Formosa

Taiwan was a very nice break from China. It was similar to China, but with a few big differences. Taiwan is a developed country, and it was very clear to see when I used the public transport, because that was extremely good. It was a huge change from China, to buy a train ticket without any hassle and to sit in a train on a very comfortable soft seat without anyone next to you. In China you usually have to buy train tickets in advance cause else you have to stand the whole journey and even if you can sit it’s usually a hard seat without any space. In Taiwan however it’s ok just to go to the train station and to buy a ticket without queuing for a nice seat with huge leg space. I would even say that the trains I have been on last week in Taiwan are more comfortable and cleaner than the ones in Holland. Personally I think Holland has one of the best railroads in the world, so I was very surprised to see that Taiwan has better quality trains. Apart from the trains I was very impressed by the public transport, I think it might actually be the best public transport I have experienced.

Ok enough about the transport, but it shows that Taiwan is a developed country, which makes travelling in it a lot easier. (Though China has quite good trains and busses as well for a developing country, and it’s amazing that there are public busses going to the most remote corners of China.) Because Taiwan is a developed country it was also a lot more expensive than China, this was most notable when drinking beer, because in Taiwan they pay taxes over alcohol, something which is quite normal, but which doesn’t seem to be the case in China.

Another thing which really hit me when I was in Taipei and actually everywhere in Taiwan, even in the more remote east coast, was how beautiful the people were. The girls are hotter, the guys more handsome and even the old people are looking way better than their counterparts on the mainland. Since the ethnicity of the Taiwanese is the same as the Chinese this difference is quite striking, cause you would think that they look the same or at least very similar. But somehow they don’t. Of course the main reason for this, is that Taiwanese people have more money, so they can spend more money on their clothes, and happily for them it pays off. Another reason for this is that Taiwanese people seem to have developed their own style and rather wear nice clothes without the word ARMANI in big letters, than an obvious fake one.

In one week I went around the whole island and apart from the weather it has been a great week. We were very unfortunate with the weather, cause there was a typhoon in Taiwan and so it was raining a lot. The only souvenir I now have from Taiwan is an umbrella.

For me the highlights were simply seeing a different Asian country with the same or very similar culture but than a lot more developed, and the Tarogo gorge. The Tarogo gorge is a national park in Taiwan and unfortunately I could not do any hiking there, but there were some great views because off the typhoon. The Typhoon was basically only rain and it made some really big waterfalls possible in the gorge, which were quite spectacular to look at. Those waterfalls were also on the road in the gorge and made the wonderful public transport stop, so there was no bus out of the gorge anymore. I was very glad that in only ten minutes I could catch a ride from an American out of the gorge, cause no matter how nice the views where, it would have been a very boring day to stay there the whole day.

Taiwan has been the first place for me to visit which has been part of Holland in the past. I visited one Dutch fort, called fort Zeeburgia and I was surprised to see that the Dutch colonialists where portrayed as intelligent people who have build great ships and had very advanced artillery. Although in Taipei we also visited a Spanish fort, and there the Taiwanese made the mistake of putting up a Luxembourg flag. Telling me that they didn’t had a Dutch one and that most people didn’t notice anyway. Apart from those two forts and Taiwanese people telling me that there is a historic relationship between our countries, there was nothing to see which reminded of Dutch rule in Taiwan.

Finally Taiwan has also been the first country I’ve been to where at the time of leaving they told me, that I would not be able to enter Taiwan again with the same passport. No, I didn’t do anything wrong, but my passport is just expiring within half a year. Since I didn’t know this, I guess I’m very lucky that my holiday was an early one, cause else I would have been at the border being told I could go back to China again.

Some thoughts about 60 years of Communism

Tomorrow I’ll leave to Taiwan. I’m looking forward to go there, because I’ve met some wonderful Taiwanese people in the past and heard good stories about the country itself. But before going there maybe I should consider why I’m getting this holiday. The first reason is the 60th anniversary of Communist rule in China, the second is the mid-autumn festival, which is a really nice festival of which I could write a really happy post. However I choose to write something less happy about the first reason.

Apart from blocking internet sites, and the trouble of getting the right visa you don’t really notice a lot of the Chinese government if you’re a foreigner. And taking in account that the Chinese have it far worse to get a visa to Holland or any other European Union country for that matter, you could almost say that it’s easy to obtain one. (Although that’s not what you think when you have to run all around the city for another document which really is only unnecessary paperwork.) And if you’re a Chinese neo-Nazi you will be bothered by some EU countries blocking your websites as well. (I know, this is not the same.)

Several days ago I saw a picture of the Dutch premier meeting Barack Obama and his wife. Our premier had a big smile on his face and looked delighted to meet the Obama’s, actually he looked so happy finally to meet this couple that he was about to ask their signature. You saw him thinking “Can I?” If he would been Chinese he would probably have gotten his camera out himself and ask if they would like to pose with him. All in all he didn’t look that good at this picture and he looked a little bit like a loser who will never say no to Barrack. It made me think by myself that this picture would never appear in the Chinese news. Cause one it would not be allowed to picture the president in this way, and second the Chinese president would act a lot more serious and stronger.

Dutch politics are a little bit like a circus nowadays and I don’t think a lot of Dutch people think very highly of most Dutch politicians. Reading about Dutch politics in China always makes me feel a little bit sad. The topics they are discussing are as good as the same, as when I left Holland, except for maybe adding a law to force people to work for a longer time. Apart from that the topics haven’t changed nor have the viewpoints of the politicians themselves. Happily enough I can always find relief in the thought that our governments decisions only influence the lives of about 16 million people and that in a few years there will already be a new legitimate government.

This is where the Chinese government is different. One it’s not legitimate cause it has never been in question who the people in charge are. And second it rules over the lives of almost a 100 times more people. It’s decisions influence roughly about 1/6 of the world population. Thinking about these two facts I’m one very happy that the Chinese don’t have a similar government circus, and two afraid that so much power in the hands of so few isn’t that ideal either…

It’s not such a comfortable thought that China’s future which will most likely determine the future of the world is in the hands of only a few people. I don’t know enough of the Chinese government and how it really works to judge, but looking at the development which is visible I would say that so far, they do a very good job for most of the Chinese. 60 years ago China was a very poor country and now cities like Xiamen are rich and don’t do a lot under for European cities. I can’t see the situation 60 years ago, but from what I’ve been told there has been great progress.

There will be big parade’s, shows and celebrations everywhere in China, and it’s deserved in some way, the development is undeniable and most Chinese people are happy and extremely proud of being Chinese. But coming from a democratic country like The Netherlands I can’t do else than wonder about how the Tibetans or the Uyghur’s or just any Chinese who disagrees with the way things are going, feels on a day like this. There is without a doubt a dark shadow to this holiday.

The only thing the Dutch government could be is a good example of how to lead a country, for the rest of the world. Unfortunately they are very far away from that at the moment, in my opinion, but at least we voted for them and at least we have the possibility to protest against whatever our government would ever think of. Hopefully China will be able to allow something like that as well somewhere in the next 60 years. Personally I think they will, because just as the Dutch government can’t continue like this, the Chinese government will be forced to change as well.

Now I’m going to bed and will write a nice blog about my travels in Taiwan next time.

Some news from XiaDa 厦大

Already more than 2 weeks at university again and already a month in Xiamen. Time flies! So far I’m quite happy with my lessons and everything. Although it did surprise me that the teachers kind of supposed that we were also able to write the characters we knew. Cause I do know how to write some characters but only very few. So I will learn how to write them very soon I suppose. Besides that I think I will learn a lot of new words here, which I will hopefully also be able to use sometimes.

The first two weeks there have been a lot of students switching classes, because they thought the lessons were too easy or too hard, but now we’ll have the class which will stay the same for the rest of the semester. It’s a very international class, with only a small majority of students with an Asian background. From Europe there are only 2 Dutch people including me, two Turkish guys and four German girls. Surprisingly there is only one Russian girl in my class. It’s a surprise because there are quite a lot of Russians studying here, in Wuhu the Russians were also quite visible in the expat scene. Before going to China I had not expected to see so many Russians, but on the other hand it’s a big country and its right next to China, so it makes sense.

Most Chinese universities have a campus and are isolated from the rest of the city, and because of this many students in China never leave the campus for months. They don’t need to leave the campus and at night it’s normal that they have to be back in their dormitory before 11pm. In those dormitories they’re usually living together with 3 or 5 other students, so they don’t really have a lot of privacy. My university here also has this kind of campus, but having said that, I have to add that it’s not very isolated from the city and that it actually seems to be in the best part of the city. It’s right next to the beach and in a quite (for Chinese standards) area of the city, besides the campus is voted more than once as the most beautiful campus in China. So most students here do leave the campus once in a while, although even here there are a lot of students just staying inside I believe. Of course this is not the case for the foreign students of which most don’t even live on campus. Which leads to a lot of differences between the lifestyle of the foreign and Chinese students. Despite those differences I did manage to make my first few Chinese friends (or maybe I should call them contacts) here. Which is good, cause now I’m finally able to actually use the language I’m studying again.

I also got a teaching job again. And it’s very good that by now I speak at least a little bit of Chinese, cause this time the assistant didn’t spoke any English. Which I found surprising for an English school in a developed city like Xiamen. (Still need to write something about Xiamen itself some other time.) Another thing which is very nice here, is that last weekend there was a beach party on Saturday. There were an amazing amount of foreigners (more than there are living in Wuhu) and only a handful of Chinese, but it was definitely the best party so far in Xiamen. The ambience at the beach with nice music and beer, was very good and wins it by miles over every club in Xiamen I’ve been to so far. I heard it will be held every month, although I’m not sure if they will continue in the winter, cause now the temperature at night still stays above 25 degrees, which is a very pleasant temperature.

Finally we will already get our first holiday in October! This means that in about 1 week I’ll already have my first holiday since going back to university. Since they gave me a very good visa this time, which means that apart from staying in China I’m also able to leave China and come back without any problems, I’m thinking of a small trip to Taiwan. If possible though, cause some people say it’s no problem, and others tell me that I have to go to Hong Kong first. The later will be a bit above my budget I’m afraid.

Back to school

The first busy days at university are already behind me. It was a busy week including, registration, getting to know the university, getting a new visa, meeting the other students, meeting the teachers, buying study books and finally even a whole medical checkup. Then there were also several diners and parties which were (happily enough) not organized by the university.

The first official activity was the introduction ceremony. I remember that this kind of ceremony in Amsterdam was held in the afternoon and that it included a short welcome speech and then a few free drinks to welcome the new students. It was the same in London. In China however this is a bit different, here the welcome ceremony starts at Sunday morning 8:30 and here it doesn’t even include a free cup of coffee, nor an expensive cup. Not even tea! Another difference is that after the short welcoming speech, there are several other people who need to tell the new students about the registration procedure at the university and finally they also need to inform us about the rules and regulations of the university. The last thing is a bit typical because the rules and regulations are what we in Holland would think of as common sense. In Amsterdam and London they also inform the new students about most of the possible risks they should not take, but in China they kind of exaggerate it.

A good example is that at some point the guy told us that the sea was very dangerous, because every year they “lost” at least one student. He said this in a way that half of the crowd (The people who understood English) had to giggle which made him add very seriously; “The sea is very dangerous! Don’t swim in the sea! We have a pool, so swim in the pool! Not in the sea!” So it looks like I already broke this rule before I had even heard of it.

Another noticeable event was the medical examination. It was the first time that I had to go through such a complete medical examination. It included far more doctors and research than I thought it would have, cause I thought it would be a simple blood check to see if I had aids or any other scary disease. But it turned out to be a very complete body check, everything from my body; eyes,ears, mouth, heart, lungs, skin, blood, weight, height, etc was going to be examined. In total there were about ten rooms and almost 20 doctors. If there would have been any unpleasant surprises they would have kicked me out of China by now. So as you can guess I came through the health check without any problems. Although there were a few small surprises (nothing serious), which looking on the bright side might be good to know. Although I could doubt the expertise of the Chinese doctors.

I would almost forget that last week my Chinese lessons also started. Before the classes started I had to take a placement test, so that they could put me in the right class. Having survived the first week of classes I think they placed me in quite a good class. Most of the students in my class come from other Asian countries like Korea, Thailand, Japan etc. But I’m glad that I have a few classmates who come from Europe and even one girl who comes from Holland. She already studied Chinese for 2 years in Leiden university, so I think the level of the class is a bit higher than I expected it to be. The teachers don’t speak any English in class, but I’m able to understand most of what they’re saying. Mostly because they speak very clearly, I wish all Chinese people would speak like my teachers. So far I think the classes are quite good, so I should be able to make great progress with my Chinese this year.

Finally I met a lot of other international students here. So I had a lot of social dinners and beers this last week, made my first friends in Xiamen and had a busy eventful but very enjoyable week. Although I’m very glad to have some friends around here, I do hope to meet some new Chinese friends here as well, cause so far I only know two Chinese people here. For some nice photo’s from the last days I would like to give the link of my new Swedish friend Jimmy, he’s also a new student here and updates his blog a bit more often than me. http://coffecravinginchina.blogspot.com/ Because he takes his camera to most places he’s able to upload photo’s in his dropbox. So below every post of him there is a link to some photo’s. So check it out!

A room with a view

View from my window.

Last Friday after more than 2 months of travelling I finally arrived in Xiamen. From now on I will stay in the same place again, at least that’s what I’m planning to do. Much to my surprise I immediately found a room on the day I arrived. I expected to find a room somewhere this week with a lot of hassle and the whole search to be quite frustrating. But apart from the bargaining it turned out to be quite easy.

When I just got off the bus I found out that the youth hostel, where I planned on staying the first week was already full. So I went to the first internet bar I saw, and searched for the number of the University’s foreign student department. When I called them, I was surprised to hear that they would immediately send someone from a housing agency to the main gate of the university, to help me find a room.

I was even more surprised to find out that the student working for the agency could speak decent English. This is quite a change from Wuhu, where even the English majors don’t speak English that well. The first room she showed me was quite small and 600 Yuan more expensive than I had in mind. Apart from the size and the rent, I wasn’t very happy with the room. The second one she showed me, had the price I had in mind, but this room was even smaller, and didn’t have any windows. And because the room wasn’t that new anymore all in all it looked kind of depressing. Not a very good place to live, to say the least.

Fortunately the landlady had another room upstairs. This room was a lot bigger and had two big windows opposite each other, both with a great view. Outside the room there was a roof balcony, from where you could see the sea and on the other side the university campus. I immediately liked this room, but unfortunately the landlord wanted 500 Yuan more than I was planning on paying for accommodation. It was a very nice room but not being sure of getting a part time job here, I thought I could better go and find another room. Because I said that this was a really nice room, but just a bit too expensive for me the landlord offered the rent 200 Yuan cheaper, I still thought this was too expensive, so I left. Downstairs we were surprised by a phone call. “What about 300 Yuan Cheaper?”

So I experienced my first bargaining over a room, which went quite successful in my opinion. So far I heard that my new neighborhood close to the university is in general quite expensive, especially for foreigners. However I still think it’s a bit strange to bargain over the rent, that’s just impossible to do in Amsterdam. Though it’s a lot harder to find a room in Amsterdam as well.

View from the other window. Outside the photo on the right is the university.

On a side note, from my balcony you can even see the statue of the Chinese hero Koxinga, who is standing on another small Island (Gulangyu). They have a very big statue of him, because he defeated the Dutch colonists in Taiwan and reoccupied Chinese land. Therefore he is a Chinese/Taiwanese hero and one of the landmarks in my new city.

All in all I’m quite happy with my new room, although I’m not sure how long I will live here. Opposite one of my big windows, there is an empty piece of land, which will most likely turn into a construction site very soon. So maybe I’ll need to find another room again in a few weeks…
But until that happens I’m quite glad to have this place and I will first see how everything will go with the university. Tomorrow is already the registration date!

My new room

Shanghai

Shanghai on a distance of only 6 hours with bus from Wuhu, is very different than Wuhu, but not so different as I expected it to be. Of course the city is far more bigger, crowded, richer, developed and international, which all together might make a huge difference, but apart from those differences, the city is still so Chinese. When I first got here I compared it to Hong Kong, but the difference with Hong Kong is a lot bigger in my opinion.

Shanghai might actually have more old colonial buildings than Hong Kong does, but despite those old European style buildings the people and the city’s atmosphere is so Chinese. There are quite a lot of foreigners here as well, but the difference with Hong Kong is, that here they all seem to be temporary residents or tourist, while in Hong Kong those other foreigners are also locals. Maybe people from Hong Kong disagree with me on that point, but if they live there for more than 20 years, they are just as local as anyone else who lived there 20 years.

There are probably some foreigners living for more than 20 years in Shanghai as well, but they are a very small minority. Compared to a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong it’s nothing. The foreigners here look like lost expats or tourists like me, which is the same as anywhere else in China. Another big difference with Hong Kong is the attitude from the local Chinese towards foreigners, they don’t stare at you anymore like in the more remote parts of China, but they thread you far from equal. While in Hong Kong the locals thread foreigners the same way like in Amsterdam or London. In Shanghai foreigners are living in a different world. Certain bars are only visited by expats, while there are Chinese clubs who are only visited by wealthy Chinese and some lost tourists. It’s the same situation in other Chinese cities, but I guess in the city with the most foreigners in China it’s more visible. It also seems to be a rule that foreigners need to pay more here, while in most parts of China it happens more occasional. Shanghai is a bit more expensive than the rest of China, but compared to Hong Kong it’s still very cheap.

A disappointment in Shanghai was that they are busy with construction works everywhere, including the famous Bund, which made it impossible to walk there. A useless but interesting fact about Shanghai I heard is that at some point in time, 75% of the worlds construction sites where based here. I haven’t checked whether it’s true or not, but seeing them building everywhere in this city makes me believe it is. It’s impossible to walk here for 10 minutes without seeing a construction site. The new subway line in Amsterdam is nothing compared to this. Another disappointment has been the weather here, which was not very good. As good as every day it was cloudy with a few days some rain as well. Still it’s quite hot, so walking around in Shanghai is not so pleasant.

Ferrari on the Bund next to one of the many construction sites.

Despite the construction sites, the weather and the hawkers (Which I haven’t mentioned yet, but they are approaching foreigners everywhere here, which is a bit annoying sometimes) I had a nice week here. This afternoon I’ll travel to Hangzhou, less than 2 hours with the train and next weekend I’ll already be arriving in Xiamen. Time is going very fast.

A half year

Today I’m exactly half a year in China. It’s the longest time I’ve been away from home. And in what kind of country! It’s a different world on this side of the world that’s for sure. After half a year I thought of writing some kind of evaluation about the last half year. First I tought of writing something about China or Chinese people. But when I was on the train towards Wuhu, I had to think about how many different opinions foreigners have about this country, and how many different experiences other foreigners have over here. The last couple of weeks I heard so many stories and opinions about China and the Chinese from other travelers, and they were all so different. Fellow travelers said that Chinese people are so friendly, rude, racist, conservative, curious, disinterested, helpful, funny, stupid, intelligent, uneducated, poor, rich, etc. I found the viewpoints so different that it’s almost like they all went to different countries. The only thing which everyone agreed to was that China is so big.

For me that might be the only thing which is undeniable. This country is just so big with so many people, that it’s possible to have so many different experiences over here. In half a year I had a lot of different experiences over here. I’ve met a lot of very friendly Chinese people, but of course there are also unfriendly people. They can be pretty rude, especially around train and bus stations and they usually spit without any shame, although in Beijing I only saw it a few times and I also know Chinese people who find this behavior very uncivilized. After half a year I’m not really sure what to think of China and the Chinese. This country has just too many different faces, as a figure of speech, though for China it’s true literally as well.

Yesterday morning I arrived back “home” in Wuhu. The place changed quite a bit since I left two months ago, things are changing very fast in China. Despite the changes it feels very familiar to be back again. Maybe it’s just that I know where I am and that I can go to places without looking at maps or thinking which way I should go. Or maybe after almost 4 months this place has become my home in China, although I wouldn’t really call it home cause it’s still so different than where I’m from. I have to admit that I’m getting used to the way things are around here, though off course I still miss my real home now and then, but not enough to make me go back yet.

The last half year past very fast, so fast that I can still perfectly remember the last day and night I was in Holland. Of course I also remember the first two weeks I had in China, when I just arrived, when everything was still new. When going for diner was still a complete surprise. Yesterday when I walked through the underground tunnel of the train station I had a déjà vu of the first time I walked through that tunnel at 5 in the morning, when I started my teaching job here, hoping that there would be someone from the school to pick me up outside the station. The teaching period was very interesting and it was nice to get to know this city in more detail. Very different than the travelling I just did, cause I saw a lot more places in China, but the idea I have about all those places is not very detailed to say the least. Well I enjoyed both periods and that’s the most important. Overall it has been a great adventure so far.

A little bit less than 2 weeks traveling left, before I finally go and search for a new home in Xiamen, where I will be studying very soon. Monday I’ll get my new visa and then Tuesday I’ll leave to Shanghai. After enjoying Hong Kong I’m curious how the economic metropolis of the mainland is going to be.