Thousand Island Lake

This weekend, Matt's school took the foreign teachers on a short, little get-away. We had a great time at Qian Dao Hu (Thousand Island Lake). It's one of those places we've been meaning to go for 3 years but just haven't ever made the time.

It's located just outside our city, about 2 hours from our house. It's a dammed lake, built in 1959. It is supposed to have the clearest water in most of China, and I'm sure at one time that was true. Unfortunately, today, it just looks like average lake water. Some people still buy into it though, as we saw one Chinese man actually drinking the water. Insanity.

The lake is lovely, though, and actually has 1,078 islands. Some have been built up for tourists, some have been left alone. Of course, being part of an organized tour group with the school, we hit up the tourist trap sites, such as one island called Lock Island. Here, you can buy a $10 lock and attach it to a chain on the island. It supposedly brings your true love to you. We most enjoyed the last island we visited where we walked up the mountain and could see a more panoramic view of things.

To see more photos, click on the picture:

Qian Dao Hu

Reflections

We've been back in China for quite a few days now. But our little university town is still very deserted, as all students are at home with their families. We are enjoying the quiet, though; and we hope to spend these days planning and preparing for their return.

We were very thankful to have the opportunity to get outside of China for two weeks to relax with friends in Malaysia and also visit Cambodia. It was very encouraging and refreshing to take this short break, as it has been every year at this holiday time.

In Cambodia, though, we were very moved by the people and their history. If you don't know much about the turmoil in that country over the past 30 years, I encourage you to look it up on the Internet or check out a book I've been reading called Killing Fields, Living Fields about a Christian worker there during the revolution. Although I loved visiting there, I have carried out a bit of their sadness with me. Land mine victims are everywhere, as well as the children orphaned by parents lost to landmines while working in the farms--not to mention the children working and begging, probably victims to child trafficking, which is far too common. And yet, the people are all-smiles.

Mr. Long was our tuk-tuk driver for the four days we were there. This is a man of about 35 years old who grew up as a rice farmer. A few years ago, he left his wife and young child behind to move to Siem Reap where he taught himself some basic English and bought a motor scooter to earn money to send his child to school. He now sees his family once a year, at most. And even harder to comprehend are some of the atrocities that he may well have witnessed and lived through as a child in the revolution and post-revolution famine. Even still, his kindness, sincerity, and hospitality are unmatched.

We can't seem to describe clearly the impressions Cambodia made on us, but we are so thankful that we were led there--if even for a short time--so that we can keep them in our thoughts. We are certain that our short visit will continue to impact our lives in many ways.

We only thought we knew cold...

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We're back from Harbin and enjoyed our trip there. We both really liked St. Sofia Church (a beautiful old Russian Orthodox church from around 1900); of course, the Harbin Ice Festival; and I even learned how to ski (only $10 and still a deal though it was quite a small slope!). It was all very much like a Winter Wonderland.

Thankfully, it was not nearly as cold as it can get this time of year in Harbin. That being said, it was still really cold. I'm not one to layer up or wear long underwear; but this week, I rarely left the hotel without wearing four layers of pants, five layers on top, and multiple pairs of socks, gloves and mittens. But, aside from our hands (which never could get warm), we stayed toasty with all those layers and enjoyed walking around the city. We have posted pictures here (many of which are not our own pictures since our camera is on the fritz).

Here are a few funny things we saw and learned on our first (and probably only trip) to such a cold place:
1. In extremely cold weather, Matt gets little icicles on his eyelashes.
2. And my nose hairs freeze (a very strange sensation and a bit disgusting, but true).
3. Street vendors use refrigeration to keep drinks from freezing. One Coke we bought froze within 10 minutes.
4. Ice cream is still popular at sub-zero temps. No freezers needed.
5. Car exhaust instantly freezes and makes very slick, little ice circles at traffic lights.
6. At those temps, even rivers freeze solid so that you can walk from one side to the other.

We had a great time seeing a new city and hanging out with our friends. But we are glad to be back in the relatively warm temps of Hangzhou!

Dashing through the Snow

The end of this semester is in sight. Senior students have already left school. But most of our students will begin their journey home either next week or the following week, with a few others sticking around for a week of internships before going home. Either way, the campus is already feeling a bit empty, as those who are not already gone, spend their days in the library cramming for exams.

As for us, Matt's last exam is on Monday, with my final exam being on Jan. 14. On the day after that, we are taking off to a city in the northern part of China called Harbin. It is a cold, cold place near the Russian border, and they have an awesome Ice and Snow Festival every year for about a month. I've wanted to visit the festival since before we even thought of coming to China; and being our final winter here, it's my last chance. Matt was not too keen on the idea at first (the high temperature in this place rarely gets above zero degrees Fahrenheit), but it's grown on him. Now we are both looking forward to it, along with our friends with whom we will travel, and some students that we will meet up with while there. Should be pretty cool! (haha)

Click on the photo below to see a slideshow of the Ice Festival on msnbc.com.

Heading Home!

We are currently in a hotel at Shanghai Airport. Tomorrow morning we fly out and have an overnight layover in South Korea before flying to Atlanta on Wednesday. This past week was a busy one, as we juggled grading exams, getting Chinese visas approved, saying good-bye to friends for the summer, having last minute meetings (one of which was a GREAT one), and hosting a good friend's birthday party.

To say the least, we are excited to be en route to Tennessee. The hotel here in Shanghai has CNN, Discovery Channel, and a Burger King--it's like we are already on vacation!

We may not be blogging much while at home, but we hope to see many of you in person very soon!

Western China

We may be stuck here in Western China, but not all is lost. It's nice to see a very different part of the country. And... Matt was happy to see one of his lifelong dreams come true during our bike ride through the mountains today...

A first-hand encounter with a water buffalo! :-) Seriously, he was VERY excited.

Oh, China...

After a really good time of relaxation and renewal, we flew back into country today, although not to our hometown. We are in the west part of China. We have been planning for the past several months to visit a good friend in his village to meet his family. We spent a great deal of the past few weeks planning and buying train and plane tickets (as his village is about 1200 miles from where we live). Imagine our surprise when we landed in China and gave him a call to learn that he is not home, nor will he be returning home before school begins! So, here we are in the west part of China with train tickets to his hometown and no plane tickets out until 9 days later; and, yes, we already tried and are unable to change them at a feasible rate. Oh, China...

Luckily, the west part of the country is lovely with lots of mountains around. In other good news, we are not really upset with our friend, as his reason for being away from home is very admirable and exciting to us. And, as we sat on a bus getting this information by text message, we realized how much China has mellowed us. Never before, and in no other country, would we have shrugged off the news with a laugh!

A Few Pictures...

We're having a great time here. Here are a few pictures from Malaysia: first, the Cameron Highlands, where we spent 3 days; second, Langkawi, where we will spend 3 more days.

Click the picture below to see more...

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In Malaysia

We are currently in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia; and we are enjoying it even more than we expected we would. This place is the perfect retreat for people who have spent the past year and a half primarily in China. The temperature hasn't been below 50F or above 70F; the culture is completely laid back; the skies are blue; and the grass is very, very green! And, of course, the food is delicious... $5 (that's for the both of us) for the best Indian food we've ever tasted!

Today, we headed into the rainforest, which was full of amazing flowers that neither of us had ever seen. We had a great guide and learned a ton of cool stuff about the jungle. We are loving just chilling out and seeing the Creation in ways we've never seen it before!

Unfortunately, we can't post pictures from this hostel, but maybe we'll be able to do so from our next place. Until then, thanks for your thoughts; you are in ours, as well.

A Little Side Trip

This week we went to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain). It's only about a 3-hour bus ride, and is thought to be the most beautiful mountain in China. The mountain is only about 6,200 feet, but don't let this deceive you. It's many sharp peaks make it a tough climb. Our plan was to go up the easier (and less steep) eastern route (5 miles), have lunch at the summit, then come down the tougher and more beautiful western side (9 miles). This was our plan, and it was going beautifully until somewhere between getting on the Western trail and getting to the bottom, we made a wrong turn.

This turn took us down into the canyon formed between the many peaks--since we were going down, we figured we were in the right place... until the path started going up again. And then it went up some more. Our second mistake was following some Chinese tourists who seemed to know their way, leading us to take a second wrong turn and ending up back at same peak of the mountain that we had left 4 1/2 hours earlier.

We were exhausted, frustrated, filthy and no longer enjoying the hiking. Without enough time or energy to hike back down on a path actually leading to the bottom, we decided to take the cable car, only to find out it quit running at 5pm.

So, we were stuck. Many tourists plan to spend the night on top of the mountain to watch the sunset and sunrise; but we hadn't wanted to stay overnight, so we hadn't booked a room. After three tries, Matt found us a place to sleep. This morning, everything seemed a bit better, and we did see the 5am sunrise; after which, we immediately began walking down the same way we had come up the first time, determined to get off the mountain and be done with the whole thing.

We estimate we walked approximately 17 miles up and down uneven stairs, although our legs feel as if could have easily have been 30 miles. Things definitely didn't go as planned, but the views were amazing--definitely the most dramatic mountain peaks we've ever seen. And, hey, we have a good story out of it--I'm sure we'll find it all funny when the pain in our calf muscles wears off.

The Other Face of China

This past week, I (Amy) traveled to a county in the southwest part of our province to visit a student's hometown. This is a part of China that will never be seen by Olympic tourists, as the "villages" near Beijing and other big cities have been tweaked to make them more "accessible" for tourists.

To give you some background about the rurality of where I went: we took a 5 1/2 hour train from Hangzhou to Lishui; then we took an additional 2 buses for 2 hours to get to the villages. The county is called Jingning and is an area populated largely by the She minority group. There are numerous villages throughout the mountains.

I was looking forward to the natural beauty and mountainous scenery, and I was not disappointed at all. The landscape is similar to the Smokies, with the addition of bamboo trees. The best part was that this was more untouched and less touristy. It was amazingly refreshing.

I was also looking forward to seeing the "real China." Many of the people in China do not live in cities like Shanghai, Beijing or Hangzhou, but rather live in small towns and villages. I wanted to see this side of life. I loved the people in the villages; it's a world where everyone knows everyone, people chat with neighbors outside after supper, kids play in the street in the middle of the village, and life is actually lived instead of rushing from place to place. However, to say the least, being there threw me into a bit of culture shock. Having lived in Hangzhou, one of the wealthiest cities in China, I was not prepared for the poverty and backwardness that is still the norm in the country. The house where I stayed was much poorer than I had anticipated, with concrete floors and walls, no running water, a communal outhouse, giant spiders and other critters. Being there, I finally understood the high stress the my students often talk about, feeling a huge responsibility to get good jobs so they can provide a better life for their families back home.

HK and Macao

Last weekend I took a little trip to Hong Kong. I went alone (though pity is wasted on Amy--she has expressed her opinion that she has no interest in seeing Hong Kong on several occasions), and it was quite an experience. I arrived in HK on Friday via the ferry from Shenzhen. HK is definitely an amazing place--container ship after container ship can be seen leaving the port at almost any time of day--and it seems to rise straight out of the sea. My first visit was to Victoria Peak, the ideal place to see the skyline, as there are too many buildings to get the proper perspective from ground level. Unfortunately, the haze had set in by the time this picture was taken, but I waited at the top for nightfall, when the haze seems to enhance, not detract from, Asian city skylines. The wait was worth it, as the view was breathtaking.


Saturday I woke up early and headed to Macao, the former Portuguese colony an hour away by fast ferry. Nowadays, Macao is known as being the Las Vegas of Asia, but is also known for its colonial architecture and cuisine. My reason for traveling was as much "When else am I going to be an hour away from Macau?" as it was for the food or scenery. With its tropical climate, humidity, gambling, and colonial architecture, Macao struck me as a cross between Miami and New Orleans (pre-Katrina), with a Portuguese-Asian flair. Here is a picture of the symbol of Macao, the facade of St. Paul's, along with a picture of the runaway winner of the world's ugliest building. No other nominations can be accepted at this time. Unfortunately, this building was visible from all over town, and it was so overwhelmingly ugly that I had to take pictures of it from multiple perspectives.

Xiamen

Our first stop in our return to China was the city of Xiamen. Because of our flight schedule, we were able to spend a day in the city. Xiamen is a port city directly across from a rebellious little province that shall not be mentioned. Xiamen has a gorgeous setting and excellent air quality (relatively speaking). Prior to the establishment of the People's Republic, many Europeans resided on Gulangyu Island, a small island just off the main part of the city. Because of their presence, the island is covered with buildings built in a style more consistent with Southern Europe than with China. Amy and I arrived on the island at about 10:00 PM, and were immediately struck by the lack of people and the silence, rare sensations indeed in this part of the world. As we walked down the deserted streets, both Amy and I felt that we were on a movie set of a European film. The only clues to our actual location were the Chinese signs and lanterns hanging from every pole.

As we learned the following morning, Gulangyu is actually a bustling, busy place during the daytime hours. However, the island is full of lovely houses, gardens, beaches and views of the city, all within an easy two hour walk. Both Amy and I would like to return to the city, maybe making it our European retreat.

A Safari

On Friday, we went on a safari, of sorts. We rode elephants through the country, rode down the river on a bamboo raft and took an ox cart ride. It was pretty fun! Apparently, the new Rambo 4 movie was also filmed at this elephant sanctuary.

Around Chiang Mai

Our hotel is in the middle of the night market--where you can buy lots of cool stuff, like lanterns, jewelry, t-shirts, name-brand knock-offs, and a bunch of junk! There's also lots of yummy Thai food.

This temple was partially destroyed by an earthquake about 500 years ago. Matt says it reminds him of the movie The Jungle Book.

And tropical fruit smoothies are SO yummy.

Moving On Up...

We've moved northward again and are now in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Our hotel is in a great location--a view of the mountains and in the middle of the night market. Hard to beat that! It's a much more low-key place than the other cities we've been in; we think we're going to enjoy it! (Obviously, Matt is a bit taller than the average Thai folk!)

As crazy as the weather is in China with all the snow, we are definitely glad to be out. Some friends of ours who were scheduled to leave the city a week after us ended up with quite a story of their journey out. Our city that NEVER gets any snow had about a foot. It definitely was not the worst hit in the country, but apparently, things pretty much shut down for a few days. Even here in Thailand, things are pretty unusual. It is the dry season; however, it's been raining for three days. This is really unusual for this place. Oh, well, we don't mind too much. We're just grateful for the warmth!

We are loving the Thai food! At this street vendor in Bangkok, Matt and I ate for a combined total of 60 Baht... That's about $2. It was delicious--a plate of red curry, a plate of green curry, and mango with sticky rice (definitely the best part!). It was, by far, the cheapest meal we've had here. They tend to up the prices in touristy areas.

Travelling On...

We left Phuket a couple of days ago and were very sad to do so. It was just so beautiful there. This is the sunset the last night we were there. The next morning, we moved on to Bangkok. It is a typical big city. Very Buddhist, very crowded, very hippy. We enjoyed seeing it, though, and got some good sightseeing and shopping in.

A Nice, Warm Break

We are enjoying Thailand very much! The beaches are the most beautiful either of us have ever seen. We definitely never thought we'd see the Indian Ocean... Then we moved to China. It's a pretty cheap vacation from here, and it is beautiful, although a bit touristy. But we are enjoying the warmth and the low-key days... even Matt is enjoying some time just to lie on the beach and relax. We are also looking forward to meeting up with friends next week!

Heading Out...

Tomorrow morning, we'll be heading south for warmer weather! Unfortunately, it will take us about 48 hours to get there! We begin in the morning with a 24-hour train ride to Xiamen. On Thursday night, we'll catch a plane, then have a layover in Bangkok for about nine hours before finally catching a plane again to Phuket. In all honesty, we don't even care that it is taking 48 hours! We're just really excited for some warm, dry weather.

It's still cold here and has continued to rain and snow. In fact, we've not had a dry day in so long, that we've had laundry hanging on the balcony to dry for a week... Still no luck. Finally, we got the idea to bring the clothes into the heated bedroom. Our entire bedroom is covered in hanging clothes, but how brilliant!