We decided to make write down all the things we learned and the places we visited in Ningbo. When we got to the city, we knew nothing about it. There was a guy who had been in the last ILP group who had stayed on to teach for the rest of the school year, but sadly he didn’t really explore the city and so couldn’t really help us. This is split up into sections: map, food, shopping, and entertainment.
Map:
While we were here they were building the metro so we didn’t have that. I am not sure when it will be finished so this is the advice I can give you on getting around town with the bus system. But I added some map pictures to help you.
330 is the bus number you will take the most. If you get on you can go down to the very end of the line, takes about 40 minutes, to go to the city part of the city. Tianyi square is the center in which was our land mark for everthing we loved to do in the city. Once you get off the bus and to the main road go to the light and turn left and cross the street. Head straight down the road till you get to a place called Shoe City. (don’t buy shoes there. It is expensive.) There is an escalator that goes under ground. Take it down. It gives you three options. One is Tianyi square. The other one we used a lot was the one to Lady Fashion square. These two will take you to the places that lead to the places listed below.
Have fun and explore!
Food:
There are a lot of good places to eat. I have seperated this section even more from cheap to expensive.
There are a lot of good places to eat. I have seperated this section even more from cheap to expensive.
Cheap:
One of our favorite places to eat is what we nicknamed “Muslim Noodle Place”. It is down the street from the school. Just turn left when you walk out of the gate and head to the intersection. Cross the street and head straight. It looks sketchy, but it’s fine. You will walk for about 5 minutes. You will pass the Dairy Factory. You can buy cheap milk and yogart there, but it closes at 5pm. After the dairy factory is an open market. The market has a lot of good fruit and street food. We recommend the fried flat bread and the pineapple. After the street market is a convience store. It has cheap drinks and snacks. Although if you want cheap ice cream go to one of the tiny tiny stores that you pass. After the pool tables you will see a place that usually has people outside. The resaurant is in one of the little shacks. When you look inside it has a giant board with pictures of the noodle and rice dishes. You know it’s the right place if you go in and see the Muslim picture with the two kinda creepy looking white girls. They make the noodles by hand. It is very delicious. All you have to do is point to the one you want and hold up your finger saying Yi ge (said like you are saying the letter e and good without the d at the end.) If you want it to go just say tao bao. (On a side note, the word for this is jigga. You can say it when you point out what you want. This applies to whenever you are ordering food.) When you want to order you say the number and add ge at the end. Holding up fingers also helps.
There is also a cheap place to buy dumplings down the street as well.
Moderate:
Wanda Plaza has a lot of restaurants on the top floor. Our favorite is the Peiking Duck restaurant and the Ningbo style restaurant. You can order individual dishes or share. It is cheaper eating family style. (Side note, bring your own drinks. They only serve hot water for free at the Peiking place.)
In Tianyi square there is a place called Babela’s. It is so good. It is kinda of Italian. They have decently priced pizzas that are actually really good.
Expensive:
I use this term loosely. They can get pricy depending on what and how much you order.
Indian
There is a nice and wonderfully staffed indian restaurant by the end of line 330. You get off the bus, turn right and go to the corner. Cross the street and turn right. Walk down to the busy intersection. Turn left at that corner. Go down the street, there is a park across from you on the left. You will cross a small road. You will see it on your left side.
Lebanese
It is by the Indian place just a little further down.
Turkish
You go to Tianyi square and cross to the other side and exit by the Coke bottle to the busy road. There is a bus top there. Take bus 19 to LaiWeiTan. I believe it is one stop. LaiWeiTan is a block of foreign foods. Explore.
Irish Pub:
Also in LaiWeiTan.
Snacks:
GoMax-get the mango drink
Shopping:
Groceries:
Tesco:
It is at Wanda Plaza and it is okay priced.
Markets:
They are everywhere and is usually the best places for fruits and veggies
Achan:
There are two that are close to the school.
Take bus 330 three stops past Wanda Plaza. Get off the bus and turn left. Walk down the street to the intersection. Cross the street going straight. Turn right and head down the street. You will see it on the left side. This one has the best selection of inported foods. It is also not crowded and very clean because it is fairly new. To get back you go back to the intersection and cross to the diagonal side. It is a bit of a walk. You walk down the block and cross the street to the bus stop.
The second one is also on bus 330. It is three stops past the first Achan. You will see it on the right side of the bus. The stop is right across the street from it. To get back you go out of the store and turn left and cross the street. It is more convient for the close bus stops but not very clean and very busy.
Ole:
This is the most expensive place. It is across the street from Tianyi by the Louis Vauton store.
Clothes and Stuff:
The best place we nicknamed The Pagota Place. It is by Tianyi. In the underground walkway head to the Lady Fashion Square. Walk down the street. Cross the small road and you will see it. It has a golden statue of the Jade Emporer. The top floor is the cheapest. Lots of clothes on the first floor. Good rule of thumb: if it has a price you can’t barter, if it doesn’t you can. Never go for the first price they give you.
Entertainment:
KTV:
go anywhere, it is cheaper on weekdays.
Movie theaters:
If you want to see a movie go on Tuesday’s they are half priced that day. The price on the board or screen is the normal price when you pay they charge the half price. A nice theater is on the corner of the Lady Fashion Mall right across from the Cathedrial.
Student Store at the School:
This place is really nice for snacking and saving snacks for vacations. The school gives you a card with money on it. Spend wisely we went through it in three months.
*Don’t be afraid to try things. Some are weird, but most are really good. Also make sure something is chocolate, some things look like chocolate and are actually beans.
Advice:
Have fun. China is a strange and different country. You will get stared at no matter where you go. Everyone wants to say hello to you and people love taking you picture. We ended up just asking them if they wanted to be in the pictures. It made it fun, instead of awkward. Meet people. We have made many friends in the city. People want to learn English. It is a good way to have friends here, learn the language, and know of the places around the city.
With the kids, disipline first, friend second. If they have to have new teachers ever few months. They like to see how far they can go. Once everything is set, they will open up and be your friend. They are so cute and it is very hard to leave them. They become part of your heart.
It rains a lot. It can get freezing and incredibly hot. The weather is tempermental. Just go with the flow. There were times that we just hung out in the apartments. Become friends with your group and roommates. None of knew each other before we came and you would never be able to tell.
Be friends with the other foreign teachers. Silvia is one of my favorites. She is so cute and has good advice about the city and places to go in China. The IB teachers know what happens around the school and are fun to hang out with. They come from all over the world and have seen many parts of the world.
The food they serve at the school is not what the Chinese food tastes like other places. It is like eating cafeteria food back home. There are good and bad days. They serve a lot of fish, so if you don’t like fish I would save money for groceries. On weekends the food is the same as the students get. It’s slightly worse then the normal food and you have less choice.
Vacations:
Vacations can get expensive. Save wisely.
Trains:
Train tickets are the cheapest way to travel. Buses are pretty much the same price but are not as fast or comfortable. You can buy your own tickets by going to a train ticket purchasing building by Tianyi, by the bus stop that takes you to LaiWeiTan, by the coke bottle. Passports are needed for ever trip to buy tickets. Most tickets for a seat are going to be 192 rmb and a sleeper 330-350 rmb. If you want a bullet train those are about 400rmb. A good website to look at train times and tickets is www.chinatravelguide.com. You can’t buy tickets online unless you want to be charged an arm and a leg. You can’t buy round trip, once you get to the train station in the city you are visiting buy your ticket home. Easiest way to buy tickets if you can’t speak Chinese is to write the beginning city, an arrow and the desination, the date and time. Time needs to be in military time.
Hostels:
Hostels are the best way to stay for cheap. Most are nice, check the ratings and reviews. There are two good websites for booking hostels online. www.hostelbookers.com and www.hostelworld.com.
Research:
Plan your trips in advance. Book tickets and hostels at least two weeks in advance. Most of your trips are set around a holiday in China and so lots of people will be traveling with you. Research the cities you want to go to. Plan, plan, plan. We went to Hangzhou, Huangshan, Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Guilin, and Yangshuo. There are so many places to see and not enough time to see everything. You will have to pick and choose.
There are enterance fees for most places. Bring at least 1000-2000 rmb a trip. That should include train tickets, food, fees, and hostel. It’s about $200-$300 a trip.
For the shopping trips like Beijing and Shanghai bring more and make sure you have room in your suit case to carry it.
Metros:
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