"...this your first time in china? .... WOW ... BAD LUCK!"

(dave):
We have just returned from our week in mainland China. It was quite the experience! The scenery and things we saw were just incredible. It is so far removed from what we are used to that it is hard to imagine. We were able to see the villages, watch the people at work and even try a bit of rice harvesting, but were still only visiting. We went home to a, for the most part, fairly decent hotel, but they live in those conditions. It was quite a chore to cull our pictures as we took well over 500 that we kept and probably that many again that we scrapped.

School is going well, I am teaching grade 6 math and science until the new year now (as well as keeping all my counselling duties). Two of our teachers up and quit on the Friday afternoon before our holiday so it was a scramble to try and get things organized with everyone leaving for the week. I thought I would be able to get out of report cards and parent-teacher interviews but am right in the middle of it (they are next week).

(yvonne):
let me start off by saying that we had a wonderful week away, learned much about mainland china and its people (which are designated as "those Chinese people" by residents of macau and hong kong - whenever you talk about the weather or traffic/shopping congestion it is always "those Chinese people come over here and all they do is gamble" and "the pollution comes from all those Chinese people on the mainland")! i am undecided about what was my most favorite part of the trip - the absolutely breath-taking scenery, or the beautiful children and interesting adults. one impression that sticks in my mind is that these people truly LABOR; their faces have such character and alone tell stories! as dave mentioned we took well over 1000 pictures - was a delight to snap away at all those "people pictures".

we started out october 27th (saturday) from zhuhai, giving ourselves lots of time in case the (immigration) lineups were long; luckily they weren't and we were able to FINISH our Christmas shopping (although it did mean we had to take it all with us). as we were sitting in the taxi heading for the airport, we realized that it actually was someone's personal car posing as a taxi and wondered just where we would end up, and especially as the journey ended up being well over an hour - of course the fellow did not speak english, we had no map, did not have any clue even as to the general direction the airport was in - thankfully we picked the right guy (but we did have to pay him as we made the corner for the airport and not in front of any airport employees).

now this is where the fun began! our flight was to originally leave at 7:20 pm; as we watched the arrival/departure board and even though there was no mention of our flight we weren't too worried. or the fact that the brand-spanking-new airport was all but deserted; again, no worries! when the flight time finally popped up it said "delayed" - then we remembered, oh ya, we're in china! still, not overly worried. even at the ticket-wicket (around 6:00 pm) when others were gabbering away at the clerks over some rather large sign that was posted - we weren't worried - we couldn't read it, didn't know if it said the flight was cancelled altogether or just what (it was actually the airlines last [ever] zhuhai-guilin trip). a group of men ended up walking away just shaking their heads. not us - why we were ready for adventure! around 11:00 we were offered free refreshments as they explained there were weather delays and the plane had not yet left xi'an. around midnight they rounded us all up and took us over to a hotel to give us a couple hours sleep. now this is SO FUNNY (and i do realize perhaps you just needed to be there, but if you can picture it at all ...) as we were waiting to get back on the bus, back to the airport, this chinese fellow comes over and goes "this your first time in china?". we said "yes". he goes "wow, bad luck!". oh how we laughed.

our flight left around 2:00 a.m. and made it safe and sound to our hotel by 4:30 a.m.. our tour guide was no where to be seen (we later found out he was waiting in his car for us but had fallen asleep). the taxi driver not only did not speak english, he did not know the name of our hotel and had to phone someone who spoke english so dave could relay where we wanted to go; we then stopped at the sheraton to find out directions!

dave is urging me to make sure and not talk too much. i hope you are still all with me - but i will try to keep it short!

sunday we started our adventure with Richard, our guide recommended by fellow colleagues (he was excellent) and a young girl from our school (johanne is from quebec and teaches kindergarten - we had a GREAT time together). we drove to the prince's tomb, then over and up to yao mountain where we took the gondola up. was a very hazy day so unfortunately we couldn't see as well as hoped; rode a slide back down which was "very good fun". we had an excellent lunch of chinese cuisine and the only reason i am mentioning that is because at the entrance to the restaurant were all these big plastic tubs each containing, well, dinner i s'pose! we toured the lake and elephant hill - absolutely beautiful! these chinese tourists kept asking dave if they could get their pictures taken with him and in one particular set they insisted that he stand in the middle.

oh, to our fellow appreciators of red wine - we found some "great wall" red wine - not so good!

the evening ended with a performance of ethnic dancers - incredible. excellent set changes, costumes, and cirque de soleil flexibility!

the next day we took the back roads to yangshuo (5 hrs) which certainly is a happenin' town - just like banff - only not so glitzy. for this leg of the trip we were so lucky to hook up with the most wonderful couple from england, in fact that day it was their 52nd anniversary. now they have stories to tell - they have travelled quite extensively and lived in south africa for quite some time - we all had such a good time together - it would be so great if we were able to bump into each other again! we spent 3 nights there and during that time we boated down the li river, stopped at a market (so beautiful / and very interesting - in that order!), did a day bike trip touring the countryside/rice fields (where we actually did some harvesting), rafted down the dragon river, hiked up moon hill, stopped in a village at a traditional village house. a few notes here: to those of us that are, oh how shall i say, "cycle challenged" ... i made it through the day without one accident. IT'S TRUE. although i do have to say that as we were walking and i must make sure you understand it was on THE VERY TOP OF THIS LITTLE LEDGE outling the rice fields (okay, it was only about 6" high) i took an absolute win-the-clutz-award-of-the-year tumble - don't know how i did it, and it seemed to be in slow motion - but i just went splat and actually somehow my head crashed into the back of dave's calf as he was walking ahead. i chalked it up to be a blessing in disguise though because since about the end of august i have had a very stiff neck and have been getting headaches - well somehow that tumble jarred my neck enough and i have to say it has never felt better! our lunch at the village house also deserves further mention - it was in an original farmhouse and the woman that owned it was on her own and had no children; she was actually an "adopted" grandmother to richard; he more or less takes care of her (not that she needs tending to) but he added on another room which he made into a kitchen and bought her a gas stove (which she doesn't use); he takes his tours there and whips up lunch for all to enjoy - it really was incredible! i think we had 8-9 dishes and they were all delicious!

you would be impressed with this young richard, quite the entreprenaur (sp?) he is! i don't know how he does it, but we had front row/best seats to whatever event we went to - always! is very personable (picture wally only 4 feet shorter and oh yes, younger!!!).

in the evening we went cormorant fishing which was quite unbelievable, if you look at the pictures you will see just how big a fish they can catch - although apparently these are small compared to what they bring in during the prime fishing season (up to 2.5 kg!). not so sure the animal rights people would have enjoyed the "cruise". we also took in the silver caves (again i must use the word incredible), kayaked an afternoon to a liugong village - as we were walking up the village street we passed a daycare, and every single child was looking out from their gated wall - all screaming and giggling "hullo! HULLO! HULLO!". it really was priceless. chinese children are so beautiful - big brown eyes, shiny black straight hair, little impish grins and giggles - oh you are right! children everywhere are amazing! i have to interrupt my story to tell you about one little tyke i saw on the bus coming home the other day - he must have only been around 1.5 - 2; big brown eyes, tiny little face - but it was his hair - how hilarious! it was still in the baby fuzz stage but really long - so it just kind of flared out all around and he had two crowns on his head - so it rather splurted out from each of those. how i wish i would have had my camera.

anyways back to yangshuo, that particular night was to be a "free night" and i was so looking forward to shopping (very much the set up as in bangkok). anyways, we were so tired that after dinner as we were starting out to hunt for bargains - nothing looked appealling, everyone seemed so loud and pushy - we decided we were just too tired and headed back to the hotel. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? NO SHOPPING!!! [i did make up for it though by the end of the trip - these are skills that one must practice!].

the last two days we headed northerly to longshen and visited a tea farm - now having tea there is an art! we hope to find a set to bring home and hopefully you all shall enjoy - are you thinking "endure" - an afternoon of chinese tea ceremony. it is cool! the rice terrace fields were really something to behold! what hits you the most is that as you look across these vast terraces you realize what i mentioned before - these people labor! everything is done by hand (it is so high up, the terraces are actually so narrow you would never get any kind of equipment up there). absolutely stunning! the rice was just being or had just been harvested, we would actually like to see it the end of may when everything is in the "green" stage.

for those of you that i have already unloaded my impressions of hotel/bathroom conditions during our trip, please bare with me! i shall try not to rant and rave as much this time around - not that my "position" on the subject matter has changed any - no, indeed, i must say that the impression shall forever be imprinted in my memory!

we both feel our week on the mainland was more of "discovery", rather than a "pampering yourself" treat. we did not realize the weather would be as cold as it was so for the last 4 days we FROZE. seriously FROZE! our hotel in guilin was great (everything was westernized, really clean, great view, great spot); the yangshuo hotel again was great and very clean but just on a busy street so we had a lot of early morning noise (once you see the pictures of the vehicles you will know exactly why), we had a westernized bathroom but were not allowed to flush any TP. i did okay though (it's the same in brazil when we visited gloria). now the next two nights - well - they were different! you would all be very proud of me, i told that husband of mine that he better be thankful i was such a trooper! on our sixth night on the terraced rice fields we stayed in the "guest house", the best place in the village - this is where we ABSOLUTELY froze. two twin beds, room semi clean, curtains didn't fit the window - and the bathroom - sink, western toilet (couldn't flush anything down either) - but the shower head was in between the two, with just a drain in the floor. dave says kind of like a maid's quarters. at first i freaked and thought there was no way i would shower in the morning. dave and i used just the one bed to try to keep warm (you must note that i am used to sleeping on the VERY edge of the bed!), using 2 thick/thick quilts with another thick fleecy blanket in between, socks and pjs with bottoms. in the morning i decided to take a shower in case the next night would be worse (and my contacts weren't in yet so i really couldn't see too much anyways!). WELL! i must say that my "foresight" was (once again) impeccable! the dong village that we went to next was a terrific experience and very interesting - but the hotel - well - it wasn't! the room was double the size and really clean - but the bathroom - i just about died! it was a chinese (squat) toilet - but it was not clean (AT ALL), and it was even smaller, and the shower fixtures were right over top the toilet (almost). anyways, i did end up showering but dave actually helped as i stood right by the door and showered there. oh you would not believe it!! i probably will not choose those types of accommodations ever again - i mean, we use the chinese toilet frequently in travel (restaurants, etc.) but they have always been spotless so it really isn't too bad. but this one was just nasty! the hostel that johanne stayed at in that same village was by far the better choice (the room was much smaller but it was clean and tidy and the bathroom was spotless and actually very roomy). oh, live and learn!

i am just asking dave what else can i say - he replies "well, what DID you say?". i reply "actually quite abit". he informs me "well, that it is probably enough then"! he is so verbose at times!

this afternoon we are heading over to the school for a bbq - we macanese do not have the privilege of owning bbqs - but the school does (and a rather large one at that) - we supply our own food/utensils/drinks, clean up after ourselves (but not the bbq) - all a most astute brainwave of mel (a PE teacher who hails from edmonton). we think this should be a monthly event now! dave and i are going to grill lamb chops, sip on some sangria, and oh yes, i made jodi's rice pudding to boot (unforunately i was unable to get any "light" ingredients!)

Bye for now

Dave and Yvonne