Hong Kong

Well, I've been back a week now and I've finally found time to write a blog about what happened two weeks ago. Sorry about the lacking of blogs, it was hard on vacation this year (not as much down time and more blocked internet sites)

From Jan 29 to Feb 11 I was in Hong Kong. I started with my parents for 4 days, then they left and about 50 Friends of China teachers came for a retreat. Then they left, and my sister came for a week. A crazy time of family and friends together. Here's what I did...

The first day we explored to find a Nunnery. It was located inside of the city and so you have a cool building with skyscrapers in the background. We also wanted to find a "Walled Park" but when the bus dropped us off, there was no wall in sight. We ended up walking for a while until... finally... we found a park with a wall around it. Sadly, the bus that dropped us off, did not return the same way, so we ended up walking back to the subway stop. It made for a very tiring first day of Hong Kong.

The next days were filled with exploring and hiking. We hiked Dragon's Back, saw a beach, waited in line for and hour to take a tram to the top of the mountain/hill, saw a big Buddha, ate lots of awesome American food like McDonald's, Shakey's Pizza, Burger King, Subway... oh the western food was a joy to have in my stomach!

(trying a new format on my blog, not sure how it's going)
Here is the nunnery with the buildings behind it. As we were looking at it, we accidentally got in line to go through and bow down to the statues or get blessed by someone. Luckily, we were sly and we snuck out before it got too awkward. :)

Here I am on top of Victoria's Peak. It's the view of Hong Kong from the sky. We had to wait 1 hour to take the tram up. Later, I found out there was a bus up! I didn't know that existed. I thought the only way up and down was walk or tram and I sure didn't want to walk up!







Here is the view from Dragon's Back hike. We were told it would be about a 5 hour hike, but we got confused, so it ended up only being 2 hours. Not bad, get confused and make it shorter. Usually confusion means a longer hike. We just ended up taking the bus to the beach instead of walking there.




  

This is a beach on Lantau Island (not the same beach as above). We climbed in those rocks and ate lunch. I ended up taking a little cat nap. However, we had to move before the tide came in and trapped us inside of the rocks!

 

For some reason, I can't figure out how to type in the space below the big buddha and next to those towers... sad. So, here it is. You can see the big buddha, however, you can't appreciate how big it really is. You have to see it to understand it. It's huge!

Those towers are unique. It's a view from Hong Kong Park and I think they put them in a great spot! I like this picture. :)

This is a fishing village on Lantau Island. It was towards the end of the trip, so by this point we were all tired. Except for mom. She was still running on adrenaline, I think. She never stopped!

I'll add more pictures and stories later... time for lunch!

Back in Wuhan

I made it back to Wuhan! Sorry there has been a lack of posts lately. Mostly due to the fact that I haven't had a vpn. Then, I went to Hong Kong and didn't need a vpn, but then I was so busy I didn't have time to post anything. Now I am back and I'm sure I'll find time to catch you all up. Here is a quick itinerary of where I was.
Beijing-2 1/2 days with parents
Vietnam- 1 week (parents)
Wuhan- 2 days (parents)
Train to Guilin -1/2 day (15 hours)
Guilin/Yangshuo 4 days (parents)
Hong Kong- 2 weeks (4 days with parents, retreat with FoCers, then 1 week with my sister)

Now I am back in Wuhan, I will meet with the head teacher tomorrow to find out what exactly I teach, and I will start teaching on Tuesday! I would teach Monday, but this term Mondays I don't have to teach, so that works out well!

Pictures will come too...

Back in Wuhan

The first half of our trip is over. Now we are back in Wuhan for 2 days. Yesterday my friend, Linda, picked us up from the airport, took us home to drop off our luggage, and then off to her Grandma's home. She invited us all to spend New Years Eve with her family.

My parents learned a lot about Chinese culture. For example, most Chinese like to have fresh air, even when that air is 30 degrees. Last night we had the heater on and the window wide open. They didn't want it to get stuffy in there. We kept our jackets on too, which is normal.

Here is part of the group around the table.

Chinese also make many many different dishes. The food doesn't stop! We had no problems filling up! I think they wanted us to eat even more, but we couldn't stuff down anymore food.

Here is the whole family except Linda's grandpa who is already sleeping.

 My mom also got to use her first squatty potty. She had some difficulties, but with practice, I think she could be ok. Tomorrow we will be on a train for 15 hours so she will get another chance to try it, this time while the train is moving. :)

The time in Wuhan has been unique. There is no traffic and no people. Since it's Chinese New Year everyone is at home with their family. The streets are silent, but the air is full of the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks. Last night I saw an amazing fireworks show just outside my window. Literally from the ground below my apartment building.

Tomorrow... on to Guilin!

A Day in Hanoi

Here is a picture from the boat. It's about 3 hours from Hanoi

Today we started out on a walking tour around Hanoi. We called for a taxi and went down to get it. However, since the maid (yup, our host has a maid) called for the taxi, we had no idea which type of taxi they called. So we got in the taxi that was waiting down there. Little did we know it was a tourist taxi which means they charge double for a ride. All well, it got us where we wanted to go.

I was the tour guide. We walked around the lake, then went to explore the old parts. Not sure if you have tried walking tours from books, but they are not always easy to follow. This one... was ok! I got us around the winding streets and all the way to the end. It's quite interesting to walk in the streets. The sidewalks are full of parked motor bikes so we have to walk on the street, which is also packed with motor bikes!

Here is part of the "meat market". Notice the picture frames in the background... so unique...

Here you see all of the motor bikes on the sidewalk. So... we have to walk on the street. Do you see a good dominoes opportunity?

We are here just before Tet which is the big Chinese New Year celebration. For some reason orange trees have a big part during this celebration. Motor bikes often carry these small trees throughout the streets.

We stopped for lunch and ate some Pho, which is just like Chicken noodle soup from America. Also similar to Beef noodles from China.

After touring our host's (Coral) school, we walked to a museum and then jumped in another overpriced tourist taxi home! Now we are waiting for supper... Tomorrow we fly out early for Ho Chi Minh.

Vietnam

We've made it. Not only have we made it, we are living it up! Our host is amazing. She is super nice and has an awesome apartment. 4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and she makes us meals too. The coolest part, I've only met her the first time I came into Vietnam, a great person. She makes us feel very comfortable. Hopefully before I leave here I can put some pictures on here, but now it's time for supper and I gotta go! Quick update of what we did:
Boat tour in Halong bay (beautiful)- Vietnam
Great Wall
Forbidden City
Summer Palace
Ate Duck
Temple of Heaven -All in Beijing

The Last Few Days...

Soon I will be leaving for Beijing. After I pick up my parents at the airport we will enjoy the cool weather of Beijing, check out some of the good places and head for Vietnam. After Vietnam we will fly to my "hometown" in China-Wuhan! My friend invited me to her home for the Chinese New Year. I am very excited for that. It means I have about 1 1/2 weeks to get my parents comfortable eating with chopsticks. :)

After Wuhan we will jump on a train and head to southern China. Tour around there for a while, then fly off to Shenzhen. Shenzhen is close to Hong Kong. We will enter Hong Kong and hang out there for a few days. Then, my parents will fly back to the States and I will stay there and wait for Melissa to come. Crazy few weeks, huh? I'm packing today and I realized I have to pack for weather from 8-90 degrees! Yikes!

Before I leave, I've been spending some time with friends. The other night a friend (Edward) came over to cook. He wanted to make us fish. Edward and I went to the veggie market (which is also a butcher/fish market) and bought some fish. They were swimming when we bought them, but not when we got home. Wonder what happened...

It was time to cook the fish and Edward asked me to come to the kitchen. He said "Jess... the lady we bought it from never took out the insides." I turned and said, "Nicole, we need you in here!" Yup, Nicole saved the day. She put on some plastic gloves and cleaned out those insides! I'm very thankful she was able/willing to do that. :) Here's some pictures of her "working".

See how happy she was to help out!

Here is a close up of the fish she gutted. Hope you don't have a weak stomach.

Then she decided to have some fun and make the fish talk. Oh Nicole...

Super Random Gas Guys

Today is a stay at home day. I gotta clean, wash some clothes, put them away, plan for traveling. You know, nice stay at home when it's cold day. It's also a stay in my pj's all day day. Well, it's abut 1:45 pm and the day's been great. Then...

...there was a knock on the door. I looked through the peephole and saw 2 older Chinese men. I was a bit confused, but opened the door to see what they wanted. He showed me his badge to prove that he's with the Gas Company. They come in and ask for my kitchen. Ha! Pretty hard to miss it, it's the small corner with a stove/sink. One man went straight to work, the other guy handed me a piece of paper that had English and Chinese on it. It said something like, "I'm from the gas company, please open the door I will show you my badge. I need to check the safety of you gas in the kitchen. For your safety, please stay away from your kitchen. This may take 20 minutes. The service is free, but you will have to pay for any replacement tubes that are necessary. Here is a piece of paper, please sign your name." There was Chinese in between each English sentence. Quite funny and a little nerve-racking. Then the man filled out a form and I signed it. He gave me a copy, now I just have to find a Chinese friend and see what it says!

By the way, this is all happening as I type this. They both just left. I hope they knock on Nicole's door next! :)

Random... I think so. Suprised??? not at all!