Happy Mid-Autumn

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, enjoying mooncakes with family and friends

World's most polluted province

On the way back to Lanzhou, I stopped in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, the center of the Chinese coal mining industry and home to a few contenders to the title of most polluted city in the world, Taiyuan having held the crown before being overtaken by Lanzhou which was then passed by another Shanxi-town, Linfen. The city of Taiyuan is more pleasant now, although on arriving by train the dammages of the coal could be seen on buildings. The provincial museum is really great and worth a morning or an afternoon for any visitor. A temple dedicated to Confucius was being rebuilt. The food is mainly based on noodles, and there are enough to choose from to accomodate every taste. Nearby Datong is a great place to visit some nearby Buddhist monasteries, as some of my classmates recommended, though my trip went to Wutaishan, a mountain full of Buddhits monasteries, enoughto keep a westerner busy for a few days.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Pictures of Wutaishan

Leaving Tianjin

It's time to leave Tianjin after 9 weeks, at least I can manage basic situations but I am still far from being fluent. Looking forward to follow the Chinese language classes for foreigners back in Lanzhou, it should be possible to follow a few weeks longer than last year. The weather here was really strange, I really only started to enjoy going out in the afternoon these last two weeks. Even Beijing was a relief from the conditions here, though that city also has a bad reputation in the summertime.

Beijing, Beijing, I love BeiJing

Great blue sky again for a day trip to BeiJing, still managing to visit sites I did not know from before. The Temple of Confucius was almost as large the the temples in Qufu. Nearby there is a vegetarian restaurant offering awasome meatless dishes, and of a refined quality.

Meeting Laotse and Confucius

After another three weeks in Tianjin, the second long weekend away led me to Taishan, a Taoist mountain. The climb was tough, as the stairs were not adapted to my legs, but the view from the top was awesome, and it was worth spending a weekend there. On the second day, the destination was nearby Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, with plenty of museums dedicated to the scholar. Though overpriced, the place was a great learning experience. While waiting for the train to Beijing, I stopped at a restaurant dedicated to the Chairman Mao, a statue of him could be seen in a corner. On Monday, I stopped at the Taoist monastery of Dongyue, which features displays of the afterlife according to the imagination of the local people of centuries ago. Strangely, the sky looked very blue and the weather seemed a relief from the damp heat of Tianjin.

Beidahe, a Chinese resort

For the weekend I went to Qinghuangdao, a large city in Hebei province, a two hours by train away from Tianjin. On Saturday, a visit to Shanhaiguan was on the program, the place where the Great Wall meets the sea, some places where full of tourists but there was a spot further inland where one could walk more peacefully, with only a few Chinese tourists and a group of Russian tourists. Strangely, at a shop, the vendor replied to me in Russian after I said something in English. Sunday was the day to go exploring the beach, the resort of Beidahe was easily accessible by local bus. Plenty of attractions were made to accomodate the taste of Russian visitors, there is even a statue of Gorki overlooking the sea. A large park is full of statues dedicated to various sports, a sign that some events of the Summer Olympics 2008 took place there. At the restaurant, the waitress talked to me in Russian, it took her some time to understand that I did not, and we switched to a mix of Chinese and English. The restaurant was serving a mix of Chinese and Russian dishes, and most customers came from the giant to the North.

Summer in Tianjin

Have arrived at the Tianjin University of Technology for a nine weeks long intensive Chinese language course. This will make my life easier next year as I will at least have the basics to hanlde simple situations like buying train tickets or asking my way around a city. The weather is much more humid here close to the coast and much hotter than the altitude of Gansu province.