Ethan Martinez

Are you the type of person that is tired of the same thing, tired of being at home, being told what to do, how to live, and yet yearning for a new opportunity, a new place, an adventure? I know I was, and when I took a chance on coming to China to experience a completely new lifestyle, it has been the greatest decision of my life.

I came to China not only to experience a new culture, but to travel. In my opinion, to travel is to live, and I was willing to do anything to do it. TEACHING is the easiest yet most rewarding way to do it! The pay is outstanding and is more than enough to not only live comfortably but also to TRAVEL.

There is two types of traveling to be done while working in China. You can either spend your time exploring the country in bits and pieces or you can get on a plane and visit other countries in the region such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, or Cambodia to name a few. First, I want to talk about traveling in China. It is seriously one of the most convenient countries to travel in thanks to its swift and vast network of high speed trains. There isn't a major city in China that doesn't have access to the train network. These trains are capable of reaching speeds up to 350 km/h and cover nearly 12,000 miles across China, making it a popular form of transportation in the country. The railway system is very affordable costing much less to travel from Wuxi to Shanghai than it is to grab a taxi in Shanghai and go from one place in the city to another.

So if you feel the need to get out of your city for a day or the weekend, there are many prime destinations. For example, if you are interested in getting your international fix, for just 60 RMB ($9) you can go to one of the largest cities in the world in just 40 minutes. If you interested in a more cultural things you can take a 15 minute train ride for 12 RMB ($1.85) and visit Suzhou, also known as The Oriental Venice where you can take a boat through its canals and listen to ancient tunes as your gondolier sings to you on your way to one of many beautiful botanical gardens Suzhou possesses. My personal favorite destination to visit is Hangzhou. Located in Zhejiang, Hangzhou is known as Heaven on Earth. In Hangzhou, nothing beats having a cup of green tea while sitting beside the world renown West Lake, with its lotus flowers that blossom in the spring and humble hills that rest just beyond the lake.

You can also visit much more historical destinations such as Beijing where you can see the grandest site in all of China, The Great Wall, or in Xi'an where you can see history come to life with it's revived Terracotta Warriors. 

If you are an outdoor person, I highly recommend a trip to the colorful and wild Yunnan where the Chinese Minorities are the Majority, a place you can see wild elephants in the south, and herded yaks in the cold, elevated north. The most stunning thing about Yunnan is the white capped snow mountains that tower over old towns. 

Their are many destinations all across this massive country that are well worth a year working here to visit, which is what I did during my first year of teaching in China. I spent all my free time and vacation traveling up and down, left and right, from Beijing to Kunming. Now this year I decided to branch out and see other places outside of China.

For those interested in traveling out of China to see what else Asia has to offer, you are just two hours by plane from literally anywhere for a very affordable price. I have friends that decided to go to Japan for the weekend with the roundtrip airfare amounting to 550 RMB ($84). Traveling outside of China requires a bit more time but thanks to the holidays such as Chinese National Day that lasts for a week in October, Spring Festival which marks the end of the fall semester in February, we have roughly a month off, and of course the summer vacation, there is amble amount of time for travel.

This past Spring Festival I spent 3 weeks backpacking around Thailand which was an experience I will never forget. It was really hard leaving the beaches of Thailand, but once I made it back to Wuxi, I was ready to begin my next semester and see my kids again. My adventures have only just begin with that Thailand trip. It has inspired me to do and see more. This summer I will be taking two trips. A friend of mine from back home will be coming to visit me from the US and we will be meeting in Hong Kong and work our way to Beijing. Hong Kong is easily the coolest place I have ever been, an absolute must see city. After she leaves I will be heading out to Indonesia to see what all it has to offer before the start of another school year teaching with JESIE.