Yesterday we visited a travel agent to pay for our trip to Beijing. While we waited for her we took a look at some travel brochures. One of them had a long list the hotel rates if you visited a particular city. In the making of the brochure someone had left out a vowel.
It looked like this:
Hotel Rats
Summer 60 Winter 32
I'm not sure if the rats are migratory rats or they just spend the winter months somewhere else in the hotel.
The travel agent invited us for tea which turned out to be coffee and brownies ala mode. We enjoyed her company and also a new restaurant.
Using Skype to talk to our family has been great. After talking to our brothers earlier this week we decided it would nice to call some friends of ours who live in Seattle. Oops, forgot about the difference in time. It's never good to receive a call at 5:00 AM is it? They were gracious about our error, (okay, it was really Steve's mistake), and relieved that the call wasn't bad news. It's sometimes difficult to remember that we're twelve to fifteen hours ahead of the USA. About the time we've got it figured out we'll be headed for home ... isn't that the way of life?
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Friends
As we walk around this city, go shopping, or eat at a restaurant we often meet ‘foreigners’. Frequently a conversation begins about life in China. Everyone we talk to seems to really enjoy this city. We’ve met people from around the world.
This week we’ve made friends with a man from Texas who is working with a company that makes parts that will be used on the redesigned Boeing 747. He’ll be here for four months. Another couple we met is from France. They’ve lived in both Shanghai and Chengdu. They like it here better because it is much more relaxed. She is publishing an English language magazine about what’s going on in Chengdu, (one of several), and he works in real estate. One of our favorite new acquaintances is a dynamic 70 year old from Australia.
Although she speaks very little Chinese, she’s lived off and on for the past 6 years in China. Working as an English teacher she has made more friends and acquaintances than almost anybody we know. She is currently looking for a part-time job so that she’ll be able to stay for a longer period of time. Would that when we’re in our seventies that we’d have the energy and desire to look for employment so that we could live in a different culture . Tomorrow morning she’s taking us to her favorite place to get a massage.
Next day. We’ve had the massage and it was great. It took us about 40 minutes to walk to our friend’s apartment and, of course, 40 minutes back. However, during the walk back we stopped at a restaurant to spend a couple of hours with a friend from the states. After cleaning our apartment and doing the laundry we took off on another exploration to find a new way downtown. Another long walk brought us to the restaurant we’re working with. We sat down at an outdoor table for our usual ice cream and coffee and were joined by the chef, Peter. After a half-hour of great conversation our time was stopped by rain. Since we had to walk to catch a bus we decided to leave. Before we left we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, a very common practice here.
The most difficult challenge of living in this city is dealing with traffic. Like many cities the growth has exceeded the city’s traffic infrastructure. We’ve heard that somewhere between 300 and 800 new cars are added to the traffic every day. In a city that has seen it’s population increase from 2 million to 11 million in just ten years traffic is only one of the many problems being dealt with by the people. From what we understand the growth will continue for some time to come.
We’re looking forward to traveling to Beijing next week. We’ve been warned that during the three day holiday there will be thousands of people traveling at the same time because it’s a 3 day national holiday. We’re hoping to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Also, we’re hoping to connect with some friends that are living there. We’ll post the results of our trip when we’re able.
A pleasant surprise happened this week at the local fruit market. As we were wondering about the three different prices on the pineapple a young lady interrupted us, and, in excellent English explained what the differences in the pineapple were. We decided to buy one and were bringing it to the cashier when a man working in the store indicated we were to give it to him. He took a cleaver and a special knife, faster than we could imagine he had the pineapple peeled and ready for consumption. Check out the picture.
This week we’ve made friends with a man from Texas who is working with a company that makes parts that will be used on the redesigned Boeing 747. He’ll be here for four months. Another couple we met is from France. They’ve lived in both Shanghai and Chengdu. They like it here better because it is much more relaxed. She is publishing an English language magazine about what’s going on in Chengdu, (one of several), and he works in real estate. One of our favorite new acquaintances is a dynamic 70 year old from Australia.
Although she speaks very little Chinese, she’s lived off and on for the past 6 years in China. Working as an English teacher she has made more friends and acquaintances than almost anybody we know. She is currently looking for a part-time job so that she’ll be able to stay for a longer period of time. Would that when we’re in our seventies that we’d have the energy and desire to look for employment so that we could live in a different culture . Tomorrow morning she’s taking us to her favorite place to get a massage.
Next day. We’ve had the massage and it was great. It took us about 40 minutes to walk to our friend’s apartment and, of course, 40 minutes back. However, during the walk back we stopped at a restaurant to spend a couple of hours with a friend from the states. After cleaning our apartment and doing the laundry we took off on another exploration to find a new way downtown. Another long walk brought us to the restaurant we’re working with. We sat down at an outdoor table for our usual ice cream and coffee and were joined by the chef, Peter. After a half-hour of great conversation our time was stopped by rain. Since we had to walk to catch a bus we decided to leave. Before we left we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, a very common practice here.
The most difficult challenge of living in this city is dealing with traffic. Like many cities the growth has exceeded the city’s traffic infrastructure. We’ve heard that somewhere between 300 and 800 new cars are added to the traffic every day. In a city that has seen it’s population increase from 2 million to 11 million in just ten years traffic is only one of the many problems being dealt with by the people. From what we understand the growth will continue for some time to come.
We’re looking forward to traveling to Beijing next week. We’ve been warned that during the three day holiday there will be thousands of people traveling at the same time because it’s a 3 day national holiday. We’re hoping to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Also, we’re hoping to connect with some friends that are living there. We’ll post the results of our trip when we’re able.
A pleasant surprise happened this week at the local fruit market. As we were wondering about the three different prices on the pineapple a young lady interrupted us, and, in excellent English explained what the differences in the pineapple were. We decided to buy one and were bringing it to the cashier when a man working in the store indicated we were to give it to him. He took a cleaver and a special knife, faster than we could imagine he had the pineapple peeled and ready for consumption. Check out the picture.
Friends
As we walk around this city, go shopping, or eat at a restaurant we often meet ‘foreigners’. Frequently a conversation begins about life in China. Everyone we talk to seems to really enjoy this city. We’ve met people from around the world.
This week we’ve made friends with a man from Texas who is working with a company that makes parts that will be used on the redesigned Boeing 747. He’ll be here for four months. Another couple we met is from France. They’ve lived in both Shanghai and Chengdu. They like it here better because it is much more relaxed. She is publishing an English language magazine about what’s going on in Chengdu, (one of several), and he works in real estate. One of our favorite new acquaintances is a dynamic 70 year old from Australia.
Although she speaks very little Chinese, she’s lived off and on for the past 6 years in China. Working as an English teacher she has made more friends and acquaintances than almost anybody we know. She is currently looking for a part-time job so that she’ll be able to stay for a longer period of time. Would that when we’re in our seventies that we’d have the energy and desire to look for employment so that we could live in a different culture . Tomorrow morning she’s taking us to her favorite place to get a massage.
Next day. We’ve had the massage and it was great. It took us about 40 minutes to walk to our friend’s apartment and, of course, 40 minutes back. However, during the walk back we stopped at a restaurant to spend a couple of hours with a friend from the states. After cleaning our apartment and doing the laundry we took off on another exploration to find a new way downtown. Another long walk brought us to the restaurant we’re working with. We sat down at an outdoor table for our usual ice cream and coffee and were joined by the chef, Peter. After a half-hour of great conversation our time was stopped by rain. Since we had to walk to catch a bus we decided to leave. Before we left we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, a very common practice here.
The most difficult challenge of living in this city is dealing with traffic. Like many cities the growth has exceeded the city’s traffic infrastructure. We’ve heard that somewhere between 300 and 800 new cars are added to the traffic every day. In a city that has seen it’s population increase from 2 million to 11 million in just ten years traffic is only one of the many problems being dealt with by the people. From what we understand the growth will continue for some time to come.
We’re looking forward to traveling to Beijing next week. We’ve been warned that during the three day holiday there will be thousands of people traveling at the same time because it’s a 3 day national holiday. We’re hoping to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Also, we’re hoping to connect with some friends that are living there. We’ll post the results of our trip when we’re able.
A pleasant surprise happened this week at the local fruit market. As we were wondering about the three different prices on the pineapple a young lady interrupted us, and, in excellent English explained what the differences in the pineapple were. We decided to buy one and were bringing it to the cashier when a man working in the store indicated we were to give it to him. He took a cleaver and a special knife, faster than we could imagine he had the pineapple peeled and ready for consumption. Check out the picture.
This week we’ve made friends with a man from Texas who is working with a company that makes parts that will be used on the redesigned Boeing 747. He’ll be here for four months. Another couple we met is from France. They’ve lived in both Shanghai and Chengdu. They like it here better because it is much more relaxed. She is publishing an English language magazine about what’s going on in Chengdu, (one of several), and he works in real estate. One of our favorite new acquaintances is a dynamic 70 year old from Australia.
Although she speaks very little Chinese, she’s lived off and on for the past 6 years in China. Working as an English teacher she has made more friends and acquaintances than almost anybody we know. She is currently looking for a part-time job so that she’ll be able to stay for a longer period of time. Would that when we’re in our seventies that we’d have the energy and desire to look for employment so that we could live in a different culture . Tomorrow morning she’s taking us to her favorite place to get a massage.
Next day. We’ve had the massage and it was great. It took us about 40 minutes to walk to our friend’s apartment and, of course, 40 minutes back. However, during the walk back we stopped at a restaurant to spend a couple of hours with a friend from the states. After cleaning our apartment and doing the laundry we took off on another exploration to find a new way downtown. Another long walk brought us to the restaurant we’re working with. We sat down at an outdoor table for our usual ice cream and coffee and were joined by the chef, Peter. After a half-hour of great conversation our time was stopped by rain. Since we had to walk to catch a bus we decided to leave. Before we left we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, a very common practice here.
The most difficult challenge of living in this city is dealing with traffic. Like many cities the growth has exceeded the city’s traffic infrastructure. We’ve heard that somewhere between 300 and 800 new cars are added to the traffic every day. In a city that has seen it’s population increase from 2 million to 11 million in just ten years traffic is only one of the many problems being dealt with by the people. From what we understand the growth will continue for some time to come.
We’re looking forward to traveling to Beijing next week. We’ve been warned that during the three day holiday there will be thousands of people traveling at the same time because it’s a 3 day national holiday. We’re hoping to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Also, we’re hoping to connect with some friends that are living there. We’ll post the results of our trip when we’re able.
A pleasant surprise happened this week at the local fruit market. As we were wondering about the three different prices on the pineapple a young lady interrupted us, and, in excellent English explained what the differences in the pineapple were. We decided to buy one and were bringing it to the cashier when a man working in the store indicated we were to give it to him. He took a cleaver and a special knife, faster than we could imagine he had the pineapple peeled and ready for consumption. Check out the picture.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Meet me at the 'Gate'
It’s been quite a week of new beginnings for us. After almost three months of preparation which included the writing of a curriculum, transferring that curriculum to Power Point Presentations, having the presentations translated into Chinese, and reviewing and revising the presentations after translations, Steve finally is teaching the students in our program. Each morning from 9;00 A.M. until about noon he’s been busy teaching.
It’s been interesting to learn a new style of teaching. Whatever is said has to be translated from English to Chinese and from Chinese to English. The busiest person in the room is the translator, Mike, who needs to carefully listen to all of the conversations. Steve, on the other hand, is able to focus on what he’s going to say next. The students laugh often and are learning to participate more often. Steve’s teaching style is a bit different than what they are accustomed to, but, in a couple of weeks they’ll be adjusted, hopefully Steve will be able to keep up with them.
Kathy has begun teaching English to the managers and chef at the restaurant we work with. A bus ride downtown and a walk through the outdoor mall and she and her partner, Crissa, are at the restaurant. The restaurant is located on a quiet alley off the mall. Thousands of people frequent the mall daily, but, the walkway where the restaurant is situated is a quiet retreat. We’ll post some pictures so you get the idea. A ‘perk’ of teaching the chef is that he likes to feed people. Waffles were served on Wednesday along with the offer of free coffee or soft drinks. Since Steve didn’t have to teach on Friday the offer of free coffee brought him along to the restaurant. The chef made waffles, pancakes and special recipe orange juice. All of that with the excellent coffee made the bus ride worth it. The orange juice was served hot with a tiny bit of salt added. It tastes a lot better than it sounds. Because Steve mentioned that he enjoyed the dumplings that were served at the Spring Festival party held at the restaurant we’re guessing that next week Friday that’s what we’ll be served.
We’re off this afternoon to make plans for a trip to the Great Wall during the early May holiday and also a required trip out of the country at the end of May. (Later that day), with our plans now completed we’re looking forward to a couple of days in Beijing and at the end of May visiting both Singapore and Malaysia. We’re not sure about cost but, we were advised that the bank would charge 4% if we used our Visa card. Off we went to our friendly ATM to get some cash. To our consternation the ATM would give us no money, in fact we got a message that our account had nothing it at all. Since we had checked the balance earlier in the day via the internet and knew that there was plenty available, we were put into a bit of a panic. Two days later all is well. Apparently this kind of think happens occasionally and is no great cause for panic.
Friday night we ate at a small open air restaurant in a back alley with one of our Chinese staff. Sweet and sour chicken, tomatoes cooked with eggs, and cooked spinach along with all the rice you could eat. It was delicious and more than we could eat. Total bill for the three of us, about $4.00 US, less than the local Starbucks charges for a latte.
On Saturday we followed our usual routine of calling home using Skype, doing the laundry, cleaning the apartment and shopping. After doing the chores, we rode a bus downtown and explored in a direction we hadn’t gone before. We returned to our apartment to meet our neighbor at 4:00 P.M. in order to go out for some Chinese food. His text message had said he would meet us at the gate. Being typical foreigners, we were there 5 minutes early. We waited, we waited and finally thought, “Maybe the gate we’re supposed to be meeting at isn’t outside, but, the ‘gate’ is actually our door.” Sure enough there was our friend waiting at our apartment door.
He told us that we going to visit a tourist spot followed by a trip downtown to have Peking Duck. At the tourist spot we could not get by the food court. “You have to try this, very delicious”, he would say, and we would try them. One of the delicacies was “Three Bang Bombs” , a sort of rolled up rice dough that is covered with brown sugar. The name comes from the process of making the rice ball. After the rice ball is rolled in the sugar the cook bounces the ball off a large metal circle making a sort of drum sound, the ball bounces off the circle into the cooking material. Don’t ask what the rice was cooked in, we didn’t and we’re not sure we want to know. We were thinking that if we keep on eating at this place we won’t be hungry for the duck. However, we enjoyed the duck which was served sliced on a platter. To eat the duck you’d take a slice, put it on a crepe like pancake along with some sauce and vegetables, roll it up and pop it in your mouth. We had an interesting time learning more about the culture from our friend as we ate “real Chinese food”.
It’s been interesting to learn a new style of teaching. Whatever is said has to be translated from English to Chinese and from Chinese to English. The busiest person in the room is the translator, Mike, who needs to carefully listen to all of the conversations. Steve, on the other hand, is able to focus on what he’s going to say next. The students laugh often and are learning to participate more often. Steve’s teaching style is a bit different than what they are accustomed to, but, in a couple of weeks they’ll be adjusted, hopefully Steve will be able to keep up with them.
Kathy has begun teaching English to the managers and chef at the restaurant we work with. A bus ride downtown and a walk through the outdoor mall and she and her partner, Crissa, are at the restaurant. The restaurant is located on a quiet alley off the mall. Thousands of people frequent the mall daily, but, the walkway where the restaurant is situated is a quiet retreat. We’ll post some pictures so you get the idea. A ‘perk’ of teaching the chef is that he likes to feed people. Waffles were served on Wednesday along with the offer of free coffee or soft drinks. Since Steve didn’t have to teach on Friday the offer of free coffee brought him along to the restaurant. The chef made waffles, pancakes and special recipe orange juice. All of that with the excellent coffee made the bus ride worth it. The orange juice was served hot with a tiny bit of salt added. It tastes a lot better than it sounds. Because Steve mentioned that he enjoyed the dumplings that were served at the Spring Festival party held at the restaurant we’re guessing that next week Friday that’s what we’ll be served.
We’re off this afternoon to make plans for a trip to the Great Wall during the early May holiday and also a required trip out of the country at the end of May. (Later that day), with our plans now completed we’re looking forward to a couple of days in Beijing and at the end of May visiting both Singapore and Malaysia. We’re not sure about cost but, we were advised that the bank would charge 4% if we used our Visa card. Off we went to our friendly ATM to get some cash. To our consternation the ATM would give us no money, in fact we got a message that our account had nothing it at all. Since we had checked the balance earlier in the day via the internet and knew that there was plenty available, we were put into a bit of a panic. Two days later all is well. Apparently this kind of think happens occasionally and is no great cause for panic.
Friday night we ate at a small open air restaurant in a back alley with one of our Chinese staff. Sweet and sour chicken, tomatoes cooked with eggs, and cooked spinach along with all the rice you could eat. It was delicious and more than we could eat. Total bill for the three of us, about $4.00 US, less than the local Starbucks charges for a latte.
On Saturday we followed our usual routine of calling home using Skype, doing the laundry, cleaning the apartment and shopping. After doing the chores, we rode a bus downtown and explored in a direction we hadn’t gone before. We returned to our apartment to meet our neighbor at 4:00 P.M. in order to go out for some Chinese food. His text message had said he would meet us at the gate. Being typical foreigners, we were there 5 minutes early. We waited, we waited and finally thought, “Maybe the gate we’re supposed to be meeting at isn’t outside, but, the ‘gate’ is actually our door.” Sure enough there was our friend waiting at our apartment door.
He told us that we going to visit a tourist spot followed by a trip downtown to have Peking Duck. At the tourist spot we could not get by the food court. “You have to try this, very delicious”, he would say, and we would try them. One of the delicacies was “Three Bang Bombs” , a sort of rolled up rice dough that is covered with brown sugar. The name comes from the process of making the rice ball. After the rice ball is rolled in the sugar the cook bounces the ball off a large metal circle making a sort of drum sound, the ball bounces off the circle into the cooking material. Don’t ask what the rice was cooked in, we didn’t and we’re not sure we want to know. We were thinking that if we keep on eating at this place we won’t be hungry for the duck. However, we enjoyed the duck which was served sliced on a platter. To eat the duck you’d take a slice, put it on a crepe like pancake along with some sauce and vegetables, roll it up and pop it in your mouth. We had an interesting time learning more about the culture from our friend as we ate “real Chinese food”.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
You have to appreciate a culture’s rules when they are written the way they often are here. As we were traveling on the bus from teaching we were able to see the “rules” posted near the exit door. The English translation for ‘No Smoking’ was my favorite. It reads, “Cherish the hygiene on the bus. No Smoking”. What a pleasant way to state a rule. It made me think of a road sign we saw last spring in Missouri, “Drive Friendly”, a request that could definitely be of use in this city.
An unexpected day off on Friday due to a national holiday to honor the dead allowed us to check out a bus route Kathy will be using next week as she travels to the restaurant we’re associated with to teach English. Hopefully I, (Steve), will be able to join her on Friday mornings, not for the teaching particularly, but as a chance to work in a different location and also enjoy a great cup of coffee. Next week marks the beginning of my teaching the trainees in our program. After working on the curriculum for the past couple of months I’m anxious to see how it all works out.
We walked to a new mall on Friday evening to eat at the first ‘Papa John’s’ pizza restaurant in town. The first two floors of the mall were primarily clothing stores with international designer clothes that were far beyond our price range. The top floor was all restaurants that were very busy. Papa John’s was so busy that there was a long waiting list. However, all was not lost, as there was also a Dairy Queen in the mall and we enjoyed a pre-dinner dessert, (shouldn’t desserts always be first?). As the DQ is in China we could have opted for the Green or Black Tea Blizzards, but chose the Georgia-Mud instead.
On Saturday our neighbor asked us if we would like to be introduced to some of the town. We agreed and had a wonderful time. He and his wife “introduced” us to shopping places, parks, government buildings, and a local smoothie restaurant. The number of new buildings and the unique architecture was one impression from that journey. Another was the wonderful warmth and kindness of the people.
One of our responsibilities is to meet with our group of trainees once a week. During that time Kathy meets with the 5 girls and I meet with the 4 boys. With the help of an interpreter we try to get an understanding of how things are going, what problems they are having and what we can do to help them. We’re kind of feeling like “Mom and Pop” with this group of 18-32 year olds who are far away from their homes. One of the young men shared with me that he had worked in a restaurant for 16 months and had some experience. Upon questioning it turned out that he had worked 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, (no time off), for the equivalent of 28 cents an hour. One wonders how he feels working in a city where Audis, Mercedes, and BMW’s are common place and it’s not unusual to spot Maseratis, Porsches, Bentley’s and an occasional Rolls Royce.
An unexpected day off on Friday due to a national holiday to honor the dead allowed us to check out a bus route Kathy will be using next week as she travels to the restaurant we’re associated with to teach English. Hopefully I, (Steve), will be able to join her on Friday mornings, not for the teaching particularly, but as a chance to work in a different location and also enjoy a great cup of coffee. Next week marks the beginning of my teaching the trainees in our program. After working on the curriculum for the past couple of months I’m anxious to see how it all works out.
We walked to a new mall on Friday evening to eat at the first ‘Papa John’s’ pizza restaurant in town. The first two floors of the mall were primarily clothing stores with international designer clothes that were far beyond our price range. The top floor was all restaurants that were very busy. Papa John’s was so busy that there was a long waiting list. However, all was not lost, as there was also a Dairy Queen in the mall and we enjoyed a pre-dinner dessert, (shouldn’t desserts always be first?). As the DQ is in China we could have opted for the Green or Black Tea Blizzards, but chose the Georgia-Mud instead.
On Saturday our neighbor asked us if we would like to be introduced to some of the town. We agreed and had a wonderful time. He and his wife “introduced” us to shopping places, parks, government buildings, and a local smoothie restaurant. The number of new buildings and the unique architecture was one impression from that journey. Another was the wonderful warmth and kindness of the people.
One of our responsibilities is to meet with our group of trainees once a week. During that time Kathy meets with the 5 girls and I meet with the 4 boys. With the help of an interpreter we try to get an understanding of how things are going, what problems they are having and what we can do to help them. We’re kind of feeling like “Mom and Pop” with this group of 18-32 year olds who are far away from their homes. One of the young men shared with me that he had worked in a restaurant for 16 months and had some experience. Upon questioning it turned out that he had worked 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, (no time off), for the equivalent of 28 cents an hour. One wonders how he feels working in a city where Audis, Mercedes, and BMW’s are common place and it’s not unusual to spot Maseratis, Porsches, Bentley’s and an occasional Rolls Royce.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Hong Kong
Getting up at 4:30 in the morning to get to the airport on time to fly to Hong Kong was not the best of experiences. We made it in plenty of time and off we flew to Shenzhen, a Chinese city near the border. After landing we purchased tickets for a bus ride across the border.
First stop was at the Chinese border where our passports were checked after which we got back on the bus and traveled to the New Territories checkpoint where once again our travel documents were checked. Back on the bus again we traveled to a train station where we got on a taxi which took us to our destination. We stayed at a compound in a small village about 30 minutes from Hong Kong. Most of the houses could only be reached by walking as the pathways were, at best, 4 feet wide. The nearest city was about a mile away. It was very quiet, quaint and peaceful. After living in a city of 11 million for the past couple of months we really appreciated the quiet.
The four of us who were traveling together staying in a second floor apartment which was sparsely furnished, but, adequate and besides who complains at $10 a night? The bathroom left a bit to be desired. Smaller than most half-baths you’re familiar it was also the shower room. As you showered the sink, the commode and most anything else in the room got wet which made getting dried off and cleaning up the room afterward quite a challenge. Interestingly enough, the shower water drained through the floor, through the exterior wall and down on the sidewalk below. In addition to the joy of the small bathroom the only beds were narrow bunk beds which had mattresses that had been made in the Stone Age and over the years had become fossilized. We also are still bearing the scars of the several insects that looked upon us as an unusual food opportunity, (I felt like part of the menu in a foreign restaurant for bugs).
The first afternoon we did not have time to visit Hong Kong so we went to a small satellite town nearby of about 250,000 people. One of the first things we noticed was that the drivers in this town had great respect for pedestrians. This was refreshing as there is no such concept in Chengdu. In Chengdu you cross a street with great caution, looking in all directions and constantly expecting the unexpected, consequently a city where walkers were safe was great. However there was still a big problem in crossing the streets. The cars, buses, trucks, and bicyclist all travel on the left hand side of the road, (Think British influence here). We’d get ready to cross, look to the left to see if any vehicles were coming and, whoosh, sure enough they were coming , but, from the right, how uncivilized … After a few close calls we got used to it.
Traveling to Hong Kong from the compound was another experience. We went back to the train station, bought an “Octopus” pass , kind of a pre-paid credit card which would allow us to ride trains, buses, and ferries while in Hong Kong, and off we went. A 25 minute train ride and we were in Hong Kong. The train/subway terminals were modern, clean, large and not unlike many airports. You could shop, eat and travel without ever leaving the train system.
We met a friend at a coffee shop and went out for hamburgs at a Canadian place called “Triple-O’s”, I think. Those of you who know me are aware that this is as far as I needed to go. Life was good, I was content, (they even had Heinz Ketchup), and I needed no more. Later we even found a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop! Of course, being in Hong Kong, it was not to be that I would spend my day rotating between lattes, burgers, and doughnuts, as there were significant areas of shopping that needed to be conquered by the 3 ladies that were with me.
Those of you who have been to this area of the world will understand the terminology, “Squatty Pottie”. A device not designed for those of use with weak knees and weary muscles. We found in many bathrooms there was one stall labeled, “For The Weak”, which contained equipment that was more to our liking. It’s amazing how quickly you can lose your strength in certain situations.
Kathy and I went for many walks around the small village we were staying in. One night we decided to explore a road that led out of the village. We walked about 100 yards and were feeling a bit insecure and alone. It was one of those dark, quiet spots that just didn’t seem right. We turned around and walked towards the village. About halfway back we noticed a large group of people turning into the same road coming toward us. Now we were really wondering. That is until we approached closer and saw one man holding a flag in the air, leading what turned out to be about 150 people into the ‘unsafe’ place we had just left. Turned out there was some kind of tourist spot down the road and this was a group of local tourists making a visit. I’m sure they wondered about the two foreigners.
The return trip was uneventful. The border crossing back into China was easier than almost any border crossing we’ve made. The return to our temporary home was great.
First stop was at the Chinese border where our passports were checked after which we got back on the bus and traveled to the New Territories checkpoint where once again our travel documents were checked. Back on the bus again we traveled to a train station where we got on a taxi which took us to our destination. We stayed at a compound in a small village about 30 minutes from Hong Kong. Most of the houses could only be reached by walking as the pathways were, at best, 4 feet wide. The nearest city was about a mile away. It was very quiet, quaint and peaceful. After living in a city of 11 million for the past couple of months we really appreciated the quiet.
The four of us who were traveling together staying in a second floor apartment which was sparsely furnished, but, adequate and besides who complains at $10 a night? The bathroom left a bit to be desired. Smaller than most half-baths you’re familiar it was also the shower room. As you showered the sink, the commode and most anything else in the room got wet which made getting dried off and cleaning up the room afterward quite a challenge. Interestingly enough, the shower water drained through the floor, through the exterior wall and down on the sidewalk below. In addition to the joy of the small bathroom the only beds were narrow bunk beds which had mattresses that had been made in the Stone Age and over the years had become fossilized. We also are still bearing the scars of the several insects that looked upon us as an unusual food opportunity, (I felt like part of the menu in a foreign restaurant for bugs).
The first afternoon we did not have time to visit Hong Kong so we went to a small satellite town nearby of about 250,000 people. One of the first things we noticed was that the drivers in this town had great respect for pedestrians. This was refreshing as there is no such concept in Chengdu. In Chengdu you cross a street with great caution, looking in all directions and constantly expecting the unexpected, consequently a city where walkers were safe was great. However there was still a big problem in crossing the streets. The cars, buses, trucks, and bicyclist all travel on the left hand side of the road, (Think British influence here). We’d get ready to cross, look to the left to see if any vehicles were coming and, whoosh, sure enough they were coming , but, from the right, how uncivilized … After a few close calls we got used to it.
Traveling to Hong Kong from the compound was another experience. We went back to the train station, bought an “Octopus” pass , kind of a pre-paid credit card which would allow us to ride trains, buses, and ferries while in Hong Kong, and off we went. A 25 minute train ride and we were in Hong Kong. The train/subway terminals were modern, clean, large and not unlike many airports. You could shop, eat and travel without ever leaving the train system.
We met a friend at a coffee shop and went out for hamburgs at a Canadian place called “Triple-O’s”, I think. Those of you who know me are aware that this is as far as I needed to go. Life was good, I was content, (they even had Heinz Ketchup), and I needed no more. Later we even found a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop! Of course, being in Hong Kong, it was not to be that I would spend my day rotating between lattes, burgers, and doughnuts, as there were significant areas of shopping that needed to be conquered by the 3 ladies that were with me.
Those of you who have been to this area of the world will understand the terminology, “Squatty Pottie”. A device not designed for those of use with weak knees and weary muscles. We found in many bathrooms there was one stall labeled, “For The Weak”, which contained equipment that was more to our liking. It’s amazing how quickly you can lose your strength in certain situations.
Kathy and I went for many walks around the small village we were staying in. One night we decided to explore a road that led out of the village. We walked about 100 yards and were feeling a bit insecure and alone. It was one of those dark, quiet spots that just didn’t seem right. We turned around and walked towards the village. About halfway back we noticed a large group of people turning into the same road coming toward us. Now we were really wondering. That is until we approached closer and saw one man holding a flag in the air, leading what turned out to be about 150 people into the ‘unsafe’ place we had just left. Turned out there was some kind of tourist spot down the road and this was a group of local tourists making a visit. I’m sure they wondered about the two foreigners.
The return trip was uneventful. The border crossing back into China was easier than almost any border crossing we’ve made. The return to our temporary home was great.
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