Unfortunately we didn’t get too far before one of the sidecar bikes had a spark plug problem. A lot of sputtering, loud backfiring and a new spark plug later and we were on the road again heading south through the Qinling Mountains. Once you can get over the first peak and down the other side most of the tourist traffic is lost and you’re on your own through the twistys.

While the mountains were no problem for the big 750cc sidecar bikes, they posed a bit of a problem for me on a weighed down 125cc bike. So on the steep inclines I actually kicked Jiafei off to sit on the jump seat of a sidecar bike so I could make it up the hill! She didn’t like that too much, but it beats walking!

There was, of course, our fair share of rain and cold weather as we cruised along though southern Shaanxi. But I must say, the new jacket I got just before the trip shed the water nicely and kept me pretty warm. The cold rain pelting my face did finally lead me to buy a helmet on the third day, and after having it on for a few kilometers I didn’t know why I hadn’t gotten one earlier!

As we road along the small highways we passed village after village and whenever we stopped they were simply amazed to see not only one foreigner but many foreigners. The big sidecar bikes drew particular attention and a lot of talk because of their loud rumbling and their history in the Chinese military from way back when. Either way, nearly all of the attention was good attention, people were just interested. They wanted to know where we were from, what we were doing, and why we were doing it. Many Chinese don’t quite understand the concept of a road-trip yet, vehicles are still something that’s used out of necessity rather than as a pleasure vehicle. In fact, when I told some of my students about our planned trip they simply asked “Why don’t you just take a train?” Well that’d kind of defeat the purpose. I explained to them that the whole point is the journey, we didn’t really care where we went or where we stayed at night, just that it was a nice drive and there were things to see.

There was definitely things to see. Southern Shaanxi and Gansu are both beautiful areas which haven’t been ruined by urbanization. There are villages and relatively clear air, clear skies, and a slow pace of life.

Of course, a trip wouldn’t be a trip without a few breakdowns or wipeouts. We had our fair share of those, but mostly they resulted in bruised elbows, bruised egos, and a slightly busted up, but quite fixable or rideable bikes.

After 1100+ kilometers and 5 days of riding at least six hours per day, we were thrilled to be back home. But not for too long. We’ve got another plan in the works for a spring time outing!

My newest published article in the Xianease magazine, this time exploring Xi’an famous BBQ scene as well as the low-down on how to order your own.

Download a PDF of the article here

For a few days, I was a little disappointed. The event I had talked up and told other people about, wouldn’t be happening for me. Well fortunately things in China can still get done with a slight greasing of the palm. A buddy of mine called up and said that he had 10 people who wanted to sign-up for the race, they said “no, it’s too late”. After an explanation of how they’re all foreigners who couldn’t understand the website (not entirely true), and an offer to pay an extra 10 RMB per person, we were golden. So for the low price of 10RMB per person we were able to sign-up late for the race, yeah, the extra 10 RMB was a 33% increase in the race fee, but really 40 RMB for a shoe bag, a nice sweat-wicking shirt, and a city wall ticket is still a good deal.

Race day was cold as I had expected, but perhaps a bit warmer than last year. Once again, despite “needing” to be there at 8:00 AM everyone stood around and waited until the race started at about 9:30. I guess it was really important that some government officials talk and be given some kind of award or box of tea or something.

Anyway, from the beginning of the race until the end. I mostly kept my eyes on the ground so as to not trip and fall on my face. Fortunately I had a little company for at least half the race and the second half was just me telling myself that I wouldn’t stop running until the end. I finished the race in 1:17:48, about 5 minutes slower than last year. But I’ll attribute that to the lack of time to train this year.

Afterwards Xianease magazine sponsored a double-decker party bus with pizza and beer, the perfect way to replenish after a long run!

The week before Halloween there was a pumpkin carving party at a local western-style restaurant, a nice turnout there, and a lot of fun. Unfortunately the pumpkins were really quite small, but  we did the best we could with what we had.

Because Halloween was on a Sunday this year, most people had their parties the day before, as did we. A local expat magazine, run by a friend of mine, organized the Halloween party. You know how coming up with a costume always seems to be the tough part? Well try doing that with no Walmart Halloween section to buy facepaint or props, no PartyAmerica to go looking for ideas. You’ve gotta pick yourself up by your own bootstraps and make something. My costume may not have been the best execution, but it was a clever idea I came across online and something that I knew I could make work. I decided to go as a “Lego man”, you know, one of those little yellow skinned guys with the perma-smile who is always driving the Lego-car you built. It was pretty simple to put together, and cheap too. It consisted of a whey-protein mix container, painted yellow, yellow long sleeve shirt and yellow gloves. That was it. Once I figured out where to get the spray paint, it came together pretty quick.

The Halloween party featured great food, free drinks, and a lot of great costumes as well. It was overall a lot of fun, here are a few pictures from the event.

The school itself is pretty nice, it’s actually built next to a great park with a beautiful lake that the university purchased and then built a campus next to. There are 10 foreign teachers at this school (5 English, 2 French, 1 Korean, 2 Japanese) which is a big increase from SUST which had a total of 3 English teachers. The living quarters here are also much nicer, they’re actually more like real apartments and feel much more homey. My only complaint is that the couch in my apartment sucks, it’s way too small for more than one person to sit or lay-down on. Due to it’s status as an International University, XAIU actually has quite a few foreign students here to learn Chinese as well. This is to my benefit because I can actually go to the Chinese classes as a student at no charge (which is definitely worth something!). XAIU’s location is also a bit better than SUST because it’s in the southwest of Xi’an where more of the action is, as opposed to the far north which was pretty far away from most things.

This year, October 10th was an extra special day, as many Chinese couples decided to get married on 10/10/10, and hey, why not? You’ll never forget your anniversary! But it was, of course, also my birthday and I turned 25. In fact it was my second birthday celebrated here in Xi’an, and the second one in a row that it was raining. But that’s nothing a home-cooked meal, and a few hours of mahjong can’t fix.

See pictures of my new apartment and XAIU campus here

So why am I leaving? Where am I going?

Well the first portion of my summer plan is Taiwan. At the recommendation of a colleague, I’ll be taking a summer camp position with American Language Village for about 4 weeks in Taipei, Taiwan. I’m pretty excited about this because I’ve heard good things about teaching in Taiwan, and how the atmosphere and nightlife is “the way China should be”. I don’t know if these things are true, but I figure 4 weeks is enough time to find out for myself. Also, I think I’ll be more comfortable in Taiwan than any other asian countries (besides China), because they too speak Mandarin and use almost the same writing style (albeit traditional instead of the Chinese simplified hanzi). So I’ll be able to speak a bit, read a few things, and that means a lot. After the summer camp concludes, I’ll have another 5 days or so to travel wherever I care to, so hopefully I’ll be able to see the southern end of the island as well.

When I return to mainland China I plan to meet up with Marina in Shanghai, and see one of the most famous Chinese cities, that I’ve never been to. I’m especially looking forward to attending the Shanghai 2010 World Expo and seeing the amazing pavillions built just for the expo. Hopefully I can avoid standing in lines for multiple hours! From Shanghai we’ll see a few other things in the area, perhaps Nanjing, Yangshuo, Guilin, and other places in the southeast of China; before heading back to, what I’ve referred to as “home” for the last 10 months, Xi’an.

Next school year I’ll be starting a position at Xi’an International University, in the southwest part of Xi’an. This school is not really any better than SUST, in fact, students would tell me it’s not as good of a school (as far as rankings are concerned). But a good school for them doesn’t necessarily mean a good school for me. The main reason I decided to move to XAIU is that there are Chinese classes available to the foreign teachers. This is what I’ve wanted, I want to study Chinese, I want to be much better, and I want to read better. But without an organized class, it’s difficult to simply learn on my own, no matter how much help I have from friends. I just need some structure to go along with it, at least until I’m a bit more fluent. The school does have a better location in Xi’an, and much nicer teacher apartments, but those were simply icing on the cake. I’m making this move to continue experiencing new things, and to further my own education.