I'M ON A BOAT

     Caleb, Steven, Joost (pronounced yoast), and I had set out on what we thought was a trip to what was once the largest fresh water lake in China. It was a few weeks into our semester, and we had had it with the pollution and stagnant urban scene that surrounded our school. We had acquired the help of our RA and now close friend Wei (pronounced way) to plan a trip to the scenic Poyang Lake. We had seen pictures in a magazine and were hoping that we could finally taste somewhat fresh air and see a truly blue sky. Wei had helped us book a driver that would take us to the lake and told us that once we were there that we could rent a boat for the day and take it all over the lake. We would later come to find out that we would end up getting something completely different.

      We drove about an hour and a half while at points a long the way the way the driver stopping and asking for directions. Of course we had no idea where it was, so when we arrived at this little village in the middle of nowhere we were still very optimistic that the day would end up just as planned. We arrived to find out that we would be able to rent a boat and a tour guide for 2 hours to "see the birds". I was irate. We had payed for something we weren't going to get. We weren't going to have a boat to ourselves for the day, we weren't going swimming, and we weren't going to tour the forests we had seen in the pictures.
     Once we had gotten our whining out of the way we got into the boat with the tour guide, put all expectations behind us, and went with the flow.

This is a picture of our tour guide uncovering the boat that would put along in what was going to be a lake that turned out to be more of a marsh. The four of us sat in the front and let him take us around the land that he was so proud of. 

We mainly floated around the marsh and got out in fields like this for him to take us around the land. He also wanted to take pictures of us with out cameras at about every point possible. 

We even found what they call "small lobster" aka giant crawfish. Long story short 'I found love in a hopeless place'.

This picture is outside of a hut that is pretty much a waiting station during the peak fishing seasons. There is a small water way next to the hut that has two walls of netting to guide the fish into a trap. By the looks of the inside of the hut it seems that more beer is consumed than fish and more poker is played than actual fishing.

This was a trip that can attest to the fact that there is no need for expectations on an experience that you know you will never have again. They initially hinder your ability to absorb what opportunity is trying to give you, and until you can free yourself of the disappointment you will be blind to the beauty of the unexpected.

To Be or not To KTV?

In the first few weeks here in Nanchang we definitely made sure to check out the nightlife. If you haven’t heard by now, karaoke is kind of big here. To no surprise, before most of the other students got here the kids from the Netherlands and some of the Americans ended up at KTV (Karaoke Television) on almost a nightly basis. When you arrive the nice lady behind the desks escorts you to a room that has a couch that wraps around the back and sides of the room. This couch faces a large projection screen that plays all sorts of music videos, in English and Chinese, along with their lyrics at the bottom, so you can be a star for the night. Eventually it got to the point where no one would want to sing, so we would just make a playlist of songs we like and listened to them and hung out. The best part about KTV is that they are literally everywhere, so we got to go to a KTV that was just down the street from the dorm. Not having to worry about cabs in the beginning of this adventure was quite relieving.

            One of the other more club-like scenes that we have frequented is called SoHo. SoHo is a higher end club with some American-style electro tech music filled with Chinese people dressed like European pop-stars. The first time that we went to SoHo we paid for a VIP booth in the back corner of the booth because we had so many kids from the program with us. Assuming it was a special occasion one of the waiters asked us if it was somebodies birthday and three of my friends simultaneously said, “Trey’s”. It was too late to back out now so I gave them my phone number and let them know that my passport was “back in the room”. The club gave us a cake covered in fruit as well as some other gifts. At 11:30 pm they had this birthday song go off as well as balloons drop it was insane. Since then we have been back a few times as well as this similar club called LeNest.

Although sometimes it is fun to visit these big clubs we have also been to our fair share of quiet bars, to avoid the loud music and billows of cigarette smoke. 

Toes in the Water

     This post is long over due, but you deserve to get introduced to Nanchang just as I did. In one of my first weeks here at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (which seems like forever ago) we had a formal day of orientation. This included a presentation from some of the staff of the Overseas Education Office, as well as some lunch and a tour of a few areas of the city.

     In the orientation we came to find out that there are over 35 students in our program from all over the world, some of the countries represented include: USA, Mexico, Holland, Finland, South Korea, Spain, Czech Republic, and maybe a few others that I am leaving out. The best part about all of that is there are 8 guys.....
     The lunch was served buffet style at the hotel that they have here on campus (quality of the hotel yet to be known). We then got on a charter bus and headed into the city. There we walked up and down the river that splits downtown. We strolled through a river side park that included small exercise areas (awkwardly placed all over China) and monuments that gave tribute to some ancient Chinese history.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

    The final part of Orientation was spent at the Teng Wang Pavilion, which I think is the most beautiful part of Nanchang. The Pavilion is a building and coinciding complex that once belonged to ancient royalty of China. The pavilion itself is a 7 or so story building full of ancient artifacts as well as gift shops on every level. It sits on the river and houses a huge courtyard that is home to a few other small buildings. This was one of the first major things I saw in Nanchang, and it is still one of my favorites.