Shell in China

After a whirlwind trip through southern Asia, I am back home in Chengxian, China. (Although my mom would argue that I an NOT at home, that I am only at site, I think living here for two years officially will make it home. Mom looses on this one. Sorry Mom!) I am going to try to give the condensed version of the last month of my life as a PC Volunteer, which may be difficult to do as I’ve had a great time in February!

At the end of January we had friends from XiFeng and Lanzhou came down to visit for a few days. We hung out here in Chengxian and then all took the train to Chengdu together. We had to be in Chengdu for a week of training (IST) and thought it would be more fun to travel together. Chinese trains tend to be crowded and loud, but if a few of us go together we can easily play card and entertain each other on the seventeen hour trek.

When we got to Chengdu, the first thing we all did was head straight to Peter’s Tex-Mex Restaurant. This place is the haven for Western-food craving PCVs. We went, toting backpacks and wearing two-day old clothes, for some nice American-style food. Not only is the grub good, the menu extensive and the toilet Western, but Pete’s offers a 10% discount to PCVs! He knows he has found a good thing in the volunteers that randomly show up in town!

IST was great! The volunteers who spent time putting it together did a wonderful job getting sessions that were relevant and interesting. The schedule had several sessions at the same time, so we were able to pick and choose the ones we wanted to attend. I particularly enjoyed the ones about the history and culture of China. I felt like those helped me view my students and Chinese colleagues in a new light. Also, it hit home for me how little Chinese history we are taught in America. Being here in China has really made me want to do more Eastern history, literature and culture activities once I get back to Marsing Middle School.

In the evenings during IST, the Ross hotel room became the unofficial site of the nightly poker game. I can’t be positive, but I think it may have something to do with the fact that the beer could be stored in our bathroom with no worry that there would be less bottles in the morning then when everyone left at night! If you must store your beer, it is best to do so in the non-drinkers place! Thad did great with poker. He won quite a bit of RMB off of people, which was a great way to start the vacation!

At the end of IST, we headed south with John and Erin. (They are the other married couple in Gansu province. John is a high school history teacher with a love of motorbikes and Erin is a middle school art teacher who is perpetually positive.) We flew to Bangkok, Thailand for the first leg of our trip. In Bangkok we visited a beautiful wat, which is a Buddhist temple. It was gorgeous with golden spires, green demons guarding the doors and a jade Buddha. We had a wonderful time wandering around the complex looking at the sites. Thad happened to have worn shorts that day, which are not acceptable attire, so he had to borrow a pair of pants from the wat visitor center. His pants looked like hospital scrubs! That was amusing for the rest of us, but he contends they were pretty comfortable and quite cool in the Bangkok heat.

We only spent a little time in Bangkok and then headed south again. Our second destination of the trip was Phuket. (Pronounced Poo-get.) That was the beach leg of our trip. We had this great hotel that was right on a private beach. The view from our bedroom balcony was spectacular. The beach itself, once we got down there, was a little rocky, but it was great to see. To actually swim off of our beach required a pair of Tevas or else the end result would be bloody feet! We were staying near the town of Patong, which was more touristy than anything I have seen since I left America. It was over the top, but in a way it was great because of it. I enjoyed being just another tourist seeing the sites. In China Thad and I always stand out, so blending in for a bit was not a bad thing.

In Patong we took an all-day speedboat tour out to Phi-Phi Island. (Pronounced Pee-Pee.) It was a lot of fun. We snorkeled and got to feed bananas to monkeys. Although I am not a bit claustrophobic on land, I had discovered that I am under the water. Snorkeling, although pretty cool, also freaked me out a bit. I found it hard to breath, even with the snorkel. I guess the years of public and private swim lessons that my parents invested in were not as helpful as they had hoped! Feeding the monkeys was fun though. I did feel a bit like some of my middle schoolers when it came to my ability to follow directions though. The last thing our guide said as we got off the boat was not to touch the monkeys unless you had banana to give them in return. (Pretty smart little suckers they are!) So, I fed my bananas, petted the monkeys and then wandered the island some more. Well, then I saw this really big one and just had to pet it. Without even thinking about it, I reached out and stroked his back, assuming it was okay because another guy was giving him a banana right then. Boy was I wrong! That thing turned and lunged at me! I made a very hasty retreat into the ocean, letting out a bit of a squeal as I went! Overall, other than the monkey attack, the day was wonderful. Even after slathering on massive amounts of sunscreen, my pasty body still ended up rather red, but that is to be expected I guess!

We spent about six days in Patong and then it was time to head out again. We were restless and always on the move. From Patong we flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I really enjoyed KL. It was a nice mix of cultures and languages. I was really impressed with the language abilities of the people there. Nearly everyone automatically speaks three languages. They speak Malay, Chinese and English. It makes me think that we need to do something more about teaching languages in America. Yes, English is becoming a world-wide language, but if Malaysia can have such a massive part of their population tri-lingual, why can’t we? The answer is, we can, we just choose not to!

In KL we went to the Patronas Towers, which are now the world’s tallest twin towers. We were able to go up to the observation deck, although that was a puny 44 stories up. They are over 80 stories high, but tourists can only go to the observation deck. It was a bit freaky though since the deck is really a bridge that spans the two towers! After that we went to an aquarium and hung out in town. On Valentine’s Day we went to a movie. I know that doesn’t sound thrilling to those of you at home, but it was great for us! Getting to see a movie, in a theater was fabulous!

Then day that I have been waiting for this entire vacation finally arrived--elephant reserve day! It was AWESOME! The day started with a two-hour van ride out to the conservation area. We were a bit early, so we wandered the grounds and had some lunch. Then it was elephant time! To start with, they brought out six big Asian elephants. They hosed them all down--showers for all of the elephants and then it was feeding time. The handlers brought out huge crates of fruit that we then got to feed the elephants. You could hold the fruit out and they would take it in their trunk and eat it, or you could give them the command to open their mouths and feed them directly. Of course, we did a lot of both. Their tongues are huge and squishy!! When you fed them by the trunk, once you gave them the fruit, they would do nuzzle all over looking for more! haha! Elephant trunks everywhere!

Once feeding was done, it was time to ride the elephants. This part was a bit circus-y. It was pretty much just riding around the grounds on the elephant with a trainer in front. Not a huge deal, although it was a lot of fun! Then came the best part. We went down to the river, loaded up onto the elephants two at a time (so Thad and I went together) and they took us into the river. Once we got to the middle, the elephant would roll to the side and dump us into the water! It was a ton of fun! (Watch out for rolling elephants though!) Then we got to help wash her. (They are all female.) Her ears were HUGE!! She also had a lot of fun making bubbles under the water with her trunk...it was great. Then, when it was time to go, Thad and I got to load back onto her to take her back to her pen. The trainers helped boost us onto her back while we were in the middle of the river. (This is tougher done than said...the current was pretty swift and she was giant! It may not have been my most graceful moment in life, but very awesome.) Thad and I went with her back to the pen. He and I were the only ones to get to ride an elephant without the trainer, so that was cool too.

When we got back from the river, there were three BABY elephants they let loose. The babies were just wandering around the grounds with no leads or chains or anything...they could go where they wanted! It was so cool to hang out with them in the afternoon. They were about chest-high on me...very friendly. One of them took Thad's bead bracelet off of his arm and stuck it on her trunk! That was a battle he was not going to win! They were adorable! We have lots of cute pictures with them. Then, when we were just getting ready to go, I bent down to say good-bye to one of them and got a playful head-butt/push! She totally butted me towards the gate...I guess she was done with visitors for they day.

Overall, the elephants were a fabulous experience! It was so neat to be that close to them for that long. I have petted an elephant at the zoo or circus before, but to feed them, ride them, swim with them, and frolic with the babies was amazing!!

From KL we headed south, again! This time it was off to Malacca. Malacca is kind of the historical town in Malaysia. It has been occupied by several different nations over the course of the last few centuries, so there are remnants of all of them. We went to a couple of museums and old churches and forts. That was all neat to see. We also went out to this island that everyone said was wonderful and we just had to see. Well, they lied! Maybe the fact that it isn’t tourist season had something to do with it, but everything was closed down on the island, the water was pretty stagnant and the beaches were not great either. Needless to say, we only stayed a few hours and they high-tailed it back to the mainland. Now, high-tailing it may be an exaggeration. In reality we got on a boat (okay- we may have jumped onto the boat from the jetty because we didn’t want to wait for an hour for another to come) and ended up getting stuck in the bay because our boat was overloaded (I blame it on the people who jumped from the jetty!). It was low-tide and the boat couldn’t get to the other jetty, so rescue boat was sent out and we were taken in in groups. Well, it was an adventure!

From Malacca we headed, you got it (!), south again! This time we were off to Singapore. We were only able to stay in Singapore for a day, but it was great! We went to the Night Safari Zoo, which is a more open-style zoo and you go at 10 PM and get to see all of the night animals. There was a hippo pretty close to the road, but he wouldn’t turn around, so all I got to see was hippo butt! Not so great! Also, while in Singapore, I went to a salon and got rid of my Chinese haircut! Yeah for that! I have hated my haircut since I got it in October, so I was thrilled to get it cut straight in the back. I also was able to get highlights done while I was there! That made my day. J

From Singapore, it was finally time to head north again. We were flying out of KL, so we took a night bus back there in time to catch our plane in the morning. We stayed that night in a hostel and I have to say, of all the hostels we stayed on during the trip, that one was the only one that I wouldn’t stay in again. It had cockroaches! I had never stayed in a hostel before joining Peace Corps, but I have come to really like them a lot; those without bug infestations anyway!

We flew from KL into Macau, where we spent two days. Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia. It has the neon lights, the gambling and the same types of prices. It doesn’t help things that we were there during Spring Festival, which means all of the hotels double and triple their prices. In Macua, John and Thad decided to try their hands at bungee jumping. Why start little? They jumped off the Macau Tower- the highest bungee in the world! It was crazy and not something I would ever do with my fear of heights, but they seemed to have loved it!

After Macua it was back to China proper. We had a flight into Xi’An on Sunday night, so we were almost home. We went to the train station, which was a mess, to try to get tickets to Tianshui. Being the end of Spring Festival, everyone is traveling. Students are all headed back to school and everyone else has to be back at work. That makes getting a ticket crazy! We were finally able to get one and made it back home early in the morning.

So, after an exhausting trip, we are happy to be home again. Thad and I had a wonderful time traveling with John and Erin. Over the course of the vacation we played countless hands of cards, hauled massive backpacks everywhere we went and enjoyed hanging out with the Townsends!

Classes start on Monday and I am trying to gear up for that. We have spent the last couple of days doing laundry (living out of a backpack for a month means NO clean clothes!), going to the grocery store, cleaning up the house, etc. Our trip was wonderful, but it is also nice to be home again and getting ready to do what we came to do- teach! I have missed the students and am looking forward to hearing all about their vacations!

Hola. Loved your pictures and narration. It helped put an image in my mind of your adventures. THe elephant ones and the owl with big eyes were great. Your hair looks really good. An adventure to share with your children and grandchildren someday!! (remember Grandma's books!!)