Edinburgh tales

Edinburgh claims to be the most haunted city of the world with many spirits who suffered from the black plague still lurking in dark crevices and underground tunnels. Yesterday I visited Mary King's Close, a small section of a series of an old city which was decapitated to make way for a new city, which they built on top. The mazes of the old city are still intact, and it is hard to believe that a few hundred years ago there was a completely different lay out to the city.

I am impressed by all the old black buildings I see. Street after street, there are rows upon rows of apartment houses, castles, grand manors. The Edinburgh castle, of which the city is built around, casts an imposing imprint on my memory. We climb up jagged and beautiful crags, which are tall rocks and cliffs, in order to see the city from a bird's eye view.

I climb up 823 feet onto the city's tallest crag called Arthur's Seat. Uncertain about why the place has been dubbed so, I imagine it to be King Arthur from the old legends claiming the area for his own when he was blown away by the beautiful expanse of Edinburgh city. The rough wind whistles through my ears. The greenness and historical wonder of the city amazes me.







Coming from Australia, Edinburgh is nothing like I have visualised before. I have seen old buildings but not in this wondrous setting, with the crisp cool air and blustering wind from the top of the hill. The entire city looks like something out of a Hogwarts movie. I can see why JK Rowling mused and pondered over Harry Potter from Elephant and Bagel Cafe, which has a view overlooking the castle. It is no surprise that Rowling was inspired by the land she lived in.

In Edinburgh, Catherine cooked a haggis dinner feast for Jonas and I one night. (Definition: a steamed pudding made of finely minced sheep heart, lungs and liver, boiled in a sheep's stomach). It was not as revolting as I imagined.

A few days pass and my companions Catherine and Jonas travel to The Highlands to meet Ailsa, our mutual friend from China. Sitting on the train we pass increasingly dramatic scenery, with crags seemingly looming higher and higher as we journey north-west. When we finally reach her village, Glenfinnan, she meets us with her newborn Finn.

Ailsa, in her lazy Croc shoes, and a relaxed slingback to carry Finn, blends well into the pleasant scenery. She looks at home in a village where 60 people live, where everybody says hello to passerbys, where the peaceful lochs are just a few hundred metres walk away. We walk to an old church which is peeling paint and where the tired wooden pews are looking in need of more visitors, but there is charm with its stained glass windows- and when we walk out of the church, a view with unassuming beauty is laid out before our eyes.

The next day we adventure out to the Isle of Muck. We alight on the train upwards, and then catch the ferry Caledonian MacBrayne. It takes about two hours to reach our island destination, and my companions are the only ones to alight the ferry to arrive onto Muck, an island which can can boast a few cows, green farmland and one visible cafe. The rain patters away as we trod onwards, following the path that leads us to a beach. I can imagine that on a drier, sunnier day, the scenery might even be called gorgeous, but as it is, it is still beautiful in its wetness. It was fitting to experience rain in the wettest area of Scotland, and as we catch our return ferry, the sun mockingly shines upon us again.

Edinburgh gives me a taste of the coldest summer I have yet experienced. Perhaps my lack of appropriate clothing helped me to imagine that Scottish weather was like the beginning of Australian winter. However, a small reminder of home did beckon: The midgies find us in the Highlands (small mosquito-like insects that like to bite humans and suck blood) and like home, I meet their greeting with scratching.

Viral marketing at its best

I said I would post this up after I had a chance to check it out. But I haven't had the chance. So i'll post this up and you can check it out yourselves, if you think its worth it.

T

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Thanks,
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My month of May!

Have finally found my way into an Internet cafe- I'm at Mazagran and if my ears hear correctly i've settled into an American haunt. Everyone seems American!It's officially past three months in China. There's so much to reflect upon... but at the same time when you try to force yourself to write, it's much harder.My May holidays were spent in Sichuan Province..very stunning scenery for a lass who hasn't seen much snow in her life. My Northern hemisphere travelling mates were bemused by my perhaps unexpected enthusiasm. Well what can I say, they don't have Christmas in Summer.

Western Sichuan is beautiful- the photo here is of Gong Ga Shan (I think). We were on our way from Kang Ding, a commercialised little Tibetan city to Xing Du Qiao where we were to stay the night in a rich Tibetan family house. The trip was very random and unplanned; how we ended up staying in this candystore of a room was beyond me but an experience it definitely was!

The guy in the photo is Chris from Canada, a happy boy. We also spent some time in the Tagong Grasslands, a vast expanse where Tibetan people live. I can understand why the Tibetans are usually described as proud and noble. Cold and crisp at night and burning during the day, you have no choice but to be tough. I was informed that instead of sunscreen the people applied yoghurt to protect their faces-an alternative effect was that there were many little children with rosy, rosy red cheeks. It's a very chilled-out spot with not much to do in terms of entertainment, but if you like the great outdoors and trekking, horseriding, etc its perfect. Not many leisure travellers either- the only foreigners there were mainly other language students from Sichuan univerisities.

So now I'm back home and trying to get back into the rhythmn of uni. It's difficult. Jacob and I (photo1) also held our belated housewarming, a fun-filled night with fabulous company. The theme was 'Kool or Kitsch'- we danced and partied until the guards in our apartment asked us to be a little quieter..

I think I've become a little indulgent lately- I've had two foot massages and a head/back massage the past week... feeling like a girl... went and bought nail polish and purple mascara yesterday too... I think it's the backlash from travelling... coz when I'm abroad, I pack light and with utility in mind- I also end up being dirty from lack of showers and wearing the same clothes over and over...

Now with my new weapons of femininity, life is bliss.. =)

-x-
Tanny

I can't post up pictures in Blogspot!

For some reason, Blogspot won't let me post up pictures. It always comes up with an error. Any ideas?

Going with Jacob to Sichuan province today, it's above Yunnan province and meant to have one of the biggest populations in China. Also, spicy girls and guys! We're not spending too long in Chengdu, and then Anna will join us doing the classic 'back door' route to Yunnan, through little towns and villages such as Li Tang.. very tibetan in influences. Don't know how long I'll be there for yet... but exams after.

I haven't packed yet... but I'm going to wrap 'jiao zi' which is like a dumpling with some chinese girls for lunch... mmmmmm....

I've just succumbed and joined Facebook....

习惯了吗？

Due to dryness in the Yunnan province, the Chinese government has resorted to shooting rockets into the air. This act has prompted an environmental change- almost every night last week, it rained cats and dogs. How very strange.

In class the other day, the teacher asked us to talk about what we were not yet 'xi guan' about... that is not accustomed to in China. Here were some of the answers:
- The staring
- Children shitting on the side of the road
- The slowness of the checkout chicks at Carrefour (Coles is much more efficient!)
- The slowness of everything
- The spitting

The usual complaints. I'm ok with those things, it doesn't bug me as much as it seems to have bugged others. I've only seen a kid relieving himself once, and as long as they don't spit on me it doesn't matter. The slowness of Carrefour is something that you have to just take in your stride- besides I've never been in a rush to go anywhere afterwards. Life is just easy come, easy go.

Three points of 'strangeness in China' for myself:
-Lack of hot water during the cooler days. I'm supposed to have hot water at home, generated by electricity but it seems that it only effectively works during the warmer days. It's probably the solar power kicking in then. Having said that, today's weather is crisp and I had a steaming hot if not powerful shower. At least the water doesn't trickle.

- Using chopsticks for absolutely everything! I understand noodles, I understand rice.. but when I had a bbq with some lovely Chinese people on Sunday, I just really wanted a fork and knife. A fork, so i could bloody hold the fish and a knife so I could take some meat off it. And eggplants, don't talk to me about them! Their texture is such so that it is difficult to separate. It was a fun night, we drank tea and bbqed from 3.30pm- 10pm. Six and a half hours of eating and drinking, that is a record!

-The constant reliance of mobile phones. Chinese people seem to live by their mobile phones, and so do the rest of the population residing here. If an sms is sent, a reply is expected almost straight away. You are considered rude if you don't reply. A few times when I missed some calls, the next conversation started off with 'Why didn't you pick up my phone call?" I've improved my sms replying skills dramatically since arriving here...

Common traits of a returnee

I recently read this book called "The People's Republic of Desire", by Annie Wang. It was an enjoyable read with deep insights and entertaining memories. The first chapter "A fake foreign devil' caught my eye in particular: it describes the traits of a female "returnee", that is, someone who is chinese who returns back to their homeland to live. I found it resonated strongly with me.

Common traits of a returnee (as observed by Annie Wang).
1. They don't wear miniskirts of makeup like so many local girls do. They often don't look very fashionable and seem to care litle about such frippery (I have tried to avoid the frills, the sequins, the fake diamontes, etc)
2. They usually have obtained some sort of degree in the West (she's an American- Chinese so she mentions Yale and Harvard)
3. They are timid pedestrians. It takes them forever to cross an average Chinese road (I'm working on that!)
4. They don't smoke. In fact, they get dizzy around smokers (never again am I going karaoke with people who smoke. I really couldn't stand the limited circulation).
5. They don't like people to ask where they come from, especially someone who has just met them. If they are prodded of an answer, they to to pause for several seconds as if facedith a multiple-choice question. (So me! Even in Australia I get stumped at this question. I think I rotate with answers).

While I don't consider China my homeland, I am linked to it in a way which I don't quite understand. China claims me- my heritage, my face, my culture, my mindset, my ideals. It doesn't matter that I was not born in China, and that if I was to claim another country besides Australia to be my heritage major, it would be Malaysia. To be chinese is something that supercedes time. Because I look Chinese, I am who I am.

PS The next post will be full of fun and frippery!

Highway my way...

Finally, blogspot firewalls have been unblocked~! Just a few key memories, before I go to sleep:

Taxi drivers drive like mad here. There are no rules. Well, there are- if the traffic light is red, it means you should watch out a little more- and if there are no cars, you can go. I had a conversation with a taxi driver one day which was quite amusing, and it all started because he actually STOPPED at a red light. He told me that he was looking for a wai guo ren wife, which is a foreigner. I asked him why he was looking and he told me that it was because when there are red lights in traffic, foreigners actually stop. He also said that foreigners have more manners than chinese people. He was obviously talking about foreigners of western descent... anyway I disagreed with him- foreigners stop at red lights, not because it is polite, but because it is inherent in their culture to stop at red lights. We have been raised to obey traffic rules- and if not, the penalties can be quite hard on the pocket. I told him that policemen in Australia fine us if we disobey road rules- policemen in China just look on.

I went with a bunch of friends to eat dog the other day. Yes, the deed is done, and I don't feel any worse for trying it. Apparently, the Southern Chinese in GuangDong province are reknowned for their ability to eat almost anything. Over here, dog does not seem that popular- there was only one other table dining in the dog-restaurant. If I had to give a flavour, bland would be my description, but someone else said it tasted like deer.

Visited some hot springs an hour away from Kunming yesterday. It was heavenly dipping into different pools of hot/warm scented and flavoured water set amongst a forest of beautiful trees. I will upload photos soon. The ultimate relaxation experience- we also had an exfoliating scrub, massage and a salt scrub. I think I showered three times that day. I'm cleaner and more well scrubbed than ever before in my life.

I think foreigners living in China will never quite live like a chinese person. It is not so easy as Australia to be assimiliated into the national culture, even if you could speak the language and understand the culture perfectly. I never understood how greatly appearance influenced a person's mindset as I do now, living in China. I may disappear into the crowd sometimes, looking like a chinese person... but once I talk, everyone knows I'm not from the area. Others cannot hide so easily. Western people particularly live a lifestyle in China that may be considered priveledged sometimes. It's cool to be looked up to just because you look white. Just because you may be able to speak english. I cannot get a job teaching english so easily just because I look chinese. The larger schools need a western face for advertising. Forget the fact that the person they are using as their figurehead's mother tongue is swedish, and they are definitely not as good at english as I am! Other times it is fun to be overlooked. I don't receive the constant staring that others experience.