Day 13 & 14 - Goodbye China :o(

About five or six of us did a little walking tour yesterday with our guide. Normally I love getting lost in new places and discovering things on my own, but we only had one full day in Shanghai and it was our last day on the trip, so we had to make sure we got to places and saw as much as we could... and this was a great way to do it. We walked to the the Bund Area, I'm sure if you've ever seen a photo of Shanghai, you've probably seen the Bund. It's a beautiful street along the river, lined with over 50 historical buildings of all sorts of (mainly European) Architectural styles, from Renaissance, to Gothic, to Neo-Classical. Across the water you see Shanghai's famous skyline (except the sky was nowhere as clear as that linked photo haha..you'll see on the videos) with the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Centre (that people normally refer to as the "bottle opener building" hehe.

We then walked through many side streets, and that was probably the most interesting bit. Shanghai is China's economic centre, you've got all these old European style buildings, and fancy, shiny, new modern buildins...and then , you have the side streets which feel like you've stepped into a different decade completely! Clothes hangs on clothing lines that are stretched from window to window, people are making and selling food on street corners, and overall it feels like a small town rather than a huge world city. I loved it! I thought it was so interesting.

We went to the Fish, Insect and Bird Market, and then to the close by antique market. After drooling over all the pretty things (and some funny, there was lots of Chairman Mao stuff too) we went for a quick visit to the museum. The entrance is free and we figured we might as well check it out, and cool down in the air-conditioned space (it was soooo hot and humid!!!). We didn't stay too long cause it was after all our last day and we wanted to be outside, so instead we headed back to the gardens we had gone to the night before and found the little market area (that was opened during the day yay), did our last minute souvenir shopping, tried tea in a tea shop and then hurried back to the hotel to meet up for the acrobatics show!

What a super great ending to the trip!!! They had everything from a clay pot juggler (way cooler than it sounds, trust me!)to plate spinners, to hat jugglers, to bike girls...and much much more!












That was it! Our last night in China :o(
The next day (today? I dunno, I'm confused with the time difference), Fiona and I just walked around Nanjing Road (the famous 6km shopping district) mainly to get some shots of it, but we soon decided to step off onto the smaller streets instead, and got some really delicious breakfast. We found 3 different food stalls and couldn't decide what we wanted to try, so we tried them all...and then went back to one cause it was sooo good!!! I wish I knew what the thing we ate was called, it was basically like a scallion pancake with an egg cracked on top, but the preparation process was really interesting to watch too so we didn't mind standing in the long line filled with locals queuing up for some yumminess! (I have videos of it!, and I promise it'll be up here soon!). I think I would've been tempted to check out even more stalls, if I hadn't of had to go back to the hotel to get our luggage and head to the airport to leave. :o(

There was A LOT of turbulence on the flight from Shanghai to Vancouver, but we made it back alive, and then I had to run for my plane to Toronto.

I'm back home safe and sound and ready to shuffle through all the clips. The two weeks in China were SUCH a great experience! I'm so happy I entered this contest and so grateful for it.

Let the video editing, posting, and voting begin! ;o)

Day 12 - Boogie with Locals

Yesterday after breakfast, Fiona and I headed to Remin Park. SOOOO incredible! I had never experienced anything like it. There were people everywhere!!! And they were all busy either dancing, playing badminton, doing tai chi, playing music....my hear sweled with happiness! hahaha...no but seriously I was ridiculously happy to be there.
I wish we had public spaces/parks like this...I mean we do...but we often don't make great use of them. We even saw groups of people dancing on street corners (with music and all) it just adds so much life and energy to the atmosphere.

At the park of the locals dragged us in to dance with them (well it didn't really take much dragging, we kinda hopped right into it). We spent a good hour or two dancing and walking around the park watching people do their thaang! We then went to one of the tea houses in the park, ordered tea by the pond and just relaxed and wrote post cards.

The tea houses are amazing and so relaxing, but they're pretty funny too though cause you have people coming around asking if you want a massage or your ears cleaned. Yes! Your ears cleaned! haha. They come around with dental-looking tools and clean peoples ears. It's not the most appetizing thing, but it was amusing.

We headed back to the hotel, met up with the group and went to the airport.
In a few hours, we were in Shanghai!

It was already dark when we got there, but we really wanted to go to a night market so we were told to head over to the Yu Gardens. I reeeeally wanted to try something crazy like scorpion or something while in China...but I never found it...and turns out Yu market isn't the place to find it either. It wasn't really the type of market we were looking for, everything was closed, but there were some shops and restaurants opened and the Market/Garden itself looked spectacular all lit up at night!...so the adventure turned out to be a success after all!...plus we had dumplings and ice cream...amongst all the lights..can't go wrong with that! :o)

Day 11 - Panda Love

We got to Chengdu pretty late in the evening yesterday so we couldn’t see much that day, instead we walked around a little, had ice cream for dinner and went to bed.
We woke up early today to go to the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base!!!!

I know there’s not much I can write here that’ll make you want to read when there are adorable Panda photos. So instead I’ll let you look at the photos and leave you with a cheesy Panda joke we were told on the bus on the way to the base.

What are a Panda’s two wishes?
I think the joke originally has three but I was in the back of the bus and couldn’t hear the last one haha

1. They wish for colour photos
Cause they’re black and white!!! get it!? haha....yeah no, I know it’s pretty bad

The next one’s a little better in my opinion though:

2. They wish for a good night’s sleep
Cause they have the black circles under their eyes!!!...huh?...huh?...come on, that one’s not too bad!



My new Panda buddy was too busy eating his apple, it was a lot more interesting than I am. I find these photos hilarious cause you really can't even see that he's holding an apple.
Gahhhh! It was so so so cute!

Oh and Look! A Mini-Giant Panda!!!

Later in the day we visited the Wenshu Monastery, a well preserved Buddhist temple filled with cultural relics, calligraphy, paintings and several beautiful buildings.





In the evening we went to see a Chinese Opera - Oh so cool!!

The horizontal photos are horribly small, but you can click to enlarge.

It's really more of a variety show than anything cause they had acrobats, dances, and a little comedic sketch (in Chinese!...but there were some subtitles on screens beside the stage hehe).








The last bit of the show was the opera/mask changing part and it was...Wow!!!
I still don't get how they change those masks so quickly. Trigger or no trigger, it's amazing!

We were told that we'd be able to go behind stage and see the performers prepare for the show. But we weren't able to. So we (our tour group) all walked around looking for an entrance, trying to ask someone. I went to the back and found the door, started going in and was stopped by a lady who didn't understand English. We were all about to go back to our seats, but I couldn't resist trying again, so I kinda sorta snuck through the door. When I got to the back I found a woman who spoke English and explained that I just wanted to see the make-up process and film it. She let me stay for about a minute... so here's a bit of what I saw (it's short and shaky, but I was being hurried, and not gonna lie, kinda nervous about the fact that I wasn't technically supposed to be there. But hey what can I say...I tried okay!?!? hehe)

PS Thanks lady who let me sneak past the other lady!

Day 7, 8 , 9 - Gorgeous Gorges

So I’m going to condense the three boat days into one blog post because I realize that my posts are getting a little too long.

On our first day we passed through the 5 locks of the 3 Gorges Dam in the morning, and then went for a tour of the dam...I’d share the technical specs, and facts with you, but I need to do a bit more research because I’ve been told different numbers by different guides and people (well guides are people too, haha but I mean and other non-guide people..okay you get it- see this sort of stuff is what makes my posts too long, I'll stop now). Basically all these human beings got me a little confused...I made video clips of each version though just in case haha. The rest of the day was spent lounging on our boat’s deck and enjoying the views of the gorges.

The next day we took a tour of the Lesser Three Gorges and the mini gorges. We had a great local guide, she helped to really give me a sense of what the area would have looked like only about 7 years ago before it was flooded by the dam. It was nice also to have the chance to talk to her and find out a little more about the effects the dam has had on her and on others who live in the area. It seems that the consensus is that for the elderly, the dam and the ensuing displacement has done little good for them. For the younger locals however it has actually provided opportunities that they may not have otherwise had, such as the ability to get out of the smaller towns and get an education. I’m sure everyone has a different story and a different opinion on whether or not the dam has had positive or negative effects on the area and its people, I wish I had had time to speak to more locals from Wushan to get an even better sense of the issues.

At night the boat crew put on a little dance show for us, it was super cute! It was also nice to see the variety of music and dances that are performed here. We got to join in with a choo-choo train type of dance hehe, and musical chairs! Then they completely handed over the stage to us and a night of major karaoke-ing began! So fun!

Today was our last day (or rather last few hours) on the boat. A couple of us snuck off this morning after we docked to see the Ghost City here in Fengdu before meeting up with the group to make our way to our next destination: Chengdu.

Day 7 - Bus, Train, Bus, Food, Boat

Most of today was spent on the train.
We got off our overnight train at around 4:00pm (we played lots of 21questions, and things that start with A,B,C...etc) then we got on a bus and went to the the supermarket to stock up on water and snacks for the three day boat cruise. We stocked our bellies full of food too ( I know, how cheesy...but we did!!) We went for dinner before getting on the boat, and it was so sooo good!
Every time we eat as a group, Michael (our guide) orders a whole bunch of dishes that we share as a group, which is toooootally my way of eating! Cause I'm so indecisive and always want to try everything, so this is perfect! ...and his choices never disappoint.

And now...all aboard the Yangtze River Boat!

Day 6 - Hello Moon.....hill

Rain! Rain! Raaain! Bahhh, hate it!
I wouldn’t be so bitter about it, if it hadn’t caused us to cancel our bike trip....twice!
We were all really looking forward to biking through farms around here(Yangshuo), meeting the farmers along the way, and seeing the water buffalo. But alas, it’s the second day in a row that the trip has been canceled because of rain, and we’re leaving Yangshuo today.

Sorry to start on such a negative note, but hey now that that’s out of the way, I’ll tell you that despite the weather, we’ve been having a great time here anyway!!!
Ha! That’s right, take that!.. rain.

This morning Fiona and I took a Kung Fu/ Tai-chi lesson...So cool! The kung fu/ tai-chi master Henry Huang picked us up in his car and took us to his studio where about five other people (who seemed to know what they were doing) were stretching. I think the five others are probably there for a while, learning from Mr Huang. He explained to us that in fact tai-chi is a martial art and considered a part of Kung Fu, and then went on to demonstrate some defensive moves. He ended up using me as an example... a lot, so now my arms are all red and bruised haha. It was really fun though, a great experience, but it’s certainly not easy, there’s quite a bit of co-ordination, balance and strength involved. On the way back Mr Huang helped us get a ride back to town on a scooter/moped.

When we got back, we decided that despite the the bike tour being canceled, we still wanted to see at least moon hill which was supposed to be our destination point. So, we found a man who spoke English and asked him to translate to someone with a scooter that we want to go to moon hill and of course that we would pay at the end, so that we wouldn’t get left behind. We got to the hill and did the climb with some very heavy bags on our backs since we weren’t expecting to be going there when we left our room in the morning. It was a beautiful view from the top, but I think I actually found it even more interesting from the baste, because you can see the shape of he hill, whereas when you climb it, you end up under the arch. We got back down and our friendly chauffeur gave us a ride back to town where we had lunch. Now it’s off to the bus stop and then another overnight train.

Day 5 - Fish in the Morning, Fish at Night

A very exciting part of the trip was cancelled today...the cycling....due to rain. WE were all pretty upset, but thankfully there’s a chance that we can go tomorrow. So this morning instead of hopping on a bike, we stayed dry and took a cooking lesson instead We first went to the local market to get the ingredients, I wish I had photos but I couldn’t bring my camera with me because it was pouring rain, but my nifty waterproof video camera captured some clips which I’ll put up soon.


What an experience! If you think: “ whatever, it’s a market, fruit, vegetables, meat, meh it’s all the same everywhere” then you’d be surprised. I don’t think I’d ever seen so many different animals and animal body parts for sale, not to mention that I wasn’t even aware that some of them are edible. I’d obviously seen various meats before though so it wasn’t tooooo unusual...but seeing dogs hanging, that was hard to look at ( I could get into a lot more gruesome detail but I really don’t think I should).


It was explained to us numerous times that these dogs are raised for such purposes, but I still really can’t get past the fact that it is a dog though. Anyway, I know that it’s a touchy topic and I don’t plan to dwell on it I just thought that it is definitely something I should mention because it’s something we certainly don’t see in our grocery stores in Canada. It’s actually interesting that the hardest footage to get on this trip so far has been footage that involved food preparation, any time we’ve passed kitchens wanting to take a photo or video, the people would shoo us away, and the situation was the same in the market. There were several vendors who allowed it and in fact wanted to be on camera, but many of the ones with dogs got angry at anyone trying to take a photo, so we went to other stalls.


After we got ingredients at the market, we went to the cooking school which has a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and even an outdoor cooking area for sunny days. We got to prepare and eat three different local dishes (chiken, fish and dumplings) and then explored the town a little before going out on a boat in the evening to watch cormorant fishing. At night the fishermen float on a raft with a light attached in the front and use trained cormorant birds which follow this light to find fish. The birds have a ring tied around their neck so when they catch a larger fish it gets caught in their throat, the fishermen then grab the bird out of the water and pull the fish out. The water was murky from the rain so we’re told that the birds couldn’t see as many fish as they normally would, but we got to see one get caught which was enough to understand how it’s done.


I don’t have any good photos cause it was so dark, but in my video I promised to do drawings so here’s one of a fisherman.



I didn’t promise good drawings, I just promised drawings, okay!


For such a small town, Yanghsuo is quite the lively place, even at night. Many of it’s little streets are filled with vendors selling all sorts of souvenirs and snacks till late in the night, so we stayed out after the fishing, shopped and explored.

Fingers crossed for sunny skies and biking tomorrow!!!

Day 4 - Rivers, Rafts and Needles

When I found out which Intrepid trip I was taking, I immediately Googled all the places we’d be visiting on the tour, Yangshuo was probably the one I was most excited about. Even amateur photos I came across online looked like they could’ve been out of a postcard. I was scared of doing too much research though cause I was afraid of raising my expectations too high. Now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I can say that it certainly does not disappoint!...even with all the rain we’ve had.
We arrived in the morning and went to the inn we are staying at, changed from our overnight train clothes and then went for breakfast. As we were walking to the restaurant, it started to pour out of nowhere but thankfully it died down a bit while we ate. So, after we finished were able to go the the river (Li River) for a ride on a motorized bamboo raft to enjoy the picturesque limestone karsts. The scenery here really is stunning! The weather was certainly not co-operating, but the rain did hold out...and I have to admit that the clouds and fog were not all that bad, they just helped add to the interesting air of mystery that the landscape has about it.






When we got back to town I tried acupuncture for the first time! I was so curious, and I figured if I was going to try it, China would definitely be the place to do it! It’s a lot less painful than it looks, it really only hurts when the needle is initially inserted because as it’s inserted, the doctor gives the needle a little twist and flick. Once the needles are all in, you can’t really feel them unless you move (which you’re not supposed to do anyway) so basically you just look like a voodoo doll and keep still for about a half an hour. I didn’t have any particular ailments to begin with, so I can’t say I really noticed a difference after the acupuncture, but I’m sure that my body is much healthier now! It’s gotta be... I was poked with tons of needles (one even in the head!) that’s gotta help somehow! Right?
I decided if I’m getting acupuncture, I might as well go all out and get a massage too. I had the acupuncture bit on camera (given it was so dark in the room so you could barely see anything) so I thought I should definitely get some massage material as well. Ummm, that was a lot harder to film than I though it’d be. I had my face in the massage chair hole and every time I saw my face in the camera screen I started laughing. I don’t know if I’m the only one who finds this funny, but here’s a little video clip. This is a condensed version, the full version went on for several minutes.

The terribly unattractive and quite terrifying but hilarious faces really start at about 18 seconds in (and of course don't mute the video cause you need sound to get the full effect).



After the massage and acupuncture, we had dinner and then went to see a fantastic light show on the river. The show is directed by Zhang Yimou a famous film maker and director of the Beijing 2008 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. It has over 600 performers and the fact that we didn’t understand the storyline really didn’t matter at all, just staring in amazement was good enough for me! The performances were all done on the water and used various lighting techniques to articulate, and emphasize movement. I had never seen a show on water... or a light show ... so I found this really impressive!

Day 3 - Grad to Go

Yesterday was a day in transit, so you’ll have to forgive me for the lack of photos, they’re hard to take through rainy moving windows.

We walked over to the bus stop in the morning (in the rain) and took a bus to the border. After officially entering mainland we took another bus to Guangzhou, it probably felt like a very long bus ride to anyone sitting close to Fiona and I cause we managed to talk and laugh A LOT, the whole way through. We got off at the train station in Guangzhou, loaded up on snacks for the train, and went for a chinese fast food dinner. Where did we eat fast food you ask? Well, Kung Fu of course...cause if Bruce Lee (or his animated doppelganger) is the mascot...of course you’re gonna eat there!



I’ll be completely honest and admit that I enjoyed the name much more than the food ( I think I’ve been spoiled with too much ridiculously delicious real Chinese food so far to be able to actually enjoy a Kung Fu meal).

Anyway, after dinner we went into the train waiting area. While in this big, crowded, huge, vast, open waiting area filled with many, countless, copious amounts of people ... my amaaaazing travel buddy Fiona decided to surprise me with a graduation ceremony!!!...with a dollar store grad hat and ALL!



So I missed my “real” graduation ceremony to go on this trip...but come on, does it get any “realer” than this? If you ask me, that was the BEST graduation I could’ve ever asked for!
... plus I think it entertained the hundreds of people in the waiting room quite a bit too.

After that magnificent ceremony we got on our train and took it overnight to Yangshuo. I’ve been on overnight trains before, but I slept on a regular upright train chair, so if you ask me, this was luxury! Plus, I’m was one of those kids who thought that bunk beds were the coolest thing in the world but never actually had one.
Well not only did our little room/compartment/closet thing have 2 bunk beds...it had 2 three tiered bunk beds!!!!!


Sigh, it’s like every kid’s dream come true! except you’d probably have to substitute the rice wine for warm milk or something.

Day 2 - The Macanese Mix

Fiona and I woke up early today to do a bit more sight seeing before boarding the ferry to Macau.
We ended up going to the Bird Market, Flower Market, and Goldfish Market/Area (which are all close to one another) and then took a taxi back to the hotel to leave.



It only takes about an hour by ferry to get to Macau from Hong Kong. Like Hong Kong, Macau is a special administrative region rather than a part of mainland China. It was a Portuguese Colony for over 400 years and it only reverted to China in 1999. It really is a truly unique looking city, it has plenty Portuguese influenced buildings and Catholic church ruins, but it’s all mixed in with traditional Chinese temples and architecture, as well as modern buildings and plenty of Las Vegas-like bling and lights. A very strange but very interesting combination!

During our guided walk we strolled through small residential streets, large squares, sampled all sorts of snacks, visited the St. Paul’s Cathedral ruins, and the museum. Before dinner, I explored some other areas of the city and visited the A-Ma Temple with two group members. And after the delicious Macanese meal we all hopped into a shuttle to see the casinos and city lights, cause after all Macau is considered Vegas of the east.

Day 1 - I’ve got China Fever!

I’m in China!!! I’m still confused by what time it is or how many days I just lost or gained with the time difference. I’ve felt a little sick the past few days, but I’ve been ignoring it, hoping that if I do so, it would go away.
Logical? ...no! Wishful?... indeed.

Well, it didn’t work, it didn't go away! So, I ended up leaving Toronto with a fever and chills. However, there is a bright side to this, the cold medicine made me drowsy so I managed to sleep through most of the incredibly long flight! Yay!

Anyway, my health is completely uninteresting and besides the point right now...cause I’m in CHINA! ...with Fiona!!! (whom I met in the Vancouver airport washroom of course, a perfectly appropriate place for the two female contestants to meet. haha)

We landed in Hong Kong early in the morning around 6am, and after dropping off our luggage we went off to explore! We decided to see the Tian Tan Buddha (largest bronze,outdoor, sitting Buddha) so we got on the subway to Lantau Island, normally a cable car takes you from the subway to the Buddha site, but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance today so we took a bus instead. Finding and taking the bus took a little longer than expected but it was actually fun and in the end, definitely worth it! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a gigantic statue, and the whole visit was completely enhanced by the people we bumped into. It was great chatting with local people and seeing so many visitors come there to pray and burn incense sticks.







We headed to Hong Kong Island after having lunch and let our selves get lost a bit, I loved that just by moving from one street to another I could feel like I was in a completely different place or time. The bigger roads are modern,surrounded by sky scrapers and packed with cars and other vehicles.








The side streets are much smaller, fairly pedestrian friendly and filled with food and trinket vendors.







We zigzagged through these streets and alleyways and eventually got to the absolutely incredible Man Mo Temple. I have to admit I was a little worried before I went in because I was still feeling nauseous from the fever so I thought the incense in the temple would be too overwhelming. Turns out it was not at all as intense as I thought it would be ... or perhaps I just didn’t notice the smell cause I was too busy taking in the magnificent sight.
I could go on and on about this place, but I’ll choose to spare you the essay and instead just post a few photos.








After visiting the temple and walking around some more, we got on a ferry back to Kowloon. Before heading back to our hotel to meet with the group, we decided to take a quick peek at the famous, fancy and very expensive Peninsula Hotel on the way. It didn’t impress me quite as much as the food stalls and temples earlier in the day did, but it was certainly interesting and fun to see.

It was a great, full first day and we managed to film quite a bit already!
I didn’t think I’d stick out too much in China... but, apparently I do. We've already had a number of people ask to take photos with us and of us. It’s funny, but I think it’s kind of great because it’s an easy excuse to interact with local people which is always fun. Of course the fact that we walk around talking to our selves holding a camera on a stick in front of our face is probably not really helping us blend in, but I'm starting to doubt we'd blend in anyway so this just makes it all the more fun...and funny.

By night we were soooo sleepy, but we finished off our fantastic first day by meeting our leader and the rest of our group in the hotel and then walking to a little local restaurant for a absolutely delicious dinner (i’m already looking forward to more of those).


PS I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the subway ticket machines, so fancy, high tech, and simple. Also, you'll notice their subways don't have separate cars, it's all one reeeeeeeeeeeeeally really long car.

So here's a pointless little clip to show off their awesome system...this is mainly cause I'm desperate to add some video.