Hola! I am switching gears and have moved from China to Mexico, a place I feel much more comfortable with since I speak some Spanish. I have always wanted to attend a Spanish language immersion program but have never had the opportunity. Usually the programs are multiple weeks in length and that just didn’t fit into my home or work schedule. Fortunately for me a group of California Diabetes Educators put together this language school trip, specifically to improve medical Spanish skills. I am departing Phoenix in just a little while on my way to Mexico City, then Cuernavaca, a city with several language schools. Our program consists of six hours a day of Spanish, three that are conversational Spanish and three that are diabetes specific. They are breaking us down into small groups so we ... read more

We are getting ready to fly home! Here are our top picks for the trip! Deb 1. West Lake, Hangzhou 2. Summer Palace, Beijing 3. Fireworks on the 60th floor skydeck at hotel 4. Dinner on Christmas Eve at Red Capitol Club Mark 1. Great Wall 2. West Lake, Hangzhou 3. Summer Palace 4. Dinner at Red Capital Club Diana 1. Acrobat show 2. Hot Pot dinner 3. Executive lounge Mike 1. Summer Palace 2. Dragonwell Tea Plantation landscape 3. New Year's Eve in Shanghai Steve 1. Acrobat show 2. Summer Palace 3. Executive lounge Will 1. Executive lounge 2. Acrobat show 3. Great Wall We all had a wonderful trip. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience for the family! ... read more

I have wanted to visit Hangzhou since we first went to China 12.5 years ago! Today we finally went and it was worth all of the effort. The West Lake of Hangzhou was the best place I have visited in the past 2 weeks! There are beautiful mountains surrounding three sides of the lake, while a modern city of skyscapers lines the other side of the lake. It sort of reminded me of Seattle! We hired a driver for the day and spent about 2.5 hours in the car from Shanghai until we reached West Lake. We took a walk through the northern edge of the park along the Bai causeway and then purchcased tickets for a boat ride to an island in the middle of the lake. We really enjoyed the boat trip and the ... read more

Today we started off at the Shanghai Museum, just a short walk from our hotel. We viewed some coins from Genghis Kahn era and some jade that was 5000 years old! Then we toured the Shanghai planning museum where they had a model of the city that you could view from the floor above. It was interesting to see the location of our hotel and the areas we walked through. After a quick lunch at the underground mall we took the subway over to Pudong and went to the observation tower at the Jin Mao building, on the 88th floor! Although hazy we had some great views over the city. We enjoyed a nice walk along the river to view the Bund and take photos. Since the Bund is under construction we are not able to ... read more

For our last full day in Beijing we decided on "comfort" and low stress! We hired a van and driver for the day. We started out going to the Olympic area. It was a very cold morning as we visited the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Inside the Bird's Nest, there was a snowpark where you could pay to play in the snow. We didn't partake in that, we were cold enough already. It was a little strange seeing the inside of the Bird's Nest as a winter playground instead of the Track and Field center for the Olympics, but it is still certainly an impressive structure. Unfortunately, the Water Cube was not open for tours. We did buy a couple of souvenirs from the gift shop that was open. Next, we went to the 798 ... read more