Weekend Hiking Trip

Weekend Hiking Trip
Originally uploaded by penglisha

This past weekend, the whole program went on a weekend camping trip. On Friday afternoon, we took buses to a small mountain town a few hours outside of Hangzhou. On Saturday morning, we hiked up into the mountains to camp for the night. We found a spot that was pretty isolated and unaffected by China's development. The only people around were some shepards, their lambs, and a few people from a nearby village who came for the sole purpose of watching a large group of strange Americans who wanted to sleep outside.

Check out my pictures on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030153&l=25a00&id=4403142
also: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030152&l=5d21c&id=4403142

Nanjing

nanjing
Originally uploaded by penglisha

I apologize for being such a negligent blogger. It has been pretty busy academically now that I am taking four classes in Chinese! However, I am still making time to travel. Two weekends ago, Steve and I spent the weekend in Nanjing. We walked around the city, found an amazing western deli and a fabulous Italian restaurant. The highlight of the weekend was the Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre. The museum was really well organized and effective. It is a huge, black marble building with different kinds of media depicting the Japanese invasion of Nanjing in 1937. There were photographs, videos, sound recordings, artifacts from the Japanese army, excerpts from the diaries of Chinese people as well as Japanese soldiers. All in all, it was really fascinating. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty miserable, so I don't have many good photographs.

Suzhou

suzhou
Originally uploaded by penglisha

Last weekend, Steve and I spent the weekend in Suzhou, a beautiful canal town a few hours north of Hangzhou. On Saturday morning, we went to the bus station and bought tickets to Suzhou. On the way to Suzhou, we flipped through Lonely Planet and decided to go to Tongli, just a half-hour bus ride from Suzhou. Tongli is a small canal town that has actually done a really good job of preserving its historical architecture. the streets are cobblestone and narrow, and they curve along with the canals.

We strolled around the town to check out the street vendors and the narrow wooden boats bobbing in the canals. When it got dark, we headed back to Suzhou for a night out. On Sunday, we found a great breakfast spot called Cafe Provence. Then we walked around Suzhou and took advantage of the sunshine, the DVD stores, and the Milk Tea stands.

Check out pictures from my weekend here:
http://middlebury.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029669&l=ef24f&id=4403142

This weekend, I am headed to Nanjing!