Woo Hoo, we have planned a trip for ourselves. Just us, alone on a beach. Do I sound happy!?! We have been talking about going somewhere since we arrived in China. We think we are so close to so many interesting places but we are not close, we are just closer than if we were arriving from the states. Asia is HUGE, and everything is far away from China, so when we began talking about a trip we started to realize everything is 6 or 8 or 10 hours away. Tony travels so much that I felt bad about getting on a plane to go somewhere for pleasure, I mean the guy just wants to sit still sometimes. And do you blame him.
This past week for example, Tony left at 4:30am Monday April 20th to go to India and is returning 11:20pm Sunday April 26th - it will be Monday April 27th when he walks into the apartment. So you see why although we would like to go away frequently he just physically couldn't, he needs some rest time, non travel time. Then of course we had the kids, one at Xmas and then April so we had to budget our vacation time accordingly and I do work so that factors into it as well as Tony's work schedule which as I have explained is very hectic. We finally just said, lets make a plan and do it!
Bali is our destination!
Bali, the land of the........hmmmm I better look that up. Well the pictures on the internet show beaches and warm sunny weather. So maybe it's known for that!
I found these great little sandals for 100 RMB and was told by my Chinese friend that I paid 50RMB too much. Ugh. So instead of paying $14.00 I should have paid $7.00. The store keepers just refuse to give the Westerns the same price as the locals. The merchandise is never marked so you have no idea what the real price is, the shop keeper assumes(rightly so) that you have no clue and what ever she says is the correct price. I will tell you that she started the negotiation at 550 RMB or $82.00 so I felt pretty good about getting her down to the 100 RMB, but still not low enough I am told. The whole process of shopping is very tiring, OK interesting and intriguing when you first arrive in China but wearisome now. I prefer to go to the department stores, but they don't have any good ones and then you pay too much for the same crappy merchandise. It's a strange process here.
But cute shoes, no? They will be perfect for our trip.
Tony asked me to take a picture of him for a marketing something or other. This was not the first shot......even though I am a fantastic photographer(what?) we had a couple "do overs". This one was the best, how about that twinkle in his eye!
I took a quick snapshot of myself with the computer camera, do I have a bit of a dazed look...it's the mahjong calling I may be addicted.
Bali is our destination!
But cute shoes, no? They will be perfect for our trip.
The international boat show in Shanghai was held right across the street from our apartment building. Here's a picture of the convention center from our window. Saturday was such a nice day that we asked some friends to join us to see the show. Part of the show was outside and part of the show was held inside the convention center. The building is about 50 years old and was the last hurrah of the Russian/China partnership building something together. Can you see the boats in the picture above?
Here is where you filled out your form to enter the show. 
Our friends Gaby and Julien. We found this little spot at the show, it felt like a German beer garden so we opted for a beer instead of a coffee. The weather couldn't have been better!
Tony's new 'dream' toy. He just stood in front of this little boat for 10 minutes and you could see him dreaming about the river and what fun he could be having!
China is dirty and the people here have what we westerns consider disgusting habits. They will not sneeze into a tissue but instead let it spray right out. They think that sneezing into a tissue and putting it in you pocket (if you have no where to throw it out) is extremely vile! Sneezing gets the germs out - let it out man!! Also they spit, they spit loud and often. They pull up from the gut and let it fly. I have thought, in the course of my stay here so far, that one day I was going to end up with a lugie landing on the top of my shoe. I mean with the quantity of people and this habit that everyone has, it's bound to happen. And it has. I have been the recipient of a hawker right on the back of my leg and at the Great Wall no less. There were soooo many people I suppose it was inevitable.
This is the face of someone who is just DONE with visiting the wall, I think I am actually gritting my teeth here.
I have been here for almost 4 months and I try and I try but making friends can be so hard. Trying to fit in and be accepted is important to me so I lately I have been really thrusting myself into the thick of things hoping someone will hold out a hand in friendship.
The Temple of Heaven is a wonderful public space. It's large with green grass and trees, very park like, plus a pretty temple. The Chinese do not have any money to travel so when they retire they spend their time at the Temple of Heaven where they enjoy the park and pursue their hobbies. It may be one of the happiest places on earth. It has such a happy vibe. Here are some examples, knitting
card playing
dancing
Tai Chi
playing instruments
Dominos
and singing!
Here's a little video for you. They are not very good but they are all having a lot fun.
What a cool Olympic area/village? It's big, but then everything in China is big. The weather wonderful. We really enjoyed walking around and seeing the buildings. It's been less than a year since the Olympics and we were sorry to see that the buildings had no additional uses. No one is using then. Our guide said the government is still thinking about the ways they can use the buildings. The Birds Nest is as cool as it looks on TV. So is the cube, we did not go into the water cube, apparently the water has been drained from the pools and it is just an empty building.
The day was spectacular, Tony and I have not seen a sparkling blue sky in weeks and weeks. We took a walk through Tianamen Square and drank in the sights. A picture of The Chairman - Mao....
The size of it all.....
