I'm back!

I got a little behind falling into the swing of things the first couple weeks but my new goal is to update the blog at least once every day, even if its something small. Along with this I'm adding a new album of photos I took over my fall break on our trip to the Great Wall and Chengde, China.

The Great Wall was a very different area than where I went to when I first came to visit China. This time, instead of climbing up countless stairs, we simply walked up a paved road all the way to the top. We also started much closer to the wall. In total, it only took us about 10 minutes to reach the top. Many people in the program were still complaining until I told them what it was like the first time I climbed the wall.

Chengde is a city north of Beijing located in Hebei province that is known for its Buddhist temples and the mountain resort which is a vast imperial garden formerly used by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty. The most astonishing thing about the city was how much of it was under construction. The first half of the city was full of skyscraper tall apartment buildings that were all being constructed simultaneously. You could definitely tell that Chengde was being transformed into a high caliber city.

We saw 2 temples while in Chengde. They were both pretty cool but my favorite part of the trip was exploring the city and being in the mountain resort. The center of the mountain resort is very similar to that of the Forbidden City and is full of little artifacts; however, outside the center is an enormous closed off area of land that has many lakes and natural vegetation. Getting to see the more ancient type of Chinese landscape that has been preserved was very cool and quite peaceful. I imagine this is what it will be like when I go on my end of the semester trip through Southern China.

While in Chengde we also met some Wiggers who came from the north east part of the country. They spoke both Mandorin and Wigger, which is a mix between Chinese and Arabic-like words and sounds. It was very interesting to see this different ethnic group. We hung out with them for a while after we ate some of the food they were selling. They played cards with us and tried to teach us a new game which was a lot of fun. Overall, they were extremely nice and friendly which is contrary to what I have heard from some of the Han Chinese. I look forward to getting to interact with other ethnic minorities and seeing the many different perspectives of the people in China.