Bali is a place I'd always wanted to "experience", and I was lucky enough to get down there for a short week before leaving Asia. Flying on a night flight to Denpasar from Shanghai via Singapore, I arrived on this lovely island at noon on Friday, July 3. A taxi took me up into the mountains to the town of Ubud, where I spent three nights. I then had "Agung" drive me to Amed on the east coast of the island and spent another three nights there. Yesterday morning, another driver and I did the 3-hour trip down south to the [View Full Entry]

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On the spur of the moment, I decided to get away for my last weekend in China. My first choice was an overnight, mini-retreat in a Buddhist monastery, but that was all booked up. So I opted for a short hiking and biking tour to Moganshan with Bohdi Adventure Tours (which I’d read about in City Weekend Magazine). Here’s a description of Moganshan according to one guidebook: “Moganshan offers natural relaxation in the form of fresh air, and the pristine beauty of the mountains and the bamboo forest….In those oft-mentioned glory days of Shanghai in the early 1900s, [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was a very sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to all my little friends at the orphanage where I've been volunteering. The administration has closed it to volunteers—just as they did when there was SARS and bird flu-- for an undetermined time because of the now-declared swine flu "pandemic" in the world. Although understandable, I can’t help thinking this Chinese institution has closed in on itself, and who knows when it will again be open to "foreigners" like myself? In a way, I was fortunate because, when I explained that I was leaving China for good in [View Full Entry]

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Last week was the “Dragon Boat Festival” in China. I won’t be showing you any photos of dragon boat races here because I --along with thousands if not millions of Chinese people, as well as foreign tourists and residents-- left Shanghai for a long weekend. I chose to go to the Guilin area of Guangxi province in southern China, where I stayed in Yangshuo and Ping’an. How nice it was to see green vegetation, rivers and mountains again!. Although I love living in Shanghai, you do suffer from the pollution and lack of “nature” in such a sprawling metropolis. [View Full Entry]

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My friend Sylvie from Paris came to visit me for 10 days. It was really fun having her here --she was my first, and will probably be my only--houseguest in Shanghai, since I'm leaving in 6 weeks, and no one else has said they were coming. We had a great time exploring this vibrant city. Have a look at the photos, where I've added captions and comments. Sylvie left last Friday morning. The final photos are of some of my activities since she left: a talk I gave at the Shanghai Community Center on Friday afternoon; eyeing a wedding party from [View Full Entry]

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From April 26 till May 2 , I traveled to Tibet with the Cercle Francophone de Shanghai. There were 29 of us, all French-speaking, including 3 teenagers, one of whom is in my 8th grade class at the French School of Shanghai! Our first 36 hours were spent traveling. On the morning of April 26, we flew to Xining in western China and spent 6 hours there visiting the city before boarding the Beijing-Lhassa train at 8:30 PM. that evening. 24 hours later we arrived in Lhassa. (It takes 50 hours from Beijing!). The night on board went okay, but the [View Full Entry]

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Before describing my trip to Tibet, I thought I'd add a few more photos of Shanghai. The first ones are of the new Yangshan deep-water port located south of Shanghai, which I visited with a group from the Cercle Francophone the day before leaving for Tibet. According to Wikepedia, this mammoth port was "built to circumvent growth limitations for the Port of Shanghai as a result of shallow waters...and is capable of handling the largest container ships today. The port achieves this by building on the offshore islands of Greater and Lesser Yangshan (part of the Zhoushan archipelago), whi [View Full Entry]

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Spring has definitely come to Shanghai. The leaves of the trees are out; and we're wearing cotton and sandals and having drinks in outdoor cafes. Here are some photographic scenes that show what Ive been up to and/or observing since my return from Paris two weeks ago. Next week I'm off to Tibet with members of a local French association ("le Cercle Francophone de Shanghai".) Am really looking forward to the trip. And on Saturday, April 25, on the day before leaving for Tibet, I'm going on an all-day excursion with the same group to the new, "deep", port of Shanghai. [View Full Entry]

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I returned to Shanghai on April 8 after a marvelous week in Paris attending my son Sebastien's wedding. He and Aurelia were married on Saturday, April 4 by the mayor of the town of Les Ulis who also just happens to be Aurelia's mother! Sebastien's "witnesses" at the Town Hall were his brothers Eric (back from Oregon) and Marc (back from Quebec City). About 160 people were there, including Sébastien's father (my ex-husband Rémi) and his wife, as well as members of the Kaiser clan; Aurelia's family; and numerous friends of the bride and groom. My father and brother were unable [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Phuket, an island on the southwestern coast of Thailand that was hard-hit by the December 26, 2004 tsunami and where many people perished. Today, it has mostly been rebuilt and the tourist industry is flourishing. Real estate development also seems to still be going strong, despite the global economic crisis. Although I'd been to Thailand before, it was to Bangkok and the north, including to Chiang Mai, but never to this "island paradise", as some call it. Inga, my young German friend from Shanghai and I came down here for a week's holiday and booked a hotel in Kata [View Full Entry]

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