因为在神没有一件事是不可能的

I went to Zao Zhuang over my last holiday. Zou Nan has a very good friend that lives there so we stayed with her friend. We spend a couple days hanging out with her friend Hui Hui and her brother. It was good fun. We also climbed Tai Shan. I still don't understand why Chinese put stairs on every mountain. It's not fun and it's much harder. Over 7200 stairs up and then back down again. We climbed at night so we could watch a sunrise that didn't happen because of clouds. But at least we did it, no matter how much our legs punished us for it.

Here are some pictures:

In Zao Zhuang


A big park we went to outside of Zao Zhuang.








Zou Nan in the park.


We took a boat in the park, got some nice shots because of it.


A water fountain in the same park.








The four of us.


Up on Tai Shan.




Yes, people actually live on the top and carry their supplies up.

As promised, a short blog about my short trip to Beijing. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera for the best stuff...

It was a spur of the moment decision. Then after 14 hours on a train I was in Beijing.

I did the touristy stuff:

Great wall.

Old (trying to look it anyway) town outside of Beijing. It was lame so I only have close up pictures.

The cat was more interesting than the stuff at this place.

Ming tombs.

Then there is this guy... Like it or not, strange feeling when I watched them raise the Chinese flag at sunrise in Tienanmen Square. I actually saw a couple people crying...

Yes, I went finally to Beijing.

Quite frankly it's a shame that I've been in China so long and haven't made the trip. When i got back from Japan I still had more than two weeks of vacation left. Spur of the moment decision on the 14th. I was on a train that night.

Two things come to mind when I think of Beijing:
1) Expensive.
2) Music.

I'll put pictures up later, along with a more informative - but not too imformative - post.

It's always a bummer when vacations come to an end. I go to work on Wednesday. classes start the following Monday. I'll be ready when the time comes.

So, my first couple days in Okinawa have been good. I was playing with Tamiko, just walking around, taking pictures, talking, when we realized that we could take pictures through the viewfinder attachments for my DianaF+. Here are some pictures from the day.

Me.

Here are the pictures through the viewfinders. This is Tamiko and the gear.

Diana F+, Ricoh GR, and a lens for my D40x.

Self explanatory.

Diana F+ through a fisheye viewfinder.

Daniel playing guitar.

Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Okinawa.

I'll spend the night in Korea on the way over.

I'm going to eat Burger King for dinner and Dunkin Donuts for breakfast in the airport.

I'll get into Okinawa at 11:35 on Tuesday the 13th on flight OZ172.

I should probably tell them that so maybe someone will be at the airport.

If not, I'll take a taxi or bus to Ginowan. I think my broken, rusty Japanese can get me there.

(Disclaimer: These photos looked really great on my computer, but they look really dark on the computer at this internet cafe. Sorry if they look like crap.)

January 4
After 28 hours on a train Alexis, Emily, and I arrived in Harbin on the night of the 4th. The train wasn't as bad as expected. It was like an excuse to be lazy for 28 hours without any residual guilt.

Hungry and tired, the first thing we needed to do was find a bed. Now, if you ever been to a Chinese train or bus station you know that half the people waiting outside are not waiting for any in particular, but rather waiting for someone they can sucker into taking to their hotel. And as it is China, one must stay on their toes if one does not was to get ripped off.

We started talking to a guy who said he would take us to a hotel. He seemed nice, and he only asked for a little bit of money. It turns out that his sister lives in America and she told him that Americans always help her out when she has problems. So he said that he always tries to do the same with foreigners. We later found out that he just happens to be the nicest man in China.

He gets us to a hotel and gets them to drop the price 100RMB lower. We arrange for him to pick us up at 10 in the morning and drive us to the different things we want to see. He only asked for 30RMB for driving around to find a hotel. Unheard of.

January 5
We here Wang (the driver) knocking on our door at 9:30 in the morning. We had a very busy day ahead of us. First, he informed us that he found a cheaper, better hotel. So we were going to move.

We were planning on staying at this hotel but he didn't give us much of an option as he walked out the door with two of our bags.

After checking into the new hotel, which was better, we went out for breakfast. Nothing special, just baozi.

Then we headed to see the snow sculptures. They were beautiful, indeed, but after half an hour we were laughing about how much our feet hurt from the cold. I'm talking -25 to -30 degrees Celsius.

Watching the people carve this was like watching elves in the North Pole.

I really liked the contrast of youthful beauty (see top picture) and the beauty of age.

Elvs, I'm telling you.

We met up with Wang after that and he suggested to go look at a tiger reserve. Siberian tigers, I believe.

On the way there Wang spotted a foreigner waiting for the bus that takes people there. He immediately stopped and asked if he wanted a ride (free of charge). I told you he was the nicest guy in China!

Christopher was a German fellow on a bit of an expedition. He had only been in Harbin since that morning. We went through the tiger reserve together and dropped him off at the snow sculptures.

They really are just big cats. I know my cat would eat me if he could.

After that we told the driver that we were going to go to an internet cafe to buy plane tickets. Right away he was on the phone to different people asking how much they could get us tickets for. After a couple calls there was no need to go online.

So we bought our tickets, then went to lunch.

After lunch we went to the main attraction, the epitome of a winter wonderland, the ice buildings. It was already incredibly beautiful with the snowy ground, ice buildings, and amazing lighting. On top of all that they had the happiest music playing. It felt like Christmas.

The three of us in front of the Harbin 2009 sign.

One of the many times we were buying over priced coffee and hot chocolate to warm up we ran into Christopher. He hang out with us the rest of the evening and we all shared a cab back downtown. We had some delicious Chinese food at a restaurant near our hotel and then hit McDonald's on the way back for desert.

January 6th
Today we didn't really expect to do anything. Our driver insisted that he take us out. He said that because he couldn't pick us up from the ice buildings that he would take us downtown for a bit, free of charge. We told him we would call him, but he ended up just showing up at out hotel at 9:30. sigh... No sleep in for us.

First we headed to the train station to pick up Christopher and then we headed to Zou Nan Da Jie — a street that cars can't drive down. It was alright. Nothing special really. We had some coffee at Star-ucks Bar. No, it wasn't Starbucks Coffee, it was actually Star-ucks Bar. I think it is owned by some famous Chinese actor. His face was plastered all over the place. We were happy to finally find a place to sit and warm up.

The rest of day was nothing special really. We just bought some snacks for the next day's trip.

January 7th
We had to wake up at 5:30. A bus was supposed to take us to China's Snow Town (Zhong Guo Xue Xiang). 6:00 came and went. Then 6:30, then finally 7:00. No bus. I get a call from a lady asking why I wasn't there. I told here I was there, and that she hadn't come. We finally figure out that there was a miscommunication. We were told by the office the bus would pick us up, they were told that we would come to them.

The bus was a miserable thing to be stuck on for 6 hours. And for several of those hours I couldn't tell we were ever driving on a road. I may have to check the dictionary again to make sure I know what a road actually is. Some of these were literally chunks of asphalt puzzle-pieced together with gaps just far enough apart to ensure that passengers traveling on sketchy tour busses would rhythmically smash their forehead against the seat in front of them and then ricochet back to complete the cycle as they pounded their head against their own seat.

After the nauseating drive was over we came into a beautiful little village/resort. The meals were served family style. So shortly after we got there and were showed to our room they yelled out that lunch was served. You know that setting where the mom rings a bell on the farm and yells out, "Come an' get it!" then everyone comes running in, the food is gone in less then a minute, and plates are left to settle in an empty room? That's a good description of it. But the food wasn't bad.

But the beds were the best part. They literally light a fire under your bed to heat it up. Coolest beds ever.

We signed up to watch the sunset on the 8th. We'll get back to that.

After lunch we were free to bum around. We went in a couple shops. I made friends with a local, he tried to get me to take his son back to America. After warming up in his shop he showed us, what he thinks, was the best restaurant in town. We would come back there for dinner later on. And it would cost us. It was the most expensive dinner I've ever had to pay part of. 1644RMB. Over 200USD for three of us. But is was good. And everyone was super friendly. So I guess it was worth it.

They actually used donkeys for useful things, pulling fire wood and whatnot. I though it was funny that this one was tied up the a motorcycle.

I told you it was a small town.

Yes, they were actually selling these.

One shop owner took a liking to us and made us wear everything in his shop.

Emily.

It's interesting to see how they actually plan it all out.

Here is Emily wearing a fox. Yeah, the whole thing. They rig it's mouth to bite down on its tail. So disgusting.

Our fire bed.

Here is the really nice shop owner. He tried to get me to take his son back to America with me.

We had to all sleep together on this fire bed.

The town at night. Pretty.

One of the dishes, frogs. Frogs stuffed with little black frog eggs.

They really weren't all that bad...

I woke up at 5:30 for this???

January 8th
(I was informed by my bed mates that I speak Chinese in my sleep. They didn't remember everything I said, but they said it was definitely Chinese. I know that I dream in Chinese a lot, but now I know that I speak Chinese in my sleep too!)

Another 5:30 wake up call. We had to get up early to take a van up a mountain to watch the sunrise. Now I know I've mentioned how cold it harbin is several times, but it's worth mentioning again. Standing out on the snow, waiting for a sunrise I know will be disappointing, and losing feeling in my feet is not something I would wish on anyone. By the time we all got back in the van (with no heater, I might add) I had completely lost feeling in my feet, I could feel how chilled my blood would get when it went through my feet and came back up my legs spreading the cold up my legs. I was tired. I've never been so cold I got tired. It was miserable. The only good thing about the ride back was knowing there was a fire bed waiting for me.

We all went back to bed and slept until lunch. After lunch we piled in the tour bus from hell and headed back.

Upon arrival in Harbin we were greeted by the friendly face of our driver, Wang. He called the company to find out where they were going to stop and waited there for us. Nicest guy ever.

He took us to a hotel and we arranged a time for him to take us to the airport on the 9th.

January 9th
Finally, a morning without a 5:30 wake up call. We slept until 1:00. It was fantastic. Then we grabbed some lunch, and stopped by Star-ucks Bar one more time. Remember how I mentioned a famous person probably owned this cafe? He made an appearance this time we were in there. He was dressed up in crazy clothes just like all his pictures. I didn't take a picture, but believe me now a famous Chinese actor has said hello to me. haha

Our super nice driver picked us up and took us about half way to the airport. Then he stopped, flagged down a different car, and tossed us in there. He kept saying that we don't need to give this driver any money. I just wanted to know why he tossed us out of his car...

After talking to this new driver he explained that our drivers little van isn't fast enough to go in the highway that gets you to the airport. So he stopped someone going that way and paid them to take us the rest of the way. Nicest driver ever.

I love it. You can see where they scratched out the 'B' - I can only assume they got in trouble for it at some point.

This was in the middle of town, the only reason I mention it is because it actually worked. Pretty darn cool.

All in all Harbin is a fantastic place. If it weren't so darned cold I would consider moving there. Everyone I met was incredibly friendly. Sure, your toes are black and frostbitten, there are icicles hanging from your nose, it's so cold it looks like everyone around you is smoking (though in China they might be), and your fingers are on strike because you took them out of your pockets to try to take a pictures, but if you ever get the chance you must visit harbin in January.

If you do ever visit Harbin tell me so I can hook you up with Wang, the driver. For everything he did I think we paid him around 500RMB. We tried to give him more, but he wouldn’t take it.