Babies everywhere and other observations
Despite my best efforts, it seems almost impossible to find out what my options are for housing on campus while most people are on vacation during the summer holiday. Since progress is at a standstill, I’m going to cool off and enjoy some dark German beer in Shanghai with my Swabian friend. In the meantime, here are some random observations from around Nanchang:
- As my bus stopped near Nanchang’s Galactic Peace International Hotel I watched a bus driver accidentally close the doors on a very pregnant woman and I was reminded to write about how many babies there are in Nanchang. Every sidewalk, store, restaurant, bus, park, street, and fish pond in the city seems to be crawling with kids leading their patient parents or grandparents around. I think Nanchang is an especially good place to visit with children because it seems like restaurant workers are always playing with half-naked babies. Many of the children belong to workers and I’ve seen kids reporting to working parents at grocery stores and even the internet bar I’m at now.
- The rice in Nanchang is very different from that in the north of China and is very similar to that in Thailand. The food is not as spicy as what I imagine from Sichuan cuisine, but uses a lot of strong pepper to flavour most dishes if not actually using hot-peppers (la jiao 辣椒). Fried rice or mien (noodles) are not as heavily fried, and portions seem a tad smaller. One restaurant made me pay RMB$0.50 for package of napkins, but most restaurants provide a standar roll of cheap tissue in a bland-looking container on the table.
- There’s a commercial for the “Nanchang Modern Reproduction Hospital” that plays on the TV’s on city busses. It starts out with the newly married couple running together in blissful love. Fast forward a bit to the future and it seems they face a problem, but they’re not worried because they know the solution. The next scene is the wife, looking quite attractive for the equally attractive team of medical professionals sitting around her. She looks happy, like she just had a little massage. When she leaves the care of these happy workers her husband stands up from the waiting room where he looks like he’s comfortably watching TV without worry. That’s where they reunite with the vigiour and passion of their honeymoon.
- I get a laugh everytime I see an advertisement for the “Galactic Peace International Hotel”.
- I wanted to write something about walking through crowds, but Imagethief’s story of “Escalation” is so funny that I suggest you read it too.
- Sound measurement, which I first saw in Shanghai, is also done in Nanchang at 8-1 Square (八一广场) and the Tengwang Pavilion. Even the beautiful and peacful pavilion is subject to hitting 80 dB.
August 8th, 2006 at 11:28 am
Hi Jason - We are traveling to Nanchang this month to adopt. What’s up with the Galatic Peace International Hotel? We are going to be staying there and you are the only link I can find to it on the internet! How ’bout a quick Foder’s review.
Thanks,
Love the site
August 8th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Great journaling! We too will travel to Nanchang in a few weeks. Looking for info. on the Galactic Peace International Hotel! Do they have a website? Thanks!
August 8th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
I’m at an internet cafe right now and I leave on a standing-room only train to Shanghai in a few hours. I can’t find out right this second, but I’ll see what I can do when I’m in Shanghai.
August 14th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
http://www.glthp.com is the galactic web site. no prices given though!
August 14th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
We’re going back to nanchang again to adopt another child (boy), and this is the hotel we’re supposed to be staying in! Stayed in the Gloria last time, and all the people in the fish market kept waking us up every morning around 4:00 a.m. The place was nice though, and loved the city. The Pizza is a dressy kind of place there, so expect people to stare when you show up in shorts. KFC is different, as is Mcdonalds. They also have a three story wal-mart down town!
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:53 am
Hello Lori,
We (my wife and two kids) went to Nanchang, Galactic Peace International Hotel last month from 13 august until 19 august, also for an adoption. It’s a very good hotel. Before we went we searched the internet but can’t find anything about the hotel. When we were there one of the employees told us that it is open from august 2006. We were the first foreign gasts. We had a very pleasant stay there. After that we went back to Beijing until 24 of august. Now we’re back home in The Netherlands for some 1,5 week with our daughter Fu Jiade. I hope you have a good trip en wish you all the luck with your daugther or son.
best regards,
Alexander Meeder
May 13th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Hello Lori & Kimmi,
We are Americans and have come to Nanchang for business. The first couple days we were in town we stayed at the Gloria Plaza Hotel, the experience there was horrible! We transfered to the Galactic Hotel and have been very pleased (we are still here). We have been flying back & forth between Xiamen & Nanchang and have had to extend our trip from two weeks to six weeks! We too have noticed several American families here with newly adopted Chinese children. Nanchang apparently has the most children to adopt and I must say they are all beautiful. My lifestyle and my career has not afforded me to have children in which I have always had an incredible desire for. I applaud you all for coming here and taking these small children into your hearts and your homes and wish you love, luck and happiness with the new additions to your families.
Kindest Regards,
Gina West
Monterey, CA., USA