The Hidden Markets of China

     Here recently, we have discovered some random markets that are quickly becoming some of our favorite spots. Actually, it’s not fair to say we discovered them, as we were actually first taken by coworkers who have been here for a while now. Finding them on our own would have been tricky and navigating them successfully would have been nearly impossible without guidance the first time. The first of which is the street food market. Tucked away in a back alley a few blocks from the school, we must have passed by it dozens of times before anyone actually told us it was there. Homemade dumplings, noodles, and soups, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables can be bought in the market for mere pocket change. The noodle lady I go to will make a heaping pile of home-made, stir fried noodles for only 6 RMB (about a buck). You start by picking from a variety of noodle types, then choose from about a dozen additional ingredients you want to go in. She fries them up right in front of you and ties it up in a neat container to take home. Right next to her is my new best friend in China, the dumpling lady. She makes all the dough from scratch and you choose either pork or veggies to go in the dumplings. She boils them up and gives you a massive bowl for 8 RMB. There are lots of other vendors making other dishes, some of which look pretty good but others not so much. I’ve just stuck with the noodles and dumplings so far and have been visiting the street market about twice a week recently.

     Another shop we’ve been frequenting lately is the DVD store in town. It’s not really hidden per-say, but it is just a tiny little store that is easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. They have a wide selection of western movies, including ones that are still in theatres. After a movie comes out in theatres in the US, it is usually only a week or so before you can get it on DVD in China. The cost is 6 RMB a disc and you can pretty much find any movie or TV series you want. On our latest trip, we picked up Captain Phillips, Gravity, Thor 2, The Hangover 3, Elysium, and the last season of Breaking Bad (yes, the one that ended only like a month ago). I have no idea how they get on DVD so fast here but the quality has been excellent on all of them. You just have to be willing to ignore the Chinese subtitles on the bottom. For $1 a disc, I’m ok with it.

     Lastly, we have to get out of Kunshan and into Shanghai for the “fake” markets.  Hidden away at random subway stops, there is a huge network of shops selling all kinds of products that are complete knock-offs. Rolex and Tag Heuer watches, Prada purses, and Ray Ban sunglasses are a few of the items you can get a the market...again, all 100% fake. I actually saw a woman sewing an “Ugg” logo onto a pair of boots once. On our last trip, I picked up a couple Under Armour and Titleist dry-fit polos for 50 RMB each, as well as some silk ties for 20 RMB each. There are also a lot of souvenir-ish type products like chopsticks, tea-sets, and traditional Chinese dresses. The most fun part about the fake market is that all prices are negotiable. There is a great deal of haggling going on and if you don’t barter correctly you will end up paying 3x higher or more than you should. The general rule of thumb is to knock off 50% of the asking price right off the bat. If you can’t get them to agree to a price you want, just walk away and chances are they will chase you down and finally agree to the price. It’s a lot of fun haggling with them.

     But our favorite part of the fake market is the custom tailor shop. Unlike the products in the rest of the market, the tailor will take measurements and sew custom clothes that are of great quality. I had three button down shirts made for 100 RMB (about $17) each. They have a huge book of fabric samples and you just choose the fabric and pattern you want your shirts to be. I also took my suit coat and Chelsea took a dress to be taken in. They will also make some top notch 3 piece suits for around $150-$200, depending on the style you want. We will definitely be going back to have more clothes made in the future. The even deliver them back to the school in Kunshan for a minimum fee.

     Like I mentioned before, all of these markets can be really hard to find on your own. And even if we had happened to stumble upon them on our own, we would have been lost on what to do. It makes me wonder what other kinds of hidden markets are out there for us to find!

Hunter

It Is Getting Cold!

It has been a long time since we have blogged! We have been really busy with school and getting things done at home. We are also preparing for the cold to officially arrive. So far, the weather has not been too bad but it is supposed to get worse. Apparently winter here is really wet and cold…and you never feel that warm since they do not have central heating anywhere. We are stocking up on electric blankets, warm socks, long underwear, and portable heaters. 

Thanksgiving was nice. Hunter was able to have a full blown American Thanksgiving meal with the secondary students and staff. Luckily he brought me a huge plate of turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes because my class celebrated very differently! We had “international day” in the elementary wing.  Thanksgiving with my class was potluck and all the parents brought a homemade meal that represented their culture and country. I had homemade sushi, noodles, and other unique cuisine. 

We have been on a few trips since we last blogged. We spent one Saturday in Suzhou and explored a beautiful park there. We went to Nanjing for Thanksgiving and hiked around Purple Mountain. We also spent one Saturday at a cool Buddhist temple in Kunshan. Below are some pictures of our adventures!

The Kids

I thought I would share a little about my class and classroom since it is where I spend a lot of my time ;-) It can’t be all play and no work! My classroom is nice and pretty large. I have the room decorated in a Dr. Seuss theme! I wish I could have put more time and effort into decorating but I didn’t know I had the job until 2 weeks before school started.

I have a pretty challenging class full of 20 nine and ten year olds. Their personalities are all over the map, which I love. Some of the little girls in class are so sweet. I love them to death! However, trying to manage the class doesn’t allow for much time to really develop any kind of relationship. I wish I could get to know some of the students more but I don’t know if I will be able to. I think that is something I need to work on. The teacher they had before, Mr. Booth, is the most amazing teacher. He somehow managed the class and formed really deep bonds with each student. I definitely look at him as a role model that I hope to be like one day. 

One little boy has decided he really doesn’t like me. I am not sure why. He has such an attitude and even drew a very ugly picture of me, male body parts included. He definitely got in trouble and was sent to the vice principal with his artwork. I wish I would have kept the picture and framed it as remembrance of my first year of teaching. 

Some of the students are so incredibly smart. They know 4 languages already, are math whizzes, and write in complete sentences! There are also a few in class whose English language ability is very low. I am finding it difficult to differentiate. I am learning though and trying to stay positive! I am excited to celebrate Halloween with the kids this week. I need to think of more Halloween activities and plans for the week.

Other than that we spend our weekends chilling at home, shopping in town, or going on random trips to Shanghai. This weekend is the weekend after Halloween so we may go out and celebrate Friday night. There are a couple of local expat bars that have Halloween parties. 

Anyway, missing everyone back home and wishing you all the best.

Love, Chels

Hong Kong

Last week we celebrated Chinese "National Holiday." I'm by no means up on my Chinese history, but National Holiday is basically just celebrating the formation of the People's Republic of China back in the 1940's. It's pretty similar to our 4th of July. We got the entire week off, which we used to head to Hong Kong for some much needed R&R. Officially, we were sent by the school to obtain our permanent work visas. That process only took a few hours though so we had the rest of the week to relax and explore a very unique city!

Hong Kong has definitely been one of our favorite places to visit thus far. Although it is technically part of China as one of two "Special Administrative Regions," it actually operates pretty independent of the mainland. It has it's own currency, language, and government regulations and has been under British rule for so long that it has a lot of Western influence. The residents are all decedents of China though which makes for a very unique blend of East and West. The peninsula (Kowloon) seemed to have more of the Chinese culture, while Hong Kong Island was more of a western culture. Wherever we went though, the vast majority of people we encountered spoke English very well and we had no trouble finding Western restaurants and attractions. It was also unique in that there is a great combination of busy city life and peaceful, scenic parks. We had a really amazing week and Hong Kong has definitely made the list of places we would like to go back to.

 

On our fist day we went hiking in one of the many country parks. It was about a 3 mile walk up some pretty intense hills, but it was definitely worth it. The trail ended at a huge reservoir which was beautiful. There was also some great scenery along the way. Looking back, this was probably our favorite day and we wish we would have done more hiking. There is definitely an abundance of other parks a lot like this one that we would have liked to explore also.

There are also lots of city parks around town with easier walking paths that offered great views of the city.
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We took a ferry to Macau, which is the other Special Administrative Region of China. Like Hong Kong, it has its own currency, language, and government. And flights from China to Macau and Hong Kong are considered "international." But where Hong Kong was a previous region of the UK, Macau was previously ruled by Portugal, which is obvious in the names of a lot of places there. The main source of revenue in Macau comes from the casinos. All these buildings are huge hotel/casinos. It's considered the Las Vegas of Asia. We took an open top bus tour of the city. The three pictures above are all from the bus tour.


A group of about ten of these girls showed up at one of the casinos we stopped off at. I'm not sure what they were doing but they looked cool and were letting everyone take pictures with them.

We found a Zoological and Botanical Garden in the middle of town. There were a ton monkeys, birds, and reptiles, plus some really cool trees and plants. The black and white lemurs would all start making an intense howling noise if people got too close to the enclosure. The sign said it was their way of warning us to back away from their territory!

Hong Kong has only been back in control of China since the late 90s. Before that, it was under British rule for around 140 years, which there was tons of evidence of. Just about everyone spoke English, they drive on the right side of the car and the left side of the road, and there were random statues like this one. God save King George!

One of the top attractions in Hong Kong is Victoria Peak, which overlooks the city and provides some great views. Unfortunately, it was pretty hazy the day we went up, but we were still able to get a good view of the city and relax on a rooftop restaurant with some drinks.

Every night, the city puts on "A Symphony of Lights," which is a light show on the island that can be seen from across the channel. It lasted about 15 minutes and was synced to music. Pretty cool show!

For out last day in Hong Kong, we just decided to relax at the beach all afternoon. Suprisingly, it wasn't too crowded and we had a great afternoon just relaxing. The views from the bay were amazing.

The two guys kinda ruined our Corona beach moment, but you still get the idea.

The bay and the mountains in the background made for some amazing views at sunset. A great end to the week.

In the end, we accomplished what we were technically there to do, which was get our permanent visas. We are now able to legally work and live in China! We now also have the ability to leave the country and re-enter without any problems, which means we have more trips to plan :-)

Hunter

IHC

There was one other phrase my TEFL instructor back in Beijing shared with us during our first week here. He said that all expats living in China, no matter how long they have been here, will inevitably have a really crappy day from time to time and just get completely fed up with China. He calls them "IHC" days (I'll let you use your imagination). Today was definitely an IHC day. After school on Friday afternoon we decided we didn't feel like cooking dinner and instead decided to try a Korean restaurant down the road. On the way we decided to stop by one of the many street vendors and pick up a quick and ridiculously cheap snack of grilled pork on a stick. Then at the restaurant we go some rice bowls along with a side of some discount sushi. Not sure if it was the street food or the sushi, but today has just been miserable. We figured it must be food poisoning and have vowed off both for a while. It's a shame too, because we both really enjoyed the Korean restaurant and thought we had found a sweet new place. Only in China can you get delicious food that also makes you miserable.

To make things worse, we had already made plans today to go into Shanghai. Chelsea wanted to get some things for her classroom and I really wanted to plan out or route to the airport on Monday - we're going to Hong Kong to get our permanent visas this week and I think it's going to be a close call from the end of school to making our flight. Including lunch, we had about 4 stops we wanted to make. We thought getting out and about might actually make us feel better so we went ahead and bought train tickets to and from Shanghai. Almost immediately after boarding our train we started feeling worse and started crossing stops off the list. By the time the train arrived, we had decided to just get a quick lunch and head home right away. Then on the subway ride to the restaurant I apparently spiked a fever because I started sweating profusely and felt like I was going to pass out. Luckily a really nice Chinese guy who spoke some English could tell I was in misery and offered me his seat. I graciously accepted.

After lunch, we caught a cab back to the train station. Unfortunately we had already bought return tickets for 7:30 that evening but knew we definitely didn't want to stick around that long. It's actually pretty easy to exchange tickets for a different time, but the only time available wasn't much earlier. We decided to eat the 48 RMB (about 9 bucks) and just get a cab back to Kunshan. We knew it was a long ride and would be expensive, but we both felt so awful we didn't care. The cab driver immediately tried to negotiate the price instead of just using the meter, which we knew would be much lower than the set price he was quoting. He obviously wasn't happy about our request to use the meter and proceeded to take the most indirect route back to the highway. He literally just zig-zagged back and forth for a while and at one point even passed the highway he was supposed to get on. When we called him out on it he magically figured out where to go, but not before racking up an extra 100 RMB or so on the meter. We finally made it back home and have just been laying around ever since.

To top it all off, we actually have school tomorrow, Sunday. The Chinese have a very strange practice where they make up all the holidays they take off by working on the weekend. So if they take off Thursday and Friday for a holiday, they have to make it up by working Saturday and Sunday. Luckily we're following a true American school schedule and don't have to do that too often. But tomorrow is our one day or so per semester that we weren't able to work it out in the schedule. Not too bad compared to local Chinese schools that can get very strange looking weeks around holidays, but still very annoying.

It's been a long, not-so-fun one day weekend, but we're just trying to look forward to the upcoming week. It's another Chinese holiday and we'll be spending the week in Hong Kong. Aside from a few days for the visa stuff we should have the whole week to relax and enjoy the sights of a very unique city.

Till next time,

Hunter

Mid Autumn Festival

Hunter and I celebrated the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival with a relaxing four day weekend. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival celebrated in many Asian countries. The ancient Chinese observed the movement of the moon and believed it had a close relationship with the changes in season and agricultural production. Hence, to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days. It is now an official public holiday and my favorite part was all the moon cakes they handed out at school. A lot of my students and parents brought these delicious addicting cakes; I have some leftover and I can't stop eating them!

For our time off, we planned a nice weekend in Hangzhou and left early last Thursday via a one hour train ride. Hangzhou is full of beauty and history and is the kind of place you imagine when you think of China. It was nice to get away from industrial Kunshan, breathe some fresh air, and take in the scenery.  I don't have much to say except that West Lake is the main attraction and it is gorgeous. I will let the pictures do all the talking.

 Sleepy faces! We woke up early to head to Hangzhou and have some fun!

 We stayed in a hostel. I was really hesitant about doing so but it turned out great! It was cute, had everything we needed, and it was cheap too!

 It just had the basic necessities.

Our hostel was in a really neat area. There were tons of restaurants, shops, and vendors. 

We finally tried the chicken on a stick we see everywhere. It was pretty good.

Neat building near our hostel.

We explored West Lake on Thursday. At least as much as we could, there is so much to see! This city is definitely a hot spot for Chinese tourists; it was packed.

We took a nice boat ride across the lake. There are a few islands and sights to see and the boats would take you to all of them.

 This was a really cool temple we explored on Thursday.

 The two pictures above are the hostel. Pretty cute place!

 We went out for dinner and drinks one night at a Western restaurant. Really great nachos and margaritas! They also had some good music playing. The entire place reminded me of Austin and I got a little homesick.