The Chinese customs officer is reviewing my exit information carefully. I fidget hoping he won't notice my answer to question #12, the last question, but when he gets to it he goes rigid and slowly looks up at me, staring me directly in the eyes. "It says here you have not hiked any section of the Great Wall of China. Is this true?" he asks. "Well I intended to" I assure him, "friends and family had said they were going to visit, so we kept postponing the moment to share with others...but ...but... nobody came over and we ran out of [View Full Entry]

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Our plane landed at midnight in the city of Zhangjiajie and the local taxicabs had us by the throat. They were a collective mass, no bargaining, they wouldn't compete, it was going to be 300 rmb to the hotel and they knew we had no choice in the matter. We tried to haggle it down to even 200, but they wouldn't budge. Reluctantly we tossed our packs in the trunk and got into the taxi. It would cost us half the price to return to this airport 3 days later. Zhangjiajie is seriously on the map for Asian tourists, but rather [View Full Entry]

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*** Disclaimer *** Craig and I only did about 10 things in Xi'an, so there are probably other things to do that belong on our list, but we didn't experience them. Our hostel lined us up with a one day trip to the Terra Cotta Army with an English guide, but most of the sites we were easily able to figure out on our own. 10. The Terra-Cotta Warrior Factory We didn't sign-up for this one, our guide just dropped us off. I guess it is kind of interesting to see how they make the replicas but then your tour guide [View Full Entry]

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Since our last blog we have had two weekend trips to Beijing, which we have spent exploring smaller venues in city. Now that we have decided to move to Kuala Lumpur for 2008-2009, the pressure is on to devour as much culture as we can. For Craig and I that tends to mean doing lots of little things rather than the big ones. Lama Temple - Yong Hu Gong On a Saturday morning we made our way up to Yong Hu Gong (built 1694). This is a very pleasant temple to explore, but most impressively, it boasts an 18 meter solid [View Full Entry]

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While Kunming seems to have done quite a good job of tearing down its old buildings and recreating itself as any other modern Chinese city, it still offered a few tidbits of fun for Craig and I as we began and ended our trip in this ancient city. Our hostel was located downtown, very near Green Lake, which is a large water park with walkways and pavillions. It's a fantastic place to wander in the evenings as every space is filled with performers practicing Peking Opera or other traditional music. Dancers fill the square with their choreographed moves to traditional music [View Full Entry]

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From Hostel to Hotel The temperature in Yunnan province was quite pleasant 15-20 degrees during the day and down to 5 degrees at night. Seldom wasteful, Chinese people don't bother to heat their homes during this time of the year. We spent a number of nights in hostels, but now we were longing to be warm and enjoy a hot shower. So we agreed to book into a 4 star hotel in Lijiang for just one night , to get cleaned up. The rate was still ridiculously cheap by North American standards and only twice that of the hostels. So [View Full Entry]

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Escaping Teda Chinese New Year We were warned - leave town - Chinese New Year in Teda is loud and loud, and not much else. Ever the ideallists we decided to embrace the noise in order to have the proper Chinese experience. It was loud. Fireworks are all day, everyday, every place...it seems to be especially popular to light them in the alley that our bedroom faces. They get louder at dusk and at midnight, but really only quiet down from 2am - 4am. I think it must be some kind of desensitization training for living in a war zone. [View Full Entry]

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A five minute ferry ride from the city of Xiamen, Gulangyu is an island still transitioning from its colonial past. Its a fine example of China's cultural resilience. The look is still European, but the vibe is entirely Chinese. A Brief Overview of the History of the Concessions The Opium Wars were a terrible loss for China, not only because it legalized a terrible drug addiction and cemented a bankrupting trade imbalance but it opened China to European concessions. These concessions reflected the social darwinism of the time, as Chinese citizens were not allowed entry. The European architecture stamps the Chinese [View Full Entry]

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Making New Friends Anywhere and Everywhere Battling colds most of the fall, I boarded the plane to Sanya feeling as though I was right on the edge of getting really sick once again. Mind over matter, not 24 hours after the last day of school ended, Craig and I were off to the Tianjin Airport. Our destination was Sanya on Hainan Island. Warmth, tropics, moist air (it has rained/snowed here maybe once in the last two months), we couldn't get there fast enough. Fortunately, flying within China is cheap and easy. We were even pleasantly surprised when the plane took [View Full Entry]

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I remember thinking about how nice it would be to move to China and be free from our many commitments back home. Teaching in the private system should allow me more time for my personal life, more time for leisure. I guess the answer is that Craig and I are workaholics. If the school doesn't fill up our time, we will find other ways to make ourselves busy. This story will end with my completely exhausted body getting on a plane to head south to Hainan, to recover. Beijing Trip #1 - Adventures in Transportation Craig and I have decided to [View Full Entry]

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