Escape to Istanbul!

What is the best part of being an exchange student? Travelling! Yes, let's go to Istanbul! As I've heard hundreds of times from my Turkish friends that Istanbul is so much more fun than Ankara, the capital, all of us were extremely excited about the trip, although we read from the weather forecast that it might rain during the weekend.

Planning the trip is always of great importance, especially when you're travelling by yourselves. I agree that following a travel agency is much more convenient, still I prefer self-planned trip because for sure it is so much more enjoyable! Well, I'm kind of confident that I am a good trip planner and I had experience in planning trips to Guilin (a city in south China) last spring, to Thailand last summer, and Harbin and Beijing this winter. I was so concentrated when I was searching information beforehand that my parents joked that I should have majored in Tourism in university. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with doing research, right?

So 1:00a.m. Friday morning, we got onto the bus. It was raining in Ankara, as predicted, and the loud thunders with lightening scared us a little bit about the six-hour long night bus ride. Anyhow, all of us couldn't wait to see the historical Istanbul, no matter what weather it is.

7:00a.m., finally we arrived in the city. Good morning, Istanbul!

First impression of Istanbul? Nice weather! Seeing the clear blue sky, I knew that it was going to be a sunny day. Lucky us! Sorry, I'm not going to trust you any more, weather forecaster!

The hostel we booked online is located in Taksim, one of the most popular places where mostly young people go in central Istanbul. Hum, eight o’clock in the morning walking in Taksim Street just reminded me of walking in West Street in Yangshuo (a famous county close Guilin, China for backpackers). The two streets are similar in that shops, restaurants, bars, clubs, and hostels occupy both sides and make you feel busy checking them out. Well, there is always something similar among tourism spots, and you can tell that mostly young people are the target group because they’re the largest consumer group nowadays, I think.

It is not too difficult to get around in Istanbul with metro and tram, as written in some guide books. After talking to the nice people at our hostel, well, better keep to our schedule. Blue Mosque, first stop.

In Turkish, it is called Sultanahmet Camii (Sultan Ahmed Mosque), however, it is known as Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. This is my first time visiting a Muslim mosque, I paid a lot of attention to the architectural factors. Its design is the culmination of two centuries of both Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church development. It incorporates some Byzantine elements with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period.

Blue Mosque in Sunlight

A Muslim washing his feet before going into the Mosque to pray

Hagia Sophia, the next. From the Greek name "Ἁγία Σοφία", which means "Holly Wisdom", the cathefral is famous for its massive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and to have "changed the history of architecture."

Interior Hagia Sophia, emperors used to be crowned here

I know pictures are not enough. Hey, check this video.

Time for shopping! Destination Grand Bazaar! You will probably get lost here because it is almost a labyrinth. You can get everything about Turkey here, but usually you need to bargain to at least half of the price the shop owner asks. I like the bazaar because it is a good place for tourists to get souvenirs. On the other hand, I dislike it because local businessmen are too tricky on tourists that they make you feel uncomfortable. I’ve been to similar places in China and Thailand, it is almost the same situation as locals always want to cheat tourists and make money. But I think as long as you have the idea of protecting yourself, you can always get ideal souvenirs at reasonable prices.

Turkish carpets sold at Grand Bazaar

What can be the other interesting places to go on the second day in Istanbul? Topkapi Palace. It was the official and primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years of their 600-year reign, from 1465 to 1856. The Harem inside the palace, containing more than 400 rooms, were homes to Sultan, Valide Sultan, or Mother Queen, Sultan's concubines and wives, and the rest of his family. When I was visiting the Harem, I feel something similar between it and the Forbidden City in Beijing. Emperors, no matter in which part of the world, were always treated as the son of God and live a superior life. This is a kind of political revolution in human history that most countries have experienced.

Another video about Topkapi Palace and Bosphorus Bridge

See the nice weather in the video? You know what? We were so lucky because it started to rain when we took the bus back to Ankara, which means we avoided the rain luckily. When back to Ankara, my friend told me that it was not good weather in Ankara. Hum, we had escaped to Istanbul from the bad weather!

Good things must come to an end. As the Istanbul trip this weekend is quite short, we didn't have enough time to go to all attractions in the city. We know that there are way more to see, such as the Asian Side, the Prince Island, etc. And we understand that it takes at least one week to "study" Istanbul. Never mind, we know we will be back. Studying Istanbul is included in my study plan in Turkey.

Stay tuned for more exploration.

Global Warming? Truth? Myth!

If you easily believe that the global warming is the truth, you might lack the knowledge of the other side.

Let me recall since when I’ve heard so much of this phrase: global warming. Oh yes, for a few years already. For a certain period since I watched the movie The Day after Tomorrow (2004), there seems to be doubtless evidence supporting global warming theory. Five years later, another movie based on similar idea in climate change gets into the center of discussion – 2012 (2009).

Don’t be one of the global warming pushers. At least I don’t believe that the doomsday will come because of global warming. And I have my arguments.

No matter what figures you have showing that the average global surface temperature has increased since mid-20th century, it is only a little, zero point something, less than one degree Celsius. And don’t be misled by the so-called prediction that the earth surface temperature will continue to rise, even seriously, in the coming years.

Above all, it’s all about natural phenomenon. You must have learned about El Nino in your geography class. Right, it occurs once in a period of time, causing temperature increase in oceans as tropical trade winds actually reverse for a time. The resulting temperature changes cause severe storms, flooding and even draught on every continent on earth.

This provides an answer to the question that some people ask: why there are snowstorms although the earth is experiencing global warming. Because there is no global warming, El Nino is all natural. And it’s said that El Nino has been wreaking its havoc across the globe since long before man appeared.

To break the seemingly powerful evidence of the melting ice, there is a quite interesting argument. In 1914, Titanic crashed into a floating iceberg, which shows that ice has been melting before we had cars. Then where is the point attributing temperature rise to emission of car gases? I found the following graph which shows that there have been widespread temperature fluctuations throughout times.

Instead of “warming”, according to Scientific research through U.S. Government, satellite and balloon measurements shows that the temperature is actually “cooling” - very slightly - 0.037 degrees Celsius. This "cooling" trend has been most accurately documented over the past 18 years with modern science and improved equipment. Ironically, that's the same period of time when there are growing warnings of “warming”.

Since then, people get various suggestions about how to prevent global warming, such as saving energies. However, what seems funny to me is the assumption of being a vegetarian. How can you force people not to eat meat because animals release lots of carbon dioxide?

Isn’t that ridiculous? Well, you have your own ideas.

You're hi-tech, man!

When being a foreigner, everybody would face language problems unless you speak the language well, not to mention you do not understand it at all. Yes, that's true, I'm talking about myself. Here I am, in Turkey, knowing nothing about Turkish. Luckily, I can still survive, because there are some certain kinds of "languages" that humans share, such as music and smile. And interestingly, technologies help.

The 3rd day of arrival in Ankara, Erasmus Bilkent organized a trip to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations for us exchange students. When everybody was showing an expression of lost, Seyoong, one of the Korean exchange students, seemed to be quite confident after taking out his electronic dictionary and pressing several buttons. "You're hi-tech, man!" Seyoong got compliments on his "hi-tech" dictionary. The Korean looked happy.

The other day when several of us exchange students were chatting with each other about the food of our own country, I mentioned that Asian people eat a lot of rice and we use rice makers. Well, "rice maker" seems to be something new to a Slovenian girl because she couldn't understand how rice makers work. After I explained to her that this kind of technology makes rice-cooking so much easier, she commented, "You're lazy, man!"

I find it quite interesting that people have different views towards hi-tech. Well, I would say, we become hi-tech because we are lazy and we are smart.

One of the most powerful examples is vehicles and spacecrafts. Transportation nowadays is so much more efficient and more convenient than a few hundred years ago. Our ancestors would have never expected that centuries later, it now takes only a few hours to cover the distance which might took them a few months or even years.

They walked. We fly. They rode on horses. We ride in cars.

My Dad’s office is only 15 minutes’ walk from our house in Shanghai, but he drives everyday. Guess how much time does it take to drive? Ten minutes. The time used for starting the car, waiting for traffic lights and parking makes his car ride less enjoyable I guess. But he’s a typical lazy person, I think.

What makes it worse is that, a bunch of lazy guys like my Dad complain about the traffic jams without realizing that they’re actually among those who make the jams happen. Sadly, technologies make us lazier.

See what happens afterward? As people drive everyday, they lack exercises. Being fit, however, is what we generally pursue nowadays. Therefore, some people spare extra time and money for gyms. Huumm, maybe we’re easy to get bored of the most natural ways of exercises. Are we simply spending time and money for freshness? I hope not.

Hi-tech vehicles which really fly high in the sky appear in some scientific movies. Personally, I believe that is how the vehicles will look like in the future. Aren't you excited about this?

There’s no point criticizing being hi-tech nowadays, because we need technologies. What really matters is how you use them.

Endless Exploration

Two years ago, I left home for university. Goodbye, Shanghai! And hello, Hong Kong!

There is no doubt that Shanghai and Hong Kong are two of the most important cities in China, Asia or even in the world. Being two financial centers, they have similarities as well as differences. I feel proud that I can be part of the two, being both a citizen and an explorer.

To some extent, I may say, for mainland Chinese students, studying in Hong Kong is kind of similar to studying abroad. Although Hong Kong is returned back to China for more than 10 years already, the education system is still following the western style, which can be largely different from that in Mainland China. The biggest difference can be the teaching language, as we have classes in English, we do our assignments in English, and we mostly communicate with each other in English, especially when you talk to international or exchange students studying in the university.

Thanks to the internationalism of Hong Kong, I have made friends with people from all over the world: US, Canada, Australia, France, Sweden, Poland, etc. Not only have we established precious friendship, we also learned a lot about the culture of each other's country. I feel so proud that some of the international exchange students visited Shanghai during last Chinese New Year, and I acted as their guide. I feel great that I can introduce my own culture and at the same time getting to know more about the world.

Apart from the international friends from America or Europe, I met a lot of Mainland Chinese students as well. Students from all parts of China come to Hong Kong with the pursuit of first-class education. It's always a great feeling that I can meet people who have similar goals with me in a far-from-home place. Each year, there are around 200 Mainland China students enrolled in my university. We regard each other as life-long friends or even our own family.

I've always been looking for the similarities and differences between Shanghai and Hong Kong, and I think this should be my long-term work.

When I was with the other international exchange students in Hong Kong, I always told them that choosing Hong Kong for exchange life is the best choice ever. As Hong Kong has the mixture culture of East and West and it is located in the center of Asia, it makes their exploration much easier and more convenient, both culturally and geographically.

I have noticed that there are definitely better hardware facilities in Hong Kong than those in Shanghai. You can't deny that Hong Kong started de develop much earlier than Shanghai. Still, as a Shanghai citizen, I feel so glad for the development of Shanghai in the past 10 years. Oh yeah, don't forget to come and visit Shanghai World Expo 2010!

One week ago, I arrived in Ankara. Goodbye, Hong Kong. And hello, Turkey. Yes, I'm now an explorer of a country which is totally new and different for me.

Once again, here I met so many people who have similar goals. Exchange students from USA and all around Europe come to this magic land for exploration -- to search for the mix of East and West. I talked to an American girl. She said, to the Americans, Turkey is more eastern. For us Asian people, however, Turkey is of course more western. Isn't is interesting that we will share our views of this ancient country in the next four months? I'm pretty sure that we will learn a lot from each other.

New exploration has started. Stay tuned.

Ataturk's Mausoleum in Ankara.Atatürk was originally buried in Istanbul and brought to this megalithafter it was completed in the late 1940s.