Happy Halloween!

The girls are really disappointed to miss Halloween this year. Their good friend Kendra is having a party and they wish they could go. They don't celebrate Halloween here in Vietnam, but we had some spooky pictures from Disney in Hong Kong. We thought we'd share them with everyone back home and wish them Happy Halloween!

We will be on the train to Saigon tonight so we talked about getting into my makeup bag and painting funny faces. I think I underestimated the value the kids give to some of our traditions.

We're off to Saigon, or should I say Ho Chi Minh City? We're taking an overnight train again. We are only there for a day and then we will be taking a flight to Bangkok, Thailand.

CM

China Beach

Sunshine! We were so glad to see the sun that we skipped school work and headed to the beach. We rented motorbikes and rode them for the half hour trip to China Beach. The waves were high, but it didn't get deep until you went quite a way out, so the girls could swim on their own.

After the beach we headed back to Marble Mountain and the caves. The caves were still pretty wet, but not like it was a few days ago. This time we went to visit Hell Cave (it had been closed the last time we were there). It was kind of spooky. There were some carvings in the walls that were a bit creepy and the way it was formed just seemed a bit eerie. I think we heard bats, but the girls thought they were birds and we didn't tell them otherwise.

CM

Cooking Class

It poured rain again today. The swimming pool over flowed again, which means at least 15 cm fell! I guess it's better than snow though.

We didn't do much other than school work during the day. We stepped out for lunch and on the way back Nadim decided to get a couple of shirts made, so we stopped at a shop and looked at some fabrics. Hopefully they will turn out okay. My shoes turned out quite well, but not so well that I wanted to order more. Phew!

At 4:00 we had an appointment for a cooking class. We trudged off in the rain and our way to the street that runs along the river. It was flooded, and we couldn't go in the front door of the restaurant! We went in a side door and she had opened just for us. We felt bad but she seemed happy to have us come. Not much business on a slow day, I guess.

We stared with making Hoi An spring rolls. It was really pretty easy because all the chopping work was done for us. It was more like a demonstration than anything else. None the less we made all sorts of notes on how to make them and what to put in them. Next was Saigon spring rolls. Both were very good and we figure we can probably put whatever we want in them and it will turn out okay.

Next we made Cau Lau, which is a dryish soup with noodles, bean sprouts, fresh herbs and pork. I'm pretty sure we'll make that again at home. Next we fried morning glory, which is similar to spinach. Then we made a grilled fish wrapped in banana leaf. It was good, but I'm not sure we would find the ingredients at home. We finished with making fried rice with vegetables and pork and shrimp. That was pretty easy too. The girls had great fun stirring things from time to time and they were very proud of themselves by the end of the meal!

On the way home I couldn't resist stopping to buy some lanterns. They are so beautiful. Now we have to find a post office tomorrow to send a bunch of things home!

CM

My Son and Marble Mountain

We hired a car and driver today to go to My Son (pronounced Me Sun) and visit the remains of the Champa civilization. It looked like rain, so we took our trusty rain "coats" with us. We got picked up at 7 a.m. after a quick breakfast at the hotel, and headed off. We arrived in My Son by 8, and had the place pretty much to ourselves for about 45 minutes before the big tour buses started showing up.

It was very quiet and peaceful, standing among the ruins, the morning mist hanging on the mountains, the only sounds those of the bullfrogs, crickets, and other insects. The girls used their imagination to think about how it would have been like to live there many hundred years ago. They said it was similar to the secret garden story. My Son has been declared a world heritage site and some of the archaeological finds are on display. In fact, we were able to touch the artifacts and admire them up close. We were holding parts of history - items that these ancient people used in their daily lives! The buildings have mostly been grown over with vegetation, but they are amazing to see.

After My Son we went to Marble Mountain, which is across the road from the famous China Beach. The mountain is made of marble (hence the name) and there are numerous stone carvers in the town at the base of the mountain. There are many large caves in the mountain, and some of these were used as shelters and even a hospital during the "American War".

The passageways inside a couple of the caves were quite dark, but a couple of snack vendors loaned us flashlights on the condition that we buy a drink from them aftrward! There were lots of shrines and statues of Buddha and other, more scary characters, inside the dark caves. We felt like Indiana Jones, exploring the shadows, expecting some creature to come leaping out at us! Lots of fun. We found a sheltered area outside one cave and had our lunch. The picture below was taken from our lunch spot.

It had started to rain a little when we started climbing the mountain, and we were glad to have our rain coats. By the time we came back down, the rain had really picked up and a steady stream was flowing down the mountain and into the town below. We felt like we were being pushed down through a waterfall! We made it down to street level, and found the roads flooded and the water was ankle deep in some areas. All this water in about an hour and a half! Check out the water running down the steps in the picture below. Needless to say, our shoes and socks were soaked through and through. We had planned to go to China Beach for a swim after the mountain climbing, but decided to postpone that to a more sunny day!

We arrived back in Hoi An around 2 p.m. and changed into dry clothes. The girls did their school work, and then we headed off to supper. Our wet shoes are now in front of the fan in the hotel room. Hope they dry before we go on the next leg of our journey in 3 days' time :-)

NM

The River

It's Monday again and time for school. With so much fun yesterday, the girls didn't feel like doing school work. It went down a bit better with our morning recess spent in the pool!

After lunch we headed into town and made our way to the river. We did some negotiating and settled on a boat to take us for a ride along the river. It was a little cooler today and the breeze on the river felt great. The girl running our boat told us about a flood they had last year. The river was up 3 meters! Many houses had been flooded. We are nearing the end of the rainy season in Hoi An and the river is up only one meter.

Along the river we saw boys fishing, house boats (amazing that you can call them that because they aren't much more than a large canoe), and all sort of houses. It's very poor here, and it made me so thankful for all that we have. We are so lucky.

After the boat ride we went in search of a restaurant that gave cooking lessons. We eventually found one that was reasonably priced, but by this time it was too late to get supplies for the cooking class, so we arranged to do it the day after tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it.

We did a little shopping too, and I couldn't resist the custom made shoes. We'll see how they turn out tomorrow. For those of you who know how many black shoes I have, you'll be glad to know that I asked for red! Although I do confess that if they turn out well, I might order another pair in black!

We had an early supper and Yasmin and I played Roya and Nadim at a game of pool. It took us quite a while to complete a game because none of us is very good. Still fun.

Now the girls are having a quick dip in the pool and off to bed early tonight. We're planning to go to some ruins and marble mountain tomorrow and will be getting an early start.

CM

Cu Dai Beach

We woke up and decided to go to the beach rain or shine! We took along our rain gear, but had no need. It turned out to be a gorgeous day. We rented bikes and headed off to the beach arriving around 9:30. Along the ride there, we saw water buffalo by the side of the road. We also saw chickens and fields full of water, which we assume are rice fields. It's amazing how wet this country is.

At the beach, the wave were quite high. Probably from all the rain. It made for great fun playing in the waves. We held tight to the kids and got tossed and turned around in the ocean. The water was great. It was cool enough to feel refreshing, but warm enough to just walk in.

The girls had fun in the water, but when we got tired of that they played in the sand, found all sorts of shells and made a shell garden. We ate lunch at the beach and then biked back to town and explored some more of the town. We had to get full value from our dollar/bike daily rental cost!

After the bike ride it was time for another swim, but this time it was at the hotel pool. Now we're all cleaned up and planning to head into town soon to find some supper.

CM

Shopping

Hoi An is known for its shopping and especially for its tailor made clothing. It's very tempting as we walk through the streets and think of all the things we could have made.

It was raining very hard this morning. The pool filled to overflowing, and the streets were flooded with water. Again, it wasn't a day for the beach. Instead the kids went swimming at the pool at the hotel. They were proud of themsleves for fishing out one of those little lizards. It looked pretty lifeless but later in the day it was gone, so we chose to believe it got better and ran away.

We went into the town again. We bought some whistles that were handcrafted by the locals and also some lanterns. It's nice to see them making the items in their shops. You know that they really are made here in Hoi An.

The rest of the day was spent around the hotel. The girls playing with their toys or swimming and Nadim and I reading our books, checking e-mails, drinking tea... Another restful day.

CM

Relax!

We started the day with a really nice buffet breakfast. Then did some school work. The girls had an English test today and they both got A+! I was very proud of them. They also did their spelling test and a test on the provinces and their capitals. They did very well on those too.

Then we moved hotels, just two doors down. The new hotel has a little extra room which is great. We had a swim in the pool and headed off for a late lunch and to pick up some things in town.

Our first stop was the tailor shop where we had the girls measured up for new bathing suits. You can see that their new suits fit quite well! We also picked up some snack items at the store and then went to pick up the sandals.

I'm amazed at how quickly they can make them! You can see the girls have their new sandals on too. After some browsing in town, we headed back to the hotel and the pool. It was sprinkling off and on this afternoon, so we decided to save the beach for another day.

It started to pour rain around supper time. We dashed across the street for some supper. It is still raining quite hard at times, but the weather is still very warm. Hopefully it will clear up tomorrow.

CM

Hoi An

We jumped on the train at 7:00 pm and arrived in DaNang today just after lunch. As we got off the train we were mobbed by cab drivers wanting to give us a ride to Hoi An. We eventually settled on a ride for the 30-km trip to Hoi An, where we had booked a hotel for just one night. They didn't have space for the following night so we took a chance and just booked for one night.

We jumped in the hotel pool, which was very refreshing and then got cleaned up and headed out to find another hotel for the rest of the week. We were quite fortunate because we were on a street with many small hotels so we just kept asking who had a room and then settled on one that was right next door. We were quite happy because it was a nice hotel, it had a pool, breakfast was included, they had Internet access from the room (this hotel doesn't), and all of that for the bargain price of $32 per night! I'm so cheap!

Once we had the hotel settled, we decided to go for a walk in Hoi An. It is a fairly small little town that is full of tourist shops, restaurants, and many tailors. We saw a shop where they made leather sandals and couldn't resist. Yasmin was in need of slip-on shoes because her old Crocs had started to fall apart. So both girls got measured up for some sandals. They even got to pick their own colours. We pick them up tomorrow afternoon.

We had really been looking for bathing suits for the girls because the elastic was going on their suits. We walked by shop after shop, but nobody seemed to sell them. As we were heading back to the hotel we stopped at a shop with women's suits on the mannequins, but it turned out they were a tailor who made swim suits as well as many more things. So the girls got measured up and are very excited to see how they turn out. We can pick them up tomorrow afternoon. I'm pretty curious too. Roya is always hard to fit into the off-the-rack suites because she is so slim. We'll see how this goes.

We found a little restaurant on the same street as the hotel. The food was great and unbelievably inexpensive. A whole family can dine for about ten dollars! After dinner, the girls had fun counting the little lizards that were on the outer wall eating bugs. At one point they had five different ones in sight! I guess you can't say you did that in a restaurant back home! The lizards are really harmless and they do keep the bugs down, so they are actually a welcome sight and didn't bother us at all.

We're now settling in for the night and the girls have gone off to bed. Sleep on the train is often interrupted and so I think we can all use an early night.

CM

A Day in Hanoi

We did our home schooling and packed up this morning and then met Scott and Hien for lunch at our new favourite restaurant. We had noodles with fresh herbs, peanuts, bean sprouts, beef and broth. It was great. They were great about helping us find our way to Hoi An via train and helped book the tickets for us. They were so helpful and friendly.

After lunch we walked through the old quarter a little and dodged mopeds while browsing in some of the shops and just enjoying the sites. We then made our way to Ho Chi Minh's house. He had a very simple way of living and dedicated his time to liberating the nation. I've got to read up on my Vietnam history I think.

The above photo was outside the palace. It was very beautiful, but Ho Chi Minh actually lived in a very simple house. It was built on stilts and so is called the House on Stilts. It was built in this style to honour the simple way of life that he was brought up in.

Now we are just about ready to head off to the train station. We are catching a night train to Hoi An. We hope Hoi An will be a little quieter and plan to stay there for about a week. We will now try to say our good byes to some of the Baha'is. I hope they are around for our last visit.

CM

Halong Bay

Amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, awe-inspiring, heavenly, wonderful... words can't describe, and the pictures don't do it justice!

We splurged a bit and went for one of the nicer tours of Halong Bay. We were picked up at our hotel at 7:30 am and did home schooling on the three and a half hour mini bus ride there. We took a tender out to the larger boat and boarded the Victory around lunch time.

We had great cabins with air conditioning. A real plus, because with the humidity it always feels like it is close to 40 degrees Celsius. We had an amazing lunch with several courses including crab, shrimp, spring rolls, fish, rice and more.

We sailed through all the little islands for the early part of the afternoon, and stopped at a little beach in late afternoon. Nadim climbed to the top of the island for the above picture while the girls and I started swimming. Nadim joined us, but by that time Yasmin had been stung by a jellyfish and wasn't in the mood for swimming anymore. It was not a poisonous one, so it was a little painful for a short while, but was fine after a couple of hours.

The picture above was taken from the beach just before we returned to the boat. We anchored near the beach for the night, and once again had a magnificent feast - stuffed crab, prawns, fried squid balls, rice, vegetables and more. The service was really excellent. It was late by the time we finished dinner and the girls headed straight to bed.

In the morning we woke early and went to the top deck to do a little Tai Chi. Mr. Hoa, our host, was doing the moves and we just quietly followed along. It was very serene.

By 8:00 am we were boarding the tender again to visit the caves. Mr. Hoa had told the girls that there were dragons, dinosaurs and crocodiles in the caves. They weren't sure if they should believe him. He guided us through the caves and, sure enough, there were all sorts of animals! Many of the limestone rocks were shaped like animals, or people.

He told us the legend of Halong Bay.... Long ago Vietnam was being invaded and the Vietnamese people were in trouble. A dragon came down from heaven and lay in the bay. She breathed out so many pearls that it formed all the islands and the enemy ships that were rushing the island crashed into them and the people were saved. But the dragon did not go back to heaven. Then he showed us the ceiling of the cave and sure enough there was a formation like a dragon! He whispered to the girls, who were quite taken with Mr. Hoa and his stories, that the dragon is a very lazy dragon because she is always sleeping there!

After the caves we had a buffet brunch and relaxed on the top deck for the sail back into the harbour. The girls had great fun with their Littlest Petshops, while we enjoyed the scenery. We headed back to Hanoi after lunch. More home schooling on the minibus. I guess we have to think about what's for supper now.

CM

Hanoi

The Internet is now fixed, so we are feeling happier about our hotel. You can see the picture below. It is really a budget hotel, but we are only here for a few nights.

This morning we met many of the Baha'is in the community as they were having a reflection meeting. It was a very nice time with one nice young lady translating many stories for us. Of course Nadim had to have a group picture! He's famous for that.

We stayed for only an hour and they wanted us to come back for lunch, but we had already made plans with Scott, and friend of a friend from Canada. He is a travel agent. We met Scott and his wife at a little noodle shop. They had a really great beef noodle dish with peanuts and fresh herbs. Very nice!

After lunch we went for a walk and had some cool drinks on a third floor patio. We talked about some of our plans and they helped make arrangements for our overnight trip to Halong Bay. We will be leaving to do that tomorrow.

After our discussions we went to the Water Puppet Theatre. It was unique to see the performance on water! They did many scenes but there was not a real story with it. They had a fishing scene, one of dragons, another of water buffalo, and the one above was of dancing fairies.

We are off to Halong Bay and a night on a boat tomorrow, so we will be out of contact for a day. It is supposed to be very beautiful and I'm really looking forward to having a swim and some beach time!

CM

Hello Hanoi

We made it safely to Hanoi, but the Internet wasn't working at our hotel! I'm at an Internet cafe now so I can at least let everyone know we are okay.

The hotel room is bigger than the one we had in Hong Kong, but the bed is a bit lumpy and we face a busy street.

We had thought Hanoi was a smaller city, but found out that it is still about 3 million people!

We were met at our hotel by some Baha'i contacts we had made. We ended up going next door to their house for dinner. They have four children, so Yasmin and Roya were happy to play. We chatted with the adults about their community and Vietnam and our Baha'i community in Ottawa.

We are planning to go to Halong Bay as soon as we can arrange it. It is a beautiful beach and ocean area with thousands of islands. I can't wait to get out of the city. Hanoi is full of mopeds! Everyone honks to tell each other that they are coming and to fight for space. No one stops for you to cross the road. You just venture out into the road and they go around you!

We are meeting a Canadian contact for some lunch. He will help us with the Halong Bay trip. Hopefully the Internet connection will be fixed soon and my posts will be more regular again.

CM

The Markets

Normally Friday is a review day for home schooling, so it’s pretty slack, but today we were making up for missing some of our lessons during our busy week. We got all that out of the way in the morning and headed off to the markets and more in the afternoon.

We are in a perfect location for the markets. We walked up our street a little way to the Goldfish Market. There they sell aquariums and fish of all sorts. We saw goldfish that had bags under their eyes. It looked like they were carrying around balloons on their faces! We saw some beautiful Beta fish with fins that were longer and shaped differently then what I’ve seen back home. There was also some other animals like hamsters, rabbits, puppies and kittens, but mostly fish. Who needs a zoo?


A little farther up from the Goldfish Market is the Flower Market. They had all sorts of flowers including every type of orchid imaginable. The smell was so fresh! We stopped at a bakery and picked up some lunch. We had little rolls that had ham and cheese backed into the middle and pizzas that had corn as a one of the toppings and another roll that had a mini sausage, kind of like a hot dog baked into it.

From there we found the Bird Garden where they have all sorts of little birds and big birds too. They also had some pretty ornate cages. It was funny because they were all squawking and screeching and making quite a commotion.

We then decided to head back towards the hotel to the nearby Ladies’ Market. You don’t buy ladies there, but there is a lot of women’s clothing, wall hangings, accessories, pillows, belts, and tons more. We did a little haggling, but weren’t so motivated to buy so we came away with only a couple of Chinese outfits for Barbie! The girls couldn’t wait to go back and play.

We grabbed the subway down to the harbour and took a tour of the city with Star Ferry. It was a cloudy day, still quite warm, but bearable. We opted to stay at the bow of the ferry outside in the breeze rather than go in for the air conditioning. Once again we marvelled at Hong Kong and it’s thousands of sky scrapers.

We’re off to Hanoi tomorrow. I think we’ll be glad to be out of the mega cities for a little while. Hopefully Vietnam will be a nice break from it.

CM

Victoria Peak

It was another blisteringly hot day today. After doing some school work in the morning, we had lunch at the hostel and headed off to find Victoria Peak, the highest spot in Hong Kong. It was a steep walk from the subway stop to get to the tram. The tram ride itself was very exciting, and almost felt like a roller coaster ride. The tram climbed the mountain at a very steep angle, which made the buildings on the side look like they were leaning! Our ears even popped as we got closer to the top.

The Peak Tower at the top had a bunch of souvenir shops and restaurants, so we found our way to Lugard Road, which winds its way around the peak and provides great views of the city and harbour. It was quite a bit cooler up there because we were up so high and also because we had the shade of the trees on both sides of the path. We stopped a few times for snack and water breaks and to take some pictures. The views were great, but made you realize what a concrete jungle Hong Kong really is. At one point we saw a helicopter flying over the harbour, and it was below us! We could see the tops of the skyscrapers, which we had walked by on our way to the tram and which had seemed so huge from ground level.

We made our way back to the Peak Tower and had a look at the shops for a while. We wanted to stay until sunset so we could see the lights of Hong Kong from our vantage point. We had McDonald’s for supper (we could blame this on the kids, but in touristy spots, McDonald’s is a good option because they don’t inflate their prices 10 times!) and went for a walk to the lookout to check out the view. The lights are pretty cool, and different colours, and some buildings have lights that change colours every few minutes. After taking it all in, and taking some pictures, we decided to return to the hostel.

The ride down on the tram was also interesting because the benches all faced backwards. The way down is so steep that if the benches faced forward, we would all go flying out of our seats! We got down safely and found our way to the subway station. It was only a 15 minute ride back. We all had showers and the kids went to bed exhausted but happy.

NM

Disneyland!

The Dragon Hostel is very clean, and fairly comfortable, but we’re missing the space we had in Beijing. The room is pretty small, and the beds a little harder. Not bad for the few nights that we'll be here. The location is great though. Shopping is close by and the subway is a two minute walk. We also only have Internet access in the lounge area, so we'll likely not be doing as many webcam chats!

This morning we went to Disney! The metro was easy to get around in and Disney even has its own line. That line has Mickey shaped windows and handles, and stars on the ceiling.

The girls were so excited and had a really magical day. We started in Fantasyland where they enjoyed Winnie the Pooh, It’s a Small World, and Mickey’s Philharmagic, a 3-D movie that even had us smelling pies, feeling a gust of wind, and getting wet by a spray of water!

From there we made it to Tomorrowland. The girls went on Space Mountain. Yasmin of course loved it and wanted seconds, but Roya had had enough with going once. They also shot space robots with Buzz Lightyear, and drove cars around a track.

Adventureland was fun too, but by this time the 30 degree weather and humidity was getting to us. We made it through Tarzan’s treehouse and took a jungle river cruise. We tried a haunted jungle, but it was a bit too scary.

By late afternoon we were thinking it was time to go, but we decided to catch just one more show. Some of the rides and the shows were air conditioned so it gave us extra incentive to stay. We ended up staying for that show and one more and then watching the Glow in the Park Parade which was going on especially for Halloween.

We got home late, the kids were really tired, but everyone was happy. Walt Disney really does do it up right!

CM

Hello Hong Kong

We made it safely to Hong Kong!

We were a bit worried about getting to the train station on time. We had heard that the traffic could be quite bad and it might take up to two hours to get to the station. We were up early enough and ready, so we got a taxi at 8:30 am. We were worried for nothing because it only took us half an hour to get there! We had to wait for an hour before they even opened the customs line. At least we had the time to find the customs line! We ended up being one of the first to get through to a customs officer and I think we were the first to board the train!

We had a nice little, and I mean really little, room. It had two bunk beds and not much else. We had hoped for showers on the train, but we only had sinks. Oh well, we made due. Yasmin was very happy to see that they had a western style toilet at one end of the car. We did some home schooling while we waited for the train to depart and also for the first little bit of the journey. The girls were very excited about the bunk beds and the train as a whole. We’ve walked to one end and the other. Some rooms have triple bunks in them so they fit six people!

The scene outside wasn’t too terribly exciting on the first day. There was a lot of flat countryside. The view in the morning was better. You could see lots of hills and mountains. You could see that the rural areas of China aren’t nearly as well off as those in Beijing. None the less, we all felt that train travel is a fun way to travel. The beds were pretty hard so we didn't get a great sleep, but still fun.

We made it to our budget hotel. It has a great location. We walked through a shopping street. It's similar to Morocco with it souks. The stalls are jam packed with goods and lots of haggling going on. We said we wouldn't buy anything on the first day, but we ended up breaking our rule and buying some place mats, napkins and chopsticks. We bargained them down to about half price and paid only about ten dollars for a set of twelve.

Although we thought we did fairly well to pack all our things for the year into three suitcases we are already talking about sending some of it back. Too much baggage to carry around! We'll see...

CM

Bye Beijing!

Arthur's back! He had gone home for the national holiday and came back last night. He arranged to pick us up this morning and off we went. We stopped at an area famous for it's coffee shops, bars, and shopping. We had rickshaw ride through the area and also through nearby streets that were the homes of people. They often have walls along the alley way and a door through the wall into homes or multiple homes. It was a great way to see real Beijing life, although I did feel a bit sorry for the guy cycling and pulling us along. I was riding with Yasmin and Roya and Nadim and Arthur road together in another rickshaw.

After that we headed out for lunch. The Chinese food we get at home is definitely not the real thing! We had all sorts of traditional dishes that Arthur ordered from the local menu. There is another menu that they provide to tourists with inflated prices and dishes that are not really traditional. We had a sort of bean and flour dough roll, pork lungs (kind of chewy, not my favourite), something that looked like french fries, but wasn't (still good though, especially with the sauce), some fried and crunchy stuff (kind of like wantons), and two different kids of noodle dishes, one of which was typical of Beijing. We had never had Chinese Hotpot, so Arthur said that although it was usually done as a separate meal that we should try it. It was kind of like a big broth fondue, except you make a soup out of it. We added lamb, vegetables, tofu, and noodles and let it cook, then scooped it out and ate it with some delicious sauce. All was very good and although we wanted it to be out treat because we wanted to thank Arthur so much, he wouldn't allow us to. Arthur is an amazing host. I kept waiting for the catch, but there was none. He's just a super, amazing guy!

After lunch we headed off to Jingshan Park. It is a park that is in line with the main buildings of the Forbidden City and it is on a hill, so you can see the Forbidden City and the rest of the Beijing quite well. Beijing is centered around the Forbidden City and the buildings are not tall in the center, but as you go out, in every direction you can see tons and tons of skyscrapers. This is the largest city I've been in (over 16 million people) and it is quite amazing to me.

In there park there were people singing and some telling stories, or playing music, or dancing. The above picture is of a couple putting on a little show for everyone. It was quite cute.

We made it home by 4:00 which is when we had planned to meet the kids at the park. Some of them came bearing gifts. The girls went home with suckers, sticky balls, oranges, a toy car, and crowns necklaces and bracelets made from a nearby willow tree! I had run off to the photo shop to get prints of a family picture and one of the picture of the all the kids climbing on the play structure. So our gift to them was a couple of photos each. We left them our e-mail and regular mail addresses so who knows, maybe our paths will meet again one day!

We got home to the apartment late because the kids played so long at the park. We've been packing up, which is a task that I hate. It's pretty much done now, so we can relax for a bit before we head to bed. Tomorrow we leave for the train in the morning and don't arrive until the following day. I hope we have a good Internet connection when we get to Hong Kong.

CM

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace was on our agenda today, and what a gorgeous day it was! It was low twenties, sunny, and clear. It's been in the high teens so it was nice to have warmer weather for strolling the grounds and enjoying the day.

The Summer Palace is in the northwest corner of the city, so it was a bit of trip, but well worth it. It was originally built in the mid 1700's, but was rebuilt after the Anglo-French opium war. It's mostly a large man made lake, and several temples and other beautifully architected buildings situation on Longevity Hill which was also man made from the earth removed to make the lake.

We had a nice walk through the grounds and climbed up Longevity Hill. The girls had great fun because there were large boulders and rocks to climb on and even a little cave to explore. Nadim and I read our books for a bit while the girls played on the rocks and found caves for their Polly Pockets.

We moved on to walk along the lake's edge where we saw willow trees that had been planted when the Palace was first built, 250 years ago. They really try to preserve them. Some have posts holding up heavy branches or metal bands holding the trunks together.
At the top of the hill we took the above picture. Later in the day we took a boat complete with a dragon's head on the front of it to the island in the picture and crossed the seventeen arch bridge to go back to the main gate.

At another point we stopped while the kids played. Nadim and I played a game of cards while an old woman crooned to music that she was listening to on her head phones. It was pretty awful, but we didn't want to give up our bench. Besides, it was kind of funny. We were glad when she eventually decided to take a nap.

It was a great way to spend the day. This was the last item on our list of things to see in Beijing. Nadim and I were both commenting today that we're ready to move on now.

CM

Taking it easy

We decided to take it easy today and stay around the neighbourhood. After home schooling, we had some lunch and headed off to the nearby park. The kids sat in a little gazebo-type structure and wrote in their journals for a while and then played, and we read our books in the sun. It was a nice, relaxing time.

We wanted to get some snacks and other supplies for the upcoming overnight train ride to Hong Kong, so we stopped at the grocery store. We picked up some blueberry-flavoured chips among other things. Surprisingly, they taste pretty good! Speaking of interesting snacks, we picked up some corn-flavoured ice cream a couple of days ago! It actually looks like a corn on the cob and tastes like corn. Takes a little getting used to, but the taste is okay. The girls have been great with trying different foods here. We try to make food that tastes similar to what we have at home, but we have to make do with what is available and most times it does not taste the same. Still, that is also part of the adventure and we are enjoying it.

We met the other kids in the park today and they all played until after dark. Everyone knows we are leaving in a couple of days so they want to play as much as possible. We are meeting them again on Sunday to play some more.

NM

Ming Dynasty Relics Park

The girls have been working on a little report on the Great Wall. They found out that it was started 2,600 years ago and completed 600 years ago. Much of the 6,400 km long wall is in disrepair and is disappearing. During its peak period, about one million men guarded the wall!

Today we went to a different wall. It was also built in the Ming Dynasty, 600 years ago, but it was the city wall. Nadim has been wanting to see it, but we kept putting him off. Today was the day though!
It was a pretty little park that was rather long but not very wide. We followed a winding path along the 2 km stretch of wall and admired the gardens and sites. We saw a large group of local school kids jogging round the park, but they weren't too enthusiastic.

Near the end of the park we came across some statues of people playing polo. It looked as though the game was pretty intense!

We got home just in time. It's now raining and the thunder is rolling. Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow.

CM

Le Cool Ice Rink

Yesterday we had skipped most of our school work, so today was back to the grind. By lunch we were finished so off we went to one of the nearby restaurants. We decided to forego the pig's intestine in sauce, and the donkey meat, but settled on a very spicy chicken dish that had lots of hot peppers and garlic in it. It was a bit hot for the girls although they did enjoy a bit of it. They had some noodles with a tomato and egg sauce.

After lunch we headed off to the Le Cool Ice Rink. The 20 minute walk to the subway has become pretty routine at this point. The tunnel under the road, the smelly public washrooms, the restaurants and shops, jumping out in front of traffic to cross busy streets, the guy roasting nuts or corn at the side of the road, it all seems normal now.

The ice rink was in a big mall inside the China World Trade Centre. Nadim skated for about 15 minutes, but he was concerned about his feet because the skates didn't fit his orthotics, besides which he couldn't get used to figure skates! I fared a little better and skated for about half an hour or more, before the very uncomfortable skates got the better of me. The girls lasted for well over an hour. Roya had us timing her to see how fast she could skate around the rink. We had brought sweaters and thought we would be cold, but somehow they had it heated so we ended up in our short sleeves!

We were feeling our leg muscles a little after yesterday's Great Wall climb. I think everyone is happy to have a relaxing evening at home. I hope they have a good movie on HBO.

CM

The Great Wall

The Great Wall lived up to its name. It really was great. We had hired a car and driver to take us there. The car was rather old and smelled a bit of gas, but it got us there and back in one piece. We had an unscheduled stop at a factory where they make beautiful vases. We didn't really want to stop, but apparently the company has some sort of deal with the factory and we were required to stop. It turned out to be okay. It was interesting to see how they shape the vases from copper, add copper wire on the outside to make intricate dragon patterns, then fill those patterns with crushed stone for colour and fire them in the kiln and eventually polish them down. Of course there was an expensive gift shop at the end, but we managed to get away without any extra items to pack into our luggage.

We got to the Great Wall around 11:00 and went straight up using the chair lift. It's quite high in the mountains so the ride was beautiful, but a bit nerve wracking for me as I am somewhat afraid of heights!

TBS friends: Did you note the special guest with Yasmin and Roya in the picture above?

We were glad we had taken the chair lift as there was a lot of hiking that we did on the wall. I had imagined it much more flat, but it is like walking on the house that Jack built! Several steps down, then up, up, up. It follows the edge of the mountain so it twists and turns, and winds a lot. A few steps would be one height and then there would be a larger step and then smaller ones again. We had walked towards the left first. Although it had lots of rises and falls, it was not nearly as steep as going to the right.

We were on the wall at lunch time so we stopped at a stone platform that was once used for cannons, and pulled our lunch items from our back pack. It was gorgeous to sit there in the mountains and just enjoy the view. There were not too many tourists which made it that much better.

We had told the girls a bit of its history. It was built in the Ming Dynasty about 600 years ago, and soldiers would stand lookout for the enemy and, if necessary, they would light fires to send a message back to the emperor. The girls had fun peeking out between the bricks looking for the enemy now and then.

When we made our way back, Nadim wanted to climb the passage to the right and go up to the summit. The girls were tired at this point, so we sent Nadim ahead and said we'd meet him on the way down, but before we knew it we had followed Nadim all the way to the top. Admiring the view was a great excuse to stop now and then for a break. The girls were real troopers today. In the picture above the steps were almost knee height and went pretty much straight up, and that was only one set of them. What a climb! I suspect our legs will be a little sore tomorrow.

The ride down was a blast. It was a toboggan ride! We zoomed down the side of the mountain on a winding path similar to a water slide, but in a little cart with wheels. There was a hand brake that we had to use to slow ourselves down particularly as we came to the hairpin curves, but it was great fun. Much better than taking the chair lift!

At the bottom of the wall there were lots of people selling all sorts of souvenirs. We didn't really want anything, but for the fun of it Nadim bargained a couple of T-shirts for the girls down from 120 RMB to 20 RMB. That's two shirts at less than $2 each. I almost feel bad, but he wouldn't have sold them to us unless he was making a profit!

CM

Gurgle, gurgle

We had planned to go to "Le Cool Ice Rink", but I wanted to stay close to home. I've got a bit of traveler's stomach and didn't feel like going too far. It's nothing serious, just a bit more gurgling than normal.

We did our school lessons and then headed out to a nearby take-out counter for lunch before heading to the park. We had a sort of wrap, a doughy bread wrapped around some garlicky spinach mixture, and another sort of bread with meat baked into the centre. They were really quite good. Probably not great for my stomach, but what can I say... I'm weak willed when it comes to tasty food!

Nadim organized a car and driver for tomorrow. We're planning to go to the great wall. Very exciting. We looked at taking the bus, but the car ended up being about the same price and you get there faster and can move to your own schedule.

CM

Chinese Acrobatics

It was rainy and cool today - probably about 15 degrees. As I say that I think about Canada and the weather reports I've been hearing from back home. I guess 15 degrees isn't so cold!

We stayed around home for most of the day. Although it wasn't a school day we did do some extra work because we are planning our trip to the great wall and don't expect to be able to get a full day of schooling in on that day. We were reading some history stories and learning out pyramids and how they were used for the graves of ancient pharaohs who had been mummified. We decided to make pyrmids. It was a pretty good exercise in geometry and a great way to ensure the history lesson sinks in. The girls had to take it a step further and before you know it we had mummified Polly Pockets (useing strips of toilet paper) to put in our pyramids. The girls had great fun putting treasures in the pyramids and acting out different morbid scenarios.

We headed off to a Chinese Actobatics Show in the late afternoon. We were about to buy our tickets but a woman said she could get us a better deal through her company, a travel agency. We were a bit skeptical but decided to try it. She was taking our money and about to head off to get tickets, but Nadim wanted to go with her. She said no problem, so he followed along and sure enough got us some cheaper tickets. We saved 120 RMB, just over $20 on the tickets and went in to the show.

The show was very good. At one point they had twelve acrobats balanced on a bicycle, at another there was a guy standing on a balance with two girls hanging from his sides, a guy sitting on his shoulders and another guy standing on a balance on his head, and at another point there was a contortionist so bent that she was pretty much sitting on her own head! Below is a picture of the contortionists. Very strange, and kind of amazing.

This morning we had gone over to a building nearby that had a fitness centre and swimming pool. The girls had a nice swim and jumped in the pool for their friend Kendra. It wasn't the same as swimming in Kendra's pool, but it was still fun.

CM

Shopping

Kim would have been in heaven! We went to one of the shopping districts today because we wanted to find some more reading material. We stopped at the Beijing APM, which is a six story shopping mall. They didn't have what we wanted but the info clerk pointed us down the street. As we walked along the wide, pedestrian street there were high end stores, department stores and all sorts of shops. We saw a Nike store and checked the prices but were surprised to find that the converted prices were the same as what we would get back home, or sometimes higher!

Eventually we found the bookstore. It wasn't hard to spot because it was another six story building with "Wangfujing Bookstore" written in big red letters. We found a few rows of English novels on the third floor. There wasn't much of a selection for the girls, but Nadim and I found what we were looking for. We agreed to buy books that we could pass on to each other, so the romance novels and horror paperbacks were out. Eventually we settled on a couple of books for us and a couple for the kids and moved on.

After a quick stop for lunch we made our way to a big toy store that we had seen. The girls enjoyed browsing. Much of the things were similar to what we have back home, and the prices were similar as well. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't uniquely Chinese toys. The girls went home with a craft to make wooden doll furniture. They had great fun putting it together later in the afternoon and then playing with their new pieces.

I'm not much of a shopper. The only things we seem to be buying are grocery items. I thought I'd share a picture of some of the items we've been eating.

The night we arrived in China, Nadim went out to pick up bread. We both had a good laugh over the brand name! The little brown fruit in the bowl seem to be pretty popular. I've never seen them back home, but Nadim is familiar with it from Iran (Senjed). They are kind of like little apples. In any case we seem to be managing fine with food. We don't have a lot of the things we eat at home, but we're trying new things and finding others that are similar to our good ol' favourites.

CM

In the garden

It was warm, but not hot, sunny and not hazy, and generally a beautiful day. We headed out earlier than usual and caught the subway to the end of line 10 and then grabbed a taxi to the botanical gardens. We arrived before 11:00 am, but it was already getting busy.

The gardens are just outside Beijing city limits. The grounds are quite large so we managed to find some peace along smaller pathways and less traveled routes. There were sections of the garden that were very well manicured while other sections were more wild. Although still quite lovely at this time of year, I image that it is truly stunning in the spring. There are areas where peonies, lilacs, roses, and fruit trees would bloom at that time of year, and I imagined the smell would be so sweet.


We found a quiet little spot near a small lake and pulled out of our knapsack fixings for sandwiches. The kids played for a bit before we moved on. We meandered through the pathways until we found a Chinese style gazebo. There we took a break and played Yahtzee for a bit and read our books. After a while we picked up again and took a peak at the Reclining Buddha Temple near the back of the garden.

On our way back through we stopped for some tea at a tea house. I read a little from "The Secret Garden". I've been reading it to the girls in the evenings before bed and we thought it was the perfect place to read a chapter. When Nadim went to go pay for the tea, he was in for a shock. We hadn't asked the price and they had suckered us into getting the most expensive tea, which was $30 Canadian! Nadim argued with them. Kind of hard to do since they don't speak English and we don't speak Chinese. Eventually he payed them the equivalent of $15 Canadian which he thought was more than reasonable.

We made our way back to the city with its honking horns and cars that don't yield to pedestrians, and busy subway trains. We were a little late in meeting the local kids at the park, but they were still waiting for us. It really was a great day, and a much appreciated break from the big city.

CM