Jan 5, 2013 - Escape from Ningbo

Pleased to announce that this afternoon at 4.34pm Harmony took us away from Ningbo back to Changzhou, not at her usual pace, but it got us out of there! Cen baby was most shocked by the train station, and the large crowd of nosy people I seemed to attract, one brave boy was asking questions and relaying the news to the crowd of onlookers that gathered to see the English tourist. Cen was shocked by how prying they were and politely told them unless they wanted to pay her translator fees then they could just go away. So cute when she gets...

Jan 2, 2013 - Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

Only a 4 hour drive from Chen's home, and a late start to the day, we arrived at the seaside late afternoon. The hotel overlooks the long line of fresh fish restaurants that line the waters edge along the estuary. Haggling for the best price and choosing your fish fresh from the tank is all part of the fun! So we have dined on crayfish, horsehead fish, prawns, squid, tiny little muscles and winkles, along with the usual trimmings of a tofu an fish soup, stirfry celery and greens, and special double fry noodles. Yum. I also had the rare...

Nov 19, 2012 - Hangzhou for a day

A simple journey of 50mins saw me in Hangzhou and what a lovely place. I headed straight out once I'd arrived and ended up on the famous West Lake. It was beautiful, I even took the barge over to the island for a walk and headed up to Yu Feis temple tomb but with the amount of temples, shrines, mosques and tombs I'd already seen I couldn't bring myself to go into another one, so I looked at the map and decided hey its only a short walk back, I'll do that. 3 hours later, maybe it wasn't such a good idea but I popped into a Japanese...

Aug 6, 2012 - Shaoxing

Shaoxing : Levée à 5h30 pour un départ à 6h00, après une nuit d'environ 5h... Nous prenons un train style TGV dans une gare excentrée de la ville (près de l'aéroport en fait). Je n'ai aucun autre souvenir du voyage car j'ai dormis comme une buche tout le long... Shaoxing semble être une belle ville encore en développement avec beaucoup de canaux et de parc. Je n'en ai malheureusement vu que le théâtre et son quartier avoisinant. L'hôtel est vraiment bien aussi. Dommage qu'on ne reste pas plus longtemps ! Le théâtre était magnifique et...

Aug 6, 2012 - Hangzhou

Hangzhou : Encore une nuit beaucoup trop courte et me voilà à Hangzhou, à une heure de bus de Shaoxing. Nous sommes tous très fatigué mais nous ne devons pas chômer car nous avons deux spectacles aujourd'hui, le premier étant à 15h30 ! Un de mes micros sans fil à rendu l'âme pendant ce spectacle, heureusement que j'en ai un de rechange... J'essaie de faire des siestes dès que j'ai un peu de temps libre. Le 2e spectacle se passe très bien. Nous finissons la soirée dans un resto sur le bord du lac Ouest.

Jul 20, 2012 - Saying Goodbye to Hangzhou

Friday was our final day in Hangzhou and it was a very long day. For starters we had our last Chinese lesson and it was somewhat disappointing. Our regular teacher, Wang Jing, was unable to be there for our last day. For those that have learned, are learning, or thinking of learning a language, getting a teacher that works with you and is helpful (in your opinion) is vital. Having a different teacher the last day was very sad. It is not that she was a bad teacher because she was actually. However, we were used to Wang Jing and it took some...

Jul 19, 2012 - Forgot about Buddhism

In my madness of posting, I forgot to talk about the Buddhist College and temple we visited. Normal morning of breakfast and Chinese lesson. Then, we went to see a Buddhist College and talk to a monk. We got a very lengthy lecture on this theories of Buddhism, but this was not the exciting part. We did try to ask about Tibet (Chinese controlled region in southwest China. If you know anything about the Dalai Lama then this the same region. He just said he did not understand the question and immediately called us for lunch. Later we learned...

Jul 18, 2012 - Wuzhen - The Shoppers Dream

Today was a trip, early in the morning to Wuzhen - a town very close to the Grand Canal. Sometimes called the Venice of the east and from the pictures, I hope you get that idea as well. The buildings were built, destroyed, and rebuilt several times in the last few hundred years. This is what happens when you build with wood. We walked around for several hours to check out an old indigo dye factory and other little shops and areas. I must say, for a touristy site, this was very well done. I will just let you enjoy the photos and let them...

Jul 17, 2012 - Catching up with Chinese Culture

The last 2 days have been fun, but not necessarily stuff most of you would want to hear about. However, I will share 3 exciting moments of our last 2 day and then catch you up on some Chinese culture and nuances. Story 1: So we went to see an English school in western Hangzhou and to meet the students, teachers, and watch a class. The class was interesting, but the best part was what the principal had to say to our group.....he offered us a job. Seriously. Apparently, they need an English teacher to teach American literature to 10th...

Jul 17, 2012 - Choosing an American and Chinese Name, Respectively

One quick addition: Choosing names in other cultures Chinese choosing American names: Choosing names like Susan, Jenny, Emily and Mia are great. There are so many good names to choose from, I mean the sky is the limit. Any of these are safe and effective. There were two names at the most recent school that just made my head spin: Yummy and Cherry Ice. What? Yummy? That is not a name. Okay, fine you want to be original and choose something fun. How about toilet? Sidewalk? Lugnut? Nosehair? Triple-string quartet? Something, anything but...

Jul 15, 2012 - Chinese Wal-mart....Here I Come

Today is our day of rest. I needed it for sure. I slept until almost 8a and most of the other people did as well. When Pablo and I got down to breakfast, we actually beat about half the people to breakfast. Usually we hit breakfast right at the 7a start time. I could tell people were very tired from the week and needed that extra rest. One of the ladies was in bed before 9p due to our busy schedule. I was already determined to ride a bike down to Walmart today when I found out that a couple other people were also interested in riding down...

Jul 14, 2012 - The Umbrella Debate

So today was more laid back and relaxed - at least in the early part of our day. Breakfast as usual, although I am sleeping in more as a result of me staying up more. Our language lesson this day consisted of how to tell the taxi driver where to go and how to make turns. We were all laughing at this since we have NO CLUE where we are most of the time so how the heck would be know where to turn! After this hour long session, we met a professor at the local university who had studied and taught in the United States. While I am not a teacher...