COOKIE W - MARILYN WILLIAMS

My husband, Roy and I will begin traveling through China for 6 weeks from Feb 24 - April 7, 2007. We fly from Ft Lauderdale/Newark/Hong Kong......plan to be in H. Kong for two weeks, then depart for Xi\'an, where we will spend one month. We will be working with Global Volunteers (Globalvolunteers.org) for three weeks teaching conversational English. Last year we taught with this organization in Kunming, China.It is a terrific organization to work with and teaching the Chinese is a totally rewarding experience. I enjoy writing about our daily experiences and try to capture the beauty of the people, cities and culture with photos...come along and enjoy!

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Joined on: February 16th 2007
Last Login: October 15th 2009

Blog Entries: 17
Photos: 246

TB Code: [blogger=32408]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by COOKIE W, order by Date newest first.

By COOKIE W
March 9th 2009

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS TEACHING IN HAIKOU Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

OUR STUDENTS
Haikou Municipal Educational Research & Training Academy

Have just finished two weeks of teaching conversational English at the Haikou Municipal Educational Research & Training Academy. This is our fourth year teaching with Global Volunteers & the most fun. Our team of 17 bonded quickly & the laughter & companionship developed quickly! Each morning we boarded the bus at 8AM & returned to the hotel by noon for lunch. Roy & I shared a class, consisting of 9 students, all Chinese English teachers. They were eager to increase their ability to speak conversational English. Teachers teach their English class 'from the book'. Once out of the univer [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 1st 2009

GONGQI CELEBRATION--YONGXING VILLAGE Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

GATHERED FOR TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEAL
SHALLY'S PARENTS' HOME WITH FOUR OF MY STUDENTS FROM LAST YEAR & HER FAMILY

It was an honor to be invited to Yongxing, a small village outside Haikou City, to celebrate Gongqi, an annual celebration of ancestors. It is a day for the families to gather together to pray for their ancestors and share a meal. Two of our students, who I taught last year through Global Volunteers, invited us to share a meal with their family. Our guides to the village, were two of our students from class this year, who also teach in Yongxing middle school. We went by taxi and, because of a big traffic jam, it took 1 1/2 hours to [View Full Entry]

LINDA AND SHALLY SERVING 'HAINAN NOODES'

By COOKIE W
February 20th 2009

BACK IN HONG KONG/HAIKOU, CHINA Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

HONG KONG HARBOR
EARLY MORNING LIGHT ON HARBOR

AFTER 16 HR FLIGHT, NEWARK/HONG KONG ON CONTINENTAL, WE ARRIVED IN HONG KONG & SPENT ONE NIGHT. FOLLOWING DAY, FLEW 1 HR TO HAINAN ISLAND TO PREPARE FOR OUR 'FOURTH' SESSION WITH GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS IN HAIKOU CITY. THE WEATHER IS VERY WARM & HUMID........WE'RE USED TO THAT & RATHER ENJOY IT! HAD A NICE DINNER WITH OUR CHINESE FRIENDS UPON OUR ARRIVAL IN HAIKOU LAST NITE. WAS A WONDERFUL WELCOME FOR US......... ALL'S WELL!!!!! [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 31st 2008

GUANGZHOU--AMAZING CITY Asia » China

CHINA SOUTHERN '777'
LOS ANGELES TO GUANGZHOU -- 15 HOURS

Guangzhou has come a long way since the days of 'Canton'. It is a hub for China Southern Airlines;we spent time there on either end of our trip. The architecture is quite stunning--there are an abundance of hotels, shopping malls, gated, high end condos. There are green spaces throughout the city, parks with lots of shade trees, reflecting pools -- a nice way to spend time reading & relaxing. There are restaurants galore--traditional Chinese to cappaccino at Starbucks or McDonald's. IKEA has a big store there and we noticed a beehive of activity. Following are photos we hope tell the story [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 25th 2008

OVERNIGHT ON HA LONG BAY Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Halong Bay

HA LONG BAY
THE JUNKS LINED UP ALONG THE DOCKS AS PASSENGERS BOARDED! 400 DAY TRIP JUNKS;90 OVERNIGHT JUNKS.

Following our teaching with Global Volunteers in Haikou, we flew to Hanoi from Guangzhou, China. We made plans to spend an overnight on a junk at Ha Long Bay while in Hanoi for one week. We departed Hanoi early one morning and headed East to Ha Long Bay...the road was two lanes, one lane in each direction, a slow trip! We traveled through small villages & saw many rice paddies along the way. We were stunned when we arrived at Ha Long Bay! There were 400 junks tied up to several docks; 90 of them overnight junks, which is what we [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 10th 2008

JOURNEY TO SANYA, HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA Asia » China

BOAOA ASIAN CONFERENCE CENTER

Roy & I, along with 8 Global Volunteers, chartered a bus with driver/guide and traveled to Sanya for the weekend, located on the southern part of Hainan Island. It is a four hour drive from Haikou. Our guide stopped at the 'BOAOA Asian Conference Center', which is very impressive. Very large & modern, with beautiful gardens. This is where 20 Asian leaders meet each spring to discuss important issues affecting Asian counteries and the world. Depending upon the issue being discussed, world leaders from other countries also attend. President Bush has attended this conference center & Bill Gates a [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 5th 2008

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS - HAIKOU CITY, HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

HERE I AM WITH STUDENTS
THEY ARE ALL CHINESE ENGLISH TEACHERS

'TRAVEL THAT FEEDS THE SOUL'........this is what GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS is all about. A week ago, we completed our third year teaching with GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS, we were the 2nd team to teach in Haikou city, Hainan Island. We taught each morning to Chinese English teachers at Haikou Educational Research and Training Academy. Every other year English teachers in China must get re-certified. This is our 2nd time having HuDi as our team leader; last year her partner, Baoli, led our small team in Xi'an and HuDi participated. We feel as tho these leaders are a part of our family now. We stayed [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 5th 2008

HAIKOU CITY, HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

EVERGREEN PARK WITH OUR HOTEL ON LEFT
GOLDEN SEA VIEW HOTEL ON LEFT

In 110 BC, Emperor Hanwu was the first to assign an administrative office on Hainan Island. It borders Vietnam to the west. The climate is very tropical & due to the abundance of sunlight, many crops are grown such as rice, wheat sweet potato, taro, sorghum, millet & beans. Sugarcane, hemp, peanuts, sesame & tea are also grown. Among the fruits are, pineapple, litchi, banana, plantain, citrus, mango watermellon & jackfruit! It is also rich in medicinal herbs, there are over 4,000 plants that can be used for medicinal purposes. There is no industry on the island, therefore, no pollution. We [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
March 3rd 2008

LUCHEN RURAL VILLAGE Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

10 RULES FROM MING DYNASTY

LUCHEN is an ancient, rural village 2 hours from the city of Haikou, Hainan Island. There is a stone marker, at the entrance to the village, from the 'Ming Dynasty', 1500 A.D. It lists 10 rules for the village --'don't steal;don't cut down trees', etc. The foilage is tropical & the soil very fertile. Fruit trees are very abundant --jackfruit, pineapples, leechie nuts, bananas, to name just a few. The houses were all built from volcano bricks......bricks cut into squares from volcano lava, no mortar is used. The bricks are porous & would leak in the rain.....however, it is a very [View Full Entry]

By COOKIE W
February 13th 2008

WILLIAMS' JOURNEY THRU CHINA '08 Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

CHINA 07 633

FEBRUARY 20th: WE'RE ON OUR WAY! 'CHINA SOUTHERN' AIRLINES, BUSINESS CLASS, 15 HRS TO GUANGZHOU, CHINA, WHICH IS WEST OF HONG KONG. WE SPEND ONE NIGHT IN GUANGZHOU (CANTON). NEXT DAY, WE FLY TO HAIKOU, ON THE ISLAND OF HAINAN, WHICH IS SOUTH OF HONG KONG & MACAU, EAST OF HANOI. IT IS THE 'HAWAII' OF ASIA WHERE ALL THE ASIANS GO TO VACATION. THE CLIMATE IS TROPICAL, ISLAND BEAUTIFUL & THE ATMOSPHERE MIXED ASIAN. WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS ONCE AGAIN, OUR THIRD PROGRAM WITH THIS WONDERFUL ORGANIZATION........... FROM HAINAN, WE WILL FLY TO [View Full Entry]

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COOKIE W | MARILYN WILLIAMS | Travel Blog

COOKIE W - MARILYN WILLIAMS

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