November You Say?

I took this on Sunday, about twenty minutes before the overwhelming blueness, which was featured earlier in the week. I was struck by the unusual silhouettes of the palm trees, but it was difficult to find a shot that reflected how dramatically incongruous they seemed on a windswept November promenade. It wasn’t until I started tweaking in Photoshop that the photo really came alive, and gave me a chance to pretend this wasn’t really northern Europe in winter – perhaps I’d slipped away to a balmy tropical island for the afternoon instead.

Skywatch Friday.

Just Looking

Yesterday I hung my first ever photography exhibition. It might be at the main library rather than a gallery, but I still had to audition (is that really the best word? would perhaps 'videtion' be better? that from the Latin videre 'to see' rather than audire ' to listen'. Yes, I am a geek AND rambling off point) to get a spot, and the person in charge of exhibtions liked my work so much that she offered me two dates, rather than the one I originally asked for.

It was slightly strange but definitely good to see my photographs, framed and mounted, hanging on the wall. Even more importantly, people were actually, definitely stopping to look at them. I think the word I'm searching for is fulfilling.

In The Country

Tired and cliche-ridden, brevity is the soul of wit...

I sampled some delicious, still slightly sour blackberries before wondering what, exactly, this is...

We met this sow who had some tiny, guinea pig sized piglets who were cavorting in her sty.

And the end is nigh...

Other worlds.

Shanghai: Yuyuan Garden

Back in early November, me and a friend managed to find a bargain flight deal to Shanghai, and spent a very enjoyable long weekend there. The theme for the weekend was getting lost, and it started as soon as we tried to find the subway stop at the airport which apparently no longer exists. So we had to take some dodgy looking bus into the city centre, and get on the subway there. We accidentally managed to get on the wrong train line on the subway, a fact we only noticed when it became apparent that the buildings outside rather slummy looking, or as Lonely Planet would no doubt put it, ‘charmingly authentic’.

Getting lost on the Shanghai subway isn’t all tears and frustration though as it is infested with some of the best bakeries in the world, which I presume to be some sort of legacy from the French. I purchased, and then consumed like a famine struck Ethiopian, this half-doughnut half-danish concoction filled with berry jam-syrup. Later on in the week, we also discovered the joys of a bread roll covered in a slab of real bacon and cheese, which, again, sustained us through a few geographically difficult moments.

We decided to spend our first afternoon at Yuyuan Garden, a Ming era garden. I think we spent more time getting lost than we did at there, as it’s located at the back of the Old Town Bazaar. Think of cartoon old China, then throw in a liberal sprinkling of spangled souvenirs, Starbucks and McDonalds, then imagine that the person who designed it was drunk

The garden itself was beautiful, and, blissfully, almost empty on a chilly but sunny midweek winter afternoon. It was also one of the most fun, and playful, traditional sights I’ve been to. There was a sense of joie de vivre and intimacy that contrasted with and complimented the formal layout: the garden was divided into sections using white walls topped with black dragons. Entering a new section you were unsure what you would encounter: a pagoda, a pond, beautiful lush plants and twisty trees, intriguingly shaped stones or a weathered statue. Often it was a combination. Sometimes you could catch an intriguing glimpse into another area, to tempt you on.

It was somewhere you could imagine men gambling, women laughing and children running around. Whether they ever did or not is a moot point, but I enjoyed myself imagining it.

The swarms of goldfish were quite impressive to behold. We obviously would not have thrown a piece of chocolate into the pond, just to see if they would eat it. As we didn't do that, I can't tell you that the fish gobbled it down.

We had caught a bus to the Old Town area from our hostel, and naively assumed that the bus stop would be on the same street, roughly opposite the one we’d got off at. We wandered up and down, being assured by people that it was ‘just down the street’ until we wondered if we had finally been broken by China and had developed a form of joint insanity that manifested itself as an inability to see the bus stop that was clearly evident to everyone else. Then, on a side street we saw our bus stopped in traffic. The driver refused to let us on, and look very smug about the fact, so to find out where the bus stop was we had no choice but to run along after it once it started moving. The bus stop, obviously, was located two streets and several blocks from it’s partner.

Rooftops of Dafo Temple

I'm glad we put off visiting Zhengding until spring, as we had these beautiful views across the temple complex from the balcony at the top of the Pavillion of Mercy. With the pagoda roofs, newly leafed trees and blue sky, it seems more like a dream than something from my everyday reality.

I couldn't decided which was the best photo to put up, what do you think?

Worldwide skywatching with SkyWatch Friday.

China Blossoms

The last few weeks have seen the greyness of the Shiz punctured by emerging blossoms, pink, white and a shocking, fake looking magenta. Coupled with the sudden, and delightful, occurance of blue skies, it induced the shocking realisation that Shijiazhuang could be, and occasionally is, a beautiful city. I have got so used to thinking of its ugliness and pollution as compeletly inevitable, but there is no reason why it couldn't become a pleasant, modern garden city.

I took advantage of a particularly pleasant day last week to go and photo the splendid displays of blossom on this tree in the school.

Whilst I was snapping away, I got talking with some of my senior 2 students who were on duty at the front entrance. They are now seriously thinking about which universities they want to apply to, and which subjects they want to study, and I had an interesting chat with them about it. The girl on the left wants to work in a bank, but her parents and teacher want her to become a teacher. The girl in the middle wants to be a Chinese, English or history teacher, and is hoping to get into a prestigious teacher training university in Beijing. The girl on the left wants to study international business. This is a reasonable reflection of the ambitions of my senior students. The two most popular career choices seem to be business and teaching, followed by the army, medicine, and law.

Sunday Strolling

destruction preceding construction: I expect a new apartment block (like the one in the background, will be built here)

a gate to one of the apartment buildings

I didn’t enjoy getting up at 6.30 (as if I ever do!) but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. I waited for the bus for so long that I ended up having to take a taxi and could’ve snoozed for another half hour, but I’ve had a really good day so I don’t mind. This young guy, an international trade major now working in an import/export business, came up to me at the bus stop and struck up a conversation with me – he was so nervous he was shaking, but by the end of our brief conversation he was smiling and tremble free, which made me feel happy. I hope he’s gained a bit more confidence speaking English now, as he was really very good.

one of the Olympic mascots, this was one of several stencils on the walls by the art school

this is one of several pictures trying to discourage anti social behaviour such as littering, removing man-hole covers (!) and fly posting...guess what people were doing whilst I was taking this picture...

I had my last day teaching at Ai Hua, the private English school I’ve been a cover teacher for this week. The classes were pretty uneventful, not very stretching or interesting to teach, but the kids are OK and it’s easy money. Two of the little girls in my last class were excited to find a resemblance between me and the Disney princesses on their pencil cases, which was quite cool. Although sometimes I curse the fact that in China I’m a size XL, (and M at the very very best), it’s also surely one of the few countries where anyone would seriously think I look like a cartoon princess.

I had a two and a half hour break between my morning and afternoon classes, and so I entertained myself by wandering around the local market and housing estate. It’s a very pleasant area, quiet but with lots of shops and market vendors, a primary school and a private art school.

yummy yummy!

this man is the baozi king!

These are the best baozi (large steamed bread dumplings) that I’ve ever had. So good that I might consider taking the bus there again just to eat them. And amazingly good value at 2 kuai (20p) for six.

my main difficulty at the vegetable market was choosing which delicious looking veggies to buy!

I checked out the fruit and vegetable market, and bought some delicious strawberries that I ate from the bag as I walked, and finished off sitting underneath the beautiful flowering trees that lined one street, which is the best smelling part of China I’ve visited! Perching on the wall of the primary school, watching the people walking by, (and being discreetly watched by the Chinese street vendors), enjoying the relative peace and quiet and mingled smells of ripe, sweet strawberries and heady yet delicate flowers is a China memory I know I’ll cherish.

where I perched

If you have any idea what species this tree is I'd love to know, my knowledge of botany know consists of merely the memory of having to memorze the chemcial equasion for photosynthesis!

On a slightly more mundane level, in the same neighbourhood I also fond what seems to be the only shop in the city that sells shorts, which is a relief as my cosy jogging bottoms are now becoming rather torturous to actually work out in.

a map of the housing estate; the numbered orange blocks are apartment buildings, some of which have shops or businesses on the ground (or first) floor

Spring!

Spring is slowly coming to northern China. After teasing us with a few clement days last week, this week reverted back to wintery coldness. But joyously, it has been a warm, clear skyed weekend, so yesterday I went to a downtown park where I finally found the first leaf buds of the year. And then entertained a lot of Chinese people with the puzzling question of 'why is the only foreigner at the park standing in a hedge taking close up photos of a twigs?'

I can't wait for the transformation from bleak and bare to leafy. At this point I should probably warn you that I'm a little bit addicted to snapping trees!

Mui Ne

Our next escapade was to at Mui Ne, a coastal resort a few hours north of Saigon. When we arrived I was a bit disappointed with the beach: I had been hoping for the luxurious open expanses of White Beach, but the actual beach was tiny, almost non existent at high tide. Instead, there was a terraced area belonging to the hotel we were staying at that fronted onto the beach.

My disappointment quickly turned to enjoyment though: because we were on private land no one could harass us, and I stretched out on a lounger with a book, occasionally pausing from the addictive Captain Corelli’s Mandolin to stare into the sea. And how could anyone argue with sunsets like this?



The next day we took a tour of some of the interesting local sights. At the harbour, we got talking to one of the local girls who was selling a variety of heinous trinkets. She worked all day to help support her family, then would go to school for two hours at night. She was fourteen. Her English was excellent because she got her education through a sponsor a child programme, and so went to a school that was taught entirely in English. Despite her long days, she was incredibly cheerful and happy.



Our next stop was the Yellow Dunes where you can surf down the dunes. We dutifully paid the incredibly small sum to one of the young boys who worked renting sand surfing boards to tourists and set off to one of the highest dunes. This is the point at which I decide to develop cramp. In both my calves. I half staggered, half hot stepped up the dune, melodramatically collapsing on my knees when I reached the top.

The sand surfing board boy showed us how it was down, tobogganing penguin style down the dune and then effortlessly running back up. When it was my turn to go, I lay on the board and pushed off - and promptly got stuck not even halfway down the dune, with my skirt blown up! Trying to recover a little dignity, after I had pulled my board free of the sand, I tried going down sitting on the board. This was only marginally more successful, until I got wedged again.

At that point I gave up and started the journey back to the top. Never has the clichéd phrase ‘one step forward, two steps back’ been so apt. Every footfall saw me frustratingly slide back to a millimetre in front of where I had just been. Eventually I abandoned all attempts to maintain a shred of poise, and clambered up on my hand and knees. The stunning views made up for the embarrassment though: I had never realised that there was so much contrast in the landscape of Vietnam.

On our last morning I finally got into the swimming pool. I have not been in a swimming pool for thirteen years: the last time was when our high school attempted to teach 30 girls how to swim in a pool that, at the very most, was four or five metres by three, and no more than four foot deep. Since then I’ve only ever swum in the sea. It was very strange to be in water that had no current, smelt like chemicals instead of salt and to have smooth tiles under foot rather than sand and stones. It felt too easy and sterile somehow, like I was cheating.

For other worlds, visit My World Tuesday.