Hi all, Well we're back home...Amy soon to work, Roel to study...in other words, back to reality! But as you can see from the photos on the following pages, life in 'Toronto the good' is not treating us too badly. However, over the course of this entire blogging enterprise, we've talked an awful lot about ourselves and our time in 'Shanghai the bad' (and good:)...so now, as the title says, this last blog is for you, our faithful readers! Why is that you may ask? Well, your comments were invaluable, so blog number 36 (can you believe it?), will try to [View Full Entry]

---

---

If the title confuses you, we've already published a "Zai Jian Shanghai part 1" that didn't seem to get through...so feel free to check it out, and comment please on our homage to our visitors. As for this final Shanghai blog, we have to say that even putting the words Zai Jian to paper brings a lump to our throats…but we appreciate that the Chinese words for ‘Good-bye’ (Zai meaning ‘again’ and Jian ‘meet’) amount to something akin to au revoir. So as we wave zai jian, or au revoir, to this incredible place called ‘Shanghai’, and close [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all, This blog is about one big Yin (look for part 2 shortly on the yins AND the yangs of two years in Asia) as we’ve devoted this entire penultimate blog to an homage and revisiting, if you like, of our visitors. For the visitors, we hope you enjoy…for the rest, please read on too…and plan to visit Shanghai at some time on your own. You won’t be sorry! Christmas! For our first Christmas when Chris visited, we were still getting the hang of the place, so we really appreciated his help at navigating the city with his excellent Chinese. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all, Well, for our last journey in Asia we revisited Vietnam...more specifically, Ho Chi Minh City…or, as the title says (and we prefer)…Saigon! Is it the presence of such historic landmarks as the Continental Hotel—where we stayed—and all the remnants and sites of the Vietnam war—which we visited—and the feel of the past around every corner that almost, that we feel, demands the city be called Saigon? In any case, we concur with most of the city's inhabitants who still refer to Ho Chi Minh City as such, and for the purposes of this blog with herewi [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all, Well, it was May Day…and the Chinese Government’s cutting of the traditional one-week holiday into long weekends posed a dilemma: what to do for only May 1-3? Then colleagues returning from a weekend getaway showed us their pictures of Pingyao--a walled city from the Ming and Qing Dynasty eras--and their enthusiasm for this so-called “China’s hidden gem” was intriguing. The truth of that phrase was immediately apparent, when in response to queries for more info most responses were, like, Pingyao? Huh? Even our bible, the Lonely Planet (herewith refer [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all, Editor's note: Yes, we're learning Chinese, but no...the title is in English. You may recall (or not) last year's blog around this time when we spent "Qing Ming" holiday in Nanjing...well, this year we decided to spend Tomb Sweeping Festival (or Qing Ming, the weekend that people honour the memories of their deceased ancestors) on the island of Chong Ming. Last year's blog was devoted to the difficulties of our getting to Nanjing on a National Holiday, which were many (we almost didn't get there...one anonymous comment went so far as to cryptically remark that in our haste to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all, By the time we cross the border into Cambodia it feels—apart from our one day layover in Ho Chi Minh City—like we’ve been in transit since we left (which we have) and that we’ve arrived via planes, boats, buses and even bikes (which we also have). So naturally we’re looking forward to some R & R, but we approach that prospect in Cambodia--the locale of the infamous killing fields, and Nixon and Kissinger’s secret 70’s bombing campaign--with a certain amount of trepidation. Knowing too that we're banned from Vietnam--except to hang out [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all, As our plane taxis down the runway for takeoff, we notice that the horoscope for Jan. 22 -- Roel's birthday -- in the Shanghai Daily recommends that we not travel that day because we’ll encounter too many obstacles….but it's too late. We're off for Vietnam, and four hours later we arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 1:00 a.m. A pickup from our hotel, ‘Bi Saigon’, whisks us off to our room, which we discover is on top of a 7-floor walk-up. By the end of our holiday, we’ll be used to trekking up and down stairs - as [View Full Entry]

---

---

Or, in other words, happy new year! As you read this, Carly and Craig are safely enscounced back in their Georgetown home in Washington, D. C. and Roel and I are hunkering down for a spell of reality (i.e. back to work) before we take off again for two weeks for Chinese New Years holiday. Carly and Craig's flight home was much smoother than their extra long trip to Shanghai...and before they flew out on New Year's Day we watched the New Year come in, accompanied by the requisite fireworks both on T.V. and in the surrounding neighbourhood. On the day [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all, This year's Christmas, a wealth of good will and fun times, was one for the books...but like many Shanghai experiences, unique as much for what did as didn't happen. But thanks to perseverence, and a few Christmas miracles, we enjoyed a very memorable holiday.... despite some ups and downs on the dragon's tail! For example, five days prior to the big day, Carly and Craig's expected 3:00 p.m. arrival was delayed almost 12 hours...and would have been even longer if the first leg from Washington D.C. to Chicago hadn't mysteriously been allowed to take-off (even though an earlier f [View Full Entry]

---

---