Hello everyone! This post is a quick summary of things I liked about China while I was there for almost four years. Why was I in China for that long?
I was there to pursue my doctoral degree at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China which as the name of the university suggests, is in Ningbo, China.

For those of you who are not familiar with Ningbo, it is a port city in the Zhejiang province that is located South of Shanghai. I don't think that it is a major tourist destination but it has seen rapid growth and development over the past decade. Give it another decade or so and I believe that it is poised to be an industrial and financial hub that is similar to other major cities in China like Shanghai.

So what was it like staying in China for that long? Well, needless to say, the whole experience took me into unfamiliar waters. Before arriving in Ningbo, I sort of already expected living in China to be challenging and I was right....especially for the first few months that I was there. Don't get me wrong, the experience itself was not all bad but at the end of the day, home is where your heart is and well, my heart was always with family back in Malaysia.

You may have heard of less than flattering stories about the queer culture and practices of the people in China. From my personal experience, there is truth to some of those stories but that would probably be a story for another time.

This post is to share about things that I did enjoy during the course of my studies in Ningbo.
For those of you who have worked or studied in China, some of these things might resonate with you as well. Do let me know, It would be interesting to know what your experience was like.

So what did I like about China?To start things off, 

CHANGES IN SEASON

This may seem like something very normal for those of you from countries with four seasons. But where I come from, (Malaysia), summer is the only season we get 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  So, inconsequential as this may be, the first thing that I have to say I really liked about China is getting to experience the changes in season. That being said, in Ningbo, spring and autumn is quite short, and only lasts for anywhere between one to two months, Changes in the colour of plants and trees are also more subtle in Ningbo. Most of them simply stay green or go from being green to being bald when winter arrives... LOLs. If you are wondering how cold it can be in Ningbo, well the coldest I have experienced so far in the winter months was -8 degrees Celsius. So, if you do visit in the winter months, remember to bundle up!

TRAVEL

As I am sure all of you are aware, China is HUGE! Travelling in China itself, you will have no shortage of destinations to go to. I have been to a number of places in China but it barely scratches the surface. I would not say that I have been to many places (budget and time contraints) but I think these four years has seen me travel the most in my life.. to date. hahaha. Just be aware of a few things when travelling in China. Be very careful of your belongings, cultural shocks are almost a certainty, make use of Baidu Maps (not Google maps), be prepared for the multitudes of people (people are literally everywhere...), haggling and bargaining in shopping areas (especially tourist areas) is a MUST, and be very careful of what you eat. These are the places that I have been to in China so far:

Beijing



Shanghai


Xi'an



Nanjing



Hangzhou



Xitang



ONLINE SHOPPING

Next up on what to likea bout China?..Online shopping!!!China has sooo many online shopping websites that are equaivocal to ebay or Amazon with better selections and seemingly endless varieties at impressive price points. In fact if you look hard enough, there's bound to be a good bargain for you for just about anything that you can think off. The most popular shopping website in China would probably be Taobao. If you have not heard of Taobao, it is just THE BEST THING EVER!! Of course, Taobao is available everywhere else as well but shopping on Taobao in China is sooo much more fun!! Why? Shipping fees are sooooo cheap, its just too hard to resist!! Sellers also often offer free shipping of items if the amount that you purchase meets a certain amount or value. It is  SUPER ADDICTIVE! And extremely convenient!! You do need to keep in mind that you need to be careful when purchasing on websites like Taobao. Be warned that there can be fake items and there is the possibility of getting ripped off. What I would do is check for the popularity of the item and read as many reviews as I can before deciding whether or not to purchase. Just remember that the amount you pay for is usually proportonal to the quality of the item. So, just remember to adjust your expectations, be reasonable, be careful, chat with the seller (you can bargain online too) and I am sure that you would often feel satisfied with your purchases.

DELIVERY SERVICES

I really like the logistics services in China. Delivery services in Malaysia isn't bad. In fact I think that since I've been back, delivery services in Kuala Lumpur has improved significantly. In China, there are so many courier companies to cater to local needs (1.7 billion people is no joke...lol).  because China is SOOOOOOO big. All my online purchases are delivered to a designated place ( i.e. the entrance of my university's student dorms).
There are so many companies offering the same services which makes service charges competitive which is great for customers like you and me. As for efficiency, most of them are usually very efficient (by my standards). For example, items that I purchased from Shanghai reaches me in Ningbo the next day (maybe even the same day). If it's from say, Beijing, maybe 3 to 4 days?
Bottom line, I have had a few issues with my deliveries over the years but nothing too serious and nothing that cannot be fixed quickly.  For such a large country, I have to say that their services are often good and very well managed....in my opinion at least. :D

VIDEO SHARING WEBSITES
I am sure that Youtube needs no introduction right? Well, unfortunately for me, unless you subscribe to VPN services (which I did not) or use a proxy (super slow), Youtube is not accessible in China. So what to watch you wonder? Fret not! I am not sure how many video sharing websites are there in China but here's just the few that I know off.


Aside from the local shows, these websites air international programs from America, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea, Japan and so on. I have to say that this partially the reason as to why my Mandarin has improved. I learned to read Mandarin from here as well because all their programs have Mandarin and English subtitles... (NICE!!). Don't worry about having to wait for videos to load and buffer as well because the internet speed in China is AMAZING!!! I have to admit that I kind of miss it now that I am back home.

THE FOOD

Now when it comes to food, you may have heard of all sorts of horror stories about the food in China and you would not be wrong. BUT, there have been pleasant experiences and exceptions, such as these.......

and these :D...


and these.. 

What I would advice you to do is to get opinions from family or friends who have been to or are still in China. Those who have been there for a while will know where it would be worthwhile to satiate your tummy's needs. Another tip is that I would recommend you is to bring some diarrhea medication, panadol, carbon pills, etc. Just to be safe. From personal experience, I would tell you not to take too much street food but if you are feeling adventurous and you have a resilient digestive system, you can try them at your own risk. haha..

LEARNING MANDARIN
Now before I went to China, my conversational Mandarin was terrible. Aside from my name, some basic phrases like 'how are you' (nihaoma - 你好吗), 'thank you' (xiexie-谢谢), 'goodbye' (zaijian-再见) and numbers, I could NOT speak proper, colloquial Mandarin to save my life. And I am supposed to be Chinese!!!! I know, sooo embarassing.... To add more salt to the wound, I couldn't read in Mandarin as well. So when I first got to China, I was so lost, I think had it not been for my boyfriend, I would not have survived the first few months in China. It is exceedingly inconvenient to get things done when you don't speak the local language (they have local dialects there too).

So throughout my time there, I made it a point to improve my Mandarin by conversing more with my local colleagues, watching more Chinese shows, listening to more Chinese music, just anything to help me improve my Mandarin skills. Getting from place to place, buying anything, settling my resident's permit,asking for help, just anything really; having a moderate command of the Mandarin language definitely makes things a lot easier. I have to say that being immersed in the local culture and environment also definitely helped improve my Mandarin significantly throughout the four years that I was there.

Today, I would not say that I speak Mandarin seamlessly, but I can definitely have proper conversations in Mandarin with the locals especially with my colleagues and friends. I also have so much more appreciation for the language and hey, having another language under my belt can't be a bad thing right?

So there you have it, after four years of being 'stranded' in China, These were the things that made the whole experience very worthwhile. I have to say that being in China for that long really made me appreciate being back home so much more. I definitely enjoyed the freedom and the independence but I also learnt that my home is still in Malaysia. That being said, putting myself into what I felt was a more challenging environment really forced me to grow and mature more quickly.  For those of you who are about to be seconded to some part of China, or you're just looking for some form of adventure in this vast, vast land, my hope is that you will keep an open mind about whichever part of China you may be going to. Don't take everything too seriously and if you can, find a support system in the people around you. If you have not been to China, I would definitely recommend you travel there at least once just to immerse yourself in the whole experience.   Feel free to leave me comments or if you have any questions feel free to ask. That's all for now. Cheers.

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!!!!!!!! :D Starting off with a pic of our minsu in Luodong, Yilan. Isn't it modern looking? And the compound is really big too. I talked about it in my previous post which you can check out here. 



So now we are on to the 5th Day of the Taiwan trip! Click here for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4. 

Yilan is Northeast of Taiwan and we 
 hired another tour driver with help from our Minsu host, Ms. Lin. If you do plan to stay at Jing Xiang Hua Nong, rest assured, you won't have to worry about not being able to get around Yilan with Ms. Lin around. If I remember correctly, this tour driver charged us TWD 3000 for a one day trip around Yilan. The places we went to were of our choosing but our driver also made several recommendations along the way. Unfortunately, it rained again throughout the day so many of our stops were indoors.

First stop.. the Luodong National Center for Traditional Arts. Saw this unique looking ......book shelf?? And just wanted to sit down. Personally, I'm not a big fan of museums and exhibition centers especially for a holiday, but since it was drizzling throughout the day, we didn't really have much of a choice.

There are some interesting exhibits in this center. Look out for a sculpture made of gold, silver and bronze in one of the exhibition rooms. We weren't allowed to take pictures so unfortunately I can't show it to you here. 


Next up! Yilan Ranch (宜农牧羊场). I wasn't expecting to visit an animal farm on this trip so it was a  pretty pleasant surprise.

Visitors get to feed these little piglets. They're bottle fed with milk bu  I think they don't get enough to drink, You can see here that they're scrambling for their chance at that one bottle of milk. 

They are so cute! Especially the small ones .

When you step into the distillery, the first thing you will notice is the sweet alcoholic aroma that has permeated every corner of the room. It's actually smells quite pleasant.

Oak barrels

Whiskey tasting. I'm not a big fan of whiskey but....Bottoms up! :D. 


Next up, the Sanzhai Monster Village. Don't worry, no actual monsters were on site except for these cardboard prints and a gigantic figurine in one of the bakeries there.  This place sells local pastries, cakes and desserts that you can purchase as souvenirs for friends and family. 

The pastries are made and packaged on the spot so you can actually see how they're made from start to finish. 


They put out generous amounts of samples for you to try them out too so you get to decide if you like it or not before buying anything. Just take note that since there are no preservatives in these pastries, they won't last long from the day of purchase. Maybe only a week or so?






We actually dropped by at Wufengchi waterfall but we decided not to hike up because the rain was just a little bit too heavy. Nonetheless, if you do travel to Yilan and the weather is good I think it would be worth the visit.

image taken from taiwanwaterfall.com

We also went to the Jiaoxi hot spring but again.. it was raining so we didn't get to soak our feet in the public area. We weren't adventurous enough for the public baths so oh well..If I do get to go back to Yilan again, I will make it a point to definitely try one out. 

Overall it was another relaxing day in Taiwan. We took our time, didn't rush about and just really enjoyed the cool albeit wet weather. I think that those of you who are planning to visit Yilan, you will really enjoy the fresh air, the slower pace of life and just get to really chill out. I definitely recommend going there even if it's just for a one day trip. 

I think that's it. We left Taiwan the next day, and Ms. Lin arranged for another driver to bring us from our minsu all the way to Taoyuan airport. The fare was TWD2000 which was a lot cheaper than I expected. We stopped at the airport food court to grab dinner before our midnight flight. Food was not bad. Reasonably priced too. :)

So this entire post will be dedicated to the minsu that my family and I stayed at on the fourth and fifth night of our trip to Taiwan. As I mentioned in my previous post, (Day 4), our tour driver dropped us off at this minsu after our one-day trip to Yehliu, Jiufen and Shifen. I really wanted the homestay experience because I have heard and read so much about it. So ,I made it a point to arrange for all of us to stay in a minsu just for the experience. :D

 There are many many minsu listings in Yilan but most of the minsu websites are in Chinese and it might not be that easy to find unless you are familiar with Chinese. I booked this minsu through booking.com because my Chinese isn't great and because it was convenient .hehehe. We stayed here for two nights at TWD 5600 which is about 730 ringgit. I don't think that its very costly in comparison to many of the other homestays in Yilan, maybe at the mid-price range? So, if you are interested, you can check this minsu out here. 

The minsu is called Jing Xiang Hua Nong and in English it's called the Flower Street homestay/bnb. The reviews on booking.com for this minsu are very positive and breakfast is provided for all the guests. Here's the address and contact number;

Address:  No. 568, Kelin Road, 269 Luodong, Taiwan
Contact number : +8869375122602

So, Imma spam pics of the minsu just to give you a better idea of what it's like. I have not seen many blog reviews on this minsu but I was very happy with this place so I thought it deserved a good review here. :D

Here's what the minsu looks like from the outside.

Looking out from the main entrance of the minsu. 

So now inside the room. See the TV? That's Tangled showing on the tele. hehehe... They provided towels and toiletries (on that little table in just below the tv). There's also a hair dryer next to the mirror. The room is very spacious and very very clean!! Mummy and i had more than enough space to workout in the room. We were feeling guilty for eating so much throughout the day. hahaha...

The dining area where all guests have their breakfast. Their homemade soy bean milk is REALLY GOOD!!!! Breakfast was pretty good. Our host served porridge with quite a few side dishes, some buns, coffee and tea. With the cold weather, warm breakfasts were a real plus.