Photos from Beijing

Just a few pics from Beijing.  Yes, we were there.  Yes, it was cold.  Yes, Chairman Mao looked down upon us and smiled.  Can't ask for more than that...

The Blog is Back

OK, yes, I admit I am way, way behind on the blog.  After numerous people encouraging me to start back up (including Peter Hoe…he’s a big fan) I have decided to repent of my literary sloth and get everyone back up to date on my oh-so-thrilling comings and goings.  Now, catching up on several months at once will be impossible, so I will do my best to hit the highlights since Auckland:

Summer

 While I had planned a very relaxing, low key summer, it didn’t exactly work out that way.  I left it all on the field at work last year between kids, committees and end of year loose-end-tying.  Summer was well deserved.  So I thought I would take it easy.  What really happened was I was on a plane at least every 10 days.  Funny how that happens…

Planes – on 2 of 3 trips, I had flights cancelled overnight.  Fortunately I have friends that like me enough to let me sleep at on their couches in a sprinkling of cities across the USA (thank you Amy and Darik…)

Cities – I spent time in Nashville, Bowling Green, KY, DC, Chicago (stranded over night) Nashville, Salt Lake City, St. Anthony, Idaho, back to Salt Lake City (stranded again overnight), Nashville, and Bethlehem, PA and in 3 days, I visited Pennsylvania, New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire (where I climbed Mt. Washington.  If someone tells you climbing Mt. Washington will be “fun” don’t believe them.  They are either a) delusional or b) lying), Maine, New Hampshire (again)Massachusetts, New York (again), New Jersey and back to Pennsylvania before flying to, you guessed it, Nashville.  If you are tired reading this you can only imagine how much I needed a vacation at the end of my vacation.  So, after flying back to China and losing my luggage in the process, I got on a plane the next day in a typhoon and flew to Phuket, Thailand to recover. 

Food Poisoning – This did not figure in to my plans, but alas, it happened.  Green curry chicken has lost it’s gleam, as 2 days of my body unpleasantly purging of said meal did not a happy person make.  At least I was at an awesome 5 star resort.  Sadly, I was too sick to eat the croissant bread pudding served for breakfast all but one of the days I was there.  Curse the green curry chicken served at “Surin Beach’s best Thai restaurant.”  I beg to differ.  I also met a really unpleasant man at the hotel that literally threw my towel off my chair onto the pool deck when I got in the pool for about 45 seconds.  He broke the leave for 30 minutes and your stuff will be cleared away rule and blamed me for not telepathically knowing that I was in his lounge chair.  Clearly he needed a hug, but I wasn’t about to give him one as I think he may have had rabies or distemper. 

 

Fall

 I don’t really remember much of the fall. It’s kind of a blur.  I came back to China, and fell into my routine of work, Mandarin lessons and going out for dinner on the weekends.  See, my life is really not that exciting.  I spent October break in Singapore with my good friends Amy and Phil.  I went to the night zoo.  I hung out with their awesome kids.  I went out for great sandwiches (hard to find in China) and generally enjoyed living in society where I never had to worry about getting gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe.  I spent the rest of the fall preparing for the visit of my parents to China during the Christmas holiday.

 

Mom and Dad Visit China

 I admit it, I was really nervous about having my mom and dad visit me here in the Middle Kingdom.   They had never travelled overseas before and I was worried that either A) they would get lost on the way here and stuck in an airport somewhere for days B) I would lose them somewhere and they wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone C) they would hate the food and starve for 10 days.  Fortunately none of those things happened.  Mom and Dad loved China.  I dragged them all over Guangzhou.  I took them to the elementary school Christmas program, introduced them to friends, including my Mandarin teacher Kevin, who took us on a tour of the city and introduced them to the many cuisines of Guangzhou.  I managed to break my toe the first Saturday of the break, which probably turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it slowed me down to Mom and Dad speed. 

On Christmas Eve we hopped on a plane and headed to Beijing.  I had not been to Beijing before (fortunately we got there before the black cloud of doom that hit this January) and were picked up at the airport by Charlie, the most wonderful driver ever.  He took us to our B&B in a hutong area inside the second ring road.  Cindy, our B&B host provided us with a map and several useful hints.  That was great.  We decided, even though mom was skeptical, to go out for Peking duck.  This was a great plan.  If only I could read a map.  If only my dad could read a map.  We wandered around the neighborhood for about an hour in 15 degree (Fahrenheit) weather trying to find the right road.  We finally found the duck, and it was delicious, but all of us had lost the feeling in our extremities by then.

However, as I was destined not to feel my feet for the next several days, it didn’t really matter.  We traveled to the Great Wall on Christmas Day.  It was  5 degrees.  And while it was beautiful covered in snow and ice, I am a creature of the tropics, or at the very least a creature of the sub-tropics.  It was really cold.  I warmed up a bit when we got back to Beijing for foot massages.  I had to tell the massage guy that my toe was broken, which I was able to do in Mandarin.   I chatted a bit with the entire foot massaging crew and when I told them I lived in Guangzhou, one of the guys made the comment that he then realized why I spoke like someone from the south.  So, while 20 years of Florida didn’t give me a southern accent, I certainly speak Mandarin with a twang.  I’m kind of proud of that. 

We hit the rest of the sights in Beijing including but not limited to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace (visit in the summer, winter is too cold), Tiananmen Square, Houhai, 798 – a fun neighborhood of galleries and shops, the Bird’s Nest, the Lamma Temple, the pearl market and a bunch of other stuff that Charlie, the best driver in Beijing, took us to see.  It was a great trip.  So great in fact, that Mom and Dad decided to stay an extra day.  Well, Mother Nature and United dictated that they stay an extra day.  I really enjoyed having them visit and I am glad that they were able to see that life in China is pretty good and that I don’t live under a bridge or anything. 

 

Ho Chi Minh City

I left Beijing and traveled to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon , for the last week of winter break.  I was able to thaw out, which was wonderful, and to spend time with my friend Andrea, who flew over from Kuala Lumpur.  We ate great food, saw lots of museums and I bought a quilt.  I have been kicking myself for the last year for not buying a quilt from Mekong Quilts when I was in Hanoi last year.  It’s a community development project for women and allows them to generate an income by teaching them to make quilts.  The one I bought is stunning.   Hand stitched, meticulous detail. I probably would have paid 5 times the price had I bought it in the US.   And it’s super warm.  I have not been a popsicle this winter, largely thanks to my beautiful quilt (and learning how to turn on my heaters, that helped too…)  I also saw the Hobbit, which I have some issues with.  Why, I wonder, did we need to make one book into 3 movies, Peter Jackson?  Starts with G and rhymes with weedy perhaps?  Hmmm…not a huge fan of that. 

 

And we're almost caught up….

 OK, that ‘s most of the interesting stuff.  And, now that I am back on the horse, a full report on my trip to the Philippines is coming soon.  And then I plan to start documenting Chinese fashion.  You have to see it to believe it.