you do it carefully...

Guilin, City of Osmanthus Trees

At our arrival in Guilin we were met by a car from the hotel, the Riverside Hostel. For a mere $25/night, we had a private double room with a river view in the city center. It was pretty luxurious for us.

Hotel Veranda

After showering and having a brief pillow fight, we headed into the city for a walk before dinner. We loved the wide pedestrian-only walkways lined with osmanthus trees that meandered around the river.

We spotted a cute little cafe, The Shire Hobbiton. Naturally we had to stop in, and we were treated to giant LotR posters and a menu that included delicacies such as "Rohan tea" and "lembas." I opted for something a little more this-world, and had a Vanillacino, which was by far the best coffee I've had in China.

Thus fortified, we passed through the gauntlet of Chinglish speaking natives trying to sell us everything from traditional Chinese clothes to tea. Guilin has a lively night market, which mostly sells cheap tourist souvenirs, our favorite kind, so we easily hit that up every night we were there.

We also walked through the expansive park, admiring the lake lit up with twinkling lights. The Sun and Moon Pagodas looked especially lovely in the evening.

The next morning we got up early and joined another 50 or so tourists, mostly Chinese, but with a good smattering of Europeans as well, for a cruise along the Li River from Guilin to the famous Yangshuo.

It was definitely a new experience for us, traveling on an organized tour. Normally we do our own thing and wander off the beaten track, but since Andrew's inquiries into the possibility of kayaking the entire way were met with confused looks, we had no choice but to join a tour group. On the cruise we met up with a German-Malaysian couple and some Belgiums, which made for interesting conversation in both English and French. The 4 1/2 hour journey downriver was full of magnificent karst scenery, made all the more intriguing by the fog that covered the tops of the hills. We passed many well-known sites, including Nine Horses Painted on a Hill, and the scene featured on the back of the 20 RMB bill.

Can you see the nine horses? Yeah, me neither.

Once we arrived in Yangshuo, we spent about 40 minutes walking along the tourist shopping street, where we bought some pretty cool souvenirs for ourselves and friends back home.

Yangshuo

Then we met up with 12 others from our group for an optional countryside tour. We drove to a small village and noticed all the mirrors hanging over the front doors. Apparently these mirrors are used to scare away ghosts, who will be frightened of their own reflection.

In this village, we also stopped at the Stone Dragon bridge for some scenic shots of the river.

Then it was past the rice paddies and downstream some more for a river trip on a bamboo raft.

This was actually my favorite part of the entire trip to Guilin, because the river was quiet and isolated but for us 14 travelers. We were pushed along the river by bamboo poles, and a woman dressed in traditional garb stood on our boat and sang, albeit through a megaphone.

After we had drifted a little bit, we met up with a cormorant fisherman. The fisherman ties cords around the bird's throat to prevent it from swallowing the fish it catches. The fisherman then throws the bird off the boat, and the bird brings back the fish it catches to its master. After about 20kg of fish are caught, the bird is then allowed to eat some of its catch. It was a little cruel, but interesting to watch.

After our lazy trip down the river, we then hopped back on the bus and headed back to Guilin, where we tried Guilin beer duck, which was really disappointing. To be honest, almost all the food in Guilin was disappointing, which is pretty unusual for China.

Beer duck

After dinner we once again wandered around the park and markets, stopping to buy some sugar cane juice before heading back to our hotel for the night.

Choo-Choo!!!

We're back! I'm going to do a series of smaller posts over the next couple of days in order to break up all the awesome-ness that was our vacation. So first, let me begin with the traveling part of our trip.

Beijing Train Station, where we arrived from Qinhuangdao

Long line for taxis; Yikes!

On Monday morning, we took a 7:30am train from Qinhuangdao to Beijing. It was faster and safer than taking the bus, but also more packed. They must have taken advice from the French because they sold more tickets than seats, which left lots of people standing in the aisles for the 3 hour journey. Luckily, being foreigners afforded us some courtesy and we were able to squeeze into some seats. When we arrived in Beijing, it was a beautiful, crisp, cool autumn day, and we took advantage of it by walking around for five hours before our connecting train to Guilin left. We wandered our usual haunt, Wanfujing Shopping street, hitting up the foreign bookstore where I bought Kenneth Follett's "A World Without End." I chose this book for the sheer volume of it, which would keep me occupied for the two 24-hour trains we had to take.

Wanfujing Shopping Street

We also treated ourselves to Subway and Starbucks, which were worth the expensive price tag that comes with importing western products to China.

Creme brulee frappecino. Yum!

After a couple of blissful hours in faux-America, we headed for the train station to catch our overnight train which would take us the 2,300km south to Guilin.

Beijing West Train Station, our departure point

We had reserved two middle bunks on a the hard-sleeper, but of course those bunks were actually in two different carriages, so we switched with someone to have a middle and top bunk. Having a permanent bed in the car meant we pretty much napped the entire 24 hour trip, or read and listened to music.

It was really comfortable, except for the billion other (noisy and messy) people on the train. Thankfully, the lights went out at 10pm, and everyone pretty much quieted down until 7am the next morning, when the smell of instant noodles woke us up. We had brought our own food and drinks and plenty of snacks, so it was actually pretty enjoyable for us to just lounge in bed and read until we arrived in Guilin around 3:30pm the next day.

Mop's New 'Do

My friend Mop Dog has been violated! They took away his fluff, leaving behind this:

He still looks like a teddy bear

He's still pretty adorable, and the more time we spend with him, the more convinced we are that we have to have a dog like him when we return to the states, no matter how stupid the name of the breed is. This is pretty surprising for us because we both hate small dogs, but Mop Dog has convinced us otherwise! I've been getting in his, and his owner's good graces, by bringing treats (for both parties) and trying my pathetic Chinese with them. It must be working because the owners said I could take him with me to the states! My evil plan is working. By the end of the year, they won't even be joking when they say that!

Pretty sunset in Qinhuangdao

Monday morning we're outta here for our first vacation. I really don't know how you poor suckers back home do it; after three months of working 24-hour weeks, I'm pretty beat and can't wait to get out of Qinhuangdao and see some cool stuff. I'm definitely spoiled and adjusting to the "real world" is going to be really difficult when I get back home.

We've finally made contact with some foreigners here, so now we have a group of Californians to hang out with. I've wow-ed them with my homemade chili, so at least I know they'll keep coming back, if not for the company, than for the food! Unfortunately, they live and teach pretty far out of town, and our hours are pretty different, so we won't get much time to hang with them.

Here are some pictures from the school. Enjoy!

Andrew's adult class: a lesson on traveling on an airplane

Me and Karen, individual student class

Doesn't he look good in a sweater vest?