First Set of Photographs

While on the trip I worked on editing some of the pictures and having them ready to post on the blog. All of them didn't make it onto this blog, and some didn't make it to the PICASA site either because of the slow Internet service in China. I also simply didn't have time to go through all the photographs that I took, and then edit them.

I have now uploaded all the pictures that I edited on the trip. Some how I deleted the edited photographs for July 8, which was the Great Wall and Sacred Way days. So I'll have to get the originals and clean them up a bit (taking out some of the smog for instance...making them a little clearer...etc). I also some how deleted the edited photographs for July 18. Then after that date I don't have any edited photographs, so I'll be working on those first probably July 20, 25, 26, 31, and August 1.

I have no way of knowing how many photographs I took, and I'm sure not going to try and count them! ha ha. I know this, I took so many that I used up all the memory on my lap top computer TWICE on the trip! So I'm also going to be busy transferring all of them to my desk top computer at home! All that AND school starts back for me in 2 days! In addition to all of that I have a lot of video that I will need to download to the computer and THEN edit into usable segments. That will be very time consuming! So it will be a little while before they are all up and available.

China: An Untold Story

So I just got home about 2 hours ago! YEAH!
China was amazing in every way you could think...but I'm so glad to be back in my nest!

So now that I'm back...there is a story I couldn't tell until now...after the story you will see why.

Earlier in our trip our group was on the bus for about a 5 hour drive to somewhere.
We pull over about half way for a rest stop. It was raining and we all ran to the restrooms (some of the nastiest ones on the trip...so it wasn't a long stay in those haha) and then some grabbed drinks...etc at the little store.

The tour bus next to ours pulled off before we did, and when it did right there on the other side of it, probably 25 feet away was a mobile nuclear missile!!!!! It was on a long bed truck launcher with camouflage draped over the whole truck...but the missile was just right there, no mistaking it. Of course all our jaws hit the ground. It wasn't anything we ever expected to see...especially at what equaled a rest area back here at home!

So anyway, we get loaded up everyone a buzz about seeing the missile...etc. About 20-25 minutes down the road a silver mini-van pulls up next to us then in front of us honking and motioning for the driver to pull over...it was bizarre. He finally does. Two of four men in the van (four that we could see) get out and board our bus. They are both in tourist clothing...Hawaiian shirts actually...and they do NOT look happy or nice. They speak quickly in Chinese to Dr. Kung and our tour guide then the Dr. Kung immediately turned to the whole bus and asked "Did anyone from the back of the bus take any pictures of the missile truck back at the stop?" John (my roommate on the trip), sheepishly raised his hand (he was in the very back of the bus), and said he took one picture. They immediately wanted to see it. So he went to the front of the bus and showed them the picture, and then they made him delete it. The whole time John is apologizing, and saying how stupid it was, he wasn't thinking...etc. Whatever was needed to stay out of a Chinese prison for 12 years or so...haha.(Can you believe it wasn't ME that took a picture?)

They then said something else to Dr. Kung...and then Dr. Kung asked if anyone else had taken a picture, because the men said there had been TWO flashes from the back of the bus in the direction of the missile.
(WHAT!?!??!?!?!! YIKES) One of the girls had taken a picture of one of the other girls in the back of the bus...but they didn't believe it. So they had everyone in the last two rows of the bus bring their cameras up and go through all their pictures, until they saw there were no pictures of the missile on any cameras.

I honestly thought at first when they boarded, that we were being robbed (sort of like the stories one hears about buses from Nashville going to Tunica, MS to gamble- being hijacked and robbing people going to gamble with all cash...etc)...it was crazy.

Then later in the day we were pulled aside again at a toll station. The driver had to get out and talk to the people there. I have no idea what happened there. They talked to him, and then he paid the toll and got back on the bus. Nothing else was said.

Needless to say...NONE of us spoke of it again and certainly didn't talk to people back home about it on the phone, or in emails or on blogs!!!!! HECK NO!!!! We didn't even use the word missile the rest of the trip...all I ever heard about it again was called the "incident with John and the camera." "THE INCIDENT!"

CRAZY!!!!!! So that's the untold story (until now) from China!

Last Night In China

We got up this morning in the town of Wuzhen...we drove there after our tour of Suzhou. We first visited a leaning pagoda...like the leaning tower of Pisa...which is funny because Suzhou, & Wuzhen are compared to Venice, Italy because of all the canals. The little historical part of Wuzhen is like Colonial Williamsburg...but 1,000 years old and about 6 times larger...all along old canals. Oh yea...people still live there as well. It was really something else. Then four of us took a taxi to the night market which was pretty crazy, but a lot of fun.

Do you love this guy or what?

He was just watching us all walk by, from his window. We then drove to Hangzhou where we spent the night. We toured Hangzhou today and had a great time. We went to another Buddhist temple in Hangzhou, and it was really beautiful watching all the people walking around with their prayers and incense. There's something about watching anyone practice their faith that makes you stop and take notice. I tried to be as unnoticed with my photography as possible because of this. Many times I just held the camera in front of my stomach where it was hanging around my neck, and snap without putting it up to my eye...so that it didn't intrude on what was happening. The various Buddhas carved into the rock of the mountain were amazing!
We then travelled to a tea plantation and it was an amazing visit. We all loaded up on tea after a demonstration by our little guide there, "Grace." She was outstanding with her information about tea...it was her area of study in college. We then went to lunch and then headed to the West Lake for a boat ride, where we saw the THREE TOWERS in the LAKE (which you can see on the back of the 1 yuan currency). We then drove on a VERY BUMPY ride to Shanghai for about three hours. I do not like the roads here...it is like driving through Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Northern Texas all together!!!! BUMP BUMP BUMP, POTHOLE POTHOLE POTHOLE!!!

We are staying here tonight..(went out and took my final photographs of the trip at the BUND again). We actually saw blue sky in Shanghai today as we drove in...and there wasn't a haze of smog of the city...so I'm going to take some more pictures in a few minutes... It is really amazing how much better the pollution is today/tonight than a month ago. Unbelievable. Getting ready for the Olympics has paid off I think.

This will be my final entry for the trip until I return home.
The picture below doesn't even look real.
What an amazing adventure.

Goodbyes, and Suzhou

The kids who kept us on the straight and narrow in Wuhan!

LOVE YOU GUYS!

Well, our time at Hubei University came to an end. We had our closing ceremony. We all gave part of a thank you speech in Chinese...and most of us butchered it, but our Chinese friends LOVED the effort (and entertainment) of it.

We LOVE MINNIE!!!!

She was in charge of us while we were at Hubei!

John then gave a great speech about our trip to China and our time at Hubei. It was accompanied by my power point. Everyone seem to enjoy both. We then had a goodbye luncheon with lots of laughs and smiles, and a few tears. The next morning (July 30) we departed around 7:30am for the airport, with all our Hubei "keepers" (the students) along with us, lots more tears this time, and it was a hard thing to leave them! It was our home for 3 weeks!

Deb, Minnie, and Sharon

We then flew out of Wuhan to Shanghai and met our tour guide from the beginning of the trip SNOW. He took good care of us at the beginning of the trip, and it was very good to see him again. We made a 3 hour bus ride to Suzhou, the "Venice of the East." While here we enjoyed a tour of a wonderful garden, and then took a boat ride through the canals of the old town. We had a bit of shopping and dinner, and then came to our hotel pretty early. Two more days.

Last Day of Class at Hubei

Our last day of classes was pretty low key. We had a very good lecture in the morning comparing Chinese culture with American culture. We learned very vital information (some that a few in our crew could probably have used at the start of the trip..."don't suck on your chopstick" it is considered rude).

We then spent the afternoon running around taking care of things before we leave Wuhan. Several of us had gone to a local tailor and had clothes made...the prices were unbelievable (some got full hand tailored suits for $80...etc...yea...nuts) I had a vest made. It fit perfectly. As we were about to leave, the lady who had done our tailoring asked us (through an interpreter) if we could hang around for 5 minutes, a local television station was coming by to do interviews about why so many westerners use her shop...well OF COURSE we hung around...there was a HUGE crowd (go figure in China) when they got there...they had us put on our clothes we had bought..asked some different questions (in English). It was fun.



We then came back to the university and the last class of the trip was on making dumplings.

We had dinner and then an evening of bowling in the campus bowling alley. I suck at bowling in THREE HEMISPHERES!

Checkout that score...and um yea I fell.

Closing ceremonies tomorrow.

Wudang Mountain Weekend

This past weekend we made another trip off campus to visit the Wudang Mountains.
The mountains in many ways reminded me of a mixture between the Appalachian and the Rockies...but of course had their own feel all together. We enjoyed the cooler climate of the mountains! The train ride was great as well. I'll write more about that at a later time.

Right now I just want to show some pictures of the Taoist temples on top of the mountains in Wudang. You will notice some of the pics have what looks to be locks all over the place, they are locks that couples go to the top of the mountains together and lock their lock there as a commitment of their love. The closer to the top one gets, the more locks you see.

These were VERY steep climbs, much steeper than the Great Wall, or any of our other climbs to date...and one wonders how the monks hundreds of years ago, were able to build these places. It is Amazing!This photograph shows the "wish or prayer ribbons" you hang

them in gynko trees for good luck or for your prayers/wishes to come true.

Each spring people come here to give their first incense sacrifice,

by walking out on this ledge and burning the incense in

the little brass altar at the end.

A larger altar with incense burning.

Hanging with a friend.

Yin and Yang

Going into the clouds...it was pretty scary!

More pics here

Swords, Chinese Sports, & Acupuncture

As the countdown to returning home continues...

We had our second Kung Fu lesson today. Our professor Mr. Mei Lingqi gave us a couple of demonstrations of various techniques...including the following one with the sword...pretty cool!!

We were then given a tour of the entire gymnasium...which is a more literal term for them than in the US...where we usually mean a basketball court (this gym didn't even have a basketball court)...there were four of what we would call a GYM...in this gymnasium... one for TABLE TENNIS (ping pong)...it was huge...amazing! One for gymnastics...again...amazing...and one for the Kung Fu and shadow boxing. Then the upstairs of the gymnasium was an open indoor track used for track (all track events) and for indoor football (soccer). There was also a HUGE rock climbing wall...probably two stories tall at least.

You can see the rock climbing wall here...the top of it.

The one thing we can't get over though is that you can smoke EVERYWHERE just about in China...including the ashtrays sitting all around for your use after a workout...or while on break from a workout!

During our afternoon break I ran to McDonald's, did a little shopping, then did my own laundry in the bathroom sink for the first time! Then I did like everyone else in our dorm/hotel...I put it out to dry in the hallway windows...haha. All up and down the hallways you will see the laundry drying..."personal" stuff included....again 1.6 billion....changes a lot of things.

Then it was time for our second class of the day...Chinese Acupuncture... after the lesson we went to the lab and some of the crew had it done on them...I'm in pretty good health (and after the clinic visit the other day...decided I didn't need MORE Chinese medicine...sooooo I passed).

My roommate John was one of the guinea pigs

We also had our first REAL REAL REAL blue sky today...which is weird because we saw some of the WORST air quality last night on crossing the bridge at sunset...it was hurting our eyes it was so bad. So the blue skies and low humidity made it a very nice day in Wuhan!

(all images and video on this day's blog are by John Stephany)

Hubei Countdown...July 24

Things are starting to wind down here a bit.


Yesterday was a little different morning...we had our first KUNG FU LESSON!

KUNG FU!!!!! You got it! Ka POW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (cue the music....EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING...ding ding ding ding ding, ding ding ding ding ding....THOSE CATS WERE FAST AS LIGHTENING...ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding!!!!!)

Be afraid, be very afraid

It was fun...and we all thought we would be soooooo soar today...but not so...at least I'm not...the instructor had us doing lots of stretches so that's good! We learned some basic Kung Fu moves...deflect and hit...etc. Fun stuff!

The afternoon class was dealing with Education in China, and I enjoyed it very much. It is very different in some ways, and very similar in some ways to the way things are done in the U.S.
Then John, Ashley, Alexis, and I made a RUN for it for dinner and somehow through a guide book John had...made our way across the river to a Belgian Cafe...we had....wait for it!!! Bleau Cheese FILLET!!!!! mmmmmmmmmmm!