Oct 23, 2018 - Nepal Nirvana - October 23, 2018 Kathmandu - Hong Kong and home

Our last morning in Nepal and we all savour a chance to sleep in. For some reason I am wide awake at 6:00am and meet with Roger and Pam for breakfast. They are leaving for India this morning so I plan to go to the airport with them. Prem, as always, is on time along with two of Bikesh's fellows Nir and Kangsan (I think). Off we head to the airport and we can't believe the lack of traffic, it is a breeze. When we comment on this, Nir says, oh that is because of 'The Festival', everyone is still in their villages. No opportunity is missed to...

Oct 23, 2018 - dad's perspective: tennis in china

Tennis in China: Focus, Discipline, POWER, Nike, and Yonex are words that come immediately to my mind when reflecting on our tennis experience in China. The cultural approach to training in Asia for our sport is very different than what we see in the West. According to the coaches at the academy who have been in Asia for many years, variety is not a big part of development. Most game styles I have witnessed are the same, hug the baseline and hit extremely hard and flat. First strike tennis is the name of the game and points are ending...

Oct 22, 2018 - yangshuo weekend trip!!

Another solid week of tennis and fitness training and our enjoyment of China continues to grow! We were really looking forward to this weekend’s adventure in Yangshuo, part of the Guangxi Region of China. Yangshuo is know for their Karst Peaks (limestone formations that protrude up into the air forming individual mountains). This district is world renowned for it’s rock climbing and mountain biking. Our next visit my dad will organize a mountain bike tour of the rural areas. Yangshuo itself and the town center called “West Street” is very...

Oct 19, 2018 - dad's perspective: chinese culture and history

China Culture and History Judgement as influence by naivety, media and lack of knowledge is best to be kept to oneself! Through my Far East travels and cultural immersion the past 4 weeks, I have gained a perspective that I am embarrassed (and at the same time proud) to say is quite different than my preconception. China is an unbelievable Country and it’s people are of the most respectful, diligent, and humble kind I have ever been so fortunate to come across. The number of times I have been assisted with a huge smile is endless. Having...

Oct 14, 2018 - Imperial Beijing

Day 18 Beijing Summer Palace As expected, our day began with a bus ride - of course! - to the Summer Palace, North West of the city. Dating back almost 900 years, this vast complex of lakes and palaces is a splendid example of Chinese landscaping. The huge main lake - Lake Kunming - is entirely man made and the spoil from the excavation of more than 2 square kilometres was used to construct Longevity Hill, upon which many of the palace buildings were constructed. In more recent times, parts of the palace was burned and looted by the French...

Oct 14, 2018 - guangzhou part 2

What a whirlwind 36 hour experience Hong Kong Island provided. My adrenaline was flowing as the intensity of that city grabbed my brain and took me away from the routine in Communist China where the people are so simple and pleasant. We were impulsed with tons of shopping (LuLu Lemon/Brandy Melville/Lush) and many modern conveniences! I am happy to have returned to another full week of 12 "spinny" table meals, 11 more tennis practice sessions, 6 fitness sessions and 2 massages. Guangzhou and the tennis academy my dad is working at and I am...

Oct 14, 2018 - More Imperial Beijing

One thing I forgot to mention about Tiananmen Square, in the previous entry, was the intense security, both overt and covert. A local man we got into discussion with before arriving at Tiananmen Square, accidentally let us know that plain clothes security personnel would be in the square, that they spoke English and eavesdropped on tourists. Shortly after arriving in the square, Ray felt that we were being trailed in exactly that way, as he observed a man following us for quite a few minutes - didn’t get his picture, though! Perhaps our...

Oct 14, 2018 - my global perspective

My Global Perspective Ryan Wuhrman Prior to visiting the far East, the only exposure I have had to Asian customs was in my Mandarin class at Palm Beach Day Academy and an occasional visit to the Panda Express down the street. I used to despise taking this class when I was younger and often made fun of the language with my friends referring to class as "ching chong chinese". I had no idea why I was in the learning something that seemed so apparently different. Middle school was nearing when I began to change my thinking and realized how...

Oct 13, 2018 - Xi’an to Beijing - HSTs and Hutongs

Our Odyssey to China is nearing the end, but there is still so much to look forward to on this trip, starting with today’s transit to Beijing by High Speed Train. On our original itinerary, this was to be our only HST trip but, you may recall, the lost days on the Yangtze were replaced by buses and an extra HST ride from Huangshan to Wuhan. That journey only whetted our appetite for the HST experience and we were really looking forward to today’s ride. Readers in Europe and the UK may wonder at our excitement over a fast train ride, but the...

Oct 12, 2018 - The Warriors, at last!

On our budget trip, we had expected to be taken to shopping outlets but it certainly hadn’t been excessive up to now - that changed today! Our first visit was to a jade factory to learn about the different types of jade and to see how it was crafted by the artisans to transform a single piece of stone into a work of art. The presentation and workshop were very interesting and informative, but the objective was to have us spend in the showroom. There was a great range of excellent items to choose from and - mostly - we didn’t feel too...

Oct 11, 2018 - Transit day

A pretty quiet day today, which was just as well for us. Four of our group finished their tour today, and departed for the airport after breakfast. Two more were due to fly out during the afternoon, while the remaining six of us had a flight to Xi’an in the evening. So our day was focussed on flights and nothing much else. Ray woke with little relief from the back spasm that bothered him for most of yesterday and Angela had a badly irritated throat. So we decided to take a walk to see if we could work out the spasm and find a pharmacy at...

Oct 10, 2018 - Pandas and history

I happened to wake very early and went up on deck to see what was around as we approached Chongqing. The river had changed considerably as we had travelled overnight - it was much narrower, heavily trafficked with cargo vessels and the smell indicated we were in a heavily industrialised area. It was not attractive enough to linger, so I went back to bed! When we did wake for the day, we were already docked and the morning light was promising a much sunnier and clearer day than we had experienced as we sailed through the Three Gorges - ah...