New Year Update

Well just a brief update - we have been laying a little low over the holiday season (which is a little celebrated here) while we have been preparing to move on. Christmas Day was a typical day here, but we did have the day off -so lunch at Marks and Spencers! and some BBC TV via the internet! New Year's Day - we went on a long walk by the sea and along the Huangpo River and evening fireworks. No recent travels since the last post.

Since then we have given notice on the apartment and pur jobs, and will be leaving China at the beginning of March - we finish our contracts mid February, but because of various delays with money, etc (China ...) we are staying a couple more weeks on a tourist visa - some holiday time in China.

In the meantime, we have some leave to take - so in a week and a half we fly to Southern China for a few days - to spend some time on two warm islands - Xiamen and Gulang Yu - both very pretty and WARM - Shanghai is cold and damp and a bit snowy!

While we have been looking forward to leaving China and having some new adventures now we are definitely going we both feel sad and .... well maybe w'll come back again in the future - though not to Shanghai - to be truthful, although Shanghai is a crazy, busy metropolis we have actually pefered to quiter,more historical cities like Xian, Beijing and Nanjing to the all-out energy of Shanghai. Also, Andy especially has been really into learning Chinese - fairly fluent now including some basic reading and writing (typing)! Zen me yang?!!

Happy New Year. More to follow after our Xiamen/Gulang Yu trip.

Spirit animals, a Hilton stay and trucks vs cars

Oooooh - time for an update.

Here are some pics of our latest adventures ...

We had a great time back in Nanjing, which used to be the capital of China during the early years of the Ming dynasty. On the Purple-gold mountain is a 14th century Ming emperor tomb which has a 1/2 km + spirit walkway of stone animals and guardians up to the tomb.

 Here we are outside the entrance to the tomb - it's not only Japanese schoolgirls who can pose like this...

Nanjing is one of only a few ancient cities that still has it medieval walls, and we spent some time exploring them. Built between 1366 and 1393, what was really cool was finding the stamps on many of the bricks that showed the brickmaker's name and date - if the bricks were poor quality and broke, the emperor would know who to blame!

 Sunset over the city of Nanjing from Xanwu Lake.

Back in Shanghai, we spent a bizarre day at this satellite city Meilan Lake - based on a Swedish town - this is one of the towns that has been built to copy different European cities (we visited Thames Town based on London several months ago) - it actually seems pretty authentic (at least from a distance) - up close, it's, well, just weird ...! There are Spanish, Dutch, German and Italian towns too ... may or may not go to see them too!

We spent last weekend in a city called Hefei - 3 hours inland from Shanghai by bullet train- including some great scenery and crossing the huge Yangtzee River. The town is a little off the tourist trail, which made it a bit more interesting to visit for us. Also ... the Hilton there was having a super special deal, and so instead of our usual hostel stay, we splashed out ($75) on a room at the Hilton - and loved it. LOVED IT!

In one of the local parks we came across this procession of people who were renacting something - no idea, but it looked like they were having a blast. One woman with a (hopefully fake) moustache, a couple of others with boats strapped around them!

 On a sidewalk (the traffic there was the worst we have experienced in China) a truck and a car battled it out for dominance OF THE SIDEWALK/PAVEMENT! Unbelievable. Where could the motorbikes go?

We visited the cool underground tomb of Lord Bao from the 9th century - apparently a very decent chap who did lots of good things and now has temples and pagodas and stuff built for him.

That's all the photos. We also had a great time at a huge Elton John concert - packed full of Westerners! Andy had his final teaching assessment, our offers for next year our coming (no, we're not staying) and we're good. Planning and enjoying our final few weeks here.

November update

We've been local the last couple of weeks - walking and enjoying the fabulous fall weather in Shanghai. We found a great spot a few days ago - via metro - where the Yangtze River, Huangpo River and China Sea meet - it was also the spot where the original fishing village of Shanghai was founded, and also, from what we could make out from the Chinese only musuem, the place where the Japanese landed/invaded when they attacked Shanghai before WWII.

This week we're off to Nanjing again - we went there about 6 months ago but didn't see everything we wanted to. This trip (via bullet train!) will be aboput visiting the Purple-Gold Mountain and the Ming dynasty tombs there.

The USA election was big news here - many Chinese people think highly of Obama. We voted via overseas voting - cool! - and of course were particualry excited to see Washington State be one of the historic states to legalize gay marriage by popular vote. Great news.

As our time here starts to wind down, we're making every effort to enjoy the last few weeks left. Planning a few more trip, but nothing really big, and looking forward to seeing friends and family soon.

All, as usual, is good!

Xian - warriors, walls, mosques and little lions

Just returned from a fabulous few days in Xian - the ancient capital of China. There is a strong Muslim influence in Xian because it was the start/end of the Silk Road and so has a long tradition of Arabic influence. We spent some time in the Muslim Quarter, which frequently reminded us of our travels in Egypt.

 Most intersesting was the Grand Mosque - a large complex of Islamic buildings, but all built in a very traditional Chinese way ... We timed out visit perfectly to see the men arrive and worship

We visited the tomb of Emperor Jingdi - (188-141 BC) who was buried with thousands of mini clay warriors and animals for the afterlife. The very cool thing about this place was that it was all glassed in, so you can walk on top and next to the excavations - very interesting.

Another great thing abot Xian (can you tell we're fans?!) are the intact Ming dynasty city walls (1300's) - at the time, Xian was the biggest city in the world! and the perimeter covers 14km (we walked the whole thing too) - at night, the walls are peaceful and lit by red Chinese lanterns - beautiful!

Of course, Xian is also a modern city - with a lot of hustle and bustle. The traffic was incredibly bad at times, and crossing the road was definitely taking your life into your own hands at times.

I just loved this lion (who is actually quite small) - it seems like it is trying to look ferocious while guarding the entrance to a city park...

Of course (Of Course!) the highlight was a trip to see the Terracotta Warriors and the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (2000 + years old). There are 3 pits open - here is Pit 2 with most of the warriors not yet excavated - we could see some of them, but most remain in the hollow parts between the raised walls. It is estimated to have 1300 warriors here. All are life size. The actual tomb of the emperor has not been excavated because (apparently) the ancient story of rivers of mercury and traps are true - the soil around the hill shaped tomb has 1000 times more mercury than is normal and so opening it up could be dangerous and very costly ... but who knows what would be in there!!!

 Here is one of the warriors - it is true that each has a unique face - apparently based on individual artists who were later executed to protect the secrets of the tomb. Some warriors still had traces of red, pink, blue and yellow paint ...

 This is Pit 3 - the smallest of the pits contains many of the generals - about 72 warriors in total.

Pit 1 was mind-blowing - about 2000 warriors on display with another 4000 still to be excavated - the area is huge - unbelievable. They have also recently discovered another pit with many more warriors in.

So, there we go - Xian was fabulous in many ways - the food, the sites, the people and the history. Definitely worth a visit - we had a great time!

Shanghai in October

The weather recently has been fabulous - clear sunny skies, fabulous temperatures and warm breezes. We have been busy enjoying our Shanghai life - today we went to the French Concession and had cheap traditional Chinese massages - accupressure-like and very good (if a little painful) and spent some time hanging out in our favorite coffee shop in a garden. Tomorrow we are on a long long hike to see how far we can get! It's nice to explore Shanghai outside and on foot as we spend so much time indoors at work and travelling on the crowded metro.
Last week, we had a great time at the Shanghai Masters Tennis tournament - center court tickets!!! Fab!!! Although very sad at Andy Murray's loss - so close ...
Our Chinese continues to improve - feeling fairly confident now and even a little bit conversational - we have both been learning to read the strange mixture of characters and can now read a little of basic texts (think children's) and have even started a little bit of typing in Chinese!!!
On Friday we're off to Xian for 5 days - plan to see the Terracotta Warriors and various old things - Xian was the ancient capitol of China up until around the 10th century - it has an Arabic feel because it was the end of the Silk Road. All good. Booked into a little hostel inside the medieval city walls. More to follow on our return.

Current favorite song on a bit of a rotation on our computer - Ellie Goulding - Anything Can Happen!!! That's right!!!

Travels with mom

Some photos of our recent travels with Ev's mom ...

Here we are in huge and fabulous Buddhist temple in the ancient canal town of Zhouzhuang

 The posts and trees were covered with red ribbons in places which release the wishes and prayers of the individual that ties them on. We each had a ribbon that we tied together by the large fish pond and let our wishes flutter to the heavens!

The town of Zhouzhuang was a fabulous place to wonder around - the canals date back centuries and formed trading routes between the coast and the inland cities like Beijing. Zhouzhuang was an important and rich town that traded spices and silk between Shanghai, Suzhou and Beijing.

 Another day we took a cruise along the Huangpu River, past modern and old buildings to the Yangzi River and South China Sea - here we are going under the Yangpu Bridge

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Mom got quite brave and explored a lot of Shanghai by herself (including a 3 hour hair salon extravaganza all in Chinese) - she also tried some Chinese specialities such as dim-sum, dried bamboo shoots, stuffed lotus root and tofu. We also spent some time wandering the city together - here we are in the French Concession in an arty/trendy shopping area developed from old alleyways and buildings (Tianzifang)

We spent a great weekend in one of our favorite places - Hangzhou - famous for it's beautiful lake, pagodas and temples and long history. It is peaceful and relaxing - here we are enjoying some of the local green tea grown in the nearby tea terraces sitting by the edge of the lake by a pagoda - doesn't get much better than this!

 One of the highlights was a visit to the enormous Lingyin Temple that dates back centuries

 Despite it's age, the temple is still very actively used and we saw many worshippers praying and burning paper offerings for their ancestors

Although most breathtaking of all was the 10th - 14th century rock carvings that covered the hill there - supposedly magically flown there - FeiLai Feng (The Hill that Flew There) - there seemed like hundreds of carvings and they were truly breathtaking - definitely a highlight of our recent travels - and how cool to share it with mom.

Now, we are into the National Holiday with several days off work - it's time for us to commit to plans and make bookings as we prepare for what is next in 4 months time .... In the meantime, Andy has begun training for a 1/2 marathon in December and we just scored tickets to the Shanghai Tennis Masters (center court!!!) to see the likes of Nadal and Murray duke it out - Andy is so excited!!!

September Update

Sorry for not updating sooner ...

Our friend Helen arrived at the end of August and spent a week with us before heading off to explore other parts of China - she is due back in Shanghai in a few days after visiting Beijing, Xian, Guilin and Yangshuo. In the meantime we have been getting ready to welcome Ev's mom to Shanghai - she arrives today for 3 weeks.

As for us ... work has been fine although there have been many changes and things going on - we are doing fine and beginning to seriously plan for next year. Once our visitors leave it will be time to commit to plans by booking tickets and making final plans as we will have to be ready to leave Shanghai in a few more months. Looks like we will be taking some time off (of course!!!) with a trip to India, visits to the UK and USA and a month off to walk the pilgrimage trail in Northern Spain from the French Pyrenees across the north of Spain to the cathedral at Santiago - an old and famous pilgrimage since Medieval times and something we have wanted to do for years.... After that, we will either teach some more (Japan, Turkey and Russia are the frontrunners) or get visas for New Zealand through Andy's OT license ...

We have booked to go to Xian in October to see the Terracotta Warriors and the ancient capital of China. That will probably be our last big ticket trip in China, although we hope to go back to Nanjing and Hangzhou, as well as some more local trips, such as to the island of Punto Shan (near Shanghai) and the reported birthplace of the goddess Guan Yin.

We'll update soon with some visitor photos and more news.
xx