Low-cost lifestyle

A bit bumpy to ride but definitely cheaper than a taxi

Keen to lower your living costs in China? Start studying at a Chinese university. Studying in China is really like surrounding yourself with a cheap lifestyle. For the last week or so my daily spendings has not exceeded 10 rmb/day. It’s rather great if you ask me:

Bus to school: 2 rmb.

Lunch at school: 5-6 rmb (big bowl of rice with 2 vegetable- and one meat dish. Normally I aim for three vegetable dishes and skip the meat, or take one dish less, and then it’s only 4 rmb).

Filling up your water bottle in school: free. There are water stations everywhere.

(I’ve also been told to head to the 7th floor, the “teachers floor” if I’d like to make myself a cup of coffee to the cost of nothing. But so far I haven’t taken up on this offer).

Bus back home: 2 rmb. And guess what, both buses that I can take stops outside my door. It’s almost too easy to be true.

And, I don’t even have to bring my own packages of tissues. This university has got bathrooms equipped with both toilet paper (!) AND soap (!). First time I’ve had that luxury in China.

Loser Laowai

I wonder why China attracts so many weird foreigners. Before I moved to China I spent six months in London, more than three years in Australia, and another year in Finland, and I’ve never experienced meeting as many weirdoes as I do over here. People that are comparing themselves to others, competing against others, and people that take every single chance they get to express how d*** good and successful they are and how bloody well they are doing. Maybe I’m simply too low-key for China, because I never talk about myself as if I was some kind of expert? Let me share one example from a Loser Laowai I met last Friday.

On Friday night me and some friends went to a bar in Suzhou that had arranged a special Swedsih crayfish party event. Since us Swedes love crayfish it was given that we were going to go. The crowd at the bar was mixed, but I was having fun in my group and although we sang “snaps songs” together with the other crowd we preferred to stay at our table and talk throughout the night. Me and my closest girlfriend weren’t really going for getting pissed drunk: I had been sick all week and wanted to take it rather easy, just enjoy a few glasses of wine and a good conversation.

Soon, a fellow laowai from the other group joined our table. He was quite nice to start off with, even though he started the conversation by telling us about his “fantastic career here in China.” We were like “OK, great, well done” until he asked:

-So how about you? What are you girls doing here?

We told him that we were learning Chinese.

-Oh, at Suzhou Daxue? (Suzhou University) he sad with a terrible pronunciation.

-Yeah, I am, my friend said. But Jonna is at another uni.

-Why aren’t you at Suzhou Daxue? he asked me. Don’t you want to study together with your friend?

-Well, we are not at the same levels, my friend said. I’m a beginner and Jonna has studied for 2 years so she’s in advanced.

-Advanced?! ADVANCED?! Oh really?! So you can like, speak and stuff? He said, and straight away I could feel the attitude.

-Eh, well yes, I can speak and stuff. I’m not great or anything, but sure, I can have a conversation, I replied.

-I wanna hear that! He said. Hey, Tom (?), come over here! He yelled, waving for one of his male friends. This lady claims she can speak Chinese, we have to test her!!

I felt like punching him. First of all, I had not claimed anything, rather, I just replied to his question. Second of all, I wasn’t in the mood to be “tested,” I was having a relaxed night out with a friend?

Tester-Tom also seemed a bit reluctant at first, I think he felt that neither me nor my friend were interested in playing this game. His friend kept urging him, however:

-Come on Tom! You have to test these girls! They say they are fluent in Chinese! I wanna hear that! I wanna see if it is true!!!

Me and my friend were giving him the “what-is-your-problem?”-eye, but we didn’t really say anything.

-So, where do you come from? Tom suddenly said in a terribly broken Chinese. For my friend, who hasn’t studied for too long, it was impossible to comprehend, meanwhile I got his point. But the whole situation felt completely ridiculous.

-Are you from the same city in Sweden? Tom went on.

-No, we said.

-So, what cities then? He urged.

-Malmö, I said.

-Kalmar, my friend said.

Now, Kalmar is a tiny little city in Sweden. Unless you’re a Swede, you’re not going to know this place, so we knew Tom was going to be clueless.

-Stockholm? He said to my friend?

-No, Kalmar.

-Göteborg?

-No, Kalmar.

-Ehhh…. OK, great.

Tom kept silent for a while, looking at us and obviously not feeling the love. Meanwhile, his drunken, annoying friend kept glaring at us, as if he wanted us to be put on a spot and suddenly admit that “oh, ehh… haha, no no… we actually cannot speak Chinese after all!”

-I come from a city called… bl blab la… Tom went on. Neither me nor my friend listened, instead, we turned our attention to each other.

-OK, Tom suddenly said. They are both great! They speak excellent Chinese!

-Really?! His friend said. But you have to like, test them!!!

-I just did, Tom said and got up.

Throughout the rest of the night, the annoying guy kept coming over to our table, telling us to join their table, throwing abusing comments about some other people (that we know) around and just being a jerk in general. Around midnight, he was so drunk he could barely stand up, and swayed over, telling us they were going to a nightclub.

-You should coooooooooooome! He slurred.

-No thanks. We said, not even bothering to smile.

-Why not? Come on, don’t be so boring! What are you? Like, bloody 45 years old? Let’s PARTY!!!

-Actually, we are really boring, I said, completely fed up with this guy. We are more like two 60-year olds. We don’t like going out at all. We spend most of our nights in. I was hoping this would make him leave.

-Yeah you bloody are! He said, clearly annoyed. You are so boring! I mean, what the f*** are you doing in China if you don’t like to PARTY?!

And with that, he turned around, walked straight into a table, almost fell, spilled his beer, said something like “f****!” and walked towards the exit.

He left me and my friend at our table, laughing at his pathetic departure, and his embarrassing speech.

Sure, I’ve met jerks at many places, but this particular kind of guy, who wants to compete in who is the most successful/ speaks the best Chinese/ has the most fun/is the biggest party animal… I don’t know, but aren’t there just too many of them here in China?

Suzhou Museum 苏州博物馆

Spent a few hours at Suzhou museum this morning. Not bad! Actually above my expectations. Suzhou museum was designed by Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei, and I have to say it sported a truly fresh and modern interior. It is a museum of ancient Chinese art, ancient Chinese paintings, calligraphies, and hand-made crafts as well as some modern art. I personally enjoyed the art the most, which made me think that next time I go to Shanghai I have to go and visit the art district again, I haven’t been there since 2006.

Anyways, here’s a sneak peek from the museum:









Porcelain pillow -yikes!

Silk wadded dress, from the Yuan dynasty, 1271-1368. 
Veeeery old shoes... also from the Yuan dynasty, 1271-1368. 

Tiger Leaping Gorge trek day 2

Better late than never, right? I thought I’d finish writing about the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek today, only 1 week after I wrote about the day one trek (ehum).

First of all I have to recommend anyone doing the trek to stay at the Halfway House. It was great: fair prices, insanely good food (or is it only so that on a mountain everything tastes rather amazing?) and friendly owners that took their time to chat with us. Mom and I stayed in an fairly big room (that had a private bathroom) that was clean and OK, and 120 rmb/night. I think the dorm was something like 20 rmb/night. There were also cheaper rooms.

We were up early the next morning and had a wonderful breakfast at the roof terrace (muesli with yoghurt and fruit, Yunnan coffee and some Naxi sandwiches, note to others: no need to order this much, the portions here are BIG!) before heading out.

Our Naxi friend Xiao Hua had already warned us that walking down the mountain could be a bit tricky, and I was personally a bit worried about this. I have weak ankles and I’m quite clumsy in general, so I prefer walking upwards (where you have everything under control) to walking downwards (where nothing is in control). We decided to walk together with a bunch of guys that we had gotten to know the night before at the roof terrace (a great mix of ABCs and Chinese and a lovely British couple on their around-the-world-trip –respect to them, the guy was in sandals!).

Everything started off well and the road was flat and pleasant until we suddenly saw a…. waterfall. That’s when it all came together for me. The day before Xiao Hua had told me that there were several “pubu” (瀑布) but for some reason I hadn’t clicked and realized that it was waterfalls he was talking about (note to self: never just pretend that you understand when you don’t). Now I saw a huge waterfall in front of me and I saw some people crossing it, having obvious difficulties as the waterfall was on one side, and a steep edge on the other side.

I immediately wanted to turn around. I could already see myself slipping on those wet, slippery stones and being swept away over the edge, breaking more than my foot when I landed some 20 meters down.

-Sorry I can’t do it, I told Jason, a guy I had been talking to.

-Sure you can, here, give me you water bottle and you’ll be fine.

I feel kind of bad because I held up our group for about 15 minutes at this spot, simply because I was too scared to cross. In the end, everybody had crossed except for me and Jason who claimed he would “catch me if I fell” and therefore walk behind me. Eventually I did it, but without any of that grace that the others had done it with. I simply walked straight into the water, ignoring the wet, slippery stones that others had been stepping in. I still had to use some stones (sooooo slippery!) but I magically managed to stay on my feet and didn’t even fall once (soooo proud of myself!), and got a big applaud from the others once I was on the other side. 

-I’ll never do that again! I said I said with a grin when I sat, wet as a cat (In order to avoid the edge I had walked so close to the actual waterfall that I was soaked) on the “safe side.” 

-Oh, don’t say that! the others said. And sure thing. Only some 20 minutes later I had to eat my words when a new waterfall appeared.

In total we crossed three waterfalls, but the other two were quite small compared to the first one so it went well. No one fell, only thing that happened was that I got a bit wet and had to walk the rest of the trek in soaking wet shoes. But that’s no biggy.

Going downwards proved to be steep and a bit hard on the knees, but overall it was OK. I think I was so relieved about having crossed that waterfall that I actually didn’t really care about anything else. I made my way down in one piece, and we did it quite fast. I think it only took something like 1.5-2 hours?

Down at Tina’s Guest house (which is some kind of meeting point) the others went on to see the actual “Tiger Leaping stone” where as me, mom and some other guys caught a car back to the entrance, and then a bus back to Lijiang. Here we also found out that one of the other hikers were Swedish. Yikes. So much for talking your own language thinking no one can understand you. Oh well.

Overall I have to say it was a great hike. I would recommend it to anyone going to Yunnan. For me it was the best part of the whole trip (except for when mom got dizzy in the beginning of the trek): Stunning nature, friendly, helpful people, and good food + a hot shower awaiting you at the end. You don’t need much more to be happy.




Proof, proof! I did it! (Photo by Jason/Justin)



Previous posts about the TLG trek:

Day one trek

Video of me climbing the 28 bends

The holy hour

Eat up!

The Chinese lunch hour is holy. 12-1pm is for eating in China. I remember once when I was doing a job in Pudong in Shanghai and didn’t have time to eat lunch. Around 3pm I was on my way to the city centre in a taxi: I was going to meet some friends who, like me, also had skipped lunch and were in a kind of “starving” state of mind.

Somewhere between Pudong and Puxi we got stuck in a traffic jam and I was so hungry I simply couldn’t keep it together:

-How long do you think this will take? Is there any other road we can take? Can’t you just overtake that car? I whined to the driver (quite unlike me, I never encourage overtaking in China).

My driver, though, was a friendly man:

-Don’t worry my friend. This is just a small jam. You’ll be in Puxi in 15 minutes or so.

-OK great!

-Are you on your way to some important meeting?

-Meeting? Eh…. No. I’m actually going to a restaurant. I didn’t have time to eat lunch today so I’m starving!

-NO LUNCH?! What? But it’s almost 3.30pm!

-I know, I was just too busy to…

-Too busy to what? To go to a shop and buy some bread?! Oh you women! You cannot skip lunch! You have to eat! Here, have some cookies!

A package of Oreos landed in my lap.

-Oh, thank you, but I….

-And some crackers!

A package of rice cakes joined the Oreos.

-And give some to me too! I’ll eat with you!

So there we were, me and a Shanghai taxi driver in a traffic jam, munching Oreos like long-lost pals.

-You must remember never to skip lunch! Lunch is important! The driver said, spitting Oreos all over himself

-I know, trust me. I normally eat lunch.

But the driver wasn’t really listening.

-You know, I see so many young girls nowadays. Young girls like you. So thin. And still they don’t want to eat anything. They don’t understand….

-But I, like.. today I was just so busy….

-You should know that you are already thin enough! If you get thinner you will disappear! You must eat your lunch….

I decided there was no point arguing, instead I let the driver continue lecture me while feasting on Oreos and rice crackers. I had to promise him before getting out of the car “never to skip lunch again!”

When it comes to lunch at the university, it’s (if possible) even more of a holy hour. Every day, between 12-2 pm (2 hours!) there are no classes because of the “lunch break.” This has bothered me for a while now. One hour, fine. But two? Who needs two hours to fill their stomachs? I normally eat within the first 15 minutes of my lunch break, and the rest of the time is spent lulling around.

When I asked my teachers about the matter I got a bunch of different answers:

Option one:

-Two hours is because some students want to go home during lunchtime. If they live a bit far away one hour isn’t enough.

-But why do they need to go home?

-To cook their own food!

-Really?

-Eh….. yes….

Option two:

-Two hours is because the older teachers at this university want to have a nap after lunch. They need that in order to rest up for the afternoon.

-Nap? At work?

-Yeah well. It’s lunchtime.

-Righty.

Option three:

-Well the lunch break is so long so that people have time to go to new and different restaurants every time!

-But isn’t one hour enough for that?

-Well not if you want to go to the city.

-But who goes to the city? It’s too far away!

-Yes, that’s why lunch is two hours! So that you can make it to the city!

-Right…

There, I give up. 12-2pm are the holy lunch hours at my university. Siesta!

Some funny shots from Yunnan

Need to hire an ayi? Why not try someone from Dali's "ceaning hoes?"

A pimped bike in Dali

I've never seen as many sex toy shops anywhere in China as I saw in Lijiang. Seriously, there was one in every corner? Got to love their discreet translation "adult thing."

And then, some toilet concepts:

One of the many toilet without doors we experienced

(Blurry shot, I know) In case you'd like to have a cigarette AND/or watch some TV while having a toilet moment to yourself? -Public toilet in Lijiang.

Interesting toilet concept at one of our hotels. Pull the curtain for some privacy 

In for a challenge

I will have to take the risk now of sounding like a complete geek, but I have to say this: I love my new university! I don’t think I have ever been happier with a decision I’ve made. Last semester at Suzhou uni was so dreadful, I didn’t feel that I got anything out of it, rather, I just sunk back and became a background person never opening my mouth in class (not blaming this fact on anyone else but me). 

Now, however, everything has changed. I am in a private class. It’s only me and the teacher. What we learn is mainly up to me. All my mistakes are corrected. All my silly questions are answered. I had my first lesson yesterday morning: “Intensive Chinese.” My teacher, Liu Laoshi, was a young girl who’s never taught advanced Chinese before. The book she brought in was way too simple for me (it was intermediate level, but must have been a very initial intermediate one because it felt like a level 3 book). We chatted for a while and she quickly agreed that we must change the book. Liu Laoshi is also my teacher in “Reading Online News,” which I am happy about. We got on well and she seems really smart. We talked a little bit about political/financial system and stuff and I told her that I’d really like to learn some more vocabulary surrounding things like that. “Sure!” she said. Awesome.

I had a 2,5 hours break in between my first and second lesson (great!). I spend this time walking around the huge and clean campus (feeling like a total UFO. I am so out of place here. During my one day I only saw 2 other laowais, everybody else are Chinese), checking out the lunch options. Note to self: must make friends soon. Not fun to eat lunch alone every day.

Eventually I bought myself a Chinese magazine, located a self-study room (!!!) and spent the rest of my time in there, reading and translating some articles. Good practice. I promised myself that from now on I’ll read one article/day.

At 2pm it was time for my second class: “Introduction to Chinese Culture.” This is the course I was going to take together with students from Hong Kong and Taiwan. On my schedule classroom 272 was listed, but when I arrived there was no one there. I waited until 2pm. Still no one. I called one of my teachers. She promised to look it up for me. 2 minutes later she called back:

-Sorry, our mistake, classroom 277!

Great. I hate being late.

When I walked into classroom 277, twenty curious eyes were watching me, probably wondering what the h*** I was doing there.

-Is this Chinese culture studies? I asked in Chinese.

-Sure it, the teacher said.

-Whoooooaaaaaaaa… said all the students (who obviously had not seen me as their potential classmate).

Now THIS class is going to be a challenge, that’s one thing that’s for sure! The teacher, Xie Laoshi, a man in his mid 40-ies, spoke really fast, and also really quietly? I’ve been spoiled with loud teachers I guess. In the beginning I could barely hear a word he said. He talked and talked. Said this was a class of only 9 students, and that we were going to be close like a “family” at the end of this semester. In order to start things off he thought we should get to know each other. Everybody had to go to the front, write their name on the board and talk about themselves.

Excellent. My favourite thing to do! (Not!)

As my fellow classmates started introducing myself I realized I couldn’t get half of what they were saying because they spoke so quietly. I really had to make an effort to get some of it. Soon, the teacher gave me a nod, meaning it was my turn.

I was so nervous! This wasn’t Mandarin level 4 or 5, this was a class with native speakers. Would they all be able to understand me? At first I stumbled a bit, then the teacher started asking me questions, which I had no problem answering (phew!) Once I was done the teacher said:

-I should explain to you all that Jonna is actually not doing a degree at this university. She’s studying Chinese, but because there were no other foreign students on the same level as her, we decided to put her in this class to listen and learn. I think we should all applaud her effort.

(OH NO! NO APPLAUD!!)

Big applaud followed. I am pretty sure I looked like a stop sign. 

Next followed a test. All in Chinese of course. There are no short cuts around this course:

-Who was the first Chinese emperor?
-Who wrote the famous book XXXX?
-From where does the famous statement XXXX come from? Taoism? Confucius? Buddhism?
-From what minority group does the “qi pao” originally come from?
(plus 10 more questions of that kind)

And, my favourite part:

-Write an essay about how Buddhism relates to today’s modern Chinese culture.

We had 30 minutes. I didn’t do so well.

During our 15 min break I spoke to some of my classmates. Young, boys and girls from Taiwan. Really nice. But oh so young!

This course is going to include visiting famous cultural places/monuments of Suzhou, reflecting over Chinese culture, and, having a 1 hour presentation followed by a 1 hour discussion about something related to Chinese culture.

Yes you heard me. ONE hour. I’m definitely in for a challenge!

Outside the uni
Self-study room. All clean and quiet: heaven!