呼和浩特 -Huhehaote/Hohhot, 内蒙古 -Nei Menggu/Inner Mongolia

I’m back! Ha –and what a trip we've had.

It kind of hit us when we lined up at the gate at Hongqiao airport last Thursday night, and received a mix of curious and surprised glances from our fellow passengers (all Chinese). What on earth were 2 laowais doing going to Hohhot (or 呼和浩特 -Huhehaote in Mandarin –try saying that 5 times fast!) over the weekend? When we, 2,5 hours later, landed in a freezing, and somewhat deserted city, we started asking ourselves the same question. We seemed to be the only couple staying at the hotel (Holiday Inn on Zhongshan Lu –excellent location), and it felt kind of odd, walking through empty corridors to locate our room.

Terribly scared of being caught in one of those notorious sandstorms that we’ve heard about, we were delighted when we woke up the next morning and were greeted with an amazing blue sky and sunshine. We curiously peeked out of our hotel window, observing that locals were neither wearing scarves nor hats, but rather some pretty thin spring jackets. Although we are supposed to be Vikings at hearts (and not scared of the cold) I shivered at the thought of stepping outside in a thin jacket, and put on pretty much every single piece of clothing I had with me before hitting the streets.

After a bit of walking, however, I realized one thing:

What might have felt like “being cold” for the first, tentative 5 minutes of walking, quickly changed into “being hot” and then “feeling as if I’m in the middle of a sauna.” The air was super fresh, and the sun was beaming down from a clear blue sky (sorry for repeating myself, but I simply cannot get over that sky, it was as if someone had painted it blue with pastel colours!?). It wasn’t actually that cold during daytime! To tell you the truth, the weather was some of the best spring weather I’ve every experienced in China (and very similar to a Scandinavian spring).

Another observation: There were no other laowais on the streets of Huhehaote –causing us to become a miniature version of a circus show. No kidding –and no exaggeration. I’ve had my deal of being “stared at” in China, but this was something out of the ordinary (I suppose tourists are rare at this time of the year). While young people giggled and pointed, older people actually stopped right in front of us, staring at us with their mouths wide open. Some 846982364 people secretly took our photo (only ONE young guy actually asked! Nice young fella!) and one group of young people (3 girls and 2 guys) got so excited (?) that they decided to PUSH one of their friends at us while walking?! Very odd way to greet strangers.

Best of all, however, were the children. They were not hiding their excitement, screaming LAOWAI!!!! From the top of their lunges when they saw us, and then giggling following us around town. This happened numerous times, and at one point (in a shopping mall) we had a group of 6 kids following us around, screaming with delight every time my boyfriend turned around and said “hello!” to them.

During our first day we felt kind of uncomfortable about the constant staring that seemed to have no end. Even having breakfast at our hotel turned into a freak show, as we were stupid enough to pick a window table and ended up facing the busy Zhongshan street outside our window. Two women almost fell, as they were so busy looking at us, that they didn’t noticed the speed bump on the ground.

The hotel staff was professional, not giving us any special attention, or well, at least not until the first morning at the breakfast buffet, when I asked one of the chefs (in Chinese) if they had some more yoghurts. The next morning, as I was making myself a cup of coffee, one of the waiters showed up next to me, smiling and saying 早上好！(zaoshang hao! –goodmorning!). I happily replied and went back to my table. It didn’t take long for her to come up to me again:

-So it’s true what the chef told us? You can speak Chinese?!

-Yes I can, I said, thinking to myself that "wow, for the first time of my life, I've become hotel gossip!"

-That’s amazing! After the usual, compliment-deny-ritual, she asked me:

-What are you doing in Huhehaote at this time of the year?!

-Ehh… We want to see the grasslands… and ride ponies… I said, realizing how stupid it sounded the moment the words were out.

-But the grasslands are not green yet! And it’s very cold up there.. much colder than in the city.

-Ah… we are from Scandinavia. We are not scared of the cold, I said, tying to add a convincing tone into my voice.

-OK then…

That night, we could not help asking ourselves if we had made a mistake travelling to Inner Mongolia during the beginning of April. My childish dream of galloping across the grasslands felt rather naïve when I said it out loud. However, I’ve never been known for listening to what other people say, and the next morning we got up at 6am in order to travel to the grasslands of Xilamuren…

More about that tomorrow! Some pix from Huhehaote:

Off to Inner Mongolia tonight!!

So long for now, people in suits...
...I'm off to pony-land!

Just one more day in the office, and then I'm off. I'm leaving tonight, and despite the fact that people have been telling me: "You're going to Inner Mongolia -are you crazy?! It's sandstorms up there!?" I'm quite excited. My bag's packed with everything from UGG boots to a bikini (I was hoping there would be some hot springs/saunas up there....?!). I don't care too much about the weather actually (Although pls, weather God, no sandstorms?!?! I cannot find my goggles), I just wanna relax, get a change of scene, enjoy some good food, and see some (dried up or not) grasslands. I hope I'll manage with that. 

Once I come back life is going to be rather full-on in terms of work. I have a mix of things to look forward to next week, including having a speech at a press conference in front of 100 journalists... and yes, of course it'll be in Chinese!

But I have promised myself NOT to start worrying about that until next week. So until then I say, "bye bye!" (should be read with a Chinese, female accent to get the right "vibe"). Hohhot-Inner Mongolia/sandstorm/grasslands/ponies and cowboys (?) -here I come!

Not being a twosome at 29 = unhappy life?

Life's about this. Full stop.

Had an interesting chat with one of my Chinese friends, C, the other day. She’s one of those friends that I have always considered being quite open minded (she and her boyfriend, for instance, are supposed to not eat pork because of her boyfriend’s religion, however, they still do, and when the parents come to visit they hide the meat in the bottom of the freezer), or well, that was until we had a chat about love and marriage.

My friend C started telling me about her cousin: a 29-year old, career woman, who’d done two degrees at top universities and who was now working as a lawyer in town.

-Excellent! I exclaimed, until I realized that C was looking at me in horror.

-How can you say that? All the has is her job, she has no husband, and she might not ever have children?!

-She’s only 29, there’s still time? I tried.

From the look of C’s face I realized that there was no such thing as “still time.”

C then went on to describe the unhappy life of her cousin, which, I am sorry to admit, sounded rather great. She’d not only done 2 degrees in order to achieve an excellent position as a lawyer, moved across the country, gotten a good salary, and claimed she was happy with her life.

According to C, however, one could not be happy, if alone.

-Worse thing is, C went on, she’s not even ugly! She’s quite beautiful, and she’s got a good figure….!

I shrugged my shoulder, oblivious to what I could say.

-You don’t happen to know some laowai looking for a….

-NO! Come on. Let her meet someone on her own!

-Ah… she never willl!!

-How do you know?

-Because she hasn’t yet!

-But she’s only 29?!

-Only?! It’s almost already too late….!

Useless to discuss –the message is clear. Being 29, single and a career woman is apparently still considered to be a minor catastrophe in China. I guess we are to wait some 10-20 years before this mindset starts to change.

Best of: SH-SZ train rides

The first time I wanted to go to Suzhou by train I was quite lost. On the same Friday as I wanted to go I went to the train station during my lunch hour, and lined up in the wrong, 20-meter line. I could not communicate at all with the ticket seller, who frustratedly pointed at the “English speaking service"- counter next to his. Another 20-meter line later I was told that all the tickets to Suzhou had sold out, but that he could sell me a standing ticket. I took it.

I felt lost as I walked into Shanghai Railway Station later that day, but managed to locate the right waiting hall. However, as soon as the gates opened people around me went crazy, they started running and pushing, and I felt as if I was in the middle of 42983642364 people having panic attacks. I didn’t know what to do, so I simply ran with them.

Although I had a standing ticket, I still had been assigned a special carriage and ran over to that one, just like 3827462634876 other people. This was before the bullet trains, and I entered a stinky, dirty train, where people were packed as sardines on top of each other. This was during winter, and I was wearing a thick jacket. On the train it was hot as in a sauna.

About halfway to Suzhou I fainted. I didn’t actually hit the floor, because when I passed out I was in the middle of an ocean of people, so they caught me in my fall. Nobody stole my bag and when I regained consciousness I was assigned the seat of a nice looking older gentleman, who gently but firmly pushed me down. A giggling young couple opposite me handed me a bottle of water.

And that’s how I eventually ended up in Suzhou!

Since that ride, I’ve caught the train between Shanghai and Suzhou about 246876463446 times. I’ve enjoyed the change from slow, T-trains to quick D-trains (so called “Bullet trains”), and I’ve realized that people running on a platform is about as usual as people running in the forests back home in Sweden, and nothing to bother with. Unconsciously I’ve obviously been affected by the stressed-out atmosphere, and more than once have I managed to make a fool of myself: being caught at the ladies’ room, climbing over a fence….

I’ve also met some interesting train buddies, where the most interesting one must have been the guy referring to himself as a “man with sex appeal.”

Ah…. Train memories. And now, they are all over. I’m not going to catch that train to Suzhou anymore, at least not for a long time. I have to say that it feels quite nice, even though it’s the end of a great source of blog-post-inspiration.

An everyday novelty

I had a great "last" Suzhou wknd, with one of the best parts probably being catching up with my friend Rocky (alias the Hunan boy). Rocky and I have known each other for 2 years now. He used to be a personal trainer at the gym where I went, and we quickly became friends. When we got to know each other, my Chinese was quite terrible, but I didn’t care, I kept talking to Rocky, and him, not being able to say much more than “hi and bye” in English, was happy to listen to my bad pronunciation.

I’m really happy I persisted because over the years we have become good friends. When I went to Hunan’s capital Changsha last spring, Rocky’s family (who lives in Shuangxi, some hours outside of Changsha) invited me to their home and I had a wonderful time with them at the countryside.

I left Suzhou for Shanghai 3 months ago, however, so Rocky and I have not seen each other for a while. So, when I came to Suzhou for my “last wknd” I decided it was time to catch up. And he agreed.

It was great to see him, and he looked happy to see me too. One of the first questions he asked was:

-You La, how much do you weight now?

(some things never change, huh?)

Saturday came with wonderful weather so we decided to go for a bike ride at Jinji Hu (Literally translates to: “The lake of the Golden Chicken”). We rode for a bit before a guard told us that we were not allowed to ride our own bikes at the lake area (“only the rented ones!”) and decided to walk.

Now, it’s one thing being on a bike and riding through throngs of people without as much as paying attention to them. But when you walk, people really see you, hear you, and vice versa. And I soon noticed that Rocky and I walking together along that lake, was quite a novelty to some of the people around us.

I’m used to being stared at in Suzhou when I walk somewhere with my boyfriend (after all, we are “the monkeys” -and when people stare it is mainly at him because he's considered to be so "perfect" in the eyes of Chinese people), but this was completely different. This was not the usual, curious staring; this was real, raw, staring! When we walked by some people they went completely quiet, obviously listening into what we were talking about while glaring at us suspiciously. And it’s not as if we were holding hands or anything. Just walking next to each other and chatting in Chinese. Maybe the fact that he is taller than me caused some of the attention? After all, I’m supposed to be one of the tallest flagpoles in Suzhou. I guess some people must have thought we were dating.

During the early days of this blog I wrote a post commenting on the fact that you don’t often see a Western girl with a Chinese guy, meanwhile the combination of a Western guy and a Chinese girl is very common. It was a kind of immature post, and it caused a storm of comments (and emails from guys telling me everything from “get lost, you know nothing!” to asking me if I’d like to go out with them and try for myself). Since I wrote that post a lot of things have changed, and I now know some western girls dating Chinese men. After being stared at while out with Rocky for a walk, however, I wonder how they learn to deal with being a novelty while in public.

Suzhou, one last time

A Suzhou saga of two years is coming to an end. Tonight I’ll catch the train to Suzhou for the last time (for a long time), to spend one last wknd in my old “hoods.” I moved to Shanghai early this year in order to start a new job (and a new life) and since then I’ve only been back to Suzhou a few times. We’ve kept our flat there, but now it’s time to give it up and to move on for real –my significant other is joining me in Shanghai and if we go back to Suzhou in the future it will be as visitors. We both agree on the fact that we don’t want to live there again. There’s nothing wrong with Suzhou, but Shanghai fits us both better.

During my 2 years as a blogger based in Suzhou I’ve received a lot of emails from people interested in Suzhou. I thought I’d put together a little Suzhou guide for y'all, however, not now, then I’ll be late for work. In order to write the “best” possible guide –I’d like to ask you what you’d like to know about Suzhou? Hotels? Restaurants? Sightseeing? Shopping? Living? Studying? Running/sports? If you have any questions related to life in Suzhou -post them in the comment’s field and I’ll make sure to do my best to answer them when I write my Suzhou guide.

This wknd is full of “goodbyes” (well, my boyfriend –who is still living and working in Suzhou- has been attending goodbye-dos since late last week, when I called him last night he was "gone with the ferries" after a gan-bei session with his Chinese workmates). I’ll be meeting with Rocky (alias the Hunan boy –who has inspired a LOT of my blog posts!) as well as with one of my best Chinese girlfriends, and then there will be an official going away-party and so on.

So long, Suzhou!

A glimpse into a different world

Yesterday I did something I’ve never done before: I went to a model agency to cast models!

The first girl I met at the agency was a super skinny Amazon woman wearing leather pants and a hat. She (and yes, it was a GIRL!) introduced herself as “Jimmy.”

-Are you a model?! I said in awe. Everything about her was so… “it”-like.

-No, silly! I’m just here to help you cast the models!

-Oh… Eh... right. Of course!  (note to self: get a male name to drop at super cool occasions. Shall I go for John or Johnny?)

Now, some important notes to tall, just-happen-to-have-hips, western women in China: if you often feel big when walking on the streets of China, then never, ever enter into a model agency to cast models in China. Sure, you won’t feel like a flagpole any more, however, surrounded by women that are way taller than you are (+ super-skinny and drop dead gorgeous -with no hips, seriously?! How is it even possible!?), you’ll feel like a jelly tart.

Now, I have not been to that many (eh, more like: none) model castings in Europe, however, some things still surprised me in China:

* Some of the models wore so much make-up that you could not see what they actually looked like. Their hair was often down, flying around their heads, or super styled in curls. I thought the whole idea of a model casting was to see them “au neutral” so that you get an idea of their raw look and know how they can be styled?

* The shoes, the heels… Like I said, I’ve never felt smaller. However, when someone puts on 5 inches heels (even though they are already 180 cm) and claims they are a fulltime, professional model, I expect them to be able to walk in those shoes… why would you otherwise want to make such a bold statement? Unfortunately, I saw a lot of tripping and even some slips that looked close to breaking-a-foot-dangerous. Careful, Bambi beauties!

* Although I was literally a jelly-tart woman next to these Amazon beauties, they all were so shy towards me! If I was that tall/skinny/hot, I’m sure I would shine with confidence.

Once we had finished the casting and picked our models (yeah, unless some of you already guessed: we are planning a catwalk) all the models threw themselves over jars of candies?! This was rather interesting to watch. First I thought: “wow, those girls are eating candy, just like us, deadly jelly-tarts!” then it hit me that “hm… this is probably their first meal of the day.”

Interesting to get a glimpse into the world of beautiful, skinny models, however, I’m pretty glad I don’t have to do this job every single day.