Days 291-297 - An adventure to Zhujiayu

The week started off not so great for Adam and it took most of the day for him to recover from the previous night's drinking! However we both made it through the week and after our week finished on Thursday lunchtime we headed out to Zhujiayu for the night.

Zhujiayu is a small village about 2 hours out of Jinan and is proclaimed to be one of the oldest villages in Jinan. The houses in Zhujiayu are made of stone and mud, and we were surprised to find that so many houses were now in complete ruins.On the other hand it's nice to know that the 'restoration' work that has happened at many old villages in China hasn't happened here - so many times we have been to 'the old town' to find that it is really just a brand new town made to look old! The town is made up of numerous stone lanes and tight mud alleyways as well as over 20 bridges and 20 spring wells scattered around the landscape.

We spent a pleasant hour or so wandering around before stumbling across the local inn where we were to stay for the night. Unfortunately a group of art students from Shandong University where staying there meaning we got the last room with a small single bed!

After settling in, we went back out to explore more of the small village which is surrounded by mountains, wandering in and around abandoned and crumbling houses, and people watching the few inhabitants that still live and work there.It was interesting to see that it was predominantly old people who live here now and tend to the farms (and the slowly increasing tourist numbers). The great thing about arriving in the evening as we had the village almost to ourselves as the day-trippers had left to go back to Jinan already. We also had the freedom to go where we wanted as we didn't feel like we were intruding on people's lives, especially on the outer edges of the village where no one lives anymore.

We had an excellent meal at our inn, while sitting outside watching the art students drawing and taking advice from their teacher. We went to bed pretty early because there wasn't much to do when the sunlight disappeared and the village disappeared in the darkness.

We were woken around 3.30am by the resident roosters the next day, and battled to get back to sleep before finally arising and getting breakfast. It took us a while to get started, but eventually we found a track that headed out into the countryside where we watched local farmers prepare their fields for the upcoming season. No matter how many times we see it we're always amazed at the age and health of the workers, especially considering the fact that most of the men have been smoking their whole lives.

As it started to rain we turned around and headed up to the Kuixing Temple which keeps a watchful eye over the village below from its perch on the only mountain that still has trees on it. From the top we got great views before walking back through the village and making our way home - at the exit point of the village Adam finally fulfilled his desire to play with fireworks (these were just coils of double-happys that were banned years ago in NZ!). They were so much fun that he bought another pack to take back to Jinan for another time!

Saturday and Sunday was just filled with our usuals of Mountain Kung-fu and Chinese lessons, and not much else! Adam did spend a couple of hours watching, photographing, and hanging out with the workers at the construction sites that surround us.

Adlibing the Stone Village.

Days 284-290 - A typical week in Jinan

This week was a very standard working week, with nothing much to write about. Adam did manage to prove that Liv was not imaginary to his Wednesday drinking friends when Liv went along with him and the other teachers here to the weekly Wei Weis get-together on Wednesday night. Check out another crazy Wei Wei's moment here.

On Saturday after Liv's lesson, Liv and Carol went into town for lunch and a wander around Jinan. Carol used to live in the historic part of Jinan so was a great 'guide' around all the tight alleyways, which Liv's sure she would have gotten lost in had she been by herself. Carol also showed Liv the free outdoor swimming pool in the middle of the old town - which is just a natural spring where mainly older people come to swim!

While Liv was learning, eating, and walking Adam was off to mountain kung fu. Although Matt had to wait for 9 buses to pass before getting on one last week, luckily this week the boys got on the first one. While waiting on the mountain for the others to arrive, an unfamiliar laowai turned up and we figured that to be on this mountain at this time he had to be a new member of our crew. Soon enough the 5 of us were training on the mountain, occasionally interrupted by Chinese families out for a walk, who couldn't help but stop and stare at what must be quite a sight! After a hard day's training session we went for lunch before dragging our weary bodies home.

On Sunday we went with Matt into town for lunch at the famous Food Street (that we now know the Chinese name of: Fu Rong Jie), before venturing to the huge electronic market for a new camera case and some running headphones for Adam.

On Sunday night the boys got together for a bbq outside, which turned into a small party inside, and resulted in a very very unhappy Adam come 8am Monday morning.

Adlibing it our everyday way.

Days 277-283 - Teaching till the weekend

We spent most of the week working and trying to get over the cold(s) that we've had since Vietnam! Luckily by the weekend we were feeling better and so Adam and Matt went out with some of their students to enjoy a night of chuanrs and a keg of beer on Friday night! The night was great fun and the food was definitely an experience - consisting of sheep spinal cord, lamb feet, cow heart, and bulls balls to go along with the normal beef and lamb kebabs.

On Saturday Adam woke up a little worse for wear, but after Liv's Chinese lesson we went out for lunch with Liv's teacher Carol to a great vegetarian restaurant in town. Afterwards Carol took Liv to get her haircut, which thankfully turned out great - Liv was more than a little nervous, but for 15 kuai (a mere NZ$2.75) she got the full deal (hair wash, massage, cut and style)!

On Sunday along with Matt we ventured out to the markets on the other side of town, with the intention of buying up large to send some stuff home - but once again the perils of being taller and having bigger feet than the local Chinese person we walked away with only one pair of jeans for Adam ...

On our way back home we did manage to make some purchases when we stopped off at the dvd store to stock up on some more dollar movies. Plus we bought season 2 of Prison Break to fill the void when we finish the 3rd season of LOST!!

Adlibing our way through the week

Days 263 - 276 - First 2 weeks back in reality

On our first day back at work we woke up to a white wonderland that was totally unexpected! Overnight 2-3cm of snow had fallen and as we had to get up early for school we got to see the entire campus covered in snow before it was gradually reduced to grey slush over the day. As we were finishing work for the day it started to snow again and we thought the snow might hang around for a while, but the next morning we woke to blue skies and 15 degrees! Our first weeks back at Shandong University, attending to the working/money side of the Adlibing Asia Tour, went pretty well - we are now teaching first year students in the general study programme, which means life is easy for us as we can repeat our class lessons from last semester. Another bonus is the reduced hours we now work - 16 hours a week! Plus we get Fridays off meaning a long weekend every week, which we hope to utilise for a few trips. We also get a mid-week holiday on Tuesday! Awesome ....

We settled back into our routine pretty quickly, with Adam making his weekly pilgrimage to Wei Wei's and Liv's Chinese lessons starting again. We also revisited our local markets and snack street and were shocked to see that it has fallen victim to China's modernisation and half of the street is now lying in rubble.

We tried to explore more of the area around campus, only to find that this area is called the "High-Tech Development Area" for a reason and that all that exists outside campus are big concrete office buildings. We did, however, come across a Western restaurant and bought ourselves a 'fruit' pizza complete with apples, pears, bananas, cheese and oregano - weird in the West but normal over here!

Although the week started with snow, since then we have been blessed with amazing weather, and almost every day has been filled with blue skies and sunshine. A sure sign spring is on the way, and that means we don't have to wear our well worn jackets out anymore!

Unfortunately, pass-the-parcel was played a bit with our illnesses in our second week back, as the cold that Adam originally gave to Liv, was passed straight back to him once she recovered. It was even enough to stop Adam going to Wei Wei's and drinking all week - gasp!

We did, however, make it out to the Old Campus in town to check out the Gothic-style Catholic Church there. The Hong Jia Lou Church was built in 1901 (the same year that Shandong University was established), and although we had seen photos of it, we didn't realise how big (and grand) it was until we saw it for ourselves.

Our spare time (which we have a LOT of) is taken up with researching for our next adlibing tour that starts when work ends in 3 months time. We are also enjoying the ability to just sit back and relax, with the knowledge that after another year or so of hard travelling we'll have to get real jobs and work 40 hours a week like everyone else!

On Sunday we all (us, Dovid, Matt, and Liv's teacher Carol) ventured out into Liubu Village where the 1500 year old Simen Pagoda (Four-Gate Pagoda) is situated. This pagoda is known as the oldest stone pagoda in China and is housed in the grounds of the Shentong Monastery. Also in the grounds of the Monastery are a Stele Forest and the "Thousand Buddha Cliff" hidden in the forest - but if you venture into the forest a little bit you find carved Buddha grottoes lining the cliffside.

The most exciting news is that we'll have some new honourary adlibers come mid-May when Mumbles and Pops (and hopefully an Aunty and Uncle ...) come to explore this country that we have fallen in love with. The count is currently at 62 days ... and counting!

Adlibing it the Jinan way.