China: Hangzhou to Beijing

During my last afternoon in Hangzhou, we got to visit my favorite restaurant again - Shou Kang Yong, the one and only vegetarian restaurant in Hangzhou. Yes, I did actually get to eat there after wanting to during my whole stay in Hangzhou! Sadly, not until my last week there.

The first time Elise, Will and I went, we were amazed by the food. We all loved it, and it was scary similar to meat dishes. The restaurant is run by Buddhists though, so there is no meat, eggs or alcohol - plus, it said that all their produced was organic!

I took a picture of the spread after we devoured most of it - I was excited because I could eat EVERYTHING!

This flower is actually a carrot!

It got devoured too

So anyways, on our last afternoon in Hangzhou, Will, Elise and I went there again with the company of Ben, Tou, Able, Wang Kai and Fang Kai.  We were once again amazed with their delicious food.

After lunch, we headed back to our dorm to gather our things and check out.  I took some quick pictures of the campus while leaving because I realized I hadn't during my whole stay!

Fruit stand - yum!

The dorm I lived in while in Hangzhou

Elise, Ben and I were all going to Beijing, so we took a taxi together to the train station.  It was the night train so we had a compartment that we shared with a high school aged boy.  He spoke pretty good English and we all played cards until we all decided to go to sleep to the rumble of the train.

We woke up in the morning, looking pretty:

And KAZAM! We were in Beijing.  I must say, I'm a big fan of traveling by train.  It's relaxing and more comfortable than planes, cars or buses!

China: Leaving Hangzhou

I'm leaving for Beijing tonight!

Last night everyone (students, profs and chinese students) got together for dinner and then karaoke since it was our last night in Hangzhou.

At dinner we got to make our own dumpling. They even got me a little bowl of veggies so i could make some too!

Will being proud of his dumpling

Wang Kai, Able (I still dont know how to spell his name...) and me. Wang Kai is waving a dumpling in my face

It was our second time going to a karaoke bar. It's fun, the only sad thing is all the songs I know, know one else knows! I sang Shiny Happy People by R.E.M and appeared to be the only one who knew it.

China: Week 5

Blog Assignment - Week 5:

Having such a busy week filled with proposals, presentations and mechanics exams, I was looking forward to the weekend. Saturday’s plans included Will, Elise, Jack and I going to Hefang street to buy tea and other gifts for friends back in the US. We were then going to check out Shou Kang Yong for dinner, a vegetarian restaurant I have been excited to go to for weeks.

Hefang street was fun as usual, with all the little shops and venders. Our first main stop was to buy tea. We went inside and got to smell a variety of different teas, my personal favorite was the jasmine tea. One of the workers there also let us try some of the tea and performed a small tea ceremony. It was very interesting, although I must admit, awkward. None of us really knew how to behave, so we just sat there quietly, glancing at each other every once. From my observations of the tea ceremony, it seemed like she would always offer the tea or hot water to Buddha first before we had any.

After buying some tea and other knickknacks, we headed off to find the restaurant. It was already 8:30pm so I was a little nervous that the kitchen would be closed, but Elise ensured me that they didn’t closed until 10pm. From a map, we knew the restaurant was only a few blocks form Hefang on Yan’an road. Walking down Yan’an searching for building 38, we found buildings 35 and 37 after only about 5 minutes of walking. We all were relieved we were so closed and crossed the street to get to building 38. However, once we got to the other size, we found not building 38, but 90! All of us we very confused and thought that we might be on the wrong street. We searched for a street sign, but failed so we decided to walk a little farther West to see if we ran into Yan’an. We eventually, however, found ourselves on Nanshan road instead, with only the lake ahead of us.

Getting tired, hot and hungry, we finally found some people to ask for directions. We showed them the address and a map, but after some Chinese phrases later, we didn’t have any new information. In fact, they pointed us North, the one direction we knew wasn’t correct. Jack and Will tried asking others in Chinese as well, but no one would even let them finish asking before shaking their head and walking away.

Having walked in a big circle and maybe a figure 8 or two for at least 45 minutes, we all were on the edge. I was getting more and more sure that we would not be able to eat at my dreamed about vegetarian restaurant. Will then had the idea to call the restaurant to ask them for directions. After doing so, we finally made it there. It ended up being on the very first street we walked down, even closer to Hefang that we realized. Sadly, even though our More Hangzhou magazine said they wouldn’t close until 10pm, when we walked in the doors we were told they were no longer serving food.

I was rather disappointed, tired, hungry and hot – but I did learn one thing from my adventure. Make sure to have a map that lists ALL of the street names and beware asking directions! We also are planning to have (an earlier) dinner this Tuesday so I can finally check out the vegetarian restaurant before leaving Hangzhou!

China: Traditional Chinese Medicine

Blog Assignment - Week 4:

I was excited to visit a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor. Typically I would not be thrilled to perform an interview for a school project, but I was eager to learn more about Traditional Chinese Medicine. With my major in the medical sciences and my experience being vegan, I have grown interested in alternative medicines. My enthusiasm for whole and organic food has also made me a believer in the impact of diet on overall health and effectiveness of natural remedies.

The moment we walked into the Traditional Chinese Medicine building, my nose was in bliss. A warm aroma of different herbs was drifting through the halls, reminding me of the small co-op I used to go to with my mom when I was little. It was even more delightful because I believe this was the very first time since coming to China that I have actually thought how good the air smelled.

We walked further down the hall to a small room where the doctor saw his patients. I was surprised to find about 10 people in the room, even though the doctor was currently diagnosing a patient. There was definitely no worry about any doctor-patient confidentially or privacy. The waiting patients surrounded the periphery of the small room while the current patient sat at the desk with the doctor. The doctor would ask the patient questions, take his/her pulse, and observe his/her general appearance. He would then write a prescription before moving on to the next patient.

While waiting for our turn to ask the doctor questions, we had time to talk to the patients. One of the topics we discussed that I found most interesting is the choice between using Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western medicine. For complex diseases such as cancer, Western medicine was used. However, major Western procedures, such as chemotherapy for cancer, damage the body while curing the disease. That is where Chinese medicine can come in - to heal the damage caused by the Western treatment.

We finally got our turn to speak to the doctor, with Wang Kai and Anne as our translators. The whole ordeal was somewhat confusing; we would tell Wang Kai our question, he would ask the doctor, and then Anne would tell us the doctors responds. There were times where there were four people talking at once!

The experience was very educational and interesting. I learned that Chinese medicine is meant to look at the body as a whole while Western medicine typically just looks at the disease. When you really think about it, a lot of aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine make sense. A large percentage of medications are based off medicinal plants, so why not go back to nature when you can? I believe that Western medicine could benefit if used in conjunction with alternative medicines such as Traditional Chinese medicine, especially in aspects such as herbal therapies and diet modification. I have personal experiences of the power of whole and organic food that can be connected to natural remedies such as those found in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and fully support them in the correct context.

China: Food

Good things i've been eating in china:

1. Spicy Eggplant - I'm not sure what the actual name of the dish is, but it's really good. It's chinese eggplant, which is a lot more narrower and long that eggplants in the US (and more tasty). I'm pretty sure it's stir fried - sometimes it's too oily but there is a place near campus who makes it wonderfully.

2. Pineapple on a stick - There are a ton of little fruit stands and you can buy a quarter of a pineapple that's cut in a spiral on a stick. It's REALLY good pineapple too.

3. Vegetable Fried Rice - I've never really been a fan of fried rice, but the stuff here is pretty good. They add a lot more veggies - I especially like the green peppers they use. They are the best peppers ever! They are a little spicey but a little sweet and add wonderful flavor. They also make fresh "single" servings of fried rice right in front of you - I say "single" because I never can finish mine and could really be 2-3 meals.

4. Fried Noodles - Again, never was a HUGE fan of things like low mein, greasy things get old really fast, but these are pretty good. There is a noodle place on campus that makes their own noodles - and you can see them pulling them out and cutting them while you order! I've only tried one thing from them though because most of their noodle dishes have meat.


Things I miss/Plan on eating the week I get back

1. A good breakfast - I've been eating peanut butter bread for breakfast every day and it's starting to drive me insane. Perhaps waffles, yum. Even some soy yogurt and fruit would do.

2. Fruit salad - Packed with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Even though there is a lot of fruit stands i find myself not eating as much fruit as i do in the states

3. Fresh Veggies - They seem to not exist here, all of their veggies are cooked in loads of oil!

4. Burrito - Preferable something like Qdoba... with avocado of course. I've been finding myself wanting to put avocado on everything here.

5. Pasta - You can get things like fried noodles and some place even sell italian style pasta - but they all are meat or cream sauces. The only non-cream/meat pastas I've seen is "spaghetti with ketchup"... but that doesnt sound very good

China: Huangshan (Yellow Mountain)

I've been bad at updating because how busy classes have kept me. I had an exam yesterday (Monday) and next week I have a crazy amount of things due: 1 paper, 1 exam, 2 presentations and 2 problem sets!

Anyways - on to talking about what i did LAST weekend at Huangshan!

So they day before hiking up 7000+ steps to the top of Huangshan, we went to 9 Dragon Waterfall. It was a good hour walk, and very beautiful. The air was really refreshing after being in the city for three weeks.

The next day, we walked up the steps! It took me ~3 hours. I believe some people made it in 2.5 but they were going pretty fast at the start. I decided to take it nice and steady so I wouldn't be dead at the top. It was raining on and off the whole walk up - but it ended up feeling nice caused I never got extremely hot (except at the start when I still had my raincoat on). Only bad thing about the rain is I was soaking at the top, so the moment I stopped moving the shivering began.

Here are some pictures from the hike up:

Once we got to the top, we ate lunch at a hotel. I think I ate the largest serving of rice that I've ever had in my life. We then finally made it to the hostel...

And that is where that lovely picture I posted in the previous entry comes in. I wont post it again - I'll keep the pictures in this post following my usual guideline of only posting pretty ones.

The room the girls was supposed to stay in was COVERED in black mold. If you know me at all, I'm a super mold detector - I can tell if there is mold in the room when you can't see it, mostly because it makes me feel really uncomfortable... and there I was standing in a room where the mold visibly covered the walls. I got a sore throat from only being in there for a maximum of two minutes!

The guys room was on the 3rd floor, and still had a musty smell but the walls were actually white(ish) and not moldy. I refused to sleep in the moldy room of death and despair, so I asked the guys if they'd make room for me somewhere so i wouldnt die in my sleep from mold. I ended up sleeping in the middle of two twin bunks pushed together between two guys. It was a long uncomfortable night (by "bunks" I mean plywood), but it was definitely better than if i stayed in the other room

I would never think I'd find a room of 14 guys to be more comfortable than a room of girls!


Here is my blog assignment entry about Huangshan

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Stairs have always been my weakness. I love hiking and exploring outside, but point out some stairs in my path and I know I will be out of breath after only 30 of them – I’ll blame my short legs so I don’t sound like such a wimp. When I heard that the hike up Huangshan was entirely stairs, my heart dropped a little. I was excited to be hiking up a mountain, but how could I make it up 7000 stairs when I hate even walking up four flights of stairs to get to class?

The day before the 7000-stair “hike”, we went to Nine Dragon Waterfall. Everything about the hike to the waterfall was amazing – the smell of the air, the rocks, and the trees – it all was extremely refreshing after being in the busy streets of Hangzhou for three weeks. Near the end of the hike, however, there was a long progression of extremely steep stairs. I climbed them slowly, legs burning and gasping for air. I eventually made it to the top to take in the beautiful view, but I couldn’t help thinking about how doomed I was if the stairs up Huangshan were that steep.

The morning of the 7000 stairs final came – I was geared up with my raincoat on and some snacks, a change of clothes and water in my backpack. It was raining as we started our hike up, but I didn’t mind because after 15 minutes I was roasting in my raincoat. I decided to tie my coat to my backpack so it’d stay dry, even though it meant I’d get wet.

Emily, Ben, Tou and I all ended up walking up together, eventually joined by Will and Jack closer to the top. We took it at a nice steady pace, taking our time to look at the foggy mountain peaks around us and resting to catch our breath when we needed to.

Throughout the entire hike, walking up beside us were porters caring insane loads up the mountain on their backs. To illustrate their effort – I saw one of them carrying two full propane tanks up the mountain, in addition to two full bags! Watching them carry up these huge loads made me wonder why they didn’t use the cable cars that went up the mountain. The only reasoning I could come up with is that the price of the porters labor was less expensive than using the cable cars – something you definitely wouldn’t see in the US.

We finally made it to the top, after three hours of climbing stairs. I definitely felt like the stair master and was impressed that I still had energy – though that energy quickly went into shivering. The climb definitely wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. I was very surprise, however, on the amount people actually making the hike up. There were massive crowds – so big that going down the mountain was very difficult because you’d hit human traffic jams. You would never see so many people on the top of a mountain like that in the US.

Although I got rained on for two days,  had to sleep in a room of 14 guys to avoid a moldy room of death and despair, and my legs are still sore from the hike down, I am still glad I made the hike. In the end, I still have a unique experience, good and bad, to tell people about. I might as well make the most of it!

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China: Quick Summary of my Weekend

I am extremely tired right now and do not have the energy to put a full post right now. I will sum up my weekend trip to Huangshan (Yellow Mountain):


1. Stairs. Lots and lots of stair. So many freaking stairs! km after km of stairs!
2. Foggy mountains, creating an white abyss. I'm not sure what's scarier, not being able to see how far down you'd go if you fell, or actually seeing how high you are

3. A sleepless night in the hostel of death and despair.

That is the room I was expected to sleep in. If you know me, I die around mold so there was no way i was allowing that to happen.

I will explain more tomorrow when I am awake enough to actually post something decent!