Zhenhai, Ningbo, China - good, bad and the ugly

I came here in the middle of winter prepared for the winter, well, thinking I was prepared for it. I had read the yearly temperature chart for Ningbo, China, and it seemed kind of mild. I'll tell you, it wasn't pleasant: cold, rainy, humid, indoors and out. They don't have central heating but use air conditioners as heaters (it has a heater function), but because they are situated near the ceiling, they fail miserably as heaters. Each room is heated individually by an air conditioner, one that is situated on the wall, close to the ceiling, or they have ones that are actually on the ceiling... it's hilarious how well it doesn't work, but the locals kind of accept that "winter is cold," and that's it.

The city that I live in is a district of Ningbo and is quite low key compared to other places in China. I like it because the area looks like a smallish, somewhat modern but aging city but has a feel of a residential area with plenty of side walks, close to a river, lots of local restaurants and a few grocery stores. The streets are never really too busy, which I love. All the new, different types of food is great. I just walk around and try a new place every day.

A video done for homework for the students. Each
class has it's own chat group on a messaging app called
Wechat. I have five classes. 

Chinese Spring Break, end of
the year party

The school I teach at is an English training school. There are 9 foreign teachers in total, mostly from South Africa, a few from Serbia and one from Bangladesh, and me of course (Canadian). You don't need to be a native speaker to teach English here because the English that we teach is extremely basic. The school provides English training to kids ages 3-9 years old in classes that have 10 students or less. A lot of the teaching is just entertaining them, especially with the youngest ones.


Money: They are quite advanced here when it comes to daily commerce. They have completely set up a system in which they can pay through there phones using "Alipay" or the messaging app "WeChat." You connect you bank account to your phone and from there it's easy. Not completely, but they have almost rendered the use of paper money and coins obsolete (in the cities). You just go into a store, restaurant, or just at a street vendor, in a taxi cabs, wherever! and can use these apps. It's all through scanning something called a Qr code. I once bought something through this system for 1 rmb, which is less than a dollar.

School trip to a naturey area

Chinese Amazon is 10 times better than Amazon, and it's called Taobao. A creation of a Chinese entrepreneur named Jack Ma, the originator of Alibaba; he must be filthy rich.






Travel: There are plenty of scenic spots and nature. The area, in part, is surrounded by mountains and is close the ocean. Getting out of the city is easy! I love that! The bus, subway system is efficient, convenient and modern; and with their bus card, you can also rent bikes that are situated all over the city. You just scan the card, and the bike is released from it's sort of bike stand. Awesome! Then you can return it to any other designated bike stand somewhere else in the city. I've used that a lot, basically every day to work.

My school's uniform 

My apartment, to the right: a

one room place that was fancy

about 15 years ago. When I 

first moved in, it was a total

mess. The school provides 

the apartment, pays for it,

accept for the utilities but did

not clean it in preparation for

you coming. There is definitely a different logic here.

In all, it's been great. I'm working more and more now, and it's been a little tough physically dealing with that. My throat isn't doing that well. I haven't used it this much in years....

And, of course, Taichi in the parks.. all parks and
dancing in the parks, individually or in large groups.
The Chinese people appreciate their parks.

Baoguo Temple... light mountain climbing, rich forest, edge of the city - day trip

Baoguo temple reachable by two buses from me. The 2nd bus being a more local style bus. Took about 1.5 hours in total, and the bus drops you off right in front.





I paid the entrance fee which was just 20 rmb, not bad for China, but I was figuring that the area wasn't too big.

Upon entry, I was pleasantly surprised by the welcoming, lush nature. I felt happy to be there. The area is obviously well kept and the environment, the tangible and intangible, exudes a bright, positive and warm feeling.

 First, I headed up and to the right, away from the temple area. I wanted to walk around first. I proceeded to walk up the stairs towards the peak. China has a lot of destinations like this: beautiful scenic areas with well built stairs heading up and around mountains.


The walk up the mountain was pleasant, invigorating and the lack of tourists was welcoming. That's the best part of having my holidays fall on Mondays and Tuesdays; there is no one else traveling, except retirees, sometimes.

A lot of this type of flower: Sunflowers, maybe?

The view wasn't bad. It wasn't deep enough in the mountains to be just a nature view, so you can see small towns from the top.

Cool looking Chinese style gazebo

- Hung out there awhile and read, soaking in the surroundings.

Welcome to the temple entrance:

This old stump and roots of a tree, I found to be captivating. I wonder how big this tree was.













Inside the temple.

There was also a museum of archaic tools and other items within the temple grounds. This picture shows two tools which are for planing wood. There rest of the museum was an eclectic mix of ancient tools, chairs, people of note and the history of the temple (the founder and origin). One section was dedicated to the fathers of different skills, such as architecture and city planning. Very cool!

The museum continues.

5 for 5 rmb, not bad. basically different flavored
ice popsicles - magically delicious!

Cool Chinese art.. I love the blending of colors and tradition.

On the way out of the temple and back down the stairs, I stopped and took a picture through here. I was kind of amazed at all the small little areas within this scenic spot.

A sort of dried up, man made water fall that looked cool
with that dragon head spout. 

Great place for a day trip. I would definitely go again because of it's close proximity to the city.