Why Joy Baboy? Well, this little piggy gained weight here in Xiamen. There’s nothing much to do but to eat, drink and be merry. So this little piggy and some friends decided to make life more interesting.
HONG KONG TRIP PART 2 – April 2007
When I asked my teacher to be excused in his class for another trip to Hong Kong , he laughed and advised me to bring more money so I can shop more. I should've listened to him. When I got home, I'm penniless.
It’s sad that we don’t have much pics in this trip coz the memory card suddenly won’t work when we were about to download the pictures. At least we got a few from the camera phones.
MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES - April 2007
IT’S RAINING. One afternoon, we were bored, as usual, and decided to go to ktv. When we got out of the ktv, it’s raining heavily. We got soaked though we have umbrellas. We’re wet anyway. A few blocks from Tintin’s apartment, we put down our umbrellas and started running in the rain.
DRESS-UP DAY. Another boring day, we decided to dress up just for picture taking. From Tintin’s cabinet, we pulled out gimik clothes that we cannot wear in front of the conservative elder brothers.
KITE FLYING AND BIKING. One boring Sunday, we went to Xiamen Convention Center to fly a kite. At first, our kite just wouldn’t fly. Later on, a kind-hearted local helped us untangle the strings which kept the kite from flying. It was that simple?!
After kite flying, we went biking. Actually, I can’t even make the wheels turn one revolution. This picture is just a fake!
MEET MY FRIENDS. I always hang out with them on weekends, especially friday nights.
From left to right: Ivy (aka Peanut), me (aka Milk), Tintin (aka Coffee), Oopa 2’s tutor, Oopa 2 (aka August / Minmin / Fried rice), Oopa (aka Beer), Ping Yi (aka Ice Cream), Sheila (aka Banana)
SHANGHAI TRIP - May 2-5 2007
We stayed in a dorm called Hiker’s. It’s quite clean and cozy. The bed is more comfortable than my bed in Xiamen that it really made me feel difficult to wake up in the morning. There are four beds in 1 room. There were three of us – me, Ivy and Tintin plus another middle-aged female backpacker from Switzerland. The shower and toilet is common though. Still, 55rmb per night isn’t that bad, considering that it is located in the city center, walking distance from Nan Jing Lu, the main shopping street, and the cinema.
The first thing that we did after checking in is to look for the movie house. We were so happy to find one showing Spiderman in English. We took the last show and so ended up going home past 1am.
They say everything in Shanghai is expensive. That is so untrue! Food and shopping is much cheaper than in Xiamen. The hand-pulled beef noodle soup which I usually get for 10rmb in Xiamen, we only got it for 3.50rmb. The waiter is quite friendly. We were able to get directions on how to buy our train ticket to Su Zhou. Everywhere in Shanghai, the typical bbq is either lamb or squid. We tried them both and they’re great! For 2rmb, it’s big enough for a meal. We cannot miss Starbucks! It’s in almost every block. If I only knew that Shanghai is a Starbucks haven, I should have moved there for my second semester!
Under the Shanghai Museum is a
jologs mall similar to Grand Central, where things sold there are almost the same as things sold here in Xiamen, but much cheaper. Outside the cinema where we watched Spiderman is a sidewalk where street vendors sell really cheap stuff, like a pair of earrings for 5rmb, which usually starts from 20rmb in Xiamen. They sell things cheap coz they are illegal and only come out during late night. While shopping, we witnessed how police in motorcycles came to drive the vendors away. After a few minutes, business resumed.
One thing I really like about Shanghai is the architecture. It has both well-preserved old buildings and new ones. The new structures can be seen from
The Bund, a place for sightseeing located on one side of the river, where one can see the Pearl TV Tower, Jin Mao Building and The Shanghai Convention Center. Buildings on the other side of the river consist of old Western architecture and Chinese architecture. Shanghai has a unique charm that I never experienced in other cities. Even Hong Kong is not comparable to the beauty of Shanghai. Specially at night, the buildings are pretty coz they don’t have the
jologs neon lighting which is typical in most cities in China. I think people in Shanghai have aesthetic values unlike the rest of the Chinese people. Even the way they dress up is not as
jologs as the typical Chinese people I see around in Xiamen.
One of our friends suggested that we go up Jin Mao Building through the hotel, where we can have coffee, coz it’s quite expensive to go up the viewing deck at the 88th floor. We thought she’s referring to the restaurant, so we went up the 56th floor where I ate my most expensive meal in China. I got salad for 90 rmb plus 15% service charge! After our meal, we realized that our friend was referring to the hotel lobby on the 54th floor where we can just have coffee or tea. Anyway, I think the expensive salad is still ok, coz the line to go up to the 88th floor is soooooooo long and it costs about 70-100bucks, I think. I’d rather eat than line up forever and pay to get up there.
I thought Shanghai is nothing but buildings. Who would think that a zoo, which I think, is larger than Singapore Zoo, would fit in that crowded city? The zoo is quite far from the city center, about an hour by bus, but it’s worth the effort to go there. For the first time, I’ve seen zebras and a small panda! Now I don’t have to travel all the way to Beijing to see the little buddy.
SU ZHOU - May 4 2007
From Shanghai, we took a train to Su Zhou. Going there, we took the ordinary train, which isn't that bad as long as you don't pee. Tintin says the toilet is unbearable. Anyway, it took us about an hour to get there. For convenience, we joined a tour group to maximize our day. The tour guide assured us that they can buy the return ticket to Shanghai. After paying the tour fee, he told us that only bus tickets are available. I was pissed off and insisted that he should get us a fast train ticket, the CRH. He told us it’s impossible coz it's holiday. I threatened him that I would back out from the tour group and would like a refund if he couldn't get us the train ticket. I argued that CRH class A tickets are surely available coz not a lot of people are willing to pay for higher-priced ticket. He finally agreed that he would try his best. I felt like a bitch, while my two companions did nothing at all, probably too shy to argue in broken Mandarin the way I did. Well, at least at the end of the day, I got what I want. He handed me our tickets, CRH, class A. It was waaaaayyyyy better than the train we rode that morning! We're like riding a plane, but the seats are much more spacious. It took us only 30 minutes to get back to Shanghai.
In Su Zhou, it was my first time to see an ancient pagoda. It’s difficult to climb up there coz the stairs are steep and squeaky. I only climbed up to the 3rd floor.
Su Zhou is like Venice. In most parts of our tour, we're on a boat cruising the rivers.
The last stop of our tour is just a money-making scheme of the travel agency. The tour guide himself is not so enthusiastic about this place selling medicine products made out of pearl. Since our train leaves at about 6pm, at 5:30pm, while the tour hasn’t ended yet, the tour guide requested us to rush to the train station to catch our train. We were laughing out loud coz the tour guide gave us 10rmb for the cab as he pulled us out from the group. If we translate what he said, it's something like this:
“Eto pera, mag taxi kayo mag-isa nyo kasi baka maiwan kayo ng train.” LONG YAN - May 6-7 2007
We have a tight schedule during the Labour Day vacation. We went home from Shanghai on May 5. The following day, we have another scheduled trip, organized by school, to Long Yan. We were like high school kids coz we went there with two school staff to watch over us, aside from the two tour guides.
Long Yan literally means Dragon Cliff. It’s famous for the
Long Kong Dong (Dragon Cave). It’s my first time to enter a cave with multi-colored lights. It’s sooooo China. After touring the cave, we were offered a boat ride to get out for only 5rmb per person. It seems to be interesting and affordable enough. When we got into the boat, we realized that it’s cheap coz we have to row the boat on our own! It took us a while to figure out how to row a boat. We were so exhausted by the time we got out. A teacher was laughing out loud and offered us another boat ride to return inside the cave for only 1rmb per person.
The next day, we went to a traditional village with unique dwelling structures known as
Tu Lou (literally means buildings made out of soil). They are either circular or rectangular in plan, made of bricks from soil found within the area. Some are big enough to house hundreds of households. Some rooms were converted to guesthouses. Anyone can get lodging for 10rmb a night, but there’s a catch ------ there’s no toilet. You pee in a big vase or something.
Well, it seems to be the end of the adventures of Joy Baboy coz we have to get back to school for our midterms.
