Weddings and Photos

In China, it seems that people are always getting married and subsequently always having wedding photographs taken. Unlike the western world, this is quite a lengthy ordeal and often extends well beyond the wedding day. The tradition is to create books and books of images of the couple in various situations and doing various things. The outfits can range from Indian traditional clothes, to pirate outfits to native American costumes to typical wedding clothing underwater with scuba gear over the top. The couple will spend a lot of time and money ensuring they have an appropriately eclectic set of albums.

In order to support such a strange industry, many places that would usually be professional photography stores often team up with costume stores that stock rent-able outfits designed specifically for this purpose. It should also be noted that almost all wedding dresses are rented, regardless of the price of the wedding. Also, the bride does not just rent one gown - she often wears up to 10 different gowns on her wedding day alone.

As well as the odd photographs, couples usually like to take photos in beautiful places with traditional wedding clothing (western style). So whenever one goes to a pretty place like West Lake, it is likely that a number of wedding parties will be spotted. Perhaps a few brides and grooms and a photo team. Interestingly, there is not a huge concern about shoes and the bride will often were sneakers under her dress. Also the weather seems not to affect their propensity to go on such photo making expeditions. They are there rain or shine.

Qian Dao Hu

The Lake of A Thousand Islands, or Qian Dao Hu, is in a remote part of the extended Hangzhou city and takes about 3 hours to get to by bus. I went there over a long weekend with a friend, because everyone had told me it was a worthwhile trip. The township gets its name from a lake which forms part of its coastline, which has many small islands. However, they say in reality it is closer to a few hundred than to one thousand islands.



We arrived in mid morning and while taking lunch, 2 Chinese girls began to converse with us. They then offered to show us around town a little, an invitation we eagerly accepted because we had no idea what was what. They took us the the edge of the lake and showed us to a place where we could book day tours around some of the many islands. Then we walked back though the city to the other side of town where there was another coast of the lake. This area was like a large city square surrounded by shops. At the time, there were people but it was not crowded.

The girls left us, and my friend and I walked for a while only to run into one of the girls for a second time. She invited us to her house where her mother made boiled pork for us. Later that night, we went back to the city square with her. Now it was buzzing with life. People were renting out roller skates and there was a lot of other activity. My friend partook in this while I saw to some emergency work in an internet cafe. One of my classmates needed some help in writing some documentation for a few projects we were working on.

Later that evening, we went to the lake's edge and watched a beautiful fountain show. Fountain shows are quite popular in China but this was probably the nicest I have seen. They used lights underwater to colour it and had remote-controlled spray heads to achieve interesting patterns. It went on and on without repeating for quite some time.



The next day, we took a day tour around the lake to a number of the more major islands. They catered well for tourists of our calibre and provided a lot of interesting things to look at. There were monkeys, snakes, ostriches (which you could ride for 10RMB) as well as a mountain cable car that went up to a look out, each on their own island. It was very beautiful and had some of the clearest water I had seen in Chinese lakes.



The following day, which was our last, we went to the other side of the lake to see a activity park. It was ridiculously expensive so we just walked around before hitching a boat ride back to the main island. On the way home, I fell ill with a cold. I think there is some sort of trend here. Perhaps if I go traveling I should not return home, to avoid sickness.

Please view my extended gallery of this trip.

Qian Dao Hu

Morgan and a Train to Beijing

Soon after recovering from not being able to walk, it was time for summer vacation so I only spent a short time back in the lab before leaving town.

As part of the vacation, an old friend of mine, Morgan, came to visit. We started in Hangzhou and I showed her around with a few friends. Then we went to Shanghai to visit some of the more famous sites. We spent one night there before returning to Hangzhou for a few more days. We had planned to take a sleeper train to Beijing to meet up with some other friends but I failed to get train tickets in time so we were forced to postpone our trip a few days and take hard seats on the 16 hour train.

The train ride was quite interesting as it was full of people - so many that more than half the people in the carriage could not sit down. We were seated opposite two mothers with their two young boys who did not sleep well, which added to the interest. I was sitting next to a girl from Hangzhou, Eve, who later became a close friend. We started talking because her English was not too bad. Her family were sitting near by and they gave us food during the trip. We also talked about the soccer because that night was the final in the World Cup. A friend who was watching the game back in Hangzhou sent me frequent updates on the game via SMS and we were all sad when we found out who won.

That night many people did not sleep and just stood there or slept laying on the floor of the train. It was a surreal experience.

The next morning atendents came around with boiling water for tea and instant noodles. For obvious reasons I was quite nervous about this activity.

Eve, the girl I was sitting next to, got off about an hour before Beijing. We decided to stay in contact.

When we arrived we found somewhere to stay and something to do.


This is some mountain we passed in the train.

Actually Finding a Burns Hospital

A week and 3 days after my burn, one of my classmates, Blake, offered to accompany me to the hospital. He got a taxi to come to the back door of the dorm although they are not usually allowed inside the university, I hopped down the stairs and into the cab and we set off. As we pulled out of the university the driver asked where we were to go. I said the name of the hospital from the day before - the one with the microwave for human flesh - but Blake thought that was not a good idea. He then talked with the driver about which other hospitals were okay. There was a burns specific hospital however it was a long way away. In the end the driver said he would take us there anyway.

Eventually we arrived and I was seen rather quickly. They were shocked at the prior treatment and said that it had been treated as a much smaller, less serious burn and that I would need a skin graft. They then debrided the wound, which includes removing all the dead skin and flesh - in this case, skin and flesh that had started to heal incorrectly. This hurt quite a lot. They then washed my wound and dressed it. Again the pain had changed and become more evident so I was a lot more on edge. When everything was done I hopped out to wait for a taxi back home.

I returned two days later. They opened the wrapping and started to wash the wound as before. This time, however, after washing it the first time, they poured alcohol over it to ensure it would not get infected. There was no warning and it was quite painful, perhaps the most painful part of the whole experience. After that they rewrapped it and we talked about healing times. They expected it to take a while - 5 weeks to a few months without a skin graft and only 2 or 3 weeks with a graft.

My parents were still worried about this whole thing and to add to the confusion they were travelling separately in different parts of the world so communications were poor. They were trying to find out if someone could give us an idea of whether I needed a graft or not and how it should be dealt with generally. Our doctor friends in the States and Australia agreed that it was being dealt with well and that it would probably heal without a graft although a graft would speed things up. They thought if they were treating it they would not graft because there were still visible hair follicles in the photos I had sent. This meant the skin had somewhere to start growing from.

I went back to the hospital every two days for a few weeks eventually to find that it was improving rather well so the doctors said I did need not a skin graft. I was, however, still not walking and was hopping everywhere instead. In China they do not give you crutches or wheelchairs unless you really need them. The burns hospital was filled with patients who were hopping around because they had burnt part of their legs or feet.

Because the hospital I was going to now was more burns-oriented, there were more burn victims and everytime I went, I would see young and old with burns more serious than mine. It was also surprising to see that, on ocassion, a woman with child who had been scalded all over and was screaming continously would be ignored and made to wait until the doctor had free time, even if he wasn't dealing with anything particularly urgent at the time.

This is a small library of images from my legs recovery

Spilt Tea

Finding a Burns Hospital

The day after being burnt, I returned to the school hospital. This time, I was just accompanied by a western friend who could only speak some Chinese. This did not turn out to be a problem and the nurse redressed my wound. The next day, I was to redress the wound myself as that part of the hospital would be shut so she gave me the appropriate materials. This also went to plan. The following day, Monday, I returned to the hospital and the same procedure whet forth. At the time she expected me to be healed in about 2 weeks. A few days went passed following the same pattern. On the Thursday of that week however she scowled at my gamy leg and sent me to see a doctor who said I had an infection and that I would need antibiotics. They then redressed my wound and gave me a prescription to take to the drip room, a room full of sick people connected to drips hanging from metal hooks in the ceiling. It went on like this for a few days.

In the meantime, I was not going to the lab as I could not concentrate very well and I was still shaking from the shock. I was eating okay and have a few friends who were eager to take care of me while I was less inclined to walk. To avoid staying in my room all the time I went to a few relaxed places around Hangzhou and went on my first boat ride there. I was so ill at the time that I spent most of the trip sleeping or at least in an immobile state.

After 3 days of penicillin, I decided it might be a good idea to search for a English speaking doctor at a different local hospital. This proved an interesting effort because although when I arrived at the hospital I was was seen to immediately ahead of the other 20 or so people waiting for attention, I was not led to see someone who actually spoke English. Instead I was taken to a doctor experienced in another area who could speak about 10 words of English. He said that the previous hospital had been using a drug that was too weak and gave me a stronger antibiotic. He also prescribed something he called microwave treatment. This involved placing something like a griller near my leg. It then made my leg feel really hot as though it was re-burning it. I think to some degree this is what it was doing but I think the object of the device was to dry the wound. As well as this I was asked to stop walking on that foot. So the hopping began. At any rate it hurt quite a lot and that evening I called people from the lab to ask if they could accompany me the next day to ensure we were all on the same page.

At the same time I had told my parents and started they had contacted a few doctor friends. I had sent a few pictures home and they had been comparing notes. No-one seemed to know anything about this microwave thing but they said medicine in China was older than the most western medicine so perhaps it was quite an effective method. I also heard from the supervisor of one of my friends from UTS that when she she scalded her foot in China a few years ago, she was also given this microwave treatment.

Spilt Tea

Shortly after being moved into Lab 318, I was taken to a prototyping company for a meeting and to check up on some work they were doing for us. After seeing some of their model making spaces, we went into their meeting room and sat down. As is customary in China, they brought tea out to us in disposable clear plastic cups. At the time, I was looking at the furniture and thinking how it was so uniquely Chinese and I was trying to work out some characteristics that could be represented generically.

One of the secretaries (or something like that) came out with the first two cups of tea and placed them on the table. The cup that she put in front of me was a little crushed but I did not react to that. I then considered sliding it over to one of the people sitting further from the door but I did not, I just listened to the Chinese as they talked about they work going on between Lab 318 and this company. I could not understand much as my Chinese was still quite poor at that time so I was listening carefully for any word that I could pick out.

Suddenly there was a sound as the cup of tea in front of me keeled over and spilt its contents on the glass table. The water spilled off the table and down to my left foot which was on the ground directly under the table’s edge. At first I moved quickly to avoid being in the way of the water but my sock was already soaked. I was asked if my foot was okay and I responded that it was not too bad. I calmed myself and decided that the pain was not significant. I have done this in Kung Fu quite a lot so it was not completely new. As I sat I decided that it did not hurt enough to be serious and decided that I could ignore it. I think they offered to let me wash my foot or at least take my shoe off but I did not want to disrupt the meeting and I did not think it was very serious so I just told them it would not be necessary and went back to trying to listen for Chinese words I knew and trying to extract the meaning of their conversation.

As we left I noticed that I was a little more shaky than usual and on the drive home I decided that I should have a proper look at my wound when we got back to the lab. In the car I sent a text message to a friend back at the international dorm saying “tea no foot, pain!” I meant to write “tea on foot…” but the predictive spelling on my phone is not always accurate. After that, we discussed finding apartments in Hangzhou because at the time I was thinking of moving out of the dorms to cheaper accommodation.

When we arrived at the lab I walked in and sat down as quickly as possible. I then removed my shoe and on of the guys from the lab who spoke better than average English came over. He was outraged when he found out that I had been so burnt and not done anything. As I removed my sock I managed to also remove most of the affected skin. The lab members then decided I should go to the school hospital so I gathered my things. They found keys to Ying Fantian’s car and Blake, the boy with good English, drove me there.

The hospital smelt strange and a few people let me go before them in line as they thought my burn looked serious. The doctor agreed that it was not a good idea to have avoided washing it. I then went to a nurse who dressed my wound and told me to return the next day for redressing. My colleagues then drove me home. They had to go back to the lab so they left me at that point.

After settling in to the new pain, the dressing had reminded me of what I was feeling, so I called the friend that I sent the text message to and explained the situation. She went and bought me a few things and then came to my room. One of the things she tried to get me were some flip-flops. However, when she went to a nearby supermarket and asked for the appropriate size, she was laughed at and told that no-one needed shoes that large. She then explained that I was tall and western and then they understood how such a large foot could exist but the still could not help the fact that their shoes were all much smaller. As a band-aid solution, she bought me a pair that were a few sizes too small but still the biggest that were made. We thought I could get some larger ones latter on and the ones she bought were quite cheap. I am actually yet to replace them but that is another matter.

The day went on and we went to a restaurant for dinner, but the food was not that good. At that point I could still walk, just not very fast.

Hangzhou CBD

Downtown Hangzhou is a series of long shopping streets that seem to be always populated and bustling. Although it has its share of restaurants and other food vendors, most shops are fashion or sports goods in this area.

At the south of the main CBD, there is a traditional street (Hefang Jie) that sells a lot of old wares and has some famous tea houses. Further north and closer to the lake, there is a more expensive area that has some of the better brands as well as more restaurants and hangout spots. There are clubs and other night culture venues throughout the central city, although we did not go to these much as ZJU students were rarely interested in them. As well as stores, they had what people called 'the markets' which are enclosed alleyways in some building that were full of tiny shops and often very crowded. Many of these would extend under the ground a few floors and above ground 5 or 6 floors. They would be full of many kinds of fashion products and accessories and bargaining is expected. The target market is generally girls under twenty five; however, most of the larger facilities catered for a larger demographic.

Throughout my stay I often walked through the central streets of the city to go shopping or to find a new restaurant. However, most things available did not suit or fit appropriately. For obvious reasons, shoes that fit me are not common in China. However, while I was there, I did find some that were too big and I eventually bought a pair in the CBD, although they have proved to not be too comfortable. I think they have culture on their side because they need not create fitting options for more than a few races of Chinese.

Scaffolding and Building

Animals have a big role in building construction, especially when it is in a less easy to reach place like this mountain top.

In China, construction is fast and uses a lot of methods which are not commonly seen in the West. Bamboo is often used for scaffolding in a number of ways and, because most of the builder are very used to this tradition, when they use metal, they use it as if it were bamboo. So in the making of new buildings they often seem to create a compete shell out of long metal rods, about the size of the bamboo that would be used, all bolted together. As the building grows, the structure remains and is used as a transport system and holding structure. Then at the last minute, when the building is complete, they deconstruct the shell to reveal the new building. They still use bamboo a lot as well as traditional techniques to get fast production on a small budget.

Only rarely do they use elements that are much stronger than these metal rods, so when doing things like a new bridge - where there would usually be a huge need for load bearing support structures - they just bolt thousands of these poles together to create a connected 3D matrix. That means that the bridge is supported by essentially solid metal below its surface. This method is quite safe as it makes it much less likely that the bridge will fall while in construction, but it is resource intensive and time consuming. However, this is not a problem for the construction managers because in China, there are always people eager to work at jobs like this so they can easily find good employees. As a result, the workflow of the construction site is much quicker and tighter paced. They also have a tendency to work all the time, as opposed to Western construction companies who are likely to stop if it rains or if the wind is not blowing to their liking. Similarly, there are no problems with unions. Instead, there are government organisations and there are certain rights to walk away from things that people are not interested in taking part in. In the end, it seems hugely more efficient than the Western methods and in general better for a larger percentage of the population.

Living as a Celebrity

Being tall and white in China, especially in the more rural areas, is an easy way to be noticed. Children would gaze up as though I had just changed their lives and I would continually hear things like "Na me gao!" which translates to "so tall!" or "lao wai", wich means foreigner. Unlike in a Western country, where if people said too many things of this kind offence might be taken and therefore expected, in China this was a well practised reaction to people of my kind. In fact, at no point during my stay did I feel as though I was being challenged or made a mockery of, by Chinese people at least.

In some places people would approach and ask to take photos which was quite an interesting feeling. Being an instant celebrity is worthwhile for ones confidence and the opportunities and friendships that can be made are quite endless. On the 16 hour train to Beijing I met a girl from Hangzhou who I would later meet again and become good friends with. In Beijing, Morgan and I met a girl who helped us around because she was interested in practicing English. I think in the end I learnt more Chinese in our interactions than she learnt English but it was a good time nonetheless. People were not only more willing to talk to me than they might be in other places they were also more interested in helping me. I once went to the hospital where there was a queue of 20 or more people waiting to see the doctor. However, as soon as the nurses saw me, they led me straight into a doctor's office where I was seen to immediately. I also had 6 or 7 nurses looking after me the whole time.

I think in the long run this is not a good thing for China. However, it does allow for great steps in foreign relations.

Pizza Hut Celebrity

After a short time in China, some of the Westerners I knew yearned for pizza. There was a Pizza Hut in a shopping center near our campus so we set a time to eat there. When we arrived, we found that there was quite a queue and that it would take 20 minutes to be seated. One of us stayed in the queue while a few others, including me, walked off to do various things. I was about 100 meters away at an ATM when one of the employees ran out to talk to the lone Westerner in line. They were interested in getting me, the tall white guy, to come back the next day and take part in a "party" concerning a new product.

We eventually entered and ate and at the end of the meal they came by to ensure my presence the next day. They were also interested in my one other Westerner of our group, but they had no interest in the rest as they were all ABC or something similar. They wanted white people.

I came back the next day with a couple of friends and they swept me and my white friend aside and explained the evening's activities to us. They wanted us to help introduce the product by sitting on display and eating a new pizza in a "western" way. There were three of us all together and they had each of us pretend to be from different countries. They asked me to eat the pizza from the crust first and then work back towards the center. Another person had to fold the pizza and eat it like that. My friend was asked to roll it into a cylinder and eat it in this way. We were also asked to say a few Chinese words which I could not do well at the time which just added to the mayhem.

After the oddities of pizza were over with, we were ushered to sit with our other friends. Oddly, all the other spectators had been given free pizzas and salads and other things. Our friends however had not been given much at all. The one of us who spoke the best Chinese argued with the manager and eventually got us some free pizza but certainly not enough.

Eventually they started playing games. One in particular included putting a balloon connected to a pump under someone's shirt and pumping it up until it popped. It was all quite strange and amusing.

The pizza we were advertising was stuffed crust. Sadly all their pizzas were quite bad so we tried to avoid Pizza Hut in the future.

Here are a few more pictures from the event.

Pizza Hut Celebrity