Fighting Pollution

 As I am sure all of you aware Beijing has had terrible pollution here lately. We have had three weeks straight of hazardous air conditions. There has only been one day in the past three weeks were the air quality has been deemed good. The smog has been very dense I haven't been able to see the mountains in the distance in weeks, let alone across the street! 

 

 When I moved to China, I was aware that Beijing was notorious for poor air quality. I remember the first few days here reading the air quality. I believe in the first few days I was here the air was reading at 70 to 100. Which at the time I thought was horrible! I could feel the effects immediately. In time I got use to good air meaning days that were 40. I began thinking, the air wasn't that terrible. Sure we had smoggy day but they were days that were filled with sunshine and blue skies! Nowadays I have seen one blue sky day in about three weeks.

 This being said I decided to try to fight the pollution and keep myself healthy. I have take precautions such as buying an air purifier for me to use in the apartment. It helps tremendous. You don't realize how much the poor air quality really effects you. I constantly had a sore throat and a cough. I also have taken to wearing a mask outside. (Though its probably pointless since if I  cover my nose I can't see out of my glasses and I heard you absorb pm 2.5 through your skin....). 

Overall I am still enjoying Beijing despite the pollution. I move my activities to indoor activities and find plenty to do in the city. And at the end of the day I come home and sleep knowing that I am breathing in clean air!

Shanghai and Beyond

I have been crazy busy the past few weeks in China.  Fighting air pollution and making travel plans all at the same time. The pollution here has been unreal. Digits near 800. The air is soo hazy and smells really bad. Many of my friends have taken ill because of pollution. Old asthma comes flaring up and I even have friends that have stuff growing on their lungs! Its really scary actually. 

But aside from the talk of pollution I have been having adventures in China! (hence the title of the blog!) I most recently went to Shanghai for two days. I took the bullet train to Shanghai and got to see the country side of China. ( Countryside full of shabby houses and polluted air...nothing shocking). When I got to Shanghai I met up with some of my dad's coworkers. They had plans for me in Shanghai.

 I spent the afternoon at the Golden Temple. (Jing'an Temple) It was quite beautiful. Everything there was made out of Teak wood from Cameron. There were prayer rooms full of Giant Buddha statues. I learned that the entrance ways are often raised to keep snakes out. And that in India there was one Buddha but when the religion moved to China Buddha on took on the forms of the Gods to appease the people. The temple had a 15 ton silver Buddha.(or I was told it was 15 ton of silver..)

Silver Buddha





Main courtyard area. The thing with the smoke coming out is where they were burning the incense. On the side are Buddhist monks performing a ceremony.

Front building of the Temple. I love the fact that you can see city sky scrappers in the background!









After the temple I meet up with my uncle. He was in town on a business trip. For dinner we went to the Bund. A beautiful area where you can see the city skyscrapers light up the night. Too bad the pollution followed me from Beijing. But the sight was remarkable!

  

Despite the pollution that night, the sight was still amazing. In the left hand corner is the pearl tower! I want to go back on a night where the pollution isn't covering the buildings.

The next day I got the tour of Shanghai! I went first to the classical streets of YuYuan. They were buildings created to look old. It had all kinds of shops and at the back of the street was a historic sight YuGarden. The area was quite a maze. There was the bridge with nine bends in it as well as a tea house that apparently Bill Clinton had tea in with Chelsea and Hillary.  After exploring the area we ducked into the pearl market to see the pearls for a few minutes and then I was whisked off to lunch at this delicious dumpling place. I can't remember the name of the dumpling place but it was very delicious!

 After dumplings I went and explore YuGarden. It was beautiful. It was the homes of the emperors. It had all these different sitting rooms and wonderful gardens throughout. Truly though one could get lost going through it. (I did!)  The architecture throughout the land was amazing. The grounds were amazing. It was a palace in of itself. When one thinks of castles and palaces they don't think of this. But this beautiful Chinese garden with various rooms and buildings throughout is a palace.

After exploring YuGarden, my tour was not finished. They wanted to take me to the Jewish Refugee Museum. But we ran out of time. By the time we got there the place was closing soon and I was going to be meeting my uncle. But apparently China was one of the very few places that allowed the Jewish people to enter during WW11. So the Jewish people are very appreciative towards the Chinese. (or so I was told!) 

After a wonderful day of sightseeing I went back to my uncle's hotel and waited for him to arrive. When he came we went shopping in the markets. He needed to buy things for my cousins and my aunt. And then we had a wonderful Italian dinner! 

Overall Shanghai is a very nice city. Its much different than Beijing. Beijing is older, has a lot more history and more culture. Shanghai is modern and much more western friendly. I encountered more westerns in my two days in Shanghai then I would encounter here in two days. Beijing is my home though and I am content to stay here for the time being!

Shopping or Culture?

Recently I have decided that I should be more cultural during the cold months instead of well shopping. I love shopping as everyone knows. Its addicting really. I find myself in stores... I try to buy things on sale or well bargaining for a better price. And its very hard in the winter. Because it Beijing you have very few options...one be cultural and walk outside to get to Museums and cultural food, two walk to the bar, three go shopping in mall that are conveniently off the subway line (no going outside :) ) or four stay home and watch movies.  I have been doing the last two more frequently. So the other day I decided I am in China I should probably be more cultural and experience China. As my one friend put it...hmm should you go shopping or see culture that's a hard choice... 

So I did go shopping and then made plans for the next weekend to see cultural stuff! I then saw one of the very few  Catholic Churches in Beijing. It was really nice but it was very dark and gloomy. Just like you would expect an old church to be. It was nice to see. Naturally the church was called the Wangfuijing Catholic Church of China... How many wangfuijing Catholic churches are out there in the world? Not many I am guessing...

 Then I really decided I should be cultural! I decided to go to the Science and Technology museum which was really different. They had all kinds of exhibits that didn't make sense and interesting things. Like a giant watch and a fun house maze that was an optical illusion. They had a random dinosaur there and they also had baby chicks in a tiny glass home. They had riding a train simulator, as well as riding a car simulator. It was quite interesting. Something different. Anywho I decided to go on a museum crawl now. Every week or so while it is cold I am going to go to the various museums in China. They have all kinds of museums. The currency museum, the police museum, the stamp museum, natural history museum. They have a museum for everything!

And lastly I decided to try to eat Chinese food a little bit more. So I had traditional hot pot. My friend Emma was our tour guide and ordered food for us. It was sooo good! And tonight I ate dumplings for dinner. So I decided to be a bit more adventurous. Except tomorrow I am going out for pizza and beer.

Happy 2013~

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Welcoming in 2013, I think about the past year just as everyone else does. Living in China sure has been interesting. But now I start to wonder what is going to happen in 2013. For instance, how will I ever figure out the complicated tax form I have to fill out since I live abroad. What else shall I buy at the silk market. As much as I love hearing about how people's years in review are (sacrasm) I won't bore this blog with details of how my life has had ups and downs...

Lets get down to the real juicy details about living in China. After all this blog is called adventures in China. So the exciting thing about living in China is that if you are pretty girl and nothing is apparently wrong with you then you get attention. Probably too much attention. In the past month I have been on two dates and been asked by a guy to basically hook up with him. Needless to say I am still single. The first date the guy was insecure and clearly was running from his past... not something I am looking for. And the second guy I was just not attracted to him. The last guy is a creep as my friends all say. The dating scene in China is lackluster. Many of the guys in China are looking for Chinese girls or they don't want anything serious, they just want a fling. (see guy above who wanted to hook up). So if anyone out there thinks that moving to China to find your soul mate is the answer I would think again. 

Beijing is cold in the winter. Something they don't really advertise when selling  Beijing to you. I thought it was cold in Pittsburgh, boy was I wrong. I got excited this morning when it was 20 degrees outside. The low is 0, seriously. I never leave the house without two pairs of pants on and two shirts. To do so would be torture.  I have two scarves and a face mask as well, just in case its super cold. I save those for the days when it is really cold. 

More juicy details about living in China. Its very easy to get addicted to shopping here. I find myself shopping every other week here. But seriously today I got two purses, a pair of glasses, a headband, a coral necklace, pearls and free beer glasses for 136 usd. Seriously that is so cheap. No wonder I can get addicting to shopping. 

As always China is an adventure. Every day I think to myself what will today bring. Will it be exciting new purchases at the silk market, or exploring the culture of China or simply wondering what the drama of the day will be at work. Ultimately life is an adventure and living in China makes it even more exciting!