New Blog/Website!

Hello!

I promised I'd update this blog when I finally got a new website, and I have!

It's not really quite up and running, but here is the address...I've decided to move on to Wordpress and test out their blog and website tools.

Hope to see you there!

http://jakedcraney.wordpress.com/

Chongqing, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and (not) Tiger Leaping Gorge

Well I've procrastinated putting this post together for far too long, but perhaps I will make it worth the wait with the epic amount on content! I'll try to quickly show you what southwest China is all about! This trip spanned several weeks and over 4,000 km (mainly because Harbin is to Kunming what New York is to L.A.) and was one of the best parts of my year in China for sure.

And Off We Go

But first I had to say goodbye to Daqing, my home for the past year and a strange and not-quite-lovable-but-shucks-I'll-miss-it type of place. In fact, here's a photo of one of it's more scenic sunsets.

Scenic Daqing Sunset, Outside King's

And I had to say goodbye to these kooks, it was a pleasure being part of the "wolfpack" and a shame to say zaijian, but one day our paths will cross again.

The Wolfpack

And of course we had to do some quick curbside dice gambling before parting ways.

Can Never Seem To Get Enough

And it was off to Chongqing! One of the three huge municipalities in China (Beijing and Shanghai being the other two) and the starting point for anyone interested in taking a cruise down the Yangtze to see the epic Three Gorges. Unfortunately, the "epicness" of the famed Three Gorges took a huge hit after the completion of the Three Gorges Dam which just recently became fully functional in July 2012.

So I took a little cruise on the river, using my meager Mandarin skills to introduce myself to another gentleman such as myself and we cruised around Chongqing on a warm summer night. Here's the photographic evidence.

Looking Out At The Yangtze River

Chongqing At Night

Did I forget to mention Hotpot? Chongqing is famous for having the spiciest Hotpot in China, a blistering mix of "mala" or numbingly spicy oil, and sichuan peppercorns and a variety of other interesting peppers and goodies. You simply dump in whatever food you order, and pull it out when it is cooked to your liking and there you have it. Some of the highlights of our sweat-inducing, super spicy hotpot were: lamb, quail eggs, potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, tofu, and of course my favorite: duck intestine MmmmMmmm!

Hot Pot With The Homies

And from there I headed on a hellish 19 hour train ride to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province where I would spend most of my trip traveling around hiking and checking out the sights. Why do people take trains in China? They are cheap, and if you can get a sleeper car you can save yourself a nights stay at a hotel or hostel so what's not to like? Two words: hard seat. It seems a crime that you can buy it, but why not? For less than $10 you can sit in the "hard seat" class all the way to Kunming and that's exactly what I did.
Was it a long train ride? Yes. Was I crammed between two Chinese girls? Yes. Was the family across from us eating instant noodles with chicken feet dunked in them for added flavor. You bet.
But I survived and made it one way or another to Kunming, which is nicknamed the "Spring City" because in winter it's fairly mild, and while the rest of China roasts in the summer it is comfortably warm up in the hills and mountains.

I arrived and chilled out my first day to recuperate from my train ride nightmare, and the next day I rented a bike and cruised 12ish miles down to Xi Shan or Kunming's "Western Hills" which was quite an adventure.
The saying goes a little something like "if you haven't seen Xi Shan, you haven't seen Kunming" and if I had to chose between hiking mountains or wandering museums, you can guess why I made the trip.

Kunming From The Top Of Xi Shan

I parked my bike inconspicuously in some woods and hiked up the north side of the hill, and after working up a decent sweat I emerged to a huge concrete car park, roads with buses of tourists, shops with knick-knacks, and a line for the ticket booth. My spirits plummeted.
I met a very nice English fellow during my stay in Kunming, we later met up unexpectedly in Dali, and he joked that for some Chinese doing things "outdoors" and "climbing mountains" meant this: waiting in lines, taking the bus to the mountain, and taking the chairlift or gondola to the top, smoking a few cigarettes, and heading home.
This is a gross generalization, but not untrue for some of tourists I saw on this and subsequent trips. Nevertheless I pushed on, bought my ticket and headed up the winding stone pathways to the complex of temples and sights on the mountain. Here's a look from below what I was heading into.

Xi Shan, Western Hills

While I am all for ancient history, temples, sightseeing, and whatnot, my time travelling Europe has somewhat worn out my tourist spirit. Not to say I didn't enjoy Xi Shan's amazingly crafted temples, perched up on a beautiful mountainside...but I wasn't about to buy the audio tour guide. I made my way through many of the sights, but I was really working towards finding Dragon Gate which was apparently carved out of the mountainside by a rather devoted monk. Because "if you haven't seen Dragon Gate, you haven't seen Xi Shan" and so on. Here's the overly-crowded photo evidence.

Dragon Gate, And Plenty Of Tourists

After that I headed back to the hostel and met some chill university students from Qingdao (home of the famous Tsingtao beer) who showed me around and invited me to dine with them at a famous restaurant that served Kunming's specialty, "over the bridge noodles" which is similar to Pho where you let the broth cook whatever meet and veggies you ordered with it. The girls of the group were lukewarm towards me, but the homie Yang really showed my around town which was awesome.

Over The Bridge Noodles MmmMmm

Then it was off to Dali, a very laid back city sandwiched in between Cang Shan Mountains and Erhai Lake which makes for stunning scenery. I joked that it was like the Boulder of China, and perhaps that isn't too much of a stretch, because it is seriously laid back here. After spending a night with the locals at a popular bar, I was up and at 'em at the crack of 11 am and hiking up the mountain. Many of my guidebooks and resources talked about a "chairlift" or "cable car" to the top...and while I would have loved to indulge in that luxury on this particular morning, the chairlift was out of service and the cable car was ridiculously priced at over $35, no thanks. I'll take the stairs...

Stairs Don't Make It Any Easier...

There were a lot of stairs, and not a lot of other hikers unless you count a group of younger Chinese couples steadily making their way up the mountainside on horses and donkeys. It wasn't always easy to spot them right away, but you knew they were there due to the constant worry of dodging horse poop and the screams of horror coming from the girls who were a little out of their element. After a couple of hours of hiking I finally made my way to a clearing with a path that traversed the mountains horizontally.
I was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, and feeling how most visitors to Colorado must feel...utterly exhausted and gasping to take in some of that high altitude air. I wasn't really looking too good. Luckily for me I was sort of adopted by a small family of Chinese hikers, and we walked along the path and conversed back and forth to the extent that a few months studying Mandarin will let you. We checked out the main temple, and hiked along an absolutely picturesque path going over streams and meandering along the rugged mountains. I was perfectly content.

Always Fun When Some Locals Adopt You

Dali And Cang Shan Are So Sick!

During the hike I ran into my English friend and we chatted for a bit, he was staying at a hostel on top of the trail which was amazing. I had stopped in to check it out, but I already had booked my room for several nights down in town so we were forced to say our goodbyes and I briskly marched down the mountain with the last rays on sunlight at my back.
Incidentally I ran into my other Chinese friends from Kunming in town, and got some epic dinner with Yang and then I had to retire. Exhausted, I woke the next morning and rented a bike with a fellow backpacker and we cruised down to Erhai lake which boasted some amazing views.  Just watch out for the spiders...

Erhai Lake, Dali

SPIDERS EVERYWHERE RUN

Also I can't forget to mention Dali's famous "Three Pagodas" which were pretty cool, but with a fairly steep admission price (you can't go up in the towers) I settled for taking a few pictures from a distance. And there you have it, that was Dali, probably my favorite moment of travelling southwest China...that is, except for Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Three Pagodas, Dali

I could go on and on about this amazing hike, and I've got a whole memory card full of pictures and a few fun stories as well. But I've decided to put that info in my new blog:
(Funny story...I haven't made it yet...buuuuut when I do I'll edit this post and update it with the blog name and address etc.)
So please check it out! I'll be putting more content on that blog, and I will also revisit some of the past adventures from this blog and my AHOJ PRAHA blog as well. I hope to see you there!

But that was about it, I cruised back to Kunming after Tiger Leaping Gorge and then booked a flight to Shanghai in order to buy all my souvenirs and gifts for friends and family, and finally to catch my flight back to the good old U.S.A.

Shanghai was the same as I left it a year before; a huge international city, tourist prices, bustling traffic, and a world famous skyline. Who knows, maybe I'll be back someday, but for now my adventures in China are over. It was a wonderful trip. Once again, don't forget to check out the new blog coming soon!
Zaijian Friends!

Cruising On Shanghai's Maglev Train, @ 300km/h

Shanghai At Dusk...

...And At Night

Daqing Springs back to Life

Winter's true death grip on Daqing has been gone for sometime now, but a few lingering cool days reminded you that not too long ago this place was about as enjoyable as Siberia. But now, it's safe to say we're in full Spring, practically Summer if you ask me! And as the temperature has steadily risen, so have our spirits; here's a look at what's been going on this Spring here in the Daqing area.

The Yixi Market has been bustling lately, with no shortage of delicious fruit, vibrant colors, and the pleasant hum of bargaining as well.

Yixi Market

I've been staying out after class some days to play basketball, here's the group of guys I usually play with. The weather has been so nice it's easy to lose track of time and play late into the evening.

Daqing Bballerz

I managed to get-GASP-reasonably attractive pictures of Daqing, most likely the ones they show new foreign teachers who are on their way to teach here...

T.V. Tower + Wanda Plaza

Xincun Downtown

Never Forget, we are in DAQING

Aussie John and I taught the Choir class at the Longfeng and Yixi schools, and here are some pictures from our joint performance for Children's day.

Getting ready!

Our Adorable Host + Hostess

Showtime

And of course Glynn was chillin...

Glynn the Homie

We went to Harbin for Wayne's birthday Bash, here's a quick photo of St. Sophia Cathedral, a pretty cool Orthodox church waaaaaay out East.

St. Sophia Cathedral

For Ed's birthday we had a beach themed party with hula skirts and a limbo!

Wayne for the win...oooh nooo

And I've had the last two weeks off kindergarten so I've been in Ranghulu quite a bit, here's Ed and his epic bday cake (He's a recent Nuggets convert)

Manimal Jr.

Here I'm teaching Matt how to play Foosball, on Leo's less than regulation style table...seriously, there is this one dude who just spins around the whole game

The Legend of "Spinny Joe"

Also here's a couple of furry faces around town:

New Orange Bar Doggie, Hazel

Just chillin

Momo is Furious

Cat in a box, Harbin!

It's nice to be busy these days with friends and fun, it's a shame my contract is up on July 15th, because I've made some pretty epic friends over here. I'll be traveling a bit afterwards, and I'll make an appearance in CO when I get back on August 4th, SO MARK YO CALENDERS!

P.S. if you didn't get a postcard, or you did and you're greedy, shoot me an email @ jake.d.craney@gmail.com and I'll SEND YOU ONE! WOWZORZ! I'm still getting rid of the remnants of a confused bargaining situation that ended with me taking home like 30 Great Wall postcards...

Beijing! Tiananmen, the Forbidden City, and the GREAT WALL

It's been far too long between posts, but the Daqing blues were only just melted away by a rush of springtime weather, and a much needed holiday trip to China's MASSIVE capital city: Beijing.  If you haven't heard of this metropolis, please read this before going any further...
To be fair, we really only had a few days in the city, but I am sure I'll be back before my adventures are over.

A quick disclaimer: due to poor air quality and my poor-er photography skills, you'll notice many different looking pictures. I've used a few different filters which I suppose is cheating, but it makes the pictures look so coooooool.

i.e.

From left to right: Original, Bright, Dark

So off we were on the night train from Daqing, it's about $50 each way but the beds aren't too bad and in any case it saves a night at the hostel I suppose. We had a big group of 7, but we made it work quite well and despite a few snags here and there, I really can't complain at all! After sorting out some ticket problems when we arrived, we headed straight to get some world famous Peking Duck which was a good way to start off the experience.

Some DELICIOUS Peking Duck was eaten here

Then it was off to the Forbidden City which isn't so "Forbidden" these days...we saw a toddler relieving himself on a tree inside the gates...TIC!

We didn't bother taking a guided tour, maybe next time? I don't know if I'm worn out from my tourist days in Europe, but we were also a bit dazed from the night train.

On the way in I even got a pic with Mao.

Couldn't escape the stares even in Beijing!

It was a HUGE palace, and while much of the exterior is the same, it's amazing to behold.

One of many courtyards in the Forbidden City

Daqing lacks the charm of classic Chinese architecture, but Beijing certainly did not.

Finally some interesting architecture

And this one goes out to Brett, loyal blog follower, fellow ESL teacher, and haxor...I learned the "Crane-style" in the Forbidden city so watch yo self!

Watch out for the Crane

Tiananmen Square is pretty much just a massive, well, square, but given it's infamy it was certainly worthwhile to go through a security check and wander around for a bit.

Tiananmen Square

Here's the actual famous angle of "Tian'anmen or Gate of Heavenly Peace" from the square.

The Chairman himself

That evening we wandered around and got lost, then wandered and got lost, and wandered some more and got lost again...all in search of a good Mexican meal! But not all was lost, we had some good beer and German food, but be warned, Beijing is not for the weary. Fear not, after our Great Wall trip my craving for some fajitas and burritos was satisfied on a better planned excursion.


The next day it was a 5:30am wake up to head 3hrs outside the city to the "Jīnshānlǐng" section of the Great Wall known for it's mountainous features and majestic views.  We hiked for several hours, and it was simply awesome. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Duuuuuude I'm on the Great Wall

Almost no tourists in this photo...

The wall crawled over mountaintop after mountaintop

Snaking off into the distance

Certain sections were steep and sketchy!

Epic

From a guardtower

Maybe I'll sell this to a postcard printer

While he saw a different section than I did, Richard Nixon once said, "This is a Great Wall and only a great people with a great past could have a great wall and such a great people with such a great wall will surely have a great future." Which is probably the nicest thing he's said about China..but how true.

No time for naps unfortunately

And just like that, checked it off the list, hopefully I'll be able to see a few more sections of the wall this summer

Afterwards Marc and I headed to meet a fellow Daqing local and some of his local friends for a night on the town, we ended up staying up all night watching a big Man U vs. Man City soccer match and the next day we were a bit slow doing much of anything. Unfortunately we headed back in the afternoon, it was far too short but I got my first taste of Beijing and I'll be back for sure!

Random, but our hostel had the chillest cat ever

On the way home we stopped in Harbin and changed trains for the last 2 hours back to Daqing.  This picture might be blurry, but when you don't actually have a seat so you're standing, and you're traveling early in the morning on no sleep, and you get back to your apartment that morning at 5:30 am, and you teach 4 hours of kindergarten at 8:00 am well...you get the picture.

This was my "seat" from 2:30-4:50 am

If I keep doing that I'll end up looking like this for sure!

Ni hao! You want fries with that?

A few notes:
Click pictures to enlarge! They will look much better in a higher resolution.
Please excuse any typos, it's after 11pm and on these school nights that is late for me...!
Also, there will hopefully be more and more pictures from this adventure in a possible part two!
Zaijian!