Zhujiajiao

I hadn't really done any research about Shanghai, but Greg had, so I he decided (well, it was so easy and convenient to let him do all the decision making in China) we were to go the Zhujiajiao one day. And so we did.

Zhujiajiao is an old channel town with narrow streets. Once upon a time it must have been a beautiful town, and it still is, but has been very turistified, and there is souvenirs everywhere. However, in contrast to other places, they don't yell after you.

Hai

I have finally gotten internet that works, so here is some more pics from Shanghai.

I have to admit, at first I hated Shanghai, but after two weeks and one more Chinese guy that had fallen in love with me I didn't want to leave the city.

Shang

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I blame it all the ultra slow internet the hostel provides. There's not really much to say, so enjoy the pics, more will come later when I find internet that works.

Jingan Temple - a perfect example of Shanghai's love for mixing old and new.

The beer city

After my friends went to Qingdao and told me tales of great beer and sandy beaches, I have been dreaming of going there, so I jumped on a plane in Xi'an and left for the City of Beer. 

The journey to Qingdao was everything than easy; the flight was delayed, the airport bus was delayed, the bus stopped at the wrong stop, I asked for directions and was shown the wrong way and in the end I ended up taking the taxi, which brought me to the completely wrong place. The only positive thing was a lovely sun set on the bus and that I made it inside the hostel before the typhoon rain set in.

Xi'an

I might have showed you the terra cottas, but here's the rest of the pictures from Xi'an.

Every hostel should have a pet, and this is Doudou the turtle - of course named after Doudou the hostel dog in Beijing. First he didn't like me, but after a few days we were best friends!

Terra cotta-otta-ye-ye

New day, new opportunities, new city - or something like that. Anyway, the day before yesterday I arrived slightly hungover and very tired here in Xi'an, but I'm not easy to stop, so yesterday morning I got up really early and went on a guided tour of the terra cotta army right outside Xi'an.

First stop on the tour was the tomb of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. If you can see that mountain thing in the background I can now tell you that is the tomb. It's man made and this is the closest we got. 

Tiantan

My days here in Beijing are coming to an end, and I figured it's time to do the last sightseeing in stead of sitting the hostel all day. I've been to the Temple of Heaven before, but I met to guys and they really wanted to go there, so I went with them.

A big activity in Tiantan is playing cards and majiang, and everybody line up to look at the game and also to criticize the way they're playing. Quite interesting.

798 Art District

It has been another rainy, smoggy and to say the least moist day in Beijing. This is the city where I spend all day sitting the hostel, stalking people on Facebook and eat food, because I consider the city as conquered. Yes, I feel like I been to every place all the tourists should go to and some more, but when I woke up this morning I suddenly remembered there is one major place I haven't been to so far; 798 Art District. 

A very rainy day

Rain. Raaaain. Raaaaaaiiiiiin. Seriously, I have never seen so much rain in my entire life. It has been raining all day, and I suspect it's closer to 20 cm. There's not much to do in Beijing when it's raining, so I spent the day testing my rain gear when I walked between the bar and the bathroom.

Amelia, one of the staff in the bar, loved my rain gear so much she had to try the whole outfit. I'm pleased to say it works really good!

Looking for a place to stay

So, it's been a whole week since I left Norway, heading for China. My God, it feels good to be back! Everything is so cheap, people are so polite and the food tastes so good. It has also been a bit strange to be back, a lot of things have changed; Huaqingjiayuan is closed up, you need a key to get in (or just sneak in behind someone like I do) and all the staff at Helen's is transferred (I actually find this the worst).

A returning redhead

So, here we go again. In about six hours I leave Norway, head for Denmark before I end up in my favorite city - Beijing! The bag is far from being packed, but I can't do anything but walk around like a zombie doing nothing. Why? I got butterflies!

It's time to pack, I'll update again sometime after I arrive in Beijing. 再见！

Au revoir

Acceptance letter received, tickets are booked, and I am too ready to leave Norway. Yes, I'm leaving, this time I'm leaving for a whole year. Think of that, I'm moving. So, now your big question is 'where are you moving?'. Well I'm pleased to tell you all I'm moving to Taipei to study at National Taiwan University (NTU). 

I can't tell how excited I am to move back to Asia. It's not China-China, but it's almost China and only two hours away, which means I can go there almost every week! I have to admit, I'm not going straight to Taiwan, first I'm going to Beijing to visit my friends (all the Norwegians have of course left for Norway when I go to China, but hey, shit happens). 

There is so many things left to do; rent out the apartment, book the last tickets, book places to stay in China, fill out papers and forms to the university, apply for visas. The list goes on, and I have one essay, one exam, about a thousand emails to reply, a trip to Rhodos before I leave. 

And you're not going to believe this shit, but it's not 2012 in Taiwan, it's the year 101. Stupid. 

Where are all the yellow people?

I've been in Norway for six days already, and I can't really say I like it. Everything is the same, nothing has changed except for everybody talks about Utøya instead of the weather. I haven't watched TV for half a year, but when I came home, the first thing I did was to turn on the TV. I eat the same unhealthy food (not that the food in China was much healthier) and sit in the same corner of the sofa. Nothing has changed. The metro passes my window every five minutes. Like always. People are white, they're coldhearted, they don't smile. Here in Oslo I blend in, I'm one in 600 000, I'm nothing special; in China I can be myself, there I'm one in 22 millions. I miss the staring Chinese people at every corner, I miss the funny staff at Helen's and Nick at Lush, I miss being carefree and don't have to worry about money.

I'm bringing sexy back.

I'm back in University of Oslo. I'm trying to write my essay and practice for my exam, but procrastinating is so much more funnier. I'm going to upload some of my best pictures from China in a later blog post, but now practicing for my exam is a tiny bit more important.

A trip to Tianjin

After living in Wudaokou, Beijing, for almost half a year without even concidering go anywhere else, Ting and I yesterday decided to go to Tianjin. Tianjin is known for being the harbour of Beijing, but as we realized when we arrived, Tianjin is 60 kms from the ocean. Neither of us had heard anything of the city before, so the both of us thought "why not, lets go". The train, which travels with the speed of 300 km/h, took only half an hour.

We found a BIG clock in Tianjin and we had to, of course, take a picture of it!

PKU's speech contest for foreign students

Some time ago, I was elected from my class to praticipate in PKU's speech contest for foreign students. To make a long story short; I made a fool of myself and forgot every single word. But here is the speech for those of you who can read and understand Chinese. For the rest of you, I suggest you use translate.google.com.

我的家

我是挪威人。我从小是挪威人，将来是挪威人，但是我不知道我的家在哪儿。我在挪威有一个房子，在老家有很多朋友，但是我没有一个地方叫‘我的家’；我是无家可归的。

我很喜欢旅行，每年都会去很多地方；人们每次问我‘为什么， 为什么你去那么多的地方’。 我以前没有一个回答，所以人们觉得我想找到我是谁。他们想的是，我不知道我是谁，但是我是21岁，我是年轻人，我有长时间。
我的妈妈叫我‘吉普赛人’ 因为我去过很多地方， 因为我不停留旅行。但是我现在知道，我有一个回答；我旅行因为我想找我的家。

Next update!

I'm trying to update my blog, but China is China, the internet is slow, I can't open my email, can't upload photos and my computer is behaving funny, so the next interesting blogupdate(s) is being posted in 11 days when I'm, sadly, back in Norway (and yes, it's going to be at least two - one with my speech from the speech contest and one with pictures from the trip to Tianjin).

Untill then - have fun!

The days are quickly coming to an end

I remember how I a year ago was so excited about going to Australia for a whole month. A month of warmth, beaches and sunburn. Now I'm in China and it's freezing. I've been here for five months and in 33 days I'm going home, but there is nothing I want more than to stay here forever.

I've fallen in love with country, with this city, with this district. I have encountered the honesty you don't find anywhere else, the love of helping other people, the culture that is so different from anything else, but still is dominant for most of the people in this world.

But here I am, soon on my way home. If you want to, you can pick me up 27th of December, 21:15 at the airport.

October update

So much happened in October; my family came over for two weeks, I had three exams and I was hospitalized.

Even though I think my family is a pain in the ass some times, it's nice to have them over for a visit too!
The first week they were here, it was Golden Week, which means I had time off from school. We did all the touristy stuff; we went to Tiananmen square, Olympic city, Summer palace, shopping, Sanlitun. Everybody learned to eat with chop stick, except for my sister, everybody liked the food, exept for my sister - yeah, you know. During their second week here, I had exams, so they went to the Forbidden city and the Great Wall without me; and I have to say, they managed suprisingly well even though they don't speak Chinese and the Chinese don't speak English!

Picture time: Hipster in Yangshuo

    

 

Update from school

So much to do, so little time! I'm (obviously) back from Guilin and Yangshuo (more pictures will come) and school has started. After passing summer school, I was placed in level 11 in written Chinese and level 12 in oral Chinese. The oral level is made for me, but written is way too easy, like the other four Norwegians in my class, but none of us can be bothered to change class because we like our teacher so much.

Like always we have tons of homework and tests, but the people in my class are really nice and we hang out together a lot. We also have some people in the class I don't click with the same way, like the North Koreans; they seem nice, but they don't speak nothing but Korean and Chinese, so I kind'a gave of speeking with them. Japan, however, who only speaks Chinese and Japanese is a good friend. Funny, but he's more my age and joins us for a party ever now and then.