Tian Zi Shan 2

When we were still waiting for our friends and our guide, we were able to rest and take pictures with Chinese kids. They were so many!

I think I didn't quite understand that our ticket back was not paid and that if we wanted to go back by cable cars we had to pay for the fare. We all came back walking. On our way up, in the cable cars, it didn't take us more than 10 minutes to reach the top. Going down was a whole other story.

It was wonderful to travel with my best friend. We had some disagreements on the way, but we got to solve them right away. We had great times in different situations and places. Some other that were not as pleasant. Camila knew that I was a little bit tired and she would often talk in a harsh voice to me b/c she thought I wasn't enjoying the trip. She was often sure about it. I almost didn't enjoy the beautiful view in the Great Wall because of a headache. I would be pissed off with myself if I had allowed that to happen. Camila, Jessica and I and our Irish friends decided to go walking. I guess we didn't expect to be such a long way. We had to focus not to fall on the way down. Too many ppl going down at the same time and some going up. Also, there were some pretty steep parts of the mountain. I was sure if I fell down at any time, no one would ever find me dead or alive. The view was magnificent, but we didn't enjoy as much as we should. We were so worried about going back on time that we did our best to be together with everyone in the same pace.

I recorded a little bit of what I had seen that day. The mountains are simply spectacular. It is possible to see the top of the mountains kinda blurry because the smog doesn't allow us to see clearly.

When we thought we were getting to the bottom...haha... we weren't! It was just a place for people to stop, rest, breath, eat and drink something. Camila, Jessica, Lily, Emmett and I had a bottle of water...but it was not cold... far from being cold, actually. Lily is such a sweet girl. She has this maternal way of treating people. She is always concerned about people's health and well-being. I wasn't feeling okay at some point. Lily said it was because we were all losing too much water and that we hadn't eaten for hours. True. My legs were shakey but they had theirs too. After drinking some water and using our Chinese shangzi - fan - as much as possible, we took some pictures and headed back to the hiking path. On our way out we saw some typical Chinese food from the mountains. I still don't really know what was it. Maybe a kind of bird or chick. I don't know why they would eat that... but yeah. We were all like: "Yewww!"

Tian Zi Shan

In one of the days we spent in Zhangjiajie - five hours from Changsha - we went to this place called "Tian Zi Shan" 天 子 山 which means the Mountain of the Emperor. Beautiful view. The mountains contrasted with the big Chineselike building in front of us. Each bus had to stick together. So we had a whole line just for 四号车 - bus number four. One of our guides was handing in a card. She said to each one of us: "Be Calful! To days!" We were like: "Whaaat? Be careful with what? Are we gonna die in two days?" Lol.

Anyway, after that we got in and we had to get into another bus. All buses were completely full and everybody had to go in it together. It took us around 10 minutes to get into it. When we were going in, another bus, out of no where, starts parking right beside our bus. Jessica and I were almost smashed by the crazy driver if it wasn't for Josh, the cute Auzzie. We got into the bus and the view was AMAZING! And I'm glad we didn't go to the next line by foot b/c it was far far away from where we were before. Also, there were many curves along the way. We couldn't stop paying attention to the driver b/c we all thought we were about to crash at any moment. Chinese people drive in a nonsense way. For real! And during my time there I saw ONE car accident. Unbelievable.

When we finally got to the queue we were supposed to, we had to wait for 30-40 minutes. On the line next to ours there was a KTV - Kareoke. Someone was actually singing right beside us. Chinese way of having fun in the line. Haha. Some Chinese people started talking to Eduardo, my Mexican friend, also known as "el amante latino" and "presidente". They were amazed to see how different he was and the fact that he spoke very good Mandarin dazzled them. They asked him to sing Chinese songs and some Mexican too. The men got their cameras and recorded his singing. The women called their friends and put him on the phone. People are AMAZED when they see "waiguoren" (foreigners).

The top seemed to be almost touching the clouds. We got to the top and that meant we had to go in by cable cars. I really wanted to go with Camila and Jessica, my two Brazilian friends, but they separated us. So I had to go with Leo. I was a little bit afraid at first. Haha. Leo is the kind of guy that LOVES women. Hehe. But sometimes he says things that are not very polite. Plus, haha, the button of his pants was always open. He said it was more comfortable that way. And I'm the kind of girl that gets shocked by anything ppl say. I guess I'm getting better at not being so surprised now. Lol. Leo was really nice. We spent some time talking and observing the view. At some point we couldn't see anything. The smog was so thick that nothing was visible. Our ride only lasted 10 minutes or so. I'm sure we would be able to see a breathtaking view if it wasn't because of the smog. That was disappoint, but I got to take some nice pictures while we were going up.

In order to meet our group, we went to this big square. Most of us sat on the stairs. We spent some time talking. Chinese ppl as usual were in awe when they saw us. They talk about us, they point at us... and they think we don't understand or see them doing these things. Lol. One little girl came to Marco and asked him if she could take a picture with us. Of course she could. =) She was so sweet and she was happy to see us. Then some other kids wanted to take pictures with us too. One by one. After a while we just said: "Lai, lai, lai!" (Come, come, come).

tea house?

In one of our nights in Changsha we decided to go to a typical Chinese tea house. One of our friends told us that there was one on our hotel. Sixth flour to be exact. It was pretty late. I believe it was past midnight. Steven, Camila, Jessica, Lily, Sam and I went there. Everybody ordered olong tea but Sam. He had Tsintao, a common Chinese beer.

All the Chinese people that worked in this place were watching soap opera or playing some games. After a while we were chatting and drinking. It was good to relax from a day full of activities. We noticed that the Chinese ppl that were playing majong and chinese checkers were gambling. Some in a private room. And that is illegal in mainland China. Actually, the only place it is allowed to gamble is in Macao.

All men were smoking, as usual. 99% of men smoke in China. And they smoke everywhere! The smoke gave to the scenario a feeling of mystery and crime. So, I was like: " Guys, doesn't it look like those movies that we are in a place that the Chinese mob uses to lauder money? Then, the police is gonna come in and shout 'Waiguoren! Tamen shi waiguoren!' And I'll only be able to say: 'Wo bu zhi dao!!! I don't speak Mandarin!'" Everybody agreed with me. We couldn't stop laughing. My friends were like: "Don't worry about it. It just looks like it, but it is a true Chinese tea house." We paid for our drinks and went to our bedrooms. We were going to have a busy day. At some point of our trip someone talked to the friend that recommended the place. Leo said: " No man, there's no tea house on 6th floor! That is a clandestine gambling place!!!"

Yeap, I was right!

love at first sight?

Before I even knew I would have the chance of going to China this year, I pictured my China in a lovely way. It was a sort of romantized China to say the least.

I guess that in my mind and heart I wanted to fall in love with China, its culture and its people. I remember desiring to breathe in Beijing and feel something I had never felt in my whole life. I did fall in love with China, its culture and specially the Chinese people, but it wasn't love at first sight. Maybe it was love at first sight until I had my first meal. Haha. No, not really. While I was daydreaming during my flight, I could almost see my happy face about everything I would do in China. I really thought it was going to be a perfect dream.

The fact that food and some Chinese manners were a problem for me at first didn't make me give up on Chinese or China. It was just a matter of time and patience and I could cope with that. Experiencing a real, tangible, palpable China in 10 days was more than I could ask. I wasn't frustrated for not having the dreamlike country I was looking forward to.

China is a country full of surprises and unthinkable things. I didn't get the chance to see them all, but I'll enjoy discovering them.

My "firsts"

When I woke up on the morning of July 26th of 2009 I realized I was going to travel. Not to São Paulo or Paris only... but to Beijing. One of the first things I told Camila on that morning, my best friend who was crashing at my place, was: "Camila, a gente tá indo pra China!" (Camila, we're going to China!)

After 40 hours of waiting in airports and actually flying from one place to the other, we finally arrived in Beijing. We met Zhang Ye, the student that was responsible for picking us up in the airport. He spoke to us in Chinese. Every SINGLE word in Chinese. At first I was like: "Whaaaat?!" Lol. Yeah. But I didn't freak out much. :) I could understand a little bit more when he spoke veeeery slowly. =) We had to wait for the Korean and American students that were about to arrive. Waiting was not the problem... the anxiety to go out was.

My first meal in China was dinner. I didn't mind much about eating it earlier than I would in Brazil. The smell, however, was something I could not ignore. I still cannot put into words that describe the feeling of smelling what I smelt. It was probably a mixture of the scents of chilli, ginger, soy, tofu and some other spices. My stomach didn't like it much.

The table was served and everything seemed to be really tasty. I tried to used kuaizi (chopsticks) to grab a chinese bun/bread. Nope. 1x0 to the chopsticks. It was too slippery. But, somehow, everybody in the table managed to get it. So I thought: "Let me try again!" 2x0 to the kuaizi. Out of no where comes this petit Chinese waitress with a fork and a knive to end my struggle with the food. Yes, I failed to eat with kuaizis on my first night in CHINA !

The Chinese bun/bread was really good. I got some salad after that. It looked so beautiful! When I put some of the rocket leaves in my mouth and "savored" it, I just wanted to vomit. Once more Mr Stomach disagreed about the amazing taste of Chinese food. I couldn't eat anything because I was certain it wouldn't have a happy ending for Mr Stomach, Ms Mouth and some other fellows.