Enjoying Life....

Flying home today!!!

muoy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:41:00 GMT

My Asia adventure is finally coming to an end!!! This will be my last blog entry...I've put together a slideshow of my China trip...so enjoy! This has been such a wonderful trip...I'm leaving here with such great memories and also new friendships. It's been an amazing journey and I can't believe I was able to do this on my own. A year ago or even 6 months ago, I would never have been able to take such a trip halfway around the world by myself...I don't think I would've had the courage or strength to do it. Alot has happened this year to make me a stronger person and I'm thankful for the way things turned out even though this year started out very rough for me. I always believe that things happen for a reason...no matter how bad things seem at the time, there will always be a silver lining and something good will come out of it.

My former director at work gave me the perfect card before I left for this trip:

"PEACE - It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart"

I've found some peace in my heart for now...and I've learned to accept the things that I cannot change. I hope as I get back into the real world (even though I don't want to :) )...I'll remember this and not get caught up in the little things that don't matter. The most important thing that I've learned during this trip is about what matters to me and what I want my life to be like going forward. I just have to keep reminding myself!!!

I'm very excited to be going home!!! I miss my family and my friends...and I miss my mom's cooking! :) For my blog readers...thank you so much for keeping up with my blog and following my adventures. You made my trip much more enjoyable because I was able to share my experiences with you...see some of you when I get back home!

Acting like the locals...pushing and shoving....and Beijing DUCK!

muoy — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:24:00 GMT

Wow...the last two days have been very tiring!!! Helen and I got up early both mornings to meet our tour guide at 7:20am. I'm not use to getting up so early since I've been sleeping in late! Also, it's been really hot the last two days...so the sun just drains the energy out of you.

On Monday, we took a tour to the Ming Tombs and Badaling Great Wall. There are 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors that are buried at the Ming Tombs. The last Emperor to be buried there hung himself when he lost power during a revolution. There is a gate that leads into the complex and when you exit, you have to say in Chinese "I am coming back" before you cross over. In the old days, it was believed that if you did not say that, your soul would not cross over with you and it would be left behind...not a good thing! :) Wonder what would happen if you said it in English? Our guide taught us to say it in Chinese.

We went to the Badaling Great Wall and it was EXTREMELY crowded. Helen and I got to behave like Chinese people by pushing and shoving our way through this small entrance that leads up to the Hero's Tower (and when I say small, I mean small..the size of a door for hundreds of people to pass through). It was an extremely hot day, so people were carrying umbrellas...which made it more difficult to navigate through the door. We were trying to stay close to each other and eventually squeeze our way in. When we got up to the top of the wall, it was even more crowed...very difficult to walk around. It makes me so GLAD that I got to go to Mutianyu the day before. The weather was much better to see the Great Wall at Badaling, but with all the people here...Helen and I just went up to take some pictures and came back down. We didn't get a chance to walk on the wall the way I was able to do at Mutianyu. Badaling is the most famous Great Wall...so all the tourists and tour groups go there. We went in the afternoon, but supposedly, the morning is even more crowded...I just can't imagine it!!! If I come back, I'm never going back to Badaling...Mutianyu is a much better place to go to really enjoy the wall!

Tuesday, we visited the other touristy areas. Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. We got to Tiananmen Square at 8am and you would not believe the crowd there this early in the morning! Again, we had to act like the locals and push our way through when we went through a security check. I'm surprised that people don't get upset when they are shoved around and there aren't fights between people.

There wasn't much to Tiannamen Square...so we didn't stay there long. We walked to the Forbidden City and I really enjoyed this part of the tour. Our tour guide did an excellent job providing information for the Forbidden City...to much to be able to write here. The Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum, but it's called "forbidden" because people were not allowed in nor were the people who were living there allowed out. The Emperor would live there with his wives (or maybe just a wife) and concubines.

Next we went the Temple of Heaven. Even though it's called temple, it's not a place of worship. The Emperor would come here to offer sacrifices and pray for good harvest. The Temple of Heaven is round, like heaven...and sits in a square area..which is Earth. The Temple of Heaven is built with just wood...and each of the stairs have 9 steps each, a number that is used only by the emperor.

Our final stop was at the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is a park that was used by the royal family during the summer time. There is man-made lake in the middle and there are lots of trees to provide shade...thank goodness...too hot!!! We were able to ride on a boat to the other side of the lake and walked around for a little bit on our own.

After the long day, Helen and I got cleaned up and went to have our final dinner together...Beijing Duck! There is a restaurant in the shopping center connected to our hotel that is pretty well known for the duck. It was delicious. The duck was carved in front of us...we ordered some pancakes, cucumber, scallions and sauce to wrap the duck in. I normally don't eat the skin, but it was pretty good (though I didn't eat much of it). It was a great last meal considering the food I've had lately have been so bad!!! :)

I'm flying out tomorrow...so looking forward to heading home!!!! :)

Climbing Mutianyu Great Wall...

muoy — Sun, 9 Aug 2009 12:34:00 GMT

I made it to the Mutianyu Great Wall today!!! Mutianyu is about 3km long and is not as heavily restored as the more popular Badaling Great Wall. I got up bright and early to meet Cory and our driver at 8am to start our day. The drive to Mutianyu took about 1.5 hrs and it rained on the way there. Luckily it stopped raining after we bought our tickets, but we found out that because of the rain...the toboggan ride was closed. I was SOOOOOOO disappointed....that was the biggest part of why I wanted to go to this particular section...I wanted to be able to slide down the mountain on the sled. I'm still disappointed right now as I am typing this! :(

The weather was not in our favor. We took the cable car up to a section of the wall and started to climb up. The view wasn't very good...there was too much fog and mist that you couldn't see out very far. The further we climbed, the more fog we encountered...by the time we made it up to what we thought was the highest point...you could barely see the rest of the wall. Despite the fog and mist, the wall was very impressive. Just imagine how much work went into building the wall and the time it took!!! It is estimated that about 2-3 million people died while building the wall.

We spent about 2 hours hiking on the top of the wall and headed back down, To get back to the parking area where our driver was, we had to pass by a market area of people selling souvenirs. These people are ridiculous...I thought Yashou Market and Pearl Market was bad in terms of the starting prices offered for souvenirs...but it was even worst here! Items would start somewhere in the 200s and end up at around 10-20 by the time we were done bargaining. Most of the people are very aggressive and would try to pull you in to their shops. It was crazy!!! The only fun part about passing through the market was a camel ride...though the camel wouldn't get up when I got on him...he was sick...or maybe I was just too heavy with all my weight I put on??!?! :)

We got back to the hotel around 3:30pm and Helen was waiting for us at the hotel. After introductions, Cory went to get a massage while Helen and I went to the supermarket. The rain was pouring outside!!!! The streets were flooded and our shoes were completely wet since there were just puddles of water everywhere. We were completely soaked by the time we got to the market even though I had my little umbrella...but it was alot of fun being out in the rain! :) It felt like being a kid again playing in the rain....

After we got back to the hotel, we got cleaned up, went out to dinner (the place we went to was kinda like Chinese fast food. We each ordered some meatball dish with rice...it wasn't bad considering it was "fast food") and went to Houhai to check out the nightlife. Cory didn't go with us since he was tired...so Helen and I just walked around the area. The place is beautiful at night with all the lights. The bars have employees trying to rope people into the bars for cheap drinks. Helen and I got suckered into going into this one bar when they offered us a coconut milk drink for 10 yuan (it's listed as 35 yuan on their menu). We were joking around with the guys telling them we'd give them 5 yuan and it was pretty comical. They stuck to the 10 yuan price, but we went in anyways since they were pretty entertaining. Boy...were we fooled when we got in!!! When they brought out our drinks, they had alot of ice in them...so I told them that I didn't want the ice and I wanted the can so I can open it. Instead, they brought the drinks back out without the ice...which seemed fine at first...though I did tell Helen they might have diluted the coconut milk with water. Halfway through my drink, it started to taste like milk...so we call the employees over and tried to ask them if they mixed the coconut milk with regular milk. After some broken English/Chinese conversation, we finally figured out that they did mix it (one of the guys denied it at first since he didn't know). They went and got us the canned coconut milk, but then they wanted to charge us more for it. We finally decided to leave...but it was good entertainment because the guys were being so funny!!! We were laughing so much trying to talk to the guys and playing around with them that in the end, we weren't upset that we got fooled....but next time, we'll know better! :)

Relaxing on Beihai Lake and learning Beijing's History...

muoy — Sat, 8 Aug 2009 12:53:00 GMT

Well, I was a lazy bum today and slept in till around 9am...so we didn't make it to Mutianyu Great Wall. Cory ended up having to work in the morning as well, so it worked out that I didn't get up early. By the time we met up, it was lunch time and I had our day planned out while he was working.

He met me at my hotel and we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. Seriously, I don't know whether I just suck at picking out the foods (now that there is no one to help me pick stuff out), but the food I've been having lately is terrible. I thought I was going on the safe side by getting a spicy beef fried rice...pretty safe, right?!?! UGH! Remember the szechuan peppercorns I talked about in one of my previous blogs...this fried rice was full of the szechuan peppercorns, but you couldn't see them....they must have been in powder form or something. The minute I tasted it, I knew it was the peppercorn and my tongue started to get numb again. It was sooooo nasty I ate a few bites and couldn't eat anymore.

Our first stop for the day was Beihai Park. It's a 168-acre park filled with historic buildings, restaurants and a lake that is located in the center of Beijing. I'd read online that you can go boating on the lake....so when we got there, we rented a paddle boat. It was so nice and relaxing...just riding on the lake enjoying the scenery. I had Cory do most of the paddling since I had to do all the planning for our activities today. :) We spent about an hour on the lake and then walked around the rest of the park. The scenery is really beautiful (though probably better without the smog) and there were lots of people around...some are locals just playing cards and doing other activities. It was nice to see some greenery...which is something you don't see much of in Beijing!

We decided to walk to the Forbidden City next, but when asking directions on how to get there, the guy we asked told us that it closes at 5pm (it was 4:15pm when we asked him)...so it didn't make sense for us go there. He talked us into riding a rickshaw instead around the Hutong District. This was on my list of places that I wanted to go visit...so we decided to take the tour. Hutong means "alley" and there are thousands of hutongs in Beijing, but the number is shrinking. Here is a blurb I found online:

"The centre of Beijing is criss crossed with a grid of many hundreds of small lanes and alleyways. These are called hutongs and their layout dates originally from the Yuan dynasty in the 14th century. The number of hutongs in the city peaked in the 1950s at around 6000. Today, however, there are considerably less and more are disappearing each day because of the high premium on land and the rapid redevelopment of the city as it reinvents itself in time for the 2008 Olympics."

Though I think we paid too much for the tour, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Just riding on the rickshaw was alot of fun and it's something I probably wouldn't have done if I'd just gone and visited myself. The hutongs are really old and it looked like repairs were being done to some of the homes that are still there...it was definitely interesting to see a little bit of Beijing's history.

The hutongs are right by Houhai, which is the pub and bar district where the locals and tourists come for the nightlife. There is also lake in the center of everything...so the place was beautiful. The bars have outdoor couch seating and there were tourists everywhere walking around. The nightlife didn't really start yet since it was still early...so the bars were still pretty empty. We were going to eat dinner there, but the selection of bar food wasn't really good. We found a few chinese restaurants, but Cory was wanting something more American (since the food we'd had so far hasn't been all that great)...so after walking around for a bit, we decided to leave to find something closer to my hotel. Helen is coming in tomorrow and I was planning on taking her to Houhai anyways...so we figured we'd return the next day to enjoy the nightlife.

We went to the "Pizza Company" that is around the corner from my hotel...nothing spectacular...but better than lunch! :) Neither one of us ordered pizza though...I had some garlic bread with honey porked with baked with rice and Cory had BBQ ribs and pasta. I'm going to have to find better food tomorrow!!!

Pearl Market and Other Tourists....

muoy — Fri, 7 Aug 2009 12:28:00 GMT

I didn't venture out too far today...hung around the area by my hotel since the weather wasn't too great. I went to the Pearl Market to check out what things they have there...very similiar to Yashou Market with all the fake purses, watches, etc. They also sell other arts and crafts, clothing, etc...every place is starting to look the same now. There is so much shopping available for all the tourists...Silk Market, Pearl Market, and Yashou Market are the more popular ones.

I had more taxi drivers try to rip me off at the Pearl Market. Since my hotel is so close to the Pearl Market, it costs just 10 yuan (which is the minimum fee charged) for a cab ride there. The taxi drivers were wanting to charge me 20 yuan to take me back to the hotel, but I refused to pay them the 20 yuan. There were a few people from Norway who were having the same problems I was having (they paid 15 yuan and cabbies wanted to charge 30 yuan)...so finally one of the other taxi drivers said he would take both me and the Norway group in one car. I paid 10 yuan and the Norway group paid 20 yuan. In the end, it all worked out....but I'm starting to realize that if you are in a touristy area, these taxi drivers can pretty much try to charge you what they want since they know you might not have any other way to get back. Very dishonest!!!

I met an American businessman (Cory) while I was out walking around...his hotel is just 10 minutes from mine, so it's great that we are very close to each other. Since we are both here by ourselves, we decided to meet up for dinner at a sushi restaurant near his hotel. Most of the meals I've had so far have been relatively cheap (less than $5 USD)...but the sushi restaurant was pretty expensive...prices were like US prices! It cost us about $20 per person for the sushi...and there wasn't even that much food. Luckily, he wasn't too hungry, so I ate for the both of us! :) Afterwards, we walked to a nearby bar called Mississippi...not sure how they picked that name instead of Georgia. :) There were a few other tourists sitting at the bar...a lady from the UK, a lady from Australia, and a man from the US...they all knew each other since they have lived here for a few years for work. Cory and I chatted with them for awhile, but he didn't really seem to fancy them too much...so we left and walked around the neighborhood for a bit before we went our separate ways.

During dinner, we made plans to go see the Great Wall on Saturday. Helen and I are going to the Badaling Great Wall on Monday...but I also wanted to go to the Mutianyu Great Wall. Mutianya is supposed to be less touristy and not as heavily restored as Badaling. I read online that the view is spectacular as well and that there is a bobsled slide that you can ride down that I definitely wanted to try! :) I told Cory about it and he was interested in going with me...which is great so we can split the cab fare (about 800 yuan). There is a bus that you can take, but when I spoke to my conciege last night...he said it would not be comfortable and safe for me...so taxi it is!!!

Improving my bargaining skills....

muoy — Thu, 6 Aug 2009 12:38:00 GMT

What a wonderful day...just doing my own thing!!! I slept in late today...till about 10am. It's the latest I've slept since I've been here and it's the most sleep I've gotten...felt so good!! :) I started off the day with a workout (yes, I'm trying to lose the extra lbs :) ) and after lunch, I headed off to Yashou Clothing Market to walk around. The market has tons of fake clothing, fake bags, and souvenirs...I read that since there aren't as many tourists there, it'll be easier to get a better price. Wow...the prices are still so outrageous!!! I got a few things and ended up paying only about 15% - 25% of the asking price (which is probably still too much!). I think I actually pissed off some salespeople because I wasn't really playing their game and upping my price...I just stick to what I want to pay for it and make them come down lower. Usually, the conversation goes like this:

Me: How much?
Them: 160 yuan
Me: What?!?! Why so expensive? I'll give you 30 yuan.
Them: Impossible!! I lose money!
Me: Too expensive...I'm leaving...
Them: Wait, wait...what's your best price?
Me: I told you, 30 yuan.
Them: Come on...we make friends. How about 125?
Me: No, still too expensive...35 yuan.
Them: Give me your best price...I lose money...
Me: I told you...35 yuan. Let me look around...
Them: Ok, ok...I give you best price..80...
Me: No, still too expensive...35 yuan.
Them: Ok, 70...good price
Me: No, 35...I'll look around and will come back if I don't see anything better...
Them: Wait...50
Me: I'm sticking to 35
Them: Ok, ok..how about 40...it's just 5 more yuan
Me: No, 35
Them: Ok, ok...you are difficult customer...

And voila...I get it for my price! :) Why can't everyone just be upfront with the cost so we don't have to play these games?!?!

There were so many fake things there and honestly, I was disappointed to not see things that weren't fake. I saw some cute handbags, but they all had the fake logos on it. I didn't want to buy it since I'd rather have the real thing! :) There were some fake Coach bags and it was easy to tell they were fakes since I've got a few real ones...so I'm sure the other brands are poorly made too for anyone that knows them. I'll save my money for the real ones....hehehe...

Afterwards, I took a taxi to the Olympic Green to check out the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. There really wasn't much to do there except walk around the park (maybe there was and I didn't look hard enough?). I hung around until the evening to see the lights and took some pictures, but my pictures didn't turn out too well. :( I had my tiny tripod with me, so it was hard finding something to set it on to keep the camera stable with a slower shutter speed. The lights were really beautiful though...

For the first time since I've been in China, I had two taxi drivers try to rip me off (these were taxi drivers waiting at the Olympic Green). I showed the first taxi driver the card for my hotel and he said it would be 100 yuan. I thought it was ridiculous since I only paid 27 yuan from hotel to Yashou and 31 from Yashou to Olympic Green...so there was no way it was 100 yuan back to the hotel!!! Plus, they have to use the meter to charge per km! I went to the next taxi driver and he said 80 yuan. I got annoyed and just walked away from that taxi area. I walked further down the street and found an honest driver who actually used his meter...and the final cost...37 yuan! I wonder how many tourists actually get ripped off on a daily basis because they don't know any better?!??!

Au Revoir Shanghai...Bonjour Beijing....

muoy — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 12:18:00 GMT

I'm sitting at the airport right now waiting on my last domestic flight to Beijing. The last 4.5 weeks have flown by very fast...it's been fun and tiring at the same time. Beijing will be the first time that I am truly alone (until Helen comes on Sunday). I'm looking forward to the few days by myself to just bum around and go at my own pace. I haven't figured out what I want to do yet...Helen and I are doing the big things together (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiennamen Square, etc). I'll probably go check out the Olympic park tonight or tomorrow night...I hear the lights are beautiful in the evening.

Shanghai is a nice city, but there wasn't really alot to do except shopping...so I accumulated alot of stuff while I was here. And it rained almost every day!!! I think I only saw the sun for a couple of hours, but I guess I shouldn't be complaining because it wasn't too hot with the rain. I met up with Lillian again on Monday evening and she took me to Pearl City to look at some pearls. I"m not big into pearls, but they had some pretty nice stuff...so I got some freshwater pearls for pretty cheap (less than $10...I know nothing about pearls...so it could've been fake for all I know). It'll be good as "costume" jewelry to go with whatever outfits I might have. I also got a few other little things and I manage to talk down the price to about 20% - 50% of the asking price. I've found out the trick is to go to a few stores (since they all have the same things) and figure out the bottom price...when they let you walk away, you know you've offered too low. Some of the stores give you ridiculously high prices whereas others won't try to rip you off too much...so it's definitely good to go to a few stores. I got an evening purse for 40 yuan when the lady originally wanted 180 yuan!!!

I went back to the garment district both Monday and Tuesday to pick up my custom-made qipao (I also had a matching purse made at another store...so pretty!). The qipao was suppose to be ready on Monday, but the tailor did a horrible job with it! The waist and buttons were set too high...unlike the qipao I tried on before. I had to have them make some more alterations and it looked MUCH better when I picked it up on Tuesday...thank goodness Tracy was there to help translate! I saw another qipao design that I really liked while I was there at another shop...but didn't order one since I was worried I wouldn't have enough time for alterations if they didn't get it right the first time. I'll probably try to find it in Beijing...it's A line and that style is more flattering for my body type! :) I still found other stuff to purchase at the garment district (pre-made stuff) even though I was only there a few days ago. I bought a very nice coat for less than $60!!! There were so many other coats I wanted...too bad I didn't have the luggage space. I barely stayed under the 20kg limit on my checked bag today and took the rest of the stuff on the plane with me. I've been very fortunate that they haven't made me check more stuff when I fly. When I look around me at the airport, I'm always the one with two suitcases or a bunch of stuff. :) I've got two suitcases waiting for me in Beijing...but the last flight is international and I can check up to 3 suitcases up to 70lbs each...yea!!!

I'm starting to miss home...my bed, my shower, my other clothes, my friends...so I'm glad I cut my trip short by a week! Plus, I'm tired of always putting my hair up since it's so hot and humid here!!! Next time I come here, it'll be in the spring or fall when it's much cooler! :)

Update:

My flight was delayed by 2 hours...I finally got into Beijing around 4pm. I had a great taxi driver this time!! The taxi driver I had the first day I came into Beijing was kinda rude and mean...but maybe that's how he is. I can't figure out when Chinese people are speaking, if they are upset or not. Example: When Karen and I were at Hua Shan mountain, this guy was like following us and seemed like he was yelling at us...I was walking away as fast as I can because he was freaking me out and Karen finally figured out he was trying to tell us something. Karen had left her student card on the bus and he was trying to return it. He was being nice, but the he came off as yelling at us and mean!! :) Also, another side note...I find that Chinese people are very rude (I hate to diss my own kind, but it's true)...there is no such thing as waiting in a orderly line. It's just pushing and shoving to get where you need to go...I even notice this in the Asian grocery stores in Atlanta, so it's not just China!!! And they don't believe in personal space here...I had this guy get all up in my personal space at the baggage claim...I kept giving him a dirty look. :)

Anyways, back to my nice taxi driver. I had Karen write down in Chinese to tell the taxi driver to take me to the Courtyard Beijing Northeast to pick up my suitcase and then take me to the Courtyard Beijing (with the addresses). I don't know what Karen wrote, but the taxi driver started going towards the second hotel and I only realized it after we passed the first hotel (good thing I was paying attention...I wasn't even sure if that was the hotel, but figured there were only two courtyards). I quickly found the card for the first hotel and showed him...after some broken chinese, he figured out where he needed to go and was apologetic about it (which was nice since he could've said I gave him the wrong info). The whole ride, he was smiling and tried to speak to me in Chinese. I could only understand part of what he was saying and I just kept laughing cause I had no idea what he was saying most of the time. It was a fun ride...and he didn't even charge me the full fare when we got the second hotel...I'm sure any other taxi driver would gladly make me pay for him going to the wrong hotel first!!! He was such a sweetie!! :)

By the time I got checked in, it was already 6:30pm and I was worn out. I just grabbed dinner and walked around the area. The hotel is in the Beijing New World Shopping Center...oh boy, I can spend the rest of my days here shopping!!! :) Lots of stores around the area and it's a very busy street...tons of people walking around. As I was walking around tonight, it reminded me of my days when I was working in Paris. My hotel was on a street right off the Champs Elysees...so I'd go walking in the evenings after work to enjoy the shops and crowds. I miss those days!!!

My favorite city so far....Suzhou...

muoy — Sun, 2 Aug 2009 12:28:00 GMT

Tom booked a tour for me to go to a nearby city called Suzhou today. Suzhou is about 1.5 hours outside of Shanghai and it's absolutely beautiful!!! I think this is my favorite city so far!!! Suzhou has two of the most famous gardens in China (there are 4 total)...I love scenery and natural beauty (flowers, mountains, etc)...so this was great! Suzhou is known for 3 things...1) Gardens 2) Beautiful Girls and 3) Silk. The tour guide said that many people know that Suzhou has beautiful girls, but not many know that the girls are not local. The story is that emperors would go to Suzhou for the gardens and the girls would go there hoping that the emperor would like them and take the girls back to live with them. I didn't really notice alot of beautiful women...but maybe my tastes are different... :)

We visited the Lingering Garden (one of the two famous gardens in Suzhou) and I got a chance to practice my photography. I brought my Nikon, so I was able to get some really great shots of the flowers and landscaping. Finally, I can try to redeem myself since some of the pictures I've taken have been terrible with my little camera. This garden use to be a private garden and is well known for its "exquisite beauty of its magnificent halls, and the various sizes, shapes, and colors of the buildings."

We also went to the silk factory and learned how silk was made. It was fascinating to see the whole process...those poor silk worms...once they build their cocoons, 80% of them are heated and killed to make the silk with the 20% left to breed. The silk threads are sooooooo small...imagine how many silk worms are killed to make one item!!! I contributed to them getting killed...I bought a king sized bed set..but it was too beautiful to pass up!

My favorite part of the day was when we went to the Water Village. This place is known as the "Venice of the East". There is a canal that runs through the city and just like Venice...there are gondolas for the tourists to ride. We were able to ride on the gondola as part of the tour, so that was very nice!!! It's very romantic...I'll have to come back here with my significant other one day!

Nasty Szechuan Food and Dressing Up For a Night Out....

muoy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:24:00 GMT

I've been slacking on my blog...too busy having fun!! :)

Friday, July 31:

I think I've actually found some food that I dislike! I tried a Szechuan restaurant and the food there was absolutely terrible!!! Everything was soaked in oil and hot peppers. Apparently, that's the style of Szechuan food...it's very hot and spicy cooked with lots of hot oil. We ordered a beef dish that came out in this huge bowl and the top was just a thick layer of oil. I could barely eat it...and it also had this spice called huajiao, meaning 'flower pepper' (Szechuan peppercorn). I didn't realize what it was and ate one by accident...and my tongue felt so weird...it apparently numbs your tongue if you eat it!! The numbness only lasted for a little while, but I think that contributed to the rest of the food tasting so badly or maybe it was just bad!! Ugh..I don't remember Szechuan food being like this in the US....

Tom's wife, Tracy, took me to the garment district since I was interested in getting a qipao (Chinese dress). There were tons of little shops that will make custom clothes (even western style clothing) and we found some that also make the qipaos. I found a style that I really liked (it's not as traditional as the regular qipao, but still retains some similarities). I tried on the sample they had and it fit me perfectly except they needed to pull in the waist. With alterations, it would still take one day, so I decided to have them make a new one for me in a fabric that I liked better. I'm picking it up on Monday...very excited to see the final product. I also had a little handbag made in the same fabric...now I just need to find matching shoes and jewelry!!! :)

My bargaining skills are getting much better now. I've gotten some things for pretty good prices and even went so low on this one item that the poor girl had to call her father to get the OK to sell it to me at that price. :)

Saturday, Aug 1:

Tom's marketing manager, Lillian, took me out around the city today. Lillian speaks English very well...she is Shanghainese (sp?), but studied in New Zealand for 6 years before returning to Shanghai 2 years ago. Tom thought we would get along really well since we are both around the same age. She took me to Yuyuan Garden, which use to be the backyard of a chinese official. Wow, with a backyard like that, I'd never leave the house!!! It was beautiful, with imported stones and chinese architecture. I wished I had my nikon with me. Surrounding the garden are little shops for all the tourists and we went to a great dumpling place for lunch. This place has really good dumplings...the line was really long just to get seated!!!

Lillian had her friends pick us up after we were done at the garden and we went to Pudong to hang around by Huangpu River. The river divides the city into 2 regions: Pudong (east) and Puxi (west). It was raining, so we didn't get to walk around too much. During dinner, we had a great view of the river and city...at night, it's really beautiful with all the lights. That's the great thing about big cities...it always looks really nice at night. I especially like the lights on the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The tower is the world's third tallest TV and radio tower...we didn't go in...just saw it from the outside. It has a restaurant that spins around...just like the Sundial in Atlanta!!

After dinner, we all went home to change. Lillian had a friend who was having a grand opening for an Irish pub...so this was my first night out and I was very excited. I didn't bring any going out clothes, but luckily, I'd purchase a few items that I was able to put together into an outfit. I was so happy to be able to dress up after being raggety for 4 weeks...it felt good!!! The bar is called Paddy Wang's Irish Pub. We met up with some of Lillian's other friends and most of them did not speak English (or they chose not to speak English at first). To get around the language barrier, we played some drinking games and since I don't drink, I drank alot of orange juice. At one point, I ran out of orange juice, so they had me drink a little bit of beer. UGH!!! It was so nasty...I only took a sip. Most of them were drinking so much that by the end of the night, a few of them started speaking English to me...it was funny. I kept encouraging them to drink so they would speak English more. I had a great time with them...they were a crazy bunch!!! :)

Another city...more shopping!!

muoy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:42:00 GMT

Ugh...it rained all day yesterday. It rained when I left Shenzhen and it rained when I got to Shanghai. The flight was slightly delayed, but I got a chance to chat with a gentleman (Marty) who lives in Shanghai. He saw my US passport and started chatting with me in English. Turns out Marty is from Austrailia and he relocated to Shanghai to start a business selling Austrailian real estate to Chinese investors. I assume business is pretty good if he is still here. He offered to show me around Shanghai, so I may try to meet up with him if Tom will be busy with work. For those reading this, don't get any ideas about me hooking up with Marty...he's definitely not my type and too old for me!!! :)

Tom's driver and secretary met me at the airport and it took us almost 2 hours with the heavy rain (the streets were almost flooded) and traffic to get to Xujiahui where Tom has a corporate apartment. Tom was still at work but his wife (Tracy) was at home...she had flown in the night before from Hong Kong where they have a permanent residence. Tracy and I just hung out at the apartment until Tom got home from work. Tom and Tracy are originally from the US, so they both speak English and they have a 15 year old son who is still in Hong Kong (he'll be coming to Shanghai next week). They moved to Asia 15 years ago for Tom's job and he now works for Covidien as vice president in charge of greater China and Hong Kong. They both seem to love living in Asia! After visiting here, I'm not sure I'd be able to live here long-term...great for visiting, but the US is still better for me! :)

We went out and had Macau food for dinner when Tom got home. I had goose for the first time...it tasted just like duck...so not everything tastes like chicken! :) It was pretty good, but some of the other dishes weren't as good. They ordered a dish with fish heads and it just tasted so blubbery I couldn't eat much of it. Tom said I wasn't Chinese if I don't know how to eat fish heads...ewwwww!!! After dinner, Tracy and I walked around the neighborhood and did some shopping. The area where Tom lives is really nice...lots of shopping and restaurants nearby...but also expensive!!! Tom said that there are some Hong Kong actors that live in his building, but I don't know any of those actors...so I guess it doesn't do me much good! :)

Tracy and I bummed around the apartment this morning and we're leaving to go shopping in a little bit. She plays the Hong Kong stock market...so I told her to take her time and I'll just relax. I think when I get to Beijing, I'm just going to spend a day or two chilling at a park or coffee shop. I've been on the go since I got here, so this downtime is good!!! Helen has already planned two tours in Beijing for us when she gets in, so I know I'll be exhausted then!

Hanging in Hong Kong...

muoy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:14:00 GMT

Hong Kong is such a nice city...so clean compared to the other cities I've visited. There are so many shopping centers...too bad I didn't have time to do more shopping! We got to HK around 12:30 to meet up with Wendy and Patrick but they were running late, so we went to Harbour City to do some shopping to kill time. I could only do window shopping since all the expensive name brand stores are in here...Versace, Chanel, Gucci, Fendi, etc. It was nice to look at everything...maybe one of these days when I win the lotto, I will be able to shop there!!! :)

We hung out at the Sony store for a little while and they had the prettiest netbook I had ever seen. It is pink in color and only weighs 1 kg. It hasn't been released to the US yet...probably will be available in September. I was so tempted to get one...it would've been about $550 USD...but in the end, I decided I didn't really need it no matter how pretty it is. I'll wait till it becomes cheaper! :)

We finally met up with Wendy and Patrick around 1:30pm. Mimi and her mom went their separate ways to do some shopping for some things they needed. Wendy and Patrick took me to the peak where you can get a great view of the city...they were so excited to show me around Hong Kong so I could see the cleaner side of China. :) Even though both of them live in the UK, they come to HK to visit often and was familiar with the city. Wendy's father lives in Kowloon and Patrick has relatives in Macau. We hung around the peak for a little while and went to grab a quick bite to eat. Afterwards, we did some shopping at Lambert Place...really nice place, but still expensive. This place has the longest escalator I have ever seen (though Wendy told me there is another place with an even longer one). I didn't really find much to buy, but it was nice to just walk around and look at what they had.

I only hung out with Wendy and Patrick till about 6pm and then went back to meet up with Mimi and her mom (it takes about 1.5 - 2 hrs to get back home to Shenzhen). I wished I had more time in Hong Kong...I really like the city. I'll definitely have to come back again so I can see more of the city! There were so many tourists there...and alot of western businessmen in their nice suits. I love looking at men in suits...they always look so sharp...especially the older sophisticated looking men!! Wendy and I definitely enjoyed looking at them...hehehe...

I ate alot again today. I weighed myself this morning and was around 118 lbs (with clothes on). That's not too bad...when I left the US, I was about 115 lbs. BUT when I got home after dinner, I weighed myself again (wearing the same clothes) and I was 122lbs!!! I ate about 4 lbs worth of food today!!! Thank goodness I am heading to Shanghai tomorrow to meet Tom...I don't think he'll feed me as much as Mimi's mom! :) I think he's going to be busy with work...so his driver will be taking me around wherever I want to go. I'll be able to better control what I eat if I am on my own...

The food just keeps on getting better...

muoy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:42:00 GMT

We didn't do too much yesterday...most of the day was spent shopping, getting a manicure, and eating lots of food!!! :) We needed a relaxing day since we'd been on road trips everyday since Mimi and her mom picked me up. Mimi's mom has two assistants in Xi'an, so we hung out with them as well. I didn't have much luck shopping...the style of clothes here are not my type! I'm hoping Hong Kong will be better, but I hear it's just as expensive as the US. Also, Mimi told me they no longer sell the fake purses in Hong Kong...it's been banned!!! We are going over to Hong Kong tomorrow and I'm meeting up with Wendy and Patrick (from the volunteer house)...I hope I find something to buy!

We flew to Shenzhen this morning and got in around lunchtime. Shenzhen is soooooo much nicer than Xi'an. It's cleaner and looks more modern (but still hard to find western toilets...thank goodness for Starbucks...I love them even though I don't drink their coffee!!!). For some reason, I had this impression that Shenzhen was run-down and dirty (Kiwi - you said it was a factory town!)...but it looks like a pretty nice city in my opinion (or maybe my standards are so low now from being in other parts of Asia??!?!). I'm staying at Mimi's house and it's a REALLY nice place. I feel like I am at a resort...the condo is in a beautiful highrise that is gated. There is a nice walking area for all the residents and someone is always around to man the gates and elevator. There are also workers who are around to pick up the doggie's poop so the residents don't have to do it...that's how you know this is a really nice place!! I've gone from rags to riches...at least till I get to the next city! :)

I'm still eating non-stop. Mimi's mother won't stop feeding me, even when I tell her I am not hungry. This is an Asian thing...always feeding other people. :) We had 8 entrees for the 3 of us today during lunch...and we finished most of it!!! We had Cantonese food and the place we went to was fabulous! At this restaurant, they have all the fresh seafood and entrees out for you to select (that way, you know what you are getting!). Once you select it, they will cook it fresh for you and bring it to your table. There were rows and rows of food...I wish I could've tried them all...but I guess 8 entrees was enough this time around! For dinner, we had Hunan food. Oh my gosh, everything was cooked with chilis!!! Now I know why they have a reputation for being spicy! My favorite dish was seasoned fried boiled eggs with chilis and onions. I'm going to have to try this at home and see if I can make something similar. Luckily, we only had 4 entrees tonight...but we did eat at a mango dessert place before dinner...so I was already full when I went to dinner!

Internet connection here is really really slow...so I'm going to stop and head to bed now...no pictures since it will take forever to upload.... :(

Setting my back on fire....

muoy — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:01:00 GMT

It rained most of today, so we didn't do too much. We went to Famen Temple, which is known for having the Finger Bone of the Sakyamuni Buddha. There are only 5 finger bones in the world and this is one of the temples that have it. People come from all over the world to pray at this buddhist temple. Mimi's mom was giving me the history of this temple (with Mimi and Karen) translating, but I didn't quite get the story. Here's what I was able to find on google tonight:

"In 1987, a team of Chinese archeologists discovered the amazing underground palace often talked about in legends while cleaning the pagoda ruins at Famen Temple in Xi'an. They also discovered the real finger bones of Sakyamuni and thousands of imperial treasures of the Tang Dynasty that had been in secret storage in the glistening underground palace for thousands of years.

Walking inside the secret chamber, they felt as though they were in the prosperous Tang Dynasty thousands of years ago. There were tons of priceless imperial treasures of the Tang Dynasty. Inside the eightfold treasure case, a legendary Sakyamuni finger bone (replica bone) was found. The day of discovery happed to be Sakyamuni's birthday in the lunar calendar. People couldn't help but marvel the coincidence of the finger bone discovery. Later, another three finger bones were found in the white jade curtain, Asoka Stupa and the iron case in the secret niche respectively. The finger bone stored in the white jade coffin in the secret niche is the genuine finger bone and it is the only real finger bone of Sakyamuni's remained in the world."

We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the finger bones or buddhist statues, so I don't have alot of pictures to show. There is one buddhist statue where you can pray (regardless of your religion) and you can ask for 3 things and they will all come true. I prayed for my 3 things, so let's see if it comes true!! Karen was wondering if the buddhist would understand me praying in English! :)

Afterwards, we went for a nice relaxing massage. I got a foot and back massage...it was great! My first one in China and this one was also fully clothed. The guy who was giving me a massage said my back was really tight (which I knew) and asked Mimi if I did Kung Fu. That was funny..,I had to explain that my back is just tight like this and that when I get stressed, my shoulders get knots (and the knots have been much smaller since I've been on vacation!). He suggested I use fire to try to heal my back...so I agreed to it without really knowing what they were going to do. Wow...they really set a fire on your back, but they put a small layer of plastic and some wet cloths on you to protect the back. After dousing some alcohol on the cloths, they light it and they keep the fire alive for about 5-10 seconds before putting it out. They repeat this 7-8 times. It was scary at first and I was worried they'd burn my hair, but in the end, it wasn't too bad...I'm not really sure it helped my back any, but we are going back there again tomorrow.

I looked at myself in the mirror today and I can see that I am starting to put on weight!!! This is starting to feel like Europe all over again (for those of you who didn't know me back then, I put on 15 lbs while in Europe for 3 months...TWICE!!!). I guess half of 15 lbs will be 7 lbs...so if I come back looking 7 lbs heavier...don't laugh at me!!! :) No worries though, I dropped the 15 lbs when I got back to the states, so hopefully I will be able to do the same this time.

The food has been amazing over the last 3 days. Mimi's mom has been feeding me nonstop...to the point where I am never hungry and I wake up feeling full!!! She knows all the special dishes for Xi'an and even the ice cream that they only sell here! I'm hoping I will still be able to fit into my jeans before I leave, otherwise, I'll need to go buy some more clothes!!! My favorite meal so far has been at Defachange, a dumpling place we went to a few nights ago. I like it because of the stories that goes behind some of the dumplings. This place is known for these small itty bitty dumplings that was a favorite of Empress Dowager Ci Xi. She came to the city and asked the cook to provide her with a new taste, and the cook prepared this kind of dumpling to please her. She would eat these in 3, 6 or 9 for good luck.

The little dumplings are put into a big pot of soup and then waitress scoops up the soup into a small bowl. Each person picks a bowl and figures out how many mini dumplings they have in their bowl. For each number of dumplings, there is a meaning that goes behind each (I'm going to try to translate it the best I can since it was told to me in broken English):
1 dumpling: Your life will be smooth like a boat sailing on smooth waters
2 dumplings: 2 good things will come together for you
3 dumplings: Your life will just get better, better, and better
4 dumplings: For all 4 seasons, you will have lots of money
5 dumplings: You will get everything you want in life
6 dumplings: Everything you want in life will go smoothly
7 dumplings: Luck will always be with you
8 dumplings: Whatever you do in life, you will always shine like a star
9 dumplings: You will be with your lover your whole life (I asked, what if you don't want to be?!?!?)
10 dumplings: You will have anything you want
0 dumplings: You're out of luck, but the soup is still good!

I ended up with one dumpling, Mimi and Karen ended up with two, and Mimi's mom got 4!! I'm thinking there is some truth to this since Mimi's mother is very well off!!! :) She's been pampering me since she picked me up on Friday, but I'll tell you more about that later. I didn't think these mini dumplings had much taste to them, but I did like the other dumplings. Not only did they taste good, but they were shaped like animals, nuts, etc...very creative!!!

Another favorite of mine is a pumpkin dish that is made with sweet rice. It seems like a dessert, but you eat it as part of the meal. It was so delicious!!! The pumpkin tasted like sweet potatoes and I LOVE sweet potatoes! We went to a BBQ place tonight and had BBQ lamb with some other dishes. Everything was great and I'm still feeling full...almost 3 hours later!

Mimi's mom has been a great host. She booked a really nice hotel room for me in Xi'an next to the house that she has here, so I have a western toilet with a normal shower and tub!!! I would've been ok with having them pick me up at the volunteer house each day or staying at their place, but this is even better! :) She's been driving me, Mimi, and Karen all around to visit and has paid for everything...she refuses to take any money from me (even when I bought some small souvenirs). She's done so much for me....booking (and paying) for my ticket to Shanghai, arranging for Tom (my dad's cousin son) to meet up with me and take me around Shanghai, planning my itinerary for Shanghai (while I am there, she's arranged for two tours for me to visit other cities), and helping me ship some of my stuff to Beijing. She and Tom wanted to arrange and plan for my Beijing trip as well (i.e getting tickets for the touristy stuff plus other non-touristy stuff), but I told them I wanted to keep Beijing flexible since one of the volunteers was meeting up with me. I love being pampered!!!

P.S. Kiwi - This food post was really for you since I know how obsessed you are about the food here!!! :)

Update: I thought I'd explain how Mimi and I know each other. Tom (my dad's cousin's son) is a vendor for Mimi's mother and they are very good friends. When Mimi's mom wanted to send her to high school in the US, Tom recommended Brenau University in Atlanta. They asked my parents to be her guardian while she was in Atlanta and to help her out while she was in the states...so that's how our two families know each other.

She'll be coming 'round the mountain....

muoy — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:55:00 GMT

I am completely exhausted after the long day we had!!! I woke up at 4:30am this morning so we could go climb Huashan Mountain, which is about 120 kilometers east of Xi'an. Here's a snippet about the mountain:

"Huashan (Hua means brilliant, Chinese, or flowery; shan means mountain) is one of the five sacred Taoist mountains in China. Huashan boasts a lot of religious sites: Taoist temples, pavilions, and engraved scriptures are scattered over the mountain. Hua Mountain is well-known for its sheer cliffs and plunging ravines. It is known as "the most precipitous mountain under heaven" and is probably the most dangerous mountain in the world frequented by hikers. There are five peaks that make up the mountain: Cloud Terrace Peak (North Peak, 1613m), Jade Maiden Peak (Central Peak, 2042m), Sunrise Peak (East Peak, 2100m), Lotus Peak (West Peak, 2038m) and Landing Wild Goose Peak (South Peak, 2160m). "

We got to the mountain around 7:30am so we could start climbing it before it got really hot. Mimi wasn't feeling well and decided to stay at the bottom of the mountain with her mom, so it was just Karen (Mimi's classmate) and me that climbed the mountain. This mountain is really high, so we took a cable car to a certain point and then started climbing the mountain. Supposedly, to hit all 5 peaks, you need to spend 2 days on the mountain. There are stairs that lead you up the mountain, but they can be very steep and you have to hang onto the chains on the side to keep from falling (thank goodness I bought some gloves). We only climbed for an hour before Karen got tired and didn't want climb anymore...but I was determined to make it to at least one peak. I left her at a rest point and continued on my own up the mountain. Even with the stairs, the climb was very difficult and tiring...I had to constantly stop to take breaks (I need to get back into exercising!). I didn't know much about the mountain, so when I got to Wu Yun Peak, I thought I'd reached the top of one of the peaks. I was soooooo wrong. I guess Wu Yun is one of the smaller peaks...and I saw some more stairs leading up. I kept following the stairs until I got to Immortal Palm Cliff and again was disappointed that it wasn't one of the 5 peaks. I didn't know what to expect or how much longer till I reached a peak, so I just kept going and eventually got to Central Peak (this is one of the 5 peaks, but I didn't know until later). By this time, I was exhausted and made a decision to go back down...I'd been hiking 3 hours already and the stairs just kept going...I hadn't eaten anything all morning and it was getting to be lunchtime. Also, I'd been gone for awhile, so I'm sure Karen was getting worried about me. I was able to get some expensive cold water on the mountain for 6 yuan to refuel (I can get it normally for 1 yuan). I found out later why it was so expensive...it's to cover the cost of having workmen carry up to 50 kilos of stuff on their shoulders up the mountain!!! I saw those workmen and wow, that looks like such a tough job and they do it twice a day!!! There was a 74 year old man that was still doing it and some others made it fun by singing or playing the flute. With the heat and the climb, I am so amazed they can do it!!!

As I was starting my trip back down, I met a Chinese lady (Miranda) who spoke some English. She had been hiking on the mountain since 9am the previous day and spent the night on the mountain. She was explaining to me if I had kept climbing, it would have been too dangerous for me since I was alone. No worries...I had already made my mind to go back down!!! She was headed down the same way I was...so we kept each other company. I'm so impressed by Miranda...she'd actually started the climb from the bottom of the mountain!!! I don't think I could've done it...my legs were already shaking after 3 hours and it felt like mush!!! Hers were hurting her too, but when we reached the cable cars, she decided to walk the rest of the way down (the cable cars were too expensive for her). We met up with Karen along the way and poor Karen was concerned that I had gotten lost. I guess she doesn't realize that I can still take care of myself even though I don't speak the language!!! :) I think I spent about 4.5 hours climbing that mountain today....I was ready for food and a nap!!!

I only got food though. We had a great meal at a restaurant nearby (I ate too much again) and then headed to the Terra-Cotta Army (which I thought we were doing the next day). I was soooo tired...I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I should have. No one else had done the 4.5 hours on the mountain, so they had more energy. I just walked around the museum and took some pictures. The museum isn't as big as I imagined. There are 3 pits and an exhibition hall. It was really cool to see the warriors and horses...to think that there are over 8000 soldiers that were buried...I wonder how much longer they will have to keep excavating the site?!??!

BTW...the quality of some of the pics are really bad (so sorry about that!). I brought my big nikon SLR to Asia, but it's so big to carry around (esp. when I'm also carrying another big bag of other stuff) that I've been leaving it at the hotel/house. Most of these pics are taken with my smaller digital...I would've have liked taking my big nikon for the terra-cotta army, I just didn't know we were going right after the mountain! :)

To go to Egypt or not go to Egypt?

muoy — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:50:00 GMT

Yesterday was such an exciting day!!! I booked my ticket to Shenzhen/Hong Kong to depart next Tuesday with plans to meet up with Wendy when I got there. Those plans have completely changed now and I might end up going to Egypt for part of my trip. I know, I know....I am all over the place...but when an opportunity like this comes up, how can I refuse?!?!

Mimi and her mom (family friends) picked me up at the volunteer house yesterday and they were taking me around Xi'an this weekend. I originally thought they were picking and dropping me back off at the house each, but when Mimi got there, she asked about my suitcase. I didn't realize I would be spending the weekend with them, so I had to rush to pack a bag. During lunch, I found out they were returning to Shenzhen on a flight 30 minutes after mine...so we decided to just have me stay with them the whole time in Xi'an and we would go to the airport together on Tuesday. I would also stay with them when I get to Shenzhen until July 30...the day they are heading to Egypt. Mimi's mom asked if I wanted to go too and said she would pay for the trip (even though I kept insisting I could pay it myself). They are taking a tour around Egypt for a week and they wanted me to come along. I said I would think about it and they started making calls to get me on this tour. I'm torn about whether I should go or not. If I go, I'll miss out on Shanghai (but I'll be back in time for Beijing). This Egypt trip sounds so good but I am concerned about how dirty Egypt is and whether they have western toilets (yes, I have this obession with western toilets now after being in Asia for 3 weeks!!! :) ). I can't decide!!!!

This is a short blog...but I wanted to share Egypt. I'll write more when I have more time since I have to tell you about all the delicious food I ate yesterday. If I keep eating like this, I'll definitely come back to the states 15 lbs heavier. I'm going to climb a mountain today..I had to wake up at 4:30am...wish me luck!!! I hope I don't fall asleep going up there!

Back in Xi'an....at Heart to Heart

muoy — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Video Note: Wendy and I were goofing off at Heart to Heart. There is a big playroom on the roof of the building and they had these little bikes for the kids. We decided to be big kids and rode the bikes down a ramp. :)

Patrick and I decided to return to Xi'an. We needed to be able to sleep without worrying about what bugs would get us next. I was going to rough it out till the end of the week, but since he decided to leave, I don't feel as bad leaving since someone else is doing it too! :) The volunteers here in Xi'an thought I'd be the first one to crack, so they were completely surprised that Patrick cracked first. Whoohoo...I'm not the most high maintenance one!!! :) I'm sorry to disappoint you guys and not staying out there longer...I was really looking forward to spending time with the pandas...but life is too short to be miserable no matter how cute the pandas are!!! Since this is a vacation and I'm suppose to have fun...there's no sense in staying where I am not happy. I know, I know...I'm a wuss...after all the build-up, I leave the pandas after 2 days...I have tons of pictures and videos though (including one of me cleaning poop)!!! But you really have to see how nasty the rooms and bathrooms are. The other two girls stayed, but only because one doesn't like children and the other one volunteered in Ghana before, so she's use to the conditions...

I volunteered with Heart to Heart the last two days. As I mentioned before, this is a school for autistic children, but I also found out its for kids who are just mentally challenged in general. As far as the actual "work" environment, it is worst than the panda reserve. The kids are pretty dirty, the place smells like urine, and the toilet is just a hole in the floor...BUT I'm ok with it since I know I am making a difference!! I just keep alot of hand sanitizers with me! :) At the panda reserve, I was only helping to clean the cages...which the panda keepers would normally do if the volunteers weren't there. I didn't feel like I was really making an impact...whereas at Heart to Heart...I do feel like I am helping the kids out. The teachers there are a bit tough with the kids and they don't get alot of affection...so when the volunteers are around, the kids like to be hugged and touched. And they also like to kiss the volunteers. Shortly after I got there, I had a little boy come sit on my lap with his arms around me and he started kissing me (not lip kissing or anything inappropriate since they don't know any better...just innocent pecks on the cheeks and neck). It was cute....

The kids are divided into different rooms based on IQ. In the mornings, they have play time and exercise time. In the afternoons, they have sing along with the teachers and have more play time. It's hard work to watch after the children since they are mentally challenged...they are all over the place and can't sit still. There is one kid who will walk around and untie anything he sees. I kept him entertained yesterday with a shirt I had that was tied around my waist. Today, I was trying to teach one of the boys how to play the drums. We call him "monk" since he looks like a monk. I didn't have much luck with him...I was trying to teach him a beat and he would just randomly hit the drum. He is sooo cute!

We have a 2.5 hr break during lunch while the children sleep. That's really good so we can go to the Starbucks where they have western toilets!!! It's about a 30 minute bus ride, but well worth it to not have to use the toilets at Heart to Heart. Just think kids peeing all over the place and the smell...ugh! At Starfish (orphanage of babies with cleft palettes), they have a western toilets...the volunteers who were suppose to be at Heart to Heart all went over there and don't want to return to Heart to Heart now! They also have air conditioning...at Heart to Heart, we just have fans and those aren't any good!!!

I've spent the last couple of days re-doing my itinerary for the rest of the trip to meet up with people. I may go to Hong Kong next Tuesday to meet up with Wendy (another volunteer) and do some shopping for a few days before she leaves for the UK. I've also added Shanghai to my itinerary to meet up with my dad's cousin's son (does that make him my second cousin?) since he is only there until early August. I hear it's more modern and cleaner than Hong Kong, so I'm excited about that!!! Then I'm headed to Beijing around August 6-12 to meet up with Helen (another volunteer) for a few days (she's cutting her volunteer time short so we can hang in Beijing before she flys back). So with that new schedule, I'll actually be back in Atlanta a week earlier! It'll be nice to have some company while I am in those cities and I'll get to see more of China while I am here!!

This blog is a day late being posted...we've been having some issues at the volunteer house. We lost power twice since the staff forgot to refill the electric card...and internet has been extremely slow the other times. I think we are back to normal now. I also added more photos of the pandas to the Panda photo gallery...so check out how cute they are!!

The pandas are my neighbors...

muoy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:58:00 GMT

We got the to Shaanxi Wild Animals Rescue and Research Center yesterday. The pandas are so cute...they are so fat and lazy. All they do is eat, poop, and sleep all day long. It's a nice life to have, especially when you have someone cleaning after you! :) I am responsible for taking care of two pandas...Shan Shan and Zhu Zhu. Shan Shan isn't very smart..they think something might be wrong with her mentally. Zhu Zhu on the other hand is very clever...and aggressive. If she doesn't get her food in a timely manner, she gets upset and starts climbing around on the cage. Each volunteer is responsible for helping the panda keeper feed the pandas and clean the panda cages (i.e. clean up bamboo and poop). Cleaning up the poop isn't as bad as I thought. There's no smell to it since it's mostly just bamboo and you can see the bamboo in the poop.

Since Zhu Zhu is so smart, she poops only in the corner...so it's much easier to clean. She had about 7kg of poop this morning!!! Shan Shan on the other hand pooped all over her cage and had about 8kg of poop. I was surprised how much they pooped overnight!!! We just use a shovel and broom to clean the poop (and they gave us coats and gloves)...so you don't really get dirty.

Zhu Zhu was artifically inseminated this past Spring...so they think she might be pregnant. They moved her to a different panda house this morning in anticipation of the birth. There's no sure way to tell whether she is pregnant...I asked if the ultrasound works, but they said not really. The panda keeper was also telling me the story about how she escaped in the spring one evening. The zoo keeper saw a panda walking around the gardens and called all the panda keepers to see which panda was missing. My panda keeper was able to call Zhu Zhu back and she followed...see how smart she is!!!

There are 3 baby pandas (though not really babies...they are 2-3 years old). They are housed separately and are even cuter than the adult pandas. I forget all their names, but one of the other volunteers is responsible for taking care of them.

OK..enough about pandas and their poopies. There are also some other animals at the rescue center. We saw some golden monkeys, peacocks, red pandas (these are so cute too!), black bears, and a leopard. The leopard was so mean and vicious...he just kept growling at us from his cage...I'm sure we looked delicious to him...thank goodness he couldn't get to us!! There is also a baby black bear that was just playing around yesterday. Since he's still a baby, they let him run around loose and we can play with him. He's so adorable...and he loves playing and climbing on the trees.

There's not much to do here after work since we live within the center. I brought my Carmen Electra Striptease DVDs and we all learned the hip hop video yesterday. It was so funny...even the male volunteer (Patrick) was doing it with us. We had alot of fun entertaining ourselves with it.

As much fun as it is to see the pandas...the accomodations are terrible. I'm ok with having bugs and mosquitoes outside the house (and maybe a few inside the house), but when they are my roommates..then I have a problem. I had a huge grasshopper on my bed, bugs on my comforter, mosquitoes in the room, etc. And I even had some bugs spying on me while I was showering. The bathrooms scare me...the water is always yellow in the toilet no matter how much you flush it...and it looks like seaweed or something is growing inside it. Trust me when I say it's nasty. This is worst than my hotel room in Kratie and remember, I didn't shower while I was there that one night. Obviously, I had to shower yesterday since I didn't think I could go a whole week without showering. :)

Patrick is thinking of leaving and returning to Xi'an to do the other volunteer work. He wasn't able to sleep last night and was using raid all night on the bugs. There was also a roach on his bed. I slept with the comforter over me for most of the night..so if something got me...it would've already been inside my comforter. If he leaves, I'll most likely leave with him...I don't want to get eaten alive by the bugs!!! Cleaning panda poopie is one thing, but fighting bugs in the night is another!!!

Cold water has never tasted so good....

muoy — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:29:00 GMT

I'm almost thinking that Xi'an is hotter than Cambodia!!! Today was extremely hot and we rode the bus during our trip out today. The bus was crowded with sweaty and smelly people! Taxis might be the way to go for the future. It's only 1 yuan to ride the bus (about 17 cents)...but taxis aren't too expensive...with 3-4 people yesterday, we spent about $1 each time we got on the taxi. Water is also extremely cheap here. A bottle of cold water is 1 yuan...so I can get 6 bottles of water for $1 (nice, cold refreshing water!). It tastes so good when the sun has been beating down on you all day long. Ahhhh......

We went back to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda today to walk around. We split into two groups and one group went to the electronics store (boring!!!). The rest of us went to walk around the pagoda area to check out the scene during the day. There's a really nice park nearby...that would be a great place to hang out if it wasn't so hot! People were still playing around in the fountains...it looked like it would've been alot of fun to run through it, but I had my purse with me and didn't want to get anything inside wet. We encountered more Chinese people that wanted to take pictures of us since we were foreigners. I look just like them, so I don't think they were really all that interested in me, but they took my picture anyways (probably so I wouldn't feel bad!). :)

As we were walking through the market, I decided to have some pictures taken of me in a chinese costume. It was only 10 yuan (about $1.70) per picture...so I got 4 of them. I only have hard copies of the pics...but the picture in this blog is from a picture that one of my new friends took (I was looking at the photographer). Everyone was snapping pictures of me in my costume...it was pretty funny. I might do it again in a different costume if I get the chance again. :)

We also went by a tea shop to get the true chinese tea house experience. We had some communication problems with the waitress...the menu was not in English and the waitress did not speak English either. We tried drawing pictures of what we wanted...but in the end, we just picked something random and ended up with jasmine tea. The waitress came by and did this whole tea ritual for us. We couldn't understand what she was saying, but she was pouring hot water on the teapot and the teacups (probably to warm them up) and dumped out the first batch of tea. The teacups are so small...it's just a little bit bigger than my thumb. Seriously, how much can you drink with such a small teacup?!?! One sip and I'm done...and the waitress had to refill often. As we were leaving, we tried giving the waitress a tip, but she refused. In China, they don't tip and if you insist on tipping, you can offend them...so we didn't push it and just took our tip money and bought some frozen treats from Diary Queen. It was soooooooo good and the place was air conditioned.....

I'm just bumming around the volunteer house tonight. We're going to watch Little Ms. Sunshine after I get cleaned up and shower. I don't think I've mentioned how difficult the shower is here. The water temperature is ridiculous!!! I've been showering first in the evenings and the water is scathing hot...there is no way to adjust the temp. The girls who went in after me ended up with cold showers...so tonight, I let one of them go in before me. I'm ready for a nice cold shower!!! I've heard the house at the panda place has a better shower temperature that you can adjust...so definitely looking forward to that! But there is no refrigerator...so no more cold waters unless I can find a store that sells them!!!

Making new friends in Xi'an....

muoy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:48:00 GMT

My trip to Xi'an is starting out great so far!!! We started off the day with breakfast and orientation (boring, but needed to be done). After orientation, we all went out to visit the Bell Tower and Drum Tower. Each tower has exactly what it is named after. At the Bell Tower, you can pay to ring the bell and at the Drum Tower, you can pay to hit the drums. For each time you hit the drum, there is a significance (i.e. luck, fortune, blessing, etc). From the Bell Tower, you could get a great view of the city! The Bell Tower use to tell the time for the people in the city (not sure if it still does).

We also walked around the Muslim Quarter. It's kinda like a flea market...people out selling things on the streets. Supposedly, you can bargain down the price to 1/3 to half the asking price. I tried to bargain for something and the guy wouldn't budge...I think his price was already low. He wanted 5 yuan for the item and wouldn't decrease his price. When he wouldn't bargain, I went and checked with a few other places. The prices: 7 yuan, 8 yuan, and 20 yuan!!! Ridiculous on the price differences. I didn't really want to buy anything anyways...too much to take to the panda place and back. I'll buy stuff before I leave for Shenzhen/Hong Kong.

It's funny to walk around with the other volunteers. Since most of them are Europeans, the Chinese people would stare and some will take pictures (there aren't as many tourists in Xi'an). There was one gentleman that we kept running into and he would keep taking our pictures. When one of the girls spoke with him, it sounded like he was taking pictures for his job. Hope these pictures don't end up where they shouldn't be!!

We came back to the volunteer house for dinner after being in the hot sun all afternoon (it's just as hot as Cambodia!). At the house, there is a lady that will clean and cook for us. She's here everyday to prepare our meals and clean the rooms. There are also two staff members that stay in the house with us. It's nice to be "pampered" and not have to worry about cleaning! :)

After dinner, we went to watch a water show at the Big Goose Pagoda. They had water "dancing" to the same rhythm as the music. There were tons of people there and some were playing in the fountains. We went down to where the water was coming out and a couple of the guys went to play in the water. The rest of us got wet when some of the Chinese people diverted the water and it hit us. We had a great time though and had to walk around to dry off before we could grab a taxi back to the volunteer house.

I'm trying to practice my mandarin with the staff here. I learned how to say "I'm in Xi'an doing volunteer work" this morning. :) The taxi drivers here don't speak English and some don't read either...so it's been hard trying to get around unless we can tell them where we need to go.

I've definitely decided to work on the panda project for just 2 weeks. After watching the orientation video this morning on the other projects, I really wanted to spend my last week working at the Heart to Heart kindergarden class. The school was started by a former opera star in China. When her son was diagnosed with austism at 9 years old, she retired from opera and opened up a school without really knowing much about how to care for austistic children. She's done really well with the help of everyone around the community (including help from the experts on austism)...there are now two locations. The orphanage project (Starfish project) interests me as well, but I won't have enough time.

Travelling to Xi'an and the Volunteer House...

muoy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:38:00 GMT

What an early start to the morning!!! I had to get up at 5am for my flight to Phnom Penh. My cousin and her husband picked me up from the hotel at 6:15am and we got to the airport around 6:45am. It turned out that my other cousins were already at the airport waiting to send me off!! That was soooo nice of them to get up early just so they could be at the airport to say goodbye. This is what I mean when I say they are really awesome. One of my cousins also printed out the digital pictures for me...how thoughtful!

I got hit with the excess weight on my baggage this morning. On my way to Phnom Penh, I only checked the big suitcase and I was able to sneak in two of my smaller suitcases and my backpack onto the plane with me (policy is similar to the US...one bag and one personal item). I wasn't able to do that this morning and had to check one of the smaller suitcases. It was 10kg over and it cost me $93!!!! And that's not even the worst part of it. The fee was only from Phnom Penh to Guangzhou (connection city)...they said once I got to Guangzhou, I would need to check back in and pay another fee!!! I wasn't about to pay another hefty fee, so I repacked a few things to make the checked suitcase lighter when I got to Guangzhou. I was still about 5kg overweight and the guy told me to just take it on the plane (I don't think he realized I had another suitcase). So I took both suitcases with me and this time, I didn't get stopped...thank goodness!!! :)

As I was waiting on my flight, there was an old man sitting next to me. He started talking to me and pointing to my suitcases. From what I gathered, he was telling me I had too many bags...but I could also understand that he said it's ok. I think he was going to help me by claiming one of them was his if I got stopped. We chatted for a little bit with what broken mandarin I knew and I could only understand half of the conversation. :) When we boarded the plane...he tried helping me put my suitcases in the overhead compartment. My suitcases were heavy and he's old...like at least 65-70 and he's trying to help me! I felt so bad and luckily one of the male flight attendants came over to help. I waited on him when we landed so we could walk out together...it was the least I could do! He was such a sweetie!

I got to the volunteer house around 6pm and was starving since I'd barely eaten all day. Luckily, it was around dinner time and the staff had dinner ready within 30 minutes. There are 7 volunteers starting today and 4 that are already here. Total of 3 guys and 8 girls...the guys are probably in heaven!!! There's only 4 from the US (the 3 guys and me). The other girls are from the UK, Finland, and Denmark. There's 4 of us going to the panda project, 6 that are doing the "heart to heart" project (helping autistic children) and one that is helping out the orphanage. I think I may only do 2 weeks at the panda project and spend the last week doing the "heart to heart" project just so I can get different experiences. I chatted with one of the girls who is here for 3 weeks...she also spent 2 weeks on the panda project and her last week here will be with "heart to heart". I got the scoop on what I will be doing from her...I will be cleaning panda poop..yikes! :) But she says it's not bad at all and most of the time, you're not really working...just playing with the pandas.

The accomodation isn't too bad...definitely not great, but I can deal with it. I'm in a room with 5 other girls and we are all sharing a bathroom. The part I hate about the bathroom is there is no shower curtain and the water just goes everywhere. There's not even a tub..the water just flows onto the floor and drains down. I brought some sandals...so luckily I can shower with my sandals on! :) Everyone here seems really nice so far. We've been chatting and getting to know each other. After dinner, we all made a field trip to the grocery stores to load up on snacks (I found some snickers bar...whoohoo!!!). We walked by a square and there were tons of people just out there line dancing...apparently, it's something they do every night. How fun! I'm looking forward to this experience and getting to know everyone!!