All is well here in Shanghai. This past Saturday was a public holiday, the Dragon Boat Festival. Stories abound as to what this holiday is really about, but, truthfully, nobody seems to know. What it meant for us was dragon boat race watching on Suzhou River and a paid day off work! The crowds around the dragon boat races made it a bit tricky to see what was going on, but we managed. Afterwards, we wandered down to Cloud 9 Shopping mall and had a nice latte while we discussed where we are at emotionally. Living in such a different place certainly provides its ups and downs, and it really gives us appreciation for the things we took for granted in the West, such as jobs that pay rather well, quiet (of which there is none in Shanghai), and rules of the road that are followed and enforced. We are considering all kinds of options for next year, we might teach more, we might return to therapy and save bunches to travel on a few big trips, we might do something else... who knows? but it is very good to have the time to sit and talk about it, especially time that we are being paid for!
We are now getting ready for our next big trip: Chengdu, Guilin, and the Dragon's Backbone rice terraces. This trip will include pandas, a river cruise, and, hopefully, some well earned relaxation; our jobs are increasing the workload, so it will be nice to take a break for a week. We will certainly take many photos, and you can look forward to those in a few weeks.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Nanjing - walls, bodies, iced milk teas and the works.
Last week we went to Nanjing (Nanking) - a city which has been the capital city several times. It is famous for still having intact Medieval city walls (many of the other cities in China have lost theirs) as well as the Nanjing/Nanking massacre - when the Japanese invaded China and massacred 300,000 civilians in 6 weeks - including children and the elderly.
Outside the Confucius Temple - you can hang a red ribbon on this special tree for good fortune or a blessing -
The area we stayed in around the temple was gorgeous at night - here is the river dock where you can hire a boat to go on a night tour. On the wall opposite were two golden dragons, and the area is for pedestrians only - full of restaurants and tourist shops. Very nice.
Inside the huge memorial to the Chinese killed during the massacre - this is the entrance hall - a diffeent picture of a victim appears every few seconds on the far wall. One amazing statistic was that to kill that many people in 6 weeks meant that one person was killed every 12 seconds over that period.
Here is Evan with an iced drink from our most lovely drink place ever - CoCo! We do enjoy an iced zhen zhu nui char (milk tea with pearls) and an ancient city wall wander - highly recommended. Behind him is one of the gates through the city wall - we are outside at the moment.
One one of the islands in the lake in Nanjing - red ribbons ... must be to do with good fortune (always is) - so there you are. Plus another CoCo - so life is good - good fortune and a CoCo!
Back in the memorial hall - while the massacre is not acknowledged by the Japanese, and is not in Japanese history books, some Japanese do come to Najing to pay their respects - one hall has thousahds of origami paper cranes - a colorful, but sad, sight.
The memorial hall is built on one of the mass graves from the massacre - in one hall, you can actually see the remains of many of the people who died - in the place where they were buried. Information signs explain how the individuals died - a 6 year old child shot in the head, and old lady with her neck severed - gruesome. A sad sight, but it seemed important to us to see it and try and understand it.
This week, we are back in Shanghai - today we are off to the huge park near Pudong for hiking and picnic-ing. Work is going fine, as is Chinese language learning. We now know how to swear in Chinese - that's been handy.
We are stating to think about what next ....!!!??? as well as plan more of the details for our upcoming trip to Guilin, the Dragon's Backbone and Chengdu. Before that, it is the Dragon Boat Festival in Shanghai. We are also hoping to have some visitors in September!
All is well in Shanghai!
We went on a bullet train and had a great time.
The 700 year old city walls -
Outside the Confucius Temple - you can hang a red ribbon on this special tree for good fortune or a blessing -
The area we stayed in around the temple was gorgeous at night - here is the river dock where you can hire a boat to go on a night tour. On the wall opposite were two golden dragons, and the area is for pedestrians only - full of restaurants and tourist shops. Very nice.
Inside the huge memorial to the Chinese killed during the massacre - this is the entrance hall - a diffeent picture of a victim appears every few seconds on the far wall. One amazing statistic was that to kill that many people in 6 weeks meant that one person was killed every 12 seconds over that period.
One one of the islands in the lake in Nanjing - red ribbons ... must be to do with good fortune (always is) - so there you are. Plus another CoCo - so life is good - good fortune and a CoCo!
Back in the memorial hall - while the massacre is not acknowledged by the Japanese, and is not in Japanese history books, some Japanese do come to Najing to pay their respects - one hall has thousahds of origami paper cranes - a colorful, but sad, sight.
Guan Yin, goddess of mercy, in a lotus and lily field in the lake.
The memorial hall is built on one of the mass graves from the massacre - in one hall, you can actually see the remains of many of the people who died - in the place where they were buried. Information signs explain how the individuals died - a 6 year old child shot in the head, and old lady with her neck severed - gruesome. A sad sight, but it seemed important to us to see it and try and understand it.
This week, we are back in Shanghai - today we are off to the huge park near Pudong for hiking and picnic-ing. Work is going fine, as is Chinese language learning. We now know how to swear in Chinese - that's been handy.
We are stating to think about what next ....!!!??? as well as plan more of the details for our upcoming trip to Guilin, the Dragon's Backbone and Chengdu. Before that, it is the Dragon Boat Festival in Shanghai. We are also hoping to have some visitors in September!
All is well in Shanghai!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Our trip to Hangzhou and latest news
Last week we had a fabulous trip to Hangzhou, an old city 120 miles or so from Shanghai.
Hangzhou is very famous in China - it has a wonderful lake dotted with temples and pagodas - here is a dragon boat on the lake.
We sat in the evening and watched the sunset over the lake. Later, fountains appeared in the lake with colored lights and music - very pretty and romantic.
There are many parks and gardens around the lake, and it was very pleasant strolling around and sitting and watching the world go by. We stayed in a small hostel next to one of the big temples and pagodas, but now, feeling a bit templed out, we decided not to visit.
One of the exciting parts of the trip was riding a bullet train to and from Hangzhou - the tickets cost a little more, but it was very cool to ride in a super-fast train - up to 200 mph (displayed inside the carriage) - in fact we covered the distance in about 45 minutes!
Other news - work remains fine. Spent this weekend in Shanghai - today we went to a holy mountain - She Shan (topped with a Catholic monastery!) and yesterday wandered the riverfront at night. Andy went out with some of his students the other night - real Chinese food (frog, bamboo, goose, fungus and strange eggs ...) and another go at karaokee.
We have also booked a weekend trip (and another bullet train) to Nanjing - at one time, the CHinese capital and site of the massacre in WW 2. We have also booked a longer trip in July (a week's vacation) - to spend 4 nights in mid-west China - Chengdu - home of the pandas! and a further 5 nights in southern China - 3 in Guilin (famous mountains/river) and 2 in the Dragon's Backbone rice terraces in a village.
We plan to take some pictures at work to share. Hoping to have some visitors soon.
Hangzhou is very famous in China - it has a wonderful lake dotted with temples and pagodas - here is a dragon boat on the lake.
We sat in the evening and watched the sunset over the lake. Later, fountains appeared in the lake with colored lights and music - very pretty and romantic.
There are many parks and gardens around the lake, and it was very pleasant strolling around and sitting and watching the world go by. We stayed in a small hostel next to one of the big temples and pagodas, but now, feeling a bit templed out, we decided not to visit.
However, we did visit the old part of the city too - many tourists there, but one street is famous for the many Chinese medicine stores along it - some very old. Here is one of them, still busy and widely used by the locals.
One of the exciting parts of the trip was riding a bullet train to and from Hangzhou - the tickets cost a little more, but it was very cool to ride in a super-fast train - up to 200 mph (displayed inside the carriage) - in fact we covered the distance in about 45 minutes!
Other news - work remains fine. Spent this weekend in Shanghai - today we went to a holy mountain - She Shan (topped with a Catholic monastery!) and yesterday wandered the riverfront at night. Andy went out with some of his students the other night - real Chinese food (frog, bamboo, goose, fungus and strange eggs ...) and another go at karaokee.
We have also booked a weekend trip (and another bullet train) to Nanjing - at one time, the CHinese capital and site of the massacre in WW 2. We have also booked a longer trip in July (a week's vacation) - to spend 4 nights in mid-west China - Chengdu - home of the pandas! and a further 5 nights in southern China - 3 in Guilin (famous mountains/river) and 2 in the Dragon's Backbone rice terraces in a village.
We plan to take some pictures at work to share. Hoping to have some visitors soon.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Back from Beijing - fabulous time ....
Tiananmen Square and the Gate of Heavenly Peace with the famous large portrait
Our day on the Great Wall - we chose wisely and went to a less touristy section where we hiked for a few hours. Caught a ski lift up to the top of the mountain, and rode a toboggan down - very fast and a little scary!
We spent several hours at the Forbidden City - an amazingly huge area originally only for upper classes/emperor.
One of our favorite spots - Ghost Street - packed with restaurants and lit up with thousands of glowing Chinese lanterns ...
Rush hour on the Beijing metro - has to be seen and experienced to be believed.
Walking along one of the many hutongs in Beijing - old alleyways and streets filled with character and interesting nooks and crannies
At one of the food markets - these are called bingtanghulu - icesugarthing - look delicious. The market also had sharks, snakes, snails, spiders and sheep penis for sale too.
Another fabulous street full of interesting things ...!!!
Here we are at the Summer Palace - the country (ish) refuge of the emperor and his clan
So we had a great trip - really enjoyed Beijing. In addition to these experiences, we tried original Peking (Beijing) duck, drank beers with some Australians we met, studied bizarrely mutated carp/goldfish at a breeding center for creating 'collectable' fish, and visited the 2008 Olympic venue and saw the famous Birds Nest.
On to planning our next trip ...
All is well.
Oh and more strange things on bikes -
3. A kebab barbecue (very portable)
Tiananmen Square and the Gate of Heavenly Peace with the famous large portrait
We spent several hours at the Forbidden City - an amazingly huge area originally only for upper classes/emperor.
One of our favorite spots - Ghost Street - packed with restaurants and lit up with thousands of glowing Chinese lanterns ...
Rush hour on the Beijing metro - has to be seen and experienced to be believed.
Walking along one of the many hutongs in Beijing - old alleyways and streets filled with character and interesting nooks and crannies
At one of the food markets - these are called bingtanghulu - icesugarthing - look delicious. The market also had sharks, snakes, snails, spiders and sheep penis for sale too.
So we had a great trip - really enjoyed Beijing. In addition to these experiences, we tried original Peking (Beijing) duck, drank beers with some Australians we met, studied bizarrely mutated carp/goldfish at a breeding center for creating 'collectable' fish, and visited the 2008 Olympic venue and saw the famous Birds Nest.
On to planning our next trip ...
All is well.
Oh and more strange things on bikes -
3. A kebab barbecue (very portable)
Saturday, May 5, 2012
We go to a music festival and start an improv class
Update time - we're off to Beijing tomorrow for a few days - including a day's hiking on the Great Wall and another day at the Forbidden Palace - very excited. Details and pictures to follow next week.
This week we went to the Shanghai Music Festival - a huge rock and pop music open air music festival - 4 stages and loads of bands - many international ones. Had a good time. We also went to a new area of Shanghai with some friends from Evan's work - sat outside in the balmy evening weather eating pizza and drinking beer - was really like being back in Davis or Sacramento in California - weird. It was in a posh/modern area, so very California feeling - we both felt a bit homesick.
Work is going fine - both got through our supervisor teaching observations successfully - makes you a bit nervous but all went well. Andy has been working on developing an improv class in English!!! Starts in a couple of weeks ... there's many a folk who'd say he has no business doing the jokes and that - what with not being very funny. But maybe his humor will go down better with non-English speakers .... Also has to watch his tall stories as the rumor went around at his school that he had actually been in a band at the music festival because of some off the cuff remarks he made ...!!!
Anyway will fill you all in on Beijing details next week.
Bye for now.
This week we went to the Shanghai Music Festival - a huge rock and pop music open air music festival - 4 stages and loads of bands - many international ones. Had a good time. We also went to a new area of Shanghai with some friends from Evan's work - sat outside in the balmy evening weather eating pizza and drinking beer - was really like being back in Davis or Sacramento in California - weird. It was in a posh/modern area, so very California feeling - we both felt a bit homesick.
Work is going fine - both got through our supervisor teaching observations successfully - makes you a bit nervous but all went well. Andy has been working on developing an improv class in English!!! Starts in a couple of weeks ... there's many a folk who'd say he has no business doing the jokes and that - what with not being very funny. But maybe his humor will go down better with non-English speakers .... Also has to watch his tall stories as the rumor went around at his school that he had actually been in a band at the music festival because of some off the cuff remarks he made ...!!!
Anyway will fill you all in on Beijing details next week.
Bye for now.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Where we go to Chinese karaoke and visit a London suburb
Life continues to shock, surprise, inspire and overwhelm us, but we are settled more into a routine now. Our trip to Beijing is fast approaching so we are excited about that. Other recent highlights (apart from the Thames Town trip below) include a night out to a local karaoke bar with a group of Chinese teachers and students. You rent your own room, get some snacks and beer, and belt out your favorite tunes. We both sung karaoke for the first time - Andy started strong with an Oasis song, Evan with Eminem, before we both went down hill - Katy Perry, Abba and Starship!!! Evan did a rousing version of Let It Be to recover some cool factor. Andy didn't look for Bananarama - would have been too tempting ("Hot on the streets and the pavements are burning ...")
Off to the river tonight as it is a lovely warm evening - going to the food stalls street (let you know if that was a good idea later ...) and then to stroll along. Test is Wednesday - Evan doing great (Andy so so - mamahuhu as they say here).
Oh and new favorite phrase is "Old cow eating new grass" - means older person with a younger lover!
Anyway, some more recent photos as promised -
These are the scary furry fun scooters at our local park - we particularly like the lamb with the purple boots and the arms raised in a "I'll get you my pretties" posture ... (note no helmets)
Night time in Pudong - the Pearl Tower next to Andy's workplace
Night view across the Huangpu River to the Bund - we like to sit here with an ice-cream and watch the world go by and get offered laser flashlights, glow in the dark roller-skates and flashing helicopter toys.
Andy finally understood what Evan had been trying to explain for a while - that having a fancy phone with a camera had many benefits - he can now put it to good use to snap pictures such as this - yes!!! An old man pushing a red setter in his own wheelchair (wife was providing pushing instructions from a safer spot).
Another favorite spot - sitting under the skyscrapers snacking on cheap local food - this is the green ball of glutinous rice that is eaten as a sweet treat (!?!) at the Tomb Sweeping holiday. Not impressed - can you tell?
Visiting the Moganshan Art District - very cool and lots of trendy galleries - good place.
Last week was our trip to Thames Town - a new suburb of Shanghai built as a replica of an English town - including it's own River Thames. Was really quite authentic and a bit homesickness-making. However,to stop the complete fantasy, there were many brides and grooms all having Western wedding pictures taken - we must have seen 50 couples - in all kinds of outfits - from the elegant to the downright tacky. The church picture has about 5 different couples in if you look closely.
OK - that's all for now! We'll keep updating with all our adventures and stories!!!
Off to the river tonight as it is a lovely warm evening - going to the food stalls street (let you know if that was a good idea later ...) and then to stroll along. Test is Wednesday - Evan doing great (Andy so so - mamahuhu as they say here).
Oh and new favorite phrase is "Old cow eating new grass" - means older person with a younger lover!
Anyway, some more recent photos as promised -
These are the scary furry fun scooters at our local park - we particularly like the lamb with the purple boots and the arms raised in a "I'll get you my pretties" posture ... (note no helmets)
Night time in Pudong - the Pearl Tower next to Andy's workplace
Night view across the Huangpu River to the Bund - we like to sit here with an ice-cream and watch the world go by and get offered laser flashlights, glow in the dark roller-skates and flashing helicopter toys.
Andy finally understood what Evan had been trying to explain for a while - that having a fancy phone with a camera had many benefits - he can now put it to good use to snap pictures such as this - yes!!! An old man pushing a red setter in his own wheelchair (wife was providing pushing instructions from a safer spot).
Another favorite spot - sitting under the skyscrapers snacking on cheap local food - this is the green ball of glutinous rice that is eaten as a sweet treat (!?!) at the Tomb Sweeping holiday. Not impressed - can you tell?
Visiting the Moganshan Art District - very cool and lots of trendy galleries - good place.
Last week was our trip to Thames Town - a new suburb of Shanghai built as a replica of an English town - including it's own River Thames. Was really quite authentic and a bit homesickness-making. However,to stop the complete fantasy, there were many brides and grooms all having Western wedding pictures taken - we must have seen 50 couples - in all kinds of outfits - from the elegant to the downright tacky. The church picture has about 5 different couples in if you look closely.
OK - that's all for now! We'll keep updating with all our adventures and stories!!!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Off and on-line - acrobats, wheelchair dogs, dangerous teletubbies and tomb sweeping in the meantime
Lost our internet again .... but now it's back (Evan persisted ...) So update time (before it goes again!)
Our last entry was two weeks ago - so last week was a National Holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day) - a day to remember dead loved ones by caring for their graves and ... well ... it seemed like having picnics and hanging out in the park and shopping. We went to the National Cemetery as we had the day off - seemed like a good thing to do - huge monument to the communist martyrs - didn't have an ice cream but a good look around instead. We also (finally) got paid so we splashed out on tickets to the famous Shanghai acrobats that put their bodies into all sorts of positions and juggle and balance and generally make you very impressed (and a bit jealous that you never learned to do the splits) - back to yoga! We also discovered this amazing park near us with all manner of amusements and lovely things. But the highlight are these electric scooters (adult size) that you can rent and take your wee one on a spin around the park (without head protection) - each scooter is totally covered into a moving, 5 foot long soft toy - teletubbies, (scary) "Mickey Mouse" s, pink elephants and some sort of psycho-lamb thing that seems popular go tanking past you with children on and you have to jump out of the way. Quite fun. Got pictures. Will upload next time.
This week we are staying a bit closer to home. We have a teaching exam coming up in two weeks which we have to pass so we need to study. We are planning to go to the trendy art district tomorrow. Have a bit of a Sunday evening routine also where we meet up with some people we have gotten to know at a local bar where a strange movie plays for free - beer and weird movie - just our cup of tea. Seen a documentary about the Jones Town massacre (why not?!) and last night was a French movie from the 60's. Beer helps.
Most excitingly is our first big trip is now booked. We have a few days off in May and so are off to Beijing. Got our flight and hotel booked (lots of hassles but now done) and also a day hike on the Great Wall (away from the tourist spot). Great. Really excited.
Work goes well. We are doing quite well with Chinese - can order and shop and get around town using 90-100% Chinese. Working hard at it. Bought some children's books to help us learn and read the characters - quite a milestone in the shop when Andy realized he could read the first three words of the story - Little White Goose!!!
Random sightings continue - managed to get a photo of this one too - a very elderly man barely able to keep upright pushing a golden retriever dog along in a wheelchair in the road. Yes. And we have photo proof.
As for sightings of strange things on bikes -
2. Several 6' x 6' wooden pallettes teetering along.
Photos next time.
All is well. Internet and all.
Our last entry was two weeks ago - so last week was a National Holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day) - a day to remember dead loved ones by caring for their graves and ... well ... it seemed like having picnics and hanging out in the park and shopping. We went to the National Cemetery as we had the day off - seemed like a good thing to do - huge monument to the communist martyrs - didn't have an ice cream but a good look around instead. We also (finally) got paid so we splashed out on tickets to the famous Shanghai acrobats that put their bodies into all sorts of positions and juggle and balance and generally make you very impressed (and a bit jealous that you never learned to do the splits) - back to yoga! We also discovered this amazing park near us with all manner of amusements and lovely things. But the highlight are these electric scooters (adult size) that you can rent and take your wee one on a spin around the park (without head protection) - each scooter is totally covered into a moving, 5 foot long soft toy - teletubbies, (scary) "Mickey Mouse" s, pink elephants and some sort of psycho-lamb thing that seems popular go tanking past you with children on and you have to jump out of the way. Quite fun. Got pictures. Will upload next time.
This week we are staying a bit closer to home. We have a teaching exam coming up in two weeks which we have to pass so we need to study. We are planning to go to the trendy art district tomorrow. Have a bit of a Sunday evening routine also where we meet up with some people we have gotten to know at a local bar where a strange movie plays for free - beer and weird movie - just our cup of tea. Seen a documentary about the Jones Town massacre (why not?!) and last night was a French movie from the 60's. Beer helps.
Most excitingly is our first big trip is now booked. We have a few days off in May and so are off to Beijing. Got our flight and hotel booked (lots of hassles but now done) and also a day hike on the Great Wall (away from the tourist spot). Great. Really excited.
Work goes well. We are doing quite well with Chinese - can order and shop and get around town using 90-100% Chinese. Working hard at it. Bought some children's books to help us learn and read the characters - quite a milestone in the shop when Andy realized he could read the first three words of the story - Little White Goose!!!
Random sightings continue - managed to get a photo of this one too - a very elderly man barely able to keep upright pushing a golden retriever dog along in a wheelchair in the road. Yes. And we have photo proof.
As for sightings of strange things on bikes -
2. Several 6' x 6' wooden pallettes teetering along.
Photos next time.
All is well. Internet and all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
