In China it is no secret that the people from Shanghai and Beijing don’t really have a very good relationship with each other. The people from Beijing are saying: Shanghainese are very convinced of them and the only thing they care for is business and money. The Shanghainese will say about the Beijing people that they are slow, very bureaucratic and lazy.
To have a real comparison Melek and I decided to celebrate the New Year in Beijing :). And already on the arrival we recognized, indeed, Beijing is very different from Shanghai. Not only that the taxi drivers are a lot friendlier in Beijing. Also the impressions and atmosphere of the city is completely different. In Shanghai you can see one modern sky scraper next to each other with a lot of huge shopping malls in-between…everything is always very hectic, anonym, dynamic and constantly changing.
In Beijing you barely see sky scrapers. Instead you see a lot of historical monuments and the atmosphere seems a lot more laid back & relaxed.

Of course we had to visit all famous historical places (at least we tried :)) in Beijing and around Beijing….see yourself…

Beijing Opera
The first evening in Beijing we went to the Beijing Opera...and I can confirm...it is very loud and colourful...and not quite my type of music...but an experience :).


...as I said...coulourful :)


Melek and me in great expectation :)

Beijing

In Houhai - looks very beautiful in winter...



Ming Tombs

Nice and snowy




It wasn´t me...:)


Melek and I...very cold in Beijing...



Great Wall
One of the most impressive places to visit in Beijing is the Great Wall. Especially in the winter - with all the snow - the atmosphere is very special. Though the climbing of the stairs was a little bit adventures … :)




The Great Wall and snow…


We climbed all the way up to the top.


My new friend…but my advances remained unacknowledged…:)


On our way we met people from Mongolia in traditional clothes.


On our way up…


Behind me the Great Wall and a historical building :)


More people from Mongolia in traditional clothes.


On our way back…


Lots of wishes for the new Year...may they all come true :).


Somebody has to guard the Great Wall…could get stolen easily :)

New Year Party
The new year we celebrated in a salsa bar with life music into the wee hours. I regretfully have to announce that most of the picutres have been cencored by the author :)


Melek, Juliane and me


The salsa bar...dum di dum :)

Summer Palace
The next morning, in the new year...we went -a little bit tired and hangovered from the night before- to visit the summer palace. Which is despite the name also very beautiful and definitely worth a visit in the winter. I personally found the Summer Palace even more impressive than the Forbidden City.


On the entrance






Without words....











Ti´amen Square and Forbidden City
Last but not least...we went on our last day in Beijing to visit the Ti´amen Square and the Forbidden City.


Ti´amen Square


On the opposite site a hugh picture of Mao...


...and of course not to forget the chinese flag on the Ti´amen Square


Next to Ti´amen Square...I was there :)


...soldiers passing us on the way to the Forbidden City..

Forbidden City

Just in front of the Forbidden City...soldiers busy brushing their shoes...


In the Forbidden City

The first week in October - the so called golden week - is a week off for everybody in China. Due we knew that Shanghai will be quite busy at this time we decided to go travelling....but where? In the golden week nearly whole China is travelling. We had to find a place somewhere in China where probably not many people would go....except some "waiguoren" (=foreigner) :). So, finally we saw an advertisement in That’s Shanghai –a magazine- for a three day adventure trip to Inner Mongolia...the decision was made very fast and on the 2nd of October 2006 Melek my flat mate and I flew to Hohhot the main capital of Inner Mongolia ...full of anticipation :).
We arrived late in the evening in Hohhot, where we got picked up from our tour guide Linda. From Hohhot it took us another hour with the bus to the hotel where we stayed the first night. In between we good introduced to the other people participating on the trip…a Chinese couple, two Chinese girls, a French couple with sun, a Mexican couple with two daughters and a two Americans. It turned out to be a very funny group. All little bit tired we finally arrived at the hotel, where we first had to wake up the receptionist who was lying behind the counter on a mattress sleeping :).


The hotel we stayed the first night...luxury :)


In front of the hotel...typical image for InnerMongolia....sheeps are everywhere


My footprint....I was here :)


The next day we had to get up really early..too early, that we could leave at 8:00 am for the countryside....somewhere in Inner Mongolia. As we wanted to get on our travel bus we had to find out that our travel agency obviously had an additional Business besides organizing adventure tours :). The transportation options in Inner Mongolia are not really the best, so our whole bus was full of people of Inner Mongolia who wanted to travel back home to their villages. So we, the group of “waigouren” traveled with the group of curious looking Mongolian 1 hour to our next destination somewhere on the countryside.
Arrived there, I found out...to my surprise that the “Yurt Hotel” was not a hotel as you would expect it when you hear the word “Hotel” ...it was rather a collection of hutted (=yurt) - which are the traditional houses of the Inner Mongolian people. Means, no heating at night...in Inner Mongolia it is getting pretty cold at night ...so I was already very much looking forward to this :)....real adventure:).


The yurt hotel entrance...


Our cute little yurt ...


Some more yurts...


I found a new friend...didn't talk very much this guy

After we made our cute little yurt a little bit cozier it was planed to go horse riding the rest of the morning. Due Inner Mongolia still belongs to China, planned activities are proceeding very often, really unplanned :). In this case we didn’t have any horses...which makes going horse riding a little bit more challenging :). Anyway...after 40 minutes we had three horses...which also makes going horse riding a little bit difficult with 17 people :). After some discussions and about 20 minutes later we decided to go hiking first...We actually didn’t get very far as some Inner Mongolian horse riders obtained us with exact 17 horses. As we were a very flexible group of travelers...we changed the plan again and finally went horse riding the whole morning, which was an absolutely great experience due to the beautiful landscape and the amazing weather. The first time in a while I could breath fresh air again...I could imagine it would be a good running business to import this nice and clean air to Shanghai :)


A quite heavy group picture...


You have to throw a stone on it and then you have to walk around it three times in each direction...and your wishes will be fullfilled...I have to say I'm still waiting for the last part...Maybe this was a trick from our tour guide to keep us busy while we were waiting for the horses to come :)


Tourists everywhere...


Melek and me on the horse...finally :)


All are enjoying the horse riding.


My horse decided I had enough horse riding...it had to eat first..good horse.


Beautiful landscape...


Juliane, Melek and me.


Trees and me..

After I managed to stay on the horse...we had a good tasting lunch with Mongolian food. Later the afternoon we all went hiking for a few hours. The hiking path was leading through a little Mongolian village where we had the chance to visit the house of a typical Mongolian Family. Of course, everybody of us had to drink a Baijiu (the Chinese schnaps) with the family head...quite strong taste I have to say...but I survived it :). It was also very interesting to see how the family lived there. This easily could have been 100 year ago. But see yourself:


View on the valley during hiking


The house of the mongolian family we visited


The high-tech kitchen...a dream :)


The Mongolian family...very nice and friendly people...


Family lunch...in the middle of the living-, sleeping-, and dining-room...multifunctional :)


On our way back


Also on our way back


We just climbed the hill....exhausting


Group picture on the hill

With a very nice sunset we arrived back at our Yurt camp...quite exhausted from the long day. After dinner and some rounds around the heater in the dinning room (must have been about 0 degree) ...we all decided to go sleeping. There anyway was not much else to do...
Back in our very cozy and very, very cold yurt we put on every fleece pullover we could find to survive the night. But as we had some heating mattresses Melek and I were full of good hope that we would sleep in a warm bed that night. But as it sometimes happens in China...our heating mattresses were not really heating....great :)...just as advertised...adventure holidays :). As we are were really flexible and freezing a lot, we put on more layers of cloth and borrowed for 20 Yuan a Chinese military jacked, that we used as second blanket. Sometime in the middle of the night our heating mattresses started heating....finally warm :).


Melek in her Yurt bed...brrr


Me in my yurt bed ...freeeeeezing

The next morning we went cycling with the mountain bikes as planned :)....on road..and of course off road on the grassland. The off road cycling was quite shaky I have to say ...even so shaky that one of the Chinese girls had to puke on the way back to the camp.


Ready to go...on the bycicles..

In the afternoon we had lunch at a little Mongolian village. There we got to know the very loud Mongolian techno music charts...in line with nature and animal :). Later the afternoon we went horse riding and cycling again.


I found a new friend in the Mongolian village...:)


Our lunch...:)


Group picture in the Mongolian village


On our way back to the city...these americans...:)


In case you have a bycicle to repair..


My shoemaker...very talented...


Chinese people just gamble everywhere..

The evening we took the bus back to Hohhot, where we stayed in a very nice and most important, clean hotel. The next day Melek, Juliane a friend from Beijing and me explored Hohhot before we had to fly back to Shanghai the evening.


We visited a temple in Hohhot








Inside the temple


In the museum of Hohhot...scary...


He looks friendly...


A very rare exemplar...


...brrr...didn't want to meet this guy in the dark...


A saddle...


Tradditional clothes...


In the park in Hohhot...




This looks very trusful with the waste water....on the other side of the lake they were fishing...


And not to forget...this hang on our door at the hotel in Hohhot...we did our best :)

The very last day in Jinan we had to do one big final exam to demonstrate our Chinese language skills to various people...the most of them we didn't even know...Anyway, one part of the test was to tell a story in Chinese. I really have to thank our Chinese teacher...that she always pretended to understand our sentences. But actually I'm sure we were all perfect :)

After the test in the morning we had an official farewell with all the teachers and some very important people from the international Office as well as from the Jinan University. They even came all the way from Beijing from the CDC (Carl Duisberg Center) to convince themselves of our – I have to say – outstanding Chinese speaking skills :). Big event :).
To make it even more official we all got a Chinese language certificate...so now we officially have the license to speak Chinese...poor Chinese people..they will suffer...a lot :)


Official farwell...


A lot of important people from the International Office and the University


Our Chinese and Taiqi Teacher.


Melek, Juliane and Daniel ...quite relaxed after the final exam.


In China tomatoes are fruits!!! Unbelievable ...but true :)


I'm getting my certificate...finally :)


Here it is...even with picture. I hope it says I passed :)


Group picture: all our teachers and us.

I really have to say the time here in Jinan past very fast. I think I can say for all of us that we all enjoyed our time in Jinan very much. We all learned a lot...and now I'm very motivated to test my Chinese language skills in Shanghai. Poor Shanghainese...I'm cooooming :)

Our teachers in Jinan also felt responsible - besides teaching us Chinese -to bring the Chinese culture closer to us. So, we also went to visit a traditional tea house in Jinan. The tea house and the tea ceremony we participated was an impressive experience....especially I never inhale so many joss sticks in such a short time :) We spent there about two hours...listening to traditional Chinese hand made music and of course drank a lot of tea.

Thank you very much to our teacher for this nice experience!


Entrance to the tea house in Jinan.


In front of the door...that's were they get the water for the tea...hmmm :)


In the lobby...they are already waiting for us.


There is a lot to prepare for a tea ceremony.


Our teacher is ordering the tea...we don't understand a word/sign...but looks interesting :)


Of course the Chinese lessons continue in the tea house...our teacher brought a board...especially for us :)


Melek is listening very concentrated ....really? :)


The tea ceremony starts....


How did she do that???


Looks very elegant...


Especially for us they play traditional Chinese music...nice :)


Juliane and me having a good time :)


The end....no more tea left :)

Qingdao is a beautiful city lying on the cost of the Shandong Province and has about 7 millions inhabitants. Beginning of August we traveled by train – 4 hours – from Jinan to Qingdao. Qingdao is not only famous for its nice beaches...additionally it is very famous for its beer. The very interesting part is that this brewery was founded by Germans. So, since 1903 Qingdao is very busy brewing German beer in China :). Today the Qingdao beer is the most famous one in whole Asia, as well as the most exported beer of Asia. So, as you probably can assume we also had to try some of the Qingdao beer...:)

Traveling with the train in China is a very interesting. Most of the people in China travel with the train…so the trains are often quite crowded…they even standing in the gangway ...playing cards (Chinese people love to warn – means to play). It is always very noisy, due to Chinese people really like to communicate. So, they are either on the cell phone talking or they having loud discussions with other travelers. Additionally, the play loud music during the whole journey...for entertainment.So, all this together is a very nice combination of noises :). Also interesting to see is that most of the Chinese people carry several bags, full of food, with them as provision – obviously they are scared that they could starve during a journey of 4 hours :).



In the train...on our way to Qingdao


Our food...

The first activity...or better the first challenge... after arrival in Qingdao was to find a hotel for four people. Several hours and one coffee later we could finally check in a very nice hotel...of which I unfortunately do only have the following picture from our bathroom:


Made me feel aaaa lot better :)

The first evening we went out eating to a very nice restaurant...named La Villa ...not very Chinese...but the food was very good :) There we meet Lyon, a Chinese friend of Martin. He promptly offered himself to be our personal Qingdao tour guide. Everyone that ever had a Chinese tour guide, probably knows what I’m talking about :): I think his real goal was to get us tired as fast as possible...,so we were most of the time rushing from one place to another....I can’t even remember what exactly we have seen. But here some pictures:

Impressions of Qingdao

First evening with Lyon at the restaurant La Villa


The next day, Qingdao...nice :)


Also in Qingdao...looks somehow familiar :)


More Qingdao...


Qingdao from above...


Fisher man...


A couple trying to fish with an umbrella ...whole new methode :)


Nice view...what can I say :)


Somewhere in Qingdao


Group picture...one of many that day :)

On the Beach


Martin on the beach...hello is there someone?


Melek on the beach taking a picture


Me on the beach


First sea contact in China :)


Some couples queueing for marriage pictures...


...more couples in wedding outfit...there must have been an invasion this day...:)


Juliane, Melek and me

Qingdao beer brewery


Looks very trustful :)


In the brewery


Me and the beer tank :)


In the beer museum


Melek has some difficulties to pic the right beer...:)


Melek and I need a break from sight seeing

Sunday we relaxed at one of the nice Qingdao beaches from our marathon sightseeing tour the day before :). Later the afternoon we had to catch the train back to Jinan :(. All together I have to say Qingdao is a very nice place to visit...so, if you ever come to china...don’t miss it.

The END

On our way home...Daniel and Melek sleeping...sweet dreams :)

The emblem of Jinan

The first two month in China I spent in Jinan to study Chinese. For our understanding Jinan is a quiet a big city with nearly 5 mill. Inhabitants - but for China’s relations this is rather a small and rural city. They have here an "Everbright Bank" and the "Evergrowing Bank" and not to forget the "Book Foreign Language Bookstore" …so obviously this is the place to be :)

Compare to Shanghai, Jinan is very Chinese... that means very loud due life takes place on the streets, very chaotic (especially the traffic – advice: never ask the taxi driver to get you very fast to the airport...rather book another flight or just close the eyes ;-))) and a bit dirty.


Food is very often prepared on the streets


Street market in Jinan...


Another street market picture..


A family eating on the street

Most of the people do not speak English which leads to very interesting situations...especially when you go shopping, try to by an airplane ticket or try to explain the taxi driver where you would like to go (even with a map in your hands ;-)). But usually it works out fine…somehow.

One of the main hobbies of the Jinan inhabitants is to observe the foreign people living in Jinan very closely :) (There are not so many foreigners in Jinan). So, if you wandering though the streets in Jinan it is not very seldom that the people start staring at you. After a while you get used to it :).
Another interesting experience was when I tried to buy a spoon in the supermarket and ask one of the employees where to find a spoon (of course in Chinese ;-)). After a view seconds I caused traffic jam within the supermarket, due suddenly everybody stopped and watched me how I desperately try to explain in Chinese that I want to buy a spoon.


Me and Daniel trying to buy tea....in china green tea is not just tea :)


Chinese people like to buy their food fresh as possible :)


Turtle soup?

Another very famous hobby of the Jinan inhabitants – especially the taxi drivers – is to start a conversation with you. It does not play a big role here if you able to understand them...they just keep on going...very patient people ;-)).

But the most famous hobby of the Chinese people is to get photographed with European people. So, if you dreamed of getting a model....China offers some opportunities for European people :).


Me and my new best friend the taxi driver

On the second weekend in Jinan (in July) we planed to make an excursion to Taishan. Taishan is one of the holiest mountains in China and lies about 100 km from Jinan away. It was said on Taishan you have the most beautiful sunrises of whole China. So we thought we definitively can not miss this unique spectacle :).


Starting point to climb the Taishan



So we started on a Friday afternoon...fully motivated, to climb the Taishan, which is roughly 1545 meters high. It was also said everybody that climbs the Taishan will get 100 years old...so, I can say I really felt 100 years older when we finally arrived on the top of Taishan...after about 5 hours, 10.000 steps and 5 bottles of water later. This is not a joke.. :) After the half - also about 5.000 steps – I couldn’t feel my legs anymore... After this excursion I avoided to climb steps for several days :)



Tourist trap...they try to sell their souveniers the whole way up to the top




First break...


Cute dog we saw on our way...


A Temple we passed on our way to the top


No comment...


Nice view...

Anyway, as we finally arrived at the top at about 22:00 PM...we were quiet happy, very exhausted and hungry. The last bit of the climb we had to climb in the dark...but this was not a problem due there were lanterns everywhere. So, luckily arrived we walked into the next hotel, got something to eat...and immediately fall asleep...:).


Somewhere on step number ????


Supposed to bring good luck


Nearly there...just three hundred steps to go :)

The next morning we got up at 4:00 pm in pleasant anticipation to see the most beautiful and spectacular sunrise of whole China. To see it we had to climb up another half an hour....and guess what...of course we had to climb more steps :). On the top we found ourselves a nice place. Besides us were about 80-100 Chinese people keen to see the sunrise...so the place was quite packed...as a lot of things in China...you get used to it :). Well, but this morning...it got lighter and lighter...but obviously the sun decided not to appear...instead we had a lot of fog. See yourself:


A little bit tired an exhausted we are waiting for the sunrise :)


It is getting lighter....


...and it is getting lighter...some people decided to catch up with some sleep...but where is the sun?


Day arrived...no sun...but a lot of fog :(


In between Juliane and Melek decided to join the Chinese army :)


Finally, on our way back....we see some blue sky

So, as you probably can imagine Taishan was quiet an experience...but nevertheless who can say from himself/herself that he/her already climbed 10.000 steps in once :)

Chinese - I have to say - is probably not really the easiest language that can be chosen to learn. Europeans have to fight with many difficulties in learning this language. Drawing and reading Chinese characters is just one of them. I’m still very fascinated when I see a Chinese person reading a newspaper in Chinese characters. I’m already happy if I recognize one character in every second sentence. Now I know how it must feel to be an illiterate. It already starts in the restaurant when you try to order the food...I usually order the dish with the most beautiful characters...but I really have to say...it is not always the best tasting dish :-)).
Besides that, the next problem is to meet the right tone, while speaking Chinese. The Chinese language, all together has four tones. So it can happen that you have the same word in written, but with a different tone, then it means something completely different. So, for example instead of saying "I go quick to the bathroom brushing my teeth (teeth = ya, second tone)" you could end up saying "I go quick to the bathroom brushing my duck (duck = ya, first tone)"...I really would like to see the reactions on that...especially when the Chinese family really has some ducks :-).

But our Chinese teachers here in Jinan, at the Shandong Economic College try their best to teach us the Chinese language :-). I think we should be paid for their entertainment ;-).



Mrs. MaBo our very, very patient Chinese Teacher :)



We, very concentrated learning Chinese

Everyday we have about five hours of Chinese lessons. Fridays we have a test, where we can demonstrate our improved Chinese skills :)
Tuesday and Wednesday we have Taiqi lessons, which is a quiet interesting sport. Every time we have Taiqi lessons people stop and watch us how we try to follow our teacher - with her it looks always very elegant - but I assume we looks less elegant trying to follow her movements. But, of course, we try our best ;-). Look yourself:


Warming up :)


We haven even started yet with taiqi....and we are already tired. But our teacher is still very motivated doing stretching, as you can see :)


We, practicing confu kicks...so you better pay attention when you cross my way the next time :))


Finally, we are practicing Taiqi :)