Buses, Boats, Boas & Lady Boys? Part II

Day 2: Boats, Beautiful Scenery and …

On the second day of our trip, we actually got to see the beautiful Qiandao Lake.  Qiandao Lake (千岛湖) is actually a huge man-made lake (covers 573 square kilometers or 221 square miles) with literally thousands of islands (the name translates to Thousand Island Lake).  There are 1078 larger islands and thousands of smaller islands.  The islands were once actually the tops of mountains and hills in the region.  However, after a flood in the 1950′s, the Chinese decided to build a dam and hydro-power station on the Xin’an River which created the lake as a reservoir. The lake is know for its clear and clean green and sometimes drinkable waters.

Green water

After an early breakfast at the hotel, it was a short (yet bumpy) bus ride to the main touristy area of the lake, where we were able to board boats to go check out the lake. On the way over, a tour guide told us a lot of facts and interesting tidbits about the lake, in Chinese.  I did, however, understand when he said about 8-10 times that it was a very big lake.

A beautiful day at 千岛湖！

After quick stop to pose for pictures at the little fake waterfall and large gates by the entrance of the tourist area, we boarded three boats to go visit a couple of the islands.  At first when we boarded and asked if we could go upstairs on to the deck of the boat, we were told it would be an extra 30rmb.  When we took off the price had dropped to 20rmb, and about 15 minutes into the ride the extra charge went away, and we allowed upstairs to see the view and take pictures.  Oh, China!

On the boat, zippin' along between the islands.

It was a beautiful morning, and zipping along between the islands, sometimes coming within a couple meters of the land on either side was delightful and relaxing.  We soon stopped at the first island for the day (I was hoping to see at least thousand, but alas, had to settle for three.)

Chairlift up the island!

As we got off the boats and walked up a short hill, we found ourselves waiting in line for a chairlift to the top of the island.  Beautiful views, blue skies, wooded areas and short walks through nature were enough to make it worthwhile.  We had about an hour to spend exploring the island before we had to be back on the boats to go to island #2.

View from the top of the island

My Royal Branch Kid Castle coworkers!

The second island of the day was the snake island.  Apparently, when you have over a thousand islands you should create themed islands for the enjoyment of your tourists.  The monkey island sounded like fun to all of us, but it was closed.  (I heard rumors of high waters making it hard to access, monkeys not being friendly to tourists and monkeys swimming away to escape to other islands…)

Snake Art Show = Lady Boys

Upon arrival to the snake island, I heard talk of there being a snake show – complete with “Thai trannies”.  Personally, I did not know what Thai trannies had to do with snakes, but after being underwhelmed by the pit of poisonous snakes 0r the “Venomous Snakes Pool Civilization Ornamental”, I decided to pay the 15rmb to see the snake show.

I did not make up that name! Chinglish.

Upon entering and sitting down in the small outdoor auditorium for the show, we quickly discovered that photos were not allowed.  Holding up a cell phone would get you yelled at by security, and a friend who merely had a camera sitting on her lap was approached by a security guard who took the lens of her camera and turned it away from the stage.  Apparently, the three pretty boys in dresses, high heels, wigs and make-up singing and dancing for us did not like their pictures taken.  We watched them sing and dance without any snakes.  Next another beautiful lady-boy came out and did a duet for us, singing beautifully both the woman and man’s parts of the song in Chinese, his voice changing instantly between the higher and lower sections of the song.

Lots of snakes!

Just as we were beginning to wonder why this was featured on the snake island as a snake show, some Chinese(?) girls (they were actually girls) came out with snakes around their necks for a quick dance.  A 30-second display by a Chinese man and a cobra, another song and dance by the lady-boys and the show was over.  It was rather disappointing, but also quite hilarious.  They certainly managed to get our money!  However, when the show came to an end and we were suddenly allowed to have our pictures taken (for a fee) with the lady-boys, we opted out.

A boa - as promised.

Walking around the island, they had other pits full of a variety of snakes, and a few boa constrictors that you could hold and for a price (as always) have your picture taken with.  A co-worker of mine managed to get one on her shoulders before she let them know she had no interest in paying – and I managed to snap a couple shots before getting pushed out of the way by the woman trying to get us to pay for the opportunity.

I felt bad for the boas, obviously getting way to much human attention.  The one in the picture below was unusually lethargic, I know snakes aren’t the most energetic of creatures, but this one almost seemed dead for part of the time.  As it was picked up, poked, prodded and wrapped around yet another tourists shoulders.

Char with a boa around her neck.

As we boarded the boats we saw that a meal had been laid out for us.  Oh yay!  Fish.  More fish dishes of every variety.  Luckily, there was one chicken dish again and white rice to fill up empty space in my stomach.  Everyone was sick of fish after dinner the night before and this lunch.  After lunch we went to our final island of the day.

Mmmm.... Fishy!!

Lunch on the boat!

I avoided the head of the chicken...

This island was connected to another smaller island by a large bridge which you could walk across, for a small price!  I decided to stay put, spend my money on an ice cream and soak up the sun instead.

Bridge connecting islands

Staying put also gave me the opportunity to be the tourist attraction of the day for a large group of Chinese who arrived to the island shortly after we did.  Pictures with the blond for everyone!  The real excitement for the Chinese came when they learned that the blond and the black girl were BOTH Americans and we let them take pictures with both of us.  One Chinese man was so delighted to have both of us in a picture, that he squeezed my head and Char’s head up against his for a picture of a nice colorful sandwich of ethnicity.

Soaking up the sun!

After taking the boat back to the main dock, we climbed back aboard our buses for the 5+ hour ride back home to Shanghai.  I could have stayed a couple extra days, but it is always nice to be home.

Buses, Boats, Boas & Lady Boys?

Day 1 – Buses, a Bamboo Boat and Beer

If you are ever hanging out in Zhejiang province and have a spare day or two, I would highly recommend visiting Qiandao Lake (千岛湖) or Thousand Island Lake.  If you visit and are blessed with beautiful blue skies, 70-75 degree (Fahrenheit) weather  (22-24 degrees Celsius) and not too much humidity – then consider yourself extra lucky, like I was last week.

After the fact, I can’t believe I was hesitant about accepting a company paid trip for 2 days when I first learned about it (which was just over a week in advance).  Missing Chinese class the day before my midterm, and getting up at 5am to sit on a bus for 4-6 hours with 150+ coworkers with no idea what we would be doing.  I wasn’t completely sold.  Perhaps I was just in a grumpy mood because now I am so glad I remembered why I am here.  I want to travel and see the world; therefore, I should take any opportunity I get.  Especially when someone else is paying.

I got up early on Halloween morning, to go meet some 140 or so Chinese Kid Castle employees and 15 other foreign teachers to hop on a bus and head out of Shanghai.  Many of the Chinese teachers had gotten a very basic itinerary for the trip, us foreigners got nothing of the sort.  We just were along for the ride… about a 4 hour ride is what we were told, but my roommate told me it took her 6 hours to get to Qiandao Lake by bus.

We all piled into three big tour buses, the Chinese teachers passed around bags of snack food they had purchased for the trip and after probably 20 minutes most of them fell asleep.  I was in the back of one of the buses with six other foreign teachers and we got to know each other a bit more, chatting about China, jobs and life.

After a few hours, we stopped at our first stop for a typical Chinese lunch.  My co-workers were proud of me for leading the way in using the men’s restroom.  When your are traveling with a large group of the people, the guy to girl ratio is less than 1:20, and there are only 2 stalls in the woman’s bathroom, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!

About an hour or so afterwards we stopped again at the Fuchun Taoyuan scenic area. Rumors about hiking, caves and a mountain had been circling, none of us knew what to expect.  But I was certain it wouldn’t be too much to handle as I have found hiking in China normally refers to a paved path up a hill.  It turns out there was a cable car to go up the hill (much like the one to the Peak in Hong Kong).  We climbed aboard in small groups, it was a quick trip up the hill, where we found the cave – Bi Yun Dong (or 碧云洞 in Chinese).

The pictures don't do this place justice - it was massive

Of course we had tour guides, who thoughtfully explained everything in Chinese, but it was way to much for me to understand and I was separated from the other teachers at my school who perhaps could have translated a bit for me.  Instead, I just wandered and looked for myself, taking in the sights without getting all the interesting facts.

At the very bottom of the picture you can see little heads of people... a bit of a reference point for the size of these formations

The cave was unlike any other I have ever been to.  Forget small enclosed spaces to crawl through – other than a few areas when I had to duck my head, this was a massive open area inside of the mountain.  By massive – I mean massive!  The sign by the entry said the largest open area in the cave could hold over 1000 people at a time.  The cave was lit up by colorful neon lights strategically placed, perhaps not the most natural look for the cave – but it was beautiful and well lit enough that I could at least attempt to get some decent pics.

On a bridge with several of my Chinese co-workers

After the tour through the cave and posing for hundreds of pictures with my Chinese co-workers, we took a short walk through the woods and a long tunnel to where we had to decide if we wanted to hike down the hill, or take the little precarious-looking Chinese made sled-like-things down the rickety metal roller-coaster like track for 20 rmb.  I will do the precarious, dangerous, adrenaline pumping option please!  Who needs exercise?  Unlike the long luge-type slide on the Great Wall at Mutianyu, this slide is above ground and fits 2 people on a seat.  The one in back (me) controls the speed.  I went with my Chinese colleague Cathy, and despite it being a quick trip down the hill, I think it was rather exhilarating for both of us.

My friend Char posing with the greenery

At the bottom of the “roller coaster” there was this large obstacle course type thing in the middle of the woods with rickety bridges, rope bridges, and all sorts of things to make your way across and take pictures on.  A quick boat ride, on a dammed lake and then back to the buses for a couple more hours.

The "boat" of the day... if you call tied together bamboo that leaks a boat.

Pretty mountains! All the green trees and mountains almost made me feel like I was back in Oregon!

That evening we made it to our hotel, got all checked in and met for dinner at the hotel restaurant around 7pm.  Dinner was Chinese style again, but unfortunately, not my favorite of the Chinese cuisine I have eaten.  When about 12 of the 15 dishes are fish, even people who like fish long for some variety.  Not being a fan of fish myself, I was delighted when the lone chicken dish and the bullfrog came out from the kitchen.  (The wild hare was too boney, not much meat.) We also got to drink (endless amounts) of the local beer, CheerDay, hardly any flavor or alcohol content, but it kept us hydrated for the long dinner and hours of karaoke afterwards.

One of many fish dishes. Julia the fish hater actually ate this one! I stopped before I got to the head and eyeball though...

Cheerday - has about as much flavor as it has color. Won't ever become my beer of choice.

Don’t worry… I will explain the lady boys in my day 2 segment.

A Kid Castle Halloween

Every time a holiday rolls around, my school always has a little activity for the students to celebrate and learn a bit more about western (and some Chinese) holidays.  As this past Monday was Halloween, we had celebrations in all of our classes on Saturday and Sunday.  Since all the students were told in advance that they were allowed to wear costumes to class that day, I decided it would be fun to dress up as well.

So last Friday, I went with Yumi to a costume store she knew about.  The store is actually called the Holiday House, and despite not being in a highly visited area for expats and being quite small, it was packed with foreigners.  Everyone getting stocked up on Halloween costumes, accessories and decorations for a holiday that the Chinese don’t even celebrate.  Some of the stuff they had looked a bit like it was left over from the 1990′s and just never made it out of the Chinese factories in time to get to the US.  A few things were grossly over priced, but most stuff was pretty cheap.  I walked away with fake nails, a feather boa, a green nose and a witch hat for a total of less than $6.  Four simple accessories to make a costume my kids loved!

My rockin' $6 costume... and yes, I did already happen to have a t-shirt with the witch from Snow White on it.

Most of the classes at the Royal branch (my school) had lessons in the first half of class and an activity in the second half of class.  All of our new classes (classes which have been started up in the past year, so the younger kids) got a little something extra.  They had the activity in the first half of class and in the second half of class they got to go trick or treating!

The activity for all the classes was making paper masks.  With thick paper, colorful pipe-cleaners, glitter and feathers, the kids were encouraged to make themselves masks.  Parents were allowed in the classroom to help out and then of course everyone posed for pictures and got candy when they were done.

Mad rush for candy!

We also taught some Halloween vocabulary to the students, for example: bats, witch, vampire, pumpkin, jack-o-lantern, skeleton; and taught them to say, “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.  Not to big, not too small, just the size of a basketball.”

(Part of) my first class Saturday mornings, and my oldest/highest level students

The kids who went trick-or-treating, made masks during the first half of class so they could wear them trick or treating.  We lined them up in the school with their parents explain what they were doing and some rules (I’m assuming, it was too much Chinese for me to follow).

Lining up listening to instructions...

Then we packed the elevators for several minutes until everyone was lined up downstairs.  A couple of the administrative staff would go with us and walk ahead with bags full of candy.  They would stop at the three locations we had scouted out, give the candy to the workers there and as all the kids walked by the workers would give them the candy.

Outside trick or treating. This is Candy out looking for candy!

Susan and Albert getting candy from a security guard.

Along the way (we just walked about 3 blocks and ended at the grocery store near my apartment), we would practice our Halloween chant, sing Kid Castle songs and review our ABC chants.  I was able to go twice on Saturday, as I have two classes that day which started since I have been working at Kid Castle.  Sunday, however, I have all older classes.  One of my favorite classes was going trick or treating on Sunday though, as they have their lesson with the Chinese teacher that day.  Since the class I had at that time was doing masks during the same time frame, I convinced a Chinese teacher to do the masks on her own so I could go trick or treating with my little K1Y cuties!

My favorite little ones (ages 3-5)! K1Y standing in front of the grocery store singing Kid Castle songs!

It is always good to get outside for a bit during a long day of teaching, and it happened to be gorgeous weather.  Plus my little students loved seeing me dressed up as a witch.  This is one of my classes that makes me feel like a celebrity because when they are all in the classroom I just have to walk into the doorway and as soon as one kid catches sight of me the class erupts in shouts of “JULIA! JULIA!” and I’m immediately swarmed and given at least 10 hugs.  I have to say, it makes a girl smile to be so loved by adorable kids!

Even after skipping out on these girls to go Trick or Treating, I still made it back in time to get pictures of them in their masks!

One of the cutest kids ever - Hank.

Hank is a teeny little guy, about 3 years old.  Every time I teach his class, (my favorite K1Y) I make an Old School (Will Ferrell movie) reference that none of the students get.  Will Ferrell played Frank in the movie and in one scene they have him chugging beer with everyone chanting “Frank the tank, Frank the tank!”  Well, my students all chant, “Hank the tank, Hank the tank!” with me in class.  None of them understand the humor or irony I see in it, but it is pretty cute.