Spring Festival We woke up a few minutes before the sun on Feb.7, our first morning in the Kaifeng countryside in the province of Henan. The thermometer read 36deg F . . . in our bedroom. We made a mad dash from our mountain of blankets, grabbed for whatever layers we weren’t already wearing, and stepped out into a crisp silence, unlike anything we have experienced in China thus far. There were no car-horns, there was no construction work, absent were the calls of street vendors. The constant city buzz, the constant buzz of people, had been left in the last [View Full Entry]

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On Friday, Jan. 18th we found ourselves back in Hong Kong with goal #1 being, change Stephanie’s tourist visa to a work visa. After crossing the Shenzhen/Hong Kong border at Luowu, we headed straight for the visa office where Cody kept our packs company outside (they’re not allowed in the PSB, FYI) for two hours while Stephanie waited for her #, handed in her paper work, and crossed her fingers. The visa wouldn’t be processed until the following Monday, which gave us the weekend to once again explore Hong Kong. After some extensive searching at the various hostels in both Mir [View Full Entry]

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Last week, Stephanie taught her last class for the term and Cody finished up his lessons, officially beginning our winter holiday! Since then we’ve been continuing to explore Chengdu, finishing some last minute visa business, and preparing for our upcoming travels. This week everything needed for changing Stephanie’s tourist visa ‘L’ to a work visa ‘Z’ was in order, including the foreign expert certificate, residence permit from the local police bureau, and the letter of invitation from the school... everything save one. The medical exam. So on Monday, we [View Full Entry]

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Sichuan province is where Szechuan seasoning (which pops up on menus in the states) was born. Sichuan cuisine like Szechuan pepper is known for its unique flavor and is famous throughout China and the world for being exceptionally spicy. It's said that there are over 5,000 different dishes in Sichuan and we are working our way through them one plate at a time. Below is a compilation of pictures and captions describing some of our more memorable food experiences thus far. Click on the picture for the full caption and enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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Howdy amigos, and Season's Greetings. What we've got here is a compilation of the many questions posed to us through comments and emails. Following each 'Q' is our shot at answering. There are quite a few, so if you get to a topic that doesn't quite float your interest boat, paddle on by. We hope you enjoy, and please ask as many more questions as you can think of; we'll try to get at them in the next Q&A post! Have you sung any karaoke? A quote from the Rob Gifford book “China Road” states “where there are people there is [View Full Entry]

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From now until June we will be officially residing in Chengdu! We are writing this blog from our very own home computer in an apartment provided by the school Stephanie will be teaching at! First a burning question: Why did you guys stop traveling when you still had a month left on your tourist visa? -After arriving in Chengdu, a cold reality hit us, it is winter in China. This meant that going anywhere north of here (basically the whole northern half of the country) would make for a less pleasant experience. The season also knocked out any hopes of mountain [View Full Entry]

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A few days before we boarded the 25hr overnight train from Guilin to Chengdu (Nov. 28), we were tying to nail down a concrete definition of the word lost, what it means to be truly lost. After some debate we decided that being truly lost is when a person has no idea where she/he is, is not even able to locate her/himself on a map, and has no tools to help figure it out. We exited the Chengdu train station with our packs on our backs, and a heinous cold in Stephanie’s head, eager to find a hostel which we hadn’t [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Chengdu, here are the pics we were talking about. More to come! Happy Birthday Erica! [View Full Entry]

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(More pictures are coming soon! We promise! . . . waiting for faster internet cafe) Well, here we are, the People's Republic of China. A recap of the latest events: After waiting for about 4 business days and a weekend in Hong Kong, we returned to the visa office and picked up our tickets into China. It all turned out a little different than we had expected, as we received "L" visas which allow us to enter China twice, each time for a period of 30 days. So all in all we have two months to travel about China as tourists. [View Full Entry]

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Day Three here in HK. To satiate your desire to know more about our quest for Cody's glasses, none have been found yet, at least not for what we frugal backpackers are willing to pay. Hong Kong is expensive compared to Mainland China and is packed with designer stores, way above our spending limit. It is the most glamorous city either of us have ever been in, and in some crowds/areas we look like a couple of raggamuffins. So far we have been spending approx US$40 a day (for both of us). May not sound like much, but we have got [View Full Entry]

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