http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/RickGailBerry/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from RickGailBerry en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:21:51 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:21:51 +0000 Merry Christmas to all of our friends and relatives. It has been such an exciting five months here. We wish that everyone of you could be here to celebrate with us and join us in the wonderful diversity of people cultures food landscape etc etc etc that we have experienced. When I look back at our home page with 35 years in Peace River we were definitely a bit hesitant and nervous as we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Jinshitan/blog-461371.html 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 b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Jinshitan/blog-453082.html 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 wit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Jinshitan/blog-453108.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Dalian/blog-448919.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Jinshitan/blog-441689.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Jinshitan/blog-441667.html Day 3 of our travelsTodays 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 flood http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Jinshitan/blog-441652.html Day one Our cruise down the Yangtze River was amazing. We started out on Monday morning 540 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 lo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Jinshitan/blog-441500.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/blog-435107.html 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 amazin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-431040.html 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 Ric http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/Dalian/Dalian/blog-409274.html