It's bad enough the dairy here is loaded with melamine....

I must say, the nearby on-campus stadium store certainly has a wide selection of yogurt. The flavors ranging from the classics, such as blueberry and strawberry, to more exotic ones like coconut, mango and even....well, how about you take a glimpse for yourself? 

Yes, it's exactly what it looks like - corn yogurt. Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit too bold for my own good one evening, and bought one for myself. Blecch! It tasted like woe and sorrow in my mouth.

Lesson of the day - if you see corn on the packaging of any type of treat that you wouldn't normally relate to corn, then keep a good, safe distance from it. You can trust me on that.

.....After all, I was dumb enough to try the corn ice-cream here too (corn-bread coating on a bar of vanilla ice cream - quite tasty, and by "quite tasty" I mean it made my stomach and tastebuds  sad.)

Temple of Heaven Revisited

As some of you may recall, several weeks ago I took a trip to one of Beijing's (and possibly China's) most famous landmarks, the Temple of Heaven. While I undeniably had a very enjoyable time, the fact that the sky was glazed over with some of the city's infamous smog that day kind of took away from the moment, at least in my opinion. In other words, I felt that I was denied an opportunity to view the temple (specifically, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) in it's full splendor. 

So, several days ago when it was announced that TBC would be organizing a trip to the temple complex, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to try my luck again. Of course, being the master of planning that I am, I tried to sign up for the trip last Friday morning, where I learned that the deadline to sign up for the trip was 5:00, the day before. Fortunately, as I said, I had already been there to the temple on my own before, so getting back there by myself was hardly a problem.

And so, Saturday morning I awoke, prepared a day pack, and headed straight for the subway station, where I rode the subway a few stops over to the old Bell and Drum Towers, from where I hiked all the way to the Temple of Heaven. I could've just taken the subway all the way down to a stop literally right next to the temple complex, but I decided it would be nicer to walk the distance. That, and the line I'd have to take is the one subway line that goes directly north-south. In other words, by far it has the greatest chances of being absurdly crowded at any given time of the day, even to the point where there's literally no more space at all in the subway cars. It's no joke, transit-goers will literally pack themselves like sardines in there, and will continue to force their way into a crowded car at any subway stop until there's no more space whatsoever to go around.

Anyhow....I made the familiar trek just fine, without any hassle (save those instances while walking by Tienanmen Square, where souvenir vendors are more than prepared to pounce upon the first foreign face they spot in the crowds), and before too long, I made it to my destination. There, I discovered quite the invaluable tidbit of knowledge - on a clear day in Beijing, the setting sun strikes the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at just the right angle, which results in a most spectacular sight.   

 

Unfortunately, I learned something else that day too. As it turns out, if I stand in one place for too long in a real touristy spot in this city, local folks will either A) Try to sell me something, or B) Try and get a picture with the weird-looking, bearded foreigner.

I guess the latter option's no so bad. At least it's better than the alternative, when one is pointed out as a foreigner not out of interest, but out of wariness for the strange outsider. I had to find out this the hard way when a mother and her daughter were about to ascend a stairway I was standing upon and enjoying the view from. Suddenly, the little girl started tugging at her mother's arm, and after a quick exchange between the two, they back off and ascended a different stairway. To be fair, I don't know what they said to each other exactly....but the fact that the little girl pointed directly at me several times gave me a pretty good idea what was going on (to the dismay of my self-esteem).  

Yesiree...the fact that over 90% of this country's population belongs to the same ethnic group can definitely be a bit troublesome at certain times. 

A Request from Mr G. Staysniak

To whoever is in charge of what music is played in the convenience store located under the girls' dormitory on the east side of UIBE - 

Please stop playing songs from Mulan. It's.....I can't say why, all I can say is that it just doesn't feel right. 

-Geoffrey (Who is a little bit too tired right now for his own good)

A Morning with Mao

Finally, after numerous failed attempts, I have finally done it. Yes folks, it's true - I finally managed to pay a visit to Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China. 

Now, a few of you may be thinking to yourself, "Hey, just hold the phone here, mister....didn't Mao die in 1976?" To answer your question - yes, he did indeed. However, ever since then, his embalmed body has been on display for all to see in a massive mausoleum sitting smack in the center of Tiananmen square, (even though supposedly he actually wanted to be cremated instead).

The mausoleum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 8:00 AM until noon, but one should probably get there as soon as possible, because the line there gets immense, fast. It's free, but one needs to have valid ID to enter just in case....something which I didn't have on me the first time I tried to check it out for myself, and thus I excused myself from the queue. Second time I tried to see the chairman, I arrived at 8:00 AM sharp....and was herded out of Tienanmen along with everyone else about half-an-hour later so they could do a twenty-one gun salute for a European-Asia summit that was going on. 

Fortunately, the third time was the charm, and last Saturday, after arriving at opening time, I managed to get through security with no hassle at all. Unfortunately, the reason I got through security so easily was the fact that I didn't bring a camera, which visitors are absolutely forbidden to bring with them into the mausoleum, so you'll just have to bear with me as I describe the experience for you. 

Anyway, once I got in, first thing I noticed was that somewhat ironically, there was a little official building outside between the security checkpoint and the mausoleum where one can purchase flowers to lay at the foot of a statue of Mao inside the mausoleum. The flowers are plastic, which begs one to question whether they get re-sold day after day after day. Another curious thing I observed was that when folks lay flowers before the statue of Mao, quite a few would clasp their hands and bow three times, much like I've seen locals do exactly before shrines in the Daoist and Buddhist temples that I've visited. 

When I was inside, the atmosphere was nearly dead-silent, and all the guards there made sure that all the visitors were constantly moving - if anyone stopped for so much as an instant, someone will quickly motion for him or her to keep the pace going. After shuffling along for a bit, suddenly, I entered into another room, and suddenly, there was the man himself for all to see...or at least I think it was the real deal. Mao lay blanketed with a red flag emblazoned with a sickle and hammer, which covered almost his entire body save his head. Meanwhile, he was encased inside a crystal coffin, which was surrounding by glass walls on all sides. I, like everyone else, only got to see him for about half a minute or so, as we weren't aloud to stop. I must say, looking at him from only a few feet away was....er....to be truthful with you all... his face appeared just a bit too waxy for me.

Although no one's allowed to take pictures there, that's okay, because thanks to some clever folks, no one has to leave the mausoleum empty-handed if they don't want to. Once I left the room with Mao's body, I found myself in the last stop before the exit - the gift shop. 

...Because we all know it's not a visit to Mao's mausoleum without purchasing a commemorative Mao dinner plate. 

Guilin Trip, Day 7

That morning started out rather interestingly when I finally got a good look at my mattress and realized I was gazing down upon a perfect example of how international copyright laws have absolutely no power here in this country whatsoever (though I shouldn't gotten that message sooner from the little store next to campus that sells literally nothing but pirated DVDS). 

And seriously, WHO on God's green earth is that supposed to be on the far right? 

Anyhow....a sizable chunk of the day (and by sizable chunk, I meanly roughly a third to a half) was taken up by our journey to the next stop on our itinerary. It was pretty rainy that day, and when taken into account along with the reality that the roads were not only poorly made, but at some points still even under construction....well, I had a lot of time to think, you could say. I also could've written in my journal, but that's near impossible when literally all the roads are as bumpy as they can possibly be. 

But at least the long drive got off on a fun start (to use the term very, very, very loosely here) early on while taking the mini-buses from the mountain village back to where the regular buses were parked. While zipping down those extremely narrow and treacherous roads, our driver accidentally brushed up against a normal-sized bus coming up the other way, and battered his side-view mirror a little...I think. None of us could see any serious damage, but the driver sincerely believed that he had been terribly, terribly wrong, and thus he marched right outside and started arguing furiously with the other driver. 

Here's some of the TBC-ers waiting patiently for the little fiasco to be sorted out. 

And here's another photo of us waiting.

And another...

Dum de dum dum....still waiting.....

Haven't moved yet....

Have they finished squabbling yet?

Guess not, by the looks of it.

Hey, I think we're actually....wait, wait, false alarm....

Still sitting around on the bus, waiting to get moving.... anyone know any good sing-a-longs?

At one point, out of sheer desperation, I scribbled upon the window "help us" in Mandarin, followed by a plea to Save Our Bus.

Others quickly caught on, and soon we had covered the windows in cries for assistance in a wide variety of languages. 

That manner was finally settled....er, somewhat. As the drivers bickered on, everyone in my little bus clambered off, split up, and got aboard the other little buses bearing TBC students back to where the main buses awaited us down the road. 

Anyhow....some four or five (six, maybe?) hours later, we arrived at the last stop of the trip - a hotel known for its outdoor hot spring. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of it to share with you, but I promise its for entirely understandable reasons. After all, wouldn't I have looked a tad...er, "suspicious," if you will, had I gone wandering about the springs, blatantly taking photos of everyone in their bathing suits? Plus, not everyone there were TBC students, so would you have really wanted a bunch of snapshots of middle-aged Chinese men lounging around? 

If so....then please don't tell me, because I don't even want to know. 

The rest of the day more or less passed by pretty uneventfully. Most of us relaxed in the springs, took a break for dinner in the hotel and mass for those who wanted to attend (in Father Roberto's hotel room - needless to say, it was kind of cramped) followed by even more time relaxing in the hot springs, which some of us did until they closed for the night at around midnight....a group that included yours truly. Hey, the ultra-pruny fingers I ended up with were completely worth it.

All in all, it was a wonderfully relaxing time, which was just what we needed for the days to come - the airplane ride back to Beijing and midterms! Wheeeeeeee! Ha ha ha....wait a sec, those weren't very fun....wait, what the.....

Guilin Trip, Day 6

After several days in the town nestled amongst the karst, it was finally time to bid our adieu to Yangshuo that morning as we all clambered aboard the buses and drove off into the countryside...and when I mean off in the countryside, I'm talking way, way off the beaten path here. After driving for several hours through the countryside, we actually reached a point where we had to leave our normal-sized buses and clamber aboard mini buses (not much more than oversized vans, really) which took us even deeper into the countryside, to a small village. 

Our temporary abode turned out to be a sizable lodge-like structure, with a "dining room" downstairs (a bunch of wooden tables and chairs) and the upper floors all contained rooms for two or three people, with a weird mix-and-match array of toilets (some rooms had western toilets, my roommate and I had a squatter that took forever to flush.)

Shortly after arrival, it was time for lunch, where I had the pleasure of meeting the baby daughter of the family who owned and ran the little lodge, and their dog...or at least we all honestly thought it was their dog when it walked in and sat at my table to patiently wait for hand-outs, until someone chased it out.     

Shortly afterwards, a large group of us set off to hike to another little village about a mile or so away, or at least I think it was only that far. It took a while to get there though, considering the fact that we had to take extremely narrow paths (no wider than one person) that cut weaved over and around hill after hill, all of which were covered from top to bottom with rice terraces. 

I'm pretty sure this is some type of bamboo irrigation system here. 

After braving the journey, at last we arrived in the small town, and promptly headed over to the village school there to meet some of the local children. 

Many of us had brought small gifts or candy for them (along with simple school supplies). Unfortunately, we didn't exactly have much time to play with them afterwards due to the fact that we had to turn around and head right back before it grew dark. 

Thus, it was back into the rice paddies for all of us. 



















Here in this photo you'll see a woman from the Yao ethnic minority, which were fairly prevalent in the area and quite easy to spot due to their distinct dress. Unfortunately though, as many of us learned later on, they too had fallen victim somewhat to the epidemic of over-commercialization of culture that has spread throughout this country - while some of us were eating dinner, they actually entered the lodge to try and sell us "home-made" blankets and scarves (and unsuccessfully tried to convince us that they were the ones that sowed on the tags that said the scarves were made in the Middle East, though they never tried to give an excuse why). 

Fortunately though, the day didn't end upon a sour note, for around 7:30 PM, we all went to the school just several buildings away, where we had a small party with the local schoolchildren there.....and where one ten-year-old had quite a bit of fun with my camera. 

Now, as for pictures I actually took that night....the little gathering started off with a little fire, where after some of the children sang for us, several girls fro the group got everyone to do the Hokey-Pokey. Then, as a treat, two local Yao women stood before us all to expose their hair.

Okay, I'll admit, that doesn't sound exciting in any way, shape or form, at first. Mind you though, the women of this ethnic group not only abstain from cutting their hair, but they keep all hair that falls out and incorporate it into some peculiar, ever-growing hairpiece of sorts (all for some reason that I have since forgotten. I want to say it has to do with some belief about their soul existing in their hair, but I can't verify this assumption).  

After that odd display, the party got much less formal, as for a while we all just played in the school courtyard with the children or just attempted to talk with them in our limited, limited Chinese.


Then finally, they got to show us their classrooms, where we gave them pencils, notebooks, and candy as a group present to them from TBC. 

Unfortunately, the festivities couldn't last forever, for after all, these were only children, and by no means could stay up the whole night. We finally said our goodbyes, and headed back up to our lodgings, where most of us quickly turned in for the night. 

My apologies for not writing in very much detail as of late - the workload's been pretty heavy recently, and.....ack, I don't even have the energy to elaborate on that as of now (groan). 

Hopefully you'll all be able to enjoy these pictures. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to publish this post and then promptly nod off right here in the TBC library.