Basketball Accident

I was playing basketball with other foreign students during our team practice today. However, in one play, while I was bringing the ball downcourt, I was accidentally tripped by the defender. I tried to use my hand to prevent me from falling however the court was a bit slippery and so I slid to the floor and got a lot of bruises and cuts. I was really bleeding badly and so decided to head to the hospital to have a check. Mei Xing and Chris came with me. Mei Xing practically helped me in every way. He translated and paid for us since we didn't bring money. It was an agony. First, they cleaned my wounds then I decided to have a CT to be sure that my brain is okay. My bones were fined since I never felt anything wrong. Afterwards, I got 2 injections. I guess it was to check for infections or things like that. It was really a hassle. Going back home, the front desk lady gave me some medical stuff to help my recovery. What a day!! A big thanks to Chris and Mei!!

I took some pics of the wounds after taking a very hard-to-do bath.

Filipino Food Fest

We had dinner at the Nepali Kitchen of Shanghai and they had free classifieds so we got one and stumbled upon an ad of a Filipino Food Fest the next day. So we invited several friends to try out how Filipino Food tastes like. We meet a lot of Filipinos working in Shanghai including the ones who prepared the food. They were a couple. The wife has been in Shanghai for 3 years while the husband for 2. They served chicken and pork adobo, lechon kawali, lumpia, cheesesticks, meatballs and bihon. It was really home cooked and the atmosphere really brought some Filipino culture into the venue. We also got to walk around the Bund again and I was finally able to take some shots of the magnificent view. Click here to view the pics.

Shanghai Toy Expo

I went to the Shanghai Toy Expo last weekend. It was held at the International Expo Center near LongYang Road Station. I found out later that there were two other expos at the same venue namely, Music China and Prolight + Sound. It was fun to see a lot of interesting instruments as well as children's toys. I was fairly disappointed by the very few hobby stalls. Most were focused on toddler toys.

Here are some pics of the events. (just click the links)

Shanghai Toy Expo

Music China

Inner Mongolia

Oct. 1: We met up at the FSD lobby then headed to JiangWan Town Station by 10:30. We got to Shanghai South Railway by around 12 which was enough for us to eat lunch before boarding a train to Hohhot. We were pretty happy with how the hard sleeper accommodations were. We expected worse so it was definitely a relief. It was a 31 hour ride with stopovers in Beijing, SuZhou and other areas going north. We just ate and mingled with the other travellers.

Oct. 2: We arrived at Hohhot at around 8 PM. Our tour guide, Rocky, greeted us upon arrival and took us to our dinner place. It was a nice start to our tour. After the meal, we headed to our hotel. It was really nice. We then decided to walk for awhile and check the area. It was pretty cold outside probably below 15 degrees.

Oct. 3: We had our breakfast at the hotel then had a 2 hour drive to the grasslands where we will be staying for the night. The weather was pretty cold already. We had a very long and tiring horse ride which probably took around 4 hours including stopovers. It was really grass all over the place. It was like those grasslands in the movies with just horses and cows. The weather was pretty cold also. We were pretty much tired during the afternoon. The place also had a short horse race for the visitors. By night time, it was already freaking cold. That was probably between 5-10 degrees. I had to sleep with a sweater and thermal pants despite being already covered by a very thick blanket. We stayed in Mongolian Yurts which were circular rooms culturally similar to the Bahay Kubo of the Philippines.

Oct. 4: The guys woke up to eat breakfast while the girls were so tired from the horse ride and had problems with the food. It was getting colder. We went to Baotou to have our lunch. The girls were still very tired so it was the guys again who were eating. After lunch, we went straight to the desert! It was really really cold. I couldn't feel my nose dripping anymore. It wasn't funny anymore. The desert was amazing. We rode a cable car to get there then got a 1 hour camel ride. We stopped by to view some very nice sand sculptures. After withstanding the cold weather, we stayed for a short while in a house. The guys then decided to try the ATV. It was great! It was like Aga Muhlach in Dubai! Hahaha! Afterwards we tried the sandslide. Basically we rode a sled going down the sand slope. We finished at 5 then headed back to Hohhot.

Oct. 5: After our breakfast, we visited a Lamastery and had a look at Tibetan culture. We then visited a museum although I forgot the name. Then we went to a handicraft factory and had a short glimpse of how they make winter wear items as well as popular souvenirs. We then had our last lunch before heading to the train station. We arrived right on time for our train. It was a little different from the first one.

Oct.6: We arrived in Shanghai South Railway Station at around 7 PM. It was quite delayed since the scheduled arrival was 6:15. We got back to the dorm by 8:30.

Here are some pics of the whole trip.

One Big Fight!!!

This is a late post but the news is still good for a year. We are champions again at last! We watched game 2 through abscbnnow.com at Gandi's room! Sweet victory. I'm sure everyone is still celebrating back at Katipunan. What's even sweeter is that the grade school and high school Eagles also emerged champions in their respective tourney. A great year for Ateneo basketball indeed!

Shanghai Oriental Green Boat

Yesterday, we went to Shanghai Oriental Green Boat to practice for the dragon boat contest in Fudan. We went there at around 7:45 and arrived around 9. It was a nice place. We went into the man-made park and headed straight to the lake to practice. It was fun although we weren't that synchronized. After 40 mins. rowing, we were treated to a fairly good lunch and had the rest of the afternoon for us. Just click here to view the pics.

Finally, a picture of me!

Here's a pic of the boys during our recent trip to the city last Sunday to try the eat-all-you-can Japanese place that Vince recommend. From left to right, Jeff, Mike, Vince, Flo, Dexter, me, Anton and Chris. I stole the pic from Elaine. I promise to post more pictures of me from now on. Hahaha!

New Books!

I decided to go to Wanda Plaza right after class since we ended at lunchtime. I looked into one of the bookstores to find Mandarin Phrasebooks and got 2. I also bought a Transformers the movie and Mr. Bean Animated from the youth section. They are in straight chinese and I'm hoping to read them at the end of this month. I'm including a picture of my injured ring finger from our Sunday games with other foreign students. It's really swollen and stiff but manageable. The discoloration is also noticeable but it should be fine in a few days.

The Golden Week

We will be having classes on 27 and 28 to make up for the Golden Week. The Golden Week celebrates China's national holiday. It starts on Sept. 29 to Oct. 5. It's a busy week for everyone since everybody wants to go out of the city. Some of us are going trekking while others are headed to the north! Hohhot/ Inner Mongolia to be exact. The expected weather is from 12-20 Celsius. It's gonna be cold and I hope it's gonna be fun despite the longest train ride of my life. It will take us 31 hours to get there. It's not a typo, that's really 31 hours. Despite that, I'm still pretty excited about the sites and the weather.

Guang Hua

It's mid-Autumn day and it's raining again. I was able to go out before it started raining just to look at the hobby shops that I had passed by days before. I also took pictures of our classroom building which is also the administration building of Fudan. It's really tall and has a nice field fronting it. I encircled the part of the building wherein our classes are held. It's in the back area though but it's right in that spot. By the way, it's named the Guang Hua Tower (or towers).

Go Ateneo!!!

It's a lazy Sunday here in the dorm. It's raining and the weather is just perfect. It's also the UAAP Basketball semifinals featuring DLSU vs FEU and ADMU vs UE. I hope that Ateneo wins and reaches the finals again. I'm hoping for a green and blue finals but just for today, I wish FEU wins against La Salle. Anyway, we will try to watch via live streaming later if we won't play basketball. Go Ateneo!! One Big Fight!!

Note: No classes tomorrow due to the Mid-Autumn Day (Moon Cake)

Cafeteria

Here are some pictures of our cafeteria. There are 3 cafs in campus. This is the one near our dorm. The system utilizes our IC Cards as mode of payment so there are no cash transactions. One must load his card so he can purchase food and other items around campus. It makes the service faster and easier. The food is really cheap. A cup of rice costs 0.2 yuan which is less than 2 pesos while the main dishes are prices at 3.20. The veggies are around 2 yuan. It's really affordable. Plus, it's really effecient. Since there is an official lunch break, most people eat during that period thereby allowing the cafeteria to close at certain times and lower electricity usage. At about 1 pm, they stop serving food. At nights, it closes at 7. People are really healthy since veggies are abundant plus they really eat at specific times avoiding hunger calls at inappropriate instances.

2nd Week.

Today marks our 14th day in Shanghai! It's has been a great start so far except for a few rather bad incidents. Today, Jeff lost his bike..again! Well, it wasn't really lost but was confiscated. His first bike got stolen last Sept. 6 so he bought a new one from the bikenappers of Fudan. Unfortunately, the bike he chose were not available locally and the group who had access to those bikes saw him earlier and reported it to the police. Poor Jeff. The bike is now in the station and Jeff is beginning to hate the idea of getting a bike again. Chris also lost his bike last Monday. Bikes are like cellphones in Shanghai. People love to steal them! Today, we learned to play ultimate frisbee with Parker and Jacob. We were so tired since we just came from playing basketball. The past 3 days has been quite a routine during the afternoons. We play ball at 4:30. Go back by 6:30. Eat dinner from 7 to 9. Then head back home to study. Chris and I are always in the lobby. It gives the study room feel of Cervini and Eliazo from the past 4 years. Tomorrow is a full schedule for our section. We start at 10 and end at 4. We do have the Fudan lunch break. We're also planning to sign up for orgs.

Classes and Cheap Meals!

We started classes yesterday. My first class was at 12:35. 11:35 to 12:35 is the official lunch break of Fudan which means there are no classes at all during this time. Anyway, we were lucky to have teachers than could understand a little bit of English. The lessons are quite alright. Actually, they are fairly easy but there are still some words I don't know and I still need to meet new words. I guess I'll stay in B. We also got to use our IC card which is our ID and purchase card in one. It's a must for buying food in the caf. I spent only 5.80 yuan for about 1 and a half cup of rice, spareribs and veggies. That's less that 40 pesos!! I also got an added bonus in the evening. Dexter challenged everyone to a half court shooting contest. First to make gets free dinner from the rest. I was the only one to make after a few rounds of throwing the ball. We ate at a Korean restaurant nearby. Today, our class started at 9:55. Actually, it's the only one. Gandi decided to sit in our class to check if he's a better fit in B than A. This time, it was harder since our teacher knew little English. It was fun though since Chris and I did the exercise the night before. We just finished making our homework for tomorrow.

Jeff's 4th Brother.

Here's Jeff with Vivian, his long lost brother from France! This guy can speak fluent Mandarin. You'll be amazed by the fact that they share a flat together with another guy from our Pinoy group. Plus, he looks like Harry Potter.And of course, he looks like Jeff. And since Jeff looks like a local. It can be concluded that Harry Potter and Yao Ming are look a likes.

Hang Zhou

We visited Hangzhou City last September 4-6. We planned to go there the day before and even went to a bar the night before the trip. Our original plan was to catch the 9:30 train to Hangzhou which meant waking up early to get to Shanghai South Railway station which is on the other end of Shanghai. It's fifteen stations away from JiangWan Town station, the nearest from our school. We ended up getting the 11:45 train which arrives at 1:07PM in HZ. It's a fast train with a top speed of 140 KPH. When we got there, we had to ride a bus to reach the city center or at least the West Lake area then look for a cheap hotel. Good thing I listed cheap hotels from the internet. We got to a hostel which costs 40 yuan per person but they didn't have enough beds to accommodate 9 people. They were corteous enough to call other hostels that could accommodate us. It was a little bit more expensive but had a home-ier feel to it. We finished unpacking at around 3 then headed back to the Lake area to grab some food. We went to Butterfly Laguna which offered a eat-all-you-can with great choices. We were so hungry that we ordered about 70% of what's on the menu! It was our breakfast,lunch and dinner altogether. We chilled afterwards and watched the famous fountain show by the lake. Afterwards, we tried out some local beer since Dexter was really into drinks. We got back to our hostel by 10. There, we stayed in the lobby area and got to meet an Austrian who has been everywhere. He has the best job in the world! He earns by travelling! He's been to our country for around 6 times already. He could speak a little bit of Laos,Cambodian,Filipino,German,Chinese,etc. He's even a Freddie Aguilar fan! One tip we learned from him on travelling is to live like a local. So he stays at the cheapest places, eats local food and really finds the best bargains around town.

The next day was not so nice for us. We decided to extend our trip for another night but found out that we had to leave our hostel. Luckily, we got another great deal at a nearby hotel. It was also raining so we had to get umbrellas at the Lingyin Temple area. We visited the different carvings and trekked to the top of the hill. The weather was really cold. After our tour, we came back again to the Lake area. We checked out another area in the city and decided to eat Hot Pot. It was great! After a round of ice cream, we went to S.O.S., China's famous disco. There will be no pictures posted of the place since it's not allowed anyway and what happens in Hangzhou, stays in Hangzhou!