Goodbye, Changsha

So I'm actually back in Shenzhen for a few days before heading to the World Expo in Shanghai. I left Changsha by train on Sunday night. On my camera there still are many random pictures of my Changsha days.

Does this above dish look familiar? It is hotpot, and I had it once in Beijing here. Only this time, I remembered to take pictures of the many different foods that we cooked in the soup.

For example, we had fish balls, noodles, cabbage, hot dogs...

...bok choy, more fish balls, more cabbage, imitation crab...

...and second helpings of all of the above. Blame my cousin, who ordered 2 portions of every single dish. Still, it was really cheap! Including drinks, the whole meal added up to about 50 Yuan, which is about $8. Insane!

Here is a hole-in-the-wall place that my cousin and her friends like to frequent in downtown Changsha. It specializes in hot and sour noodles.

On another day, my oldest cousin treated us to lunch at a Japanese sushi place. It was a really fun restaurant where the sushi is plated and placed upon a conveyor belt. When we saw something we liked we would remove it from the belt. Each plate was colored differently to indicate a different price. After we were finished eating the waitress calculated the price by looking at the number and type of empty plates we had.

This next photo was actually not taken in Changsha but Xiangyin, the little town where my paternal grandparents live. It's a billboard proudly showing off the three students in the town who got accepted into the top two Chinese universities. One is Qinghua University and the other is Beijing University. Underneath their photo are their examination scores. I think this really shows not only the importance of education but also the closeness of the citizens of this small town.

I just thought this next sign was strange but witty. "Save Maoney Everyday." It's in a large Wal-mart in Changsha.

Well, I'm off to see the Expo! Wish me luck that I won't have to wait in lines for eight hours each day!

Buddhist Temple and a Town Plaza

It may seem like Xiangyin is a tiny place, but apparently the population right now is 730,000. There is a lot of new construction of residential buildings. In fact, right behind my grandparents’ apartment beyond the vegetable gardens, there are the loud clangs and crashes of construction.

Early in the morning, my grandfather took me to see a Buddhist temple. We took a bus to get to the location, which was about half an hour away. The bus costs 1 Yuan per person, which is about 16 cents. Quite an affordable way to get around! We take the same bus to go to the large supermarket. However, I was reminded of the hazards of public transportation when the crowded bus halted suddenly and the woman in front of me stepped back onto my open-toed foot with her sharp stiletto heel.

We traveled out into the country until we arrived at this, for lack of a better word, complex. It is still undergoing some construction and landscaping, but it has several large temples and offering areas, as well as plant life and a pond. On this rare day with a big, bright blue sky, the area was beautiful.




My grandfather burned some incense and papers. Other visitors let off some firecrackers.


We entered the main temple and bowed to the statues as a woman rang some kind of bell. I used to be more informed about Buddhism but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten a lot of the knowledge. I know that many Chinese look upon Buddhism as more of a way of life than a strict religious code.


If you’ve seen The Da Vinci Code, then you will know that this symbol originally was not the Nazi’s swastika.


At night we went for a nice walk by the riverside. There is a gathering place by the river on a plaza. It is a sort of community center, with people of all generations hanging out after a day of work or school. Music played while people danced, little kids played games and rode motorized toys, and elderly people strolled along the river or chatted with others.


These are little toys that kids can ride on around the plaza. I found the Tellytubby lookalike a little disturbing.


I think these kinds of gathering plazas are really good for the health and cohesiveness of a community. Too bad they are becoming rarer.

Small Town Xiangyin

In the past few days I have flown from Shenzhen to a province in China called Hunan. It is still in the southern region but located further away from the coast. I am staying with my grandparents (on my dad’s side). They live in a quiet little town called Xiangyin, about an hour away from the nearest large city, Changsha.

Xiangyin definitely differs from the modern Shenzhen in many ways. Though it is a bustling, growing town, it is still in a fledgling developmental state. Most people do not own cars so buses, motorcycles, bikes, pedestrians, and wagons full of fresh produce crowd the streets.


Unlike Shenzhen, there are no Walmarts, Sam’s Clubs, McDonalds, or Starbucks. There are about two large supermarkets but they are located far from my grandparents’ apartment so we have to ride the bus. Tiny little shops and street vendors dot the narrow streets, each selling goods such as clothes and shoes or providing services such as hair-styling.

Most people buy their daily groceries from large outdoor markets. The one market we visit each morning is much more intense than the one I saw in Shenzhen. Besides the standard fresh-picked vegetables, there are also live frogs, flopping fish, and freshly-butchered beef.



Life is much simpler here. Each day we wake early, around six or seven, and after a breakfast of noodles, steamed buns, or porridge, my grandfather and I hit the markets to buy the fresh produce for lunch and dinner. People here really emphasize freshness. They buy ingredients just a few hours before the meal. After a lunch of fish, vegetables, and white rice, my grandparents take a nap or do chores. Sometimes if I’m tired enough I’ll sleep for an hour or two.

In the afternoon I usually struggle through reading the Chinese version of Harry Potter or learn some calligraphy from my grandfather. Dinner is eaten early, around five or six. We finish up leftovers from lunch and may cook up some more fresh produce.

Around six, my grandparents watch the nightly news. I usually stick around, trying to understand as much of the news as possible. Sometimes we will take a short walk around the neighborhood. Then I call home or write up something for the blog. At nine, it’s lights out for the grandparents. I usually stay up for a few hours more, surfing the web and eating interesting Chinese snacks.

Life here can be agonizingly slow, but it is also a good break from the fast-paced, cutthroat outside world.