The Hostel we stayed at, Lazy Bones, was awesome! It made me want to change my career path and work there forever. It was exactly how I imagine I would have things set up. It had a very hip bohemian feel; there where book shelves over flowing with a simple sign that said, ”Not for sale, book swap only.” There was also a box of items left behind by travels free for anyone who could use them. The owner is a young girl that runs the front desk and handles the money. Then the rest of the staff is all recent college graduates. They clients are mostly foreigners and everyone spoke beautiful English. There was a big living room that the guest and staff could hang out in, use the internet, play pool, watch movies on the big screen and order food or drinks from the bar. The tables where decorated by postcards from previous guests and drawings of everyone’s home town; which gave it a homey feel. They also offered tour packages like most hotels in China, but these were all for low budget. I feel the hostel gave up most of the standard markup most hotels receive from the travel companies.
Our second day there we took advantage of what the hostel advertised as “the free walking tour of the countryside.” This turned out to be climbing a great wall. To clarify this is A great wall not THE great wall in Beijing. They are not connected but have the same name; at least the English Translations are the same. It even looks the same with dark grey stones and lookout tower, except that this wall leads to a monastery; Very tricky. It didn’t seem nearly as painful as the great wall was in the melting August summer sun, but now we faced the complete opposite nuisance of icy wind and snow flurries! The boys sped threw the stairs fast enough to have time to eat the steamy corn on the cob from one of the many street venders leading up to the temple. A couple from the Lazy Bones staff acted as our tour guides and bought us all incense to place at temple. They told us that most temples have the 4 versions of Buddha, north, south, east and west. They laughed as we explained that west Buddha was our favorite because he looks like a badass rock star with his sitar and power stance. I was taken back when I entered the upper temple and noticed the swastika symbol all over the temple. Roz explained that it is a Chinese symbol like the ying-yang meaning equality. Hitler took the symbol and reversed it to create the swastika.
The hand rails around the temple were covered in small red ribbons. People would purchase the ribbon and write a prayer or wish on them they tie it on the railing. Roz and I bought one and wrote a prayer for understanding and respect between our two countries and two religions. I was brought to tears as we held hands just outside the Buddhist temple and prayed to our God. Thanking him for the opportunity to experience another culture and asked his blessings on the people of Chengdu. It was so powerful to feel God even in a Buddhist Temple on the other side of the earth. I respect the beliefs of the Buddhist and admire their devotions. I truly felt that it was a peaceful holy place, but it was my God that I felt even at the feet of a golden Buddha.
A little less serious and respectful, we found a path back down the mountain that led us to the remains of 12 Buddha statues. We saw a Chinese group climb up pose for a picture with peace signs around the stone statues. We had to join the fun and positions our faces and arms to replace the missing pieces of the Buddha statues. I rationalized that it was ok because the Chinese people did it first, and others that walked by laughed and took our picture as well. I often feel there are no rules in China. Usually I bask in the freedom, but sometimes I am taken back by it. Inside the temple I saw professional photographers taking pictures of people praying, or worse people in a prayer pose. This was very odd to me. Why would you take pictures of someone worshiping or pretend to worship for a picture? Oh and of coarse then charge something ridiculous for the shot I am sure.
The best part of our day trip was the shopping! There were venders along the trail and even a man making animals out of bamboo leaves! The snakes were the most impressive and I couldn’t pass it up. Near the wall was a village full or cute stores, all ridiculously inexpensive. I bought everything. I needed it! We met a couple from the hostel that had met a few years ago traveling and were on vacation from teaching English at a Chinese University. They warned that it’s amazing how much stuff you collect over a year of teaching and that you have to learn to be more selective. I didn’t listen!
I told them their love story sounded like something from the movies! Will is American and Rosalinda is Irish. They both quit their successful career jobs to travel the world and met in Italy. They were both traveling alone so they decided to keep each other company and ended up falling in love. Now they are living together and teaching together in China! It just worked out that they were both at the same place in their lives and looking for a change and found each other. Unrelated, but they said the university they teach at advertises they want teachers with graduate degree but in reality many of the foreign English teachers are just out of Undergrad. You really just need your TEFL certificate and 2 years experience. This is very good news for me, because I have often thought about becoming an Economics professor. Teaching at a Chinese University would certainly be a step in the right direction.
My other favorite guest from the hostel turned out to be our 6th roommate! I was really nervous about me and my 4 American friends sharing a hostel with some random person that was going to murder me in my sleep but the boys promised to protect me! We really lucked out getting placed with Aden. He was a Chinese guy from somewhere not too far from Chengdu. He was going to grad school in Savannah Georgia and was back in China to get his paper work for next semester set up through the American Embassy nearby. He was about our age and was used to American culture and college lifestyle, which is a lot like our teaching group when we get together. We even ended up going out to bars with him and one of the guys on staff at the hostel. It’s amazing I had the most fun on the whole trip when we were playing drinking games at the bar with our 2 new Chinese friends! I could have saved a lot of money and stayed in Shenzhen!
Our other Chinese friend was Kaye. He had been working at the hostel about a year and instantly clicked with our group. I would sit outside with Roz while she had a cigarette and he just came up and sat with us one day and exchanged life stories. He was a Chengdu local and told us how the city was growing with so many people that it was hard to find a good job. More and more people are going to college so they all graduate wanting to go right into their career field and there just aren’t enough professional positions available for all the graduates. It’s like the US where the undergraduate degree is now almost a given and you have to get a graduate degree to stand out. The difference is that there is so much pressure on the children to make enough money to take care of their parents, especially with the one-child policy and even more so for the boys. There really is still a major preference for male children in China. That is surprising to me because the job market seems very equal. This generation many women hold senior positions. Roz’s head master is a woman and she is the most successful in Shenzhen.
One thing that was different about Chengdu was that at the bar me and Roz would smile at the Chinese guys who came up to cheers us and “welcome us to China!” But they ended up only talking to the guys! No one would talk to us directly. I don’t know if that’s a cultural thing that you don’t talk directly to the girls or if our guys where just such social butterflies that they stole our potential men! In Shenzhen I am used to getting all the attention but we found out after we left that Chengdu is the gay capital of China. It’s very hard to tell in China because the men are very affectionate. It is perfectly acceptable for guys to walk with their arms around each other or squeeze together into one metro seat. In general Chinese men spend a lot of time on their appearance and wear the skinny jean fashion. The guys at the hair saloons are the worst because they take every free moment to keep their hair longer and big. The funny part is that being openly gay in China is unheard of. It is extremely taboo and not well accepted. Many Chinese people have told me they don’t have gays in China, yet I have been to gay bars. One of the many mysteries of China.
Our second day there we took advantage of what the hostel advertised as “the free walking tour of the countryside.” This turned out to be climbing a great wall. To clarify this is A great wall not THE great wall in Beijing. They are not connected but have the same name; at least the English Translations are the same. It even looks the same with dark grey stones and lookout tower, except that this wall leads to a monastery; Very tricky. It didn’t seem nearly as painful as the great wall was in the melting August summer sun, but now we faced the complete opposite nuisance of icy wind and snow flurries! The boys sped threw the stairs fast enough to have time to eat the steamy corn on the cob from one of the many street venders leading up to the temple. A couple from the Lazy Bones staff acted as our tour guides and bought us all incense to place at temple. They told us that most temples have the 4 versions of Buddha, north, south, east and west. They laughed as we explained that west Buddha was our favorite because he looks like a badass rock star with his sitar and power stance. I was taken back when I entered the upper temple and noticed the swastika symbol all over the temple. Roz explained that it is a Chinese symbol like the ying-yang meaning equality. Hitler took the symbol and reversed it to create the swastika.
The hand rails around the temple were covered in small red ribbons. People would purchase the ribbon and write a prayer or wish on them they tie it on the railing. Roz and I bought one and wrote a prayer for understanding and respect between our two countries and two religions. I was brought to tears as we held hands just outside the Buddhist temple and prayed to our God. Thanking him for the opportunity to experience another culture and asked his blessings on the people of Chengdu. It was so powerful to feel God even in a Buddhist Temple on the other side of the earth. I respect the beliefs of the Buddhist and admire their devotions. I truly felt that it was a peaceful holy place, but it was my God that I felt even at the feet of a golden Buddha.
A little less serious and respectful, we found a path back down the mountain that led us to the remains of 12 Buddha statues. We saw a Chinese group climb up pose for a picture with peace signs around the stone statues. We had to join the fun and positions our faces and arms to replace the missing pieces of the Buddha statues. I rationalized that it was ok because the Chinese people did it first, and others that walked by laughed and took our picture as well. I often feel there are no rules in China. Usually I bask in the freedom, but sometimes I am taken back by it. Inside the temple I saw professional photographers taking pictures of people praying, or worse people in a prayer pose. This was very odd to me. Why would you take pictures of someone worshiping or pretend to worship for a picture? Oh and of coarse then charge something ridiculous for the shot I am sure.
The best part of our day trip was the shopping! There were venders along the trail and even a man making animals out of bamboo leaves! The snakes were the most impressive and I couldn’t pass it up. Near the wall was a village full or cute stores, all ridiculously inexpensive. I bought everything. I needed it! We met a couple from the hostel that had met a few years ago traveling and were on vacation from teaching English at a Chinese University. They warned that it’s amazing how much stuff you collect over a year of teaching and that you have to learn to be more selective. I didn’t listen!
I told them their love story sounded like something from the movies! Will is American and Rosalinda is Irish. They both quit their successful career jobs to travel the world and met in Italy. They were both traveling alone so they decided to keep each other company and ended up falling in love. Now they are living together and teaching together in China! It just worked out that they were both at the same place in their lives and looking for a change and found each other. Unrelated, but they said the university they teach at advertises they want teachers with graduate degree but in reality many of the foreign English teachers are just out of Undergrad. You really just need your TEFL certificate and 2 years experience. This is very good news for me, because I have often thought about becoming an Economics professor. Teaching at a Chinese University would certainly be a step in the right direction.
My other favorite guest from the hostel turned out to be our 6th roommate! I was really nervous about me and my 4 American friends sharing a hostel with some random person that was going to murder me in my sleep but the boys promised to protect me! We really lucked out getting placed with Aden. He was a Chinese guy from somewhere not too far from Chengdu. He was going to grad school in Savannah Georgia and was back in China to get his paper work for next semester set up through the American Embassy nearby. He was about our age and was used to American culture and college lifestyle, which is a lot like our teaching group when we get together. We even ended up going out to bars with him and one of the guys on staff at the hostel. It’s amazing I had the most fun on the whole trip when we were playing drinking games at the bar with our 2 new Chinese friends! I could have saved a lot of money and stayed in Shenzhen!
Our other Chinese friend was Kaye. He had been working at the hostel about a year and instantly clicked with our group. I would sit outside with Roz while she had a cigarette and he just came up and sat with us one day and exchanged life stories. He was a Chengdu local and told us how the city was growing with so many people that it was hard to find a good job. More and more people are going to college so they all graduate wanting to go right into their career field and there just aren’t enough professional positions available for all the graduates. It’s like the US where the undergraduate degree is now almost a given and you have to get a graduate degree to stand out. The difference is that there is so much pressure on the children to make enough money to take care of their parents, especially with the one-child policy and even more so for the boys. There really is still a major preference for male children in China. That is surprising to me because the job market seems very equal. This generation many women hold senior positions. Roz’s head master is a woman and she is the most successful in Shenzhen.
One thing that was different about Chengdu was that at the bar me and Roz would smile at the Chinese guys who came up to cheers us and “welcome us to China!” But they ended up only talking to the guys! No one would talk to us directly. I don’t know if that’s a cultural thing that you don’t talk directly to the girls or if our guys where just such social butterflies that they stole our potential men! In Shenzhen I am used to getting all the attention but we found out after we left that Chengdu is the gay capital of China. It’s very hard to tell in China because the men are very affectionate. It is perfectly acceptable for guys to walk with their arms around each other or squeeze together into one metro seat. In general Chinese men spend a lot of time on their appearance and wear the skinny jean fashion. The guys at the hair saloons are the worst because they take every free moment to keep their hair longer and big. The funny part is that being openly gay in China is unheard of. It is extremely taboo and not well accepted. Many Chinese people have told me they don’t have gays in China, yet I have been to gay bars. One of the many mysteries of China.
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