Tofu Icecream and Tai-chi man

Guess what?

You’ll never guess so I’ll tell you. Two weeks ago I worked out that I had completed exactly two thirds of my Year Abroad. By the end of today I will have 95 days left. Crazy.

In this blog I will continue to tell my holiday adventures,in Japan with Ami, but I thought I would also give a brief (I’ll try) update as to what life is like back in Chengdu, after the first half of second semester.

It was quite difficult coming back to Chengdu after my holidays.And the first weeks in March were definitely hard, at times harder than anytime last semester. I’m not sure what mental image you have of Chengdu. I’m not sure what impression I have given you, or whether it is a fair impression! But there are some things which I haven’t mentioned in this blog before which I think are important to give you a fuller picture of life here.

Firstly, Chengdu is a smelly place. The air isn’t good,which I will get to later, but our dorms are also next to a river which is not that clean and smells funny. There are the fumes of traffic which add to the mix but also strange odours which I can only explain but you may never quite understand. Like that of durian – a crazy big spiky fruit which I have only consumed in freeze-dried chips and it was disgusting. I have yet to meet someone who likes it. And even more pungent, is the whiff of stinky tofu which hangs in the air around the most popular tourist destinations, which surprisingly deters very few people from visiting.

Chengdu is also a place where blue skies are very rarely seen. Being in Japan, where there was a blue sky almost everyday, and Xiamen later on where there were blue skies and sunshine, was a huge contrast to living here. I hadn’t realised before this year the huge impact that weather can have on my mood. Obviously in London, sunny days are preferable to grey, drizzly ones, but living constantly in greyscale chips away at enthusiasm, motivation and my outgoing nature.

Lastly, Chengdu is quite polluted. Well sometimes it’s quite and sometimes it’s very. We all have pollution masks which during the winter we had to wear often as not only is the pollution really really smelly, but you can often feel it restricting your lungs, which isn’t so nice. In November and December it would regularly get over 300 (a measurement of PM2.5 particles in the air). Healthy air is a rating of 50 or below. It still seems weird that I’m living in a city where at certain times of the year you can be scared of the air coming through your window, or base your decision of whether or not to go for a run on the potential damage the air has on your lungs.

Because of these things winter here was difficult, physically and emotionally! But I am happy to say that as of about a week ago, summer has arrived in Chengdu!!! It’s still smelly, and a bit polluted, but the sky is brighter, and sometimes sunny, and we are living in shorts and t-shirts and more and more often have the air-con on! There is one downside however, and that is Tai-chi man……

Tai-chi man is this mysterious guy, who we rarely see but have christened Tai-chi man, and who is infamous in our dorms. This is because every morning, at 6.30am he jogs along the opposite side of the river from our bedroom window, and then stops every minute or so and yells at the top of his lungs; one long, sustained, yell until he runs out of breath, and then pauses for a bit before yelling again. Despite many hours of brainstorming, we are still not sure why. The first time I thought someone must be being murdered or attacked, and then I thought maybe there was someone in deep distress, but sometimes he brings friends with him and they yell too, so we have decided that it is some therapeutic practice, that lets out your inner-chi or something similar. One day, we will go and find him and demand an explanation, and then I guess depending on his answer we might join him!

Starting from tomorrow, we have our mid-term exams which don’t really matter hugely, but it does mean that we are spending this week stuck inside revising (eugh). Other than that life plods on here at its own chill,Chengdu pace. (My tandem partner commented yesterday several times on how fast I was walking, so it seems I still haven’t adapted from the crazy London speed of walking!)

And now you are caught up with Chengdu, here is my promised summary of my travels in Japan…

So, on the 12^th of January, I flew from Harbin to Osaka airport in Japan. I arrived in the evening and was met by Ami, which was a very happy moment! We stayed the night in Osaka, and then travelled the next day to Kyoto. We also visited Nara for a day, returned to Osaka briefly, went to Ami’s university prefecture called Shizuoka, and then I went to Tokyo for 3 days.

Fun facts: (since I aim to be educational as well as hilarious)

· Osaka is Japan’s 2^nd biggest city by daytime population, but 3^rdbiggest by night time population,after Tokyo and Yokohama.

· The centre of the city of Nara is a huge deer park, which means that deer just walk around everywhere, into roadside stalls,and on the road, and stand around at bus stops. But they are very polite, and so if you bow to them, they will bow back to you.

· The city of Kyoto used to be the Imperial capital of Japan, for 1000 years, and is one of the best preserved cities in Japan, with 2000 religious sites; 1,600 Buddhist temples, and 400 Shinto shrines.

· Shizuoka not only has the world’s largest flower clock (31m in diameter), but also supplies 25% of Japan’s domestic production of tangerines, and 100% of Japan’s domestic production of pianos!

· Tokyo ranks 1^st in the world in the Safe cities index, has been awarded the most Michelin stars out of any city in the world, and by 2014 its roads were lined by 950,000 trees.

During my 10 days of travel, not only did I visit ancient Buddhist temples and shrines, walk through an early morning fish market and encounter some massive mystical marine-life and eat fresh sushi on the market’s outskirts, try tofu ice cream, and also strength-6 Matcha (green tea) ice cream, fall in love with red bean-paste snacks, walk along Osaka’s famous neon-lit Dotombori-gawa canal and listen to a live performance by a Japanese girl band, but I also saw beautiful Mt. Fuji, crossed Tokyo’s famous Shibuya crossing (as featured in ‘Lost in Translation’) and spent an evening in a Basement Jazz club in Tokyo which was unreal.

There were definitely many moments of questioning why I had decided to study Chinese and not Japanese (ie. the whole time I was there and the following few weeks), and so I am sure I will return to see more of such a beautiful country!

All of the credit for such an amazing trip goes to the World’s Best Tour Guide. Thank you Ami!

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