Trek The Unknown

Just came back from shopping for some tekking equipment. As I said next week I’m flying to Katmandu. I’m going to travel Nepal for something like 7 weeks. Since this trip to Nepal wasn’t on my plan at all, I don’t have any of my tekking equipment with me (except of my great whitney gregory backpack).

I’m about to trek the “Around Annapourna” , at some point so I do need to buy some new equipment.

Get some view on how much trekking equipment costs here. I went to a friends store so I got lower prices (30% off probably), but you’ll get the feeling.

Here’s what I got (prices are in Chinese yuan – RMB. exchnage rate 1$ = 7.5 RMB) :

1. shoes – bought Sherpa ****shoes. These shoes are water proof, but don’t have Gortex. It’s the cheapest good shoes for treking you can find here (300 RMB)

2. walking metal stick with a 2 position of lock and soft lock. Can be extended to different hights. Includes Campuse and can be used as a tripod or your camera (made in china – 60 RMB. If you want an Iltalian one 300 RMB is the price for you.)

3. Head Flash light , not watr proof ( 20 RMB, Peztel costs 560 RMB)

Some other stuff I saw in the store were thermo t-shirt ( 50 RMB), Thick rain coat( 728 RMB..after 30% of it’s ~506 RMB ).

my journey continues…. I left my friends at the university a few days ago. It was a pleasure being there and experiencing the student life ( the shower is a bit of a challenge, but I can handle it ). So thank you Peter and all. It was a great help.

Now I moved to the other side of town. I’m Leaving with shens family. Shen has a wife and an 8 year old son. they have extra room so they are letting me stay here. It’s great being here and it feels like home.

They live in an apartment building. One side facing the hills while the other side is facing the sea. So I have a forest hill from my balcony when waking up in the morning. On the other side of the apartment the sea and ships are the common landscape, During night time you hear the ships horns, which for some reason makes me smile. Feels like you are leaving in a special place.

Next week I’m saying goodbye to my Chinese teacher and flying to Nepal. I’m very excited about this. just wondering if finishing my Chinese studies is the right thing to do now. well, I have to leave here anyway because my visa expires, it doesn’t worth coming back…hope to come visit again and keep learning. I learned so much about Chinese culture and way of life when staying here. Also staying with locals even helped more. I just like it so much….understanding foreign cultures. it’s much much better than staying in a hotel of any kind!

I’m here in China for already 6 weeks. And although It’s already was quite a while, new experiences do arrive. I’m thinking of developing some business here in china…whenever I read about china’s business culture I read about toasting for the guest…

yesterday I moved temporarily to a friends dorms in the university of Dalian. He offered me to stay here for a couple of days and I appreciate this very much….So last night we all went out for beer. I’m not such a good alcohol drinker…

when I arrived at the restaurant they were all there..and 4 empty bottles on the table. We were 5 people total…when I sat there, They all honored me with a “gang bei” ( litaraly means, empty glass).

some rules:

1. you have to look at the other person’s eyes when toasting with him.

2. If 2 of the people at the table are toasting you don’t have to join if you were not invited.

3. you have to finish the glass ( And preferably before the person who invites you to drink finishes his) till it’s end, unless you were given a permission not and just take a sip.

4. Last one is not rule but an important conclussion: I didn’t know I can drink so much beer! but, I was sooooo dizzy afterwards!

So Each of the people sitting to the table is toasting for you and you have to finish your glass. meaning that you drink the most. here’s a way to make business!

here is a picture from that night ( we had no camera therefore it’s the cellphone quality) . The owner of the restaurant is the guy in the middle, who joined us forthe pic and a few drink

Many westerners had the pleasure of bargening in many countries for differnet products they buy. It’s ALWAYS part of the trip.

When arriving here I started my bargening as follows:

seller: qoutes a price

me: “Tai Gui Le” ( too expensive) – offer a price 30%-40% precent less

seller: nodding his head for no…and offer some other price…etc’…

eventually the price would be 25% off the original one. Whenever I finished bargeinig I felt that I paid to much….My family always gave me the feeligng that I padi to much also…

Then, Fiannally I got it. Bargening in this country should go like this:

seller: qouting a price

me: me: “Tai Gui Le” ( too expensive) – offer a price 80%-90% less

We would finish with 60%-70% off the original price!

Got it?!

For the past 5 weeks I’ve been living with my sisters family, here in Dalian. This time is now over since they are leaving.

being here for more then a month was enough to make some friends here. I’ve met a bunch of students from Dalian Technology institute. I told them I’m looking for a place to stay after my family leaves, without even thinking about it they said I should come and stay with them at their dorms. I’m so happy about it. I’ll get the chance to know them even better, practice my Chinese and understand Chinese culture better. life is full with opportunities, you just need to be open to them.