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RickGailBerry - Rick Berry

Rick Berry This is a travel blog of Rick and Gail's two year adventure teaching in China. After 35 years of living in northern Alberta, we are spreading our wings to the other side of the world -Dalian China. We both have jobs with Maple Leaf Schools; Rick as Systems Curriculum Coordinator and Gail as an ESL team leader. Although we will miss our community here, we are so looking forward to new jobs, experiences and culture. We hope to keep in touch with friends and family through this travel blog. Keep tuned!
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Joined on: June 1st 2009
Last Login: November 23rd 2009

Blog Entries: 10
Photos: 164
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by RickGailBerry, order by Date newest first.


By RickGailBerry
November 14th 2009
Motorcycle  Asia » China » Liaoning » Dalian » Jinshitan
The Bike Shop
The Bike Shop
It doesn't look like much from the outside, but there were a lot of new and used bikes here. We brought Ryan, a Chinese ESL teacher, with us. Ryan had just gone through this process of helping another... [more]
We joined the biker crowd in October. Who would have thought that this would have been our mode of transportation in China! Many of the locals and quite a few of the teaching staff have bikes, which really opens up your world. We have seen so much already that we never would have been able to on foot or by train. It is quite the sight for see us on the road - white haired Rick driving along with Gail gazing around taking pictures on the back. Too funny! The latest trip to the market was the best - it was [View Full Entry]

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436 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 14th 2009 | 39 Views | [diary=453108]

Negotiations
Who is this Cool Guy?
Driving lessons

Apple Farm
Apple Farm
This is a small portion of the apple farm. Most of the apples had already been havested but the place was huge. Fairy talked about bring us back in the spring when all the trees are in bloom.
This blog is a continuation of our weekend trip with Fairy. After we left the rural villages we drove to a huge apple farm where we had some lunch and toured the area. After we drove to Bing Yu Village home of the Bu Yun Mountain Hot Springs. The hot springs area was a bit disappointing as we were expecting something like the Rockies. All in all and interesting experience. Rick made a hit with a bus load of chinese tourists who all wanted to have their picture taken with him. [View Full Entry]

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91 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 14th 2009 | 27 Views | [diary=453082]

lunch at the apple farm
The three gourd
The snake gourd

By RickGailBerry
October 28th 2009
Fairy's trip Asia » China » Liaoning » Dalian » Dalian
first house
first house
This house belonged to the people that first befriended Fairy and her mom when they came to the village. The villagers were told that they were bad and not to speak to them or help them in any way. Fa... [more]
Our latest trip was only a weekend adventure, but it is amazing how much you can fit in to a couple of days. Fairy is the Chinese wife of a B.C. teacher. She runs a small shop with a variety of services: travel guide, massages, trinkets, as well as funding several charities in the region. She is quite an amazing woman. We signed up for a trip with her in october which turned out to be much more than we planned on. Our trip pictures are on two entries - the first one to the village and the second to the [View Full Entry]

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203 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 14th 2009 | 32 Views | [diary=448919]

her village friends
the kitchen
the bedroom

Chong Qing pier
Chong Qing pier
We were debating whether or not to hire porters to carry our bags up these steps. Luckily Jeff was there to help us, so decided no.
Day 5 - the final day of the trip saw us leave the boat after breakfast with our Chong Qing guide Jeff. He took us to a few places in the city and then to the airport, It was a bit disappointing because we should have checked out a few places that we wanted to see rather than leaving it last minute to him. We were exhausted by the time we returned to Jinshitan about 7 that night. Great trip [View Full Entry]

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78 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 15 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 3rd 2009 | 56 Views | [diary=441689]

Happy Birthday
Tai chi in the Park
Tai chi with knives

Feng Du City excursion
Feng Du City excursion
Off the boat and onto a small tram that took us to the excursion site
Day 4: The excursion today is the the city of Feng Du (city of the dead). Ancient Chinese belief is that when a person dies, they automatically go to hell, but there is a special way to get out of hell and into paradise. First, the body stays in the house for 7 days, in case they come alive again. At the end of 7 days, the son must light a candle under the coffin .If there is no son, too bad you stay in hell and the torture chamber. If the son lights a candle, the spirit of the perosn [View Full Entry]

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283 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 33 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 3rd 2009 | 67 Views | [diary=441667]

Gates to Ghost City
Map of the area
Wizard

Along the River
Along the River
A collection of homes in a town along the river. Millions of people have been displaaced by the dam; some are very happy to have new homes and new opportunities. A special road was built in 1996 to li... [more]
Day 3 of our travels: Todays excursion is on a small tributary of the Yangtze (Chang Jiang) River called the Shennong stream. It is well known in China for the 'trekkers'. Because the water level in the stream was very low, the men would often have to get out and pull the boats for long distances- this ws the only method of transporting goods to the people who lived here. Now, because of the flooding of the dam, their services are no longer used, - the water is 135 meters high- but this is still a popular tourist destination. [View Full Entry]

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98 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 26 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 3rd 2009 | 71 Views | [diary=441652]

Shennong
Alice
New Bridge

lunch in small noodle shop
lunch in small noodle shop
Hot pickled radishes and the wonderful smiles of the owners made this noodle shop a great lunch stop in Yi Chang. We spent about 4 hours in the city, saw a musesum dedicated to relics dug up due to th... [more]
Day one: Our cruise down the Yangtze River was amazing. We started out on Monday morning 5:40 a.m. to catch a flight from Dalian to Wuhan - about a 2 hour flight. There we were met by a guide who took the 4 of us (Gail, Rick, Peter and Dianne) by a small bus to the city of Yi Chang, about a 4 hour trip. The ride went by quickly, watching the small farms with water buffalo, ducks, fishing ponds, lots of farmers working their fields by hand. When we arrived at Yi Chang, we were met by a guide who [View Full Entry]

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270 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 18 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 3rd 2009 | 52 Views | [diary=441500]

Noodle Shop Owners
Silk embroidery shop
lockers

By RickGailBerry
September 9th 2009
Trip with Thomas Asia » China » Liaoning » Dalian
Starting with Breakfast
Starting with Breakfast
We started out our day with a breakfast buffet at the local holiday resort hotel. Too much food, but it tasted great to have omelettes.
Our day with our neighbour, Thomas, was especially great! Having not seen anything of the area other than a short walking distance away, we were thrilled when he offered to tour us around the local countryside. Thomas ( a native Calgarian, resident of Vancouver and married for 30 years to a Chinese woman) has spent many of his married years in China, teaching and visiting inlaws, so has a wealth of knowledge of China and the area. He had rented a car for a month, so we, along with Peter and Diane (Rick's sisters sister in law / and our other [View Full Entry]

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180 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 18 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 11th 2009 | 89 Views | [diary=435107]

Minnie and MIckey
typical transportation
fishing village

Goodbye to Peace River
Goodbye to Peace River
Manygreat memories of the PUB, St. Patties Day and the Croakin' Four.
After a long and eventful trip from Peace River to Vancouver (via Valemont, Whistler, Parksville and Shawnigan Lake) we finally departed on Tuesday, August 18. along with about 20 eager and fresh faced teachers on Japan AirLines. With the time change, we arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon. We had a great overnight in Narita, a suburb of Tokyo where we wandered the streets and found an amazing temple (which we here are as plentiful as castles in Europe). But since it was our first, we were pretty impressed. The next day we continued to Dalian where we were met by [View Full Entry]

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703 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 8 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 30th 2009 | 70 Views | [diary=431040]

Stopover in Japan
We Have Arrived
Our Apartment

By RickGailBerry
June 17th 2009
Getting Ready Asia » China » Liaoning » Dalian » Dalian
Photo 1
Photo 1
Gail's Garage sale
The last month has been a whirlwind of activity and paper. B.C teacher licenses, retirement, pensions, and VISA info was the first round. Then selling the house, arranging for storage, dealing with mail, finances, cards, computers, phones, vehicles, packing and sorting - you know the routine. Everytime you check off something from your list, 3 more things pop up. It has been invaluable to have Rick at home to be dealing with so many of the items on the list. We had a great garage sale where we got rid of a lot of unneeded items. Having the last hour with [View Full Entry]

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330 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 17th 2009 | 96 Views | [diary=409274]

Photo 2
Photo 3
Lulu, our Mandaring tutor