pictures

wonton soup in wenzhou

small pavilion up on the mountain on our way to the temple

tong's granddad paying his respects

ruins of st. paul's cathedral in macau

wenzhou and hong kong

januari 23rd jan anne, tong and me left beijing for wenzhou. we were all very excited to exchange this freezing, windy city for a warmer place. but when we reached wenzhou it turned out much colder than we had anticipated. it seemed we had brought the cold with us, because, according to everyone, the weather had been splendid right up untill the day we arrived. 

after being picked up from the airport by tong's uncle and cousin, and having checked into our hotel, we went out to dinner with some of tong's relatives. we were all still a bit nauseous from the flight and the ride, when we were immediatly confronted with the acquired taste of wenzhounese cuisine. we had dried fish, dried meat, duck's tongue, jelly fish, a kind of shrimps i'd never seen before, small cockels with the blood still in it (which tasted like gulp of sea water) and lots of alcohol.

in the following days we visited i think every relative tong still has in wenzhou. and everywhere we were welcomed most kindly and generously. because of the spring festival (chinese new year) every family had to invite all relatives for a meal, a feast i would say, existing of the more expensive delicacies. this meant that every family eventually served the same dishes (most of which i already mentioned above), which we had to eat at least two times a day, almost every day. 

most of tongs family members live in two different villages, just across the river from wenzhou. everyone lives fairly close to each other and the doors are always open. neighbours just walk in and out of each other's houses, children play in the streets. much more of life takes part outside, and i found it  much more like i had expected china to be before i ever came here. 

a few days after the the spring festival tongs grandfather took us to a temple on a mountain just beside the city. on our way there we past many family graves, all somehow broken to some extent. the temple was small, and smelled of incense and candles. after tong and his granddad lit candles and burned incence and gold leaf for the gods we went back down the misty mountain. a few days later there was a festival for a local god. after getting up really early in the morning we went to a temple in the village, where everyone (not many children though) had already gathered, waiting for the rain to stop so that the ceremony could begin. it was a most colorfull assembly. there was a women's brass band, a men's band with wind instruments, a traditional band, an opera assembly, dragon dancers, and many many people with banners and flags. when it finally began, a wooden statue of the local god was lifted out of his alter and was put into a sedan chair, in which he was carried through the entire village, followed by a boisterous crowd and deafening fireworks. the procession took us through every neighbourhood of the village. and every one of these neighberhoods had prepared a large table full of meat, fruit and incense in honour of the passing god. and when the god arrived at these tables all the names of the inhabitants of this particular neighbourhood were read aloud to him. i can say with full conviction that this was the absolute climax of my stay in wenzhou, this was the chinese culture i was looking for but could not find in beijing.

on februari the first we took a plane to shenzhen, a city very close to hong kong were we stayed for one night in a really nice youth hostel before we took a train to hong kong. in shenzhen we finally found the climate we were searching for, it was nice and warm, and i found the city surprisingly tropical, with lots of green (palm trees!) everywhere.

when we arrived in hong kong the next day, we checked into our hostel and immediately after that went to see the big buddha where we would meet up with some more dutch friends. we first took the subway, which was stunningly clean and orderly in comparison to the beijing subway. and after that we took the cable car over beautiful green hills to the buddha. the view in the late afternoon was awesome, and i was glad to see some more green. it was a shame we were all so tired and didn't have much time, else we could have made a day trip out of it and have walked our way to the buddha through the forrest. but we had fun all the same, and it was nice to see so many friends together again. 

after our trip to the buddha we went for a taste of the famously delicious hong kong cuisine, which was followed by a trip to victoria peak. here we had a stunning view over the city at night. in the following days we enjoyed the warm weather, great food, of course we went for some shopping, and we went to explore languifang, the centre of the city's night life. on our third day we took a boat to macau, former portugese territory, and now casino heaven. it was as if we had returned to europe, the city centre existed mostly of europian style buildings, and small streets where we ate famous macau egg tarts (yumm). after some sight seeing, we went to one of the larger casinos: the venetian. after some of us had won, but most of us had lost some money we went to have some dinner, the macau cuisine is a pleasant mix between portugese and chinese.

on our last day in hongkong, we went for some more shopping and in the evening our friend ben took us to have some sea food just outside the city. here they had the most bizarre collection of sea food i have ever seen in my life, in all shapes and huges sizes. they were all still well and alive, so you can pick them out yourself and have them dead and delicious on your plate half an hour later. after this we went for desert in a desert restaurant, where we could enjoy that lovely durian smell (even though we were not sitting in the 'durian district') and some special hong kong deserts.

the next day we took our plane back to beijing, and here i am, back at my desk. it's been exactly a month since i got back, and yes, i am slightly embarrassed that it took me so long to write my holiday report.

the weather in beijing is finally getting better (it's about seventeen degrees warmer than when we left). school has started again. my classes are boring, but life is good..

first song of the day: 'living in a tree' by priscilla ahn

oh and today is march 6, i don't know why it says ferbruari 17 at the top..

to the south!

two weeks of vacation have gone by in a flash. i've been to the lama temple, 798 art district, temple of heaven and a folk concert. the lama temple, according to lonely planet is beijing's most magnificent buddhist temple. it was once home to legions of monks from mongolia and tibet, but now it is mostly a tourist attraction where all chinese ("non-religious" so they say) buy loads and loads of incense to burn for the buddhist gods. the various halls with buddha statues are very pretty though, and there is one huge (18 metre high) tibetan style maitreya statue, cut from one piece of sandalwood.

we went to 798 to see a dior show, but it had ended the day before, which was a shame. but we strolled around a bit and had very exspensive hot chocolate. 

i had been to temple of heaven before, but tong hadn't, so we went a few days ago. it was nice and quiet. not too many people around this time of year. and of course the park was really impressive (except for the giant lcd screen with booming suround sound to show us what "really happend" there in the old days). yes, we're still in the kingdom of kitch :p

also we went to see a folk singer in a small bar near the drum tower. i had never heard of him before, but he was quite good.

all in all it has been a nice winter break uptill now, and tomorrow i'm off to the south! first to wenzhou, then to shenzhen and hongkong, maybe macao. i'm really looking forward to it, 'cause it's freezing cold in beijing right now. i'll be back februari 6, so you won't hear from me for, ghehe, another two weeks. i wish you a happy ox year!

first song of the day: "cayman islands" by kings of convenience

happy new year!

today i had my last exams for this week. and what a week it's been, or couple of weeks i should say. i haven't gone to bed earlier than say 2 in the morning for days now. i'm so exhausted i think i'm gonna puke. but hey, it's new year's eve! of course we've celebrated christmas last week, even though we were all burried under piles and piles of books (chinese exam time is exactly in western holiday time). yesterday was my birthday, i am now one-and-twenty years of age, but i had to study so... nothing much happened, but i did go for some vietnamese food with tong, so that was nice. tomorrow i'm having my b-day party :)

tonight were going for korean food (again hehe) and then were of to houhai to spend our evening in a local bar there.

i would like to wish everybody at home a 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

and all the happiness, health and good fortune you can get!

first song of the day: 'stop this train' by john mayer

winter

winter has finally come. the dry fallen leaves are crisp under my feet. cold air makes my cheeks blush. the cold wind cuts through me like hundreds of knives. and it isn't even really cold yet. the coldest weather we've had untill now was about minus four degrees, but the wind made it feel as at least minus ten. (what's it going to feel like when it really is minus ten and the wind blows?) it's gonna be some winter...

last weekend some friends and me went to a hiphop concert in yugongyishan. we came there way too early and had to wait for about two hours before it actually began. but it was absolutely worth the wait. i am not exacty what you could call a hiphop fan, i only went because my friends wanted to go. i had expected some rappers who would play a tape and rap along with that, but the music was much more instrumental than my expectations. there was a live band, and the music had a more reggaeish sound to it. it was really nice. but i can't say i have been converted, i don't play hiphop in my room yet, and i don't think i will in any near future :p

i myself have joined some kind of band today. which is to say, we are still in the beginning stages, i don't really know if we're going to be a real band yet. my friend weiti (dutch chinese) met this chinese guy, and told my he writes pretty good songs, asked me if i would like to try and sing with them. so that's what i did today. some of the songs were a bit burt bacharach, other songs were more bossa nova. it was jolly good fun, and we're to meet next week again. i hope it works out, i've always wanted to be part of a band...

oh and i bought nice and warm, wine red puma shoes to match the cold weather :)

first song of the day: 'dance with me' by nouvelle vague

pictures

pu'er tea and blueberry cheesecake

so here i am. back in my room. my parents left beijing about a week ago. strange to think they're on the other end of the world again. they were just here. 

we did loads of fun stuff. we had a silk suit made for my dad at wangfujing, one of the most famous streets of beijing. in the end about half the orchestra had gone there to have their suits, coats, blazers and pants tailored. we went to see the great wall, which was great indeed. the weather was a little foggy and we were rather late, so there was absolutely nobody there. what a view! much better than the crowded with tourists piece of wall i had been to a few years ago. i went shopping with my mum. i had never seen her shop till she dropped like she did last week. many presents on the plane home. we went to buy tea on several occasions (my dad = tea addict). we went to the expensive tea shop "ten fu's tea" on wangfujing, where we could try out different kinds of tea poured in tiny cups by giggling chinese girls. we went to a tiny shop across the hotel where the orchestra stayed, where a woman told us all about wulong and pu'er tea (the best kinds of tea for the winter). we went to the summer palace, nice but very touristy. and we ate many many delicious things, from peking duck to wonton soup. 

i also went out a few times with some members and two other daughters of the orchestra. new friends, new fun. i took my friends and roommate to the concerts, showed my parents my dormitory and tong's place, and took them to our favorite restaurants. all in all: a busy week. it was great fun :)

and now they've all gone home. i'm left in beijing with a few pieces of cheese and a box of liquorice. i'm going to school again (skipped all my classes last week), making homework again, eating blueberry cheesecake at the bridge cafe again...

all is normal again.

or is it?

first song today: "drive my car" by the beatles