China pt 1

Due to blogspot being blocked here in China, I am posting this through email.

 

On June 17, my dad, my sis and I went to the airport at 4am to go to China.  We first flew to JFK airport in NY, then we took a 15+ hour flight to HK before finally heading back north to our final destination, Fuzhou.  When we finally arrived, we had to stay in the airplane for at least half an hour while they check everyone's temperature to make sure that no one had a fever.  They seem to be extra precautious about the swine flu.  Unluckily for us, there was a guy three rows behind us(not directly behind us) whose temperature was above the threshold so we had to stay even longer in the plane.  Finally we were allowed to leave the plane and the airport and head to our destination. There was a condition though: we were not allowed to leave the area where we are staying for seven days to make sure that we didn't contract the flu.

 

During those days we either stay in the village/town of Lianjiang or head up to Fuzhou.  The main activities were wandering around in the city and shopping. My sis and I washed our hair twice in a salon which included washing hair as well as a back massage.  Once in a while we would be accompanied by our aunt and cousin who lives in the city.

 

When those days were finally up (June 26th), we headed to Hubei where my uncle was. We took an overnight train which took over 24 hours.  This was partially due to the speed it was going as well as the stops that it made. Passing the time on the train wasn't as bad as I expected. Between staring out at the scenary (it was all mountains the first day; fields and more mountains the second day), playing cards, sleeping, and working on sudoku, we soon arrived in Hubei.  The city in which we are staying is Shiyan.  It is located in the center of China and is the center for their car production.  Stepping out into the city, we were hit with an oppressive heat. Fortunately, we didn't have to walk very far to the car.

 

The next day (June 28th), the four of us went to Wudan Mountain (it's known for Taichi).  This place is very scenic.  During our trip, we had a tour guide.  The only problem was that she spoke only Chinese, which my sis and I could only understand partially.  As it was a Sunday, the line to take the cable car to the top was very very long (to walk up would've taken three hours).  As we were on it, my sis and I were too scared to look down as the ride was very steep.  It was a lot better on the way down though. 

 

July 4 -Today is Independence Day.  It would have just passed me by if my dad hadn't mentioned it.  The three of us had just come back to Fuzhou from Xi'An today. We had spent the last four days there, visiting the Terracotta soldiers, Hua Shan, and the city itself.  We had gone with a tour group so everything was rushed and we didn't get to spend much time looking at the place itself.  In some places it wasn't too much a problem as it was outdoors, really hot, and there wasn't much to look at.  The hotel which we stayed at, and which was booked through the travel agency, wasn't very nice.

 

July 7 - The day after we got back to Fuzhou, my uncle and his family all came so I have been hanging out with them for the most part.

Today is the first time that I went to the internet cafe really early.  It's so different from when it is at night. There's hardly anyone here at all right now. At night it's so packed with guys playing some video game.

I came today because my sister had emailed me scans of letters I had gotten while I was here. Turns out, I passed the FE exam :-)