Mt. Qingcheng, Dujianyan, & Hot Pot Part III

Man! I need to work on this whole blogging deal. I cant write 3 entries for each day! I will have to investigate this a bit more. Anyone have any suggestions? I want to incorporate all of my pictures...but also provide captions too. It is getting really frustrating. Also, im trying to contact my parents via skype rite now. i was hoping that my brother would be online so that i can have him sign on....but that isnt happening. So...im asking my friend sam to make a call for me.

well...im hoping this will be my last entry to blog about today. So...to finish us off...there are a couple of pictures i want to post.

The first one is for my dad actually. He watched a dvd of the 12 girls band and they were playing this one gourd flute. He really likes it and was hoping i could find it for him...well...guess what? when we went out to lunch today...we passed by a vendor who was playin it! this is what it looks like:
Alright...I cant do this anymore. i have to figure this stuff out before i continue posting...otherwise...its going to drive me crazy. So I guess Mt. Qingcheng will have to wait until next time. See? I cant control this blue/underlining font! UGH!

What? NM. Ill continue posting...NOW it works. Ok...so a few last pictures. As im loading the pictures....i just have to say that my legs are burning from holding onto my laptop. neways....
This is the temple. Ok...well its getting late (talking to my mom now). Ill finish later!

Mt. Qingcheng, Dujianyan, & Hot Pot Part II

Sorry about that. I am still trying to figure out blogspot and how to incorporate pictures into my blog. I tried to upload 5 pictures...but after doing so, they wouldnt let me manipulate how the pictures were to come out. I wanted to continue typing...but because my bloggin skills are still rather elementary...i decided to just start another entry to finish off this day. its getting pretty late...but i slept some on the bus...so i think ill be ok. *its 12 AM right now in chengdu*

so...to continue...those were just some of the pictures...i took enough pictures to completely use up my 126 MB camera memory. So....i may not put all of them up. ill be sure to put enough up though to give you all an idea of whats going on. so...lets continue. heres a picture of us at the "fish mouth"...delta? im not sure what to call it.
Standing there made us all feel like we were on the titanic and doing the whole dicaprio "king of the world" deal. it was a nice day..but for some reason...at that particular spot...there was a lot of wind.









The next picture is just us hanging out at the fish's mouth.
After this, we crossed a couple of bridges and entered the 2nd king temple. This area has alot of Taoist believers...so there are temples scattered throughout the mountain. This is one of them. It is located really near the area where this picture was taken. Also...we had to cross two bridges. It's one of those cable bridges...so we had quite the time swinging them from side to side.





So, here is the bridge:
That's Jackie. He helped me and Sarah alot yesterday in getting our cell phones and our bank account at the Bank of China.











This is the 2nd King Temple:

Mt. Qingcheng, Dujianyan, & Hot Pot

Hey. Just got back from today's trip to two of Chengdu's more famous tourist attractions. Sarah and I got up around 7:30 AM today and headed on to breakfast across the street from us. Each morning, breakfast is included in our stay here at the international dormatories. They serve bao zi, or buns stuffed with various things like pork or vegetables, a few xiao xai or small plates or pickled vegetables, and a few other things. The SU students (students who are currently 2nd years who will head on over to UW next year) came and picked us up in the lobby and we headed out to Dujiangyan. It has been rather interesting because out of the UW students here...I am the only one who can speak Chinese. So...SU students like to pair up with them to talk to them in English. And so, usually the professors come and talk to me. I guess that's pretty fair. I get to practice my Chinese with them. So, here is a picture of us on the bus heading on over to our first stop.
There are a total of 15 SU students who are planning on going to the states and 7 of us (although only 6 of us are actually here. the 7th student is currently in korea and is joining us in about 10 days.) This picture lacks some of the students sitting in front of me...so...:) yeah. just wanted to make sure. So, a little history about the places we went to, DuJiangyan is an ancient water conservancy project dating back to the Qing dynasty (256 B.C.) It was designed and built by the governor of Shu county called Libing. It's main purpose was and still is to prevent flooding in the surrounding area as well as a method of irrigation. Because of its existence, the plains of Chengdu have been called "The Land of Abundance." Besides its hydrolic functions, Dujiangyan is also regarded as a symbol of Chinese culture. It has been incorporated into Shu culture and has also had a large impact on Chinese culture. So, the following are some pictures of the trail to the area the Chinese term: fish mouth. It diverts the water from the inflowing sediments.

chengdu

hey everyone,
i am not going to say much in this entry...mostly because i am using my roommate's computer and i have an entry that i made at the airport on my computer. so....following the posting of that...i will tell you all about my pretty frightening start here at chengdu. in the meantime...i'm doing fine. I have moved into a temporary on-campus housing and is pretty like a hotel room. There are two of us...me and Sarah. I went and got a cell phone today...but because the school had us do a couple of things such as getting a physical, taking a chinese exam to test our language proficiency, and a meeting with our research advitors, i didnt get the chance to purchase a sim card to use in my phone nor the opportunity to complete my bank of china account so that i can purchase minutes. once i have everything in order...i will post my contact info.
i will be leaving with Steve (my professor from UW) and 3 other students to yangjuan this coming friday evening. we are going to be taking the train to a city near the village and then take a car the rest of the way there. I will be there for about a week...until sept. 2 or 3. So....during this time...i probably will not have internet access and cant post...but i will definitely be posting about my time there once i get back to the city.
currently, me and song li yun (my SU friend who i met at UW when she came as a exchange student last year) are looking at apartments near the school. she was telling me about one that she went and looked at...and she said it looks pretty good. I am going to go check it out with her on friday...along with my other UW buddies cause they are also looking for a place to move out to. the rate for each night here in the room i am now in is outrageous...for students especially. we are currently paying 135 RMB for each night we are here...thats equal to about $17 US dollars. the place song li yun and i are looking at is about 1500 RMB a month....so that would be about 750 RMB for me...thats almost $100 a month....compare that to having to pay around $550 a month living in the place we are now. crazy! and that apartment complex has a elevator...something they dont have here. so...i had quite the time lugging all of my stuff up four flights of stairs.
:) i said i was going to keep this short...but it ended up being longer than i had expected. Ill leave details for my first night here in my next blog...so i guess im just about done with this one. oh...courses offered by SU are out. so many classes i want to take! currently...thinking about:
(1) Chinese Government and Politics
(2) The Historical Roots of Chinese Culture
(3) Modern Chinese History: 1911-Present
(4) Chinese Philosophy and Religion
(5) Major Historical Events of China Before the Yuan Dynasty
(6) Contemporary Chinese Culture and Society
(7) Chinese Politics: From Historical Ideas to Contemporary Realities
(8) Hydraulic Engineering in China: 2000 years of Water Resource Management
(9) Panda Research and Preservation
(10) Chinese Arts and Culture
(11) Intro. to Chinese Calligraphy
(12) Taiji Chuan

Of course...I'm not going to take these all at once...and they are in the order of what i want to take the most or least. we'll see how everything works out. IPE at UW requires us to do 36 UW credits in a given year...thats equal to 24 SU credits here...most of the classes i listed are 3 credits....actually all but the last three. so...decisions! decisions! decisions! I have to decide by Sept. 6...so....maybe ill use the time when im in yangjuan to decide. i also have to do research at the same time...so....we'll see how things work out. oh...to add to the list:

(13) Chinese

the only problem right now is that i cant read or write....especially simplified chinese. as a kid...i grew up going to chinese school learning traditional chinese...so some of the characters here are pretty odd looking. song li yun has said she'll help me with the chinese....but you know what? i can honestly say that i am looking forward to this school year! classes i actually have alot of interest in. i was also looking at their departments...and i think i might talk to our international students coordinator about sitting into some of their graduate level classes....i was thinking the medical classes and public health classes. im really interested to see what the chinese approach is. well...we have to get up early tomorrow for two field trips.

the first is to Mt Qingcheng. there are alot of taoist temples here.
the second is dujiangyan. ill post more info and pictures later once i have been there and have photos to show.

hope everyone is doing well!!

...packing & goodbyes *for now*

Today is my last full day in the U.S. Texas has been...well...a journey itself. I do have to say, though, that the scorching weather here has prepared me for the blazing heat in Chengdu...sort of. Granted, Texas is more of a desert while southern China...well...hot and humid. But, it's better preparation than none. Although I've been packing for the past couple of days, I think I finally have everything in order. Just a few more things here and there. I am taking with me only 2 pieces of luggage...a backpack...and a computer bag. I figured I would probably buy things that I might have forgotten once I get there. So, the flight itself. Here's my itinerary:

August 21, 2006
7:10 AM Leave San Antonio
--> Arrive in Houston at 8:15 AM

9:15 AM Leave Houston
--> Arrive in Los Angeles at 10:42 AM

1:30 PM Leave Los Angeles
August 22, 2006
--> Arrive in Shanghai 6:15 PM

9:05 PM Leave Shanghai
--> Arrive in Cheungdu at 11:55 PM

...a what? 19 hour flight with quite a few layovers. I'm just glad to have the time I do have on the ground so that I won't run into too much trouble trying to get from one flight to another.

Although I have traveled by myself before...I have never been so far away. Truthfully, I am feeling a bit nervous about tomorrow. :) Crossing my fingers and hoping that everything will turn out okay. Well, I suppose that's it for now. I should probably double check to see if I accidentally packed away "liquids, lotions, or gels" in my carry luggage. Wouldn't want to be labeled a "terrorist" now would I?

To end this first entry...I want to leave y'all with a Daoist quote...given that I will be really close to the temple where Daosim all began...

...the journey of three hundred miles began with the feet. A journey of a thousand li begins right where one stands, even with the very first step....

:)...so...these are my first steps...