New friend
Yesterday I made a special appearance on China Daily’s weekly news show “The Week.” In the short segment, I explore Beijing’s markets and seek out the creepiest Christmas decorations I can find. The segment is based on a Hot Pot column I wrote for China Daily on experiencing Christmas in China.
Embedding China Daily videos isn’t possible, so check out the full clip here.
Happy Holidays!
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Taiwan. To commemorate the anniversary, four papers on the mainland ran very similar front pages, which a few bloggers noted on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. A few of my China Daily colleagues retweeted (reweibo-ed?) it:
Clockwise from top left: Guangming Daily, People's Liberation Army Daily, People's Daily and Economic Daily.
My final day in Yangshuo was perhaps my favorite day of the trip. That morning, I rented a bike from my hotel and explored the entire area on my own.
After waiting for a rainstorm to end, I headed to Yangshuo’s Silver Cave. Through a series of strange events, I found myself in a massive group with about 40 Chinese tourists.
Yours truly at the Li River
Back in July, I visited the small town of Yangshuo in China’s Guangxi province. Despite the fact that Shenzhen is quite close to this popular tourist destination, I never took advantage of it while I was living there. But because Lonely Planet lists it as one of the Top 5 things to do in China, I knew I needed to see it before I leave.
The trip started off nightmarishly. Having traveled a lot to various Chinese cities recently, I foolishly decided to make all of my plans last minute. I didn’t book a hostel until the night before, and it seemed all the popular ones were completely booked. Then, because I packed an hour before I had to leave for the airport and got stuck in traffic, I missed my flight. I was able to book another one, but it took off 5 hours later, cutting off precious time from the three short days I had there.
Today marks my two-year Chinaversary. Some personal stats acquired since August 3, 2009:
Countries visited (not including a trip to the States last Christmas)
Chinese provinces/autonomous regions visited
Chinese cities visited
Times on the Great Wall (with more to come!)
lbs. lost
Pick-pocket attempts (thwarted)
Pick-pocket pocket attempts (successful)
Bike stolen 
Former US President spotted
Chinese proficiency exams studied for (maybe I should get on that…)
Interesting experiences, people met, awkward moments using Mandarin, children seen defecating in the streets
Time flies.
I am apparently now a blonde.
A few weeks ago, I submitted a piece for China Daily’s Hot Pot column. It’s a column that runs every few days featuring stories from expats reflecting on their cultural experiences in China.
Well, I’m happy to report it ran in the paper on Thursday! The column is about sunbathing in China, and how you rarely see it happening here. Part of it is because Chinese women prefer their skin to be white, but part of it is also because women’s bathing suits here are so modest. (Exhibit A).
The column even comes with this neat-o illustration of me, which is a sort of dramatic reenactment of my time at the beach in Qingdao last month. But if it were a truly accurate depiction, the men would all be wearing skintight speedos. (True story).
Huashan
By Day Three of my trip, it seemed like my vacation in Xi’an was turning into a little bit of a disappointment.
I once again woke up early to head to Huashan, or Mount Hua. It is one of the most famous mountains in China and is a two and a half hour train ride from the city.
I headed to the packed Xi’an train station, bought my ticket and was soon on my way towards the mountain.
Terracotting it up in the Ancient Capital.
Last October, I traveled to Xi’an for my National Day break. If you have no idea what this holiday entails, just remember National Day: China :: Independence Day: America. That is, if Independence Day had military tanks and rifles at the parades.
(Sidenote: Because I’m working as a foreigner for a Chinese paper, I stay in Beijing for the actual holiday then travel the week after. I actually enjoy this setup because I end up missing the massive crowds heading in and out of the city during the holidays).
Anyway, Xi’an — located in China’s Shaanxi province — is the ancient capital of China. The major draw of the city is the Terracotta Warriors. In fact, Lonely Planet tells me it is the Number Two thing to see in China. And since I do whatever Lonely Planet tells me to do, it seemed like a good idea.
Shanghai.
The first stop on my third day in Shanghai was the Propaganda Museum, a little room in the basement of an apartment complex.
Bridget O'Donnell is a designer for Ataway in Shanghai, China. She previously worked for the China Daily and graduated from the University of Michigan in 2009. More »
